Hawaii Five-0: Grace Park on Kono's Near-Death Experience - And What it Was Like Filming It

It's an understatement to say Kono (Grace Park) went through a lot on Hawaii Five-0 recently, as the Season 2 cliffhanger had her at death’s door - pushed into the ocean, bound and gagged, and sinking to her doom. Fortunately, she was saved by Adam (Ian Anthony Dale) in the Season 3 premiere, though not everyone was so lucky in that episode.

During my recent visit to the set of Hawaii Five-0, I spoke to Park about what the experience of being thrown in that scary, underwater situation was like – both for Kono and for the actress playing her. We also discussed Kono and Adam’s turbulent relationship and the addition of more women to Hawaii Five-0 this season.

Grace Park in Hawaii Five-0

IGN TV: Suffice to say, Kono just went through a traumatic experience. How does she come out of it?

Grace Park: That’s what’s really interesting, because when a situation like that comes about, you think, “How does this impact the character?” It is part of the job, but that doesn’t mean she’s Teflon and unflinching. At the same time, I think the bigger thing is Chin Ho losing his wife. That seems like it overshadows my situation, where I managed to live. If anything, it’s probably going to be one of those incidents that contribute to Kono’s overall character as a cop and her experience being a police officer. It’s those layers and layers of experiences that kind of embed themselves into someone’s psyche that eventually, 20 years down the line when you meet someone, they have the essence of cop.

IGN: What was it like shooting those sequences where she’s underwater? I’d assume that wasn’t very fun...

Park: Kono’s a surfer, so she’s great in the water - she’s grown up in the water. If you’re surfing some big waves, you will have been caught underneath, sometimes for a few sets, right? So what I’ve learned -- and I don’t even surf – is that the longer you can stay underwater, the more comfortable you are. Talking to some of the water men, like Brian Keaulana, he’ll tell you one of the first things you can do is learn to stay underwater for a long time. That way, you won’t panic when you’re underwater and the waves are coming and you are not going to get up there. I thought, “I can’t do that for very long.” But prepping for the underwater scene… I mean, I was so uncomfortable every time I read the script, because I would hold my breath as I was reading the script! I was so uncomfortable because I didn’t realize I’d stopped breathing, as I’m reading my character and she’s bound and gagged in the water.

IGN: Would that qualify as the toughest thing you've had to do on the show?

Park: Funnily enough, I was more comfortable doing that, the idea of being bound and gagged underwater, versus having to be in a shore break again.

[Editor’s Note: During the filming of the Hawaii Five-0 pilot, Park learned firsthand just how much ocean water can pummel you in a shore break - where a wave breaks directly on, or very close to, the shore]

[Hawaii Five-0 showrunner/executive producer] Peter Lenkov asked, “Grace, how are you with this whole underwater thing?” I’m like, “Am I in a shore break?” He’s goes, “No.” I’m like, “You sure I’m not in a shore break?” “No you’re bound and gagged, and you’re sinking on the bottom of the ocean.” I’m like, “But I’m not in a shore break?” “No.” “That’s fine, that’s totally fine.” “You’re sure?” “Yes!” It was just so traumatizing in the pilot! [Laughs] Other than that, I was researching and prepping on that. I started learning how to hold my breath underwater and the breathing technique that you do to be able to be underwater for minutes at a time. I got up to, like, a minute, but I wasn’t practicing for that long. But that was more than we needed. The thing I was thinking was, “Well, of course she’s going to know how to do this.” So when you do go underwater -- and she knows she’s going to be tipped overboard -- when she goes under, you don’t sink to the bottom of the ocean. We had to try to get me to sink. They put lots of weights on me and we had to have someone underwater dragging me down and all this kind of stuff.

Alex O'Loughlin, Scott Caan, Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park

IGN: Wow, that has to add to the trauma!

Park: Right? Actually the trauma could have been during one take where I wasn’t ready, but I didn’t just say no. They’re like, “Are you ready?” I’m like, “Well, actually...” [Splash noise] They pulled me under, and I was kicking so hard to try to get out. I was supposed to have breakaway wrists and breakaway ankles, but they didn’t break away. So when I came back up, they were like, “That was really, really great, except we didn’t have your face on camera.” And I was just like, “I was trying to get out of the restraints!” But the weirdest thing was, I was kicking super hard underwater, and I didn’t have enough breath to stay under very long, but I was, like, zero panic. It was really weird because I had practiced already, so my body already knew, “Oh, you’re fine.” So that was really trippy, even though I had a lot of water and was coughing. So that’s the kind of stuff I knew about her character. She was already thinking when she was on the boat, and when I did the research diving with Ocean Ramsey, I kind of caught her out of the corner of my eye, and she wasn’t using her arms and legs to kick. She just did this kind of dolphin gliding thing in the water. So I tried it, too. I was like, “Oh my gosh!” You can move really fast doing that. It seems kind of like how fish move because fish don’t have arms -- their fins are kind of small -- but they move so fast. I figured that’s what she’s doing. Of course, it’s not on the screen because that’s not going to sell very well, but I figured that’s probably why she’s not as traumatized. There’s also always so much action, she kind of just rolls back into it.

IGN: I was initially going to ask you, “Is Kono's relationship with Adam going to continue this season?”, but the premiere answered that question in a big way. Those two began as almost a Romeo & Juliet thing, with her a cop and him as the son of a mobster. Is it going to be a little smoother now?

