On the last day of 2021, I watched:

FAMILY GUY:
FXX was playing every ep.

What did you watch?

--
Let's go Brandon!

On 2022-01-01 09:30:41 +0000, Ubiquitous said:

> What did you watch?

After coming back from my sister's, yesterday felt like my first real
"vacation day" of Winter Break! I got through:

soaps: DOOL - Lucas' plan to get Sami back is going swimmingly, which
means it's all about to blow up in his face. Apparently, in one of the
episodes I missed, Allie went agro/nuts when informed of Johnny and
NuChanel's wedding, and so apologized in this ep (after some prompting
from Lucas). Marlena is still traumatized by the Devil possession
(which is now over)... OH NOES!! The Devil is in Johnny now!
GH - A rerun episode only.

Intergalactic (recorded) - Ep's #5-8. Finished out the series. Was
hoping for a better wrap up of an ending, but we really didn't get one.
The main baddie is killed, replaced by the other main baddie. The
evil convict gambles her daughter into slavery (I dunno why they didn't
just all space her then and there...). They reveal that Eleanor
Tomlinson's character, Candy, is a doctor (where did this come
from?!!). And they rescue immortal Dr. Emma, and manage to make it to
Arcadia, where Ash is reunited with her father. The End.
I was really hoping for more of an ending than this...

The Book of Boba Fett (Disney+) - "Chapter 1: Stranger in a Strange
Land" (ep. #1).
Well, we finally get backstory on how Boba escaped from the sand
worm in "Return of the Jedi"!! Unfortunately, things go from bad to
worse from there!
Tatooine really is a complete garbage pit of a planet, isn't it?!
You've got Jawas, who are awful. And Tusken Raiders, who are also
awful. And then various monsters like the sand worm... Why does anyone
choose to live on this planet?!!
In the "present", Boba and Fennec Shand receive "tribute" as crime
bosses from various factions, except for one town that refuses (and
actually asks for tribute from Boba!!). Boba spares two of the former
orc/pig-looking Hutt guards and gets them to work for him. Boba and
Fennec then visit a cantina in a nearby town, run by Jennifer Beals,
but are then attacked by a group of assassins. Boba, Fennec and the
orc/pic guards kills all but one of them that Fennec captures.
This was an incredibly short episode, clocking in at only 37 minutes... >:/

Zola (Showtime 2) - I've actually been wanting to see this since I
heard about it.
Taylour Paige plays a waitress and part-time stripper in Detroit
named Zola who is convinced by her "new stripper friend", "Stephani"
(Riley Keough) (nee Jessica?), to drive to Florida to strip for extra
money. Her "boyfriend" (Colman Domingo from "Fear the Walking Dead"
whose distinctive voice I recognized immediately) and "roommate"
(geezus!! it's Nicholas Braun from the "10 Things I Hate About You" TV
series!! WTF is he doing here?!!) come along for the ride.
Well, of course, her "boyfriend" is actually her pimp, and her
"roommate" is a lovesick idiot that she's stringing along.
Of course, Zola wants no part of the hooking part of this operation,
but now she's stuck. So she starts improving Stephani's "operation" to
earn more money, while refusing to hook herself.
This was OK, if you like "dark comedy", I guess. But I just found
the whole busniess/story just sad. (Though I did like Stephani's later
tweet (or Instagram?) for her version of the story where she tries to
trash Zola, but basically just looks like a tool!)
This film is based on a true story, from a literal twitter thread
from the real Zola telling the story about this Florida trip.

--
"Who would ever do this to him!?" - HottCiara on DOOL (04-27-2020), asking
who would stab Victor Kirakis... How about ANYONE WHO'S EVER MET HIM??!!

