Doctor Who from the start (by a n00b)

[diankra]

Amazing that the BBC just binned a load of art.

Back in the 1960s there were no reruns, shows aired once and that was it. And in the 1970s there were still no reruns and BBC believed there was no worth to black and white shows now that everyone had a colour TV.

There were reruns actually, in the '70s they'd put a story together movie style and show it and in the break between Tom Baker and Peter Davson they showed what amounted to full season of past Dcotors calling it The Five Faces Of The Doctor.

The Five Faces season wasn't edited into movies, they ran the original episodes, but stripped four days a week. For five weeks on Mondays, we had the first episode of a vintage Doctor Who at 5.40, then The Adventure Game, and then after a half hour gap, a new episode of Blake's 7!
The movie compilations were earlier, between about '72 and '77, when there'd be one or two each Christmas (from '78 onwards, the Beeb went over to running two or three complete stories in the summer instead). Oh, and the 1982 vintage repeats season, Doctor Who and the Monsters, was re-edited, into two double length episodes for each story.

But of course, to get back to the original point, there weren't any Doctor Who repeats during the 60s, which is the era that's missing, aside from a repeat of the first episode the following week, and of Evil of the Daleks in summer '68.

 

[DWF]

Back in the 1960s there were no reruns, shows aired once and that was it. And in the 1970s there were still no reruns and BBC believed there was no worth to black and white shows now that everyone had a colour TV.

There were reruns actually, in the '70s they'd put a story together movie style and show it and in the break between Tom Baker and Peter Davson they showed what amounted to full season of past Dcotors calling it The Five Faces Of The Doctor.

The Five Faces season wasn't edited into movies, they ran the original episodes, but stripped four days a week. For five weeks on Mondays, we had the first episode of a vintage Doctor Who at 5.40, then The Adventure Game, and then after a half hour gap, a new episode of Blake's 7!
The movie compilations were earlier, between about '72 and '77, when there'd be one or two each Christmas (from '78 onwards, the Beeb went over to running two or three complete stories in the summer instead). Oh, and the 1982 vintage repeats season, Doctor Who and the Monsters, was re-edited, into two double length episodes for each story.

But of course, to get back to the original point, there weren't any Doctor Who repeats during the 60s, which is the era that's missing, aside from a repeat of the first episode the following week, and of Evil of the Daleks in summer '68.

I know The Five Faces Of Doctor Who weren't exdited into movie format, but repeats from the '70s were. And of course there no or few repeats in the '60s because the wasn't off the air for long til the end of the Troughton era.

 

[Cutter John]

Doctor Who wasn't the only casualty of the film and tape purges. A large chunk of the BBC archives was destroyed,news programmes, documentaries and lots o classic BBC comedy. It wasn't only black and white shows that were junked either. Lots of late 60's and 70's colour programmes were wiped so that the BBC could reuse the then expensive videotapes.

The sad thing is if they'd waited just a few more years, the VCR boom would have opened up a huge new demand.

 

[Start Wreck]

If you don't mind my asking (I'm a noob to "old-Who" too and wouldn't mind getting acquainted), how does one go about "watching" and rating episodes when they are missing?

Cheers.

Every episode exists in one form or another, even if it is just audio with pictures. I've been watching fan-made reconstructions. They're not particularly difficult to find.

I felt it was worth sticking with because you do get characters referring back to things that happened in these 'missing' stories, and it's nice to get a complete picture of what's been happening (even though generally the stories are not linked to each other).

 

[Start Wreck]

I've now seen every episode of Jon Pertwee's era, finishing with the unwhelming Planet of the Spiders.

Read my summary of the third doctor and my choice of favourite episodes here:
http://doctorwhofromthestart.wordpress.com/2013/04/19/the-third-doctor-summary-best-episodes/

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

I'm not a fan of the Third Doctor at all, but there are quite a lot of fine stories in this era, and I liked Planet of the Spiders. In fact, I thought Pertwee was rather good in it.

 

[Start Wreck]

I am deep into Baker territory now, and the show has improved immeasurably!

