Stories You've Watched Recently

[Starkers]

Well just watched Image of the Fendahl.

Have to say that I'm dissapointed. It should have been a classic. Good cast and a lot of good interplay between the characters. Tom at his best, Leela, a gothic setting....shades of Quatermass and the pit (and Curse of Fenric as well) yet it just doesn't seem to click. I think the problem is probably the direction and the monsters, there just never seems any real sense of threat. Wanda Ventham looks great as the Fendahl, but mostly she just stands around being all ethereal whilst the Doctor and other characters wander round her and never seem in any real danger!

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

SIDENOTE: Ahhhh! I finally found out where else I saw the brutha from 'The Greatest Show in the Galaxy'! He's 'Frost' from 'Aliens'!

Interesting...

Another side note on the suddenly recognized actors: I was watching Inspector Lewis last night and wondering, who is that skinny fellow with the bad haircut and his head cocked at an odd angle? Then I realized that it was Son of Mine from "Human Nature"/"The Family of Blood."

I loved the literary references, even the alien ones from Zoe's culture (Karkaus!).

I love the fight scene where Zoe is telling the Doctor to make Karkus disappear by saying he's not real, to which the Doctor replies, "But I don't know that! I've never heard of him!" The rules for this fictional world are very strange indeed.

 

[The]

Agreed! I got a little confused a couple of times, about how if it's in the past it's history, but if it's in the future it's fiction... (???)

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

I think "The Happiness Patrol" is probably the weirdest story that the show ever did. The art department did a great job putting together the Candyman costume, but what kinda crack were the writers on when they came up with the idea?!? A villain that can't chase the heroes because he literally gets stuck to the floor?!? It doesn't help that I, as a 21st century American, have absolutely no idea what any of the political allegories are supposed to mean.

I'm a 21st century American too...

From what I understand, the story was supposed to be a take on Margaret Thatcher, the British Prime Minister....

I get that much. I know that Margaret Thatcher was the British Prime Minister in the 1980s and was pretty conservative (sort of the British equivalent of Ronald Reagan). But I totally don't understand what "The Happiness Patrol" is supposed to say about her or her government.

 

[Stevil2001]

They did an analysis of The Happiness Patrol in Doctor Who Magazine a couple issues ago, concluding that aside from that Helen A's performance seems to be modeled on Thatcher, the parallels to Thatcher are vastly overstated. It's just a generic unjust government.

 

[Captain Pike]

I just listened to Lucie Miller's final story, Death in Blackpool. On first listen, my impressions were "What a confusing mess!". On second listen, it seems like Big Finish trying too hard to be like new Who circa RTD. A companion returns to her home in Blackpool, we meet her aunt (or so we think!), Zygons are treated as redeemable, human-like (in terms of personality and psyche) aliens, almost like Slitheen, and it's a christmas special set in between seasons.

Mostly, it's awful. Mostly.

I will say the final scene where Lucie looses her trust in the doctor and decides to part ways was really nicely done, and it was refreshing to see an atypical parting of the ways between the doctor and a companion, with the companion, rather than the doctor, having the moral highground.

Oh and whoever thought up 'Zynog' should be shot.

I also had a chance to listen to Companion Chronicles: Solitare which had Charlie Pollard battling the Celestial Toymaker. Pretty decent outing really, and not at all like most of the other Companion Chronicles - this one is handled like a proper audio play, and not just a reading.

So there you go. I wouldn't have expected the story without McGann actually in it to be the better of the two, but that's how it ended up, for me at least.

They did an analysis of The Happiness Patrol in Doctor Who Magazine a couple issues ago, concluding that aside from that Helen A's performance seems to be modeled on Thatcher, the parallels to Thatcher are vastly overstated. It's just a generic unjust government.

I was just reading that last night. Typical Murdoch anti-BBC scaremongering. I did like how Sylvester spoke (imo) honestly about Murdoch and Fox News though, good to see.

 

[Saga]

recently watched The Android Invasion. though the androids taking the place of Sara Jane and the Doctor were predictable it was still an entertaining and enjoyable story. will watch The Brain of Morbius later this evening.

 

[Worf2DS9]

I watched "The Three Doctors" yesterday and quite enjoyed it. It was cool seeing Two in colour, having previously seen him in b&w in "The Krotons". It's a shame the First Doctor couldn't have had more of a role in the episode, but I understand his health/mobility at that time forced the limited participation.

I also enjoyed the Brigadier's unwillingness to believe there were two Doctors running about at the same time, and his reaction at the end when he was finally in the same room with them was priceless. This episode also marks the first time both the Brigadier and Benton actually went inside the TARDIS; therefore, I assume this story must be fairly early in the 3rd Doctor's tenure.

