Topic: Tom's TV Pilots marathon

[Achim]

I am now in season 2 and liking it much better now. The first season dragged a little though.

Good. (I seem to remember I was one of the people recommending it to you.)

I quite like the ending of series one...

(click to show/hide)

The reveal of Nathan's power, after it had seemed the whole time he didn't get any.

[Tom]

Doctor Who: Series One (2005/United Kingdom) IMDb | Wikipedia 2 entertain Video, BBC Worldwide (United Kingdom) Length: 571 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Audio Descriptive: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: English

Plot:
A box set containing all 13 stories from the 2005 series of 'Doctor Who'. Christopher Eccleston's Doctor is wise and funny, cheeky and brave. An alien and a loner (it's difficult keeping up with friends when your day job involves flitting through time and space), his detached logic gives him a vital edge when the world's in danger. But when it comes to human relationships, he can be found wanting. That's why he needs new assistant Rose.

Rose (Billie Piper) is a shop-girl from the present day. From the moment they meet, the Doctor and Rose are soulmates. They understand and complement each other. As they travel together through time, encountering new adversaries, the Doctor shows her things beyond imagination. She starts out as an innocent, unfettered by worldly concerns. But she ends up an adventurer who, by the end of the series, can never go home again...

Doctor Who
Series 1.01 Rose
Writer: Russell T Davies (Writer), Robert Holmes (Original Characters By)
Director: Keith Boak
Cast: Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who), Billie Piper (Rose Tyler), Camille Coduri (Jackie Tyler), Noel Clarke (Mickey Smith), Mark Benton (Clive), Elli Garnett (Caroline), Adam McCoy (Clive's Son), , Alan Ruscoe (Autons), Paul Kasey (Autons), David Sant (Autons), Elizabeth Fost (Autons), Helen Otway (Autons), , Nicholas Briggs (Nestene Voice)

This is the first time that I ever watched a Doctor Who episode. Of course I heard a lot about it and I was always curious, but I just never came around to buying it. Especially because I hate to start a series where I know from the beginning there is no chance to ever watch all episodes, as some of the classic episodes are lost.

I really liked this first episode and I hope I like the rest just as much.

[tom]stars_30_7.png[/tom]

[Dragonfire]

I'm glad you liked the first episode anyway.  I still have to watch that myself...and about half of this season.  When I started to watch the show, the reruns were about halfway through this season.  I've seen everything after that though.

[DSig]

Tom, great to hear.  Although some of the *classic* episodes are lost there still are a lot that are available.  And they are worth watching.  But starting with the new doctors, I think, is a great way for someone to get into the Doctor.  Eccleston was a great start to the Doctor and Piper is great and gets much better as the episodes continue .. again, to repeat myself, really comes to the character with Tennant as the Doctor.

Either way you have a lot of great watching to come ..

[Tom]

Doctor Who: An Unearthly Child (1963/United Kingdom) IMDb | Wikipedia 2 entertain Video (United Kingdom) Length: 96 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 1, Commentary: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: English, Trivia

Plot:
The first ever story of the world's longest-running science fiction series comes to DVD for the first time!

Susan Foreman is a mystery to teachers Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, seemingly knowing more then she should about the past... and the future. Their curiosity leads them to follow her home one night, only to find her 'home' appears to be a deserted junkyard. In the junkyard, they discover a police telephone box and a stange old man, who claims to be Susan's grandfather, and calls himself the Doctor. The journey of a lifetime is about to begin...

This story was originally broadcast on BBC ONE between 23rd November -14 December 1963


Doctor Who
Season 1.01 An Unearthly Child
Writer: Anthony Coburn (Writer)
Director: Waris Hussein
Cast: William Hartnell (Dr. Who), William Russell (Ian Chesterton), Jacqueline Hill (Barbara Wright), Carole Ann Ford (Susan Foreman)

This first episode of the classic Doctor Who series is a nice introduction to the characters and the series. I enjoyed this first part. The following three episodes which makes up the first Doctor Who storyline were quite boring though.

[Tom]

Boston Legal: Season One (2004/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (United Kingdom) Length: 700 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Subtitles: Danish, English, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish

Plot:
FROM DAVID E. KELLEY, the creative mastermind behind Ally McBeal, Picket Fences and The Practice, comes one of the hottest and most innovative new shows in recent years. Featuring Emmy® Award-winning cast members James Spader, Candice Bergen and William Shatner, Boston Legal takes a fast-paced and wildly comedic look at the personal and professional lives of the high-priced attorneys at the law firm of Crane Poole & Schmidt. Court is now in session and the jury is in: Season One of Boston Legal is cutting-edge television at its finest!


