Last Classic Who Story you watched

[The Borgified Corpse]

DWF wrote:

---

Well I'd consider Vorg and Shirma in Carnival Of Monsters to be showmen not con men and Rohm Dutt in The Power OF Kroll was a gun runner.

Well, they're still engaged in some kind of illegal activity. At least, gun running usually isn't considered a particularly above board profession. And Vorg new darn well that miniscopes were illegal and yet he based his entire show around one anyway.

[Lowdarzz]

The Key to Time: The Androids of Tara (Fourth Doctor).

Doctor Who meets The Prisoner of Zenda. Count Grendel was well written and acted but the rest of the Tarans came off as one not characters. The society was also pleasantly anachronistic. The have energy weapons electrified swords and androids, but use horses, live in castles and make use of feudalism. I also enjoyed that unlike the previous serials in the Key to Time arc, Romana finds the key immediately and spends the rest of the serial looking for a way to get it back from Grendel and Lamia.

[Lowdarzz]

The Key to Time: The Power of Kroll (Fourth Doctor).

There's a good story in here but unfortunately it seems like Robert Holmes wasn't able to pull it off as he had in the past. The characters spend too much time going in circles and their motivations aren't flushed out. The audience is given no information as to why Thrawn wants to kill the Swampies, only that methane/protein project is his baby and his desire for no interferance has made him evil. Philip Madoc is also wasted in his role as Fenner. He probably would have done a better job with Thrawn. It was also good to see John Leeson get a small role since K-9 was stuck in the Tardis.

The Key to Time: The Armageddon Factor (Fourth Doctor).

The last serial of The Key to Time storyline and probably my favorite of the lot. The story was complicated, but not overly so, the characters were well written and played and the comedy worked well. My only gripes are that Princess Astra's role kept getting smaller though she is one of the most important characters of the serial and the audience is given no further information about who the White and Black Guardians are. The Doctor finds the key for the White Guardian, breaks it before the Black Guardian can get it and that's it.

It's too bad that Mary Tamm decided to leave Doctor Who after only one season. Her version of Romana is, in my opinion, the best companion the Fourth Doctor has had yet. However it is entirely possible that Lalla Ward's Romana will make me change my mind.

[OmahaStar]

Lowdarzz wrote:

---

It's too bad that Mary Tamm decided to leave Doctor Who after only one season. Her version of Romana is, in my opinion, the best companion the Fourth Doctor has had yet. However it is entirely possible that Lalla Ward's Romana will make me change my mind.

Doubtful. She's "ok" but rarely does she shine. Romana is smarter than the Doctor. 1 isn't afraid to show it. 2 frequently acts in the assistant role. "Whatever shall we do, Doctor?"

[Pindar]

OmahaStar wrote:

---

Doubtful. She's "ok" but rarely does she shine. Romana is smarter than the Doctor. 1 isn't afraid to show it. 2 frequently acts in the assistant role. "Whatever shall we do, Doctor?"

But Lalla has the best outfits.

[Orac Zen]

^
That's debatable too, IMO.

Mary Tamm's Romana is / was a vastly superior character to Ward's. But to each their own.


Watched Day of the Daleks last night. More Pertwee goodness (loved him dealing with a guerrilla without spilling a drop of the wine he was holding, then proceeding to drink said wine as though nothing had happened), but this serial isn't exactly a high point of his tenure and it was interesting to learn that (apparently) neither he nor Katy Manning thought much of it. The new Dalek voices and sound effects didn't do much for me. The Brigadier was in superb form but aside from that and Pertwee's usual brilliance, this wasn't quite as good as I'd remembered it.

[Candlelight]

After thinking I wouldn't watch another classic Who story for a while I find myself being drawn to the Pertwee era, and so am three episodes into The Ambassadors of Death (in full unrestored colour-and-black-and-white goodness).

Enjoying it so far. Been 20 years since I last watched it.

[Pindar]

I started in on The Deadly Assassin again last night, it's been a long time since I watched it.

I forgot all about the out of place Star Wars scroll at the beginning with Tom's voice over about Gallifrey.

[The Borgified Corpse]

I generally prefer Mary Tamm to Lalla Ward. Ward had her moments, particularly in "City of Death" & "The Horns of Nimon." And I love Ward wearing a pink version of the Doctor's costume in "Destiny of the Daleks." But overall, I much prefer Tamm's snotty, imperious interpretation of the character. She did a much better job of taking the piss out of the Doctor, which created a lot more character conflict.

