The Visitation over Revelation? Really?Yes it is, no they don't, no it isn't, everyone loves a bit of violence, and if the relatively low Doctor involvement bothers you then I suppose you disliked Blink as well. Revelation is a brilliant story, as intricate as Androzani (if not Kinda). It's quite a brilliant piece, populated with many engaging yet grostesque characters, and it's easily the best use of Davros. A mad twisted man getting people to eat their own families and laughing like a loon. Revelation's a classic.
Yeah everbody LOVES violence I guess that includes Mary Whitehouse.In any event it's more like a French slasher horror movie than a Dr. Who story. We never see hands get blasted off or multiple stabbing on the show really ever since they introduced Davros the Dalek stories were more about him than the Daleks themselves and there was still no explaination for how he survived Resurrection.
IMO Blink is overrated and Eric Saward really only wrote one really good Dr. Who story and that was The Visitation, it's more than alittle difficult to defend either of his Dalek stories or Timelash for that matter. Some people liked some people didn't. But it's not a great story in my mind.
See, much as I like the weirdo tone of Revelation and the general grimness and violence that Saward brought to the show (gawd only knows that as soon as he went we got the anodyne and pretty subpar season 24), it's the quality of the story that I really love, as well as the production. It's a fantastic piece of writing, combined with terrific direction. Caves is much the same, and pretty grim and violent to boot; d'you hate that too?
As for it being more about Davros than the Daleks, it doesn't pretend to be anything else. If it's a lack of tinpot action you don't like, then did you only watch one story every 4 years? Besides, one of the feckers even blows up.
I watched the original series in syndication not as it originally came out. And I liked Caves over Revelations it was dark yes but not like Relevations nor was it as bloody. But then Robert Holmes was a MUCH better writer than Eric Saward. I really like Earthshock it's one of my favorites and The Visitation was a very good story. But then in Saward's eyes Revelation was a comedy.
http://drwhointerviews.wordpress.com/category/eric-saward/
Q: There were no reasons given?
A: Other than it was thought the show needed resting, re-thinking. We were told we were going back to 25 minutes, which was Michael Grade’s decision, and that more comedy was wanted. I must admit that I didn’t understand Grade’s not about comedy, last season we had three very comic stories (‘Vengeance on Varos’, ‘Two Doctors’, ‘Revelation of the Daleks”). It was a pity that two out of the three stories were poorly directed.