Last Classic Who Story you watched
- Thread starter Pindar
- Start date
The Retro weekday rotation is closing in on lapping Saturday. Saturday is into "The Armageddon Factor." Today we just wrapped up "The Sunmakers." So by Friday we should be into "The Invasion of Time," while Saturday should bring--no, scratch that. I think we won't start "Revelation of the Daleks" until the week after that. While we should have started "The Pirate Planet" the day before. But before February is over, the weekday rotation will have passed Saturdays.
Tenth Planet, off the DVD. Very good, really. Now going through the extras, and Earl Cameron says he was surprised to be cast as an astronaut, as there weren't any black astronauts in 1966.
As a spaceflight buff, what strikes me is that he's in the left-hand seat, which makes him the commander. And that's vaguely how it comes across as well.
As a spaceflight buff, what strikes me is that he's in the left-hand seat, which makes him the commander. And that's vaguely how it comes across as well.
I just watched The Celestial Toymaker. It wasn't great. The Doctor was barely in it (neither was the Toymaker) and most of it was filler of Steven and the very annoying Dodo doing boring games (that admittedly weren't helped by the first three episodes being recons). Not terrible, but kind of boring.
First 2 parts of "The Invasion of Time or: Tom Baker Hams it up for 3 hours." I said I was going to stop watching Retro after "The Horror of Fang Rock," but then the weekdays were catching up on Saturday, so I decided to watch until weekdays "lap" Saturday. Ironically, Saturday is on "The Armageddon Factor," which is another trainwreck. But I digress. During the Hinchcliffe era the pacing and production are dead-on. As the scary monster is revealed or the Doctor or Sarah/Leela faces--BUM-PUM-PUM!--Certain Doom, we get the ZVREEEAAAMMMM! "scream", taking us into the end credits. For the Williams(?) era they don't have the pacing quite right so it is pretty common to get to what is clearly the end of the episode and it turns out they've got 20 or 30 seconds to fill, so they'll show some lame exterior shot of a chintzy spaceship in front of black velvet with pinholes in it for 30 seconds. I really wish I'd stopped at "Fang Rock."
Everything about "Invasion..." is bad. The story is confusing. The Gallifrey sets are possibly the cheapest and hokiest looking sci-fi sets in the classic series. The mystery alien FX are hoky. Shoot, even the usually breathtaking Louise Jameson looks disheveled and trollish.
Everything about "Invasion..." is bad. The story is confusing. The Gallifrey sets are possibly the cheapest and hokiest looking sci-fi sets in the classic series. The mystery alien FX are hoky. Shoot, even the usually breathtaking Louise Jameson looks disheveled and trollish.
I believe that if Tom Baker had appeared in The Five Doctors we would have seen his season 18 burgundy 'uniform' and not the multi-coloured scarf. He would have had to be John Nathan-Turner's vision of the Fourth Doctor, and I don't think he or we would have liked that.
I just finished The Power of the Daleks. It was...eh. Its the first full reconstruction (meaning a serial with no remaining episodes) that I've seen (although I've seen a few with more episodes missing then remain, like The Abominable Snowmen), and I'm sure that hurt it. Still, the side characters were kind of annoying and I didn't care what was going to happen to the colony. The Doctor, Ben and Polly were fine, but besides thatI'd say its a bit bland. Not terrible by any means, and if it had full episodes I might like it more, but as it is I'd say its a forgettable story.
Also, I hope the writer of Victory of the Daleks gave co-writing credit to the writer of The Power of the Daleks, because there are a surprising amount of similarities, although I'd say that Victory is a bit better (and I'm not just saying that because I love the "New Paradigm"/rainbow Daleks
).
Also, I hope the writer of Victory of the Daleks gave co-writing credit to the writer of The Power of the Daleks, because there are a surprising amount of similarities, although I'd say that Victory is a bit better (and I'm not just saying that because I love the "New Paradigm"/rainbow Daleks
).
The Curse of Fenric is the one with the boo-boo with Jane Russell... treating her as famous and well known by the locals in a story set some years before she became famous and well known!
The Mutants is really tough to get through. Not because its terrible, but because it is extremely uninteresting. Not quite as boring as Ambassador's of Death, but still really boring. I can only manage an episode a day, because I get too bored (and its six episodes when it doesn't have enough story for four). Definitely a dud for the Pertwee era.
Goes to show that people can have totally different reactions. I absolute loved The Mutants. I loved how they created a good look at the life on the station, the world, and even the larger picture and historical sweep of the empire (or whatever they called it). I thought it was ahead of its time. Really enjoyed it. But, to each their own! :
Mr Awe
Yup. I like "The Mutants" and "Ambassadors of Death." Although I've been overdoing it on classic Who lately and the Pertwee 6 parters are starting to show their padding to me. "Colony in Space"? Great. But do the colonists have to capture the miners so the miners can turn the tables on the colonists so the colonists can turn the tables on the miners so the miners can turn the table on the colonists so many times? Or the ones like "Ambassadors of Death," where it is clear to the Doctor almost immediately that the senior general is crooked, but the Brigadier just keeps cheerfully telling him everything they're about to do.
I still haven't gotten up the courage to get to episode 4 of The Mutants. It doesn't help that I'm convinced that I could skip ahead to episode 6 and not miss any plot development Since I have Enemy of the World and The Brain of Morbius DVDs coming today, I might not get back to The Mutants for a while. I could just watch the last three episodes right now I guess, but I'm pretty sure it would put me in a coma. I haven't been this bored and cared this little about a story since The Ambassadors of Death, and even that had more going for it than The Mutants.
