Last Classic Who Story you watched

Discussion in 'Doctor Who' started by Pindar, Aug 29, 2012.

  1. Timewalker

    Timewalker Cat-lovin', Star Trekkin' Time Lady Premium Member

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    Image of the Fendahl is fun and scary! And there's a really weird bit in there where Leela, for no reason I've ever been able to fathom, decides to kiss one of the scientists!

    As I understand it, one of the prerequisites for watching this story is a couch to hide behind...

    Well... Romana II got a nice, low-cut gothic gown in State of Decay, Tegan shows a lot of cleavage on occasion, and Nyssa went all the way from the "velvet princess" of Keeper of Traken to stripping down to her underwear (thin tank top and very short & miniscule slip) in Terminus. :p

    But while the guys may enjoy Peri in a bikini, I've always enjoyed Turlough in shorts!

    I wonder what the Brigadier would have thought of the later steampunk decor (Paul McGann era and later)!
     
  2. Pindar

    Pindar Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    :lol: As much as I didn't like the character of Turlough I always felt sorry for him having to wear that awfull school uniform.
     
  3. Worf2DS9

    Worf2DS9 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I finished City of Death a couple of days ago and that was enjoyable. I liked Julian Glover as the villain (he might have been a good Master around that time), and the bumbling inspector was amusing. Some of the running around Paris bits seemed to go on for so long it felt like a Parisian travelogue at times. :D

    The John Cleese cameo was fun too.
     
  4. BoredShipCapt'n

    BoredShipCapt'n Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Been rewatching The Chase. It's a cheesy one, but my 5-year-old is fascinated.
     
  5. Aldo

    Aldo Admiral Admiral

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    Just finished the first Doctor's story "Daleks."

    It was neat seeing the Daleks for the first time, and I really do enjoy the first Doctor so far. However the story went on far too long, seven episodes seemed a bit excessive and it could have been compacted a bit more. I'm still bothered by the fact that The Doctor doesn't really feel like the central character yet. I understand that's not the shows fault since only two stories in they're still trying to find the rhythm of the show, it's just hard for me to get behind being exposed to the Doctor Who style of storytelling nowadays.
     
  6. Pindar

    Pindar Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    The first doctor is often missing as Hartnell's health deteriorated.

    Sometimes he won't be in an episode at all.
     
  7. diankra

    diankra Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    The outline was for a six parter (and that included roughly half an episode's worth of story continuing the plot beyond the end of the transmitted version). Quite why it got expanded isn't clear, but was probably down to a) Budget - it needed seven episodes's worth of money to make it, and b) Cut-offs... it had to be a seven parter so that with the next two parter there'd be neat ending if the series ended at 13 weeks.
     
  8. Konata Izumi

    Konata Izumi Commander Red Shirt

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    The Green Death

    The pacing's disastrous. Not sure about all of the story as I zoned out in many parts. The first three episodes watched ages ago and they had great effect bits but mostly very dull. Ep4 was better with what felt like very naturalistic dialogue and character interaction, vaguely interesting if literally forgettable. Eps5-6 just now, a riot with a particularly fun version of a talking computer and lots of unintentional comedy. Why save the butterfly for the last episode and even then only one?
     
  9. VDCNI

    VDCNI Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Some of that is holiday not illness though. The illness doesn't really become a major issue until Season 3.
     
  10. Pindar

    Pindar Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    True, what a bizarre system they used to have, very civilised though.

    I'll just pop off halfway through filming a for a week in Spain.
     
  11. diankra

    diankra Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Well, the first season was a solid 52 week shoot, one episode a week, every week (apart from Easter and Christmas - so that made it 55 weeks with three weeks off. But actually 57 weeks, due to the two reshoots of abandoned episodes. Long time to go without a break).

    Edit: pulled the reference book from the shelf, and the 1st season recording dates are:
    An Unearthly Child take one: 27th September 1963.
    An Unearthly Child take two through to Daleks part 5 (including two recordings of The Dead Planet): 18th October to 20th December 63.
    3rd January to 23rd October 64: The Daleks pt6 through to Dalek Invasion of Earth part 6, no weeks off at all - not even for Easter! Then there was a luxurious five week gap before production restarted with The Rescue in December 64...
     
  12. Pindar

    Pindar Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    That's grim, they certainly earned their money.
     
  13. The Borgified Corpse

    The Borgified Corpse Admiral Admiral

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    Ouch! Forgotten already? You were just down ther
    There are multiple stories featuring the absence of some character or another. The Doctor is rather blatantly not in a couple episodes of "The Keys of Marinus" at all (despite the fact that he still gets top billing in them). Susan is missing from the middle episodes of "The Aztecs." Barbara took a couple episodes off in "The Sensorites." And William Russell took a 2 week vacation during "The Reign of Terror" but still appears in all the episodes thanks to some pre-filmed scenes of him in the prison.

