The Doctor Who Thread

[Demoncrat]

Indeed. I look forward to the comm (Sladen, Saward, Leeson)

[Gothmogxx]

Well I guess we'll see if anything post Season 7 can possibly match Inferno. But I know now that absolutely nothing before it can do it. Some come close (and I still have some to see: Caves of Androzani for instance, or Survival which I held off watching until I began this marathon...).

But for now Inferno is simply the best. Its just such a fantastic piece of television.

Its predecessors are brilliant in their own ways. The Silurians is probably the best of the three, followed by Spearhead and then finally Ambassadors. But here's the thing and it doesn't just apply to these but... What would have happened if the Nestines beat UNIT and strangled the Doctor to death? What if the Silurian plague wiped out the human race? What if the aliens in Ambassadors decided to attack the Earth? In all three cases the answer is probably a bad one for the good guys. Or even if the Cybermen took over completely in The Invasion, or if the War Lord actually gets his army and causes millions of deaths in the galaxy. Heck even in The Daleks, if the Doctor did just take off and leave the Thals, they would have been wiped out. But none of the bad scenarios happen. They only get hinted at because the Doctor is there to save the day.

Except when he slips sideways into a parallel Earth and completely screws up.

That's right. The Doctor didn’t win and everybody died. Episode 6 has the best cliff hanger since... Okay episode 4 of Inferno, but aside from that is the best cliff-hanger since The Mind Robber. He failed. An entire world roasted alive that just happens to be a parallel version of our own. And it happens on his watch. He is of course faced with a ruthless regime that seem determined to make his life as miserable as possible but still: if you were watching this without any prior knowledge you'd assume he'd somehow be able to pull off something at the last minute. But he doesn't.

As a result Inferno is the most intense Doctor Who story I've seen. The stuff on the other Earth is obviously part of that but even Episode 7. It takes a bit of flak for slowing down a bit after the two before it. But as mentioned above we aren't imaging what's going to happen if he fails. We've seen it. As a result knowing full well the consequences the intensity and suspense continues as you wonder if he'll be able to save them all in time.

Other highlights. In our world whilst the Doctor is getting berated by the Brigade Leader and the Rock Star Stahlman... The Doctor is gone. This isn't Mission to the Unknown, he's just gone right when you need him, when everything is going wrong. And now Liz, UNIT and the audience find out that that's not a good thing. The show by this point has never gone this far again? One of the only comparable things I can remember is the effect his visits have on Amy and Rory in their final episodes. And there's Turn Left, which I guess is the best example of a scenario which can match getting rid of the Doctor. Took them long enough though: 38 years to come up with something to equal this idea (and that's only ONE component of this story that they matched. Turn Left is good. In fact its great, but its still not Inferno in any of the other ways besides ditching the Doc).

Douglas Camfield is the greatest director the Classic Series ever had. He was on the top of his game here... Which was a shame considering around Episode 3 he had a heart attack. But the stuff we see in the first two along with the location filming is amazing. From the big things like the Doctor getting chased and shot at by the evil version of UNIT in his car, to the little things, like the man at the start that gets his skull split open with a wrench, as we cut to Sergeant Benton hammering a nail into a wall. Its the little things that count as well.

I love its grit, its atmosphere of depression and doom, the increasing sense of panic, then out-right fear (or outright breakdown in the case of the Brigade Leader)... Outstanding performances and direction... The middle episodes in the other world, written in at the last minute I add because another story fell through, are among the tensest in the programme’s long history.

The Primords. Many complain about them but I like them. I prefer them as the zombies because it reminds me of two out of the three greatest zombie films of all time (original versions of Dawn and Day, Shaun is the other) but the werewolves don't disappoint. The noise they make when they come after you is just horrible but not bad horrible, horrible in a great way. They are threatening and you just can't seem to kill them (although I admit I did chuckle for a second at Werewolf Benton when he first transforms).

