Incidental things you've never noticed in Doctor Who

[Ssarl]

Are these quite rare then?

Um, not in Australia? I know where to get them all for a fiver each, and I could probably haggle - for us, they're the normal versions! It's only 'rare' in so much as you'd need a favour really.

[Nathan]

Personally I've always taken it to mean "If you had the power to destroy the world" but it may well be an error. I have to say, I don't think your explanation really works Nathan, since, as Si says, there's no reference to telling the future there at all!

Erm yes there is, in that telling someone what is happening tomorrow means that he is telling the future (or just making it up), which is exactly why the response is "If I knew you had the power to..." rather than just dismissing him as a loony.

On the plus side, yes I think "The Invasion" clearly shows the recorder being used, rather nattily, in telescope mode!

He uses it again when taking a look at the prison that Jamie is in in The War Games - I wonder how many other lost Troughton stories show this feature. It's never been written about or mentioned in any novels.

Wouldn't the lenses get condensed up when he played it?

[Si Hunt]

It really doesn't matter that much Nathan. You're right. Okay?

Si.

[Captain Tancredi]

He uses it again when taking a look at the prison that Jamie is in in The War Games - I wonder how many other lost Troughton stories show this feature. It's never been written about or mentioned in any novels.

Wouldn't the lenses get condensed up when he played it?

More to the point, where are all the missing Frazer Hines anecdotes about putting boot polish on the eyepiece?

[Dave Tudor]

I wouldn't have realised the significance at the time, but there's a version of the 'Torchwood' theme in 'Army Of Ghosts'. I think this was mentioned in DWM recently, but this is the first time I've noticed it.

Altogether now - "Duh-duh Duh-duh Duh-duh".

Catchy.

[Andrew Curnow]

Where is it used, Dave? I've watched AoG since Torchwood aired but never noticed it.

[Rob McCow]

Altogether now - "Duh-duh Duh-duh Duh-duh".

Surely it goes:

"Jdg-jdg-jdg... jdg-jdg... Wabu wabu wabu! Jdg-jdg-jdg... jdg-jdg... Wabu wabu wabu! TorchtorchtorchytorchyTorchwood! Meeeeeeeep!"

[Jonno]

Dave's description, as quoted by Mr McCow above, sounds like Jaws to me!

[Simon R]

I hate the "Torchwood" music (if you can call it that) especially the "oooh mysterious, spooky" whispering voices. I hate that annoying "sting" that pops up throughout the episodes. I can't find the words to describe it but it gets right on my titties.

[Dave Tudor]

Where is it used, Dave? I've watched AoG since Torchwood aired but never noticed it.

It's used first just after Jackie introduces 'Grandad Prentice', and the Doctor and Rose run out into the street to see all the other ghosts. It's used again as the Doctor sets up the trap for the ghost. I think it appears elsewhere, too.

Oh, and Steve captures the 'Torchwood' theme better than I can. Of course it was 'wabu-wabu-wabu', not 'duh-duh duh-duh duh-duh'!

[Nathan]

Its in the bit just after the appalling "Scooby Doo" Ghostbusters reference.

It's quite appropriate that they reference one of the most embarrassing sections of Doctor Who as the theme for Torchwood

[Pip Madeley]

Watching Logopolis last night, I'd never noticed until then that the Logopolitans had brains on the back of their heads! Not ever!

(I also realised for the first time how bobbins certain parts are, I mean, how is the Master able to talk to everyone in the universe at that precise moment? and why does the Doctor attempt to hold back thousands of tons of water - is he Superman?!)

[Logo Polish]

Watching Logopolis last night, I'd never noticed until then that the Logopolitans had brains on the back of their heads! Not ever!

(I also realised for the first time how bobbins certain parts are, I mean, how is the Master able to talk to everyone in the universe at that precise moment? and why does the Doctor attempt to hold back thousands of tons of water - is he Superman?!)

Strictky speaking, he isn't supposed to be speaking to everyone just then, it's just a dictaphone (which I think gets broadcast over the Project area later on the loudspeakers) although of course that does still leave the question of how and where he's going to arrange to broadcast it to everyone. The Doctor would have been better off just pointing that out to him then disconnecting the cable while the Master was trying to work that one out.

[Andrew Curnow]

Of course, that presumes that he IS speaking to everybody in the universe. Isn't "Peoples of the universe" meant just as a form of address to those he was speaking to (which I would presume to be just those in the vicinity at that moment, with presumably the intention to go worldwide with his message after he's got control of the radio telescope). Much as, for example, if I were to start a message "Friends, Romans, Countrymen" it wouldn't mean that every friend I have and every Roman could hear it.

is he Superman?

He's the Tom Baker Doctor - so yes!

[Simon R]

Its in the bit just after the appalling "Scooby Doo" Ghostbusters reference.

It's quite appropriate that they reference one of the most embarrassing sections of Doctor Who as the theme for Torchwood

Yes that bit made our toes curl too. It just doesn't work. It's silly in a way that most of the other humours moments in the new series aren't.

[Pip Madeley]

Well I kinda liked it.

[Nathan]

Doesn't the Master plan to speak to the "peoples of the universe" by transmitting the message through the Pharos telescope via the "light speed overdrive" that he has wired into the circuit?

Even a humble assistant could do it.

[Pip Madeley]

Doesn't the Master plan to speak to the "peoples of the universe" by transmitting the message through the Pharos telescope via the "light speed overdrive" that he has wired into the circuit?

Even a humble assistant could do it.

Even so, if anyone did hear, how were they going to respond to the ultimatum?

[Nathan]

That wasn't what you asked

I imagine he just hoped they would roll over and submit once he paid them a visit or made certain demands.

Maybe he just didn't think it though. Maybe he did and it was in the part of the message that we never actually heard.

[Pip Madeley]

I've been reading various articles on the net and somehow ended up reading about Alan Lake (known to us lot as Herrick in Underworld). I never knew it, but he was very happily married to Diana Dors from 1968 until her death in 1984, to ovarian cancer. He was suffering from a terminal illness himself (a brain tumour), and didn't cope well with the loss, and sadly committed suicide five months later.

One of the articles elaborated on this, but it could've done with a bit more tact:

On October 10, the day he and Diana had first met sixteen years previously Alan took a single barrelled shotgun up to the bedroom and blew his brains out.

[Captain Tancredi]

Watching Part 6 of 'The Monster of Peladon' tonight, the miner played by Max Faulkner appears to have amazing powers of recovery as he's shot by an Ice Warrior only to recover and be gunned down by Eckersley five minutes later. Shortly afterwards Eckersley clubs Alpha Centauri over the back of the head with his gun and a good six-inch gap opens up between the head and the neck of the costume.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

How often Zoe gets picked up and thrown around like a rag doll in The Mind Robber. First when Jamie lifts her out of the jar as if she's filled with helium, a couple of times by the Karkus (I think) and then by the Doctor as he lifts her over the photoelectric cell thing.

[Pip Madeley]

I wish I was the Karkus. I'd submit without any fuss.

[Captain Tancredi]

He uses it again when taking a look at the prison that Jamie is in in The War Games - I wonder how many other lost Troughton stories show this feature. It's never been written about or mentioned in any novels.

Wouldn't the lenses get condensed up when he played it?

Briefly resurrecting the Troughton telescope discussion, he uses a normal cartridge telescope in 'The Dominators' - it's definitely not his recorder there.

[SiHart]

What we want to know is, after all these years, how come no-one has ever noticed or commented on the fact that in The Five Doctors, that after her trip, Susan's leg is bandaged on top of her purple tights? What were they thinking? What help is that going to be, eh?

Si xx