TV with MeeVee

Tonight's Picks: Friday, May 9

On "Doctor Who," The Doc and Donna make some awful discoveries on the Ood Sphere. Like for instance that sci fi is the only thing worth watching on Friday nights.

On "Moonlight," Mick has to face up to a few things when the grandson of his World War II buddy goes missing.

The search for earth takes an unexpected turn on "Battlestar Galactica," and Starbuck reaches new levels of crazy.

"Doctor Who" A Ratings Winner For Scifi

Between the hardcore Whovians and all my beloved mother-frakkers, things are looking rosy for The Sci Fi Channel. Season 4 of "Doctor Who" had its American premiere last Friday with the 90-minute "Voyage of the Damned" special, a Titanic-themed episode that teamed the good Doctor with pop princess Kylie Minogue, and it proved to be a ratings hit for Sci Fi. The episode aired with the highest ratings for a season premiere since the first season ran on Sci Fi in 2006. Add to that the fact that "Battlestar Galactica" hit a ratings high with its final-season premiere, and it's champagne time over at the channel.

"Doctor Who" will be back with regular episodes this Friday, staring the ever charming David Tennant as The Doctor and bringing back Catherine Tate as the whiny, slightly annoying Donna. I hope that she'll grow on me, but I miss Martha already.

I Renounce "Doctor Who" And Other Works Of Satan

A man who's renounced his love of "Doctor Who" after a religious experience is selling his whole collection of models and memorabilia on EBay. Apparently although it's a sin for him to have a life-size model of Tardis, it's totally OK for someone else to have it, and for him to take money from someone who wants it. OK then. Good for him, I guess? Maybe he can start collecting "Davey And Goliath" or EWTN memorabilia now?

"Doctor Who" And "Torchwood" Lose Cool Points, Actors

Rumors are flying fast and furious about the fate of "Doctor Who" and "Torchwood," two of the BBCs most popular scripted programs. There have been persistent unconfirmed rumors that the fabulously weird David Tennant would be leaving his role as The Doctor, which would be disappointing but can be considered an inevitability of sorts. Like James Bond, the role experiences a lot of turnover. David Tennant is beloved by  fans, but some of the other options sound pretty good. Sadly the rumor that it might be David Carlyle of "The Full Monty" fame has proven false.

On the other hand, the news that "Torchwood" may lose Jack, Owen and Tosh in the next season makes one wonder why they'd bother keeping the show. "Torchwood" without Captain Jack Harkness seems a little like "MacGyver" without MacGyver, or "Stargate: SG-1" without MacGyver. It's hard to imagine the show surviving a radical Jack-ectomy without folding like a house of cards. This rumor (coming to us by way of SyFy Portal) comes from the same source as the David Carlyle story, so we can hope that both are equally wrong. What do you think, "Torchwood" fans? Is there any point in the show with Captain Jack?

The Economist Watches "Dr. Who"

The serious (but not stuffy) UK business mag The Economist sent someone to liveblog the latest primary election results. Yes, just as I've been faithfully liveblogging "American Idol," someone else is drawing connections between politics and... "Doctor Who?"

Yes:

I should note, incidentally, that I'm at a small party with a gaggle of bloggers, and a New York Times reporter has just shown up to cover us covering the cable networks covering the returns. I've now covered her coverage of our coverage of their coverage, and this sentence is reflexive coverage of my coverage. If I recall correctly from my skimming of Godel, Escher, Bach and religious viewing of Doctor Who, this will create a strange loop that rends the fabric of the universe asunder.

"Doctor Who" Visits "Top Gear"

"Doctor Who" star David Tennant visited "Top Gear" to take a few test laps on the test-track in a mid-priced sedan. If you're a fan of either show (or both!), this is a great clip to watch. He's the second "Doctor Who" actor on the show, and he's got a bit of a bone to pick with the hosts about the fairness of co-star Billie Piper's track time. Does he beat her? Well, no.

