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Classic Who day by day

"I'll explain later.."

I can't recall her exact use. Did she just pick up the handset and start talking, or did she dial as well?

Perhaps she picked it up somewhere over the last few episodes - didn't the policeman in Talons.. take a call while the Doc and Leela were giving a statement?

Whatever - we have already seen that Leela may be a savage, but she is nonetheless demonstrably brilliant and high on the IQ scale. She would only have to see such a device or similar work once or twice before becoming accustomed to it's use and application..

IOW - lay off Leela, she's my favourite companion :)
 
It's also not really a telephone more like a just a pipe, you blow though it to make it whistle at the other end and talk though it.
 
I love Fang Rock (although it loses it in the final episode when the Ruton is revealed) Lovely atmospheric location, lots of suspense and Leela looking rather fetching in boots and a big sweater (I swear the woman looked hotter the more clothes she put on sometimes!)

Oh yeah and the best bit...

Everybody dies :devil:
 
The Horror of Fang Rock 4

The Doctor talks with the alien, quickly figuring out it is a Ruton. The Rutons are engaged in an everlasting war with the Sontarans, and this is the first time we've seen one on screen.

Together, the Doctor and Leela put an end to the Ruton menace, then take off in the Tardis towards their next adventure.

* * *

Leela was actually part of this episode, unlike the last few. She showed that not only is she learning about the Doctor's technology, she's understanding it. She points out they could use a laser gun, then describes it for the Humans around her.

There is also a silly bit towards the end, a plot point which could have been done any number of ways, but whatever. The actress must have been tired of wearing contacts to change the character's eye color, so they have a (technobabble) explanation for why her eyes change color ... just means the actress doesn't have to wear contacts anymore.

It seems silly, tacked on, and pointless. It could have just as easily been done by having the Ruton use its tentacles to touch her eyes (since it kept doing it to kill everybody) and her eyes change color that way. Ah well, if we don't have something to bitch about, we're not happy. Right, sci fi fans? lol
 
^There's also Christopher Neame, who was in a few Treks, the unfinished Shada and a Star Wars video game :) He was also in Ghostbusters and James bond.

And Babylon 5. Shada counts, since it was filmed (some footage was used in Five Doctors) and is on tape.

Unless there's someone else I'm forgetting, Chris is the only actor to appear in Babylon 5, Doctor Who, Star Trek, and Star Wars.

And managed to appear in Dallas and Dynasty in the same week (at least in the UK, probably not in the USA). Also in the first run of Secret Army, and so much more...
 
93theinvisibleenemy.jpg


The Invisible Enemy episode 1
Written by Bob Baker and Dave Martin
Directed by Derrick Goodwin

The Doctor and Leela receive a distress call from Titan, and off they go.

Something comes out of the Tardis control and takes over the Doctor's mind. It says "Contact" and we all know what THAT means!

On Titan, the Doctor joins a trio of other "hosts" while Leela explores and another direction. He keeps referring to her as the reject.

In the end, Leela is in a hallway with a gun pointed at her.

* * *

Ok, we're back in the original control room, which the Doctor refers to as Control Room Two. I seem to remember there was some kind of damage done to the set between seasons, which is why they went back to a modified previous design. Looks homey.

Leela is getting along just fine. She's finally developing as a character, not just a one dimensional "savage" as she was portrayed early on.

Where's K-9? He should be here already. I don't care if he's not in the first episode. He should be. *tapping foot impatiently*
 
The Invisible Enemy 2

Oh, it's the Doctor who has the gun! The voice in his head keeps telling him to kill her, but he's fighting it. He also has white fuzz all over his hand. Leela is upset that she didn't get taken over.

Leela takes him to a hospital on Asteroid K4067 to get help.

The Doctor is on the hospital bed in front of the professor. The professor asks K9 (squeeee!) about him, and K9 confirms that not only is the man not human, he's from outside the solar system. Naturally, the professor thinks this is completely impossible.

Leela meets K9 (squeeee times 2!). While the Doctor is unconscious, others begin getting taken over by this ... this, whatever it is. Later, while awake, the Doctor asks the professor to clone him and Leela. They are short-lived clones, lasting only 10 or 11 minutes at most. Then the professor shrinks the clones. He's going to put them in the Doctor's body. The idea is that they'll go in and fix whatever needs fixing, then come out quickly.

As the episode ends, in they go!

