Last Classic Who Story you watched

[diankra]

I wish "Terminus" was a good as "Enlightenment" and "Mawdryn Undead", It's fairly generic and even when I first saw the story, I was "didn't they do the beginning of the universe last season?" (They had indeed, in "Castrovalva", followed by "Four to Doomsday" where Monarch wanted to go back in time, and in both stories the use of the big bang was more dramatically rewarding). For whatever ideas "Terminus" had, it's still largely boring though if it's of any consolation, rewatch that middling middle story while pretending we missed the scene where Tegan and Turlough ate beans before Turlough did his sabotage and now it's catching up with them in the ducts.



I forgot where the robot prop came from, but JNT took the robot prop in hopes of using more real science/engineering in the show, along with the fantastical element of shapeshifting. When the prop was realized to be too hard to program, among other unfortunate hurdles, the prop was sidelined and nobody thought of having it shapeshift into a person until its finale story. Even then, none of the potential real-life opportunities were used. And as guesswork is cool, having Kamelion spit out 4KB worth of hexadecimal code would become boring fairly quickly, never mind swapping defective motors but where on Xeriphas would they be gotten from?! Oh well...



Such a rushed job that even the paint was literallty fresh on the day of filming!

"The Five Doctors" isn't always coherent in its plot, but worthy. Many plot holes/issues can be explained with headcanon anyhow.



It has atmopshere, Will as a person who would have made a fun companion, some BBC Micro ASCII text used as vfx, and for a plot that otherwise should feel bigger if it's this evil entity, the Malus, trying to break free to destroy the universe or something. The fact it has any atmosphere is surprising in of itself.



Good luck!



An underrated adventure, one that has a long list of checkbox items to deal with, and yet they're all handled remarkably well for the most part.



Arguably the messiest story of the season, the atmopshere and threat of the Daleks makes up for it all and then some.



A simple plot, a partial rehash of "The Power of Kroll" what with gunrunners and double double-crossing, just no stupidly big monster. Just a stupid tiny one. But it's a good rehash, done better. Even then, the Doctor is surprisingly generic in this swansong. Most of its strengths are due to the acting, direction, pacing, and music.



Season 22 is an improvement, often good to great, but Colin's premiere is not a classic. As sci-fi it's mostly veneer and forgetting small things like the distance between planets, speed of light, and other basic things), and some controversial elements are (a) so poorly done that the actors are compensating on screen, and (b) requires remembering events from "Caves" as there's direct continuity, even with concepts under-10s aren't going to understand. The scripting was so uneven that Eric Saward scrambled in taking over writing of the final two parts. The main author either gave up on the script, or his electric typewriter really did blow up. The author had a fair amount of drama under his belt, but as sci-fi this one's a genuine misfire.



Started with Tom Baker, got to see most of the others, then got to see the first two incarnations during the 1985 "hiatus". Little did we know back then why the show was put on hold, and the incarnations to come.

Resurrection is a poor script. Eric Sward says that. The Dalek Supreme behaves irrationally to suit the plot (in the book Saward has Lytton muse on that).

 

[diankra]

I wish "Terminus" was a good as "Enlightenment" and "Mawdryn Undead", It's fairly generic and even when I first saw the story, I was "didn't they do the beginning of the universe last season?" (They had indeed, in "Castrovalva", followed by "Four to Doomsday" where Monarch wanted to go back in time, and in both stories the use of the big bang was more dramatically rewarding). For whatever ideas "Terminus" had, it's still largely boring though if it's of any consolation, rewatch that middling middle story while pretending we missed the scene where Tegan and Turlough ate beans before Turlough did his sabotage and now it's catching up with them in the ducts.



I forgot where the robot prop came from, but JNT took the robot prop in hopes of using more real science/engineering in the show, along with the fantastical element of shapeshifting. When the prop was realized to be too hard to program, among other unfortunate hurdles, the prop was sidelined and nobody thought of having it shapeshift into a person until its finale story. Even then, none of the potential real-life opportunities were used. And as guesswork is cool, having Kamelion spit out 4KB worth of hexadecimal code would become boring fairly quickly, never mind swapping defective motors but where on Xeriphas would they be gotten from?! Oh well...



Such a rushed job that even the paint was literallty fresh on the day of filming!

"The Five Doctors" isn't always coherent in its plot, but worthy. Many plot holes/issues can be explained with headcanon anyhow.



It has atmopshere, Will as a person who would have made a fun companion, some BBC Micro ASCII text used as vfx, and for a plot that otherwise should feel bigger if it's this evil entity, the Malus, trying to break free to destroy the universe or something. The fact it has any atmosphere is surprising in of itself.



Good luck!



An underrated adventure, one that has a long list of checkbox items to deal with, and yet they're all handled remarkably well for the most part.



Arguably the messiest story of the season, the atmopshere and threat of the Daleks makes up for it all and then some.



A simple plot, a partial rehash of "The Power of Kroll" what with gunrunners and double double-crossing, just no stupidly big monster. Just a stupid tiny one. But it's a good rehash, done better. Even then, the Doctor is surprisingly generic in this swansong. Most of its strengths are due to the acting, direction, pacing, and music.