Orac Zen wrote:

---

Watched Day of the Daleks last night. More Pertwee goodness (loved him dealing with a guerrilla without spilling a drop of the wine he was holding, then proceeding to drink said wine as though nothing had happened), but this serial isn't exactly a high point of his tenure and it was interesting to learn that (apparently) neither he nor Katy Manning thought much of it.

Katy Manning is just hoping that you won't watch it and therefore won't notice the parts where you can see up her skirt!

I'm currently making my way through "The War Games" again. I think I left off around Part 6. This story gets better each time I see it (other than some of the dodgy Southern accents in the American Civil War zone). While it is very long, it's also pretty well paced and has a nice build up as it keeps dropping hints about the origins of the Doctor & the War Chief. And Lt. Carstairs & Lady Jennifer are great one-off companions. Plus, I love the way that the Doctor keeps bluffing his way into assisting the alien scientist, even after the War Chief already exposed him once.

[OmahaStar]

Knowing that today would be slow (less than 1/2 of my co-workers made it in today), I loaded up my Nook with episodes of classic Who, and watched one episode from each Doctor.

1 - The Gunfighters, part 1
2 & 3 - The Three Doctors, parts 1 and 2
4 - The Sontaran Experiment (both parts)
5 - Black Orchid (both parts)
6 - Twin Dilemma, part 1
7 - Silver Nemesis, part 1

It's been a sort of marvelous day, I think.

[Pindar]

OmahaStar wrote:

---

Knowing that today would be slow (less than 1/2 of my co-workers made it in today), I loaded up my Nook with episodes of classic Who, and watched one episode from each Doctor.

1 - The Gunfighters, part 1
2 & 3 - The Three Doctors, parts 1 and 2
4 - The Sontaran Experiment (both parts)
5 - Black Orchid (both parts)
6 - Twin Dilemma, part 1
7 - Silver Nemesis, part 1

It's been a sort of marvelous day, I think.

Nice, I have one day left then 10 days off for Christmas. I see lots of Who watching on the horizon.

[Count Zero]

Orac Zen wrote:

---

Watched Day of the Daleks last night. More Pertwee goodness (loved him dealing with a guerrilla without spilling a drop of the wine he was holding, then proceeding to drink said wine as though nothing had happened),

Yeah, that's one of my favourite scenes. I also appreciate the Doctor's casual disregard concerning personal property in this one.

Orac Zen wrote:

---

but this serial isn't exactly a high point of his tenure and it was interesting to learn that (apparently) neither he nor Katy Manning thought much of it. The new Dalek voices and sound effects didn't do much for me. The Brigadier was in superb form but aside from that and Pertwee's usual brilliance, this wasn't quite as good as I'd remembered it.

Oh, I was thinking about rewatching this recently, this time on DVD because I also remembered it as being quite good. I believe I read somewhere that Jon and Katy didn't like it because of the underwhelming number of enemies during the assault and thought it was silly for that reason.

The Borgified Corpse wrote:

---

I'm currently making my way through "The War Games" again. I think I left off around Part 6. This story gets better each time I see it (other than some of the dodgy Southern accents in the American Civil War zone). While it is very long, it's also pretty well paced and has a nice build up as it keeps dropping hints about the origins of the Doctor & the War Chief.

Interesting. I wouldn't call it well paced at all, at least when looking at all of it. Some of the plot struck me as needlessly repetitive and I think it would benefit greatly from being two episodes shorter. I did love the Timelords part of the story.


I've also felt like rewatching some Pertwee era serials. I watched The Three Doctors and really enjoyed it despite the somewhat silly and shallow storyline for the banter between the Doctors, especially Two and Three, and the Brig, the quirky supporting characters, the various 'people discover the inside of the Tardis' scenes and lots of memorable lines.

Right now, I'm watching The Mind of Evil and so far, it's as good as I remembered. This one has some of my favourite Third Doctor scenes and I just love the interaction between him and the Master.

[FalTorPan]

"The Chase." Loved it. Hartnell is underrated.

[Count Zero]

In enjoyed that one a lot, too. A chase through time and space is a pretty cool story idea and I loved the different places they went to. The appearance of the Beatles on the Doctor's TV thing was a nice treat for me as a fan.

[Pindar]

FalTorPan wrote:

---

"The Chase." Loved it. Hartnell is underrated.

Not by me. I love the Hartnell era.