Meanwhile, the jet-powered drag car in which host Richard Hammond had a near-fatal crash at over 200 mph is now for sale. Of course, it's pretty banged up and doesn't actually start at this point, but it does come with brand-new spare parts for most of the most important bits.

Billie Piper Returns to "Doctor Who," Original Producer Travels To Alternate Universe

Billie Piper's character Rose Tyler will return from an alternate universe next season in "Doctor Who," says the BBC. Rose will appear in three of next season's 13 episodes, which start in March 2008. The BBC also notes that the 2009 season will be quite short, consisting only of three special episodes, although a proper full season is planned for 2010.

Meanwhile, Verity Lambert, the original series producer and one of the first female TV producers anywhere, died last week at the age of 71. I prefer to think of it as traveling to an alternate universe. It leaves open the possibility that she'll come back for the 2010 season as a producer emeritus.

Lambert was just 28 when she began work on "Doctor Who," creating what would become one of the longest-running serial shows in the world. Ed Champion pointed me to a series of YouTube videos of the show's pilot, which were ultimately refilmed because the Doctor was not sympathetic enough.  Yes, he was even less likable in the original. Here's the intro:

Totally Frakked: "Doctor Who" And The Power Of Love

Doctor Who
Title: "Last Of The Timelords"
First Aired (US): 10/05/07

Given how many seasons (or, for the British, series) of "Doctor Who" there have been, it must be spectacularly difficult to come up with new epic conflicts for season finales. Still, they manage to turn in a pretty spectacular spectacle this time, and we can forgive them a few little hiccups along the way. In the end, of course, The Doctor is triumphant, and he only has to get a wee bit schmaltzy to get there.

We pick up one year after the last episode; Martha Jones is returning to England, having been wandering the earth like Caine from "Kung Fu." She meets up with a freedom-fighting hottie named Thomas who leads her to Professor Docherty, a crotchety older woman who has the skills to find out exactly what makes those little flying metal balls tick. They set to work ensnaring one, and pop it open to discover that there's a creepy, awful head living inside. Apparently the Toclafane are the remnants of the humans from the end of the galaxy, they went to Utopia and got turned into scary metal things. Then, The Master, who could only use the TARDIS to travel from modern earth to the end of the galaxy after The Doctor fused the coordinates, followed along behind and gathered them up. Doesn't sound very Utopian to me.

Totally Frakked: "Doctor Who" And The Paradox Machine

Doctor Who
Title: "The Sound Of Drums"
First Aired (US): 09/28/07

Let me take a moment to say it again; The Master is an awesome villain. The penultimate episode of the season is all about The Master's Big Evil Plan, and watching him caper about, cracking wise and generally being crazy is easily as much fun as the big suspense. John Simms is the seventh actor to play The Master, and he brings a particular gleeful, manic humor to the part that seems like a cracked reflection of Tennant's Doctor; it's masterfully done (pardon the pun).

Of course, at the end of last episode, Martha, The Doctor and Jack were trapped at the end of the universe, so it's convenient that Jack happened to have an only slightly broken vortex manipulator with him. A few shots with the sonic screwdriver and the trio is back in London, only a few days after they left. Ain't time travel grand?

Totally Frakked: "Doctor Who" And The End Of The Universe

Doctor Who
Title: "Utopia"
First Aired (US): 09/21/07

There have been a lot of good villains in the course of "Doctor Who." the Daleks are so universal they even made it into the dictionary and the Cybermen personify metal menace.  Personally though, I've always had a soft spot for this week's villain, another classic Who big bad who has returned to taunt The Doctor in his newest incarnation.

Speaking of welcome returns, Jack Harkness is back again, carrying along a severed hand which The Doctor lost during "The Christmas Invasion."  When the TARDIS stops over in Cardiff to refuel, Jack comes running out to hop aboard, clinging to the outside and forcing the TARDIS off course and all the way out to the end of the universe.  Nice going, Jack.  Slightly confusingly for American audiences who are following "Dr. Who" on The Scifi Channel and "Torchwood" on BBC America, this event takes place out of step with the current plot on "Torchwood," but should connect up to an event later in that season.

