Post by The Doc on Mar 18, 2006 14:44:59 GMT
As noted elsewhere, Friday night, 17 March was the United States premiere of the new Doctor Who series. It aired on the SciFi Channel from 9pm to 11pm with both "Rose" and "The End of the World" running one right after the other. Both episodes were then repeated from 11pm to 1am.
Initial reaction from people that had never seen the new Doctor Who series seems to be very positive. This is based upon reaction on SciFi's BBoard and from another board called "Television Without Pity". I think reaction on both boards is significant. SciFi's board can be filled with really obnoxious, negative posts if something is not liked. That didn't happen. Other than a few posts here or there, most posts are either very enthusiastic or 'that was pretty good' types. TWOP posts are smaller in number but generally are more intelligent and thought out. And the general feeling on that board is the show is good to very good.
Ratings probably won't be announced until sometime next week. It was a difficult night for Doctor Who to premier in. First, it was St. Patrick's Day. So, there were probably a lot of people out partying. And, a significant portion of the male population was probably watching the NCAA college basketball tournament. But, I have a feeling the ratings will be pretty good despite it all.
I believe the episodes were the copies that were sent to Canada for CBC airings. The music in the scene from "Rose" after the arm attack when the Doctor leaves Rose's flat and she chases after him was different in the CBC airing than it was in the BBC airing. We got the CBC version. Also, someone else mentioned the closed captioning for the hearing impaired was the Canadian version. We also got the statement "produced in association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation" at the end of the credits, just like in the Canadian airings.
The commercial breaks weren't too bad. One commercial break helps a lot, in fact. In "The End of the World", a commercial break ends and the first thing we hear is the Moxx of Balhoon telling The Face of Boe about the "bad wolf scenario". My first couple of times watching that episode, I never noticed that bit of dialog. I didn't notice it until the DVD set. But, because of the commercial break, that bit of dialog is emphasized.
Because of the commericals, the episodes were edited a little bit but not too badly.
Cuts/Changes for "Rose":
Cuts/Changes for "The End of the World":
On the whole, the cuts weren't bad. The biggest cut is Cassandra's speech before "Toxic" is played.
The audio was really good. On the DVD set, the music tends to drown out the dialog. I guess this is a common problem on the boxset in the UK, Canada, and Australia. But, in these two episodes, the music was much better, not drowning out the dialog at all.
Overall, I am very pleased. I am waiting with anticipation on how the ratings were.
Initial reaction from people that had never seen the new Doctor Who series seems to be very positive. This is based upon reaction on SciFi's BBoard and from another board called "Television Without Pity". I think reaction on both boards is significant. SciFi's board can be filled with really obnoxious, negative posts if something is not liked. That didn't happen. Other than a few posts here or there, most posts are either very enthusiastic or 'that was pretty good' types. TWOP posts are smaller in number but generally are more intelligent and thought out. And the general feeling on that board is the show is good to very good.
Ratings probably won't be announced until sometime next week. It was a difficult night for Doctor Who to premier in. First, it was St. Patrick's Day. So, there were probably a lot of people out partying. And, a significant portion of the male population was probably watching the NCAA college basketball tournament. But, I have a feeling the ratings will be pretty good despite it all.
I believe the episodes were the copies that were sent to Canada for CBC airings. The music in the scene from "Rose" after the arm attack when the Doctor leaves Rose's flat and she chases after him was different in the CBC airing than it was in the BBC airing. We got the CBC version. Also, someone else mentioned the closed captioning for the hearing impaired was the Canadian version. We also got the statement "produced in association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation" at the end of the credits, just like in the Canadian airings.
The commercial breaks weren't too bad. One commercial break helps a lot, in fact. In "The End of the World", a commercial break ends and the first thing we hear is the Moxx of Balhoon telling The Face of Boe about the "bad wolf scenario". My first couple of times watching that episode, I never noticed that bit of dialog. I didn't notice it until the DVD set. But, because of the commercial break, that bit of dialog is emphasized.
Because of the commericals, the episodes were edited a little bit but not too badly.
Cuts/Changes for "Rose":
- The first cut is 10 seconds off the beginning of the scene where Mickey gets sucked into the Wheelie Bin. This was not very important because it was just a pan down on to Mickey's car and Mickey looking around.
- The "Next Time" sequence was taken out. The end credits were squished to the bottom of the screen and accelerated for...
Cuts/Changes for "The End of the World":
- With the end credits for "Rose" squished and accelerated at the bottom of the screen, the "recap" from "Rose" at the beginning of "The End of the World" is played at the top of the screen and seamlessly going to full screen when the "Rose" credits are finished. I didn't even notice how they went from split to full screen it was so seamless.
- They edited out the scene where Cassandra told everyone to gather around just before the Earth bites the dust. However they did show the end of that scene with the "ipod" starting and playing the song "Toxic".
- The scene of the Doctor running between the fans was cut a little bit. I can't say exactly what they cut. I think one of the snippets of Rose avoiding the sun's rays was cut and a snippet of the other guests was cut. Also they may have cut one snippet of the Doctor looking at the fan infront of him.
- The Next Time sequence for "The Unquiet Dead" was changed to a shorter one with short snippets of scenes from the episode and on screen titles giving short descriptions of some of the things to expect in the story.
On the whole, the cuts weren't bad. The biggest cut is Cassandra's speech before "Toxic" is played.
The audio was really good. On the DVD set, the music tends to drown out the dialog. I guess this is a common problem on the boxset in the UK, Canada, and Australia. But, in these two episodes, the music was much better, not drowning out the dialog at all.
Overall, I am very pleased. I am waiting with anticipation on how the ratings were.
