Doctor Who Resistance is Useless

As Doctor Who nears it’s 45th Anniversary (man… I still remember the 20th!), I’ve been reviewing a lot of my old tapes and have been reminded at how incredibly diverse it is.

From the sophisticated Doctor Who classics of William Hartnell to the wild and wacky adventures of Jon Pertwee, it’s easy to lose sight of what makes the program so appealing and immortal.

This is made all the more complicated by the fact that the Doctor Who Classic Series has been followed in 2005 by a brand new re-vision of the Doctor Who program by Russel T Davies and crew. In the new series, many of the ideas and tropes have been cast aside to embrace the pop-culture element in much the same way that teenagers struggle to be hip and accepted by his/her peers.

Tom Baker quoted Tennyson and Patrick Troughton claims to have studied medicine in Scotland under Dr. Lister in 1885… nowadays the Doctor uses the TARDIS to attend Ian Drury and The Blockheads concerts and reads Harry Potter while the Master takes control of London only to share his iTunes playlist with his ’subject’ every morning.

It’s a phase like any other in the Doctor Who’s vast history that will more likely than not end when a new producer takes over in the Fifth Season as the program will no doubt enter yet another stage of its progression.

The Doctor Who series has gone through many vastly different progressions since its creation in 1963 by Sydney Newman and Verity Lambert. At first an educational family program, the series changed into a Hammer Horror affair in the early 70’s, high comedy in the late 70’s and ‘hard science fiction’ in the 80’s.

Each new production team built a new foundation almost from the ground up as it took over the reigns of the program. Since no other program on TV can do this, it has become part of the charm of the series.

When Jon Pertwee’s dashing gentleman working alongside the military left, the Harpo Marx clown Tom Baker sauntered in. The most successful actor to take on the role, Tom Baker’s seven year era was the most wildly varied in the entire history of the series. In one story he would be make a noble one man stand against an ancient evil on Mars while in another he would lure a guard away from a flying car with sweets. Tom Baker’s unique personality and charm was the corner stone of the program’s integrity.

Even the later eras of The Classic Doctor Who Series, so often overlooked by fans and critics alike have their own evolution. The Andrew Cartmell/John Nathan Turner reign of the program remains perhaps the most ambitious (and uneven) of Doctor Who’s eras. From the comedic and light-hearted Delta and The Bannermen to the deeply serious and haunting Ghost Light, the program changed in leaps that were far too broad for the casual audience to keep up with… which is a shame.

While it can be argued that the audience wasn’t the only party unable to make the transition (a comedic entertainer such as McCoy was seen as out of his depth in attempting the darker tones of his last season), it is refreshing that even with 25 years’ of Doctor Who’s legacy, they were still willing to re-invent the show.

It is at these key moments that the program is most interesting… and in danger of losing its audience.

The fun-loving and impervious to harm David Tennant has so quickly risen to the demands of the most difficult role in British television that he signed the most expensive three year contract given out by the BBC… a contract that expires in 2008. When David leaves the part, there will be many who may tune out, swearing that he was the only reason they watched in the first place.

Many Doctor Who fans waited with heartfelt hope for 16 years for the opening credits of ‘Rose’ to roll across the screen in 2005. Since that time, Doctor Who has enjoyed a remarkable revival similar in success to that of the new Battlestar Galactica program on the Sci-Fi Channel.

Doctor Who has enjoyed strong viewing figures and DVDs of the classic series have been selling out since the new program debuted in 2005. With the production team rumored to be moving on to greener pastures, the future of the series hangs in the balance.

No matter who your favorite Doctor is, what your favorite story is or which signature tune still gives you butterflies when you hear it, it cannot be denied that the key to Doctor Who’s success is its variety.

So I invite you to watch this documentary I watched as a wee teenager in 1992 and revel in the many different facets of the most innovative TV program in science fiction history.