On Saturday, January 1, 2022 at 12:34:17 PM UTC-5, Ian J. Ball wrote:
> On 2022-01-01 09:30:41 +0000, Ubiquitous said:
>
> > What did you watch?
>
> After coming back from my sister's, yesterday felt like my first real
> "vacation day" of Winter Break! I got through:
>
> soaps: DOOL - Lucas' plan to get Sami back is going swimmingly, which
> means it's all about to blow up in his face. Apparently, in one of the
> episodes I missed, Allie went agro/nuts when informed of Johnny and
> NuChanel's wedding, and so apologized in this ep (after some prompting
> from Lucas). Marlena is still traumatized by the Devil possession
> (which is now over)... OH NOES!! The Devil is in Johnny now!
> GH - A rerun episode only.
>
> Intergalactic (recorded) - Ep's #5-8. Finished out the series. Was
> hoping for a better wrap up of an ending, but we really didn't get one.
> The main baddie is killed, replaced by the other main baddie. The
> evil convict gambles her daughter into slavery (I dunno why they didn't
> just all space her then and there...). They reveal that Eleanor
> Tomlinson's character, Candy, is a doctor (where did this come
> from?!!). And they rescue immortal Dr. Emma, and manage to make it to
> Arcadia, where Ash is reunited with her father. The End.
> I was really hoping for more of an ending than this...
>
> The Book of Boba Fett (Disney+) - "Chapter 1: Stranger in a Strange
> Land" (ep. #1).
> Well, we finally get backstory on how Boba escaped from the sand
> worm in "Return of the Jedi"!! Unfortunately, things go from bad to
> worse from there!
> Tatooine really is a complete garbage pit of a planet, isn't it?!
> You've got Jawas, who are awful. And Tusken Raiders, who are also
> awful. And then various monsters like the sand worm... Why does anyone
> choose to live on this planet?!!
> In the "present", Boba and Fennec Shand receive "tribute" as crime
> bosses from various factions, except for one town that refuses (and
> actually asks for tribute from Boba!!). Boba spares two of the former
> orc/pig-looking Hutt guards and gets them to work for him. Boba and
> Fennec then visit a cantina in a nearby town, run by Jennifer Beals,
> but are then attacked by a group of assassins. Boba, Fennec and the
> orc/pic guards kills all but one of them that Fennec captures.
> This was an incredibly short episode, clocking in at only 37 minutes... >:/

also the Grendel monster. Given the reference to Heinlein (also used as the first episode
of Star trek) I expected more, but in the book they mock religion and eat their dead which
may be an apt metaphor for what Disney is doing to Star Wars.

On 1/1/2022 9:34 AM, Ian J. Ball wrote:
> On 2022-01-01 09:30:41 +0000, Ubiquitous said:
>
>> What did you watch?
>
> After coming back from my sister's, yesterday felt like my first real
> "vacation day" of Winter Break! I got through:
>
> soaps: DOOL - Lucas' plan to get Sami back is going swimmingly, which
> means it's all about to blow up in his face. Apparently, in one of the
> episodes I missed, Allie went agro/nuts when informed of Johnny and
> NuChanel's wedding, and so apologized in this ep (after some prompting
> from Lucas). Marlena is still traumatized by the Devil possession (which
> is now over)... OH NOES!! The Devil is in Johnny now!
>   GH - A rerun episode only.
>
> Intergalactic (recorded) - Ep's #5-8. Finished out the series. Was
> hoping for a better wrap up of an ending, but we really didn't get one.
>   The main baddie is killed, replaced by the other main baddie. The
> evil convict gambles her daughter into slavery (I dunno why they didn't
> just all space her then and there...). They reveal that Eleanor
> Tomlinson's character, Candy, is a doctor (where did this come from?!!).
> And they rescue immortal Dr. Emma, and manage to make it to Arcadia,
> where Ash is reunited with her father. The End.
>   I was really hoping for more of an ending than this...
>

Sounds like I made the right decision to dump this.