Aren't the regulars on fine form? Better than fine actually, courtesy of the other Earth. Pertwee as usual is bril (I think both his predecessors would have been shot in 5 minutes on the other Earth for their individual attitudes. That's not a dig but based on their personality I don't think they would have tolerated them for long). Nicolas Courtney did say this was his favourite story... The Brigadier and Brigade Leader are both amazing to watch. Both versions of Liz likewise. Stahlman is insane (think Laurence from Silurians but turned up past maximum) but he's hilarious, especially as he basically is up against everybody else. Keith Gold is great. Christopher Benjamin plays him and I just can't not help but like the guy. He is great here and in Talons of Weng Chiang and The Unicorn and the Wasp (when I watched the latter and he appeared, for a few seconds I was like "no... That can't be him surely." haha).

I've got no criticisms. Sheer perfection in every single way.

The Doctors stuck on Earth though for a while yet with a new TARDIS console built for him behind the scenes and Caroline John departs. Not my favourite companion but definitely a good one. She had her time to shine in this story and i'm glad she took it.

Bring on the Master for five fights in a row and three seasons of the well known UNIT family...

[Susan Foreman]

May 14th: Today in WHO-story

Births
1903 - Barbara Leake (Mrs. Farrel in Terror of the Autons)
1925 - Tristram Cary (music composer on The Daleks, Marco Polo, The Rescue, The Daleks' Master Plan, The Ark, The Gunfighters, The Power of the Daleks and The Mutants); Ysanne Churchman (Alpha Centauri in The Curse of Peladon, The Monster of Peladon and Empress of Mars and the Eight Legs voice in Planet of the Spiders); Gordon Costelow (Milo Clancey in The Space Pirates)

1927 - Dennis Chinnery (Albert C. Richardson in The Chase, Gharman in Genesis of the Daleks and Sylvest in The Twin Dilemma)
1929 - Alan Viccars (extra in The Aztecs, The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve, The Underwater Menace and Doctor Who and the Silurians)
1942 - Prentis Hancock (Reporter in Spearhead from Space, Vaber in Planet of the Daleks, Salamar in Planet of Evil, the Captain in The Ribos Operation and Craisus in Big Finish Productions' Bernice Summerfield story Epoch)
1957 - Paul Tomany (Major Husak in Battlefield)
1973 - Indira Varma (Torchwood's Suzie Costello)

Deaths
1986 - William Lindsay (Zargo in State of Decay) aged 40

Episodes
1966 - The Gunfighters, Episode Three ('Johnny Ringo'): 6.2 million viewers
1996 - The TV Movie (USA)
2005 - Father's Day: 8.6 million viewers
2011 - The Doctor's Wife: 7.97 million viewers

Documentaries
2005 - Doctor Who Confidential: Time Trouble
2011 - Doctor Who Confidential: Bigger on the Inside

Introductions
2005 - First appearance of Shaun Dingwall as Pete Tyler

Releases
1981 - Issue 53 of Doctor Who Magazine (Marvel)

1987 - Issue 125 of Doctor Who Magazine (Marvel)
1992 - Issue 187 of Doctor Who Magazine (Marvel)
2009 - Issue 115 of Doctor Who Adventures (BBC Magazines)

2014 - Tomb Ship and Last of the Colophon (Big Finish)

Behind-the-Scenes
2003 - Recording of the Big Finish audios The Creed of the Kromon and The Twilight Kingdom took place
2006 - Recording of Big Finish's Bernice Summerfield story The Tartarus Gate took place
2007 - Recording of the Big Finish audio The Wishing Beast took place

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

New Doctor Who figure sets coming this summer from B&M Bargains.



12th Doctor Set

1/ Missy as seen in the Series 10 Episode ‘Extremis’ … Exclusive

2/ The 12th Doctor as seen in the Series 9 Episode ‘Face the Raven’ … Exclusive

3/ Bill as seen in the Series 10 Episode ’The Pilot’ … Exclusive

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

11th Doctor Set

1/ Clara as Oswald Oswin from ‘Asylum of the Daleks’ … Exclusive

2/ The 11th Doctor as seen in ’The Snowman’ … Exclusive

3/ Amelia Pond as seen in ’Lets kill Hitler’ … Exclusive

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

1970’s Doctor Set

1/ The Brigadier as seen in the 3rd Doctors 1st Season … Exclusive

2/ The 4th Doctor as seen in ’Talons of Weng Chiang’ … Exclusive

3/ Auton Mark II as seen in ’The Terror of the Autons’ … Exclusive

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

3rd Doctor & TARDIS Set

1/ 3rd doctor and TARDIS with black base as seen in ’The Time Monster’ … Exclusive

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Emperor Dalek from 2005's The Parting of the Ways.

