Last Classic Who Story you watched

[DWF]

I enjoyed this one but I kind of wish it had taken place exclusively in Antarctica. The claustrophobic feeling of being trapped with the Krynoid thousands of mile from any help. Then again I've just described John W. Campbell Jr.'s story 'Who Goes There?' and its various adaptations.

Actually you've just described every Second Doctor story ever written.

Well the fifth season anyway, but the first two parts of The Seeds Of Doom was a take on The Thing From Outer Space, so it was really inspired by Campbell's story. The last four acts were like a Bond movie to me, Harrsion Chase was very like a great Bond villian and he had a great henchman in Scorbie.

 

[Lowdarzz]

The Masque of Mandragora (Fourth Doctor).

An excellent story though Sarah Jane did seem to spend more time needing to be saved in this one than the past few I've watched. Saved from being sacrificed, saved from killing the Doctor, saved from the dungeons. I enjoyed the pre-renaissance Italy setting. It's too bad however that we didn't get to see the Doctor interact with Leonardo da Vinci. The potential arugments could have been interesting.

The Deadly Assassin (Fourth Doctor).

As far as I know this is the only serial from the classic era where the Doctor does not have a companion unless you count Co-ordinator Engin and Castellan Spandrell. I enjoyed this brief glimpse into Time Lord society and the small amount of history that was presented as well. The portrayal of the Master was excellent though I still prefer Roger Delgado's mix of theatrics and quiet menace.

 

[Sindatur]

Regarding the Doctor and Leonardo, don't they interact in City of Death?

 

[DWF]

Regarding the Doctor and Leonardo, don't they interact in City of Death?

Nope and that was the second time the fourth Doctor failed to meet him, but he did leave him a note telling him to paint over the writing anyway.

 

[sidious618]

I watched The Greatest Show in the Galaxy last night. Excellent serial, one of the best.

 

[Anachronus]

Just watched the Pirate Planet again after a long time. I was struck by how many of the sets and it seemed some of the music cues were shared with Blakes 7.

 

[Pindar]

I'm so behind with my Who watching right now.

I've just finished a fitness challenge that was sucking up all my free time and hope to get something watched this coming weekend.

I have been re-listening to Cyberman though, the Big Finish mini series.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

Regarding the Doctor and Leonardo, don't they interact in City of Death?

Nope and that was the second time the fourth Doctor failed to meet him, but he did leave him a note telling him to paint over the writing anyway.

I love that bit. I keep hoping for some reference to that on the new series. Like, in "The Girl Who Waited," when Rory sees that Mona Lisa in the alien art gallery, I wanted the Doctor to ask Rory to give it a quick X-ray scan with the sonic. Rory sees "This is a fake" written on it, to which the Doctor promptly responds, "Oh, so that's the real one then."

Interestingly, although we would assume that the Doctor has in fact met Leonardo da Vinci, it seems that, in "City of Death," the Doctor was lying about having met Shakespeare, since the 10th Doctor has never met him before in "The Shakespeare Code." (But then, that doesn't jive with the fact that the 8th Doctor actually met him in the Big Finish audio "Time of the Daleks.")

 

[Mr Pointy Ears]

That would be the ambassodors of death with jon pertwee.

 

[Lowdarzz]

The Face of Evil (Fourth Doctor).

A good introduction for the character Leela. A computer gone haywire story where the computer isn't destroyed is a new one in my experience. I also wish they had devoted more time to the backstory of Xoanon. Then again I think it would have been cool to actually film the backstory as a seperate serial and then have the doctor come back several centuries later to find out the results like he did in The Ark back in the Hartnell era.

 

[Sindatur]

The Face of Evil (Fourth Doctor).

A good introduction for the character Leela. A computer gone haywire story where the computer isn't destroyed is a new one in my experience. I also wish they had devoted more time to the backstory of Xoanon. Then again I think it would have been cool to actually film the backstory as a seperate serial and then have the doctor come back several centuries later to find out the results like he did in The Ark back in the Hartnell era.

