The Doctor Who Thread

[Gothmogxx]

Originally Posted by Susan Foreman

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'

In that case thank god they changed it to feature the new plot in Day. Dalek Invasion of Earth is okay, it has a really strong ending and one of Hartnell best scenes, but it drags a lot. Still better than that horrible Remake though, if only because that particular TARDIS team works so well together on-screen.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Gothmogxx

Day of the Daleks Still its better than all the Dalek stories so far besides Evil.

I strongly disagree with this viewpoint.

Both The Dalek Invasion of Earth and Power of the Daleks are in my opinion far better than Day of the Daleks.

So is The Daleks Masterplan but as i've only seen a quarter of the story and listened to the rest on cd i can't really give that judgement properly.

[Gothmogxx]

#Ahh bliss. Its The Sea Devils. Comfort Who at its best.

I loved The Silurians, so much so that its the second best Pertwee Story up to this point, just behind Inferno. Its a tough act to follow. This Sequel, whilst not quite as good, is still a classic.


Strong direction again. The scenes in the fort where you see just enough of the Sea Devil would've been quite chilling for the kids. The Sea Devils themselves are a brilliantly designed monster. I think they're better than the Silurians.

The Doctor commits a horrible act though. Forget blowing up Gallifrey. Forget failing to save alternative Earth in Inferno. He commits a most heinous crime. Yes he steals sandwiches from a clearly hungry Jo. What a prat! I like this Doctor but come-on! He then offers sandwiches to practically everybody else in the room!

I loved the music. Its really iconic and its one of the first things I think of when I think about the story. Again I think this music is better than the stuff in Silurians.

Another big plus is that Roger Delgado is glorious here and you get the sense that he is just enjoying himself so much. Be it the look he gives Trenchard behind his back or the fun he has when watching The Clangers, this is the Master at his best. I think he out-done Pertwee here actually. Getting rid of him for a couple of stories was a good idea to take a break. But I actually began to miss him by the end of Peladon so seeing him again is such good form was great. The sword fight, unless Time Monster can change my mind, is quite simply the greatest scene to feature him and the Doctor, at least in these incarnations. And they love it. They BOTH love this feud. At times it just feels like a friendly competition between the two: The Doctor disarms him and then gives him back the sword to continue! I do question what kind of prison, especially one that contains the Master, has swords right outside his cell door but that's just nitpicking. Classic scene.

But where Silurians is better is its tone. Its seriousness. Both of them are basically the same story with certain adjustments, kind of like A New Hope and The Force Awakens. The Sea Devils themselves have no individual personality, and there's no internal conflict within their society to give them much dimension. In Silurians we had the old leader, then the new leader and then the scientist. We don't get that here, the Sea Devils are just monsters of the week. REALLY good ones design wise but I'd have liked to have seen more individuality. In that respect, the Master kind of out-performs them.

What is it with this era and civil servants? We've had Masters in The Silurians, Keith Gold in Inferno, Brownrose in Terror of the Autons, Chinn in Claws of Axos? They're everywhere and Walker is a pretty obnoxious one. Good actor though, he makes me hate the character.


Enjoyed it in my youth and I enjoy it now. Sea Devils is great.

[Gothmogxx]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

So is The Daleks Masterplan but as i've only seen a quarter of the story and listened to the rest on cd i can't really give that judgement properly.

That one could have been great buts its too long. Starts off brilliantly, ends brilliantly (I wish we could see Episode 12). Its just the middle which drags sometimes.

[Susan Foreman]

May 21st: Today in WHO-story

Births
1917 - Frank Bellamy (Doctor Who illustrator for the Radio Times)

1932 - Jay Neill (Pikeman in The Masque of Mandragora, Silvey in The Invisible Enemy and Klimt in Underworld; extra in The Enemy of the World, Doctor Who and the Silurians and Colony in Space)
1941 - Carl Rigg (Varlik in The Power of Kroll)
1974 - Juliet Cowan (Chrissie Jackson [The Sarah Jane Adventures]; Bryer & Beauvais in the Big Finish audio anthology You Are the Doctor and Other Stories)
1985 - Calvin Dean (Ha-Ha in Nightmare in Silver and Chris in the Sarah Jane Adventures story The Gift)

Deaths
1995 - Peter Rutherford (Roth in The Sontaran Experiment) aged 58
2011 - Bill Hunter (extra in The Ark) aged 71

Episode
1966 - The Gunfighters, Episode Four ('The O.K. Corral): 5.7 million viewers
2005 - The Empty Child: 7.11 million viewers
2011 - The Rebel Flesh: 7.35 million viewers

Introductions
2005 - John Barrowman MBE's debut as new companion Jack Harkness

Releases
1981 - The Doctor Who Programme Guide (Target Books)

1987 - The Doctor Who Fun Book (Target Books)

2009 - Issue 116 of Doctor Who Adventures (BBC Magazines)

2015 - Suburban Hell (Big Finish Productions); City of Death (BBC Books)

Behind-the-Scenes
1969 - Jon Pertwee signed a contract for his first year as the Third Doctor
2008 - Official confirmation that Russell T. Davies was to step down as Doctor Who's lead writer & executive producer and that Steven Moffat was to take over
2008 - Recording of the Big Finish audio The Doomwood Curse took place

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Macra as seen in 2006's Gridlock.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

There are strong rumours going round again that the South Africa set episode is a Sontaran story.