> The Book of Boba Fett (Disney+) - "Chapter 1: Stranger in a Strange
> Land" (ep. #1).
>   Well, we finally get backstory on how Boba escaped from the sand worm
> in "Return of the Jedi"!! Unfortunately, things go from bad to worse
> from there!
>   Tatooine really is a complete garbage pit of a planet, isn't it?!
> You've got Jawas, who are awful. And Tusken Raiders, who are also awful.
> And then various monsters like the sand worm... Why does anyone choose
> to live on this planet?!!
>   In the "present", Boba and Fennec Shand receive "tribute" as crime
> bosses from various factions, except for one town that refuses (and
> actually asks for tribute from Boba!!). Boba spares two of the former
> orc/pig-looking Hutt guards and gets them to work for him. Boba and
> Fennec then visit a cantina in a nearby town, run by Jennifer Beals, but
> are then attacked by a group of assassins. Boba, Fennec and the orc/pic
> guards kills all but one of them that Fennec captures.
>   This was an incredibly short episode, clocking in at only 37
> minutes...  >:/
>

Yeah, is it an extra long half hour episode or a really shot hour episode?

> Zola (Showtime 2) - I've actually been wanting to see this since I heard
> about it.
>   Taylour Paige plays a waitress and part-time stripper in Detroit
> named Zola who is convinced by her "new stripper friend", "Stephani"
> (Riley Keough) (nee Jessica?), to drive to Florida to strip for extra
> money. Her "boyfriend" (Colman Domingo from "Fear the Walking Dead"
> whose distinctive voice I recognized immediately) and "roommate"
> (geezus!! it's Nicholas Braun from the "10 Things I Hate About You" TV
> series!! WTF is he doing here?!!)

Don't forget he is also on Succession.

come along for the ride.
>   Well, of course, her "boyfriend" is actually her pimp, and her
> "roommate" is a lovesick idiot that she's stringing along.
>   Of course, Zola wants no part of the hooking part of this operation,
> but now she's stuck. So she starts improving Stephani's "operation" to
> earn more money, while refusing to hook herself.
>   This was OK, if you like "dark comedy", I guess. But I just found the
> whole busniess/story just sad. (Though I did like Stephani's later tweet
> (or Instagram?) for her version of the story where she tries to trash
> Zola, but basically just looks like a tool!)

That part was LOL funny!

>   This film is based on a true story, from a literal twitter thread
> from the real Zola telling the story about this Florida trip.
>
>

I suspect I liked it a bit more than you did. Although it's not a movie
I want to see again, I liked it well enough while watching.

I watched:

End of Days - 1999 movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as an ex-cop who
has to protect a woman (Robin Tunney) from the Devil (Gabriel Byrne),
who is trying to force her to give birth to the anti-Crist on New
Year's. The Devil vs. a heavily armed Arnold Schwarzenegger? My
money's on Schwarzenegger!

Doctor Who: The Movie (DVD) 1996 TV movie which has Sylvester McCoy's
Seventh Doctor stopping in San Francisco where the Master (Eric Roberts)
escapes and he is promptly shot. He then regenerates into Paul McGann's
Eighth Doctor. He then teams up with an American doctor to stop the
Master from destroying Earth on New Year's in 1999. There was an
interesting trivia track on the disc. It said the writer had to try to
appease three different studios. One studio wanted Tom Baker instead of
Sylvester McCoy and another studio didn't want a regeneration scene at
all. For all the complaints about this TV movie, with all the
contradictory demands on the writer it's amazing it got pulled off at
all. I just remember at the time being super happy to have new Who again.