Park: I think that relationship -- just with the setup, like you said -- the setup is such that it’s never going to be easy or smooth. I think that their relationship is good. There’s a real attraction... They actually like each other. There’s a lot of possibility and potential there, but with the situation, you know… How clean is he? How good is he going to be at managing his father’s alliances and the rest of the business, because they’re not all gonna want to switch their ways? They have a good life, and they have it working pretty smoothly. So things could always change. I think as it unravels, we’ll see how it goes. Peter [Lenkov] has a few things up his sleeve, which I’m really excited about. I mean, it’s fine that it’s smooth, but they’re certainly not the type to just stay at home and watch movies and just eat pizza.

Ian Anthony Dale and Grace Park in Hawaii Five-0

IGN: That’d be an interesting episode though.

Park: [Laughs] For sure! People would be like, “What’s going on with that relationship? Shouldn’t they have guns and be kicking people?” [Laughs]

IGN: They’re watching Real Housewives or something.

Park: Yeah! [Laughs] I’m making a phone call. “Oh... be right there!”

IGN: Yeah. “Gotta do some cop stuff.” “Gotta do some mob stuff.”

Park: Yeah, that would be hilarious, actually. I did tell the other actor, Ian [Anthony Dale], “Yeah, Peter wants us to reflect on the nature of real relationships, and so he wants you to gain 25 pounds. He says I’m fine.”

Grace Park, Daniel Dae Kim and Scott Caan in Hawaii Five-0

IGN: [Laughs] You’ve been the constant female presence on this show, but this season you’ve got Christine Lahti recurring and now Michelle Borth as a regular.

Park: And Taryn [Manning] is coming back! Yeah, the thing is, it’s such a male-dominated show, on screen and on set as well. So it’s not a show where the women really bond with each other. I even think that has something to do with Lauren German’s character, Lori Weston, leaving, because they didn’t establish the females with each other. Not that we didn’t want it. I even asked for it right off the top. And by the end, we were having this great rapport, and I think they’ve learned now how important that is. To be able to have more of a female presence adds a duality and a complexity. That doesn’t mean we need to have them equal number, but that always changes things up. That’s why I think they didn’t keep Kono a dude. That’s why we didn’t just have five dudes. That would be a totally different show. Then we would have The Hangover... But I haven’t seen The Hangover, so I don’t even know if that’s accurate. [Laughs]

I think it’s just going to keep allowing every character like McGarrett or Danny to show other facets of their personality and their characters. People want to know more about the story, but they also want to know more about the characters they’ve been following for years.

Hawaii Five-0 airs Mondays at 10pm ET/PT on CBS.

Eric Goldman is Executive Editor of IGN TV. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Hawaii Five-0: Grace Park on Kono's Near-Death Experience - And What it Was Like Filming It

It's an understatement to say Kono (Grace Park) went through a lot on Hawaii Five-0 recently, as the Season 2 cliffhanger had her at death’s door - pushed into the ocean, bound and gagged, and sinking to her doom. Fortunately, she was saved by Adam (Ian Anthony Dale) in the Season 3 premiere, though not everyone was so lucky in that episode.

During my recent visit to the set of Hawaii Five-0, I spoke to Park about what the experience of being thrown in that scary, underwater situation was like – both for Kono and for the actress playing her. We also discussed Kono and Adam’s turbulent relationship and the addition of more women to Hawaii Five-0 this season.

Grace Park in Hawaii Five-0

IGN TV: Suffice to say, Kono just went through a traumatic experience. How does she come out of it?

Grace Park: That’s what’s really interesting, because when a situation like that comes about, you think, “How does this impact the character?” It is part of the job, but that doesn’t mean she’s Teflon and unflinching. At the same time, I think the bigger thing is Chin Ho losing his wife. That seems like it overshadows my situation, where I managed to live. If anything, it’s probably going to be one of those incidents that contribute to Kono’s overall character as a cop and her experience being a police officer. It’s those layers and layers of experiences that kind of embed themselves into someone’s psyche that eventually, 20 years down the line when you meet someone, they have the essence of cop.

IGN: What was it like shooting those sequences where she’s underwater? I’d assume that wasn’t very fun...

Park: Kono’s a surfer, so she’s great in the water - she’s grown up in the water. If you’re surfing some big waves, you will have been caught underneath, sometimes for a few sets, right? So what I’ve learned -- and I don’t even surf – is that the longer you can stay underwater, the more comfortable you are. Talking to some of the water men, like Brian Keaulana, he’ll tell you one of the first things you can do is learn to stay underwater for a long time. That way, you won’t panic when you’re underwater and the waves are coming and you are not going to get up there. I thought, “I can’t do that for very long.” But prepping for the underwater scene… I mean, I was so uncomfortable every time I read the script, because I would hold my breath as I was reading the script! I was so uncomfortable because I didn’t realize I’d stopped breathing, as I’m reading my character and she’s bound and gagged in the water.

IGN: Would that qualify as the toughest thing you've had to do on the show?

Park: Funnily enough, I was more comfortable doing that, the idea of being bound and gagged underwater, versus having to be in a shore break again.

