Planet Nerd
{{Infobox television
| image = Planet Nerd Logo.jpg
| caption =
| camera =
| runtime = 24 mins. (approx)
| creator = Dan Walmsley
| developer = Dan Walmsley and the cast
| executive_producer =
| starring = Dan Walmsley, Paul Verhoeven, Ben McKenzie, Simon Barber, Jason English-Rees, Andrew Doodson, Lou Pardi, Rob Lloyd and others
| narrated =
| opentheme =
| endtheme =
| country = Australia
| network = Channel 31 Melbourne
| first_aired = {{start date|2007|6|7|df=y}}
| last_aired =
| num_episodes = 12
| list_episodes =
}}
Planet Nerd is a television comedy variety programme broadcast on Channel 31 Melbourne produced by RMITV. It stars local Melbourne comedians Dan Walmsley, Paul 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 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] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080413041627/http://c31.org.au/antennas/antennas_nominations.php |date=13 April 2008 }}
On 17 September 2008, a new interview with Rocket Boom creator, Andrew Baron, was posted on the Planet Nerd web site. While no other new content has appeared, the original twelve episodes were repeated multiple times by Channel 31, as late as June 2009. It was also broadcast on Triangle TV in New Zealand in 2007.{{Cite web |url=http://www.planetnerd.tv/2007/11/05/live-in-new-zealand/ |title=Planet Nerd - Live in New Zealand |access-date=19 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120212092113/http://www.planetnerd.tv/2007/11/05/live-in-new-zealand/ |archive-date=12 February 2012 |url-status=dead }}
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 12 June 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 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| author-link = Marieke Hardy| url = http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/06/27/1182623916399.html| date = 28 June 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 oversized 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 = 9 July 2007| accessdate = 2007-07-11| url-status = dead| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070712131034/http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2007/07/idiot_ebayer_stall4u_pays_29_f.html| archivedate = 12 July 2007| df = dmy-all}}
=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,[https://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| archive-url = https://archive.today/20120910053716/http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22094353-2,00.html?from=public_rss| url-status = dead| archive-date = 10 September 2012| date = 18 July 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 = 19 July 2007| accessdate = 2007-07-21| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070927161608/http://planetnerd.tv/2007/07/19/our-response-to-john-howards-youtube-message-on-climate-change/| archive-date = 27 September 2007| url-status = dead}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070615223811/http://planetnerd.tv/ Official Planet Nerd website]
{{Channel 31}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
Category:2007 Australian television series debuts
Category:Australian community access television shows