Totally Frakked: "Doctor Who" And Sally Sparrow

Doctor Who
Title: "Blink"
First Aired (US): 09/14/07

Everyone knows that The Doctor himself is what makes Doctor Who a great show.  His name is on the front door for a reason, after all, and David Tennant's intense, almost manic turn as the tenth Doctor is particularly excellent.  That said, I have to admit that the two "Doctor light" episodes, last season's "Love & Monsters" and "Blink" are both particularly good episodes.

Filling in as our temporary heroine is Sally Sparrow, one charming young photographer who finds herself tumbling down the rabbit hole when she goes on a photo field-trip and discovers a secret message from the doctor, hidden inside an abandoned house and under a layer of wallpaper.  The message?  "Duck."

Totally Frakked: "Doctor Who" and Mr. Smith

Doctor Who
Title: "The Family Of Blood"
First Aired (US): 09/07/07

From the outside it seems like it would be a lot of fun to be The Doctor; galavanting around the universe, foiling aliens with your sonic screwdriver and always getting the girl whether you wanted her or not.  In practice though, one can imagine you might get tired of it.  Being an ordinary fellow might start to look pretty good, after a few thousand years on the BBC.  So it's not that surprising that "John Smith" is a little resistant to the idea of turning back into The Doctor, especially since there's this whole nasty Family of Blood problem.

Much of the first half of the episode is concerned with the business of trying to outrun or outfight the nasty body-snatching aliens.  Martha manages to hold off the Family at the dance hall (where we left our heroes at the end of last episode) by sheer force of will, which allows John Smith, Timothy and the pretty little school nurse to escape.

Totally Frakked: Torchwood Burns Bright

I think the principals may be contractually forbidden from saying it, but let's just call "Torchwood" a "Doctor Who" for grownups. The spinoff from the family-friendly Brit sci fi classic debuts this weekend on BBC America, and we'll have a review later in the week. But for the moment you might like a few words from star John Barrowman and executive producer Julie Gardner, who met the press in L.A. a few weeks ago to genially pimp the series for American audiences.

Barrowman plays Captain Jack Harkness, leader of the Wales squad of a covert operations group called the Torchwood Institute, devoted to hunting down extraterrestrials on earth and scavenging their technology for use on future missions. The group exists contemporaneously with the current David Tennant version of "Dr. Who," complete with crossovers, but in a more adult milieu enabled by the show's later timeslot in Britain, where the first episodes already aired. Harkness initially appeared in several "Dr. Who" episodes, but current "Dr. Who" showrunner Russell T. Davies already had the idea that became "Torchwood."

Totally Frakked: "Doctor Who" Grounded 'Til 2009

That wailing and gnashing of teeth that you hear is thousands of "Doctor Who" fans reacting to the news that we'll have no new Who until 2009, and no regular season until 2010.  Jane Tranter, BBC's Controller of Fiction, along with having the world's coolest job title is inappropriately chipper about this news. 

"Doctor Who is one of the BBC's best-loved and most successful dramas. Its journey over the past three series has been one of the most ambitious and exciting that we have had, and I'm delighted to be able to confirm not only three exciting specials for 2009, but a fifth series in 2010. "

That's quite a cheery spin on the whole thing, but the truth is BBC is stuck working around David Tennant's busy performance schedule.  He's slated to play Hamlet with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and that's just not the kind of gig you turn down to play Doctor Who. Tennant's lack of availability has led to discussion that he may not be returning after the 2009 specials. Is an 11th Doctor waiting in the wings?  Who should occupy the TARDIS next?  Think we could pry Hugh Laurie away from "House"?