[Editor’s Note: During the filming of the Hawaii Five-0 pilot, Park learned firsthand just how much ocean water can pummel you in a shore break - where a wave breaks directly on, or very close to, the shore]

[Hawaii Five-0 showrunner/executive producer] Peter Lenkov asked, “Grace, how are you with this whole underwater thing?” I’m like, “Am I in a shore break?” He’s goes, “No.” I’m like, “You sure I’m not in a shore break?” “No you’re bound and gagged, and you’re sinking on the bottom of the ocean.” I’m like, “But I’m not in a shore break?” “No.” “That’s fine, that’s totally fine.” “You’re sure?” “Yes!” It was just so traumatizing in the pilot! [Laughs] Other than that, I was researching and prepping on that. I started learning how to hold my breath underwater and the breathing technique that you do to be able to be underwater for minutes at a time. I got up to, like, a minute, but I wasn’t practicing for that long. But that was more than we needed. The thing I was thinking was, “Well, of course she’s going to know how to do this.” So when you do go underwater -- and she knows she’s going to be tipped overboard -- when she goes under, you don’t sink to the bottom of the ocean. We had to try to get me to sink. They put lots of weights on me and we had to have someone underwater dragging me down and all this kind of stuff.

Alex O'Loughlin, Scott Caan, Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park

IGN: Wow, that has to add to the trauma!

Park: Right? Actually the trauma could have been during one take where I wasn’t ready, but I didn’t just say no. They’re like, “Are you ready?” I’m like, “Well, actually...” [Splash noise] They pulled me under, and I was kicking so hard to try to get out. I was supposed to have breakaway wrists and breakaway ankles, but they didn’t break away. So when I came back up, they were like, “That was really, really great, except we didn’t have your face on camera.” And I was just like, “I was trying to get out of the restraints!” But the weirdest thing was, I was kicking super hard underwater, and I didn’t have enough breath to stay under very long, but I was, like, zero panic. It was really weird because I had practiced already, so my body already knew, “Oh, you’re fine.” So that was really trippy, even though I had a lot of water and was coughing. So that’s the kind of stuff I knew about her character. She was already thinking when she was on the boat, and when I did the research diving with Ocean Ramsey, I kind of caught her out of the corner of my eye, and she wasn’t using her arms and legs to kick. She just did this kind of dolphin gliding thing in the water. So I tried it, too. I was like, “Oh my gosh!” You can move really fast doing that. It seems kind of like how fish move because fish don’t have arms -- their fins are kind of small -- but they move so fast. I figured that’s what she’s doing. Of course, it’s not on the screen because that’s not going to sell very well, but I figured that’s probably why she’s not as traumatized. There’s also always so much action, she kind of just rolls back into it.

IGN: I was initially going to ask you, “Is Kono's relationship with Adam going to continue this season?”, but the premiere answered that question in a big way. Those two began as almost a Romeo & Juliet thing, with her a cop and him as the son of a mobster. Is it going to be a little smoother now?

Park: I think that relationship -- just with the setup, like you said -- the setup is such that it’s never going to be easy or smooth. I think that their relationship is good. There’s a real attraction... They actually like each other. There’s a lot of possibility and potential there, but with the situation, you know… How clean is he? How good is he going to be at managing his father’s alliances and the rest of the business, because they’re not all gonna want to switch their ways? They have a good life, and they have it working pretty smoothly. So things could always change. I think as it unravels, we’ll see how it goes. Peter [Lenkov] has a few things up his sleeve, which I’m really excited about. I mean, it’s fine that it’s smooth, but they’re certainly not the type to just stay at home and watch movies and just eat pizza.

Ian Anthony Dale and Grace Park in Hawaii Five-0

IGN: That’d be an interesting episode though.

Park: [Laughs] For sure! People would be like, “What’s going on with that relationship? Shouldn’t they have guns and be kicking people?” [Laughs]

IGN: They’re watching Real Housewives or something.

Park: Yeah! [Laughs] I’m making a phone call. “Oh... be right there!”

IGN: Yeah. “Gotta do some cop stuff.” “Gotta do some mob stuff.”

Park: Yeah, that would be hilarious, actually. I did tell the other actor, Ian [Anthony Dale], “Yeah, Peter wants us to reflect on the nature of real relationships, and so he wants you to gain 25 pounds. He says I’m fine.”

Grace Park, Daniel Dae Kim and Scott Caan in Hawaii Five-0

IGN: [Laughs] You’ve been the constant female presence on this show, but this season you’ve got Christine Lahti recurring and now Michelle Borth as a regular.

Park: And Taryn [Manning] is coming back! Yeah, the thing is, it’s such a male-dominated show, on screen and on set as well. So it’s not a show where the women really bond with each other. I even think that has something to do with Lauren German’s character, Lori Weston, leaving, because they didn’t establish the females with each other. Not that we didn’t want it. I even asked for it right off the top. And by the end, we were having this great rapport, and I think they’ve learned now how important that is. To be able to have more of a female presence adds a duality and a complexity. That doesn’t mean we need to have them equal number, but that always changes things up. That’s why I think they didn’t keep Kono a dude. That’s why we didn’t just have five dudes. That would be a totally different show. Then we would have The Hangover... But I haven’t seen The Hangover, so I don’t even know if that’s accurate. [Laughs]

I think it’s just going to keep allowing every character like McGarrett or Danny to show other facets of their personality and their characters. People want to know more about the story, but they also want to know more about the characters they’ve been following for years.

Hawaii Five-0 airs Mondays at 10pm ET/PT on CBS.

Eric Goldman is Executive Editor of IGN TV. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Green Lantern: The Animated Series -"The New Guy" Review

Warning: full episode spoilers follow.

The thing about being a superhero with a secret identity is that life tends to pass you by while you're off saving the world or the universe or whatever. How many times has Peter Parker webbed up Green Goblin, only to come home and get yelled at by Aunt May for not being around to stir her soup and give her her heart medication? That's pretty much the theme of Hal Jordan's life as Season 2 of Green Lantern opens. Hal just got done saving the universe from an invasion by Atrocitus' Red Lanterns. And what does he get in return? Carol fired him from Ferris Aircraft. The Guardians replaced him as Green Lantern of Sector 2814. No respect at all.

