The Doctor Who Thread

[Gothmogxx]

I toyed with the idea of watching Shada with the marathon but as it wasn't broadcast with the others I've decided to leave it as a "bonus" for sometime after I finish it.

[Susan Foreman]

May 19th: Today in WHO-story

Births
1931 - James Greene (Abbot in The Bells of Saint John)
1935 - Michael Wisher (Dalek voices [1973-1975]; John Wakefield in The Ambassadors of Death, Rex Farrel in Terror of the Autons, Kalik in Carnival of Monsters, Davros in Genesis of the Daleks and the stage show The Trial of Davros, Magrik in Revenge of the Cybermen, Morelli in Planet of Evil, Benton's Father in Reeltime Pictures' Doctor Who spin-off Wartime, Robar in Dreamwatch Media's Doctor Who spin-off Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans and uncredited roles in The Seeds of Death, Revenge of the Cybermen and Planet of Evil)

1939 - James Fox (Professor Chronotis in Big Finish Productions' adaptation of Shada; former father-in-law of Billie Piper)
1944 - Colin Spaull (Lilt in Revelation of the Daleks and Mr. Crane in Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel; Big Finish actor - Henrick in Grand Theft Cosmos, Colonel Baxter in the Dalek Empire story The Fearless and Uncle Lindsay in the Graceless stories The Sphere and The End)
1947 - Michael Cochrane (Charles Cranleigh in Black Orchid and Redvers Fenn-Cooper in Ghost Light; Big Finish actor - Lieutenant-Colonel Brook in No Man's Land, Murgat in Brotherhood of the Daleks, Brondle in the Graceless stories The Flood and Consequences, Colonel Hugh Spindleton in Trail of the White Worm/The Oseidon Adventure,Cedric Chivers in The Time Machine and Geralk in The Fate of Krelos/Return to Telos)
1992 - Eleanor Tomlinson (Eve in the Sarah Jane Adventures story The Mad Woman in the Attic)

Deaths
1982 - Elwyn Jones (co-writer of The Highlanders) aged 58

2002 - Arnold Chazen (Scientist in The Moonbase; father of Voyage of the Damned guest actress Debbie Chazen) aged 70
2006 - Peter Bryant (Doctor Who producer & script editor [1967-1969]) aged 82

Episodes
1973 - The Green Death, Episode One: 9.2 million viewers
2007 - 42: 7.41 million viewers

Documentaries
2007 - Doctor Who Confidential: Space Craft

Releases
1994 - Theatre of War (Virgin Books)

2003 - Shell Shock (Telos Publishing)
2005 - The Clockwise Man, The Monsters Inside, Winner Takes All and Monsters & Villains (BBC Books)
2011 - Issue 218 of Doctor Who Adventures (BBC Magazines)

2017 - Toby Hadoke's Who's Round 200 (Big Finish)

Behind-the-Scenes
1995 - Matthew Jacobs submitted his first draft of the TV Movie
2000 - Recording of the Big Finish audio Minuet in Hell took place

2003 - Recording of the Big Finish audio Full Fathom Five took place
2009 - Recording of the Big Finish audio Blue Forgotten Planet took place

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Dalek Parliament from Asylum of the Daleks (2012)

[Susan Foreman]

May 20th: Today in WHO-story

Births
1915 - Peter Copley (Doctor Warlock in Pyramids of Mars)
1926 - John Lucarotti (writer of Marco Polo, The Aztecs, The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve and the original storyline for The Ark in Space)

1931 - Michael Spice (Morbius [voice] in The Brain of Morbius and Magnus Greel in The Talons of Weng-Chiang)
1932 - Vera Fusek (President in Frontier in Space)
1961 - Owen Teale (Maldak in Vengeance on Varos, Evan Sherman in the Torchwood story Countrycide and Hayton in the Big Finish audio The Mind's Eye)

Deaths
1966 - Mervyn Pinfield (associate producer [1963-1965]; director of The Sensorites, Planet of Giants and The Space Museum) aged 53

1977 - Lennie Mayne (director of The Curse of Peladon, The Three Doctors, The Monster of Peladon and The Hand of Fear) aged 49
1989 - Judith Byfield (Angela Clifford in Time-Flight) aged 37
1996 - Jon Pertwee (Third Doctor) aged 76

2014 - Barbara Murray (Lady Cranleigh in Black Orchid) aged 84

Episodes
1967 - The Evil of the Daleks, Episode One: 8.1 million viewers
1972 - The Time Monster, Episode One: 7.6 million viewers
2006 - The Age of Steel: 7.63 million viewers

Documentaries
2006 - Doctor Who Confidential: From Zero to Hero

Releases
1993 - Lucifer Rising (Virgin Books)

2002 - The Ambassadors of Death (VHS)
2004 - Short Trips: Past Tense (Big Finish Productions)
2009 - Iris Wildthyme and the Celestial Omnibus (Obverse Books)

2010 - Issue 167 of Doctor Who Adventures (BBC Magazines)
2013 - Issue 321 of Doctor Who Adventures (Immediate Media Co.); Series 7, Part 2 (DVD)
2015 - Last of the Cybermen (Big Finish)
2016 - Toby Hadoke's Who's Round 170 (Big Finish)

Behind-the-Scenes
2010 - Recording of the Big Finish audio The Invasion of E-Space took place
2012 - Recording of Big Finish's Bernice Summerfield story New Frontiers took place
2013 - Recording of the Big Finish audio Trial of the Valeyard took place

[Demoncrat]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

No goddammit it's not alright.

