Barry Letts 1925-2009

BARRY LETTS
1925-OCTOBER 9TH 2009

Barry Letts was one of the men that made Doctor Who in the 1970's memorable. He was Producer during Jon Pertwee's reign as The Third Doctor and was monumental in creating the character of Sarah Jane Smith as played by Elisabeth Sladen and the casting of Tom Baker as The Fourth Doctor.

I feel I should post this because Doctor Who is such a big factor in my life and that the article on The Doctor Who News Page covers this man's life far better than I can.

There's nothing else I can say other than that's it and I'm mostly going to go and watch one of the serials that he directed.

Earth - The Journey

I've started a new blog that will follow the creation of a multi-media project. It's based upon a radio drama I did when I was working for the community radio station. It's called Earth and hopefully there will be several updates when I get the chance.

Are We Ready?

Doctor Who - Regenerated - The Animated Series

I feel I should post a link to the Doctor Who Regenerated Blog since I wrote one of the episodes in their first series and hopefully be writing again for their second series so. Here is a link. It covers the history of the development of the series so far and it will most likely be the place to look for news when the series starts to release episodes. So give it a once over and leave some comments if you like.

The episode that I provided is called The Streets of Fire. It originally contained a monster that I created but since it's been re-written (I don't mind. You have to expect that when writing for a series. Hamish Steele is the man in control. It's his vision and the story has to fit that vision to a T so any way, continuing) It now has a new monster that I've been asked not to be told about until it's ready to be watched because Now I can watching as if I've never seen it before.

So here is the link it's
http://dwregenerated.blogspot.com

International Towel Day

"A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-boggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough."

Do you know where your towel is?

More information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Towel_Day

Star Trek Remastered - Season 1

With the release of J.J. Abrams new Star Trek Movie, I might as well take a look at the Remastered DVD release of the Original First Season of the TV Series created by Gene Roddenberry.

THE PACKAGING

The packaging is something interesting. Having seen the original releases on DVD of the Original series to Enterprise, the packaging with this has improved greatly. Intead of a cardboard covering that is prone to falling apart and a plastic shell that is also badly put together, You get a metal tin that covers the large case that holds the 8 DVDs.

The Original DVD Packaging

THE EPISODES

The Episodes are the first sign of improvement. The Original footage shot in the 1960's is clear and crisp, compared to the slightly fuzzy-round the edges that were making the rounds before the episodes were remastered.

The improvements of the remastering effort now reveals that Spock has slightly green skin, something I couldn't even see before.

THE REPLACEMENT EFFECTS

The New shots of the U.S.S. Enterprise shooting through space are definatly an improvement upon the original. There are times where the effect shot does not look as if it belongs in the episode. It stands out too much when most of the other replacements still sit within the episode.

For example, the episode, Tomorrow is Yesterday, where the Enterprise is shot back to 1969, the shots of the Enterprise in the skies of Earth look brilliant, while in a later scene where they have to slingshot around the sun, the wall of light doesn't look as if it belongs, the textures on the sun stand out. While I can't currently think of a way to improve upon what they have done. To me it just stands out rather badly. It is still an improvment upon the original.

SPECIAL FEATURES

As with the HD-DVD release of the remastered episodes, it contains similar special features with the newer features included on the Blu-Ray release. I haven't had the chance to watch them all but I will say they are an improvement upon the original DVD release.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

While this Remastered set is overall an improvement on the Original DVD release. It would do better to have both the Original episodes remastered to the quality of these. I haven't seen the Blu-Ray release and I do not know if the original episodes get the same treatment as the Doctor Who releases where they do their best to keep the episode in the best quality possible.

I give this DVD release a 8 out of 10. A good set but not quite there.

DVD Case image provided from TV Shows on DVD.com
Episode Images from Trek Movie.com
Star Trek belongs to CBS and Paramount Pictures

(This post will be edited later with more images)

Star Trek

What can I say about the New Star Trek movie other than it was fantastic. It was the best thing I have seen in ages. I'd have a more detailed review but I wouldn't want to spoil it for anyone. Just go and see it. What are you doing sitting there? Go on. It's on at the cinema right now.