One of those articles, naturally, is Geek TV, where I look at different TV shows that geeks like us enjoy (or would enjoy) watching, and you may have noticed that I've been more or less going in alphabetical order. Well, I got to one entry that I don't think I can do proper justice to... Doctor Who.
I'm familiar with Doctor Who, but there have been so many incarnations of the Doctor and his companions that my mind boggles at the contemplation of doing the show right!
So here's the challenge I'm throwing out: I'm giving you faithful readers the opportunity to 1) Write a guest post (or more likely, series of guest posts), and 2) Show off your knowledge and devotion to this classic science-fiction series!
Here's the deal: If you are interested in doing the Geek TV articles on Doctor Who, first of all, you need to let me know in the comments. I'm kind of thinking that each one of the Doctor's incarnations/regenerations will need a separate entry in order to provide adequate information (and from what I've seen, each Doctor has his own style that carries over to the series stories). Even if you're only interested in writing the articles for specific incarnations, that's okay -- there may be others who have their own favorites.
Once the articles have been submitted to me via email (preferably as an attached MS Word or OpenOffice file with formatting), I'll plug them in to the schedule as there are openings (currently, the earliest they'd run would be in September, as I'm working on August now... but of course, the further along I get, the further out they'll run, unless I reserve the spots).
Just as a reminder, here's the format:
Concept: The basic premise of the series. I'd imagine that these will pretty much be, "Eccentric time traveler from another world and his human companions get into a series of adventures in time and space," but you can be more specific as needed.
Total Episodes: In this case, the number of episodes of that Doctor's series.
Original Air Dates: This can be month and year, or date/month/year, start to end, if you wish.
Original Network: Obviously, BBC, right?
Geek Factor: On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being geekiest, how geeky is this show? I'd imagine these will all be 10s, although some may be 9s, depending on how much sci-fi really plays into it.
Characters: The main or recurring characters in the show. The format for these is:
Character Name (Who played the character): A brief description of the character's role in the series and a bit of personality.
Geek Guest-Stars: Anyone who appeared in one or a couple of episodes that is known better from something else geeky. For example, didn't John Cleese of Monty Python appear in an episode? You should mention the actor, the role they played in the series if possible, and then some of their geek credits -- preferably listed first what they did previous to their Doctor Who appearance, and then after. For the most part, I've focused on geek guest-stars who were known for stuff before their show appearance, but it'll be up to you!
Geek Pedigree: This is where I've gone into the show's creators, writers, and directors and look at what they did before doing Doctor Who that would be of interest to geeks... as well as the actors who played main characters. I know this will end up being very much other BBC and UK programs (or should I say, "programmes"?), but it can't be helped, eh?
DVD Release: Has this specific series been released on DVD yet? Is it only available in Region 2 or Region 1 formats? Have there been multiple releases, and which do you recommend?
Website: The official website, or a very good fan website. This may be the same for each entry, unless you can find websites that focus entirely on one Doctor.
Notes: This is the catch-all category, where you can share a few personal memories about the show, offer up a bit of trivia, or even just point out something that bugged you about this particular series!
When the articles are sent, you can also feel free to send along any photos that you'd like to accompany the article... maybe these could be named something like "doctor01_somethingspecific.jpg" where "somethingspecific" would be what the photo is specifically of... I mean, I can recognize a Dalek or Cyberman when I see it, but I wouldn't want to put the wrong companion's picture in the wrong place! Oh, and if the number, i.e. "doctor01" could refer to which Doctor, that would be great and help keep things sorted properly.
I know there's not going to be an immediate response, as few of you are checking things out here while waiting for posts to resume... so I'll be patient! Thanks everyone!
