To be honest, after the technical issues with ep 1 (which I'll re-render, mix and re-upload at some point), I didn't care what anybody thought of the content of this week's ep; I just wanted it to look and sound okay. That bothered me with ep 1, because it's something that you can't attribute to personal taste.
This week I've had quite a few people telling me not to take YouTube comments to heart, but I do need to stress that I really don't. They just wash over me, and this isn't just a "He doth protest too much" thing.
I don't get even slightly affected by the negativity (unless it's aimed at somebody I care about); either the person making shitty comments doesn't like what I've done (which is fair enough), or they're acting out (which sort of signifies something a bit sadder and deeper). Either way... whatever. I don't lose sleep over it.
And, of course, the overwhelming majority of comments have been positive anyway.
I'm proud of what we've made here, I know it's good, it's true to what I wanted to make, and I'm also acutely aware that it won't be for everyone. Somebody said to me last week that we're living in a world of niches, and Digitiser is a niche. It always has been, for 25 years now.
If you see me talking about shitty comments, it's just what Digitiser has always done. We often printed letters on Teletext saying how much people hated us, so this is comfortable territory for me.
Also, lest we forget, I wrote Pudsey The Dog The Movie. If even that hate-storm didn't get to me... this is nothing! So please... I appreciate the concern, but you really, really, really don't have to tell me to not read the comments. I know I'm old/fat/scruffy, I know my sense of humour is weird, I know some people will think Digitiser is shit. They can't tell me anything I'm not already aware of!
I wouldn't be doing this if I thought I couldn't handle it. And my wife wouldn't let me either.
And with that... on with my breakdown of this week's ep...
Some of you may have guessed that Fat Sow is voiced by Paul Gannon's CheapShow co-host Eli Silverman. You know: because I couldn't think of anyone with a more feminine voice.
Fat Sow will be back later in the series. I mean, you wouldn't believe how much she cost, so like her or not we're going to get our money's worth.
He also played the dog in last week's Duck Hunt For Real, and crops up again next week in TWO mystery roles...
I love the Head to Head segments. After the big finale game at the end of each ep, they were my favourite part of the show to film. They're just sort of nice and relaxed, and feel like a proper TV show segment to me.
And, once again - as he does throughout the series - Mr Hairs crops up with his hairy arms, sort of becoming the sixth Beatle/Yoko.
It's about finding a balance between topics people will recognise and ones which will alienate the less-nerdy among us. For now, until we've built an audience, this section is more a case of us playing the greatest hits.
Hats off to Sam and Gaz, our contestants, for being good sports. And behold: more evidence of the infinite versatility of barrels...
Next week's episode is my favourite one so far. Steve McNeil from Go 8-Bit is our special guest, but it's the finale you're really going to want to tune in for.
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