Last Classic Who Story you watched
- Thread starter Pindar
- Start date
What does "piggybacked on Triangle" mean?
Using it to represent both Lanzarote and the planet Sarn. The modern series returned there in "Kill the Moon" to represent the Lunar surface.
I have the impression that they've often used overseas locations to represent themselves, like the American West in "The Impossible Astronaut"/"Day of the Moon" and New York City in "The Angels Take Manhattan." Unfortunately, the TARDIS Wiki doesn't seem to have a dedicated article about overseas location shoots, not that I can find.
Triangle was a BBC soap opera about a ferry running from Harwich (England), Gothenberg and Amsterdam. They had a filming base in the last, which Who took over for an extra few weeks.
In the new series, Spain was Skaro, Croatia van Gogh's area, etc. In planet of Fire, Lanzarote was originally only to be Sarn, but the local bosses insisted on Lanzarote being referenced onscreen, losing the Earth/Sarn contrast originally hoped.
FWIW, Triangle is generally regarded as one of the worst tv series ever made, though it did run for three seasons. Regular cast were Michael Craig, Larry Lamb, Paul Jerricho, Kate O'Mara, Penelope Horner and George Baker. Things I remember are that midway through season one, a character's wife and children die in a car accident, changing him from nice guy to obsessive careerIst backstabber, and in the last episode we find out that the main villain is just a ruthless businessman (but not a crook), whereas the heroine is an obsessive out to get him for revenge.
An interesting ending, though not entirely convincing... like much of the series.
In the new series, Spain was Skaro, Croatia van Gogh's area, etc. In planet of Fire, Lanzarote was originally only to be Sarn, but the local bosses insisted on Lanzarote being referenced onscreen, losing the Earth/Sarn contrast originally hoped.
FWIW, Triangle is generally regarded as one of the worst tv series ever made, though it did run for three seasons. Regular cast were Michael Craig, Larry Lamb, Paul Jerricho, Kate O'Mara, Penelope Horner and George Baker. Things I remember are that midway through season one, a character's wife and children die in a car accident, changing him from nice guy to obsessive careerIst backstabber, and in the last episode we find out that the main villain is just a ruthless businessman (but not a crook), whereas the heroine is an obsessive out to get him for revenge.
An interesting ending, though not entirely convincing... like much of the series.
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I'm working through a rewatch which has seen a lot of stopping and starting, I was going to wait for the Faceless Ones animation but then decided to go ahead only to struggle to get through Troughton's final season - not sure why as I hadn't previously. I found Seeds of Death & The Space Pirates a real slog, again a surprise because I hadn't had a problem with them before.
Now onto Pertwee and by contrast my opinion of Ambassadors Of Death improves every time I watch it. A real hard edged thriller, well directed with strong performances. I'm not a Pertwee fan in general but that's joined my short list of great stories from his era. Then I hit a wall again with Inferno which I usually love but when you watch that season back to back you realise how samey it all is.
Now onto Pertwee and by contrast my opinion of Ambassadors Of Death improves every time I watch it. A real hard edged thriller, well directed with strong performances. I'm not a Pertwee fan in general but that's joined my short list of great stories from his era. Then I hit a wall again with Inferno which I usually love but when you watch that season back to back you realise how samey it all is.
I wasn't a Pertwee fan the few stories I had seen but when I got a chance to watch The Third Doctor run from the very beginning, he became one of my favorite Doctor's.
Pertwee became self-important, which doesn't work in his favour as his era goes on.
But he was the Doctor when I started watching, so... and discussing season seven with Barry Letts in the 90s, he said "Of course you love it now, but would you have got hooked on it if it had still been like that when you were six?" Which is a good point.
Just finished Keys of Marinus. Funny, my only recollection from seeing it previously was the first episode with the acid sea and Arbitan. I forgot about all the popping around with the teleporting wrist devices. Seemed a bit disjointed with each episode having an almost self-contained story. I. Episode 1 the planet appears bleak and deserted except for Arbitan's monolithic castle then we come across the attacking plants, the hypnotizing brains, the ice world and the highly ordered society at the end. Tough to keep up with everything though I still liked it. As noted in another post the companions carried this one for thd most part with the Doctor barely present in episodes 3 and 4. On to the Aztecs.
Probably worked better for people who only saw one episode per week. It's actually kind of a nice idea for a weekly serial -- each episode tells a whole story but they add up to a larger whole. Sort of like what they later did on a season-long scale with The Key to Time and The Trial of a Time Lord.
The records show that Marinus was a very late commission; possibly so late that each episode effectively had to be made as delivered, rather than knowing which sets would be reused from episode to episode at the start of production on the serial.
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slight tangent but classic stories reliated.
David Collings who play Poul in Robots of Death, Mawdryn in Mawdryn Undead and a number of Big Finish roles include The Doctor in Fathom Five (an Unbound story) has passed at 79.
http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2020/03/david-collings-1940-2020.html
David Collings who play Poul in Robots of Death, Mawdryn in Mawdryn Undead and a number of Big Finish roles include The Doctor in Fathom Five (an Unbound story) has passed at 79.
http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2020/03/david-collings-1940-2020.html
Just finished The Aztecs. Good series. One of the 60s historicals of which I am a fan. Sorry they ended them. Reminded me of the other thread where people found the Talons of Weng-Chiang offensive with all the Aztecs played by white actors. I actually find this more amusing or ridiculous than offensive, as I understand it occurred because of the time period in which it was filmed. Good early example of why the Doctor and his companions cannot try to change history. Barbara is mistaken by the chief priests as an incarnation of the god Yetaxa and she tries to end human sacrifices. This ends up causing her to lose her "cover" and risks all their lives. All in all a good series.
I imagine it would've been difficult for an English TV production in the '60s to find a lot of Native Central American actors, so they made do. However, it probably would've been easier to find just one authentically East Asian actor who could've played Li H'sen Chang. It's less forgivable when actors of the right ethnicity are available but are still passed over.
I watched The Time Warrior this morning, since I was curious to see Sarah Jane's first appearance. I thought it was pretty fun, it was a nice introduction to here, and we got some good stuff with Linx and the 13th century people. I also got a kick out of seeing Jeremy Bulloch, the original Boba Fett actor.
Just finished The Sensorites. I don't have a lot to say here. It's a pretty straightforward criticism of social hierarchies like the Hindu caste system and the risk of military leaders taking too paranoid a view of foreign arrivals to one's country or world. There weren't many surprises except for the aqueduct "monsters" turning out to be the prior Earth visitors and the source of the poisoning of the water supply. I originally thought it was the Sensorite who killed the Second Elder. Good performances by rhe Doctor and his companions, though Barbara did very little here. Anyway, on to the Reign of Terror.
Just started Tomb Of The Cybermen.
One of the best in the entire franchise.
When I started watching the series via PBS in the 80s, "tomb of the Cybermen" was one of the "lost" serials, no episodes existed, just a few tantalizing publicity photos revealing the memorable, multi-level "tomb" set. Few seriously believed it would be recovered, "hoped", certainly, but few earnestly imagined it would ever be found. Others suspected if it were ever recovered, the hype and expectations would make the actual footage pale in comparison. Thankfully, many agree it IS dang good, myself among them.
Aww, the Doctor is entitled to a few groan inducing "dad" jokes (or "mom" jokes as the case may be).Well other than the Doctor's terrible pun that even made Jamie cringe
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