"Doctor Who" To Cast The Man Who Fell To Earth? Sadly, No

Who's the best man to play an alien on "Doctor Who"? Obviously, Ziggy Stardust himself, David Bowie. Fans of Bowie and the Doctor are quaking in their shoes right at this very minute at the mere possibility. Sadly, Bowie and the BBC both deny it. Come on guys, it'd be great! He has experience playing aliens, he looks like an alien, and everybody loves him. For me? Please?

Additional news from the "Doctor Who" universe: SyFy Portal reports that the Jack and Ianto relationship will be explored in further depth on the upcoming season of "Torchwood," and SciFi Wire has a list of the extras that will be included in the DVD releases for both shows. They also reveal prices, which are shockingly high: nearly $80 for "Torchwood" and $100 for "Doctor Who."

Totally Frakked: "Doctor Who" And The Family Stone

Doctor Who
Title: "Human Nature"
First Aired (US): 08/24/07

The latest "Doctor Who" villain - a spooky group of aliens called The Family of Blood - hits a ten on the creepy scale.  Between animated scarecrows, body snatching, and sniffing out their enemies, The Family makes for an episode that rivals some of the really good classic "X-Files" episodes for sheer freakout factor.

If that weren't bad enough, it's England in 1913 and The Doctor thinks he's a schoolteacher.  The episode opens with The Doctor awaking from a nightmare of being pursued, but when Martha - dressed as a maid - comes in to check on him he asserts that he dreamed of being an alien, but he's as human as they come.

Totally Frakked: "Doctor Who" And The Big Flaming Ball Of Death

Doctor Who
Title: "42"
First Aired (US): 08/17/07

This week, The Doctor and Martha rock it Jack Bauer-style.  "42" takes place in real time, and from the moment the two arrive in their latest location it's go-go-go.

The location in question is the vent room of a decrepit old spaceship  falling rapidly towards a big, yellow sun.  As soon as The Doctor and Martha step out of the vent room, the panicky ship's crew slams the door shut behind them.  The duo is locked off from the TARDIS and the vent room is heating up to several thousand degrees, so they've got no choice but to help the hapless crew with their little solar problem.

Totally Frakked: "Doctor Who" And The Fountain Of Youth

Doctor Who
Title: "The Lazarus Experiment"
First Aired (US): 08/10/07

The best thing about "Doctor Who" is the important moral lessons.  Like, brush your teeth, and be nice to your mother, and don't pursue eternal youth, or you'll turn into a horrifying scorpion-man-thing. 

As promised repeatedly, The Doctor brings Martha back home, intent on dropping her off in her flat, which we all know won't work out.  Indeed, it's very conveniently interrupted by a news broadcast by the excessively aptly named Dr. Lazarus, who employs Martha's sister Tish.  He announces his plans to "change humanity forever" and faster than you can say "want to come up to Tardis and see my etchings", The Doctor is back for another earthbound adventure.

Totally Frakked: Doctor Who -- Squeal Like A Pig

Doctor Who
Title: "Daleks In Manhattan"
First Aired (US): 07/27/07

After the trip to New New York, The Doctor and Martha find themselves in old New York.  New York in 1930, to be precise.  The duo find themselves in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, with a nice view of the not-quite-finished Empire State Building.  We all know what that means... British actors doing hilariously bad American accents.

Hey, at least it's not just us.

In the teaser, some poor stagehand (with a bad American accent) gets kidnapped by some kind of humanoid pig, so we know that all is not right in Manhattan, but The Doctor and Martha are off to visit the slums of Hooverville.  He picks the best vacation spots.

Totally Frakked: Doctor Who -- Facetime With The Doctor

Doctor Who
Title: "Gridlock"
First Aired (US): 07/21/07

It's flashback time for "Doctor Who" fans; "Gridlock" takes us back to New Earth, and reunites us with one of the most ridiculous and excellent "Doctor Who" creatures, The Face Of Boe.  Things have changed on New Earth when Martha and The Doctor arrive.  They find themselves in the lower city, where desperate, impoverished New Earthers attempt to get out of Dodge by taking the clogged expressways.