Someone posted this on a forum -

Yeah it's one of those.... thread, I know, I know. However, i'll just get straight to it and yes this is a new account for obvious reasons, I am lucky enough to have a few contacts here in my country who got to work on the episode filmed in Macassar Beach Pavilion which was previously a water park. The episode in question is set on a distant planet, with the now abandoned park serving as the ruins of a once advanced city. Here is what my contacts say, sorry for some weird ways of saying things, my native language is Afrikaans.
There are Sontarans and they are human sized ones not those little guys like Strax.
they are more like classic Sontarans. Also locals playing what looked like human refugees. Sontarans in question shot dead some said humans who they say were infected Sontaran leader apologizes to crowd of humans and a little girl. Say he did was had to be done.
Leader was reported by my contacts to have a highly ornamental club weapon. Sontarans have white warpaint, and their skin is a range of colour from pale, yellowish and somewhat black.
Sontaran leader with club could be heard telling the doctor what a ''joke'' the Sontarans have become (maybe reference to small sontarans) and how they are the last bastion of pure non cloned Sontarans.
Enemy is not the human beings. But another enemy unseen. Who Sontarans and humans are both afraid of. Possible series arc villain? very intrigued by this myself.
Crane stood in as spaceship as far as I'm aware. Contact says Sontarans find redemption and give Doctor and humans time to escape. (All actors looking at crane with green screen in horror).
Sontaran leader point gun and his club at Doctor and tells her to get in her Tardis and leave as she refused to leave Sontarans behind to face their death. Doctor eventually agrees, and says she will stop the threat, contacts said Jodie looked terrified at the crane (meaning enemy must be very scary even to the Doctor) Tardis gets moved by the crew and Sontarans move towards crane bravely all dying in the process. crew did explosions around them.
That is it. I am very excited to see Sontarans back and I trust these people 100% but hey i'm just a dude on internet. Wait and see I guess. I have no info on any other episode. I am just lucky to know some who worked there.

Who knows if this is true or not but with the lack of any info coming from the production team it's all we've got to go on. I do not deny the pic in question did appear to show either Sontarans or Judoon in the distance guarding a walled desert area.

[Susan Foreman]

I'm hearing rumours that it's a 'Genesis Of The Sontarans' type story, concerning the everlasting war between them and the Rutans. It's being suggested that the Sontarans may not actually be the uber-baddies here, and the Doctor joins forces with them against a threat which is ever worse. [The enemy of my enemy is my friend!]

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Susan Foreman

I'm hearing rumours that it's a 'Genesis Of The Sontarans' type story, concerning the everlasting war between them and the Rutans. It's being suggested that the Sontarans may not actually be the uber-baddies here, and the Doctor joins forces with them against a threat which is ever worse. [The enemy of my enemy is my friend!]

Potentially that sounds quite good...but after Strax i'd really like to see the Sontarans as a real threat again.

[Gothmogxx]

The Mutants is the first Pertwee story I ever saw and the first classic Story I ever saw, all the way back in 2008. I had no idea it gets so much abuse. This is one of the more clever Stories the show has done.
I admit it is pretty heavy for the kids. The politics side of it, I mean. Curse of Peladon was kind of similar with the EEC but this goes a lot further. I can see the parallels with apartheid, and the end of the British Empire. Even in a modern prospect I pretty much equate the Marshall as to how a typical establishment Westminster politician views Scotland. Its like the Marshall says when they start talking about Independence "fob them off with promises, few minor concessions, its always worked before", just like the major UK Parties whenever they pretend to consider proper devolution, as a means of attempting to "shut up" our own Independence movement. but would children be interested in that? I was, then and now, but I can't speak for the others who would probably much rather see the Daleks in action.

Obviously I take the side of Ky and the Solonians without hesitation. We've seen societies under threat before on this show and maybe its because of my own political views but I really feel for these people and what they're going through. The actor playing him does a wonderful job and you can tell he really, genuinely wants freedom, and he's prepared to fight for it.

Also, Rick James playing cotton. Dear oh dear. He seems incapable of delivering any of his dialogue with any degree of conviction or dramatic purpose “Great, innit?”. They killed off Stubbsy but let Cotton live?!? What were they thinking.

Its great to see Jon Pertwee get angry. He really is at his strongest when he's raging. And you can tell he's raging when he gets into a conversation with Jaeger who’s trying to alter Solos’ atmosphere and dismisses the genocide of an entire species as a side effect of his experiments. He gets to feel the Doctor’s wrath.

I have always admired the audacity of the Episode Four climax with the side of the skybase exploding and Varan being sucked out into space, screaming into the void. The CSO is a little dodgy and is that even possible? Wouldn’t they be dead by now? Wouldn’t they freeze to death? This scene borders on insanity. I’m not talking about scientific accuracy, either. They had a lot of ambition similar to how they made Web Planet, to attempt that in 1972. But they tried really hard.

I can honestly say this isn't a turkey. Its not the best Pertwee ever no but its better than average. The alien world is so effective with the fog and then the lighting in the caves. Those caves look so nice, combined with the mutants who look brilliant set in the caves...

Yeah I liked it.