Is that Principles of Lust, that has that running through the Background,

"Xoanon, Xoanon"

Ar-Ar-Ar-Ar [/Scooby Doo]

Yea, I too, was hoping that Xoanon's Back Story was one of the "Lost 1st and 2nd Doctor Stories" that would be recovered (When I knew very little Behind the scenes stuff, pre-Internet) when I first saw it on PBS in the early 1980s

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

I recently went through "The Sea Devils," "The Time Monster," "Carnival of Monsters," & the 1st 4 parts of "Frontier in Space."

"The Sea Devils" isn't as good as I remembered. Roger Delgado is good as always. But the Sea Devils themselves are hardly in it. And it feels weird to see the Doctor constantly butting heads with an incredulous military figure that isn't Lethbridge-Stewart.

"The Time Monster" was decent, although I wish more of it had taken place in Atlantis. And while the bit with the two TARDISes being inside each other has some nice echoes of Moffatt's "Space" & "Time" shorts, it makes a little bit less sense because, at one point, it seems that the exterior of the Master's TARDIS is both inside the Doctor's TARDIS and in the science lab at the same time. (Although, "Zagreus" implied that TARDISes have a back door as well, so maybe this is some kind of multi-dimensional equivalent.)

"Carnival of Monsters" is a lot of fun. No one writes conniving guest stars with their own contrary agendas like Robert Holmes. And Peter Halliday will always have a soft spot in my heart.

"Frontier in Space" has a lot to recommend it. Although it's a 6-parter, it breaks it up quite a bit by taking place in many different locations (even if half of them are just jail cells that the Doctor & Jo keep getting marched to & from for most of the story).

 

[The Squire of Gothos]

My daughter is now a committed Whovian (I tried Trek, she doesn't care for it as much ) and she expects some classic Who when she comes to see me. I think she likes being able to answer classic Who questions in the Who magazine.

We caught the City of Death last, in fact we'd have caught it twice in a row if she'd had her way. I'm not sure what's next on the schedule though,

I think the War Games may be longer than she might tolerate and the Caves of Androzani and Earthshock might be a tad scary for her. If there's nothing else in my back catalogue, a new story may have to be purchased, or its another viewing of The Pyramids of Mars.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Image Of The Fendahl as a Halloween Who...

 

[DWF]

Image Of The Fendahl as a Halloween Who...

I saw it recently and not long afterward The Curse Of Fenric, both are great Halloween stories.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Image Of The Fendahl as a Halloween Who...

I saw it recently and not long afterward The Curse Of Fenric, both are great Halloween stories.

Ah, did it the other way- Curse a few days earlier!

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

I'm currently in the midst of "Planet of the Daleks." It's actually slightly better than I remember it. Still, I wish they had done more to tie it into "Frontier in Space." Perhaps they should have had a combined Earth/Draconian fleet arrive at the end to mop up any potential Dalek stragglers. Plus, it's a shame the Master didn't pop up at the same time as the Dalek commander arrived.

 

[NCC-1701-B]

Castrovalva Part 1

 

[Lowdarzz]

Planet of Giants (First Doctor).

Broadcast version: A fun story but strictly by the numbers not counting the miniaturized crew of the Tardis. Evil corporate bad guy, whiny scientist that goes along with the plan then has a change of heart. Unlike the pacing of many of the First Doctor serials, this one was pretty tight with only three episodes and it worked to the story's advantage since it was pretty thin already.

Four Episode Reconstruction: This was a cool idea but not well executed. While I understand that the footage originally cut from the serial no longer exists, the constant reuse of the same shots, closeups of the Doctor, Forester and Smithers, started to get annoying after awhile. The added material, in addition to slowing the pace, doesn't really add anything to the story except for giving us more information about the telephone operator and the policeman.

Invasion of the Dinosaurs (Third Doctor).

A good story that was well executed despite the limitations of the puppet dinosaurs. Captain Yates betrayal of UNIT was something I didn't see coming but I'm glad he was able to gain some redemption in Planet of the Spiders. Malcolm Hulke was definitely one of the Third Doctor's better writers and its too bad he didn't continue to write for the Fourth Doctor.

 

[Pindar]

I thought Planet of the Giants worked well at 3 episodes, and agree about the reconstruction.

With a few tweaks it would have worked as a modern Who story.