I saw The Awkaening a few days ago, been a long time since I'd seen it. It's ok, I think it definitely could have done with being an episode longer though.
Saw The Time Warrior last night, for the first time. That was absolutely brilliant in its epic cheesiness.
Let's see... Since I last posted here, I've seen The Ribos Operation, Remembrance of the Daleks and Terror of the Autons. All of them for the first time. Ribos was fun, and reminded me of how much I prefer Romana I over Romana II. Mary Tamm's not only prettier, but she's the better actress, IMO. Terror of the Autons was another good one. I realize the Master's schemes were the overarching "plot" of that season, but it would have been nice to get a little glimpse of why he wanted to destroy humanity in the episode. But regardless, Delgado made a good, sinister counterpart for Pertwee's Doctor. And Jo's kinda fun, she was a nice change of pace from Liz Shaw. I hadn't seen any episodes with her, except The Three Doctors, since I was a kid. Katy Manning's energy makes up for the awkward writing. She's no Sarah Jane or Leela, though. And Remembrance... I'm so glad I finally saw it. Bloody flipping brilliant that was, all around. Seven and Ace is one of the best Doctor-Companion combinations of the classic show. After watching Autons last night, I decided to begin a rewatch of NuWho leading up to the 50th. So after break for a late dinner, we watched Rose and The End of the World. TEotW is probably my favorite Davies-penned episode, and it's been a few years since I've seen it. Felt good.
Watched The Pirate Planet the other night, the second serial in The Key to Time saga. First time I'd ever seen it, and I really enjoyed it. Like just about anything Douglas Adams ever did there's a degree of hokey, insane goofiness, but buried underneath that, there are some actually really cool sci-fi concepts. Plus, I really like Mary Tamm's Romana far better than Lalla Ward's.
Watched Vengeance on Varos this lunchtime. An awesome serial! One of my favourite C. Baker serial now!!! Latley I've been watching a lot of old Who serials (Vengeance on Varos today, Resurrection of the Daleks yesterday, Remembrance of the Daleks the day before, and Survival two days earlier) all of which have been so much better than I thought. (I also watched School Reunion at some point) These old episodes from the 1980s are marginally better than Moffat who and about the same level as RTD who at its best. Even the classic series at tie could be quite dark and more graphic than I remember (which I love), but now on moffat Who, not really and dark moments, no one even dies anymore, not so much as a crazed knee now. And the Moffat series is too humorous and light-hearted. Moffat is ruining Doctor Who, why don't the BBC bloody fire him and bring Doctor Who back to its former glory. Plus he's fucked up so much since he's been in. He's turned the Silurian's from monsters to hot lesbian reptilian women (the whole concept of Silurian's to begin with was that they didn't remotely have a human face), made the Daleks into a colourful array of Homebase toilets, then regreted it and darkened them up which was an improvement but then bought back the RTD daleks that the new daleks destroyed in Victory of the Daleks. Plastic Cybermen now so powerful, they will be impossible to write for well, and made the Sontarans and Silurians the doctor's BFFs.
More often than not, I thought she was wooden, stagy and lifeless, with no rapport whatsoever between her and Tom Baker. Which scene in particular would you say is a good showcase for her acting abilities? Anything you could recommend?
And that's The Stones of Blood done. I enjoyed it overall, though the first half moreso than the second half. Much preferred the Hammer Horror vibe to the kinda loopy "justice machine" bit, when the villain's motivations were totally lost. Professor Amelia Rumford, though, was quite awesome all the way through. I guess I like fuddy-duddy old lady archaeologists. Tomorrow, I'll be happily watching The Androids of Tara, which I haven't seen since I was about eight or ten. I remember it well enough, though, and it's still one of my favorites. Probably because The Prisoner of Zenda is one of my favorite films, and seeing Doctor Who doing a send-up is fantastic.
Just finished The Armageddon Factor, wrapping up The Key to Time. Really, really wish they had managed to save some more of their budget for the final serial; as it is, it's basically a talking head piece with characters doing a lot of walking through tunnels and corridors and staring at screens. The only real disappointment in the season was The Power of Kroll, but Armageddon Factor just didn't have the juice to live up to its potential. Add to that the fact that once assembled, there's no indication that the Key actually fulfilled its purpose to "restore the balance" before the Doctor dispersed it again...
You are expressing the same "Moffat is ruining Doctor Who" canard in every thread, even when it's barely relevant. It's not trolling but it's annoying.
Watched The Daleks this evening, for the first time in its entirety. I'd seen bits and pieces before, though. I quite enjoyed it; for a 7-part serial it hardly felt "padded," as some of the later ones do.
So, The Aztecs… I’d always heard good things about this, but to be honest I don’t think I expected anything great. What a surprise then to find that people’s reviews hadn’t been misleading as I thought it was very, very good. A trifle stagy perhaps (but that’s how TV was in the early days) and it took a little while to acclimatise to Tlotoxl’s Richard III impression (but once I did what a fab villain he made! Along with Ixta) and I was amazed to discover it was John Ringham in his younger days. Some great interplay between the characters, especially between Barbara and the Doctor, and the who “You can’t change history… not one line” scene was very powerful, and I like Barbara’s response along the lines of “What’s the point travelling in time then?” I thought Babara was given a strong story in this, even if both Ian and the Doctor were a little patronising. I liked the Doctor’s little love story, and the fact that he was happy to manipulate her love for his own gains, and Ian’s boys own adventure was great…only Susan seemed to get the short shift. Even in the early days it seems you could have too many characters in the TARDIS. I liked that they didn't gloss over the whole issue of sacrifice, for a children's show this was very adult. All in all a great story though.