The Idiot Box: TV Season 2012/2013

[foproy]

In other news, Nikita's final six-episode season is now official.

SPOILER WARNING: Only read that article if you're current with the series. It blows the plot of this year's finale - airing this Friday - which was set up in last week's episode.

it saddens me to see nikita go. it was one of those shows that caught me off guard and i love it for it.

[Mister Andersen]

...and the upfront I've been waiting for all week...

CW New Series First Looks: The 100, The Originals, Reign, Star-Crossed, The Tomorrow People.

Ah, the usual predominantly white (dude) aliens and hyperevolved folk. 

The use of a clip instead of an actual trailer for Star-Crossed and Tomorrow People didn't leave me at all impressed I'm afraid.

SC's invoking the civil rights imagery of the school integration of the 60s while using people essentially indistinguishable from the same white folk who made the use of armed guards necessary back then is... dubiously conceived. The very least they could have done was tap the sense of "the other" that the aliens are abjectly failing to give off with the human romantic lead and make her african-american, latina, asian, native american. Anything other than the usual generic white girl.

TP couldn't feel more generic if it tried. Lone female, check. Lone ethnic character, check. White dude lead character, check. White dude lead antagonist, check. That clip doesn't feel remotely different from anything Mutant X or Roswell was doing a decade ago, or Alphas was doing last week. Heck, The 4400 felt more like the  original series of the 70s and its 90s reboot than this teaser does.

The 100 at least seems rather more diverse in its casting choices and appeals to my love of post apocalyptica. I suspect we're going to see a riff on Lord of the Flies... and Jeremiah, amongst others. Because there's no way this scenario doesn't involve them coming across folk that never left.

[Mister Andersen]

10 Totally Different TV Shows that Doctor Who Has Been Over the Years

Doctor Who hasn't just taught us how to save the universe — the British time-travel show has also lasted a fantastic 32 seasons. How did a little show about a man in a magic phone box achieve this feat? By changing its format drastically.

Doctor Who is perhaps the most flexible show on television — even the magic phone box has been done away with, on occasion. The Doctor can go anywhere, and take on all sorts of problems — including how to tell a new story with a decades-old show. Here are ten totally different shows that Doctor Who has morphed into at different times.

[Crafty_Pat]

I'm extremely happy (and frankly, shocked) to see The Tomorrow People back on the airwaves, so even a tiny bit of generic footage is welcome. I've read half the pilot script so far and it seems like a decent launch. It'll be interesting to see what they do with it in the last half, but I doubt I'll have time to dig into that until i get back from the summit.

[Mister Andersen]

See, that's a distinct (and envious) advantage you have when it comes to being able to form an opinion on the thing that most of us don't have, which is why rolling out a generic grey-saturated clip doesn't do the concept justice. Even SC's clip managed to hit the high-concept of that series, so I'm disappointed that there's not even a suggestion of the original TP's TIM or the alien beacon of the remake.

Fond memories of those predacessor series and my general love of Brit telefantasy really wants to see the series succeed.

[Crafty_Pat]

See, that's a distinct (and envious) advantage you have when it comes to being able to form an opinion on the thing that most of us don't have, which is why rolling out a generic grey-saturated clip doesn't do the concept justice. Even SC's clip managed to hit the high-concept of that series, so I'm disappointed that there's not even a suggestion of the original TP's TIM or the alien beacon of the remake.

No argument. I'm generally disappointed by this year's upfront footage. In most cases I've found it wanting, and in the CW's case especially so.

Still happy about TTP being greenlit, and hoping it lives up to the promise. Glad to share and pimp to help it on its way if I can.

I prefer to stay positive and hope for the best.

Fond memories of those predacessor series and my general love of Brit telefantasy really wants to see the series succeed.

Absolutely! TTP was a major inspiration for Series Archer, and that will be even more true when I get the setting back on its feet (just talked about how that will work at the summit yesterday BTW, for those of you wondering), and so yes, I have a truly vested interest in this show living a good and long life.

[Mister Andersen]

The revamp of the Transformers Prime opening titles for season 3 is amusing. As someone who's only real exposure to Ultra Magnus was the 80s movie, I'm liking Michael Ironside's take on the character -- it has a real early TNG Picard vibe to it.

[Mister Andersen]

Name of the Doctor: Well, crap, that's one hell of an ending and it looks like everything I've heard about the anniversary special is true. It's clever -- a lever of genuine clever Moffat has generally failed to achieved -- but I think come November 23 this is going to lead to probably the single most divisive story in the series' history.

[Mister Andersen]

(click to show/hide)

The one in the repair bay on Gallifrey.

Some people think this means that Clara was a Gallifreyan or even possibly a Time Lord.

But consider this -- we know from Hide that the TARDIS has the ability to project an interface of her intelligence outside her physical form...

Remember that in The Doctor's Wife the TARDIS said she stole the Doctor...

So, what if that's what we're seeing here? The moment she stole her Time Lord.

What if this echo of Clara was reborn as the Doctor's TARDIS?

[Aldus Vertten]

(click to show/hide)

The one in the repair bay on Gallifrey.

Some people think this means that Clara was a Gallifreyan or even possibly a Time Lord.

But consider this -- we know from Hide that the TARDIS has the ability to project an interface of her intelligence outside her physical form...

Remember that in The Doctor's Wife the TARDIS said she stole the Doctor...

So, what if that's what we're seeing here? The moment she stole her Time Lord.

What if this echo of Clara was reborn as the Doctor's TARDIS?

Wow. That makes sense

(click to show/hide)

"and he hardly y ever hears me. But i've always been there. right from the very beggining. Right from the day he started running"

The season has been strange... and the last few episodes were full of great amazing moments in stories that always seemed lacking somehow... but the end has been epic.

[ThunderMonkey]

(click to show/hide)

The one in the repair bay on Gallifrey.

Some people think this means that Clara was a Gallifreyan or even possibly a Time Lord.

But consider this -- we know from Hide that the TARDIS has the ability to project an interface of her intelligence outside her physical form...

Remember that in The Doctor's Wife the TARDIS said she stole the Doctor...

So, what if that's what we're seeing here? The moment she stole her Time Lord.

What if this echo of Clara was reborn as the Doctor's TARDIS?

(click to show/hide)

There could be something to that. There's a rule or law that two TARDIS (what's the plural for "TARDIS"?) cannot occupy the same space or something rather disasterous happens. It happened in one episode... During the Tom Baker years.

[Mister Andersen]

It’s official: Rebels is your new Star Wars cartoon. The fact that it's set during the Dark Times between III & IV also pretty much confirms that the live action series mooted for that time period is dead in the water.

Interestingly, Greg Weisman of Gargoyles and Young Justice fame is involved, and they're going with a visual style taken from Ralph McQuarie's concept art.

[Agent 333]

(click to show/hide)

The one in the repair bay on Gallifrey.

Some people think this means that Clara was a Gallifreyan or even possibly a Time Lord.

But consider this -- we know from Hide that the TARDIS has the ability to project an interface of her intelligence outside her physical form...

Remember that in The Doctor's Wife the TARDIS said she stole the Doctor...

So, what if that's what we're seeing here? The moment she stole her Time Lord.

What if this echo of Clara was reborn as the Doctor's TARDIS?

(click to show/hide)

There could be something to that. There's a rule or law that two TARDIS (what's the plural for "TARDIS"?) cannot occupy the same space or something rather disasterous happens. It happened in one episode... During the Tom Baker years.

(click to show/hide)

That would certainly explain why the TARDIS doesn't like Clara...