Luckily, Hal's bout of "Parker luck" made for an entertaining season premiere. Much of this was thanks to the titular "new guy,"Guy Gardner. Some fans might have preferred that the show introduce Kyle Rayner or John Stewart before bringing Guy in, but his overconfident swagger was really what the episode needed to offset Hal's grim intensity. This is a character whose was initially best known for getting punched in the face by Batman. He manages to tick off just about everybody, and his running conflict with Hal drove the episode forward. Every time it seemed the two rival Lanterns had finally made peace, Guy would do something to set Hal off again and the fists and Lantern constructs resumed flying.

To their credit, the writers avoided painting Guy as too much of an obnoxious jerk, which is often a problem in the comics. He's got a bit of a Dudebro aura going (complete with a love of fist bumping), but he's likable enough regardless. It's a shame that the show doesn't appear to be maneuvering the two for a regular partnership, as Guy would make an entertaining foil for Hal as the latter adjusts to his new promotion.

Though her role was relatively minor, the newscaster character was a bit annoying throughout the episode. She was pretty much the apotheosis of every cartoon damsel in distress, right down to her willingness to fly right into harm's way for the perfect scoop. It was pretty bizarre to see her chopper just happen to show up in the middle of the mountains right as the Manhunters were attacking. Maybe I'm just nitpicking, but her presence was garting and generally felt felt unnecessary.

On the bright side, this episode laid the groundwork for an interesting new conspiracy dating back to the origins of the Green Lanterns. We have the mysterious, hugely powerful new villain (The Anti-Monitor?) who seems capable of controlling the Manhunters. I'll be interested to see how deeply into Green Lantern and general DC lore the writers delve in the coming episodes.

The new status quo for Hal also holds plenty of potential. As an Honor Guard, he's now pretty much free to travel wherever in the universe he chooses. That offers the show ample freedom going forward, but also leaves the danger of the series becoming meandering and unfocused. Let's hope that isn't the case.

Jesse is a writer for various IGN channels. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following Jesse on Twitter, or on IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

EVE Online Retribution Announced, Detailed

Chances are you've probably read more about EVE Online than you've played it. Approaching its 10-year anniversary, the spaceship-filled MMO from CCP Games has only grown each year, and the team predicts that 2013 will be their biggest yet with the free upcoming expansion EVE Online: Retribution.

Retribution is CCP's attempt to make EVE a bit more approachable, as well as update systems that just aren't working all that well. Most notably, the team is changing up the Bounty Hunting and Crimewatch systems. The new bounty system will allow players to not only place marks on users, but also corporations and alliances. The Crimewatch system will now have very easy-to-understand symbols that show you what level of crime you've committed and tell you the consequences at a glance. Additionally, Crimewatch is being redesigned so that there are less loopholes for players to commit crimes and then take actions that game the intended system. CCP loves emergent gameplay, but they really want Retribution to emphasize the idea that every action has a tangible consequence.

Other changes coming in the December 4th expansion are tweaks to the Factional Warfare system, revamped art and graphics for ships, a new mining frigate, four new destroyers (one for each faction), NPC AI improvements, better UI, a "Weapon Safety" feature that will prevent new players from accidentally committing crimes and the opening up of some of the studio's CREST API to see what users can do with it. CCP also wants to do some rebalancing, with boosts to early warfare, as well as improvements to the role and progression systems for ships.

Anthony Gallegos is an Editor on IGN's PC team. He enjoys scaring the crap out of himself with horror games and then releasing some steam in shooters like Blacklight and Tribes. You can follow him on Twitter and on IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

The A-Z of Doctor Who

The Doctor is a traveler, a wanderer in the fourth dimension of space and time. He’s also an alien from the planet Gallifrey, and a hero dedicated to fighting evil wherever it occurs.

Accompanied by his TARDIS, his sonic screwdriver and his companions, the Doctor has fought horrors both on Earth and farther afield, and sent children of all ages hiding behind the sofa for almost half a century.

And since half a century is a long time, we thought we’d provide newcomers to the show with an overview of the story so far…

A is for Amy Pond

More than just the Doctor’s longest running companion since the series returned 2005, Amy Pond is also one of the few to have travelled with him for over a decade (the only others being her husband Rory and daughter River, of course).

Part of the first married couple to travel in the TARDIS, Amy is also the Doctor’s mother-in-law, a position which has not exactly been loaded with perks. From being cloned, having her memory erased, her baby kidnapped and her daughter grow up to become the Doctor’s murderer-slash-wife, poor old Amy really has had a tough time aboard the TARDIS. With her departure rapidly approaching we’re wondering if it might all be getting a little too much.

See: The Eleventh Hour, Let’s Kill Hitler, The Angels Take Manhattan

B is for Bandrils

[FOR IGN REFERENCE http://www.shadowlocked.com/images/stories/whoreviews/colin_baker/timelash/timelash_bandril.jpg]

With seemingly every sci-fi publication imaginable taking polls on viewers’ favorite Doctor Who monsters of all time, spare a thought for the critters that are best left forgotten. Languishing at the bottom of any Who fan’s scariest monster list, past mutant bubble-wrap arms and burping wheelie bins, are the Bandrils.

These barely animated glove puppets wouldn’t look out of place in an episode of the Muppet Show’s Trek-spoof “Pigs in Space”. At least there you’d be able to laugh at the Bandril’s high-pitched threats of world obliteration without feeling guilty.

