Television

[Cress]

I HAVE NEVER SEEN ONCE MORE WITH FEELING!!! *cries and cries and cries some more, and then cries after reading what she just posted at her lameness* Yes, I'm very sad about that, but I THINK it's going to be on in two weeks.
One of my friends was watching either a Buffy or an Angel commentary with James Marsters in it, and they were talking about his accent and somebody said that people wouldn't be able to tell who he was without it, so he started talking in his Spike voice. I would probably drive him crazy if I ever met him because I would just stand there and go "Do your Spike voice. Do the eyebrow thing." over and over. When I get nervous I sometimes get hyper and start to repeat stuff over and over. It's rather sad.

[Kathy Li]

The sad thing about "Once More With Feeling" is that if you see it in syndication, it's probably been cut down. The episode came in overly long, and when it initially aired, UPN let it have a 70 minute slot or something. I think most of what got cut, though, was a ballet-like sequence with Dawn, so you won't be missing any of the songs.

It was also the ONLY episode of Buffy to ever be b'cast in letterboxed format (unlike ANGEL, which was letterboxed the last few seasons).

[Cress]

What's letterboxed?
Completely random note (ok maybe not, it's related to Dawn, a little) but has anyone here seen Ice Princess? I just thought of that because the ballet thing and ice skating seem kind of similar. I wonder if the person who plays Dawn can actually ice skate even remotely well?

[Kathy Li]

letterboxing is a way of getting wide-screen format onto an almost square television screen. They put black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. It's also the difference between "widescreen" (letterboxed) and "fullscreen" (pan'n'scan) dvds.

There's now also sideboxing, which is how you display almost square old-telvision format onto an HDTV-widescreen tv, where they put black bars on the right and left side.

The magic phrase in movie and dvd land is "aspect ratio", which is the ratio between the width and the height of the picture. Most movies these days are shot somewhere between 1.85 (also known as the magic 16x9) and 2.23 (cinemascope!). TV is shot in 16x9 (HD), or 4x3 (1.33).

Some shows, like Medium, Lost and Smallville air in letterboxed format, mostly to give them a more "epic" feel, like a movie. The HD (high-definition) broadcast is also usually in 16x9.

And that's more than you ever wanted to know about letterboxing.

So, has anybody seen the new Doctor Who? The stuff I'm hearing on the BBC website is starting to make me really sad nobody in the US has picked it up:

Doctor: I'm the Doctor, by the way. What's your name?
Rose: Rose.
Doctor: Nice to meet you, Rose. Run for your life.

Snort. Chuckle.

Also just heard that Eccleston's already quit... regeneration, anyone?

[alla]

hehe... I watched/listened to the trailers on the website this morning Kli, and I kinda can't wait for it to start showing here. It looks really funny. But I want to know what happens after he says that

YAYAY!!! Channel 10 showed one of the Sideshow Bob episodes last night. They're all my favourites - well mostly anyway . I think it was the one where he gets out of jail the first time - the witness protection program one. Anyway. I actually missed the first couple of minutes, well first ten minutes really... but its all good. I really have to look into getting all the seasons on DVD...

OK, lets go off on a bit of a tangent here, just because I'm talking with one of my Uni friends about it. TV shows that were on in the early '90s - I would say when you were a kid, but the ages of some of the people here make that a little ambiguous. What do people remember about them? I would make this a longer post but mum has just got home

[Peter Murray]

Originally posted by kli6:
So, has anybody seen the new Doctor Who? The stuff I'm hearing on the BBC website is starting to make me really sad nobody in the US has picked it up:

Snort. Chuckle.

Also just heard that Eccleston's already quit... regeneration, anyone?

Yes, another regeneration .

I saw it (is that a surprise?) and liked it. I don't know if it'll be quite the same watching the rest of Eccleston's episodes, knowing that he quit so soon.

Originally posted by Alla:
But I want to know what happens after he says that

BOOOOM!

I can't remember the early '90s in particular. I remember series like Doctor Who, Z Cars and Space Kiddettes from when I was a kid, but I think it might be a good thing that that third one isn't available on DVD here .

[Cress]

I really don't remember early 90's since I was about anywhere from 1-5 then. I remember stuff from when I used to watch Saturday morning cartoons though. Did anybody here watch Recess? I loved that show! And Pepperann, but I never got to watch it because I had to leave for my piano lesson before it came on and I was really jealous of my brother because he got to see it and I didn't.

[Birdhead]

OMG YES RECESS!!

As for early 90's television, I'll probably remember everything you do, Alla. But off the top of my head, all I have is "Open wide, come inside. It's Playschool!"