The Day of the Doctor (3D blu-ray) 2013 Doctor Who 50th anniversary
special which features Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor teaming up with
David Tennant Tenth Doctor and John Hurt's War Doctor. This is hands
down one of the best Doctor Who episodes ever. The highlight had to be
when all the doctors joined forces to save the day. One of the
characters points out all 12 Doctors, then another says, no, 13, and
then there's a close up shot of Peter Capaldi's eyes as his TARDIS also
flies in to help. At the time this special aired, Peter Capaldi hadn't
been officially introduced yet so that made his cameo appearance a nice
surprise. And just when you think it can't get any better Tom Baker's
fourth Doctor makes a cameo at the end and steal's the whole show. And
as an added bonus, this episode was filmed in 3D and looks absolutely
stunning in 3D. And it's not just depth. It has some out of the TV
effects with the Dalek plungers coming right out of the screen. Also on
the disc is a mini episode which features Paul McGann's regeneration
scene. The regeneration scene really should have been in the episode
itself instead of an extra on the disc.

Doctor Who: Twice Upon a Time (4K disc) 2017 doctor Who Christmas
special with Peter Capaldi as the twelfth doctor and David Bradley as
the First Doctor. The two of them meet when each is about to regenerate
but refuses to do so. This was a funny episode with Bradley's first
doctor constantly making sexist remarks and Capaldi cringing and
apologizing for him.

Ocean's 11 (TCM) The 1960 Frank Sinatra version. I was looking for a
"New Year's movie" and saw this on a list. I coincidentally already had
this sitting on my DVR. But I had no idea it was a New Year's movie.
The plot features the Ratpack robing a bunch of casinos on New Year's.

Snoopy Presents: For Auld Lang Syne (AppleTV+) Lucy gets depressed after
her grandmother says she's not going to visit for New Years. She then
tries to throw a New Years party but ends up ruining it. This wasn't
very good. It was mostly background noise.

Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:

>End of Days - 1999 movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as an ex-cop who
>has to protect a woman (Robin Tunney) from the Devil (Gabriel Byrne),
>who is trying to force her to give birth to the anti-Crist on New
>Year's. The Devil vs. a heavily armed Arnold Schwarzenegger? My
>money's on Schwarzenegger!

This movie is adequate, which is about all I can say. It was the last
movie he did before going into politics.

>Doctor Who: The Movie (DVD) 1996 TV movie which has Sylvester McCoy's
>Seventh Doctor stopping in San Francisco where the Master (Eric Roberts)
>escapes and he is promptly shot. He then regenerates into Paul McGann's
>Eighth Doctor. He then teams up with an American doctor to stop the
>Master from destroying Earth on New Year's in 1999. There was an
>interesting trivia track on the disc. It said the writer had to try to
>appease three different studios. One studio wanted Tom Baker instead of
>Sylvester McCoy and another studio didn't want a regeneration scene at
>all. For all the complaints about this TV movie, with all the
>contradictory demands on the writer it's amazing it got pulled off at
>all. I just remember at the time being super happy to have new Who again.

This movie is decent enough, and I liked Paul McGann. They re-used
having a medical doctor as companion later on. The movie clearly
influenced the current series.

On 1/1/2022 2:32 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
> Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:
>
>> End of Days - 1999 movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as an ex-cop who
>> has to protect a woman (Robin Tunney) from the Devil (Gabriel Byrne),
>> who is trying to force her to give birth to the anti-Crist on New
>> Year's. The Devil vs. a heavily armed Arnold Schwarzenegger? My
>> money's on Schwarzenegger!
>
> This movie is adequate, which is about all I can say.

No arguments there. It's not particularly good, but it's not really bad
either. It just sort of is. LOL

It was the last
> movie he did before going into politics.
>
>> Doctor Who: The Movie (DVD) 1996 TV movie which has Sylvester McCoy's
>> Seventh Doctor stopping in San Francisco where the Master (Eric Roberts)
>> escapes and he is promptly shot. He then regenerates into Paul McGann's
>> Eighth Doctor. He then teams up with an American doctor to stop the
>> Master from destroying Earth on New Year's in 1999. There was an
>> interesting trivia track on the disc. It said the writer had to try to
>> appease three different studios. One studio wanted Tom Baker instead of
>> Sylvester McCoy and another studio didn't want a regeneration scene at
>> all. For all the complaints about this TV movie, with all the
>> contradictory demands on the writer it's amazing it got pulled off at
>> all. I just remember at the time being super happy to have new Who again.
>
> This movie is decent enough, and I liked Paul McGann. They re-used
> having a medical doctor as companion later on. The movie clearly
> influenced the current series.

