Bad Wolf is the name of a website, referring to a series of mysterious references in the current suite of Doctor Who episodes. Linked from the BBC, it's further marketing for the show.
Bad Wolf's textual structure should remind us of the serial mystery format of so many web narratives. The site teases out a series of clues (images, snatches of dialogue), which are inexplicable (so far) references to the titular lupine. They are decontextualized from their episodes, at least in the ones I've seen so far - graffitti on the Tardis, which has nothing to do with that particular alien invasion plot, for example. We're encourage to compose another pattern, which cuts across these texts, constituting another narrative - which, presumably, is to be embedded in some later televised episode.
This is alternate reality game territory, where we treat all documents and environments with suspicion, looking for pattern pieces to extract and accrue to our own plots. There is also a budding distributed interpretive community, where puzzle-solvers share information. It's based on blogs where posts noted the pattern, then garnered comments, such as the sites of Matthew Newman and Behind the Sofa Again. Has the ARG paradigm progressed further into marketing?
Because it relies on tv shows - or, put another way, because of the serial nature of its referential contents - the Bad Wolf site is somewhat bloglike, reminding us of blog mysteries, like Dionaea House. The audience is situated in time, looking forward to the staggered release of new pieces in the mystery. Those who can see the shows on BBC TV follow the broadcast sequence; the rest of us cobble together watching based on torrent seeds and downloads. We watch each release, much as did the readerships of Collins and Dickens, anticipating further developments. Has the blog textual concept now reached across other media?
The Wolf's disclaimer page has further treats, like some hidden text (hint: it's an old HTML trick), and the arch sarcasm of:
This website has been made by the BBC. It is placed on the Internet.The Internet is an information superhighway based on the sharing of information between computers using wires. The Internet is used by kind permission of GeoComtex.
(Geocomtext claims to be a fake site, too. It also sports "Lupus and Nocens" products. I'm reminded of last year's great Matrix alternate reality game, which started with a similarly cheery corporate website)
Geocomtex is Henry van Stratten's company from the episode "Dalek." He reveals to the Doctor and Rose that he owns (or is it controls? I'll have to re-watch the episode) the Internet.
Posted by: Steven Kaye | June 13, 2005 at 20:11
There's also a website for the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce. The secure login password on the main page is "badwolf."
Posted by: Kevin Melrose | June 13, 2005 at 20:39
My name's not Matthew Newman (although I may just take it up as a pseudonym, it has a certain ring to it!), but thanks for the link anyway...
Posted by: Scott Matthewman | June 21, 2005 at 06:21
Whoops. Thanks, Scott Matthewman!
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