I liked Harry, too. Have you read any of the novelizations Ian Marter wrote? He added in more atmosphere and flavor than Terrance Dicks or most of the others who novelized the episodes. His descriptions of the Wyrrn nearly made me lose my supper... He wrote a standalone novel, too - Harry Sullivan's War.
Apparently some people see it as cutting edge, biting social satire but yeah, I thought it was appaling.
Slightly OT, but today's Times carries an obit for the Tibetan exile who in 1967 founded the first Tibetan Buddhist retreat in the uk, one Choje Rinpoche. Might just ring a few bells here...
The Aztecs was on Watch this afternoon. To me, it was more of an interesting curio than an enjoyable story. Nice to see Hartnell and his team in action, as I've seen so little of that era. I'm also more used to William Russell as an elderly gent on TV than a young action man. It must be said that the picture quality in this broadcast was very good, while the sets and costumes did not fit the DW stereotype of looking cheap and wobbly.
Just watched The Ice Warriors with the new animation. I thought the animation wasn't very good in comparison to the animation used for The Invasion and The Reign of Terror, which isn't much of a surprise since a different company (Qurios) made it. Fortunately, Planet 55, which made the animation for The Reign of Terror, is doing the animation for The Tenth Planet and The Moonbase. I didn't really care for the The Ice Warriors, animation or not. A simple base under siege story is stretched too thinly over six episodes and the only redeeming qualities are Plenly and Clent as well as the dependency of computer computation theme. Otherwise, complete rubbish. But then I've never cared for the Ice Warriors with exception of Cold War, although that was mostly despite of them instead of because of them.
Tomb of the Cybermen was on Watch today and it was a lot more enjoyable than The Aztecs. The template for modern Who was much more recognisable and really, with some re-writing, it could easily be tweaked for a modern episode. Troughton also is much more 'Doctor-ish' than Hartnell was in the Aztecs.
Tomb of the Cybermen's sole sore spot, really, is the portrayal of African American in the story as a servant to the white folks. While I don't condone it, the story itself is still largely entertaining and unlike others of its ilk, it moves at a decent pace.
Yeah, and it's even more unfortunate that Toberman's backstory, which was in the script, got cut out. Toberman was deaf and Kaftan paid for a surgery to fix his hearing, which explains a lot of his lack of speech and his loyalty to her. On screen, he does come across as basically a slave.
Dalek Invasion Of Earth and IMO it still holds up and the Doctor's speech at the end to Susan one ofhte best speeches in the history of the show.
I never understood why the Doctor never DID go back, or why Susan never featured back in the show.* It seems like they missed an opportunity in the original incarnation of the show. *The Five Doctors doesn't count.
The TARDIS travelled the universe like a pinball back in those days, the Doctor couldn't even return Ian and Barbara to their own time.
Those scenes always make me cry. Every. Single. Time. The Dalek Invasion of Earth, in my opinion, is one of the best Doctor Who episodes ever - certainly the best of the Hartnell era.
Watched The Ice Warriors during the weekend, which I thought was quite good, but the animation just didn't seem as good as used in The Invasion. And now watching The Tenth Planet. I'm liking this at the moment as its pace is a bit quicker.
Terror of the Zygons. Hoots mon! Highly enjoyable if slightly cliched on the Scottish front. The Zygons still look great, I only saw this when it first ran years ago but the design of the Zygons was so strong it stuck with me all these years. Until the VHS tapes became available and I could rewatch old episodes I was sure they must have been in lots of stories. I am looking forward to seeing them again next month.
In case anyone (well, anyone in the UK or with access to UK channels) didn't know, Watch is now doing Doctor Who weekends, showing a documentary about a specific Doctor followed by a classic episode with that Doctor, on Saturday and Sunday. They covered Hartnell and Troughton last weekend, it'll be Pertwee and Baker this weekend. Not sure what episodes though.
The Seeds Of Death, Troughton was fantastic in it and I loved everybody under estimated him and it certainly cost the Ice Warrior leader. It also has one of my all time favorite lines: "You can't kill me, your leader will be very angry wtih you I'm a genius!".
Watched the newly colorized The Mind of Evil last night. Not quite as good as I seem to recall, but it's still a great romp with The Master and the U.N.I.T. gang. One thing that really surprised me was how much I actually enjoyed Jo in this story considering she is one of my least favorite companions, right along with Rose post Ninth Doctor regeneration. However, in this story, not only does she not do anything incredibly stupid or ask any inane questions, she has a bout of kickass heroism when she successfully disarms Mainer and utilizes his gun to help stop the first prison takeover. She even helps The Doctor come up with his solution to get rid of The Master (granted, unintentionally).