[Gothmogxx]

Terror of the Autons continues Doctor Who's current trend of being consistently great. I'm quite strict awarding consistently good scores to films or TV shows in a row but... It is that good!

Its the start of the UNIT family and Jo Grant is finally here, along with the Master and Mike Yates. I want to discuss Mike first because this guy seems to get a lot of hate but I don't see it? Granted he isn't as good as the lovable Sargent Benton but I've always liked him (his best work comes later on though in the final Pertwee Seasons). Jo I took to like a duck to water. Not the Doctor though: he wants Liz back and wants Jo gone. She has to win him over which I like. When he lost Susan he was desperate for another similar companion so he took Viki on. Here this Doctor wants a scientist and gets a girl with a lot of child-like innocence. She brings out a protective side of him, although that gets more expanded upon later on. She may have had a dodgy first day on the job: trying to blow up her colleagues due to hypnosis, but by the end she's easily one of the team.

The Master. Hypnotic. Its amazing because the cast speak about Roger Delgardo in such a nice way behind the scenes and yet here he is playing a fantastic villain. He just his this threatening presense. A perfect enemy for the Doctor: and their first on-screen meeting is no disappointment, but the best is yet to come...

Is the serious tone from Season 7 gone? Yes but... This doesn't feel like a typical Who story either. It has the Autons back and uses their abilities in pretty nasty ways, to the point where some very PC people in Westminster, instead of debating important issues, saw fit to dedicate precious commons time to bashing Terror of the Autons (sad to think that was just a warm up act, the video nasty panic was just a decade away)! Is it that bad? Not really. I think the reason why it worked so well is because you have a killer chair that suffocates you, killer policeman shooting UNIT, a toy doll strangling Mr Farrell Snr, a killer telephone cord... All besides the policeman basic household items that you see on a day to day basis. I think that's what struck a cord, even if it was an over-reaction. As gritty and dark as Season 7? No, but not a walk in the park either, it is violent. More so than a lot of stories made today. It feels like some kind of middle ground, bridging the old and new Season tones together.

The Autons are more the Masters thugs here as opposed to the main villain of the day, and they aren't as scary. But as mentioned above they are expanded upon well, which more than makes up for it. It isn't just about shop-window dummies: anything plastic can be dangerous and ups their credibility as worthy opponents. I like the shoot-out between the police autons and UNIT: one of the cars accidentally rammed into stuntman Terry Walsh (who was playing one of the Auton policemen) and knocked him off the top of the hill he was standing on. However, because he was able to stand up and continue the scene immediately, and due to the resulting fall being so spectacular, the incident was retained in the finished episode. Its scary, so much abuse yet they still come after you. Same praise to the shoot-out at the end, its good typical UNIT stuff.

Another 10/10.

Well Dem you mentioned Mind of Evil, i'm at it now and I hope it will be able to give me one more 10 before Claws of Axos ruins it (Its never been a favourite of mine. Not terrible exactly but I know the chain of perfect stories from The War Games in 1969 to Terror of the Autons 1971 (hopefully Mind of Evil as well) is coming to an end... I can't remember Colony in Space besides the giant Lizard. Daemons was good but i'm not sure if it was that good... We'll see. At least Delgardo is here for all of them, he's amazing even if he's here for a full season.

[Gothmogxx]

I should also point out how quick i'm getting through Pertwee. I'm already past his first Season and at his 6th Story despite only starting him last Thursday. That's a good sign: just shows how consistently good things are. It took me a lot longer to get through Season 1-6. Either over a month or just under a month per Season and I started the marathon back in October/November 2017.

If I can keep this up I should be done with him in a few weeks and past the series half-way mark (Planet of the Daleks Episode 3)!

Ideally but I don't think it'll happen, I want to watch everything from now to Twice Upon a Time before Jodie's first episode. Technically its possible but its going to be tough...