Season 22 is an improvement, often good to great, but Colin's premiere is not a classic. As sci-fi it's mostly veneer and forgetting small things like the distance between planets, speed of light, and other basic things), and some controversial elements are (a) so poorly done that the actors are compensating on screen, and (b) requires remembering events from "Caves" as there's direct continuity, even with concepts under-10s aren't going to understand. The scripting was so uneven that Eric Saward scrambled in taking over writing of the final two parts. The main author either gave up on the script, or his electric typewriter really did blow up. The author had a fair amount of drama under his belt, but as sci-fi this one's a genuine misfire.



Started with Tom Baker, got to see most of the others, then got to see the first two incarnations during the 1985 "hiatus". Little did we know back then why the show was put on hold, and the incarnations to come.

In 1985 Douglas Adams gave a talk to Imperial's Wellsoc (promoting Meaning of Liff). He said something like "When I heard they were cancelling Who to save money, I pointed out that it earned more than it cost. They said 'It doesn't work that way due to internal accountancy'. When I suggested they save money by firing the internal accountants they hung up on me."
In hindsight, it was a matter of internal accountancy. Drama department had spent a lot on launching EastEnders and building its sets, so had to cancel other stuff to balance. Not just Who, but Bergerac and other series like Tenko which ended after three seasons when the producers wanted to do four.

 

[diankra]

For me, the biggest plot hole is, if there was already a transmat terminal in Rassilon's tomb, why the heck was it necessary to involve the Doctors in the first place? Just to get there to turn on the transmat? But it's the same make as the transmats in the Citadel, and it's in working order, so presumably it's not ancient. Somebody must've been able to get in there recently enough to install it. So why was any of the story necessary at all?




As I recall, it was pretty well reported at the time that the show was cancelled due to Michael Grade not liking it. Has there been another reason revealed more recently?

Grade wasn't the real problem. He accepted advice from his subordinates (Jonathan Powell) and as a showman defended it in public.

 

[Qonundrum]

For me, the biggest plot hole is, if there was already a transmat terminal in Rassilon's tomb, why the heck was it necessary to involve the Doctors in the first place? Just to get there to turn on the transmat? But it's the same make as the transmats in the Citadel, and it's in working order, so presumably it's not ancient. Somebody must've been able to get in there recently enough to install it. So why was any of the story necessary at all?

It was likely used during the Zone's initial construction, then deactivated. Once Borusa found the control chamber, he was able to re-enable it. Not unlike having a remote starter for your vehicle.

As I recall, it was pretty well reported at the time that the show was cancelled due to Michael Grade not liking it. Has there been another reason revealed more recently?

True, it was to be canceled but fan outcry had its status changed to "hiatus". The show came back, but with reduced episode count, lighten the tone, get rid of Colin Baker, air it opposite the most popular program in the UK at the time, and let it quietly disappear. I'm still amazed season 25 was greenlit, but apparently Michael Grade had left the BBC by then.

 

[diankra]

It was likely used during the Zone's initial construction, then deactivated. Once Borusa found the control chamber, he was able to re-enable it. Not unlike having a remote starter for your vehicle.



True, it was to be canceled but fan outcry had its status changed to "hiatus". The show came back, but with reduced episode count, lighten the tone, get rid of Colin Baker, air it opposite the most popular program in the UK at the time, and let it quietly disappear. I'm still amazed season 25 was greenlit, but apparently Michael Grade had left the BBC by then.

Yep, Grade left the BBC to run Channel Four in 87/88. Jonathan Powell took over from him, and wasn't up to the job (unfortunately, we both went to UEA).

 

[diankra]

Grade wasn't the real problem. He accepted advice from his subordinates (Jonathan Powell) and as a showman defended it in public.

Long time since I saw it, but I think the transmat could only be used once someone had got into the Tomb and turned off the barriers.

 

[Tomalak]

It was eventually put on hiatus after three seasons of McCoy because JNT left and there was no replacement producer to fill his shoes and various other things (like Worldwide trying to make a movie).

Not quite, the BBC just didn't renew it for another season. JNT was still a staff producer (one of the last remaining ones at the BBC) with no show to make. He saw that as the ultimate humiliation. He worked with BBC Video for a couple more years before leaving in 1992.

But he was back one last time to produce Dimensions in Time for Children in Need in 1993.

 

[Marc]

Didn't help that the twins were like a pair of plywood boards - they were so wooden in their acting.

and other than appearing in a single ep of shine on harvey moon that broadcast in 1985 that was pretty much their television acting career.

Tenko which ended after three seasons when the producers wanted to do four.

though eventually it had a tv movie that wrapped things up.

 

[diankra]

and other than appearing in a single ep of shine on harvey moon that broadcast in 1985 that was pretty much their television acting career.


though eventually it had a tv movie that wrapped things up.

Yep. It's 40 years ago so memories are a bit hazy, but if it had run four four seasons I think season three would have ended with the Japanese surrender, with season four being about readjusting to freedom, culminating in what became Reunion.

 

[Mr Awe]

Not quite, the BBC just didn't renew it for another season. JNT was still a staff producer (one of the last remaining ones at the BBC) with no show to make. He saw that as the ultimate humiliation. He worked with BBC Video for a couple more years before leaving in 1992.

But he was back one last time to produce Dimensions in Time for Children in Need in 1993.

No. JNT left the show and it ended. That's why it went on hiatus. Not the other way around. In fact, he had been told that if he left, it would end, which kept him around longer than he planned. He was the last staff producer.