Vee

Grain of salt:

This... sounds like a recipe for boomer backlash given the critical drubbing of his recent projects but I am happy for Moffat, Karen and Alex. Meanwhile:

I think 'found family' is valid enough for soaps - Melrose Place, and shows like Degrassi, The O.C., 90210, etc. used it to great effect for decades. It's the execution and stories that bear it out. The City's found family was not the issue for me (though I think they could and should have woven in more direct family ties, like Ava and Alex's kids), but it did a lot very fast for daytime, in terms of changes and taking risks, and it didn't have good enough story to back it up.

This appears to be Ncuti confirming what has recently been rumored - that next week's BBC repeat of the docufilm An Adventure in Space and Time, about the creation of DW, will feature him in the key final scene. It shows William Hartnell seeing a vision of the latest Doctor of the period when it aired (2013) - at that time, it was Matt Smith. The film's writer, Mark Gatiss, has long suggested the BBC update the shot regularly with an appearance from the incumbent Doctor whenever it re-airs. This appears to be the fulfillment of that.

The cast list for the very mysterious second special has three actors - Tennant, Tate and a "Susan Twist". Who may be a real actor with a real CV, or may be well, you know.

Wow. @DRW50 I checked; they even have the Evil of the Daleks reconstruction Britbox hadn't put up!

I know that had they continued they'd apparently intended to reintroduce Ava/Alex's kids (presumably SORASed) for conflict with Alex and Jocelyn, among others. I think they'd hoped to become more conventional in their family/story structure to retool. I can understand that impulse given their dire situation, but I think it would have been a creative mistake to go too far. Someday the Bourbon Street pilot will leak. RIP Michael Malone.

I wondered a bit about it at the time. But I couldn't really be bothered with it, as I could see Deborah moving on out of that mausoleum (maybe with the hunky blue-collar Clay lookalike she meets in the finale) over the course of close to 20 years. Nonetheless, yes, I would absolutely do a one-off Halloween episode in Corinth with some GH or whoever teens to honor the show - and maybe see if Randolph Mantooth and Lisa Peluso as a reunited Alex and Ava, or Noelle Beck or whoever would be willing to appear at the end as a contrast to spooky Gwyneth. I do think TC was ahead of its time slightly in terms of the handheld filming, the setting of young or upwardly mobile people in NYC starting over, the found family concept, etc. I think it was modern and I think there are real things to be learned from it still - I liked a lot of things about it. But I think the quality stories often just weren't there.

More of The Daleks in color.

A glimpse of the colorization:

Sorry - I did a search and had nowhere else vaguely appropriate to put this article about John Amos' troubling family situation.

There was so much goofy and gratuitous about GH at that time, but I did like that. It reminded me of the end of Stephen King's 'salem's Lot. Of course if I had control of an ABC soap you'd see some of the kids visit the 'ghost town' on Halloween on a dare and run into the ghost of Gwyneth Alden, so I'm one to talk about gratuity and fan service.

I watched some of the Dreaming Death during a recent dive back into all eras of GL. The similarities to Dark Shadows' Dream Curse were striking, and the episodes where the sleazy hospital administrator's new wife dreams her way into dying were truly disturbing and eerie. It was very un-GL, but I thought a lot of it was pretty well done. The story was so gross, but that was one of GH's last all-time cliffhangers. They should not have done that with Rick Hearst if they intended to keep him around.

What an odd situation.

Just as a note: I'm pretty sure that is a Kaled military uniform the guest star is wearing above, from Genesis of the Daleks.

Color photos from the new cutdown of The Daleks are apparently in DWM - I am trying to hunt them down. The new edition is already on pre-sale as an official Blu-Ray, IIRC it also has rescoring with new music. They also apparently went out and got 98 year old David Graham to do new Dalek voice work (he was one of the originals). I believe RTD is on record as saying he firmly believes children won't watch B&W material and he wants to make '60s Who more accessible to future generations with colorization, which is an ethos I can understand for certain stories and material, provided the originals are preserved which they are. But I also consider it unthinkable for most past media, especially movies. It's complicated. But if '60s Who was largely dressed for color, as I think it often was, I can deal with it - in doses. As for cutting the length, God knows all Terry Nation stories or 6-8 parters (especially The Daleks) have a lot of filler.

Colin is apparently starring in a romcom with Anita Dobson.

I wrote a lot about Gwyneth/Trisha when I rewatched the whole story in COVID 2020 - god knows what pages those are in this thread. My take was something I think Gwyneth echoes onscreen when talking to Steffi during the big reveal; sometimes she knows it's her, sometimes she doesn't. She clearly has a lot of rage and fury against Trisha as well as a lot of self-loathing, and yes, a lot of her dialogue with Clay, Jeremy, etc. early on in the story suggest someone who is trying to exonerate Curtis or others, or incriminate herself. (She keeps pleading with Alex and other members of the Corinth PD to look at her psych profile of the killer, and she tells Clay flat-out 'Curtis didn't kill Stacey' in a very ominous scene.) She also repeatedly breaks down and pleads for the killer to take her instead. Then there's the incredible scene with Neal in prison where they both know and are talking around it. But there are hints there in her scenes with her loved ones from the very beginning, even if IIRC Tudor wasn't told until late in the day.

Didn't the BBC offer a blanket amnesty for retrieval of lost episodes? It's discussed here but I could've sworn they put one out there some time ago.

It's a strange thing to say, but you almost wish the Benards could get involved and lay him to rest. We mock Maurice for a lot of things but I have no doubt he wouldn't be out for Tyler's estate or clout.

Both Bonnie Langford and Jemma Redgrave are confirmed to be in the first special in a couple weeks - Bonnie (and probably Jemma) is in more than one, it seems.

I do wonder if RTD being back means Graeme Harper might return - I don't believe he's retired, seems he's been doing a ton of Hollyoaks and Inside No. 9. I never understood why he left, unless he wanted a change. I am pleased Russell brought back Rachel Talalay from Moffat's era for the specials.