Since I have Enemy of the World and The Brain of Morbius DVDs coming today, I might not get back to The Mutants for a while. I could just watch the last three episodes right now I guess, but I'm pretty sure it would put me in a coma. I haven't been this bored and cared this little about a story since The Ambassadors of Death, and even that had more going for it than The Mutants.
Finished rewatching The Brain of Morbius. A very solid story, although the Sisterhood of Karn is a bit annoying in it (I'm glad NuWho dropped the "Sacred Fire" chanting with the Sisterhood, it gets annoying after they've chanted it 500 times in an episode ). Funnily enough, there is a connection between this storye and the Pertwee serial I'm still stuck on. An unaltered suit of one of the mutts from The Mutants is used at the beginning of The Brain of Morbius as an alien that gets killed for its head.
). Funnily enough, there is a connection between this storye and the Pertwee serial I'm still stuck on. An unaltered suit of one of the mutts from The Mutants is used at the beginning of The Brain of Morbius as an alien that gets killed for its head.
I need to make a mea culpa regarding "City of Death." I argued that, having a time machine, the idea of having to rush across Paris to get to the TARDIS in time to save life on Earth. You could take as long as you want and get around to stopping him whenever you wanted to.
But the point was that they didn't have the coordinates but if they got to the TARDIS in time, they could track his time stream. So actually it holds together, kind of. Of course that still skips the grandfather paradox of Skaroth succeeding. (If he stops himself, he isn't split into pieces so he can't make a time machine to stop himself, so he will push the button and get split into pieces and try to build a time machine to stop himself...)
I had some other noodle-cooker I wanted to add about this story, but it slipped my mind. So I'll just say it's a nice story. These early Romana II stories are pretty fun and the actors have a nice chemistry. The pacing is still off. The end credit "screech" should happen as Bulldog Duggan picks up the postcard, smiles at it, and then we see that it is the Mona Lisa. Instead if farts around with a long shot of the Doctor and Romana waving at him and some other unmemorable padding to fill out the required time. They really lost the ability to get the timing on the endings at some point.
But the point was that they didn't have the coordinates but if they got to the TARDIS in time, they could track his time stream. So actually it holds together, kind of. Of course that still skips the grandfather paradox of Skaroth succeeding. (If he stops himself, he isn't split into pieces so he can't make a time machine to stop himself, so he will push the button and get split into pieces and try to build a time machine to stop himself...)
I had some other noodle-cooker I wanted to add about this story, but it slipped my mind. So I'll just say it's a nice story. These early Romana II stories are pretty fun and the actors have a nice chemistry. The pacing is still off. The end credit "screech" should happen as Bulldog Duggan picks up the postcard, smiles at it, and then we see that it is the Mona Lisa. Instead if farts around with a long shot of the Doctor and Romana waving at him and some other unmemorable padding to fill out the required time. They really lost the ability to get the timing on the endings at some point.
Carnival of Monsters. Love the third Doctor.
Today the weekday cycle of RetroTV "lapped" the Saturday rotation. Although watching "Horns of the Nimon" for my last Tom Baker who story is not my preferred way of going out. The only singularly horrible performance, IMO, is Soldeed, the mad scientist/high priest. Painfully over the top hammy overacting.
As a sidebar, they make heavy use of that triangle patterned material that has been cropping up as far back as "Keys of Marinus" for Skonan architecture.
As a sidebar, they make heavy use of that triangle patterned material that has been cropping up as far back as "Keys of Marinus" for Skonan architecture.
The OCD geek conundrum: For a year and a half I've been binging on RetroTV's classic Who broadcasts. This after nearly 30 years of Who withdrawal. Even so, I'm getting full. So a few months back I decided I'd stop watching after "The Horror of Fang Rock." But by then the weekday schedule had nearly caught up with the weekend schedule so I resolved to watch until weekdays passed Saturday. That happened this weekend. Friday wrapped up "Horns of the Nimon" and it aired again on Saturday.
The problem is, now we're into Tom Baker's final season. And while it is horrible, it is only, like, 5 stories. And Meglos isn't in the Retro catalog. So I could just watch until the first Davison story. But then again I've only seen the Colin Baker and McCoy stories once--if at all, so maybe I should just gut it out one more time. But which batch? Logic dictates weekdays. Then if I miss one, I can be sure to catch it when it airs on Saturday. But then again that is 10 hours of otherwise free time on weeknights as opposed to 2 hours on Saturday. A real conundrum.
Or I could just stay the course. I found out on accident that they're showing an hour bloc on Sundays now--after MST3K--and they started fresh from Hartnell. They were on "Keys of Marinus" last time I checked. Talk about your First World Problems.
The problem is, now we're into Tom Baker's final season. And while it is horrible, it is only, like, 5 stories. And Meglos isn't in the Retro catalog. So I could just watch until the first Davison story. But then again I've only seen the Colin Baker and McCoy stories once--if at all, so maybe I should just gut it out one more time. But which batch? Logic dictates weekdays. Then if I miss one, I can be sure to catch it when it airs on Saturday. But then again that is 10 hours of otherwise free time on weeknights as opposed to 2 hours on Saturday. A real conundrum.
Or I could just stay the course. I found out on accident that they're showing an hour bloc on Sundays now--after MST3K--and they started fresh from Hartnell. They were on "Keys of Marinus" last time I checked. Talk about your First World Problems.
Similar threads