Just as The Doctor and Martha are getting their bearings and turning down insistent drug dealers, a young couple appears and kidnaps Martha.  The Doctor tries to give chase, but they get away from him.  After learning from their friendly neighborhood drug dealers that Martha's been kidnapped so that the couple can get into the worst fast lane in history, The Doctor takes his trusty sonic screwdriver and busts into the expressway, determined to rescue his new companion.

Totally Frakked: Doctor Who - The Play's The Thing

In thanks for her help in "Smith And Jones," the Doctor takes Martha on a little time -travel jaunt to Elizabethan England.  His plan is to take her over to The Globe theatre to catch a show and then send her back, but several decades' worth of "Doctor Who" episodes suggest that won't go as planned.

"Doctor Who" does the smart thing, and pretty much glosses over the sticky issues of time travel. In the Whoniverse, you're clearly not in imminent danger of changing the future with every move you make, and for some reason Martha can get away with wandering around in her jeans and leather jacket without anyone so much as blinking.  It may not be the most realistic approach, but after having seen sci fi get bogged down time and again with the question of time travel and still not make a lick of sense, I'm more than happy to just let it go.

Totally Frakked: Doctor Who -- Double Your Fun

Doctor Who
Title: "The Runaway Bride"/"Smith and Jones"
First Aired (US): 07/06/07

The Scifi Channel started of the US airing of Season Three (or "Series Three" for our friends across the pond) with a double whammy.  American Whovians, desperate for a dose of the doctor, got the 2006 Christmas special, "The Runaway Bride," as well as the regular season opener, "Smith and Jones".  Two and a half hours of David Tennant goodness!  First off was the Christmas special.

The Runaway Bride

The hour-long special doesn't connect much to the continuity of the "Doctor Who" storyline, which makes it a good intro for new fans. Regular old human Donna is getting married when she finds herself mysteriously teleported onto the Tardis; she thinks she's been kidnapped and The Doctor just can't figure out what she's doing there. Donna, who understandably (if bitchily), wants to get back to her wedding, demands that The Doctor return her to earth in time for the bouquet toss.

Totally Frakked: Hot Wet Sci Fi Summer

If you were wondering what Totally Frakked was going to do with its summer vacation, have no fear: The Sci Fi Channel has announced its big summer lineup.  They're super-duper excited about it -- but are we? Let's take a look at the good, the bad, and the ugly.

NEW SHOWS

Destination Truth -- Premieres June 6
The Skinny: One-hour adventure/reality series follows host Josh Gates around the world while he and his crew hunt for the creepy and the ooky.
Pros: Can a show that features El Chupacabra possibly be bad? 
Cons: Can a show that features Bigfoot possibly be good?

Totally Frakked: Sci Fi Channel Picks Up Doctor Who Season Three

All the Whos down in Whoville are throwing a party. The Sci Fi Channel has signed a deal with the BBC to run the third season of Doctor Who. The series will debut on Sci Fi in July 2007, starting off with the Doctor Who Christmas Special: The Runaway Bride.

David Tennant is back again as the Tenth Doctor, and we poor Yankees will get to meet the Doctor's new companion, Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman), in the season opener, "Smith and Jones."

Totally Frakked: Doctor Who -- Doctor Renewed

Fans worried that the cavernous insides of the time- and space-hopping TARDIS will prove to be a lonely place for Doctor Who now that Rose Tyler has departed the adventure shouldn’t despair. The celebrated Time Lord (David Tennant) heads into the relaunched series’ third season with not one, but two new assistants. The good Doctor also reconnects with an old rival, and battles the usual hordes of monsters, robots, and other assorted galactic villains.

Totally Frakked: Doctor Who -- Doctor YOU!

Aspiring authors/fans of the longest-running Sci Fi series on TV are being given the chance of a lifetime -- or several lifetimes. Big Finish, publisher of a line of Doctor Who books, is presently holding an open call for manuscript submissions for Short Trips, a volume of original short stories to be published in 2007. Meant to satisfy a reader’s Doctor Who hunger like the literary equivalent of tasty appetizers, stories submitted to the appropriately titled collection cannot exceed 2,500 words in length. Each story must also begin with the following premise: “How the Doctor changed my life.”

