I love the layers that Troughton puts into that line. No one can humble-brag like Troughton. He simultaneously has absolute conviction that he is a genius and absolute conviction that almost no one ever believes him when he tells them that. I don't get the satire bit at all. And so many of the characters are just such repulsive people. Which is a shame, because I think there is merit in doing a Doctor-lite story like this. I love the animation for "The Invasion." But I have a hard time seeing how anything could get any worse than the animation for "The Reign of Terror." In an attempt to make the images more photo-realistic, they just made everyone unrecognizable instead. I absolutely did not recognize Ian at all. Susan & Barbara are recognizable but not in a flattering way. Barbara looks like an wizened old crone while Susan's neck looks larger than her head! And who the hell edited that thing? There are all these quick reaction shots that last less than a quarter of a second. I've never seen anyone edit something with quite as much ADHD as this has been. I'm considering selling off my DVD because I hate watching the animation so much. It's very hard to recognize the modern Doctor Who template in old William Hartnell episodes. The Doctor was simply a much less dominating figure back then. Troughton was the first Doctor to really dominate the show as its central character.
10th Planet. I am mixed over this, Hartnell falling ill halfway through didn't help, although the rest cast of the did a fantastic job covering. The cybermen were fantastic, still with flesh hands and the very creepy cloth masks and voices. It had a good cast, it had good production values but the story was pretty weak and the end with Mondas blowing up didn't make much sense. I didn't really like the animation in this either, but I havent been a fan of any of the animations.
The previous Recon for Episode 4, is really pretty excellent, the Telesnaps move so frequently, it's easy to get lost in it, and forget it's a Reconstruction. Is the Animation a step up or a step down from it? This is one, I might pass on, because I am quite happy with the previous Reconstruction Finally got to see both Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear and loved them both, they are so much better with the actual episodes
I haven't seen the telesnap version, but I think I would have preffered it, because when I was watching it I was thinking I would be happier watching the audio to stills. It was better than the animation for the Ice Warriors though, which has probably been the worst in my opinion.
Watched Spearhead From Space over the weekend. This was an excellent introduction for Jon Pertwee, who shone. Funny and commanding at once. Though it was really odd seeing The Doctor going for a shower and funnier still seeing Pertwee's tattoo in his forearm. Ex-military, perhaps? Surprised they didn't cover it with make-up. And the Doctor stole his outfit?! This episode looked gorgeous, again, far from the stereotype of a cheapo DW serial. Combination of it being in colour, shot on film and entirely on location (no studio filming according to IMDB). The Autons, who I'd only seen in Rose, Eccleston's debut, were well-realised for the time though the rubber-tentacled monster at the end less so. And that's where the John Smith alias came from!!!
It comes from Troughton's The Wheel in Space, and is given to the Doctor by Jamie after he sees it as a brand name on a metal container, although The Vampires of Venice establishes that he was using it on Earth before An Unearthly Child, if you look closely at the first Doctor's library card...
Which, btw, opens up the interesting question of when Jamie learnt to read; clearly he can in Wheel in Space, and he definitely can (though rather hesitantly) in The Mind Robber, but he can't in some of his earliest stories - The Faceless Ones in particular, I think.
Well if the Tardis can make you read other languages, then it might follow that it might allow you to read English if you didn't already know how to read it?
Ah, I stand corrected. I thought the VOV one was a retcon but I'm sadly deficient in my knowledge of the Troughton era.
The Doctor also uses it in The War Games, now I come to think of it. Though it's Germanised in Dr Johann Schmitt at one point.
Well, it was either that or he'd have to walk up to someone and say, "I say, old chap, do you mind giving me your clothes? I'm trying to escape!" There's a scene in The Masque of Mandragora (Tom Baker era) where the Doctor reminds Sarah Jane that because she travels in the TARDIS with him, one of the perks is the gift of languages. She'd wondered how it was she could understand and speak Italian, so it's not hard to imagine that this perk could also extend to reading... or maybe there's a teaching machine somewhere in the back of one of the TARDIS' closets!
Slightly different issue though... the point is that initially Jamie couln't read at all, not that he couln't read other languages ( would hos native language be English or Gaelic, I wonder)
That's why I wondered if there might have been a teaching gizmo somewhere in the TARDIS. I'm sure the Doctor and the other Companions (Polly and Ben were also Companions when Jamie joined) would have encouraged him to learn to read. As for his native language, it would be whatever was current at the time of the Battle of Culloden (1746, if I recall correctly).
Mark Gatiss' s book The Roundheads does indeed show Polly trying to teach himto read. Onscreen an argument against the teaching machine is that we later see Leela learning her alphabet (and a mindchanging device is the sort of thing the Doctor, particularly Troughton, tends to hate...)
The Eleventh Hour was the third time it happened, the newly regenerated eighth Doctor also took his clothes from a hospital.
The Ice Warriors was the lst one I saw and the animation wasn't as offputting as it in The Reign Of Terror. It's kind of a cheap story even for Doctor Who, there's few sets and few walking scenes. But I did like Victory's "Somebody help me." coming out as a song.
Indeed. Maybe one should keep a close-eye on one's possessions when in a hospital where the Doctor turns up. And in keeping with the thread, recently finished Paradise Towers and The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, completing the full Seventh Doctor run.
With the exception of that dumb thing in the pool, I enjoyed Paradise Towers. It was fun seeing some of my favorite Britcom actors in other roles.