Boston Legal
Season 1.01 Head Cases
Writer: David E. Kelley (Created By), Scott Kaufer (Writer), Jeff Rake (Writer), David E. Kelley (Writer)
Director: Bill D'Elia
Cast: James Spader (Alan Shore), Monica Potter (Lori Colson), Rhona Mitra (Tara Wilson), Lake Bell (Sally Heep), Mark Valley (Brad Chase), William Shatner (Denny Crane), Larry Miller (Edwin Poole), John Michael Higgins (Jerry Austin), Melora Hardin (Sharon Brant), Todd Stashwick (Matthew Calder), Aisha Hinds (Beah Toomy), Don McManus (John Lennox), Anne Betancourt (Judge Isabel Hernandez), Helen Eigenberg (Atty. Tompkins), René Auberjonois (Paul Lewiston), Sharon Lawrence (Judge Rita Sharpley), Philip Baker Hall (Ernie Dell), Al Sharpton (Himself), Eric Payne (Halpern), Tom Ormeny (New York Atty.), John F. Schaffer (Chicago Atty.), Simon Rhee (Tokyo Guy), Kevin Owers (Nigel), Jadzia Pittman (Sarah), Rebecca Lin (CPS Receptionist), Lisa Kaseman (Calder's Receptionist), Kevin Cooney (Atty. Smith)

I was always curious about this series because of Bill Shatner. Though I cannot tell yet how good he will be in this series based on the pilot episode. I also was curious about James Spader. I only really knew him as "Robert California" from "The Office", which seems to be an exaggerated version of the same kind of character.
The pilot episode also has some other known faces. Like Melora Hardin (The Office, Monk), Rene Auberjonois (Odo from DS9) and Larry Miller.

[Tom]

Torchwood: Series One (2007/United Kingdom) IMDb | Wikipedia 2 entertain Video (United Kingdom) Length: 630 min. Video: Widescreen 1.78 Audio: English: DTS-HD High Resolution 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: English

Plot:
"The 21st Century is when it all changes and you've got to be ready..."
Captain Jack Harkness

Separate from the government, outside the police, beyond the United Nations: Torchwood sets its own rules. Retrieving alien technology and responding to any extra-terrestrial threat - a meteorite crash landing, discovery of alien weapons, unusual autopsy report - Torchwood are alien hunters in our world.

Torchwood
Series 1.01 Everything Changes
Writer: Russell T Davies (Writer)
Director: Brian Kelly
Cast: John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), Burn Gorman (Owen Harper), Naoko Mori (Toshiko Sato), Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto Jones), Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Indira Varma (Suzie Costello), Guy Lewis (Young Cop), Tom Price (P.C. Andy), Jason May (Soco), Rhys Swinburn (Body), Olwen Medi (Yvonne), Gwyn Vaughan-Jones (D.I. Jacobs), Dion Davies (Officer), Jâms Thomas (Hospital Porter), Paul Kasey (Weevil), Mark Heal (Security Guard), Gary Sheppeard (Pizza Lad), Gwilym Harvard Davies (Man), Cathryn Davis (Woman)

A good first episode. It introduces the two main characters well and, even though it is a spin-off of Doctor Who, it can be enjoyed without having seen that one.

[Tom]

Meister Eder und sein Pumuckl: Staffel 1 (1982/Germany) IMDb | Wikipedia (Germany) Length: 630 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: German: Dolby Digital 1 Subtitles:

Meister Eder und sein Pumuckl
Season 1.01 Spuk in der Werkstatt
Writer: )
Director:
Cast: Gustl Bayrhammer (Meister Eder), Hans Clarin (Pumuckl (voice))

A childhood favorite of mine. And a TV series which can be enjoyed by both kids and adults. Still 40 years later, it really holds up and is a joy to watch as an adult. Also something my son enjoys.
It is a show about a cobold, who is stuck to live with an old man (Eder) in his workshop. It is a mix between animation (Pumuckl) and live-action (everything else). And for a forty year old German TV show this mix holds up suprisingly well.
I like how Eder and Pumuckl are immediate friends. In my memory Pumuckl always annoyed Eder, but that isn't so. Eder is really happy to have Pumuckl as a companion. And Pumuckl really respects Eder and mostly listens to him.

[Tom]

Golden Girls: The Complete Series (1985/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment (Germany)

The Golden Girls
Season 1.01 Pilot (aka "The Engagement")
Writer: Susan Harris (Writer)
Director: Jay Sandrich
Cast: Beatrice Arthur (Dorothy), Betty White (Rose), Rue McClanahan (Blanche), Estelle Getty (Sophia), Charles Levin (Coco), Frank Aletter (Harry), F. William Parker (The Minister), Meshach Taylor (The Cop)

I never really followed the Golden Girls, but I always watched it, when I caught it on TV. Recently I encounter a lot of articles, that The Golden Girls is one of the shows, which really holds up after 30+ years. And as I always like Betty White and remembered enjoying her on the series, and also Estelle Getty, I thought I would finally get me the series.
The first episode was good and had some really funny lines. I especially liked Rose's naivity.