"Oh, go on and say 'it's bigger on the inside than the outside'. Everyone else does."

 

[Captain Pike]

^ It was nearer to the middle/end of his tenure. It was the first story of season 10.

 

[Takeru]

I finally watched "An Uneartly Child" and I have to say, I didn't like it that much. The first episode was pretty good, Susan really seemed like a creepy child that tried to pretend she's absolutely normal and Ian and Barbara were quite interesting. It was weird that the Doctor basically kidnapped the two, I did not understand his reasons, it's not like their limited knowledge would be of any use. He compared it to giving the Romans gunpowder or Napoleon planes ... yeah, except that Ian and Barbara weren't given anything, it's not like they could grab a police box, make it bigger on the inside, put a birdcage in it and *poof* working time machine. Whatever, the episode was good, but it went downhill with the cavemen stuff, it seemed so disconnected from the first episode and the story was lame.

I also watched the first four episodes of "The Daleks" and it's much better, compared to the new show it's incredibly slow paced (they did an entire episode to get out of th cell and then another one to get out of the city ) but I can get used to that. It seems like the story could end after episode 4, but Ian just had to lose the fluid thing. Well, at least the Thals won't starve to death if Ian helps them defeating the Daleks.

I'm surprised that the Doctor is so different, he seems really old. If I didn't know his backstory, I would assume he's a senile old guy who grabbed a time machine and took his naive granddaughter for a little trip. I can almost see a scene where John Foreman und Lucy Who-Foreman sit at home, worried that Dad is going to crash the TARDIS into a black hole. I'm also surprised that he has this "Fuck them" attitude, whenever someone's in danger, he couldn't care less if the Dalek's wiped out the Thals as long as he makes it back into the TARDIS. I kinda like that, it's refreshing to see the Doctor not trying to stop every bad guy.

Susan is annoying, I liked her in the first episode, but after that she turned into a really stupid character, she's crying constantly, makes stupid decisions and seems totally lost, it's almost like she's the one who was recently kidnapped and is new to the time travel business.

The show so far seems like the Ian and Barbara show, they are the main characters and I like them a lot, the Doctor seems like the cranky TARDIS driver, his only purpose is to get them into adventures and to be a foil for Ian. He provides some insight from time to time, but honestly, if he suddenly dropped dead, it wouldn't affect the show much at this point, just let Susan drive the TARDIS, landing somewhere not knowing where and when you are seems like something she could manage.

 

[The]

Exactly. It's exposure to the humans, Ian and Barbara, that set the stage for The Doctor we know today. Remember, he's in his original body, is only three or four-hundred years old, and actually IS a crotchety old man, who harbors an infantile Time Lord inside. As Moff said: "...back when I was trying to be old, grumpy and important.....like you do when you're young..."

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

This episode also marks the first time both the Brigadier and Benton actually went inside the TARDIS; therefore, I assume this story must be fairly early in the 3rd Doctor's tenure.

As Captain Pike mentioned, it's actually more towards the latter half of the Jon Pertwee years. He was the Doctor during Seasons 7-11. "The Three Doctors" was done as a 10th aniversary special at the beginning of Season 10. However, Sgt. Benton never had cause to go into the TARDIS before this because the TARDIS wasn't working for all of Seasons 7-9.

But is this really the 1st time the Brigadier had been in the TARDIS? In "The Invasion," he says something that kinda implies that maybe he had been briefly inside the TARDIS or had at least seen the inside of it at some point during "The Web of Fear." (But it's hard to say because most of "The Web of Fear" is missing.)

"Oh, go on and say 'it's bigger on the inside than the outside'. Everyone else does."

"Well, it's obvious, isn't it?"

I'm surprised that the Doctor is so different, he seems really old. If I didn't know his backstory, I would assume he's a senile old guy who grabbed a time machine and took his naive granddaughter for a little trip.

That pretty much is the case, isn't it? Now, we've occasionally gotten little hints that the Doctor was a fugitive from the Time Lords for some reason but I think they've always kept that pretty vague.

The show so far seems like the Ian and Barbara show, they are the main characters and I like them a lot, the Doctor seems like the cranky TARDIS driver, his only purpose is to get them into adventures and to be a foil for Ian. He provides some insight from time to time, but honestly, if he suddenly dropped dead, it wouldn't affect the show much at this point, just let Susan drive the TARDIS, landing somewhere not knowing where and when you are seems like something she could manage.

...Yeah...

