Thats a very good point actually. One of the things that made me dislike the Forth towards the end was that he was becoming so powerful that he was treating most alien threats as a joke. That obviously bother JNT as well, since Bakers finally series was a welcome turnaround from that. Unfortunately as has been stated, he may have gone a bit too far wih Davison, who to me just needed a few more 'tawdry quirks' to make him more interesting. Personally I thought Frontios was just about right, with a bit of needed humor thrown in. (The bit with the hatrack specifically). Hell almost that entire last season was great. Even Ainley's Master was a bit less manic than usual. Sadly though, things seemed to go downhill fast once Six arrived on the scene.
Unfortunately, Colin didn't have much say in his character. When he was allowed to play his Doctor the way he wanted, i.e. in the audios, he was superb. I couldn't watch Six, except The Two Doctors, but Big Finish's Six has some of my favourite DW stories. Getting back to Five, I didn't like Tegan when I first started watching Davison's stories, but after Donna, I've warmed up to her. I really liked Nyssa, but unfortunately many things made her character quite bland on screen. For one thing, the writers didn't know how to write for a brilliant female scientist, for another, Sarah was only 19 at the time, and she couldn't carry that character of supposedly wise and smart young alien girl. Another reasons I was so happy with BF, they were able to write stories with just Nyssa and Five, and many of them are great.
So true Rosalind. You'll never hear me say a bad thing about Colin. He's a decent enough fellow who got screwed. He deserves much credit for sticking with DW after everything that happened. Teagan was an odd one all right. I think she just like dto bitch and compain just for the sake of it. But she still hung in there til almost the end. Her goodbye is still quite heartbreaking. Nyssa was such a wasted opportunity. Reserved, cultured, but brilliant alien princess. Its the sort of companion I'd love to see the show try again. Maybe team Eleven wind up with someone like her. Taking her under his wing and showing her the wonders of the universe.
Frontios was written by Bimead and I think he had a real handle on the fifth Doctor, it's a shame he left so early on.
I am very fond of the 5th Doctor but probably am one of the few people who dislike Caves of Androzani. The villan was just too much of a unreasonable pyscho. I like my Doctor as a benevolent interloper or clever detective. The whole story from start to finish was just a exercise in pain and suffering.
I'm listening to the reunion episodes with 5, Tegan, Turlough and Nyssa on Audio and it almost seems that they are no longer, like they did in the 80s, making Tegan out to be an technically enlightened and morally superior being from a modern and sophisticated society, because they didn't know no better in the 80s, but now she's a little bit more of a barbarian savage from a wet behind the ears child-race, or at least Nyssa and the doctor seem to be humouring her as much as Zoe did Jamie, or Stephen did Cassandra. As if a flea riding an elephant thought it could steer the beast by kicking it's heels in, Tegan actually thought she was piloting the TARDIS to Castrovolva! Oh my stars and garters! .
Which villain do you think of as the unreasonable psycho? Sharaz Jek is mad from his torment, bertrayal, and disfigurement and still a sympathetic character, and Morgus is calculating and essentially after profit. Morgus might be clearly evil, but his motivation is clear.
Actually I don't really get the love for Androzani either. It might be a bit darker and more ambitious in scope than most DW episodes from that era, but the story and villains still struck me as being pretty dull and uninteresting. I frankly get more enjoyment from watching something like The Visitation or Earthshock.
Compared to most of Davisons stories, I thought Androzani was brilliant. I quite loved the scenes when Morgus turning back towards the camera and muttering to himself. Very Shakespearian.
I don't know, I quite liked Five's look, it is distinctive, it would just have been better if the various elements had been less uniform, really only the coat falls a little flat at times.
I actually liked the planet of Fire episodes were % and turlough had their coats off and wore short sleeves to contend with the fine weather. The adaptation in "costume" made them seem less cartoony.
I liked the Davison era although I sometimes felt it was a little wishy washy and was trying to be a little too intellectual for it's own good. I was glad for stories like Earthshock and Ressurection of the Daleks which were more traditional Dr Who. 5 Doctors also good
Hello Steve: Loved the part about your wife's viewpoint. My ex-girl friend was not into Who, but had seen every episode of "All Creatures". She had the same opinion as your wife. In fact, she felt, not even a reasonable attempt to create a different character. Enjoyed your post! Best regards, Madelow.
I gather the asides came from Peter Normington misunderstanding a direction but the director liked them so they got kept.