See: Timelash, The Muppet Show

C is for Cybermen

Before the Borg, there were the Cybermen- human beings whose humanity had been taken away, their emotions removed, their bodies replaced with machine parts and weird... jug handles, I guess?

Initially from Earth’s long lost twin planet Mondas, the Cybermen used to be grim reflections of ourselves, but over time their emotionless exteriors became increasingly less convincing until they were stomping around shouting “Excellent!” and being ridiculously allergic to gold.

Is it any wonder, then, that when Russell T Davies brought these villains back he wiped the slate clean by giving us a new origin story about an alternate universe Earth driven crazy by mobile-phone ear-plugs?

See: The Tomb of the Cybermen, Rise of the Cybermen & The Age of Steel

D is for the Doctor

Now twelve-hundred years old, the Doctor has come a long way from his days as a bohemian adventurer pottering about the universe with his granddaughter and a pair of school teachers. He’s lived through eleven bodies, been exiled to Earth, become president of the Time Lords, was put on trial by them (twice), wiped out the Daleks (almost), fought in a time war, ended a time war, turned human and got married.

Never cruel and never cowardly, the Doctor has always been a relentless force for the good in a universe of terrors. With him around it’s safe to be scared.

See: Doctor Who - all of it

E is for Extended Universe

It’s a testament to the core structure of Doctor Who that the Doctor’s stories translate so well to other media and with a show as long-running as this it’s unsurprising just how many tie-ins to the show there are.

Let’s start with Doctor Who Magazine, the longest running TV tie-in magazine ever, whose comic strip served as a proving ground for such luminaries as Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons- creators of Watchmen. Then there are the vast quantities of novels that kept Doctor Who alive during its dark days of cancellation in the 90s. Big Finish Production’s audio adventures also served a similar function, bringing back classic Doctors to record missing adventures with former companions- a range that continues to this day.

And those are just the tip of the ice-berg; how could you forget the charming 60’s Dalek movies featuring Peter Cushing, or the Doctor’s recent forays into the world of video games? Doctor Who is truly a universe too big for just the small screen.

See: Doctor Who Magazine

F is for Frightening

For a children’s show, Doctor Who has never been one to shy away from terrifying moments, particularly during the gothic horror era of Tom Baker’s early series which notably featured a particularly violent cliffhanger involving the Doctor’s head being held underwater.

Nowadays the show steers clear of realistic violence, preferring instead to explore more psychological or fantastical scares. Children should be able to hide behind the sofa without worrying about the dangers the Doctor faces happening to them.

See: The Deadly Assassin

G is for Gallifrey

Gallifrey is the Doctor’s home world. Situated in the constellation of Kasterborous, its burnt orange landscape houses the the citadel of the Time Lords. This wise and ancient race, whose powers are fueled by a huge black hole beneath the planet’s surface, regarded themselves as superior to the other inhabitants of the universe. This was until the Dalek Empire came knocking.

In the Time War that followed, Gallifrey was lost, trapped out of time by the Doctor in a last ditch attempt to prevent the horrors of the war leaking out into the rest of the universe. For all we know it remains there still, doomed to live the final days of the war for the rest of eternity.

See: The Deadly Assassin, The End of Time Part 1 & 2

H is for Heroes

It’s only natural that we consider the Doctor the hero of his own show, but spare a thought for those he travels with.

When the Doctor actually chooses his companions (something that happens surprisingly rarely) he prides himself on taking only the very best. Usually these people are dissatisfied with their lives, aware that they are destined for greater things and the Doctor’s skill is to take this people and let them grow and flourish; transforming an ordinary shop worker in a goddess who can wield the power of the time vortex, or a London Temp into a human-Time Lord capable of destroying an entire Dalek empire.

From Captain Jack to Rose to Martha to Sarah Jane Smith- these people are just like us. And if he’ll take them, he could come back for you.

See: The Stolen Earth & Journey’s End

I is for “I am the Doctor!”

Possibly the greatest piece of Doctor Who merchandise ever devised- the Third Doctor himself, Jon Pertwee, talk-singing over the Doctor Who theme.

Released in 1972 ‘Who is the Doctor’ was the first time the Doctor Who theme had been given lyrics and is something that must be heard to be believed.

Whilst you’re at it, check out the poignant (and non-Who related) B-side to the original single that recounted the fortunes a faded stage magician, entitled ‘Pure Mystery’.

See: Who is the Doctor?

J is for Jelly Babies

The Doctor’s favorite food- jelly babies have been considered a delicacy by the Doctor ever since his second incarnation, however it was Tom Baker’s Doctor that made them iconic. Brandished his little paper bag wherever he went, the fourth Doctor used them regularly to break the ice, once prevented a man committing suicide and even threatened a gang of savage natives by holding a “deadly jelly baby” to a fellow tribesman’s neck.

Nowadays jelly babies have been replaced by the more biscuity jammy dodger as the Doctor’s confectionary of choice, a far more impractical treat in our opinion- think of the crumbs!

See: The Face of Evil, The Sun Makers, Doctor Who (TV movie)

K is for K-9

The ultimate pet/portable turret/smarmy computer/chess opponent, K-9 was actually the property of another doctor- Professor Marius- who felt a bit guilty about trying to infect our Doctor with an alien virus whilst possessed so gave him K-9 as a way of apologizing.

