Last Classic Who Story you watched

[jaime]

Nothing Bidmead worked on is more scientifically accurate or was a better exploration of scientific ideas than Douglas Adams.

Four to Doomsday with its generational survey ship, replacing biological samples with constructed facsimiles, visiting earth again and again vs hollow planet eating others? The e-space stuff… covering societal decay from technological back to feudal because of overt control? (Very much like Face of Evil, but that wasn’t Adams.) Or the quasi-mystical crossover between different dimensions? Or the compressed evolutionary stages of one organism becoming almost hermit crab like? I like City of Death as much as the next man, and Adams non-who stuff probably more than some, but Bidmead was doing much more with his era, more or less objectively when you put the stories next to each other. Adams is funnier, and a better dialogue writer, but Bidmead tends to encourage bigger ideas I think.

It’s not a quality judgement either, I find Tom’s last season far too funerary, and don’t think JNT was *regularly* getting things right under his aegis until Cartmel turns up to be honest.

(Edit: generational survey ship implies kids taking over the running, which I’d obviously not what the Urbankans are up to. But you know what I mean xD)

 

[Christopher]

Nothing Bidmead worked on is more scientifically accurate or was a better exploration of scientific ideas than Douglas Adams.

It's not a competition. Writers can use whatever they want for inspiration. And as I already explained, it's simplistic and wrong to assume that scientific accuracy is the only measure of science literacy in fiction. Fiction is not trying to prove a scientific point. It's trying to tell a story, and there are many different ways to utilize real-world concepts in a fictional setting, from the realistic to the symbolic.

When I saw "Logopolis" and "Castrovalva," and I think "Frontios" to a lesser extent, I could see that Bidmead was using scientific, mathematical, and philosophical concepts I recognized from my reading, even if he was using them in a fanciful context. For me, that made his stories smarter than most Doctor Who serials, though that is setting the bar extremely low where science is concerned.

 

[diankra]

The thing is Bidmead's science is fairly right for 1980 and hence seems dated (see the 380Z in Logopolis), but Adams is more aspirational, so some of his suggestions have since become normal despite being wild in 1979 (more H2G2 than Who).

 

[Christopher]

The thing is Bidmead's science is fairly right for 1980 and hence seems dated (see the 380Z in Logopolis), but Adams is more aspirational, so some of his suggestions have since become normal despite being wild in 1979 (more H2G2 than Who).

I don't recall any scientific concepts worth mentioning in Adams's work. Technological, maybe, like the idea of a searchable electronic reference work contained in a portable device, but as far as anything physical or astronomical went, it was all sheer fantasy and spoof. Okay, "City of Death" touched on the science of how life on Earth began, but it got the timing completely wrong, and was otherwise quite fanciful.

Anyway, I don't know how we got onto a discussion of science. As I already said, the concepts I recognized Bidmead referencing from Godel, Escher, Bach were more logical, mathematical, or philosophical, or artistic, like the Escher references in "Castrovalva," which was named for an Escher illustration.

 

[VDCNI]

It's not a competition. Writers can use whatever they want for inspiration. And as I already explained, it's simplistic and wrong to assume that scientific accuracy is the only measure of science literacy in fiction. Fiction is not trying to prove a scientific point. It's trying to tell a story, and there are many different ways to utilize real-world concepts in a fictional setting, from the realistic to the symbolic.

When I saw "Logopolis" and "Castrovalva," and I think "Frontios" to a lesser extent, I could see that Bidmead was using scientific, mathematical, and philosophical concepts I recognized from my reading, even if he was using them in a fanciful context. For me, that made his stories smarter than most Doctor Who serials, though that is setting the bar extremely low where science is concerned.

I wasn't the one who made the comparison initially so I don't know why you've replied to me.

 

[26138]

Watched The Curse of Peladon. Such a good romp

 

[JD]

I was reading the other about how All in Family was an Americanized remake of a British show, and it got me think that I'm kind of amazed that they brought Dr. Who directly over to the US and over the years no one ever tried to do a fully Americanized remake. I'm not counting the 8th Doctor movie, which was an American coproduction that was supposed to air on FOX, or the current seasons that Disney is co-producing. I'm talking about a full from scratch remake that Americanized all of the British elements.
I guess they must have decided that it was general enough, and there weren't enough specifically British elements, that anyone would be able to follow it.

 

[26138]

Oh they wanted to - they had scripts written up for McGann if the movie was successful. The movie flopped, so they pulled out.

 

[JD]

The movie isn't really what I was talking about though, since it was continuation of the original series and was co-produced by the BBC. I was talking about pure from scratch American remake. The same way All in the Family was a remake of Til Death Do Us Part, and Three's Company was a remake of Man About The House.

