The Ultimate Argument/Discussion...

[Goodieluver]

Hey scotty had the red uni, This is one of my fave segments from simpons

Captain's Log Stardate 6051: had trouble sleeping last night... my hiatal hernia is acting up again. The ship is drafty and damp; I complain, but nobody listens.
:::Star trek IX, so very tired::::
Sulu-captain, klingons approaching off port bow
Kirk-again with the klingons...Mr SCOTT, give me full power
Scotty-"It's no use, captain; I canna' reach the control panel!

 

[BuffyFan1]

Can we all agree that neither series have been very consistent quality-wise? I think it's a blessing that both franchises are bowing out right now.

 

[Ignatz]

On the other hand, I still think it's not that good compared to the best sci-fi show of them all; I speak, of course, of Doctor Who! 😎

The Harlan Ellison remark I quoted in my earlier post comes from his essay paying lavish tribute to Doctor Who. The piece appeared as a foreword in the paperback editions of the Doctor's adventures which were published in the U.S. in the 1980's. (I don't know if it was used in the U.K.) Harlan, in addition to being one of the finest sf authors, is known as a savage critic of American television; he coined the phrase "the glass teat." He contributed one script to the original Star Trek series ("City on the Edge of Forever"), and wrote bitterly about the way the producers hacked it up before airing. On a visit to England in the 1970's, British sf author Michael Moorcock had to physically shove Harlan into a chair and compel him to sit through an episode of Doctor Who. After that, Harlan was hooked, of course.

I love the Doctor (and his many pulchritudinous assistants), but have only seen the Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker episodes. Is the series still in production, do you know? And how many Doctors are they up to now, if so?

 

[Slant]

I love the Doctor (and his many pulchritudinous assistants), but have only seen the Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker episodes. Is the series still in production, do you know? And how many Doctors are they up to now, if so?

It was cancelled in 1989, then they made a brief TV movie in the mid-90s, which wasn't very good (since it was highly Americanised 😛)

However it's back again now, the new series with the 9th Doctor (Christopher Ecclestone) just started a few months ago. It's not bad, they've had to modernise it of course but it still retains its qualities pretty well. Unfortunately Ecclestone's revealed he's not staying on for another series which is a shame - the Doctor's running out of incarnations!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/doctorwho/news/briefhistory/index.shtml should get you up to speed...

Oh yeah, as for Wars vs. Trek, I voted for the latter because I was a fan as I grew up, whereas I only really got to know Star Wars later on. The prequel trilogy cemented its current standing in my view 🙂 Not that Trek doesn't have some appallingly bad bits too of course!

 

[Ignatz]

Thanks for the info and the link, Slant.
I always loved the Doctor for the intelligence and wit of the scripts and for the acting. Cheesy special effects never bother me; hell, I grew up in the fifties and sixties when that kind of thing was state-of-the-art.
And probably the finest pun I have ever heard uttered was in a Doctor Who episode, the one about an astronaut whose severed hand takes on a murderous life of its own. As the heroes approach it in one scene (after it has killed a couple of people), Sara warns, "Careful! That thing's not as armless as it looks!"

To avoid being charged with hijacking, I suppose I should mention Star Wars and Star Trek in this post.