I noticed Steven Moffat's name in the credits. I was very surprised to
see he was involved. Who was the later medical companion? I had the
same thought, but couldn't remember who. The only other doctor
companion I could come up with was Harry Sullivan. Never mind, now I
remember. Right as I was about to hit send it came to me, Martha Jones.

Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> writes:

> Doctor Who: The Movie (DVD) 1996 TV movie which has Sylvester McCoy's
> Seventh Doctor stopping in San Francisco where the Master (Eric
> Roberts) escapes and he is promptly shot. He then regenerates into
> Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor. He then teams up with an American doctor
> to stop the Master from destroying Earth on New Year's in 1999. There
> was an interesting trivia track on the disc. It said the writer had
> to try to appease three different studios. One studio wanted Tom
> Baker instead of Sylvester McCoy and another studio didn't want a
> regeneration scene at all. For all the complaints about this TV movie,
> with all the contradictory demands on the writer it's amazing it got
> pulled off at all. I just remember at the time being super happy to
> have new Who again.

"Me too," what you said. I remember the complaining, but it's not as if
it was dramatically worse than a lot of post-Tom Baker writing and
continuity. I never did put Colin Baker's Doctor's timeline in a
semblance of order.

> The Day of the Doctor (3D blu-ray) 2013 Doctor Who 50th anniversary
> special which features Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor teaming up with
> David Tennant Tenth Doctor and John Hurt's War Doctor. This is hands
> down one of the best Doctor Who episodes ever. The highlight had to
> be when all the doctors joined forces to save the day. One of the
> characters points out all 12 Doctors, then another says, no, 13, and
> then there's a close up shot of Peter Capaldi's eyes as his TARDIS
> also flies in to help. At the time this special aired, Peter Capaldi
> hadn't been officially introduced yet so that made his cameo
> appearance a nice surprise.

"Me too." It really reached for the gravitas.

Tangentially, I'm reminded that if they want to get Sean Pertwee to play
the Third Doctor, they better get a move on.

> And just when you think it can't get any better Tom Baker's fourth
> Doctor makes a cameo at the end and steal's the whole show.

That was fun, but like that line in the theme to MST3K, you can't try to
figure it out too closely.

> And as an added bonus, this episode was filmed in 3D and looks
> absolutely stunning in 3D. And it's not just depth. It has some out
> of the TV effects with the Dalek plungers coming right out of the
> screen. Also on the disc is a mini episode which features Paul
> McGann's regeneration scene. The regeneration scene really should
> have been in the episode itself instead of an extra on the disc.

I'm sure I've seen it, but I don't own any copies of _Who_. Was it
transmitted in one of the episodes?

> Doctor Who: Twice Upon a Time (4K disc) 2017 doctor Who Christmas
> special with Peter Capaldi as the twelfth doctor and David Bradley as
> the First Doctor. The two of them meet when each is about to regenerate
> but refuses to do so. This was a funny episode with Bradley's first
> doctor constantly making sexist remarks and Capaldi cringing and
> apologizing for him.

Again, "Me too." Although it's funny how social conventions on
Gallifrey exactly paralleled those on Earth. It's kind of like how the
technology on the Tardis always seems to mirror the technology in the
narrative present on Earth, and the Doctor didn't give his companions
cell phones until cell phones were widely adopted on Earth.

> Ocean's 11 (TCM) The 1960 Frank Sinatra version. I was looking for a
> "New Year's movie" and saw this on a list. I coincidentally already
> had this sitting on my DVR. But I had no idea it was a New Year's
> movie. The plot features the Ratpack robing a bunch of casinos on New
> Year's.

I don't think I've ever seen it. How does it compare to the George
Clooney remake?

