The Ultimate Geek
I have been busy with another one of my "little projects" over the past few days. Now these little projects I don't normally make "public" as I often wonder whether I may have crossed a line.
Not crossing a line, as in a certain conversation that took place on Sunday evening which involved brown and red sauce, which has left some people who may have thought themselves previously unshockable scarred for life. No this line I am talking about is the one from being an enthusiastic fan to a total geek. In my case, a sci-fi geek, more specifically with my life long interest (some would say obsession) with Doctor Who.
So what constitutes crossing this line - having all the DVD's? Being able to name every story and what year it was broadcast? Dressing up as the Doctor and going to conventions? Stumbling wild-eyed and panicky into a crowded room shouting "what year is this?" You decide. (NB: I have only done the first two of those but the other two sound like fun).
Now we all have an image of what we believe a sci-fi geek to be like. I always remember a very amusing piece of footage I once saw of William Shatner (Captain Kirk from Star Trek) taking questions from a group of fans at some convention or other. Faced with yet another ridiculous question, something along the lines of "In episode 27 what was the combination on your safe", Shatner launched into a tirade basically telling the audience to get a life. One line I particularly remember was something along the lines of "Look at you! You're nearly 30! Have you even ever kissed a girl?"
Anyway I don't like to think I would ever get to that stage. But I am rather obsessive and more than somewhat proud of my DVD collection, not just of Doctor Who, but all TV. As regular readers will recall, last week I had a good OCD'ing and organised them all out neatly by genre. And in the case of Doctor Who, it now has it's own shelving unit all to itself.
But, even with all the DVD's nearly out now, (only about 10 old stories left), my collection can never be complete. Why? Because 106 black and white episodes from the sixties no longer exist, the reasons for which I covered last December in an entry entitled "TV's dark days and futuristic musings".
So to cut a long story short, those 106 episodes exist only as audio recordings made by a whole earlier generation of geeks holding primitive tape recorders to the TV to tape the episode. And thank goodness they did, as if they hadn't those episodes would have gone forever.
Some whole stories such as the first Patrick Troughton story "Power Of The Daleks" are gone in their entirety, all 6 episodes. Others have one or more episodes missing from a story. But I have been able to enjoy Doctor Who in its entirety - as these audio recordings have been released on CD, along with linking narration from a companion of the time, to explain what's going on mainly in action sequences.
So stories such as "Power Of The Daleks" I have listened to, enjoyed and imagined in my mind.
Which leads me on to my project. Up on my Doctor Who shelf their are gaps - as there will be no DVD release of stories such as "Power Of The Daleks". In fact the whole Troughton era (the worst affected) looks very spartan. But - our geeky friends in the sci-fi community who live nowadays in the great wild place where dreams can come true - of course I refer to - "the internet".
So on to google and a search and I find what I am looking for - on many sites in facts. Arty fans who have created their own DVD's covers in the exact style of the BBC releases. So good you can print them out on photo paper, slot them into some DVD cases (5 for £1 from Wilco), and there I have my case. Into which I put the audio CD's from the missing stories, and put them up in their place on the shelf, giving me a full library of all 784 episodes to date.
Back in 2007 we began our request to watch/listen to all of Doctor Who in order, yes, it was a bit of a slog at times in those early days (for Claire anyway) to get through, but we are up to David Tennant now so almost caught up. And when Ollie gets into it in a few years time which is inevitable, the whole back catalogue is there waiting for him.
I'm in full on Doctor Who mode writing this - got Doctor Who confidential on in the background. Can never have enough!
Another fun filled day lined up tomorrow, Nash's with Jo Jo. Red or Brown, Jo - or both? lol - and then a lengthy ride on the bike I think to work off the monster!
If you have enjoyed reading this blog, please take a look at my books on Amazon (Paperback & Kindle), where you can read lots more of the same! Click here.
Jason x x
Not crossing a line, as in a certain conversation that took place on Sunday evening which involved brown and red sauce, which has left some people who may have thought themselves previously unshockable scarred for life. No this line I am talking about is the one from being an enthusiastic fan to a total geek. In my case, a sci-fi geek, more specifically with my life long interest (some would say obsession) with Doctor Who.
So what constitutes crossing this line - having all the DVD's? Being able to name every story and what year it was broadcast? Dressing up as the Doctor and going to conventions? Stumbling wild-eyed and panicky into a crowded room shouting "what year is this?" You decide. (NB: I have only done the first two of those but the other two sound like fun).
Now we all have an image of what we believe a sci-fi geek to be like. I always remember a very amusing piece of footage I once saw of William Shatner (Captain Kirk from Star Trek) taking questions from a group of fans at some convention or other. Faced with yet another ridiculous question, something along the lines of "In episode 27 what was the combination on your safe", Shatner launched into a tirade basically telling the audience to get a life. One line I particularly remember was something along the lines of "Look at you! You're nearly 30! Have you even ever kissed a girl?"
Anyway I don't like to think I would ever get to that stage. But I am rather obsessive and more than somewhat proud of my DVD collection, not just of Doctor Who, but all TV. As regular readers will recall, last week I had a good OCD'ing and organised them all out neatly by genre. And in the case of Doctor Who, it now has it's own shelving unit all to itself.
But, even with all the DVD's nearly out now, (only about 10 old stories left), my collection can never be complete. Why? Because 106 black and white episodes from the sixties no longer exist, the reasons for which I covered last December in an entry entitled "TV's dark days and futuristic musings".
So to cut a long story short, those 106 episodes exist only as audio recordings made by a whole earlier generation of geeks holding primitive tape recorders to the TV to tape the episode. And thank goodness they did, as if they hadn't those episodes would have gone forever.
Some whole stories such as the first Patrick Troughton story "Power Of The Daleks" are gone in their entirety, all 6 episodes. Others have one or more episodes missing from a story. But I have been able to enjoy Doctor Who in its entirety - as these audio recordings have been released on CD, along with linking narration from a companion of the time, to explain what's going on mainly in action sequences.
So stories such as "Power Of The Daleks" I have listened to, enjoyed and imagined in my mind.
Which leads me on to my project. Up on my Doctor Who shelf their are gaps - as there will be no DVD release of stories such as "Power Of The Daleks". In fact the whole Troughton era (the worst affected) looks very spartan. But - our geeky friends in the sci-fi community who live nowadays in the great wild place where dreams can come true - of course I refer to - "the internet".
So on to google and a search and I find what I am looking for - on many sites in facts. Arty fans who have created their own DVD's covers in the exact style of the BBC releases. So good you can print them out on photo paper, slot them into some DVD cases (5 for £1 from Wilco), and there I have my case. Into which I put the audio CD's from the missing stories, and put them up in their place on the shelf, giving me a full library of all 784 episodes to date.
Back in 2007 we began our request to watch/listen to all of Doctor Who in order, yes, it was a bit of a slog at times in those early days (for Claire anyway) to get through, but we are up to David Tennant now so almost caught up. And when Ollie gets into it in a few years time which is inevitable, the whole back catalogue is there waiting for him.
I'm in full on Doctor Who mode writing this - got Doctor Who confidential on in the background. Can never have enough!
Another fun filled day lined up tomorrow, Nash's with Jo Jo. Red or Brown, Jo - or both? lol - and then a lengthy ride on the bike I think to work off the monster!
If you have enjoyed reading this blog, please take a look at my books on Amazon (Paperback & Kindle), where you can read lots more of the same! Click here.
Jason x x
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