I loved that show so much I named my favourite doll after the doll on it (the New Zealand version.) Then my brothers pulled her head off by sticking it in a drawer. I was BROKENHEARTED (although now it's kind of funny. )

Of course, there are now mockage versions of the song (lovely):
"There's a bear in there
and an electric chair
people with AIDS
and hand grenades.
Open wide, come inside
It's Playschool!"

But for the true parody nothing beats the Barney song:

"I hate you,
you hate me
let's get together and kill barney
with a one shot two shot
Barney's on the floor
no more purple dinosaur..."

...heh.

NB: THIS POST IS IN NO WAY INTENDED TO SHOW SUPPORT OF GUNS, GUNS ON TELEVISION, VIOLENCE, OR SHOOTING PURPLE DINOSAURS <STRIKE>EXCEPT BARNEY.</STRIKE> No under-fives were harmed in the writing of this post & I'm sure they're still as innocent as they were five seconds ago.

[Kathy Li]

I love Recess.

But I'm older than you guys. I remember when Rugrats was new. In fact, I remember driving around L.A. to visit a friend, and actually seeing the storefront of Klasky-Csupo, and on an impulse, walking in to ask the receptionist if they had an episode list for the show. And she'd apparently never dealt with a fan before, so this must have been early in the run (season 2 or something?) I doubt you could just walk through the doors of Klasky-Csupo these days.

I've also always loved that the voice actresses for Rugrats were the same voices you see everywhere: Kath Soucie (Phil & Lil, and Bubbles on Powerpuff girls), E.G. Daily (Tommy, Buttercup), Tress MacNeille, Nancy Cartwright (Chuckie II, Bart Simpson, also, iirc, ), Christine Cavanaugh (Chuckie I, also Babe the Pig), etc. Best of the best of voice acting all in one place. Pamela Segall, btw, is both Spinelli in Recess and Bobby Hill in King of the Hill.

[Cress]

Spinelli is Bobby?! My whole world is crashing down around me! It's not POSSIBLE!! Ok, I'm done now, but that's FREAKY!
Barney is evil. Pure evil. Pure, purple evil. And so is Baby Bop, or whatever her name is. Don't ask me why, there's just something horribly corrupting about the way they're always smiling and singing and happy. It's WRONG!
I also vaguely remember some show involving puzzle pieces and puppet people that looked slightly like muppets. I can't remember more than that though.

[Kathy Li]

Sorry to have freaked you out. But I find the immense range that voice actors have amazing.

Speaking of muppets, the Muppet performers are similarly amazing. I remember the first time I actually realized Jim Henson was Kermit and Ernie. And that Frank Oz was Grover and the Cookie Monster and Bert and Miss Piggy and Animal and Fozzie and... I'm sort of equally stunned these days at how Steve Whitmire can do Kermit and Rizzo the Rat and Bean Bunny.

Early '90s tv... hmmm... lessee... X-Files and the start of the whole Fox Friday Night Slot o' Death; Lois & Clark, Forever Knight, Highlander, Murphy Brown, Twin Peaks, Northern Exposure, Avonlea... Yes. I have ALWAYS watched too much television.

[Cress]

I knew about the muppets. I LOVE the muppets. Who else here can't help but laugh when they say "Turn left at the fork in the road" and there's a huge fork sticking out of the road? And who else loves The Rainbow Connection. Animal is the coolest. Closely followed by The Swedish Chef and Fozzy.

[Kathy Li]

Speaking of the Muppets, you do know about The Muppets' Wizard of Oz, right? Friday May 20th. ABC. 8pm. Be there.

It's odd, really, but I think the character I miss the most is Scooter. He's probably the only Muppet that really got retired. All of Henson's characters they've kept going, but after Richard Hunt died, nobody's been able to do Scooter. I think where I miss Jim Henson and Richard Hunt the most, though, is with Statler & Waldorf (the old geezers in the balconey, named after hotels. [and as very silly trivia Waldorf has a wife named Astoria]). Whom, I believe, are now being performed by David Goelz (Gonzo) and Steve Whitmire.

[alla]

I'm watching TV at the moment. Its the second half of the Supervolcano documentary. This one is showing what might happen to the rest of the planet if Yellowstone was to go ... *bang* The Docu-drama thingy that was on on Sunday night was pretty good, but I think Dante's Peak is still my fav. disaster movie.

There really isn't anything on TV at the moment. Its highly annoying, although I guess that its good. It means that I'm not being distracted from study.

oh no, my brother is going to be watching 'Lost' soon... AH! I hate that show! WHATS WITH THE POLAR BEAR ON A TROPICAL ISLAND!

Alla

[Cress]

Well, if we're talking about Muppets, guess what?! I got to see Kermit the Frog. The REAL Kermit. I was in Washington DC and we went to the Smithsonian, and there was Kermie. Plus, I bought the Muppets CD, which is uberly cool!