There have actually been a number of different versions of K-9 over the course of the Doctor’s travels; the first being left in a parallel universe with his companion Romana, the second on Gallifrey with Leela, whilst Sarah Jane Smith managed to get through two models all by herself (which isn’t that surprising considering how often the tin dog would break down).

K-9 has also starred in his own spin-off series, but we don’t like to talk about.

See: The Invisible Enemy, Warriors’ Gate, School Reunion

L is for Legends

There are many legends about the Doctor throughout the series, but most of the time they are entirely fictional. Oncoming Storms, Predators and Sainted Physicians are all very well, but the ultimate crossover reference came in the 1989 story Battlefield.

When a group of space age knights from a parallel universe invade a sleepy English village on the hunt for a demon, they immediately recognize its protector- the Doctor - as their wise and ancient advisor; the wizard Merlin.

See: Battlefield

M is for Steven Moffat

Steven Moffat is Doctor Who’s current lead writer and executive producer. After winning BAFTAs for his timey-wimey scripts for the Tenth Doctor it was only natural that Steven would take over the mantle of the show from previous incumbent Russell T Davies upon the Doctor’s regeneration.

Steven hasn’t just been busy with Doctor Who however, and any fan of the show would surely be missing out if they didn’t check out his revamping of another British icon, Sherlock Holmes, in a series he co-created with fellow Doctor Who writer Mark Gatiss.

See: Sherlock

N is for Nemesis

The Master is a rival Time Lord; the Moriarty to the Doctor’s Holmes. He arrived on Earth intent on destruction during the Third Doctor’s exile and since then the two of them have brawled across the stars.

Over time we’ve learned that the Doctor and the Master used to be childhood friends, and that the Master was driven insane by the Time Lord president Rassilon who planted a drumbeat in the young boy’s head as a means to escape the horrors of the Time War. This insanity, the Doctor believes, is the root cause of the Master’s transformation into a being of pure evil.

Most of the time though he was just a bit naff - his pantomime plans to humiliate the Doctor becoming so convoluted and contrived that at one point the only way he could have planned his next revenge on the Doctor was by assuming his first dastardly plot would fail.

See: Terror of the Autons, Castrovalva, The Sound of Drums & Last of the Time Lords

O is for Oswin

This year the Christmas special will be even more special than usual as it brings with it the gift of a new companion in the shape of former Emmerdale actress Jenna-Louise Coleman.

Little is known about how she will be introduced, however Steven Moffat has offered us a tantalizing glimpse of what she’ll be like in the first episode of this series- Asylum of the Daleks- in which she played Oswin Oswald, an astronaut converted into one of the Doctor’s tin-pot foes. Could she be a relative of the Oswin who will end up travelling with the Doctor? Or is Moffat up to his timey-wimey tricks again?

See: Asylum of the Daleks

P is for Paris

With Doctor Who filming in both Spain and the US this season alone, it’s hard to believe that it took 9 years for the show to be filmed abroad.

Doctor Who’s first ever overseas shoot was in Paris for the 1972 story City of Death. Written by Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, it involved the theft of the Mona Lisa by an alien that had been splintered throughout different eras of history, a plot which took a back seat to copious shots of Tom Baker and Lalla Ward running through Paris hand in hand- a genuine treat and all-time highlight for Doctor Who.

See: City of Death

Q is for the Quest for the Key to Time

Nowadays we’re all familiar with Doctor Who’s series-arcs. From Bad Wolf to Torchwood, Saxon and Silence Falling, each meme serves to frame the Doctor’s exploits in a larger context whilst giving observant fans tantalizing clues to drive each other mad over the internet.

But it wasn’t always this way and, until 1976 when the White Guardian charged the Doctor with tracking down the six segments of the Key to Time, the classic series had never dealt with tale so epic that it spanned an entire season.

Each adventure revolved around the Doctor and his Time Lady companion Romana acquiring a new segment (unhelpfully disguised as either a planet, a princess or some kind of fancy jewelry) and as the series progressed the stakes were raised to universe-threatening levels as the Doctor became a pawn in the battle between the fundamental forces of good and evil.

See: The Key to Time series

R is for Russell T Davies

The man who brought Doctor Who back, Russell T Davies was already a hugely established scriptwriter and producer long before he got his hands on the Time Lord.

His breakthrough work was the series Queer as Folk, a drama focusing on the lives of gay clubbers in Manchester and including Vince, a Doctor Who fan who watched old Tom Baker episodes after a night out a received a radio controlled K-9 for his birthday.

Russell would then go on to write the one-off mini-series The Second Coming (starring future 9th Doctor Christopher Eccleston) and Casanova- which featured a fresh-faced David Tennant as the eponymous hero.

See: Queer as Folk, The Second Coming, Casanova

S is for Sonic Screwdriver

Whilst companions come and go, this little whirring tool remains the Doctor’s most faithful of partners. Doesn’t kill, doesn’t wound, doesn’t maim, it also doesn’t work on wood which is a bit of an oversight on the Doctor’s part.

Introduced during the Patrick Troughton’s tenure, it was destroyed during the Peter Davison’s over fears that it was becoming too much of a crutch for the Time Lord. Aside from a brief cameo it was only resurrected when Doctor Who returned in 2005. Now apparently grown by the TARDIS, it has proven itself even more capable than before, both in the show and as a range ridiculously popular of children’s toys- including a universal remote.

See: Fury from the Deep, the Doctor Who Sonic Screwdriver Universal Remote Control

T is for the TARDIS

Time And Relative Dimension In Space- The TARDIS is the Doctor’s home, its vast interior housing laboratories, living quarters, wardrobes, a swimming pool, a library and seemingly infinite, identical corridors. All while its modest exterior is stuck in the shape of a 1950s London police box.

