Classic Who day by day

[OmahaStar]

Carnival of Monsters, episode 2

Vol shows the mini-Tardis to his assistant, calling it bric-a-brac, and then hides it.

He flips a few switches and the people inside start behaving violently, including the Doctor, who starts boxing.

The Doctor and Jo escape the ship by going down a shaft, then exploring. And there is a Cyberman trapped inside, though the Doctor hasn't found him - yet.

When it's taken outside of the machine, the Tardis grows to full size. That means anything taken out would also return to normal.

The Doctor and Jo enter another environment, something called Circuit 5. It is populated by the same dinosaurs we saw earlier. And they are hungry!

* * *

It's not looking good for the Doctor. He could be eaten. Will he survive? We'll find out tomorrow. Er, Monday.

It's really not a half-bad episode. I'm enjoying it.

 

[OmahaStar]

Carnival of Monsters 3

The Doctor and Jo run. They're trying to return to the previous circuit. There are three of these dinos. Two of them are making out, leaving the third one to be the hungry guy. Vol sticks his hand in and pets some of them, giving the humanoids time to escape.

The Doctor and Jo make it back to the boat, looking for climbing rope. The dinos follow them.

With Jo and the others trapped inside, the Doctor exits the machine, looking like he's about to pass out.

* * *

Yay! He finally left Jo behind. There is an awful lot of padding here. Everything that's happened so far could have been done in about 10 minutes.

 

[Captain Pike]

I dunno. I've never been able to like it much. Robert Holmes is great, but this story does not do it for me..

3 cheers for Ian Marter though.

 

[OmahaStar]

Carnival of Monsters 4

The Doctor quickly grows to full size and goes on a rampage. Vol and his assistant laugh as the Doctor interrogates everyone around him.

As Jo wonders around uselessly, the Doctor discovers that Vol won his machine by gambling. As per usual, Jo gets captured then escapes somehow.

The Doctor goes back inside the machine to rescue Jo. They find each other and quickly make it back outside. With the Doctor's help, everyone in the machine returns to their proper place and time.

While Vol pulls another one on the aliens, the Doctor and Jo leave in the Tardis.

* * *

There really wasn't any point to this story. It was all fluff, all fun. If you can leave your brain at the door (and haven't we all learned to do that at one time or another?) it is silly entertainment.

Just don't go looking for continuity. Otherwise you'll start asking where Vol's hat keeps running off to.

 

[OmahaStar]

The Green Death, episode 1
Written by Robert Sloman and Barry Letts
Directed by Michael Briant

For some glossed over reason, the Doctor and Jo argue. She leaves him to go investigate something or other, and the Brig tags along. (wtf now?)

The Doctor goes off in the Tardis, landing in a cave, then promptly gets attacked by something with a tentacle.

Jo meets and flirts with a professor. The Doctor runs from the tentacle monster. The Brig talks shop with a bunch of businessmen.

Jo wanders off to explore the mine, where she gets trapped. Again.

* * *

This version of the Doctor sure likes being in caves and other underground locations. If I remember correctly, this is Jo's last story. If not, it's at least the last story she has out on dvd, because the next one is Sarah Jane's introduction. (excuse me while I thank every deity who has ever existed)

Basically, nobody is acting in character here. And that's odd, with Barry Letts as one of the writers. I am reminded of an episode of Xena where people fall under a spell causing them to become obsessed with the first thing they think. Xena becomes obsessed with fishing; Gabrielle with outer beauty; Joxer becomes an ape-man.

With the Doctor going off to investigate whatever random thing he does, and Jo becoming obsessed with finding a professor, and the Brig being obsessed with driving Jo around (yes, he becomes a chauffeur), it's comical. And I'm not sure that's a good thing just yet. We shall see.
​

 

[Nerys Myk]

Aren't the Brig and Jo headed to the same area for different reasons in this one? Also, the Brig wanted the Doctor's help, but the Doctor had different plans now that that TARDIS was working.

 

[Captain Pike]

MAGGOTS

 

[Bones2]

My earliest Doctor Who memory is the giant maggots. Which means this episode must have had a rerun during the early nineties, as my second oldest memory (perhaps other than the Cushing films or at least a general knowledge of the Daleks) is of the hype before the McGann film.

 

[OmahaStar]

Aren't the Brig and Jo headed to the same area for different reasons in this one? Also, the Brig wanted the Doctor's help, but the Doctor had different plans now that that TARDIS was working.

Yes, but it's glossed over so quickly that there's almost no point to it.

MAGGOTS

What now? That might explain the dvd cover.

My earliest Doctor Who memory is the giant maggots. Which means this episode must have had a rerun during the early nineties, as my second oldest memory (perhaps other than the Cushing films or at least a general knowledge of the Daleks) is of the hype before the McGann film.

So they are giant maggots ... oh loverly. That also explains that recent Third Doctor figure with three big worms ... they aren't worms, they're maggots. ewwwww

 

[Nerys Myk]

Aren't the Brig and Jo headed to the same area for different reasons in this one? Also, the Brig wanted the Doctor's help, but the Doctor had different plans now that that TARDIS was working.

Yes, but it's glossed over so quickly that there's almost no point to it.

What? It esablished the where and why for each character in this serial.

 

[Phillip Culley]

My earliest Doctor Who memory is the giant maggots. Which means this episode must have had a rerun during the early nineties, as my second oldest memory (perhaps other than the Cushing films or at least a general knowledge of the Daleks) is of the hype before the McGann film.

