Stories You've Watched Recently

[Shatnertage]

Loved Hartnell's "dandy and a clown" line.

Unfortunately, it is pretty much the only good bit for all 100 minutes.

Which is why I'm probably never going to get around to re-watching the rest of the episodes.

I'm thinking the best way to do multi-doctor stories is something like "Timecrash," where it's outside of a usual show, and just long enough to sustain the fun.

 

[Psion]

On an unrelated note, I watched The Time Meddler again on Sunday night. One of the better Hartnell stories.

Thanks for mentioning this episode. I just watched it and thought it was outstanding. It's a shame I already had some dim idea of who the Meddling Monk was, because as soon as I first saw him I knew what he was up to.

 

[Bones2]

I've watched three stories recently:

Day of the Daleks - Bit boring, but nice ideas. 2.5 or maybe 3 stars.
The Ambassadors of Death - It has its dull stretches (it's always a risk for a story this long), but overall it's a creepy and atmospheric piece. Terrific music too; some of Dudley Simpson's finest that I've heard. 3.5 or 4 out of 5.
The Ribos Operation - Absolutely brilliant. I'm not a massive fan of the whole Key to Time arc, but this story's fantastic throughout. Tom's on top form. Also where we get introduced to Romana I, who for me is miles better than Romana II, in much the same way as Liz Shaw's miles better than Jo Grant. Probably the best looking DW companion too (it's between her and Peri). Anyway, the story's top 10 stuff. *****

 

[The]

The Ribos Operation - Absolutely brilliant. I'm not a massive fan of the whole Key to Time arc, but this story's fantastic throughout. Tom's on top form. Also where we get introduced to Romana I, who for me is miles better than Romana II, in much the same way as Liz Shaw's miles better than Jo Grant. Probably the best looking DW companion too (it's between her and Peri). Anyway, the story's top 10 stuff. *****

Totally agreed! When I want to introduce someone to Tom's Doctor, I will usually show them this first. He's just zany enough to be The Doctor we love, but just serious enough to see how brilliant this incarnation truly becomes. After this, I'd go with City of Death. Yes, unfortunately, it has the very untalented ice queen herself, Lalla Ward as the equally unexciting Romana II. Mary Tamm stands as superior for all time, in my opinion...

 

[Bones2]

Just watched The Pirate Planet, and I have to say, this could well be my new favourite Tom Baker story, surpassing Logopolis. It really is DW at its best, in that it's about ideas and it's full of them. It's also horribly bleak when you think about it; it effectively involves the death and perhaps genocides of billions, and you could argue that the humerous tone jars with this - but then you get a scene like the Doctor horrifiedly discussing it with the Captain and you can see why Tom is the Doctor. All in all, a fantastic story. Up there with Androzani, The Silurians, and Revelation for me. *****

 

[VDCNI]

I definitely agree with you on Ribos which I love & Romana I, Mary Tamm is miles better than Lalla Ward in the role.

Not so sure about PP, yes there are some fascinating ideas but I'm not sure the show is quite able to realise those ideas effectively.

When the Doctor & Romana are around it works, other times it isn't quite as convincing for me.

 

[The]

"MOONS OF MADNESS!!!"

Douglas Adams doing what he does best.

I just watched Revenge of the Cybermen last night. And, funny enough, while I was watching it I was suddenly struck with a serious moment of nostalgia. Something about the way Lis Sladen is running through those (actual) caves, and the shadows, it hit me and a revelation dawned upon me:

Revenge of the Cybermen is the very first episode of Doctor Who I ever saw.

I never knew or either remembered which episode of the series I first glimpsed, in progress, at the bewildered age of six. I just remember the very stark scene of a woman running through the caves, and then later finding out the woman's friends were two doctors...and that one of them was exciting, and funny, and incredibly cool to watch, and listen, and follow. And I did. I followed.

 

[Candlelight]

I've watched sod all lately.

Last I saw was Doomsday. Love that Cult.

Last classic series show I watched was... er... Tomb?

