Belated happy new ones to ye! Hope you all had a decent festive break, and it wasn't too mired in finally-stopped-work illness and family tantrums. I thought now would be as good a time as any to check in with happenings in the Digiverse, and what is being planned for 2019 - as well as inviting some feedback (always a dangerous game, I know).

If you're a Patreon or Kickstarter backer you've been getting regular insights, but not everyone is - so I figured it was worth opening this up to everyone. 

Here's a vague timeline for (some of) what I have on my plate - aside from the need to also earn a living - and the order I intend to get it done in:

Continue daily Digitiser2000 updates.

Finish sending out the Found Footage backer rewards, and upload the missing footage, bringing that project to a long-overdue end. 

Get Digitiser The Show Episode 1 re-uploaded.

Edit the backer exclusive episode.

Continue with ongoing Digitiser mini episodes - including filming some videos with my co-hosts.

Fulfil Digitiser The Show backer rewards.

Digitiser Live.

Digitiser The Show Series 2...

And it's on that final point that I would like your input. 

I feel the need to say something sincere and gushing about this final episode - and I'll try at the end here - but Digitiser has consumed my life for the past four months, editing day in day out, and I'm just... I'm ready to stop.

It's a weird thing, but writing affects me in a completely different way to editing. With scripts, when I've finished a first draft, say, my brain feels compressed, and like it's overheating, but with editing... I just get tired. So, so tired. 

Without wanting to tempt fate, I'm hopeful that now we know what the format is, series 2 is going to be a little easier. Certainly, I'm not sure I'd take on all of the editing myself again. Aside from anything, I didn't get paid for doing that, and I still need to cover the bills. So, that's something we're going to have to budget for as and when we do more. 

When will we do more? Well, we've promised two more specials next year and a live show, so there are those to think about, but the sensible thing to do would be to try and get everything to coincide with a longer filming block for a series 2. How quickly we're able to do that does depend on the sort of budget we have to play with. If I can get paid for doing the show, I can take on less of my day job over the coming year. That would be ideal.

You can help though by backing me on Patreon; from now on Patreon will not only fund this site, but further videos on the channel, on a regular basis.

Anyhow, for now... here's my behind-the-scenes commentary on the final ep of Series 1. Beware: SPOILERS!

We're into the final stretch now. Next Sunday, Digitiser the Show comes to the end of its first run, and I think it's fair to say that over the course of the past five episodes we've come a long way. We've definitely established what the show is, won many of you over who weren't convinced by the first episode, and talked about old games - a lot. 

I'm immensely proud of this series. The amount of work it has taken is above and beyond what I could've predicted, but we delivered exactly what we promised. I'll save the real thankyous for next week, but a quick shout-out to Paul, Jenny, Octav1us and Larry, who are the glue which hold it all together on-screen.

You can't underestimate what a daunting prospect this must've been for them - to walk into a studio of people they barely knew, with immense pressure on them to be informative, funny, and professional. Jenny and Octav1us had never done anything remotely like this before, but you simply wouldn't know.

You're extremely exposed in a situation like that - especially in this day and age - where it's your face on screen. Putting yourself out there takes a huge amount of bravery. The fact that they overcame all that and performed not just adequately, but brilliantly, is genuinely humbling. I don't take it for granted.

Anyway... let's take a look behind-the-scenes of Episode 5.... BEWARE: SPOILERS!

Oh, and incidentally, if you're wondering where Episode 1 has gone to, I've taken it down temporarily so that we can fix the sound and frame-rate issues. It does mean we'll lose all those lovely views, but - let's face it - half of them were from wankers anyway. 

It's getting better and better isn't it? For me, last night's ep of Digitiser is the best one yet. In terms of balance between all-out stupid stuff, chemistry between the hosts, and talking about games, it absolutely nails it. 

We know we've already won back a few people who buggered off after ep 1, but the general consensus seems to be that, well, people just want more. In all honesty, I don't know what happens after the series ends.

At the moment all I can think about is the next couple of episodes, and then taking a break, but just know that we would love to build on what we've achieved, and we're open to suggestions as to how we fund it. I'm a bit off the notion of doing another Kickstarter at the minute... 

For now, the best thing you can do is tell people about this show. We've found a core, passionate, audience - but there have to be more people out there who'd love this. We're well aware that we've made something very special here. 

Anyhow. Time to reveal some of these: secrets.

If you've yet to see the episode, be aware that this article contains spoilers...

I get to every Sunday and think "Well, that episode was a nightmare to edit - at least the next one won't be". And then it is.

Ep 3 was indeed a nightmare of an edit, and the final final version - still warts and all - wasn't uploaded until a few hours before the ep went live (allowing just enough time for YouTube to process it). Before that happened, some of you over on Twitter may have noticed that Paul Gannon and I found ourselves in the midst of a wee brouhaha.

Earlier in the week, Paul had come up with a plan to drum up a bit of extra interest in the episode by pretending we'd had some sort of big falling out. He was going to announce his resignation following the episode, with a special video, I was going to respond - then we'd carry on the charade throughout this week, before kissing and making up, and him rejoining the series just in time for next week's episode. I thought it was genius.

We're both big fans of Gregg Turkington and Tim Heidecker's On Cinema At The Cinema, and they offer a similar sort of meta narrative, which spills out of the show and into the real world. And it's great - it kind of extends the show beyond the boundaries of a just-once-a-week thing.

Unfortunately... it appears we may have been too subtle, and as fun as it was for us to do... well, we won't be doing it again.

I mean, I thought my over-the-top Trump-style tweets were a pretty clear indication that this was all a big joke. And that saying Paul Gannon "nearly dies" in the episode was obviously OTT clickbait hyperbole. Not to mention the fact that the series was filmed six months ago, and if Paul had nearly died, or harboured some issue with what we'd done, he'd have quit long before now. Besides, if we'd really had a falling out I wouldn't have been part of CheapShow Live etc. etc.

Certainly - as grown men - we wouldn't have aired our dirty laundry on social media. I mean... give us some credit.

See? SEE? Aren't you glad now that you stuck with the show beyond the teething troubles of ep 1? And we're just hitting our stride with Ep 2. Which, admittedly, was a nightmare to edit - but we got there (in part thanks to some assistance at the 11th hour from the brilliant Chris Bullock). It was such a scramble to get this done that I hadn't even seen the full, finished, episode in one go before I had to upload it.

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...

Well, that was episode 1 out of the way, and I feel utterly emotionally drained. I'm not used to being in the spotlight like this, having so many strangers talking about me or my work. It's really weird and uncomfortable, and makes me want to hide in a tree. But I'm sure I'll get used to it. 

Nonetheless... loads of you seemed to love the first ep, and I'm very pleased it has gone down so well. The feedback makes the exhaustion worth it. It has been one heck of a journey getting it to this point, and so many people have been kind and helpful along the way. Not least the backers, and everyone who has shared it.

Here then, is a sort of commentary from me on last night's debut episode. Beware: SPOILERS.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel, click the button for notifications, and share the living heck out of this. The full series launches next month!