Last Classic Who Story you watched

[Starkers]

I like the idea of Tegan taking over for the shouty bits.


Lowdarzz, sorry I get what you mean now. The under-utilisation of one of the three companions is a bit of a reccuring theme in the 5th Doctor's stint (when there are three companions of course).

It's weird but I hated Adric for a long time, but recently I've reappraised him. He's annoying, but I don't hate him, and at times he's quite interesting because he can be very amoral. In some respects he's a sort of proto-Turlough. Although where Turlough sides with bad guys out of fear, Adric almost seems to do it out of logic.

 

[diankra]

I like the idea of Tegan taking over for the shouty bits.

The sad thing about the Four to Doomsday line-splitting s that it had a lasting, and arguably negative, effect on both characters, as it pushed them to extremes, and later writers picked up on that. Tegan became more aggressive than she would have been, and that got latched onto, and Nyssa became more passive and meek than she had been in Kepper of Traken.

I mean, just look at what Nyssa does in Traken, largely off her own bat:
She sneaks Adric into a crime scene that's been sealed off by the local police by a) telling the policeman that as her father is a consul, the law is whatever he says it is, and hence she's above it; and b) bribing him.
Then when her daddy's arrested, she sets out to mount a jailbreak. After finding that tactics a) and b) no longer work, she tries c) she guns the copper down with a workbench tool.
And finally, on learning that the Doctor's told Adric how to build a device that will destroy the age-old basis of her entire civilisation, she tells Adric to get on with building it, and then installs and uses it!!!
Now just imagine how all that would seem if she was from modern Earth: "Senator's Daughter BRIBED POLICE! Attacked Officers! Sabotaged Nuke Station!!! Shock Horror!!!!. Oh, hold on, I've just spoiled season three of Homeland. Sorry.

 

[Pindar]

Attack of the Cybermen. All I could concentrate on through my cold symptoms was Peri's pink outfit.

Good to see Terry Molloy get a non masked part.

It was interesting to hear the desire from the original cast to remake some of their old stories using the current production team. Well RTDs team it would have been when the commentary was recorded.

 

[Lonemagpie]

The Keys Of Marinus- A bit of a slog. The first episode is largely superfluous, taking 25 minutes to do a 2-minute job. The second, with the brains of Morphoton, is a good idea, but very ineptly directed, as is the third episode (the Screaming Jungle). The fourth, with wannabe rapist Vasor is surprisingly gritty but still badly made. The last couple of episodes, with the murder/trial in the city of Millennius, is on much safer ground for Terry nation, as he wrote for every cop show in the 60s and 70s, but again the direction is utterly inept. The design and effects have some moments of inspiration, but mostly it's flat wall panels and wobblevision.

So, a weird mixture between the overambitious that therefore fails, and the merely filling the timeslot with the quickest rubbish possible until a decent story comes along in the form of The Aztecs...

 

[Lowdarzz]

Kinda (Fifth Doctor).

This seems a very different type of story than I what I've been seeing in Doctor Who lately. Concepts of evil being something that is generated at the back of people's minds, reincarnation, mystical forms of healing. It makes for a good story and I'm glad that all of the characters with speaking parts had something to do. Well except for Nyssa, who decided to dissapear for most of the serial. I read that the serial had been written with only two companions in mind so rather than rewrite it, they just had Nyssa go to sleep for several days.

The only scene that didn't really make sense was the vision that Panna decided to give to the Doctor and Todd. The image of the clocks counting down and the Trickster falling to the ground and acting as though he were in pain was not well explained. Either that or I wasn't paying close enough attention.

Kudos to Simon Rouse for his performance as Hindle. The character's decent into madness was well realized.

Black Orchid (Fifth Doctor).

This is the first purely historical Doctor Who I've seen since The Gunfighters during the Hartnell era. Well I suppose you could call The Gunfighters a historical despite that blasted song. I'm actually a fan of Doctor Who's attempts at historical fiction. It makes for a nice change of pace when aliens are not the cause of whatever trouble is happening in the past. The Romans is my particular favorite though The Aztecs is good as well.

Black Orchid however comes across more like a bad Agatha Christie novel. That's not to say the story itself was bad, it was just poorly written. There is no explaination for why Nyssa and Ann look alike. Tegan and Adric however are given nothing to do. They both dance at the party then Adric spends much of the serial eating.

The audience is also given no reason as to why Lady Cranleigh decided to have George imprisoned in the attic. Perhaps it would have helped if the story was four parts instead of two but I'm not sure.

 

[Starkers]

No I think what charm Black Orchid has comes from being brief. I quite like it, but it is quite lightweight fare. I don't know why Who doesn't do more purely historical stories. You can have very interesting villains without there needing to be an alien threat in every. single. episode!

Kinda's great, aside from Nyssa's nap...