* * *

First, John Leeson. John took the part of K9 for a single guest-spot in this story in 1977. It's now 33 years later, and he's STILL playing the part. He's been on the classic Doctor Who, had his own K9 spin-off pilot in the 80s, returned on the modern Doctor Who, went to the spin-off Sarah Jane Adventures, and is now on his own (really, really, really crappy) spin-off in Australia. That's what we call staying power.

I don't like dogs. This is no secret. Yet, K9? Love him, how could you not. He's pretty much made of awesome. In fact, when the creators of South Park needed a name for their robot, in a tribute to K9, they named their robot awesome-o. True fact, look it up.

What?

Anyway ... the hospital set was amazing. Remembering that they didn't have the budget for real lemonade, what they did with that budget was nothing short of miraculous. It looked like it could have been part of the set from the big budget feature Aliens, with its uber white, clean setting and (again) big budget.

In my opinion, the writers got the voices of the characters spot-on. They must have studied every episode and taken the best of what Tom Baker and Louise Jameson gave, and put it right back into their own script.

Wow ... 196 episodes down.
 
Project: Who - The Invisible Enemy 3 & 4

Real Leela works with K9 to slow down the bad guys.

Clone-Leela and clone-Doctor wonder around aimlessly in the real Doctor's head. The virus thingy keeps trying to stop them.

The professor gets taken over and sends in other mini-clones to take out clone-Leela and clone-Doctor.

The bad guys are called the Swarm. The bad part (the "nucleus") gets sucked out and enlarged to human-sized as we fade out of episode 3.

Episode 4 has the real Doctor cured by clone-Leela's blood. The Doctor uses it to cure the professor. With the new immunity, they can attack the Swarm.

After saving the people on the asteroid, the Doctor and Leela take K9 to Titan and stop the remaining Swarm.

They go back to the asteroid. The professor asks them to take K9 with them, as he has to return to Earth.

* * *

I'm assuming the clones just die and get absorbed by the Doctor's body. Cuz otherwise, what happens when they return to full size? Anyway.

Overall, it's a cracking good story, and I'm glad to have seen it. The professor dude was a really nice character. It's too bad he's never referenced again in the series. I mean, K9 is such a huge part of both the original and modern series, yet it's always in connection with the Doctor or Sarah Jane, the writers seem to have forgotten that the Doctor didn't build the first one. And every version after was a copy or new version of this one.

The idea of this Swarm bad guy race was interesting. With all the other baddies who came back, it's too bad these guys didn't. Though that may have something to do with the costume they used in the last episode. Boy it was just god-awful. But that's easily fixed, since they're usually microscopic.
 
Nevermind the classics, never mind Phillip Hinchcliffe's golden age. We've got The Invisible Bleedin Enemy 'ere, we have..

Oh and Colin freakin Baker to come! :D
 
Can't wait for Colin Baker's era. I'm getting there. lol ... Oh, doubled up tonight, because I'll be out at a show tomorrow. And looks like I'll be hitting episode 200 on Thursday. Yikes!
 
Sadly, there's a bit of a trawl through the Davison era before you hit the magic of Colin.

Are you going to include the TV Movie right at the end, or just finish with Survival?
 
Sadly, there's a bit of a trawl through the Davison era before you hit the magic of Colin.

Are you going to include the TV Movie right at the end, or just finish with Survival?

The TV Movie is the one Region 2 Doctor Who dvd I've got ... so this cycle will end with it.

And when I say this cycle, I don't mean I'm going to go through every episode again, I mean that whatever dvds have been released since the first time, then I'll add them. For example, they released the Peladron Pertwee dvds after I was already into the Tom Baker era, so they are being saved for after the tv movie. Mandragora, which is coming out next week, I'll do this time, since I haven't moved on to Davison yet.

I know, there's a bit of a trudge through Davison, but he does have one advantage - He's the only Doctor who has his replacement show up not just once, but twice. So that's even more Colin Baker. ;)
 
It's a shame we can't retcon a Three Doctor's style statement from the fifth Doctor when he meets Colin in Arc of Infinity.

"So you're to be my replacement, an arrogant twit in a clown costume." :devil:
 
Well I can add cushing into the list but that would make Colin 12th instead of 11th...maybe I should add all the others in as well? Rowen Atkinson, Richard E Grant, Hugh Grant...

;)
 
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