So, the first showing of the new series of Dr. Who will be on BBC2 on Saturday.

This leaves me with a problem: My Myth box isn't finished yet, I don't have a video recorder, and I'll be in Meribel seeing if there's any snow...

i am sure someone will record it

BitTorrent is your friend...

You've got a PM.

I have a bigger problem. I'm in neither the UK nor Canada (where it'll be shown on the CBC on April 5).

BitTorrent remains our friend.

Drat - It's not on Directv.

I was bored on Wednesday so I downloaded it. Let me know if you want it.

Aparently the version that snuck out doesn't have completed SFX and such. I'm waiting for the real version. It's only a few hours away now anyway.

I've got it on my Sky+ box, if all else fails1!

Well, I'm glad I waited, then.

Given the amount of detail that went into things like the building explosion which was only on screen for a very short time it seems rather silly to have something like those photos which are actually on screen longer.

I don't know which version you ended up getting, but the one transmitted on BBC One on Saturday suffered from a slight technical hitch. It was surrounded on either side by a rather dubious show about who can dance the best. The people performed on the show before Doctor Who which left time for people to vote shortly after which there was another show for the results.

For some reason the audio from the studio that the show was coming from was inadvertantly faded up during the bit with Rose in the basement with dummys. So during a moment of great suspense you hear a camp irish man saying 'So I go over there then?' and a few other choice TV phrases.

A few years ago there would've been people trained sufficiently enough not to let that happen. Nowadays they simply blame the equipment which is now bought off the shelf and is totally unfit for purpose.

Funny... I didn't hear Graham Norton on the BBC Scotland broadcast. Different transmission?

As for the photos, I assumed that as they were so obviously fake that it was meant to be funny. Or that the guy had made them himself. Or something.

Time to don the nerd hat....

It depends upon whether BBC Scotland was simply taking the sustaining feed from London or playing Doctor Who locally from the their own Pres. If you didn't hear it then the chances are you were watching a locally originated version. Did you have strictly dance fever on before?

I got the leaked episode. No Graham Norton for me, fortunately.

That was the version i originally got. The ep 2 tease was nice but I'm sure you can wait until next week.

I tend to not watch those anyway. I prefer the story to be presented to me in the way that the producers intend, not how some marketroid wants to entice me.

The horrendous show was on before and after but I didn't watch it. Graham Norton just saps my soul of all life.

On uk.media.tv.misc somebody reported that the apparently highly-publicised Audio Description (aka. "narrative") also wasn't switched on until about five minutes in.

Gareth

Ahh, you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

EDIT: Or possibly elephants.....

I'd trust a monkey/elephant to do a better job.

Um, that was quick.

He's never been in anything for very long. I'm surprised they weren't aware of it. He does a lot of one-off stuff or short run programs. He wasn't in Cracker very long either.

At this rate, they're going to burn through those 12 regenerations in a hurry. Maybe he'll figure out some way to harness the power of the Eye of Harmony that doesn't involve assassinating the President of the Time Lords.

</geek>

I guess everyone's as underwhelmed as I am.

It's far from bad. It's probably good, but it's just not the second coming (which I swear was not a reference to another TV show when it popped into my head).

The latest episode felt a little more like Dr. Who, but was fairly claustrophobic, I thought, without intending to be. I mean, here we are in outer space watching a massive celestial event and all we really get to see are about three rooms on this space station. At certain instances, it felt an awful lot like a less comedic Red Dwarf.

Also, as I feared, it was a little rushed. Having roughly half the time to tell a story in just doesn't leave much room for the soul of Doctor Who. It was like we were rushing around to different points to make sure to get the plot in, with little time for reflection, like we were trying to get back to where we were when our text adventure game crashed. (Exit. N. Show Paper. E. Z. Z. Take sphere. Exhale. Etc.)

Other random nitpicks: The flash point of wood on Earth today is 330 to 470 degrees Celsius (according to a 1970 USDA Forest Service research paper), yet the Doctor didn't even seem phased by the heat. Maybe he's hardier than I thought. The plot was a little too obvious, I thought, and only marginally compelling -- a very, very, simple parlor detective story. I have the feeling there may have been a little more there in its initial concept, what with the talk of finances, but it just didn't make it to the actual broadcast show. A sputum joke to go with last week's burp joke. A talk to the face joke? Really? I feel like there are more, but I can't think of them now.

I just don't feel like it's going to get much better.