More than simply a portal to adventure, the TARDIS is occasionally the subject (or cause) of adventures all its own, including sucking planet Earth through its power core, imbuing Rose with all the power of the time vortex, and turning into a woman.

See: Doctor Who (TV Movie), The Parting of the Ways, The Doctor’s Wife

U is for UNIT

The UNified Intelligence Taskforce- formerly the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce- was founded in the 60s or 70s depending on which Doctor Who story you happen to be watching. Lead by the Doctor’s oldest friend Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart (and currently headed up by his daughter) it existed to combat the large spike in alien invasions of the home counties that happened to coincide with the third Doctor’s exile to that exact same location.

The Doctor has worked with UNIT in all but two of his incarnations, watching them grow from a cuddly band of vaguely inept soldiers to a sinister, highly mobile and well equipped fighting force complete with Captain Scarlet-style cloud-bases.

See: The Invasion, Spearhead from Space, The Power of Three

V is for Verity Lambert

Verity Lambert is widely regarded as the mother of Doctor Who. The first ever female producer at the BBC (and one of the first female television producers full stop) she oversaw the creation of the show that would tragically outlive her.

In 2002 Verity was awarded an OBE in recognition of her contribution to film and television and continued to work as a producer until the day she died in 2007. In the episode ‘Human Nature’, broadcast the year she died, the Doctor paid tribute to her legacy by revealing his parents to be named after both her and Sydney Newman - the head of drama at the BBC when Doctor Who was first commissioned.

See: Human Nature & The Family of Blood

W is for Weeping Angels

The most enduring and popular new monsters since Doctor Who’s return in 2005, the Weeping Angels have even beaten the Daleks to the top of recent ‘scariest villain of all time’ polls.

Nicknamed ‘the lonely assassins’ due to their quantum-locked nature, the Weeping Angels appear as stone statues whenever they are observed by another living thing. But as soon as you look away, as soon as you blink- they strike; zapping you back in time so they can feed off the energy of the days you might have had in the future.

Each time the Weeping Angels return we’ve seen them gain new, even more deadly abilities- including the ability to manifest from security footage and possess those that look into its eyes. With the epic climax of Amy and Rory’s decade with the Doctor set to feature the Weeping Angels in New York, it’s anybody’s guess what tricks they might still be hiding up their sleeves.

See: Blink, The Time of Angels & Flesh and Stone, The Angels Take Manhattan

X is for Exterminate

The Daleks! The Doctor’s oldest and deadliest foes. Their terrifying rubber plungers were the first aliens the Doctor ever met on-screen and since then they’ve dogged the Time Lord throughout all his incarnations- becoming pop-culture icons in the process.

The mutated survivors of a nuclear war, the Daleks were created by Davros, a crippled and insane scientist who taught them to hate anything different to themselves (including him as it turns out). This hatred has proven to be the perfect survival mechanism however, as the Daleks continue to rebuild their empire in the wake of their conflict with the Time Lords. After being defeated by the Doctor in so many battles, it appears these little pepper-pots may have won the war...

See: Genesis of the Daleks, Dalek, Asylum of the Daleks

Y is for 50 Years

That’s right, come November of next year this little show about a madman in a box will have been around half a century. That’ll be 33 series, 238 stories, 11 leading actors and a host of pop-culture icons for all you number fans out there.

As the longest running science fiction series in history, it’s astonishing to see the show exist today almost completely unchanged from its original format with an unwavering appeal that spans generations. The Doctor is truly a man out of time.

See: An Unearthly Child

Z is for Zygons

It’s fortunate that one of the few Doctor Who monsters to begin with Z is also one of the ones we most want to see return in the new series!

The Zygons are a lumpy orange race of shape-shifters whose whispery voice hints at a sinister past of chain-smoking and laryngitis. The Doctor discovered them hiding at the bottom of Loch Ness preparing to unleash a giant glove-puppet dinosaur on London. Aside from the glove-puppet part, these creatures were terrifying, and their prosthetics so convincing that the new production team wouldn’t even need to update them!

See: Terror of the Zygons

Source : ign[dot]com

Tech Fetish Podcast Episode 144

Click to download Tech Fetish Episode 144.

Source : ign[dot]com

iSorry - A History of Apple's Apologies

Apple CEO Tim Cook issued a public apology for Apple's new Maps app today, stating that the company "fell short" of "the same incredibly high standard" its customers expect it to meet.

This isn't Apple's first apology and probably won't be its last, but it may be its most satisfying.

It's not hard to see why a consumer-electronics company wouldn't want to admit its mistakes too definitively; beyond the risk of class action suits, it can be bad for a company's reputation. Because, the fact is, apologies make for news. (Yes, we realize we're complicit in this.)

But historically, Apple's apologies (we came up with ten) have often left something to be desired. Coupled with the sometimes unreasonable expectations it encourages in its customers, Apple's understandable restraint in acknowledging problems might come off as smug or prevaricating. Still, what's more repellant than an insincere apology?

Here's our account of Apple's reluctant admissions that even Apple makes mistakes over the last five years, complete with background info and a bit of kindergarten-culture commentary.

Sorry You Paid So Much for Your iPhone. (Sept 2007)

This is actually Apple's first on-record public apology we could find. Two months after the original iPhone was released, it got a pretty major price-drop: $200 across the board. The 8GB iPhone went from $599 to $399. Understandably, anybody who'd bought the iPhone when it first launched (or, worse, the day before it got a price drop) felt cheated.