What do you think of the animation?

It seemed a marked improvement on many of the releases to me. Perhaps being in colour? Not sure.

So so. They never get the eye area right imo. Troughton looks like a fricking panda in one etc.

[Susan Foreman]

Peter Davison (looking like Colin Baker) in the 'A Man For Emily' episode(s) of 'The Tomorrow People', originally broadcast 16th – 30th April 1975

No doubt he would rather forget this appearance!

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Master as seen in The Keeper of Traken (1981)

[Gothmogxx]

I'm actually really excited. Today is the day I will have finally seen every Jon Pertwee story. The Time Monster, not the most popular story amongst fans but I don't care. I deliberately didn't watch it for a couple of years so I could watch some fresh Pertwee for the marathon.

Day of the Daleks is way ahead of its time, beating Terminator to the time-travel concept. Its not quite T2 Judgement Day but all the same as a serial its pretty good.

The main problem with it is the Daleks. Their voices are lame and for their grand comeback they don't exactly do much until the end. Although as the original script didn't even have them that's not surprising. The special edition improves things a lot thankfully, although I watched the original this time. The ending in particular works much better with better editing and more Daleks. Three Dalek props shouldn't have been a problem with decent direction but sadly it all feels a bit under-whelming. Still its better than all the Dalek stories so far besides Evil. I do like the Ogrons though, they have a nice design.

Mike Yates is now starting to annoy me though. I know he comes through by the final Pertwee story but the way he treats Benton by taking his food really bothered me. How exactly is he superior in rank to Benton anyway?

It also contains one of the funniest line deliveries, if not the funniest line delivery in the whole show. "no complications"

Pertwee and the UNIT gang are all on top form here; the guest cast is great. Aubrey Woods in particular is a welcome villain to replace the Master after 5 stories in a row and the Doctor eating wine and cheese that he nicks from Sir Reginald Styles' cellar is one of the best things ever!

So yeah besides the Daleks themselves, everything in this Story pretty much works. Consistently good Doctor Who continues

[Susan Foreman]

The Daleks were actually a very late addition to the story. The adventure, which opened the ninth season and originally carried the working titles 'The Ghost Hunters' and 'Years of Doom', initially only featured the Ogrons as the main enemy

The Daleks (who had last been seen in 'The Evil of the Daleks' five years earlier in 1967) were supposed to come at the end of the ninth season, in a story that was to be called 'The Daleks In London'. However, it was thought that this adventure was too similar to 'The Dalek Invasion Of Earth', so it was dropped and 'The Day Of The Daleks' (as it eventually became) was re-written to include them, resulting in a season opener with a strong gimmick

[Gothmogxx]

The Curse of Peladon isn't a masterpiece, but its a welcome departure to an alien planet to give us a break from the UNIT set-up. As good as it is, it is nice to get a bit of variety.

I never really thought much of this one when I was younger but its grown on me. The plot is intriguing enough to remain interesting throughout. It was a big gamble to take baddies like the Ice Warriors and make them the good guys for a change. Fortunately it works and its a good surprise. What's more is we get not only Ice Warriors and the inhabitants of Peladon, but also more aliens. Alpha Centauri is... Intriguing. As is the head in the box Arcturus. At least the production team are successfully trying to give us aliens that look genuinely alien.


Speaking of the production: this is a real world that you can believe in. Its only a citadel, a few corridors and the tunnels but it is so well realised and so right. Nicely done and match this with a simply defined but well created culture, and Peladon is a real world. I'd have liked to have seen more of their culture outside the citadel but what we're given is enough. A real world with many similarities to our own: Its basically about the UK joining the EEC. Perhaps when Jodie becomes the Doctor we can have a sequel where Peladon votes to leave the Federation, but certain parts of the planet didn't and face being taken out against their will, thus causing civil war as they declare independence from the main part of Peladon?

Its Troughton! Troughton Jr that is. I really believe that Jo could fall in love with King Peladon which is nearly all down to the brilliance of David T. He clearly got his acting skills from his Dad, who I can't wait to turn up in The Three Doctors. Pertwee continues to excel meanwhile and I liked his fight scene with Grun (although I wonder why he didn't just stick his fingers on his chest like he does with Stahlman in Inferno).

Its not perfect, but it works well enough. And Aggedor is cute . I'm surprised that they didn't have the Earth Ambassador at the end turn out to be the Master. They've kind of just slipped him into a lot of the recent Stories so it wouldn't have surprised me if they had gone that route and made it a 6 Parter.

I didn't like the sequel much the first time I saw it either but when I re-watched it in 2016 I liked it a lot. I look forward to it...