Last Classic Who Story you watched
- Thread starter Pindar
- Start date
Ok i am now moving onto the Green death, and a little bit of personal history, i can place myself at my great grandparents house on a Saturday evening at age 5 in 1973 visting them because my uncle had just bought them a colour tv, the very first colour tv i had ever seen, and the very first thing i saw on tv was the maggots of the green death and that intense green colour.........might explain why it is burned into my memory so much. Ha
Barbara is fine for the type of character she is, but I'd say she's a very middle of the road Classic Who companion. If she wasn't one of the first companions she'd be forgettable.
Nope, first acting wise only Louise Jameson matches Jackie Hill in the classic era companions. They are a step above everyone else.
Barbara is competent, brave, tough but vulnerable. She is the one who stands up to the Doctor who doesn't let him get away with his bullshit. She saves the world in sensible shoes and a cardigan. She's an icon.
Barbara is competent, brave, tough but vulnerable. She is the one who stands up to the Doctor who doesn't let him get away with his bullshit. She saves the world in sensible shoes and a cardigan. She's an icon.
Barbara and Ian are the only real people as companions, rather than characterizations, in the classic series. Indeed, it's thanks to those two, with an assist from the Daleks, that the series survived those early days.
Agree that Barbara is fantastic!
Agree that Barbara is fantastic!
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Well, agree to disagree I guess. I'm more then halfway through Barbara's run and she's done literally nothing iconic, she honestly rarely reaches the level of useful. She's the motherly figure of the group, and occasionally she gets captured and needs to get saved. But there hasn't been a single story where The Doctor actually needed her to do anything, unless its to fix a problem she caused like in The Aztecs. There was also Planet of the Giants, which had her poison herself, realize she'd poisoned herself but then hide it from everyone until she collapsed causing everyone more problems. She also managed to kill an innocent creature in The Rescue even though Vicki gave her more then enough warning to not do it. Really, it seems like when I remember something that Barbara did its almost always something negative that caused trouble.
As for her acting, its standard 60s stuff. She's fine, but both character and acting wise like I said I'd put her in the middle of the road. I don't really think about the quality of the acting in Doctor Who unless its absolutely terrible anyway, and the main cast of Doctor Who almost never gets bad enough to be notable. That said I also don't associate Louise Jameson with particularly great acting (although I like Leela a lot), so we're obviously judging things from very different perspectives
If Barbara and Ian weren't the first companions they'd be on the same level of forgettable as companions like Ben & Polly or Victoria, where there is nothing really wrong with them but they have nothing particularly noteworthy. Even Dodo at least had being a weirdo and having a terrible exit to make her memorable. But being first is important as well, I'll never argue that Ian and Barbara weren't important, and again I don't dislike them, but I'll never list either of them as the highlight of a story.
The 2nd Doctor's era would be the start of companions really coming into their own in my opinion, with Jamie being one of the greatest companions ever and from there every Doctor afterwards (at least in the classic era) having at least one great/memorable companion if not more.
As for her acting, its standard 60s stuff. She's fine, but both character and acting wise like I said I'd put her in the middle of the road. I don't really think about the quality of the acting in Doctor Who unless its absolutely terrible anyway, and the main cast of Doctor Who almost never gets bad enough to be notable. That said I also don't associate Louise Jameson with particularly great acting (although I like Leela a lot), so we're obviously judging things from very different perspectives
If Barbara and Ian weren't the first companions they'd be on the same level of forgettable as companions like Ben & Polly or Victoria, where there is nothing really wrong with them but they have nothing particularly noteworthy. Even Dodo at least had being a weirdo and having a terrible exit to make her memorable. But being first is important as well, I'll never argue that Ian and Barbara weren't important, and again I don't dislike them, but I'll never list either of them as the highlight of a story.
The 2nd Doctor's era would be the start of companions really coming into their own in my opinion, with Jamie being one of the greatest companions ever and from there every Doctor afterwards (at least in the classic era) having at least one great/memorable companion if not more.
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Fair enough!
Yeah I've never seen you ever have an opinion on Doctor Who I agree with so clearly it's best not to discuss it.
But just on the stories it's sounds like you've seen, Barbara solved the mystery in Edge, she defeated the brain jars in Keys and realised the slip one of the killers made, she smashes through Daleks in a lorry, confuses them with all her talk of revolutions, organises the Menoptra to take on the Zarbi etc. That she does nothing is bullshit.
If you can't even see how good a performance Louise Jameson is giving them we're watching the show in very different ways.
But just on the stories it's sounds like you've seen, Barbara solved the mystery in Edge, she defeated the brain jars in Keys and realised the slip one of the killers made, she smashes through Daleks in a lorry, confuses them with all her talk of revolutions, organises the Menoptra to take on the Zarbi etc. That she does nothing is bullshit.
If you can't even see how good a performance Louise Jameson is giving them we're watching the show in very different ways.
I'm done discussing Barbara as a separate thing, she's the dictionary definition of a "fine" companion to me, she's nowhere near the Top 10 but she's also not near the bottom 10.
Anyway, on to what I've watched, I just finished The Romans. It was pretty good, although surprisingly goofy. I much preferred the Doctor/Vicki side of the story to the Ian/You Know Who one, Vicki specifically is much better here then in her debut and The Doctor and her work well together, but I did like how the two stories kept floating around each other without ever really connecting. Nero was an entertaining character even if he was probably too clownish. I did get a bit tired by how often people turned and specifically looked into the camera, once or twice is fine but I think the story was at times maybe a bit too light for a story that heavily involves slavery and murder. Still the humor worked more often then it didn't, The Doctor finding different ways to manipulate the situation was especially fun.