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of William Hartnell as the Doctor but I really like the overall chemistry of those early stories with him, Ian, Barbara, & Susan.

I watched "The Silurians" yesterday.
- It's a decent story, although it's a lot longer than it needs to be.
- I think the Doctor's righteous indignation at the end is somewhat misplaced. Since they were back in hibernation, I suppose it wasn't totally necessary for the Brigadier to destroy them. But still, they tried to commit mass genocide against the human race. I think the Brigadier was justified in taking preemptive action.
- Why can't more scientists where miniskirts like Liz Shaw?
- I liked some of the experimental music in this story but the sound effects were way too grating. When the nuclear reactor overloads, it makes lots of sustained screeching noises. And when the Brigadier & his men are trapped in the cave in once scene, there's this annoying banging sound that drowns out all the dialogue.
- For the longest time, I was convinced that the guy that played Dr. Lawrence was the same guy that played Lister's Paranoia in the Red Dwarf episode "Confidence & Paranoia."

 

[Saga]

i watched The Hand of Fear earlier today. didn't really expect much from this one after reading the description but i really enjoyed it. though i still don't care for the TARDIS secondary control room.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

But what did you think of Eldrad?! Must he live?

 

[Saga]

But what did you think of Eldrad?! Must he live?

Eldrad MUST live! lol. i rather liked the look of Eldrad, both of its forms actually.

watched The Deadly Assassin and The Face of Evil yesterday and started on The Talons of Weng-Chiang today. (i'd already seen The Robots of Death and didn't feel like rewatching it).

i really liked The Deadly Assassin except for the dream/matrix sequence. just seemed like they kinda threw that in for some reason. guess they felt it needed some actiom. The Face of Evil was pretty good too, though the scene with those slug things seemed kinda, i dunno, out of place. also liked the fact that the whole episode was based around the fact that the Doctor made a mistake.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

I haven't seen "The Deadly Assassin" yet. It's one of those that I keep hearing referred to but I haven't seen it and don't own it.

I don't have "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" either. But I'll probably wait for the new special edition to come out. At that point, I'll either be buying a copy with kickass new bonus features or I'll be buying a used copy at a significant discount since a bunch of fans will be trading in their old copies.

I have "The Face of Evil" on VHS but haven't watched it yet. I'm currently going through some of my Jon Pertwees. (I'm about halfway through "Day of the Daleks.")

I finished "The Sea Devils" a few days ago. I liked it a lot. Jo Grant is growing on me the more I watch her. And I'm really digging Roger Delgado as the Master. I've never seen any of his stories before.

 

[Saga]

Jo does tend to grow on you. she was alright at first but more and more i really grew to like her and was sad to see her go. now, Liz Shaw...i never did care for her much really. i really can't put my finger on it either. i did like the alternate version of her in Inferno though.

 

[JWD75]

I recently watched The Pyramids of Mars. This was my first time watching classic Who and was expecting it to be silly and cringworthy but it was much better than I thought it would be. I especially liked Tom Baker's take on the Doctor. I look forward to watching more of the fourth Doctor's adventures.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

I recently watched The Pyramids of Mars. This was my first time watching classic Who and was expecting it to be silly and cringworthy but it was much better than I thought it would be. I especially liked Tom Baker's take on the Doctor. I look forward to watching more of the fourth Doctor's adventures.

Welcome to the fold! And may I also recommend some of Patrick Troughton's adventures. Only 7 of them survive totally intact but they're 7 absolute gems. In many ways, Tom Baker is very much an evolution of Patrick Troughton in terms of being a comedic Doctor who uses his clownish exterior to hide a skillful cunning.

 

[The]

I recently watched The Pyramids of Mars. This was my first time watching classic Who and was expecting it to be silly and cringworthy but it was much better than I thought it would be. I especially liked Tom Baker's take on the Doctor. I look forward to watching more of the fourth Doctor's adventures.

I, too, agree about BC's Troughton recommendation. Worth you checking out. Especially ones like The Mind Robber (currently available on Netflix Streaming if you have it). The Invasion is also awesome, as it has a great story and lots of fun surprises.

As for Tom Baker, I'd go with The Talons of Weng-Chiang or The Robots of Death, if you can. However, if you want to stick with Sarah-Jane Smith as a companion, I'd try Genesis of the Daleks.

No matter what you try next, I implore you to give City of Death a shot one day. That's my all-time favorite Tom Baker episode. He a little sillier than you know him in Pyramids. But, it's later in his lifetime and he's running around the universe with a female Time Lord. It's about the happiest we've ever seen the character of The Doctor. And, it was written by Douglas Adams (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy). It's win-win.