Sunday, December 03, 2006

A bookseller speaks:

"The ISBN number used in Torchwood for Emily Dickinson's poems was wrong. It started in 019 the book was the Faber edition of the complete poems, and as such would have an ISBN starting in 0571. A schoolboy error. "

Good work PP.

UPDATE: PP also informs me that the quote 'O Captain, my Captain' comes from Walt Whitman, not Emily Dickinson, which I like to think I would have known, but probably I wouldn't. Also, I gave up on Torchwood after episode two, so I don't have the faintest idea what he's talking about.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Torchwood - Episode 10. I LOLed.

21 comments:

Bearded Lady said...

thank god thats been cleared up.

Fat Roland said...

I only realised today that 'Torchwood' is an anagram of 'Doctor Who'.

Tim F said...

Ah, yes, but if they can't even be trusted to get the series chronology right, viz the Brigadier having retired in 1977, despite Sarah Jane very clearly having said...

Etc.

You can't pull the wool over the eyes of DW fans. Instead, knit them some attractive mittens, with the image of a Zygon on the back.

Valerie Polichar said...

Tim, you crack me up.

I think you just have to balance, when making a series like this, the cost of looking up every detail with the cost of dealing with nitpicky fans. As I am one of those nuts who carries a Sharpie marker for the purpose of correcting punctuation on signs, I really should side with the nitpicky fans. I'm not actually sure where I stand, though. I admit I'm fascinated with the corrections. But I'm also not much of a perfectionist, especially if I'm having a good time.

Anonymous said...

PP. I not only salute you but I love you too. You truly are the patron saint of anally retentive ex-booksellers everywhere. People need to realise that this stuff is IMPORTANT. BTW my passort number so nearly has a Penguin paperback ISBN prefix that it actually gives me pain to write it down. There, I've said it. Mock me if you must. Kudos also to the Mighty James for bringing this oft-disregarded subject to the world's notice.

Billy said...

I only knew the Captain my Captain bit because of Dead Poets Society.

Anonymous said...

I did actually wonder if they said the right ISBN so I'm glad that's been cleared up.

I too only knew Oh Captain my Captain because of Dead Poet's Society.

Anonymous said...

I only know Anything because of television (and wikipaedia).

Anonymous said...

Me too on the Captain, my Captain and I always get Emily Dickenson confused with the other one with no capitals.

word ver=zagpcp ?an idea for a glove puppet drug crazed mashup.

Billy said...

Emily Dickinson uses lots of dashes.

Anonymous said...

But why aren't you watching Torchwood? Have I missed something here? I, of course, rely on the teenager to keep me up to date on such matters - it's all too gory and squelchy for me.

Mangonel said...

How come you never saw 'Dead Poets Society?'

violet said...

When I read the blurb in the TV guide about the first few Torchwood episodes I thought the ideas were pretty interesting - sadly that doesn't make up for the fact that the characters are pretty much cardboard cut-outs, 90% of the dialogue is exposition, and they'll shoehorn in lame Hot Lesbo Action any which way they can, so long as the ladies don't look like they're actually enjoying it on its own merit.

Sorry, I live with a DW nerd and have Views about Torchwood by proxy. James, thank you for the 'another update' link, I near widdled meself laughing.

Anonymous said...

torchwood is an anagram of doctor who because back in the day, when they used to have to transport films accross the country to the studios and blah they called it "project torchwood" so that if wpuldn't fall into the wrong hands - they wouldn't want the biggest show that was created by the bbc to get lost do they? (i think it's along those lines anyway)

thanks for clearing the whole torchwood isbn number up james :) It surely couldn't be that hard to find the RIGHT book ISBN number can it??

Ros x (LCG)

Anonymous said...

indeed, you could look at the book for example.

Anonymous said...

Maybe its to avoid being accused of advertising. You can wave a book around but you can't give its actual ISBN number, in case booksellers are swamped with order requests for that particular issue, which would be unfair to rival publishers. I've put too much thought into this.

Billy said...

What's a good term for lame Hot Lesbo action?

Tepic Tribadism maybe?

Billy said...

Bugger, that should have been "tepid"

patroclus said...

Anagrams are the last refuge of the half-witted.

Yes, Dan Brown, I'm talking about you.

Anonymous said...

belladonna - it wasn't random, RTD & Co were already planning to use the Torchwood name for a spinoff before the start of series 2 (check out the name dropping in The Christmas Invasion), so the house (and therefore the institute) was given the name they already had in mind.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the Torchwood link, very funny. I think they've captured the essence there.