 

[arch101]

Watched Invasion of Time and thought I'd follow up with Ribos Operation. I've now watched the first 3 Key of Time stories and will watch the rest this weekend. I haven't seen them in over 20 years and forgot how well they were written. I agree with the above about The Pirate Planet. What a great ep! I'm also impressed with how cleverly K9 is written and performed. It takes some real talent all around for a robot dog to be effective comedy relief
I also agree with the above about Mary Tamm. Simply beautiful. A big plus is her banter with Baker. They really had great on-screen chemistry. Too bad she only did the one year.

 

[Captain Pike]

Just popped in to voice my support for the incredibly brilliant, incredibly beautiful Mary Tamm. She was magnificent imo.

 

[Worf2DS9]

I watched "Planet of the Dead" on my new HDTV on the weekend. It looked great! IMO, it's still the most rewatchable & enjoyable of the 2009 Specials.

 

[Bones2]

Silver Nemesis
This isn't a story with a great reputation, and I had no memory of it. So I was surprised to find I really liked it. A lot. It's fun, pacy, and there's a lot going on. The criticisms usually seem to form around the fact that the Cybermen get led around a bit, and their hyperallergy to gold (to the point here that Ace can kill one with some gold and a catapult) is one of the worst things about the new show in my view. But the Cybermen look their best since Revenge and never feel anything less than threatening - they certainly don't get pushed around like buffoons as happened to the Daleks in Destiny. Also, it's somewhat similar to Remembrance in terms of plot, but quite different in execution. Overall, I liked it a lot. ****

 

[Captain Pike]

Cricket gloves? I mean, really..

Most of seasons 18+ I find unpalatable, and in particular seasons 24+. I think it's something about the slightly 'kiddie' pantomimic atmos of those stories (combined with hokey production). There are, however, notable exceptions.

Silver Nemesis is not one of them. To me, it's mildly entertaining crap. It has it's moments, sure, but in the end I'm left rather cold and unimpressed.

The cybermen, already short on credibility after their last few stories, don't come off looking very much of a threat here and practically seem to go weak at the knees at the merest sight of gold.

I suspected this one must have been written by an idiot, and that was confirmed to me when I saw the interview with the writer on the DVD. Devoid of any actual idea to pitch to JNT he began his interview with the producer (paraphrasing) "Do you know who the Doctor really is? The Doctor is God!". Major facepalm right there.

Maybe the Cartmel Masterplan was actually inspired by Kevin Clarke?

 

[Kelso]

Watched "The Pandorica Opens"/"The Big Bang" and "Shada" this past week.

Good stuff.

 

[Davros]

I was listening to the Big Finnish cd Spare Parts over the weekend.

 

[VDCNI]

Been getting into the audios lately inspired by Tegan's return. Listened to the new 5th Doctor & Tegan (plus Nyssa & Turlough) stories and all very strong though the 3rd one with the return of the Mara was probably the weakest of the lot, it all got a little confusing towards the end. Nice to have Janet Fielding back though and the whole team worked well together - really good guest casts as well.

Then tried The One Doctor with Colin & Bonnie which wasn't laugh out loud funny but was a nice gentle spoof of the Doctor with well judged performances from all the main cast.

Also been working my way through the new box set of missing stories on audio - so far Marco Polo, which I had heard before but was just as good second time round and Reign Of Terror. I was a bit disappointed with ROT though, I was expecting a lot as I love Hartnell era historicals and it didn't quite live up to it. It probably didn't help that I know the period so well and they didn't really do anything other than work through a series of French Revolution cliches without adding anything new to them. I think they missed a trick towards the end as well as they tried to avoid getting caught up in the political events - Barbara at least should have known what was going to happen to the major players and having them use her knowledge to get out of things would have added a nice twist to the end of the story. The one scene that lifted it out of the ordinary was Barbara's anger with Ian for killing the traitor as she had a bit of a romantic spark with him, the only time the complexities of the period were dealt with really. A very unusual scene for Who but very effective.

 

[TedShatner10]

"The Runaway Bride" - A nice romp and my third favourite Christmas special.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I just watched "The Doctor's Daughter" last week. I know that I might be in the minority but I would really like to see Georgia return as Jenny and interact with the Eleventh Doctor.

 

[Starkers]

We're both in the minority then I can see why people don't like TDD, but I don't think it's that bad myself. And I liked the interplay between the Doctor and Jenny, reminded me somewhat of Four and Leela.

 

[Kelso]

Yeah, Jenny needs to be brought back. The character is too good not to.