On the slightly gossip side of the above post... These long-term fights I don't understand. Surely Ward has mellowed since, as has Tom. Why prolong this distance? I mean, doesn't Doctor Who, of all things, preach tolerance and civilization between all peoples?
Doctor Who isn't Star Trek and the relationshipe between Baker and Ward was a stormy one at best and wwe really have no idea what heppened to their marriage.
Caves of Andozani, by far one of the stories of the entire series and few Doctors ever went out on such a well doens story. It shows taht you should never underestimate or anger the Doctor, what the Doctor went though to get to and save Peri was nothing short of incredible and he did it without any gadgets or toys of any kind all while dying at that.
My understanding about the marriage was that it was very bad, and that it had an influence on the show. I was disappointed that for the Romana II serials, there was no Tom Baker on the commentary. Ward openly admits that one of the biggest mistakes she ever did was marrying Baker. There is an interesting VAD on "The Day of the Daleks". It covers how our perceptions are formed and how they changed.
I don't know what influence their marriage had the show since they got married after she'd left the show. They had a stormy relationship like I said, refusing even to speak to each other during the filming of State Of Decay.
I was watching today the VAD on "The Curse of Peladon" with Katy Manning, Louise Jameson, and Liz Shaw. Jameson described working with Tom Baker as difficult. This is a word I hear most often with him. (Jon Pertwee was described positively, and that he was a joy to work with.)
I recently listened to an interview Lalla Ward gave some time back. She was mostly talking about her art and sewing, but she did mention working with Patrick Stewart when they did Hamlet. This was pre-TNG, and during her time as Romana. He asked her why she did so much television, and why science fiction? She said she had the last laugh on him when they met up again after he'd done 7 years of TNG...
Halfway through "The Leisure Hive." The new JNT Who snuck up on me. I should have known it was after "Horns of the Nimon" but the new credits still jarred me (and reminded me of how jarring they were back in the '80s, when I first saw them). I suspect I'm bringing a lot of preconceptions with me, but just about everything about the episode (except the new TARDIS prop) is painful.
"Full Circle." I'm enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would. I don't know if that is because I've adjusted to the new theme and the purple monstrosity costume or, as the first Adric story, and one I don't remember particularly enjoying, I had extremely low expectations, but so far it is pretty decent. In the Hartnell stories, they split everyone up partly to aid in the way they shot the stories in those days--essentially live--even though it didn't make a lot of sense IRL. In this one, everyone splits up, but that's fine because it gives Romana a chance to play a Time Lady instead of a Companion. K9 advances the plot a bit before being put out of action so he can't be a literal deus ex machina, and Tom Baker doesn't ham relentlessly. Kind of neat to see that one of the Deciders was Lord Palmerdale in "Horror at Fang Rock" too. I don't often pick up actors coming back in Who, but this guy's British Peter Graves vibe is pretty hard to miss. Oh, and the first instance of "Adric's Theme." They get credit for remembering this and reusing it later in the series.
Shada - I tried it a while ago but was too distracted. This time around I really enjoyed it. could talk about what a pity it was that it was left unfinished. Its a good story. I suppose Chris Parsons is the forgotten companion, since he went for a ride in the Tardis. Speaking of Shada, which do you all think is the more "canon" version, Baker's incomplete TV version or McGann's webcast/audio version? I'm going with McGann because, well, its complete and we need more McGann
The leaked re-edit of Ian Levine's recon. I watched it twice, and I loved it each time. The other two don't exist, as far as I'm concerned.
Though he was originally cast to play Thrawn in Power of Kroll. Still might not have been a classic, but if the refinery crew had been the original trio of Gorge Baker, Philip Madoc and Martin Jarvis you'd at least have had three star level actors sparking off each other in those scenes. Interviewing George Baker when the Inspector Wexford DVDs came out, he said that at the start of rehearsals on Full Circle it was like a red corner and a blue corner in the rehearsal rooms; you had to chose if you were on Team Lalla or Team Tom. (Sorry if you've heard that one before...)
Agreed. There's a great sense of pace in those longer Troughton stories. Have you seen "The Invasion" yet? It's an 8-parter and it's probably my favorite Doctor Who story ever. The DVD is out of print so it's selling for a ridiculous $200 on Amazon. However, the VHS seems to be available for a mere $7. (Granted, it means you don't get the animated reconstructions of the missing Parts 1 & 4. But the remaining 6 episodes still carry it through.) Perhaps the Countess believed that she was serving as the Count's beard to hide his homosexual tendencies? Last story I watched was "Revenge of the Cybermen." It's unremarkable but sturdy. Personally, my favorite part of the DVD is "Cheques, Lies, & Videotape," the documentary about the history of Doctor Who video tapes back in the 1980s. I wasn't a fan of Doctor Who in those days but I certainly remember that kind of sensation, that anxious anticipation, of not being able to watch whatever I wanted whenever I wanted and needing to watch specific stuff at specific times. (Kids today are so damn spoiled!)
It's such a shame so little of Troughton's era is missing--arguably a crime. Then on top of that, Retro skips some serials for no clear reason. So I had to content myself with: Dominators, Krotons, and Mind Robber. Working on State of Decay right now. Not bad. That said, the awesomeness of the Tom Yardley Jones TARDIS over the Barry Newberry is more than offset by the crappiness of the plum abomination costume they stuck Baker in. I found myself mentally putting him into the Sarah Jane/Leela era brown coat, plaid waistcoat, wing collar, and tie and it is so much better than what they've got him in. It is a bit like the Raiders of the Lost Ark Indy costume, compared to the later movies (only moreso)--the little details make the difference.
You mean it's a shame so much of the Troughton era is gone. State Of Decay is a rewriting of the original season 15 opener The Vampire Mutation, it more or less works. As for Tom Baker's outfit, JNT merely wanted a more uniform look for him overall it I think it was a good decision. The season overall is much better than the 17th season disaster.
Beggars can't be choosers. I'm ecstatically grateful that RetroTV has decided to rerun classic Who. That said, along with the actual incomplete stories, they just randomly miss a serial for no apparent reason. I just realized that they skipped from "The Leisure Hive" to "Full Circle", bypassing Meglos. No cactus Doctor for you, RetroTV viewers!