Overall a solid 1st Doctor adventure, and probably one of the better "pure" historicals.
Anyway, on to what I've watched, I just finished The Romans. It was pretty good, although surprisingly goofy. I much preferred the Doctor/Vicki side of the story to the Ian/You Know Who one, Vicki specifically is much better here then in her debut and The Doctor and her work well together, but I did like how the two stories kept floating around each other without ever really connecting. Nero was an entertaining character even if he was probably too clownish. I did get a bit tired by how often people turned and specifically looked into the camera, once or twice is fine but I think the story was at times maybe a bit too light for a story that heavily involves slavery and murder. Still the humor worked more often then it didn't, The Doctor finding different ways to manipulate the situation was especially fun.
Overall a solid 1st Doctor adventure, and probably one of the better "pure" historicals.
If they'd come up with Timelords and regeneration from the start I wonder if that's how Susan would have been written out?
It seems unlikely that that ever would've happened. Regeneration was only invented because the producers faced the dilemma of replacing the actor playing the title character, without whom the show could not continue. Replacing a supporting cast member was much simpler and more routine, so they would've had no incentive to come up with such an unusual method of doing it.
Besides, goodbyes make for effective drama, when done well. Susan's departure gave us one of the most iconic moments in the series. To this day, I tear up a little every time I think of the line "Just go forward in all your beliefs, and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine."
Just rewatched Pyramids of Mars. A solid story, with a very menacing villain. I liked the mummy robots, they were a bit goofy looking but in a good way. The story really lets the villain feel like a huge threat, The Doctor barely saves the day and it feels like a close thing. A very good 4th Doctor story, we even get to see Sarah Jane be fairly proactive.
I also felt the totally random, inexplicable and sudden urge to rewatch "Pyramids of Mars". This is Tom Baker at his most iconic as the Fourth Doctor and Elizabeth Sladen is a delight as always as Sarah Jane Smith. I agree about the villain. Whatever happened to that guy?
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Ok why is everyone watching Pyramids of Mars and now i will also have to watch it. lol
Edit...I won't watch it yet as i am on Pertwee era last season, then i will be into T Baker era.
Edit...I won't watch it yet as i am on Pertwee era last season, then i will be into T Baker era.
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Pyramids is peak DW, and those two Hinchcliffe seasons (13 and 14) are IMO the peakest peak that OldWho's been at.
Finished The Web Planet yesterday. I think it had some interesting ideas and a lot of imagination, but it didn't really have the ability to produce something worthy of the ideas behind the story, and the actual writing made the six episodes feel like a bit of a slog near the end. Still I'll take a big swing like this just for the inventiveness of it, you rarely get something so weird from NuWho. I do wish they hadn't used the blurry lens or terrible noises for the Zebi, both of those things wore out their welcome with me by episode 2.
I will say that I think Vicki has won me over well enough, she's less screamy then Susan and has a fun relationship with The Doctor.
I'd be up for seeing modern versions of any of the aliens from this story, insectoid aliens (at least ones that are also humanoid shaped) don't get enough representation in Sci Fi, and modern Doctor Who could do with seeing more out there aliens more often. Overall an ok story that didn't quite reach its goals but gets points from me for trying.
Also, after watching so many 1st Doctor stories close together I really have to complain about Moffatt and Twice Upon a Time's portrayal of the 1st Doctor. I liked that story overall, but The 1st Doctor in his own stories really does not come off as particularly misogynistic, and certainly not potentially racist, as that story liked to hint at/joke about. Just because the show started in the 60s was no excuse to act like the 1st Doctor acted like a generic old human from the early 60s, and watching more of his actual stories really makes the character in Twice Upon a Time seem a lot less like the actual 1st Doctor. Its a shame because I think David Bradley is brilliant and a lot of the actual story worked, but Moffat just didn't have a handle on the actual 1st Doctor's personality so just went a stereotype. Thats not to say that problematic stuff doesn't creep into the old show's scripts occasionally because of the time period, but its obvious that Moffat didn't go back to the actual stories when writing the 1st Doctor in that special.
I will say that I think Vicki has won me over well enough, she's less screamy then Susan and has a fun relationship with The Doctor.
I'd be up for seeing modern versions of any of the aliens from this story, insectoid aliens (at least ones that are also humanoid shaped) don't get enough representation in Sci Fi, and modern Doctor Who could do with seeing more out there aliens more often. Overall an ok story that didn't quite reach its goals but gets points from me for trying.
Also, after watching so many 1st Doctor stories close together I really have to complain about Moffatt and Twice Upon a Time's portrayal of the 1st Doctor. I liked that story overall, but The 1st Doctor in his own stories really does not come off as particularly misogynistic, and certainly not potentially racist, as that story liked to hint at/joke about. Just because the show started in the 60s was no excuse to act like the 1st Doctor acted like a generic old human from the early 60s, and watching more of his actual stories really makes the character in Twice Upon a Time seem a lot less like the actual 1st Doctor. Its a shame because I think David Bradley is brilliant and a lot of the actual story worked, but Moffat just didn't have a handle on the actual 1st Doctor's personality so just went a stereotype. Thats not to say that problematic stuff doesn't creep into the old show's scripts occasionally because of the time period, but its obvious that Moffat didn't go back to the actual stories when writing the 1st Doctor in that special.
Sometimes I wonder if The Web Planet was lost, how different and wild would the animated recon be allowed to be?
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