Space Dandy is a dandy guy in the space

I've been assured that "Space Dandy is a dandy guy in the space", which is about what I would have assumed. I found this out recently. I clicked a link, and it gave me this video, and you know what, I am intrigued. I'm not sure if this is in my wheelhouse, but somebody's wheelhouse is definitely inhabited by this kind of thing. I have no doubt of that. It appears to be a sort of crazy pulp science-fiction meets crazy pulp science-fiction. Yeah. It's one thing. It's pure.

This Space Dandy guy also seems to have a cat, which makes him a cat person. I mean, it's a space cat, so I don't know if there are lines that get drawn concerning the terrestriality of cats when determining such things, but cat people tend to like other cat people. If you're a cat person, you might like this show. I'm not making any guarantees. It's a stretch. You might not. Generally speaking though, as a cat person you might be more concerned with trying to figure out how many cats would be too many cats than you would be about the Japanese impression of futuristic space-cat people.

It's directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, who did the same thing for Cowboy Bebop, Macross Plus and Samurai Champaloo. Empirically speaking, he rolls deep with success. Space Dandy is his new thing, which means that there is a high likelihood that I, and others, will find this thing on the lists that we make from time to time. Actually, for me it is far more frequently than just suggested.

It'll hit Japan (Tokyo MX, TV Osaka, TV Aichi) and the States ([adult swim]) this coming January, but I'm not sure how or when it will be available in other regions. Except Australia, because that's where I am from. I looked into that. Madman Entertainment is looking after us. It'll be available through the Madman Screening Room at the same time as it airs in Japan. So, we have that.

When the time comes, I'll probably review it. I'll also remind you when the time comes before it actually comes. Hopefully. I'm fairly notorious for not staying on top of these sort of things. I'll do my best, and if that isn't good enough I hope you're getting your dates and figures from somewhere else. Actually, I don't. Don't do that. I would reward your loyalty, but I don't have anything of value.

Special concerns

It is reasonable to soon begin measuring that temporal distance until airing in hours. I'm excited for the approach, as I always am these days. It's odd now to think of the wait between the end of the original series, and first airings of the revived series, because I gave up. I didn't watch the first episode, instead preferring to remember those Doctors who'd populated my youth, rather than risk what could have possibly come out of whatever the BBC had become.

There are expectations this time. Not that we have experienced the hiatus that came before, but it would be fair to say that most of the truly exceptional episodes of the revived series have been the regular series episodes, and not the specials, which for the most part seem to suffer under the weight of the belaboured spectacle. There is the expectation that the 50th anniversary will somehow be immune to this. I'm not sure how or why, given the track record.

There is this whole other thing that concerns me. Traditionally the format of lots of crazy nonsense going on requires the establishing of a setting, usually all supporting characters, and whatever you need for the plot to get going, which generally takes some time. In the past stories that have gone down the ensemble route, have ended up a little light on plot points and actual story, in order to let everyone involved get enough screen time and dialogue to justify their presence. This issue plagued the early adventures of the 5th Doctor who wheeled about with three whole companions, and is most apparent in the "The Stolen Earth"/"Journey's End" two-parter, which is possibly the most plot-lite story to appear in the revived series, with the possible exception of "Planet of the Dead", in which they run out of time for anything of any substance to actually happen. In defence of the latter, it struck me as an incredibly half-arsed backdoor pilot for a show about the two-dimensional walking cliche-monster, Lady Christina de Souza. Did you like how I said it was a defence an then it clearly wasn't? I did. I enjoyed that. It is hands down the worst Doctor Who story that has ever been televised, bar none. Bar none.

Those are my concerns, and in some ways this has left me more excited about An Adventure in Space and Time, which I have mentioned before as some sort of prolific box ticking monster. I also feel like it might have a little more going on in the story department. Plus the box thing. I like it when boxes are ticked.

The one and only 8th Doctor in his one and only

A few days ago I spoke a little bit about the Doctor Who television movie in the context of the recent mini-episode. I said some things that can't really be taken back. I mean, they could. I could edit the post, and then, in a way, they would be taken back. I'm not going to do that. I stand by what I wrote. So, in a way it is about my integrity, but I think it might also be a lot about my laziness. Let's say that it is a combination of the two, also there is a slippery slope right there, and I probably want to stay away from that. So, it's three things. Except the first and third are really just about integrity, but one is about an immediate sort of integrity, where as the other is sort of an ongoing dishonesty. I think there is a distinction.

Anyway, where was I? Right. It isn't a great story, but Paul McGann is fantastic in it. In a lot ways he is the first of the modern Doctors, as distinct from the classic Doctors. He is definitely more in line with the Doctors that followed than the ones that came before.