    The principle doesn't just extend to the William Hartnell years either. The regulars would often take a week or two off during production in the Patrick Troughton years as well. (Although, IIRC, the only surviving Troughton episode to not feature the Doctor is in "The Seeds of Death," and even then we still get to see Jamie & Zoe tending to an unconscious Doctor played by a stand-in.)

    As for the Doctor not yet seeming like the lead on his own show, you kinda have to wait until the Patrick Troughton years for that. Seasons 1 & 2 were very much the Ian & Barbara show. And while the Doctor would become somewhat more assertive in Season 3, they still counted on Steven or Ben to carry much of the show.

    I think "The Time Monster" was a tragic missed opportunity to bring back Liz Shaw. She could have been the Master's unwitting assistant at the university. After all, she wouldn't know who the Master was because he didn't appear until the 1st story after she left.

    By the villains? No. By the fans? Take your pick.:evil: Although, it has been noted that pretty much anyone who ever flirted with Barbara would turn out to be a bad guy. But they still kept a respectful distance. Peri would get pawed and drooled over all the time. Even Shockeye's interest in her seemed pretty salacious, and he just wanted to cook her, not fuck her!

    I've watched a lot of new stories since I last checked in on this thread. Of the new ones I've watched, the two that most stand out for me are "The Keys of Marinus" & "The Reign of Terror." They're both decent early Hartnell outings but nothing spectacular. Susan is rediculously useless here and screams more than I ever remember any other companion screaming before. And that's when she's not suddenly falling prey to some dreaded mystery illness she picked up in the French prison. And I can't say enough about how much I hate the animation in "The Reign of Terror," but I think I'll do a separate thread to rant about that.
     
  14. Davros

    Davros Fleet Admiral Admiral

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  15. Lowdarzz

    Lowdarzz Captain Captain

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    The Trial of a Time Lord: The Mysterious Planet and Mindwarp (Sixth Doctor).

    While not Robert Holmes' best, I know he was ill while writing it and died soon after, I enjoyed The Mysterious Planet. It's actually kind of interesting, I saw a lot of The Krotons, Holmes first serial, in this one. A robot which controls a human society to provide for its needs, the robot singling out two of the humans for special tasks.

    While Mindwarp was well written, I think Philip Martin's last serial, Vengeance on Varos, was probably better. Sil works better as an antagonist then a sniveling flunkie. Peri's death however was excellent. She didn't die saving the day, she just died and I applaud the writer and producer for making that decision.

    Yes, I know they copped out in the end which is too bad. Having Peri marry Yrcanos seems completely out of place. I know they tried to build up some sort of relationship between them, but it wasn't that well developed.
     
  16. Winterwind

    Winterwind Commodore Commodore

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    Just started doing a re-watch, right from the beginning (of my DVD collection).

    Since I have "The Beginnings" boxset, that's right at the start. Watched An Unearthly Child yesterday but skipped the three cavemen episodes and went to the seven-part Daleks story. Half way through that now.
     
  17. diankra

    diankra Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Oh don't do that! Yes, a few countries got it like that in the mid-1960s, but that three parter is a good solid story in its own right (the contrast between Za's superstitious reaction to the TARDIS crew "They are from god, or are demons", and Kal's rational one "They are from a more advanced tribe over the mountains, and we need to know what they know" is a bit of a philosophical mainstay for the series as a whole). And it's important in the character development of the regular cast... even referred back to in the big arguments in the third story!
    Seriously... the dawn of time episodes are worth seeing... they're an odd halfway house between the early SF stories, and the historicals, as they're a bit of both. It's not three wasted episodes (that's The Keys of Marinus... for six episodes). Personally I'd put them about 3rd or 4th of the seven first season stories that still exist in some form on video. So watch them yourself and see what you think.
     
  18. Winterwind

    Winterwind Commodore Commodore

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    I did say "re-watch". ;)

    I own the DVDs after all, I've seen them a few times. I just have to be in a certain mood to watch the caveman episodes.
     
  19. Aldo

    Aldo Admiral Admiral

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    I still have one more First Doctor serial to finish (The Edge of Destruction), before I finish up my "Beginnings" set. After that I have three options (probably a lot more, but I limited it to three). I'll either pick up "The Three Doctors," "The Twin Dilemma" or continue on with my Seven watching with "The Happiness Patrol"

    I'm actually leaning towards "The Twin Dilemma," just because my only exposure to Six as of right now is seeing him for the second or two he popped up after Five regenerated into him. I know he has a bit of a reputation, but I want to give him a shot before forming my own opinion of him.
     
  20. diankra

    diankra Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Some will disagree, but I'd say the majority opinion would be that Twin Dilemma does not show the sixth Doctor at his best, so it might actually put you off him unfairly.