Some highlights so far:


The Sontaran Experiment

But I think The Sontaran Experiment also shows that you don’t need a big budget to tell a compelling sci-fi story either. This takes place entirely on some hills (no sets), and reuses some old costumes. And yet, it’s a compelling tale of human survival, Sontaran wickedness and Time Lord cunning.

Pyramids of Mars

Overall, this is a very enjoyable serial. The plot is interesting, the robot mummies are good, and the dialogue between the Doctor and Sarah is more natural and witty than normal. They also have a good team dynamic, working together well. Success!

The Deadly Assassin

This is a really well-written and well-envisioned story, and very different in style from the usual. It’s quite dark, dealing with themes of murder, survival, conspiracy and politics, and none of the four episodes feels wasted on anything frivolous.

The Robots of Death

You’ve got to have likeable, or at least identifiable, characters when you make a murder mystery story, and The Robots of Death manages to achieve this where embarrassingly modern blockbusters like Prometheus fall flat on their face.

 

[diankra]

Glad you like Robots of Death. And on the whole, that season (Masque of Mandragora through to Talons of Weng-Chiang) must be one of the best ever made: when Hand of Fear and Face of Evil are competing for weakest story of the season, it's a pretty good season!

 

[Start Wreck]

I'm up to Tom Baker's final series now, and the 1980s brings with it a welcome change in tone and style (and a cool new theme tune!).

The Leisure Hive

Season 18 gets off to a terrific start, but how much of that is down to its fresh new audio-visual style? It’s not just the synthy soundtrack (reminding me of Blade Runner), but improvements on direction, composition, camera movements and so on. The Leisure Hive is about as good looking as a studio-shot Doctor Who serial has ever looked so far.

 

[Hober Mallow]

About a year ago, I started from the beginning, but I gave up after the first season. FWIW, here were my thoughts at the time...

 

[Start Wreck]

^Cool, I think we broadly agree on a lot of those early Hartnell stories. I really disliked the historical ones, though. Some of them were quite hard-going. It's much better now; I hope to keep watching until the very end.

I finally finished up Tom Baker's seven seasons, and have written a summary, with my picks of best serials from his run (which were pretty hard to choose).

http://doctorwhofromthestart.wordpress.com/2013/08/13/the-fourth-doctor-summary-best-episodes/

A short break now, then I'll move onto the Davison era...

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Not a bad summary, but the lack of mention for Talons and Genesis of the Daleks is kinda baffling. I thought those would be default must-see stories.

 

[Start Wreck]

Yeah, as I mentioned in my GotD review, I found it a bit underwhelming after all the "hype". It basically introduces a face to what should be a faceless enemy, turning them into mindless drones, and retconning an origin story that worked perfectly well just being alluded to in the original Dalek serial, 'The Daleks'. That's why it didn't make my top spot, although I did still enjoy it.

Talons was ok but a bit racist.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Racist? I didn't think so at all. Because the villain's a Chinese? That doesn't preclude racism, that simply implies that everyone can be fooled, and the Chinese antagonist is actually played with a sympathetic light.

As for Genesis, it provided with the most tangible and important dilemma in the Doctor's life. As far as retcons go, its one of the best ones ones, and thats because it did introduce an iconic new villain, and it present the environment in which the Daleks were given birth into. Its a fascinating social study of the Kelads and the Thals, and a great character study for the Doctor and Davros, and honestly, one of the best serials of Old Who, ever.

In sharp contrast, The Leisure Hive is sheer crap. Its an overproduced piece of fluff, with very little story and that barely makes any sense. If it weren't for Tom Baker's charm and wit, it would've been even worse.

 

[Start Wreck]

Racist? I didn't think so at all. Because the villain's a Chinese?

Nah, more that he's played by an obviously English man, made up with false eyelids to look "a bit Chinese" and put on a "me so solly" type accent, while characters refer to him as "yellow", etc. I found it mildly uncomfortable in parts.