Doctor Who Resistance is Useless part 1

Doctor Who Resistance is Useless part 2

Doctor Who Resistance is Useless part 3

Doctor Who Resistance is Useless part 4

Nick Cave-Grinderman

Whenever anyone has tried to play me Ani Defranco, I have just done my best to maintain a blank face or play dead the way my dog does when I try and tickle her.In short, it ain’t my thing. I’m going to go on a limb and say that as a man there is nothing for me in that style of music.

I was listening to some Nick Cave recently. It had been a while since I had enjoyed his music so it took a few listens to get back in the groove. In that time, I heard it as an outsider and thought to myself, ‘there’s no way I should ever play this in front of a woman.’

Ex-frontman for the noisiest Australian band of all time, The Birthday Party, Nick Cave has always been an insanely energetic performer and gifted lyricist. After leaving the band to go solo with the astounding album ‘From Her to Eternity,’ Cave started down a path that eventually lead to his emulation of his favorite crooner Tom Jones.Not many could have seen that coming.

The commercial success of Nick Cave’s albums with his band ‘The Bad Seeds’ (consisting of such greats as soloist Mick Harvey, and Blixa Bargeld of Einsturzebde Neubauten) peaked with ‘Murder Ballads.’ While the album might lead the casual listener to think of Cave as being obsessed with violence and manslaughter, he’s anything but. In an interview with Rolling Stone he confessed that he abhors violence and does his best to avoid it. Looking at his ‘mean hombre’ visage, I doubt he needs to do much to avoid getting into a fight.

But if you listen more deeply to the somber longing in songs such as his duet with Kylie Minogue on ‘Where the Wild Roses Grow’ you’ll hear the soul of a crooner. His later album The Boatman’s Call embrace this tendency and while it was far removed from my personal favorite sound of the angry young Cave who piston-shot his cowboy boots at the audience members screaming ‘Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow!,’ it did deliver his most beautiful tune ‘Into My Arms’ which was respectfully performed at lead singer of INXS Michael Hutchens‘ funeral.

Imagine my surprise when he reunited with three of his old Bad Seeds bandmates to form Grinderman.

No Pussy Blues (live on Later…)

The self-titled album is harder than anything he’s done in decades and has a very bluesy/garage rock sound, including the odd blast of feedback that would make Blixa smile.

Highlights include ‘No Pussy Blues’ and ‘Honey Bee (Let’s Fly to Mars’). This must be quite a shock to fans that Cave won over with his previous soft and soulful albums but it is a major return to form for the singer that exploded on the independent music landscape those many moons ago with ‘Dead Joe’ and ‘She’s Hit.’

Culture Show Interview

I find it hard to believe that this rough group of dudes are in their 40’s and still kicking around the stage as if they were 20 years younger. The album is a slap in the face to current big hit bands who claim to know their way around a guitar and a stab in the arm for the ailing music industry in general which is genuinely hopeful that we will buy the new Paul McCartney album or the latest tired attempt by The White Stripes.

I also hope that this new album fires up interest into Cave’s past and the excellent Birthday Party albums that he worked on when he was a skinny pale kid… ofcourse now he’s a skinny pale dad.

How times change.

Suggested listening:

The Birthday Party – Hits
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds- The Boatman’s Call
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds – Tender Prey
Nick Cave- From Her to Eternity
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds – Murder Ballads
Grinderman

Mark Millar’s misadventures

Mark Millar took a moment to talk to WizardUniverse.com about his impromptu visit to the Dark Knight set, handling the Batbike ( I gotta love that an industry insider refuses to call it the ‘Bat-pod’) and his other major motion picture, Wanted.

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Mark Millar in Chicago Wizard World a couple of years back. He was in a huddle of other comics guys and was very natural and jokey unlike certain other writers who oggled me with fanboy fear (I’m talking about you, Bendis!).

While his writing is hit and miss with me, the man himself is lots of fun and a down to earth personality that you’d definitely want to share a pint with.

I imagine that he’s having the time of his life and good on him.