Just read a few and clogged up my brain Forgot to mention that the original Hand of Fear also featured Drax, who eventually turned up in The Armageddon Factor. Do try the historicals: there's only four complete stories anyway (counting The Time Meddler, which still feels like one, despite the plot twist), two of which are at the top of the surviving Hartnells, and one immense fun (The Gunfighters is either rubbish or underrated, but either way, it's not a good one to try early, in case you loathe it and it puts you off historicals or Hartnell altogether). Also, the whole historical/SF/Sf-historical division is a bit of a fanon thing: that's not the way it works in some of these stories. The Aztecs is arguably more serious SF than The Time Meddler, as it thinks more deeply about the SF issues of whether a time traveller can alter history.
The Aztecs is one of my favorite Hartnell Stories and I don't care for most of the Historicals. I also like The Romans, it's pretty funny at points. That's the extent of what I can recommend (complete Stories or Incomplete). Both are complete Many like Marco Polo, which is 7 Episodes, none of them surviving, however, there is a very good Reconstruction, that I believe has Color(ized?) Telesnaps
The Ice Warriors - I really enjyed ths one. The only Ice Warriors I was familiar with is the Pertwee Era Peladon Stories, so, this was nce to see their origins and see them as Villians (Though, not really villians persay, more like desperate and distrusting and making poor decisions). Part 2 and 3 (the lost episodes) are mashed up into a single 17 minute Reconstruction, that's very easy to follow, as there is narration. Do the Ice Warriors return again, or is this it until Peladon? I'd love to see them return in NuWho
Does 30 years in the TARDIS count? I just watched it for the first time. So many people in it are gone now 20 years on, lots of nice interview clips and Pertwee's Who song at the end.
There's The Seeds of Death between Ice Warriors and the Peladon pair. They would have been back in the 6th Doctor story Mission to Magnus if the original season 23 hadn't been cancelled (but you can get that as a Target novelisation or a Big Finish Missing Story CD). Beyond that, we're into the realm of rumours and spoilers.... Spoiler: Hopefully... Rumour is that they're back later this year, with David Warner playing the Ice Lord.
A disappointing DVD, as it really should have had the original tx version on it, and the other 1990s documentary, for completist reasons, rubbish though they both are compared with More Than 30 Years...
Ooh, OK, Seeds of Death is complete, that'll be a treat About your Spoiler, thanks, I didn't read it, but, I know there's been some talk of it, though I don't know the details, hence why I didn't click the Spoiler. (Unless I've got it wrong)
There's the original transmission version of 30 Years in the TARDIS - the Late Show producers took it out of Kev Davies's hands about a week before transmission and re-edited it to their formula, adding in extra interviews with celebs talking about how they watched the show from behind the sofa. It's not half as good as More Than 30 Years, which Kev put together for BBC Video the next year according to his original plans, but it really should have been on the DVD for completist reasons. The other documentary from that time is Resistance is Useless, which introduced the 1992 BBC2 repeats (Time Meddler, Mind Robber, Sea Devils, Daemons, Genesis, Androzani, Revelation and Battlefield, in case you asked, followed up in late 93/94 by Planet of the Daleks, Green Death and Pyrmaids of Mars), which is also pretty glib and a bit patronising, but... well, we're fans. We're completists. BTW, one of the Brig's bodyguards in More Than... is Nick Pegg, a regular DWM contributor and Big Finish writer who's often to be found inside a Dalek in the new series....
I follow Nick Pegg on twitter I didn't spot him in the background though. I must get the rest of the Shada DVD watched tomorrow.
He's rather visibly gunned down in the final scene, as the Brig escapes into his limo, only to find.... Shock, horror, cliffhanger ending!