As for Genesis, I beg to differ. The plight of the Thals and the Kaleds was more effective when it was simply alluded to in the original story. Giving the Daleks a "master" was like giving the Borg a "Queen" - an unnecessary complication that essentially "de-fangs" them. The Doctor's dilemma over their fate is a brilliant moment, however; and Davros himself does have an excellent presence. As I say, I liked it a lot, just not as much as others.

Leisure Hive got in more on style and tone, I admit.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Yeah, but Leisure Hive is all style and no substance. Genesis's retcon on the Daleks origin presented with a palpable, potent, really powerful moral dilemma that has been, since then, the creative lynchpin for everything Who-related since. And, for good reason.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

Giving the Daleks a "master" was like giving the Borg a "Queen" - an unnecessary complication that essentially "de-fangs" them.

Possibly, but that's "Destiny of the Daleks"'s fault. In "Genesis", Davros was not the Daleks' master, he was their creator.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Giving the Daleks a "master" was like giving the Borg a "Queen" - an unnecessary complication that essentially "de-fangs" them.

Possibly, but that's "Destiny of the Daleks"'s fault. In "Genesis", Davros was not the Daleks' master, he was their creator.

Swish!

They did "kill" him at the end, after all.

 

[Sindatur]

Giving the Daleks a "master" was like giving the Borg a "Queen" - an unnecessary complication that essentially "de-fangs" them.

Possibly, but that's "Destiny of the Daleks"'s fault. In "Genesis", Davros was not the Daleks' master, he was their creator.

Swish!

They did "kill" him at the end, after all.

Yea, there's been numerous references/instances where he has been abandoned by them or outright rebelled against (IE: Different Factions of Daleks, some not wanting anything to do with him). He was their Creator, and they look to him for "original thought" at times, but, being their "Master" is incredibly rare. More like Chief Strategist. Now, definitely Davros' goal is to be their master, but, things rarely go his way

 

[Redfern]

My first exposure to the Daleks was "Genesis..." when my PBS affiliate started airing the Tom Baker serials in 1982, so you would assume that's how I would want my Daleks, as "created" monsters that rebel against their maker, Davros. But once I finally saw their original 1963 serial, I found I like that version best. Even as early as their second appearance, "The Dalek Invasion of Earth", thematically they had devolved into cliched "robo-nazis from outer space". In their first appearance, they were "tragic" characters, almost to be pitied. Let me explain.

With Davros we learn the Daleks were "created", even "programmed"; they had no choice in their fate. But according to "The Dead Planet", it was a gradual descent into "ugliness" of their own choosing. The Daleks were originally a learned people. Ironically, the Thals were the "villains". By their own admission, the Thals attacked the Daleks, waging a war that finally pressured the latter to perform the most desperate of acts, employ nuclear weapons. The bombs nearly destroyed both sides. The few surviving Thals retreated to their side of the planet and the remaining Daleks hunkered within the ruins of their cities.

Radiation took its toll and each successive generation suffered ever worsening mutations. The genetic "scarring" got so bad that they engineered machines to aid their crippled bodies, eventually resulting in static powered, mobile "iron lungs", the iconic "travel macines". Perhaps more tragically, The Daleks' collective psyches followed the path of their bodies, each new generation growing ever more fearful, outright paranoid that the dreaded Thals might eventually return to wage war again. When the Thals do return centuries later, they are in no position to fight (not until Ian motivates them). In fact, they are barely "hanging on". But do the Daleks see this? No, they have let fear and suspicion consume their every waking thought that their response to "exterminate" before they themselves can be exterminated.

But it didn't have to end like that. No one "programmed" the Daleks. They could have chosen diplomacy, negotiation. They had the technology; the Thals had a potential "cure". (Yeah, the drug had a lethal effect upon the Daleks, that's why I stated "potential".) But their "cold war" paranoia made them lash out, prompting the Thals to retaliate just as the Daleks feared they would.

So, from my perspective, those original Daleks were pitiful, "tragic" characters, and thus had more emotional depth than their later depictions.

Sincerely,

Bill