Planet Nerd

Infobox Television
bgcolour = #D6D6FF
show_name = Planet Nerd


caption =
format = Variety
camera =
picture_format = PAL
audio_format =
runtime = 24 mins. (approx)
creator = Dan Walmsley
developer = Dan Walmsley and the cast
executive_producer =
starring = Dan Walmsley, Paul Francis Verhoeven, Ben McKenzie, Simon Barber, Jason English-Rees, Andrew Doodson, Lou Pardi, Rob Lloyd and others
narrated =
opentheme =
endtheme =
country = flagicon|Australia Australia
network = Channel 31 Melbourne
first_run =
first_aired = June 7th, 2007
last_aired =
num_episodes = 12
list_episodes =
website = http://planetnerd.tv/
imdb_id =
tv_com_id =

" [http://planetnerd.tv Planet Nerd] " is a television comedy variety programme broadcast on Channel 31 Melbourne. It stars local Melbourne comedians Dan Walmsley, Paul Francis Verhoeven, Ben McKenzie, Simon Barber, Jason English-Rees, Andrew Doodson, Lou Pardi, and Rob Lloyd, and features other local Melbourne talent as well. Segments from the program are uploaded to YouTube, and there is also an official video podcast.

Planet Nerd was been nominated for Best Comedy Program in the 2008 Antenna Awards, which celebrate the best of Australian community television, though they did not win the award. [ [http://c31.org.au/antennas/antennas_nominations.php C31 : The Antennas : Nominations ] ]

As of September 17, 2008, new video segments have begun to appear on the "Planet Nerd" web site. The first is an interview with Rocket Boom creator, Andrew Baron.

Content

Aimed at the geek demographic, "Planet Nerd" offers a variation on the variety show format, with host Dan Walmsley acting as an anchor, sometimes accompanied by one of the other presenters, throwing to various segments which include documentaries, reviews and sketches. Each week the hosting segments are filmed in a different context, often forming a series of linked sketches themselves.

Documentaries

Aside from the overt comedic content, "Planet Nerd" also features original, semi-serious documentary segments which explore and celebrate various facets of geek culture. Subjects have included the roleplaying and wargaming convention Arcanacon, RoboGames, Sony's Wonder Technology Lab and National ICT Australia. A similar semi-regular segment is "Geek of the Week", in which a subject is interviewed by Ben McKenzie about their nerdy hobbies or profession.

Footage of John Carnack's presentation at Apple Computer's 2007 World Wide Developer's Conference was posted by Planet Nerd on YouTube, resulting in over 43,000 views, making the programme the number one watched comedian on YouTube for June 12, 2007. [ [http://www.danwalmsley.com/2007/06/12/point-and-shoot-to-stardom/ Point and Shoot to Stardom] on Dan Walmsley's blog]

Reviews

Paul Verhoeven reviews recent films in an anarchic sketch-based format, concentrating on genre films like Michael Bay's "Transformers". Rob Lloyd's "One Minute DVD Review" awards scores out of "Seven Samurai", and instead of new releases focusses on classics, including box sets of early "Doctor Who" ("The Beginning"), "The Muppet Show" and the films of Harold Lloyd.

Response

"Planet Nerd" has gathered some positive press, most notably in an article in the The Age newspaper's Green Guide about Channel 31 programming, in which Marieke Hardy referred to the show as "magically dorky" and "adorably earnest" [cite web| title = 31 Reasons for Hope| publisher = The Age| author = Marieke Hardy| url = http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/06/27/1182623916399.html| date = June 28, 2007| accessdate = 2007-07-11] .

Australian technology web site Gizmodo reported on a Planet Nerd publicity stunt in which they celebrated the release of the iPhone by selling an obviously fake over-sized cardboard iPhone (a prop from the first episode) on eBay. [cite web| title = Idiot: eBayer 'stall4u' pays $29 for cardboard iPhone| publisher = Gizmodo| url = http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2007/07/idiot_ebayer_stall4u_pays_29_f.html| date = July 9, 2007| accessdate = 2007-07-11]

John Howard YouTube response

Dan Walmsley posted a Planet Nerd response, the first video response (as opposed to a text comment), to Prime Minister John Howard's YouTube video about climate change policy [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lgREms3lW0 Re: Prime Minister John Howard, climate change announcement] on YouTube] , a video later featured in a news.com.au article about the difficulty of finding the genuine article in amongst the remixes and parodies. [cite web| title = YouTubers welcome PM to the Web with ridicule| publisher = news.com.au| author = Staff writers| url = http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22094353-2,00.html?from=public_rss| date = July 18, 2007| accessdate = 2007-07-19] The "Planet Nerd" video response has become an unofficial focus for debate on the site about Howard's announcement after commenting on the original video was disabled, with around 200 text comments and nearly 8,000 views. [cite web| title = Our response to John Howard’s YouTube message on Climate Change| publisher = Planet Nerd| url = http://planetnerd.tv/2007/07/19/our-response-to-john-howards-youtube-message-on-climate-change/| date = July 19, 2007| accessdate = 2007-07-21]

References

External links

* [http://www.planetnerd.tv/ Official Planet Nerd website]