Did Apple give them their $200 back? iDon'tThinkSo. But it did offer them $100 in store credit. And Steve Jobs actually said "We apologize for disappointing some of you." And Apple's price drops since have been more predictable.Of course, Jobs' apology came after three lengthy paragraphs explaining why dropping the iPhone's price was the right decision - that a bigger user-base would be better for everyone with an iPhone, and that "if you always wait for the next price cut or to buy the new improved model, you'll never buy any technology product."

And he was right about both those things. But he didn't acknowledge that what bothered folks was the capricious nature of the price-drop. There's a reason the rhythmic life cycle of iPhone models (and prices) is foreseeable these days.

Source: Apple

Sorry (And Sorry Again) MobileMe Is Broken. (July 2008)

The precursor to iCloud (and successor to .Mac) had a bumpy launch, with server problems, a broken webapp and other bugs. And because advertised MobileMe's cloud syncing as "push", users were disappointed to find that their computers would only sync every 15 minutes.

Apple's response in this case was refreshingly sincere: "we are going to stop using the word ‘push’ until it is near-instant on PCs and Macs, too. [And] we want to apologize to our loyal customers and express our appreciation for their patience by giving all current subscribers an automatic 30-day extension to their MobileMe subscription free of charge."

Not bad! Of course, that apology came in an email...

Source: Wired

Sorry About Baby Shaker. (Apr 2009)

The same week the App Store saw its billionth download, Apple pulled an app that had users quiet a crying baby by, well, shaking their phones.

The app was discovered by a Shaken Baby Syndrome advocacy group, but by the time they'd organized a protest and alerted the media, Apple had already pulled the app and issued its biggest apology yet:

"This app is deeply offensive and should not have been approved for distribution on the App Store. We sincerely apologize for this mistake."

But Patrick Donohue, founder of the Sarah Jane Brain Foundation, wasn't satisfied. Citing Apple's refusal to release its criteria for App Store gatekeeping, he said Apple's statement was "directed at the media to kill the story. This is the most cynical apology I have ever seen."

Source: Information Week

Sorry the iPhone 4 Is Our Hottest Phone Ever. (June 2010)

Check out Apple's bragpology after high pre-order demand for the iPhone 4 crashed its site:

"Yesterday Apple … took pre-orders for more than 600,000 iPhone 4s. It was the largest number of pre-orders Apple has ever taken in a single day and … many of our order and approval systems malfunctioned. Many customers were turned away or abandoned the process in frustration. We apologize to everyone who encountered difficulties, and hope that they will try again."

Source: Apple

Sorry You're Holding Your iPhone 4 Wrong. (July 2010)

Remember Antennagate, when just touching part of an iPhone 4's aluminum side might drop a call? Apple didn't apologize for this one at first, recommending that iPhone 4 owners "avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one of many available cases," and calling the problem "a fact of life for every wireless phone."

When people still insisted the issue was way worse on the iPhone 4 than any phone they'd ever used, Apple released a second statement, explaining that the "dramatic drop in bars" was caused by phones falsely displaying more bars than the signal strength called for. "The formula we [have used] to calculate how many bars … to display is totally wrong," Apple told the press, before explaining that the problem would be "fixed" by a software update that made the first three bars bigger and easier to see.

Apple did remind customers that they had 30 days to return their iPhone if they didn't like it, but the statement maintained that "the iPhone 4's wireless performance is the best we have ever shipped," and its guidelines for technical support staff still instructed, "We ARE NOT appeasing customers with free bumpers – DON'T promise a free bumper to customers."

Source: Engadget, Apple, Gizmodo

Sorry Our Last Apology Sucked. (July 2010)

Thought Antennagate was over? So did Apple, but customers and the media had other plans.

While Apple never recalled the iPhone 4 or admitted to a design flaw, it did eventually offer some customers a free bumper case, and the phone's antenna design was eventually quietly revised to fix it.

Siri: "Sorry My Servers Are Down." (Nov 2011)

In early November last year, early adopter of the iPhone 4S experienced Siri outages. Her servers may have been down, but Siri still had the manners to say, "Sorry I am having trouble connecting to the network."

Sorry Siri's Pro-Life. (Dec 2011)

If you lived in New York and asked Siri for directions to the nearest abortion clinic, it would have told you last December that she couldn't find any. If you lived in DC, Siri would have taken you to an anti-abortion "crisis pregnancy center".

When Nancy Keenan of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League brought the issue to Apple's attention, Tim Cook responded personally:

"While [Siri] can find a lot, it doesn't always find what you want. These are not intentional omissions meant to offend anyone, it simply means that as we bring Siri from beta to a final product, we find places where we can do better and we will in the coming weeks."

Calling it a "glitch" isn't exactly an apology, but if that's all it was, maybe an apology wasn't warranted.

Source: Business Insider

Sorry the Galaxy Tab Isn't Cool Enough to Be an iPad Knockoff. (Coming Soon)

Back in July, Apple lost an infringement case against Samsung in the UK. In his ruling, Judge Birss said the Galaxy Tabs "are not as cool" as the iPad.

But he also ordered Apple to print a public apology to Samsung for accusing it of design theft. Apple has a stay on this order until the appeal is heard in October, so check back soon to find out just how awesome Apple's next apology is.

Source: Bloomberg

What do you want to see your favorite (or least favorite) electronics company apologize for? Let us know in the comments.

Jon Fox is a Seattle hipster who loves polar bears and climbing trees. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com