It was shown in 1994 as part of a repeat season

 

[OmahaStar]

My earliest Doctor Who memory is the giant maggots. Which means this episode must have had a rerun during the early nineties, as my second oldest memory (perhaps other than the Cushing films or at least a general knowledge of the Daleks) is of the hype before the McGann film.

It was shown in 1994 as part of a repeat season

How in the world do you know that?

 

[OmahaStar]

Green Death 2

Jo is at the bottom of the shaft with Bert. Professor Jones is still at his place, but goes off to rescue her.

The Brig tries to get equipment to help rescue Jo, but there seems to be nothing handy.

Lots of running around, padding up several minutes at a time, while looking for equipment.

Bert gets some green gunk on his hand so he decides to let Jo run on ahead. She does. Sadly, the Doctor finds her.

As they're standing there, giant maggots crawl out of the cave walls.

* * *

I'm of mixed feelings here. Not counting the first two Doctors (due to their episodes being trashed), this is the Doctor of whom I've see the least. And after this, there's only one story to go. There's a part of me that is genuinely enjoying Pertwee's performance as the title character. At the same time, in both this and the last episode, he comes across as being bored. Is he bored of the show, or what? I don't know. There's another part of me that is eager to get past him and to the Fourth Doctor.

Ah well. Eight episodes to go and then we're on to Baker the First.

 

[OmahaStar]

Green Death 3

The maggots crawl around in the green gunk. The Doctor and Jo casually walk away.

The Brig argues with the director of Global, a chap named Stevens. Each tries to one-up the other. I'm kind of surprised neither grabbed a measuring stick, cuz it's that kind of conversation.

One of the workers goes to the director, complaining of headaches. Stevens puts a device on the man that is eerily similar to a Cyberman head (possibly just a set of headphones, but ...) and it takes over the guy's mind. He jumps out a window, committing suicide. And they show the body on the ground!

Everyone reunites and goes for dinner. There, they discuss an egg Jo and the Doctor found. Jo flirts heavily with Jones. Which is odd, since she both sounds and acts like a toddler.

The egg hatches and a maggot starts crawling towards Jo.

* * *

The big thing here, at least the major thing that jumped out, is the suicide. At its heart, Doctor Who IS a childrens' show. It was shown when kids would be watching, hiding behind the couch cuz of the scary monsters. It's one thing to talk about something happening off-screen, but to actually show it on screen, and then to show the guy's corpse is really shocking.

 

[Phillip Culley]

My earliest Doctor Who memory is the giant maggots. Which means this episode must have had a rerun during the early nineties, as my second oldest memory (perhaps other than the Cushing films or at least a general knowledge of the Daleks) is of the hype before the McGann film.

It was shown in 1994 as part of a repeat season

How in the world do you know that?

Well I watched it, for one...

 

[Bones2]

And somewhere my 4 or 5 year old self was utterly terrified. Really, I recall being quite scared.

 

[OmahaStar]

The Green Death 4

The maggot attacks random dude (Chancey?) who now has green gunk on him and then it disappears.

The Brig blows up the mine. The Doctor wanted to study the maggots and gets pissed off at the Brig and Director Stevens.

It didn't work. Maggots are everywhere, attacking people. Three people are dead already. Both the Brig and the Doctor quote Lilo from Lilo and Stitch - "They're all over the place!"

OMGLOLWTFBBQ! The Doctor playing dress up is the funniest thing, um, ever. First as a milkman, then a cleaning lady. Rewind. Watch. Rewind. Watch. Repeat endlessly.

The Doctor finds himself "alone" in a room with a talking computer named Boss.

* * *

Is this even connected with the first two episodes? Cuz it's SO much better, it's like they are written by different people entirely. And the comedy? Yeah, it's gold.

 

[jbny67]

The Doctor finds himself "alone" in a room with a talking computer named Boss.

I remember watching this episode, for the first time, and thinking that the voice of Boss sounded exactly like The Master. For the rest of the story I waited for the reveal that he was somehow in control of Boss.

 

[OmahaStar]

The Doctor finds himself "alone" in a room with a talking computer named Boss.

I remember watching this episode, for the first time, and thinking that the voice of Boss sounded exactly like The Master. For the rest of the story I waited for the reveal that he was somehow in control of Boss.

That does make sense, and it's too bad they didn't think of it at the time.



Green Death 5

The Doctor and the computer argue, bickering back and forth. Maggots hiss at Jo then Jones rescues her. By telling her to walk.

Lots of explosions follow. Where did they find the money? Jones gets hit, so Jo looks after him.

Mike helps The Doctor to escape the computer's hold. In the process, a gate is destroyed as is a set of miniblinds.

Benton and the Doctor take off in Bessie, driving off to rescue the professor and Jo. They bring the pair back, delivering Jones to the hospital or sickbay or whatever. He's got green gunk on his neck.

Mike is cornered by men under Boss's control.

* * *

Some of the best fx work in the series to date, combined with some of the worst fx at the same time, make this at least interesting to watch, even if the script is pretty poorly-written.

 

[OmahaStar]

Green Death 6

While the Doctor uses Science! to try to find a cure for Jones, Benton brings in a maggot shell. They are changing. But into what?

The Doctor finds something that might kill the maggots, and off they go to deliver it to as many of them as possible. As they do, they pass by the thing the maggots are/were changing into - a ginormous fly the size of Godzilla. The Doctor kills it with his jacket.

The Doctor goes to confront Boss again.

The cure works and Jones is going to survive. With Stevens' help, the Doctor makes the computer go boom.

Jo and Jones decide to get married and she leaves the Doctor forever.

* * *

About. Fucking. Time.

At least the Doctor used Science! to save the day here.