Enemy Released: Britain 11-25-13 Canada and USA 12-10-13 (Best Buy), still not listed on Amazon US Web to be Released: Britain 02-24-14 USA and Canada 04-22-14
Just watched Doctor Who and the Silurians. It was a decent story, but it could have been a great story. Its biggest problem? It was about 3 episodes too long. It really suffered from padding. At 4 episodes, I think it could have been a stand out story. As it is, its ok but drags a lot in the middle. It has a few other problems, like having the administrator of the research lab being at a level of denial that is probably an indication of severe brain damage or life threatening stupidity. The Doctor, Liz and the Brigadier were as good as they usually are (although the Brigadier's refusal to believe the Doctor went on too long, especially after his experience with the Doctor in Spearhead from Space). Still, I liked this story well enough, but its problems keep it from being more than decent, even though it had potential to be more.
The third Doctor's era contains many six parters so I'm afraid you're goiong to have to get used to the longer stories if you keep watching his stories. And that season only had four stories in it and some 25 weeks to fill, so they went with one four parter and three seven parters.
Or it's not long enough: it's been pointed out that it's really the pilot and first few episodes of a spinoff about the ongoing human/Silurian battle for control of Earth ( "This week, the Silrians have released a deadly anti-human plague!" Canthe Doctor find a cure? How will the Brig retaliate?") that comes to a sudden end.
Agreed. But it could also be an episode shorter. They were trying desperately to keep costs down that first Pertwee season to help offset the transition to color, and it shows with the padding. I like The Ambassadors of Death but it really should be a four-parter. They do get better at not simply padding the six-parters as the Pertwee era goes on. The Mind of Evil is fantastic, for instance.
The longer serials can work based off what I've seen so far (The 6 episode Genesis of the Daleks from the 4th Doctor's run was a good 6 part story), and I'm not against them in general, its just that Doctor Who and the Silurians felt like it would have benefited from being shorter. I want to get to Inferno, though, and I don't think I'll skip The Ambassadors of Death. I think I'll just break up my watching with continuing the 4th Doctor serials (with The Deadly Assassin) or 2nd Doctor stuff. That way, I don't get burned out on Pertwee's super long stories in his first season, and I continue watching more stuff. I think rotating Doctors will help with any long stories and generally be an interesting way of watching more classic who. That doesn't mean I'll stick to it, but its the plan right now.
Continuing on with the Baker stories I watched Masque of Mandragora and The Hand of Fear. I think both are slim in the plot department but are compensated by Baker/Sladen chemistry and great location work. There's a verite quality to The Hand of Fear, the location combined with the character just feels very genuine. Mandragora isn't quite as immediate but has more witty Doctor charm and dialog to make up for it. I liked Sarah Jane's departure, I didn't really feel it tacked on, it seemed to build through the episode. The Doctor's call to Gallifrey removed any chance to take it back and it had a sad inevitability that again felt authentic. There have been times in my life when it was time for a relationship to end regardless of whether both parties were ready for it. I'm still really enjoying this watch this time around. Sometimes I have found classic Who too creaky and old-fashioned but the stories have been really fun to watch. I think it helps that I chose to dive in at a strong point in the run.
Just make sure you watch the Peladon stories in the right order, as they won't make sense if you don't (both are Pertwee era; the first has Jo as the Doctor's Companion, the second has Sarah, and takes place a few decades later from Peladon's pov).
Just watched The Moonbase, which was ok. I think the animated episodes put me off slightly, which is odd because I really liked how they did The Invasion.
Different company doing the animation. Cosgrove Hall did Invasion, but none of the later ones. Long story but it was among other things a bit of a 'loss leader', where they overspent in the hope that the sales would justify a higher budget next time; they didn't, so the followups have been more limited, to mstch the budget available.