The Doctor kept some around in case his granddaughter didn't stop giving him backtalk. The Doctor & Susan's relationship had a dark side. I've only seen "The Mind of Evil" once and I don't really remember that part. What happened? I'm quite fond of "The Aztecs," "The Romans," & "The Gunfighters." Each is only 4 parts, so that helps with pacing. "The Romans" is a brilliant door-slamming farce with a nice subplot of Ian risking everything to save Barbara from slave traders. (This is probably the single best story they ever did from an Ian/Barbara 'shipper point of view.) And while "The Gunfighters" can be very cheesy at times and was overuses the song, I think it's got a nice balance of action & comedy. It's also got a lot of great performances in it, both from the guest stars playing Wyatt Earp & Doc Holliday as well as from William Hartnell himself. Hartnell really seems in top form in this story, absent most of the usual confusion and line-flubs that often define his performance. Some of the other guest stars, particularly those playing the Clantons, have very uneven accents throughout the story, but you can't have everything. They become much more overtly villainous in "The Seeds of Death" when they try to wipe out all life on Earth by using deadly seed pods to significantly decrease Earth's oxygen content.
I hate that song with a passion. Nice to know that some people like it. As for The Abominable Snowmen, I don't remember having severe problems with the reconstruction. I watched it on YouTube or another video channel.
Thanks, I'll check again Enemy of the World was fun, Troughton in a dual role as a Gangster/Politician. I liked the story quite a bit and the Reconstruction was nice. The cook, in a couple of instances sang out Holly from Red Dwarf to me, and the prissy Guard with the straight across bangs reminded me of Peter Davison a couple of times for some reason. Really cool the way the stories are still bleeding into each other as Web of Fear picks right up from the danger cliff hanger
I wish we had more of that serial. I'm sure it would have been lots of fun watching Troughton in the two roles.
There;'s a scene while the prison is under the control of the prisoners/the Msster, and the Doctor's comatose after being attacked by the Keller Machine, where Dr Summers (the ubiquitous Michael Sheard) gets to examine the Doctor very briefly, and gives Jo something to help the Doctor recover when he's awake enough to take it. When the Doctor does come round, he looks at it and rejects it, saying "It would have killed me." It's a nice throwaway to the Doctor looking human, but that he isn't. At some point, someone saw that scene, assumed the drug was aspirin, mentioned it in a fanzine, so it became a given that aspirin killed Time Lords for years...
Watched "The Ark in Space" on Netflix yesterday. This was one of the first stories I ever saw on PBS back in early '77. (when it was only 2 years old!) Still holds up pretty well, I thought. A bit sad that 2 of the 3 main stars are gone now.
The Sontaran Experiment (Fourth Doctor). Although somewhat short, this story serves as a good sequel to the events of The Time Warrior, right down to having the same actor, Kevin Lindsay, playing both Sontarans featured in the story. Lynx, in The Time Warrior, was scouting the area when he was attacked by the Rutans, and now Styre is making a detailed examination of the Earth for the purpose of invasion. Waiting 10,000 some-odd years seems odd but then again so does fighting the Rutans for 50,000. As far as I know this is the only classic Doctor Who serial filmed entirely on location and it works to the story's advantage. That said, more information about the creation of the Human's stellar Empire would have been interesting. Genesis of the Daleks (Fourth Doctor). This is definitely one of the best Dalek serials I've ever seen. Most of the characters are well written, though some such as Sevrin didn't have much to do beyond running around. The Nazi images are rampant and well used. The serial also introduces the character Davros, creator of the Daleks, and he is used to great effect. I'm fine with the fact that Terry Nation changed how the Daleks were created because he came up with a much more interesting story this time around. Instead of evolving naturally from the Dals due to the radiation on Skaro, as shown in The Daleks, they are genetically engineered creations who rebelled against their masters. It's also interesting that Davros is referred to as a Kaled despite his radically different appearance. The fact that he is confined to a chair and has the use of only one arm suggests that he was involved in some king of accident. Hopefully more information will be given about him in future serials since I know he did not actually die at the end of Genesis.
Think of Davros as the Doctor Who version of South Park's Kenny. He dies in every story he's in, but always comes back somehow. It's rarely explained how. We just accept it. As you're working your way through the classic era, you may notice the same thing happen with the Master (mostly Anthony Ainley's version). Rory and Clara only continue that proud tradition.