Interestingly I just finished watching The Visitation (which sits between Kinda and Black Orchid) which I always enjoy, nice setting, all the regulars get something to do. Even if Nyssa is confined to the Tardis for long periods she is at least doing something not just sleeping (Kinda) or waiting (Earthshock) plus it has Richard Mace, who really must count as one of the best companions we never had

 

[Fer]

I've been watching an episode a day for several years now. I started with "An Unearthly Child" and as of last night I finished "Full Circle."

The funny thing is, although I didn't plan it this way, I'll end up being on Peter Davison in May, Colin Baker in June, Sylvester McCoy in July and Paul McGann in August, during each one's celebratory anniversary month! I guess that's one advantage to Doctors 6-8 all having such short runs...

 

[Pingfah]

Whatever the last S McCoy episode that aired was, that was the last classic Who episode I watched.

 

[VDCNI]

No I think what charm Black Orchid has comes from being brief. I quite like it, but it is quite lightweight fare. I don't know why Who doesn't do more purely historical stories. You can have very interesting villains without there needing to be an alien threat in every. single. episode!

Kinda's great, aside from Nyssa's nap...

Interestingly I just finished watching The Visitation (which sits between Kinda and Black Orchid) which I always enjoy, nice setting, all the regulars get something to do. Even if Nyssa is confined to the Tardis for long periods she is at least doing something not just sleeping (Kinda) or waiting (Earthshock) plus it has Richard Mace, who really must count as one of the best companions we never had

I can see why people like Black Orchid, it's a nice short break between the bigger stories around it, but objectively it fails completely as a piece of drama. It also has the terrible - show the policemen the Tardis so they will let me off a murder charge scene - which is particularly objectionable as it doesn't make any difference anyway and is part of that annoying early 80's trend of anyone being allowed to wander into the Tardis.

I would love to have some pure historicals - they 60's ones are some of the greatest ever Who stories.

I love the Visitation though - looking forward to the special edition - the commentary is one of the best of the range as well

 

[Pindar]

Tomb of the Cybermen, I have seen it many times but I still love watching it.

The Brotherhood of Magicians need power!

 

[Fer]

I just finished "State of Decay." Not a big fan of vampires, but (as usual when Doctor Who uses stuff like this) I like that there's something of a scientific explanation behind their origins.

 

[Fer]

Finished "Warriors' Gate" last night. Farewell, K9, you will be missed. Oh, you too Romana.

 

[Starkers]

Just finished a watch of Image of the Fendahl. You know I should love it. Written by Chris Boucher, featuring the 4th Doc and Leela and an eerie Gothic horror tale revolving around a skull with a pentagram etched inside it that's 12 million years old that echoes Quatermass and the Pit...

So why doesn't it work for me? tis very odd but I find it a bit dull...

 

[Turbo]

Watched The Ambassadors of Death last night. It was long, but I like this one. Is it padded? Sure, but it holds up pretty well.

The color restoration was better than the VHS release by leaps and bounds. It certainly wasn't quite as good as the full-color Episode 1, and there was color bleed at times (especially on Liz's hair and the Brig's uniform) but considering how much work went into restoring this serial, I think it's a pretty minor issue overall.

The commentary was great. It was nice to hear the different perspectives at different points throughout the episode. Usually I like hearing the same folks across the entire serial, but with one this long, I think swapping people in and out worked better. And it was especially great to hear Caroline John and Nick Courtney. Here's hoping that the RT got Caroline to record a commentary for the Inferno SE.

 

[Solariabsg25]

I watched 'Inferno' that I finally got hold of. Was good to see the "evil" Brig, Benton and Liz. Feels strange to realise that out of the four leads, only Levene's still with us.

 

[Fer]

Just finished a watch of Image of the Fendahl. You know I should love it. Written by Chris Boucher, featuring the 4th Doc and Leela and an eerie Gothic horror tale revolving around a skull with a pentagram etched inside it that's 12 million years old that echoes Quatermass and the Pit...

So why doesn't it work for me? tis very odd but I find it a bit dull...

Yeah, I had the same problem with it this time around. I blamed it on it being so similar to The Masque of Mandragora.

 

[Lonemagpie]

The Aztecs - great stuff. Tlotoxl's one of the best antagonists ever (*not* a villain!), and there is much pwnage by Barbara...

 

[Fer]

Just finished "The Keeper of Traken." The DVD adds a nice dedication to Anthony Ainley as a PS to Part Four. I have to say, Tremas didn't seem too broken up about his wife turning on him and eventually getting killed.

 

[Fer]

Oh, and lonemagpie, I just finished reading "The Wages of Sin." Excellent book! I loved seeing Jo and Liz together, and Liz getting to have a "proper" trip in the TARDIS. I also feel like I have a better grasp of Rasputin the man beyond Rasputin the legend (and, like Jo, Rasputin the song!). Thanks for a wonderful read!

 

[VDCNI]

Galaxy 4 Episode 3 along with the on DVD recon. I'm not normally a fan of recons but this is pretty decent probably helped by Galaxy 4 being such a straightforward story.

The surviving episode isn't one of the all time greats but it's nice to have another Hartnell, Steven & Vicki episode to watch - they were a good team.