Totally Frakked: Doctor Who -- When Parallel Worlds Colllide

Doctor Who
Title: "Doomsday"
First Aired: 12/22/06

The city of London gets blitzed yet again after not one, but two mechanical armies lay waste to Torchwood Tower. The Doctor, Jackie, and Torchwood schemer Yvonne Hartman find themselves staring down the barrels of deadly Cybermen arm lasers. Meanwhile, down in the basement lab, Rose, Mickie, and Doctor Singh stare into the crosshairs of four Dalek laser arms. It doesn’t get much worse than this for our favorite time travelers -- or much better for viewers who tuned in for the second installment of the Doctor Who season finale, “Doomsday.”

Totally Frakked: Doctor Who -- Ghosts in the Machine

Doctor Who
Title: "Army of Ghosts"
First Aired: 12/22/06

The Doctor sniffs something foul in the air after he and Rose return home just in time to witness a bizarre planet-wide convergence between the living and the supposedly dead. Just how foul this business is will soon be revealed, as two mighty mechanical enemies lay down the gauntlet, setting events into motion that will change the well-traveled universe of Doctor Who forever.

Totally Frakked: Doctor Who -- Artsy Fartsy

Doctor Who
Title: "Fear Her"
First Aired: 12/15/06

Doctor Who journeys to near-future London, just in time to enjoy the 2012 Olympics. The residents of the seemingly normal neighborhood where the TARDIS lands, however, might as well be living in the cursed village of Midwich. As the Doctor and Rose soon learn, all have plenty of reason to “Fear Her.”

Weekend Picks: Dec. 15-17

Battlestar Galactica - The Eye of Jupiter
The Temple of Five is discovered on the algae planet, leading to a standoff between the Cylons and the Colonials over an ancient artifact that may point the way to Earth. And if that makes absolutely no sense to you, it's probably not a good time to start watching this Sci Fi classic.

Doctor Who - Fear Her
It's 2012, and the Doctor plans to show Rose the London Olympics. But you know what they say about plans, when you make 'em, be prepared to break 'em -- especially if there's a sinister little girl lurking around.

Survivor: Cook Islands - This Tribe Will Self-Destruct in 5, 4, 3...
The jury is seated and they ain't happy, which means it's fun time for viewers as the three finalists -- yep, there's three this time -- face their ousted opponents and try to explain the lying, cheating and backstabbing that got them where they are today.  Jeff Probst is the host.

Next Top Model: British Invasion
Look! It's another chance to watch painfully thin and beautiful women compete for a modeling crown. Only this time, they speak with British accents and you get the whole season in one special. Oh behave, darling, behave!

Totally Frakked: Doctor Who -- Electric Lite Orchestra

Doctor Who
Title: "Love & Monsters"
First Aired: 12/8/06

After two weeks of battling dark forces and demons at the outer rim of the universe, Doctor Who takes a break from hardcore horror with a light, silly, and completely rewarding episode. Not since Tom Baker tumbled over his scarf while fighting an egg-headed Sontaran Warrior umpteen-zillion years ago has there been a chuckle-fest quite like “Love & Monsters.”

Totally Frakked: Doctor Who -- The Satan Pit

Doctor Who
Title: "The Satan Pit"
First Aired: 12/1/06

Last week, Doctor Who and his traveling companion Rose found themselves stranded on a desolate planet locked in the event horizon of a black hole. The TARDIS pulled one of her classic disappearing acts. As if that wasn’t bad enough, a sinister race of tentacle-faced Ood were on a murderous rampage through the planet’s deep space research station. To top things off -- and in keeping with this season’s unrivaled thrill ride -- the human exploration team digging around in the dark tunnels beneath the station unearthed the one and only devil himself.