-Micky

On 1/15/2022 12:28 AM, Micky DuPree wrote:
> Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> writes:
>
>> Doctor Who: The Movie (DVD) 1996 TV movie which has Sylvester McCoy's
>> Seventh Doctor stopping in San Francisco where the Master (Eric
>> Roberts) escapes and he is promptly shot. He then regenerates into
>> Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor. He then teams up with an American doctor
>> to stop the Master from destroying Earth on New Year's in 1999. There
>> was an interesting trivia track on the disc. It said the writer had
>> to try to appease three different studios. One studio wanted Tom
>> Baker instead of Sylvester McCoy and another studio didn't want a
>> regeneration scene at all. For all the complaints about this TV movie,
>> with all the contradictory demands on the writer it's amazing it got
>> pulled off at all. I just remember at the time being super happy to
>> have new Who again.
>
> "Me too," what you said. I remember the complaining, but it's not as if
> it was dramatically worse than a lot of post-Tom Baker writing and
> continuity. I never did put Colin Baker's Doctor's timeline in a
> semblance of order.
>

Wasn't he fired or something, then refused to come back and film the
regeneration scene? That might have had something to do with it.

>
>> The Day of the Doctor (3D blu-ray) 2013 Doctor Who 50th anniversary
>> special which features Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor teaming up with
>> David Tennant Tenth Doctor and John Hurt's War Doctor. This is hands
>> down one of the best Doctor Who episodes ever. The highlight had to
>> be when all the doctors joined forces to save the day. One of the
>> characters points out all 12 Doctors, then another says, no, 13, and
>> then there's a close up shot of Peter Capaldi's eyes as his TARDIS
>> also flies in to help. At the time this special aired, Peter Capaldi
>> hadn't been officially introduced yet so that made his cameo
>> appearance a nice surprise.
>
> "Me too." It really reached for the gravitas.
>
> Tangentially, I'm reminded that if they want to get Sean Pertwee to play
> the Third Doctor, they better get a move on.
>

I know!
Have you seen this picture of him dressed as is father:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/312015080407875717/visual-search/?imageSignature=49aa43b36fc0c3376615bd63412fb2ed

>> And just when you think it can't get any better Tom Baker's fourth
>> Doctor makes a cameo at the end and steal's the whole show.
>
> That was fun, but like that line in the theme to MST3K, you can't try to
> figure it out too closely.
>
>> And as an added bonus, this episode was filmed in 3D and looks
>> absolutely stunning in 3D. And it's not just depth. It has some out
>> of the TV effects with the Dalek plungers coming right out of the
>> screen. Also on the disc is a mini episode which features Paul
>> McGann's regeneration scene. The regeneration scene really should
>> have been in the episode itself instead of an extra on the disc.
>
> I'm sure I've seen it, but I don't own any copies of _Who_. Was it
> transmitted in one of the episodes?
>
>

I'm not sure if it's ever been broadcast on TV in the U.S. It's only a
short.
The entire segment is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U3jrS-uhuo

I can't find a clean link to it, but if you can track it down watch "The
Five(ish) Doctors." It was released at the same time. It's a really
funny short featuring the other surviving Doctors who weren't in the
special, scheming to be in the special.

I did track down sort of a trailer for it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dV8u1_PNh8

>> Doctor Who: Twice Upon a Time (4K disc) 2017 doctor Who Christmas
>> special with Peter Capaldi as the twelfth doctor and David Bradley as
>> the First Doctor. The two of them meet when each is about to regenerate
>> but refuses to do so. This was a funny episode with Bradley's first
>> doctor constantly making sexist remarks and Capaldi cringing and
>> apologizing for him.
>
> Again, "Me too." Although it's funny how social conventions on
> Gallifrey exactly paralleled those on Earth. It's kind of like how the
> technology on the Tardis always seems to mirror the technology in the
> narrative present on Earth, and the Doctor didn't give his companions
> cell phones until cell phones were widely adopted on Earth.
>
>