 

[kirk55555]

I did a rewatch of The Mind of Evil, and it holds up as a very solid story. All of the on location stuff is apreciated, and even the studio sets are pretty good. Having a fight in a real castle is cool and getting an actual misslle, and a helicopter, was just crazy. I think it was definitely worth going over budget for, although I think it sucks that the director never got to do the show again because of it (a lot of the budget stuff was out of his control, and in the extra features he seemed very regretful to have never gotten to do a more Doctor Who [he had also directed The Silurians in the first Pertwee season]). Its also a surprisingly violent episode, no blood of course but between the creature and the shoot outs there is a on screen body count probably in the dozens.

The evil creature in the jar got a bit ridiculous when it started moving, and there was a bit of padding in the middle (as is usual for Pertwee stories that were over 4 episodes) but besides that I really enjoy the story.

 

[matthunter]

Rewatched Robots and Resurrection last night after The Story and the Engine. Very easy to see Robots as part of the Blake's 7 universe.

I did notice some of Tom's episodes aren't on the iPlayer Whoniverse list... Terror of the Zygons... any idea why that's left out specifically?

 

[VDCNI]

Rewatched Robots and Resurrection last night after The Story and the Engine. Very easy to see Robots as part of the Blake's 7 universe.

I did notice some of Tom's episodes aren't on the iPlayer Whoniverse list... Terror of the Zygons... any idea why that's left out specifically?

The agreement with the original writers estate to allow it on the platform came to an end.

 

[matthunter]

The agreement with the original writers estate to allow it on the platform came to an end.

Sad. If it's about money, they won't make any if it's NOT shown. And I doubt DVD sales are getting them much.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Sad. If it's about money, they won't make any if it's NOT shown. And I doubt DVD sales are getting them much.

We don't know the specifics. If the estate that owns one serial finds out that the estate that owns another serial is getting paid more for the rights, then I can see the owner withholding the rights for equal compensation. And, of course, the BBC isn't going to relent immediately, because they have to show how big and tough they are. Eventually, a deal will be made, hopefully one that is satisfactory to all involved and the episode will be restored.

 

[Christopher]

We don't know the specifics. If the estate that owns one serial finds out that the estate that owns another serial is getting paid more for the rights, then I can see the owner withholding the rights for equal compensation.

Or it could simply be that the license is for a finite term and has to be renewed periodically, like most licenses. Often the renewal process will be stalled for one reason or another and there will be an interruption before it's worked out.

 

[Barbara C.]

Also the writer or their family "owe" nothing to no fandom, Who or other.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

I did a rewatch of The Mind of Evil, and it holds up as a very solid story. All of the on location stuff is apreciated, and even the studio sets are pretty good. Having a fight in a real castle is cool and getting an actual misslle, and a helicopter, was just crazy. I think it was definitely worth going over budget for, although I think it sucks that the director never got to do the show again because of it (a lot of the budget stuff was out of his control, and in the extra features he seemed very regretful to have never gotten to do a more Doctor Who [he had also directed The Silurians in the first Pertwee season]). Its also a surprisingly violent episode, no blood of course but between the creature and the shoot outs there is a on screen body count probably in the dozens.

The evil creature in the jar got a bit ridiculous when it started moving, and there was a bit of padding in the middle (as is usual for Pertwee stories that were over 4 episodes) but besides that I really enjoy the story.

I am going to dig that one out again from my restoration DVD as it has been a while since i saw it........i can't remember if the DVD had the full colour restoration or if it was a mix of colour and b&w, been that long. ha

 

[kirk55555]

I just watched The Krotons. It was ok, but not great. The best part was that The Doctor, Zoey and Jamie were written perfectly. The story overall had interesting ideas, but the human-like Gonds were boring and the Krotons were so goofy and impractical (even by the standards of the time) that they were completely non threatening. A weak start to Robert Holmes Who career, but he did nail The Doctor and companions right off the back and of course he goes on to be probably the best Classic who writer.

I am going to dig that one out again from my restoration DVD as it has been a while since i saw it........i can't remember if the DVD had the full colour restoration or if it was a mix of colour and b&w, been that long. ha

Well the Bluray set is basically just the DVDs with some added special features (and no compression because its on a Blu ray), and one of the old special features talks about adding/restoring the color for the DVD, so I'm assuming any DVD release was in color, while VHS releases would have been in B&W.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

^^^I had most of the VHS that were released back in the day, so i think you are right, some of the VHS were in B&W, and the restoration DVD was in colour, hence why i can't seem to remember the DVD version in colour as it has been a while...........i will watch it at the end of the week.

 

[Mr Awe]

^^^I had most of the VHS that were released back in the day, so i think you are right, some of the VHS were in B&W, and the restoration DVD was in colour, hence why i can't seem to remember the DVD version in colour as it has been a while...........i will watch it at the end of the week.

The Krotons has not been colorized. All versions are in the native B&W.