As I also mentioned previously, I really like the 8th Doctor, and the way he is portrayed. Paul McGann does a really good job, even in the television movie, of making you like his incarnation, which is why I think you should watch it. No, seriously. I know what I said earlier, but if you like the show you are probably going to like this to some extent, and seeing the bridging Doctor in action in his one and only televised story is worth the one hundred odd minutes of your life it is going to cost you. Also, it's a regeneration story, which are nearly always worth the format they are stored on. Not every Doctor gets bookending regeneration scenes. At this stage most of them have gotten them (4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 10th, and now 8th, AND 11th by the end of the year), so it isn't really rare.

You might be wondering at this stage how I suggest that you get your face around Doctor Who, the Doctor Who television movie. Well, if you're an Australian, and happen to be in Australia, or not Australian, and happen to be in Australia, then you can watch it on ABC iView right now. Once again, this is at the time of writing. If it isn't there later, I mean, that is hardly my fault. Maybe if you read my blog more often, this wouldn't keep happening to you. If you're Australian and aren't in the country, or are one of the many foreigners who aren't in Australia, you might have to get it on DVD or VHS. I believe in you.

Free Working Sofa!!!

No relation to the previously mentioned fridge. They don't look much alike, but they did sit next to each other for about eighteen months. So, they know each other. As far as inanimate objects get to know one another, which isn't at all really. They don't know each other. They don't know anything. Furntiure doesn't know things. Not yet.

The sofa is comfortable. It is one of those deep sofas that feels like it might eat you starting with your bottom, but in a comfortable way. It's not as long as a person, but it is still easy to sleep on because of its comfortableness, but you have to curl up on it like a cat, or a dog if you aren't a cat person.

It is leather or pleather, I haven't checked on its heritage, but they feel the same anyway. I'm not really sure how I would go about checking. I suppose there are tags on it somewhere that might say. I could investigate if you are interested.

It's sort of a dark green-grey, like the colour of the ocean. Some parts of the ocean. I wouldn't describe it as water coloured. Water is clear, unless it is dirty. The sofa would need to be made of glass or plastic in order to be water coloured. There are some inflatable sofas that are water coloured. It would be fair to say that the sofa is similar in colour to at least one colour of paint. I don't know the name or brand of the colour of paint. I have a picture of it somewhere. The sofa. Not the paint.

It has two cushions, but I would say that they are wider than the average bottom, or even most larger bottoms, so it is probably a two and a half seater, or some other part measure of bottom. I'm not really sure how long it is, but it does come out from the wall a fair bit so that it can be as deep as it is. Those two kind of go hand in hand. Bottom depth, and away from the wall depth. A sofa that could swallow your bottom would have to come out from the wall at least a fair way in order to be convincing.

I would prefer that you came and got the sofa yourself or sent someone on your behalf, because sofas are not the kind of things that move themselves. They are not goats. Even if they were goats you would probably want to come and get the goat, and at least lead it to wherever you were going to keep it. I wouldn't trust a goat to make its way from one place to another on its own. Not that goats are inherently dishonest. It's more of a competency thing. They can't read maps.

I suppose that some sofas could've been made from goats, or utilise parts of goats in their construction, but I don't think that this one is one of those sofas, and even so it wouldn't grant it the autonomy of a regular goat that was yet to be converted into a sofa.

I'm not unhappy with the sofa, and its removal has nothing to do with how comfortable it is, or its colour, or anything about the sofa itself. I needed the storage space, because I have too many things that shouldn't be stored on a sofa.

The Night of the Doctor

I've always liked Paul McGann as The Eighth Doctor. I wasn't big on the TV film, which is the kind of thing that fans feel the need to make excuses for, but McGann is an outstanding actor, and I have truly enjoyed the majority of those audio adventures that I have encountered in which he appears.

Anyway, Paul McGann holds the rather unfortunate records of appearing in the least televised stories, and the lowest total screen time. This is made all the more unfortunate by the fact that Doctor Who (The unfortunately titled TV film) is at best, more or less, total garbage.

Look, I'm kind of just rambling here, but there is a point to where I am going with this, and that point is 'The Night of the Doctor', which is a mini-episode that offers a little insight into the previously aired 'The Name of the Doctor', as well as the upcoming 'The Day of the Doctor'.

If Doctor Who is your scene, or it is the scene of people with whom you chat, you should probably take the seven whole minutes out of your life and take a look-see. If nothing else, this will bring the total individual Doctors to have cannon appearances this year to five. This hasn't happened in a very long time.

EDIT: There is a fantastic quantity of classic series Doctor Who on ABC iView right now. Clearly this is at the time of writing. I'm not going to update this later to make it say that it was on iView, because you can check the date of the post for yourself.

EDIT: Also, look, there is this too. I'm excited about this, but it kind of ticks a lot of boxes for me. Doctor Who, making of, dramatisation of actual events, British 1960s period piece, history of television. It's all there. Sunday, 2013-11-24, 8:45pm on ABC1 in Australia. Friday, 2013-11-22, 9:00pm on BBC America in the States. Probably other times and channels in other countries. Those two account for about 93.6% of my regular readership, so forgive me. If you want me to consider the needs of your nation in future posts, send me an e-mail.