Youtube linkage

[tree_and_leaf]

Just seen the latests BBC teaser trailer: Is that really Anne Widecombe endorsing Harold Saxon? Eeep! (Could be viewed as a spoiler; also contains terrifying images of boy bands)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XZ0dNFYcjk

Really, I'm not sure which I find more worrying....

Comments

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

That is Ann Widdecombe, as part of a reprise of the 'celebrity gala' strategy which saw Barbara Windsor appear last year. I think it comes over as a cheap tactic, though dramatically the appearance of celebrities of this level in his propaganda might say something about Mr Saxon's sense of the character of the British public. I hope he's not right.

[tree_and_leaf]

Ah thanks. I'm not mad about the tactic either; though given that the only person I could ID was Miss W, I may not be the intended audience.

I wonder what David Cameron thinks about the association of the Tories with renegade, murderous Timelords? (Or is it an insinuation that Tories are easily mind-controlled? - OK, enough cheap shots...)

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

Former Tory MP Tim Collins was an 'assistant' in the hierarchy of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society back in the 1980s, IIRC, and wrote fanzine articles expressing his admiration for Dalek culture, and explaining why he thought the works of libertarian individualist entrepeneur Gerry Anderson superior to the wishy-washy liberal consensus-promoting adventures of the Doctor.

Meanwhile... the Dead Ringers sketch brought back unhappy memories of the string of ill-advised appearances in light entertainment series Sylvester McCoy made in character when he was playing the Doctor, but David Tennant manages such a good Jon Culshaw-as-Tony Blair that my anxieties were at least allayed. My scepticism about the current prime minister's state of mind is such that I could almost believe that he does think that he has saved the world from the Daleks. In forty-five minutes, of course.

[tree_and_leaf]

Oh dear, a Dalek fanboy. Not someone to let near the reigns of powers (or city planning).

I hope Tennant won't make a habit of doing light entertainment IC, but he was really good as Jon Culshaw's Blair ("New Labour... That's weird!" "Last of the time lords gesture!")

I'm beginning to think Blair thinks he's the Messiah, never mind a Time Lord...

[emily-shore.livejournal.com]

I think it comes over as a cheap tactic, though dramatically the appearance of celebrities of this level in his propaganda might say something about Mr Saxon's sense of the character of the British public. I hope he's not right.

Cheap tactic on Saxon's part, or on the show's part? Personally I found Widdecombe's appearance really creepy in a good way, as it brings that world even closer to our own world. Of course, Widdecombe herself is enough to give anyone a chill!

In the real world I think she's more likely to be able to torpedo the chances of candidates ("something of the night," anyone?) than to be able to achieve anything by an endorsement, but hey, you have to make allowances for dramatic license.

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

I was thinking less of the appearance of Widdecombe as such than of the use of celebrities as a whole, but it sort of worked last year in Army of Ghosts - though I think all we needed was Barbara Windsor as Peggy in EastEnders rather than Trisha Goddard and Derek Acorah as well, but then that might be because while I might occasionally come across EastEnders and leave it on, I would avoid anything with Ms Goddard and Mr Acorah. Doctor Who, however, is made for a wider audience than me, which is a good thing.

The choice of Ann Widdecombe is an odd one, in part for the reasons you describe... but then, I suppose that if she trusts Saxon, in the wake of her 'something of the night' comment about Michael Howard, then he must be a good thing. I wonder if Saxon is set up as a sort of British Pim Fortuyn?

[emily-shore.livejournal.com]

I agree that the use of celebrities is embarassing and silly in general, but I think it's different if they're using politicians to play themselves in a political episode. I didn't mind Andrew Marr in season one, and I can't see that Ann Widdecombe will be particularly jarring either.

I wonder if Saxon is set up as a sort of British Pim Fortuyn?

That's kind of the impression that I'm getting. But it does seem odd that she would agree to endorse someone who is so obviously on the Wrong Side.

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

it's different if they're using politicians to play themselves in a political episode. I didn't mind Andrew Marr in season one, and I can't see that Ann Widdecombe will be particularly jarring either.

I think we are on the same page, if perhaps on different paragraphs. Andrew Marr lent some credibility to a crude set-up.

It is odd that Ann Widdecombe is endorsing someone who will be set up to be evil - does she have a newspaper column anywhere, which would allow her to explain it?

[tree_and_leaf]

In a way, it makes me like her more.

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

That's true here, really - she's come a long way from the black-clad new Catholic convert of a decade ago, about whom people speculated she had joined some sort of religious order. Doing Doctor Who makes her seem part of the world again.

I suspect that we've seen most, if not all, of the contributions of Ms Osbourne, McFly and Ms Widdecombe to the episode in the trailers.

[helflaed.livejournal.com]

That rhythm- I'm pretty sure that it was used by the BBC for its wartime broadcasts to Europe at the start of each broadcast.

I could be wrong, it could be a coincindence, but it does seem strange.

[tree_and_leaf]

I think it's part of the rythmn of the bass line of the theme. But I'm not much good at aural pattern recognition.

[tree_and_leaf]

It is the bass rhythmn from the theme, starting at the second phrase of the bass. If you listen to it and imagine the 'wooOO-ooOO' bit going on over the top, you should be able to hear it.

Not sure what we should make of this, except possibly that the Master spent his years of humanity catching up with repeats of classic Who....

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

I imagine it goes a bit further back than that, as the Master must have watched the Pertwees as they went out during his stay in prison between The Daemons and The Sea Devils, when he wasn't watching The Clangers, of course. ;)

I remember one reviewer saying that the Delgado Master's advantage over Pertwee's Doctor is that the Master knows that he's in a television programme, though I'd argue that it's often the other way round.

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

I thought the wartime one was different - da-da-da-DA rather than DA-DA-da-da-da-da. I think that it's intended to recall it, certainly.

[tree_and_leaf]

Wasn't the wartime broadcast the morse signal for V: ...- (coincidentally also the same ryhtmn as the first bar of Beethoven's 5th)?

Whereas --.. .. is either Z I or MH depending on how you break it up, and I don't think is intended to be meaningful.

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

Wasn't the wartime broadcast the morse signal for V: ...- (coincidentally also the same ryhtmn as the first bar of Beethoven's 5th)?

Yes, I'm sure that this is the case.

Whereas --.. .. is either Z I or MH depending on how you break it up, and I don't think is intended to be meaningful.

MH could be 'Master here!', I suppose.

[themolesmother.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm privately convinced that Anne Widdecombe is a Slitheen anyway, so it doesn't surprise me a bit. *Wanders off muttering gibberish to self and laughing maniacally*

MM

[tree_and_leaf]

I hope not. I've been alone with her, and am now probably going to have nightmares about being murdered by Season 1's most embarrasing alien...

(Still, it could be worse. They weren't New Who's most embarassing monster, at least.)

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

They weren't New Who's most embarassing monster, at least.

Then who were...?

[tree_and_leaf]

The Abzorbaloff, for me, every time.

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

The Abzorbaloff had slipped my mind somehow; I think the nature of Love & Monsters allows me to excuse it.

[grondfic.livejournal.com]

According to Radio Times, Anne Widdecombe, Kelly Osbourne and McFly all play "themselves" in this ep.

[tree_and_leaf]

Thanks... though I'm not sure what Kelly Osbourne and McFly have to do with Who....