I wonder if it's also related to how whenever a later Doctor encounters
an old companion, the companion has always coincidentally aged the same
amount of time that has passed in real life. ;-)

>> Ocean's 11 (TCM) The 1960 Frank Sinatra version. I was looking for a
>> "New Year's movie" and saw this on a list. I coincidentally already
>> had this sitting on my DVR. But I had no idea it was a New Year's
>> movie. The plot features the Ratpack robing a bunch of casinos on New
>> Year's.
>
> I don't think I've ever seen it. How does it compare to the George
> Clooney remake?
>
> -Micky
>

Personally I think the Clooney remake is better, but if you've never
seen the original, it's worth checking out once. They are very
different movies. Not just that Ocean's 11 is a creature of the time,
but the plots are totally different too. Pretty much the only thing
Clooney kept from the original is the name.

One thing, and YMMV, I thought the original movie had a very abrupt
ending and seemed to just stop randomly without a resolution. I had to
read the Wikipedia summary to get it, and then I realized I wasn't
paying close enough attention at the end.

Micky DuPree <MDuPree@theworld.com.snip.to.reply> wrote:
>Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> writes:

>>Doctor Who: The Movie (DVD) 1996 TV movie which has Sylvester McCoy's
>>Seventh Doctor stopping in San Francisco where the Master (Eric
>>Roberts) escapes and he is promptly shot. He then regenerates into
>>Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor. He then teams up with an American doctor
>>to stop the Master from destroying Earth on New Year's in 1999. There
>>was an interesting trivia track on the disc. It said the writer had
>>to try to appease three different studios. One studio wanted Tom
>>Baker instead of Sylvester McCoy and another studio didn't want a
>>regeneration scene at all. For all the complaints about this TV movie,
>>with all the contradictory demands on the writer it's amazing it got
>>pulled off at all. I just remember at the time being super happy to
>>have new Who again.

>"Me too," what you said. I remember the complaining, but it's not as if
>it was dramatically worse than a lot of post-Tom Baker writing and
>continuity. I never did put Colin Baker's Doctor's timeline in a
>semblance of order.

The writing was terrible during Tom Baker's last two seasons with the
change of show runner. Also tension the set due to the failed romance
between the two leads, off screen.

Peter Davison's Fifth Doctor suffered from the
same lousy scripts. To me, he's forever Tristan Farnon.

With Colin Baker, the scripts got worse. However, I liked each man's
performance. I actually thought Colin Baker managed to overcome those
awful scripts and proved to be a good actor.

I liked Sylvester McCoy. Decent, not great. I never watched his final
season as the scripts from the previous season turned me off so much.

Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:
>On 1/15/2022 12:28 AM, Micky DuPree wrote:
>>Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> writes:

>>>Doctor Who: The Movie (DVD) 1996 TV movie which has Sylvester McCoy's
>>>Seventh Doctor stopping in San Francisco where the Master (Eric
>>>Roberts) escapes and he is promptly shot. He then regenerates into
>>>Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor. He then teams up with an American doctor
>>>to stop the Master from destroying Earth on New Year's in 1999. There
>>>was an interesting trivia track on the disc. It said the writer had
>>>to try to appease three different studios. One studio wanted Tom
>>>Baker instead of Sylvester McCoy and another studio didn't want a
>>>regeneration scene at all. For all the complaints about this TV movie,
>>>with all the contradictory demands on the writer it's amazing it got
>>>pulled off at all. I just remember at the time being super happy to
>>>have new Who again.

>>"Me too," what you said. I remember the complaining, but it's not as if
>>it was dramatically worse than a lot of post-Tom Baker writing and
>>continuity. I never did put Colin Baker's Doctor's timeline in a
>>semblance of order.

>Wasn't he fired or something, then refused to come back and film the
>regeneration scene? That might have had something to do with it.

You are correct.