I'm seeing a bit of a theme in the first four stories of Season 14. There seems to be a thread of decaying civilizations. Mandragora with the pre-Renaissance Middle Ages, Hand of Fear with the loss of Kastria to its mad king, The Deadly Assassin with the Time Lords and The Face of Evil with its society fraying under a mad computer. The Deadly Assassin was probably more interesting when it first aired and its peek into Galifrey and the Time Lords. The story itself is surprisingly primal at times as the Doctor fights the Master in the Matrix. Eat your heart out, Keanu. The Master mask is pretty damn creepy, if it wasn't so static, it would've been a home run. There's some really trippy going ons in this one and despite Gallifrey it's one of the least "Who" feeling stories. After The Hand of Fear, we get the similarly named The Face of Evil. Apparently this one had a working title of The Day God Went Mad, which was probably too awesome to live. I thought the story of the computer that went mad after the Doctor accidentally left his personality imprinted on it sounds like something you might see in a nuWho episode. The society worshipping a computer had echoes of a lot of classic Trek episodes as well. You know if the Doctor hadn't corrected this Jim Kirk would've at some point. Luckily Leela was introduced so The Doctor didn't have to keep talking to himself for exposition as we saw in the beginning. (Though I kind of liked the Star Wars-esque crawl in The Deadly Assassin). Probably goes without saying but she's pretty easy on the eyes but I like that she's tough and capable as well. Jim Kirk probably would've made his mark here as well. I wonder if Capaldi will play a Doctor who'd toss a Horda at a guy giving him sass.
Just did SarahJane's First Serial with Pertwee, Time Warrior. I never noticed it before, with either early Donna, or with Time Warrior and SarahJane, but, damn, SarahJane's first scene with Irongron, totally reminds me of Donna's most agressive and naive performances Side note for anyone who might know. In Six's story Timelash, they rip down a part of a wall, and show the Doctor who was there previously (And apparently influenced the current society there). Was there ever an expanded Universe (Comics, Audio, Book, Podcast) story of Pertwee's Doctor visiting Timelash Planet?
Don't think so, but a book doea mention tha Yates went along on that trip. And Jo mentions visiting Karfel in Sja Death of the Doctor.
Don't think so, but a book doea mention tha Yates went along on that trip. And Jo mentions visiting Karfel in Sja Death of the Doctor.
I just watched The Deadly Assassin. It was ok, but it dragged a bit too much at times to be more than ok. The skeleton looking version of the master was really creepy, though. I got The Caves of Androzani DVD for a good price off of Amazon, so that will probably be the next thing I watch. I'm considering using that to continue on to the Sixth Doctor, but I haven't decided yet.
I watched The Caves of Androzani. It was a good, enjoyable story. That said, I don't get why some places call it the best classic Doctor Who story. Like I said, I thought it was good, but it had a few problems, like being slow in places and somewhat lackluster villains. I enjoyed it, but I just don't see why it would be called the best classic who serial. Maybe if I'd seen more of the 5th Doctor it would make more sense, but honestly the story felt fairly self contained, outside of the very end with the Doctor seeing all these faces as he died. Next up will probably be The Twin Dilemma.
Some people were so turned off by The Twin Dilemma, it put them off the show entirely, and they feel Caves of Androzani was the last Good story (I happen to like quite a few of The Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy stories, myself), so, maybe that's why? I do think it's great, but, yea, I agree it's not The BEST!!!! I'm chugging along (Been through all the Pertwee, and then into T. Baker) and watching Brain of Morbius now
You don't know Leela! She'd have him on the floor with her knife to his throat thisfast, and the Doctor would have to talk her out of killing him! For some bizarre reason, Leela kisses a man in "Image of the Fendahl"... I wouldn't have blamed anyone else for having done that since he was my favorite of the guest characters, but it was out of character for Leela. And when it came to getting married, Leela chose the man. He just stood there, with a surprised look on his face, and "yes, dear" running through his mind. It's the execution scenes and the regeneration scene that make this episode a standout. As for the Fifth Doctor's death, "all these faces" are his Companions and the Master. His calling Adric's name indicates he still feels guilt over Adric's death.