The Doctor Who Thread

[Demoncrat]

Ach, the audio stuff that McGann did is good as a whole imo. And Lucy Millar is a far better companion than ANY other post Classic companion.

[Susan Foreman]

May 28th: Today in WHO-story

Births
1929 - Thane Bettany (Tarak in State of Decay); Shane Rimmer (Seth Harper in The Gunfighters)
1935 - Anne Reid (Nurse Crane in The Curse of Fenric and Florence Finnegan in Smith and Jones; narrator of the short story The Twins in the Wood)
1940 - Frank Cox (director of The Edge of Destruction and The Sensorites)

1944 - Patricia Quinn (Belazs in Dragonfire and Queen Angvia in the Big Finish audio Bang-Bang-a-Boom!); Faith Brown (Flast in Attack of the Cybermen)
1961 - Michelle Collins (Captain Kath McDonnel in 42 and Winnie Tyler in the Big Finish audio Damaged Goods)
1968 - Kylie Minogue (Astrid Peth in Voyage of the Damned)

1972 - Kate Ashfield (Lieutenant Beth Stokes in the Big Finish audio Enemy of the Daleks)
1980 - Tristan Beint (Tom in The Day of the Doctor)
1985 - Carey Mulligan (Sally Sparrow in Blink)

Deaths
2009 - Terence Alexander (Lord Ravensworth in The Mark of the Rani) aged 86

Episodes
1966 - The Savages, Episode One: 4.8 million viewers
2005 - The Doctor Dances: 6.86 million viewers
2011 - The Almost People: 6.72 million viewers
2011 - A Good Man Goes to War prequel (online mini-episode)

Documentaries
2005 - Doctor Who Confidential: Weird Science
2011 - Doctor Who Confidential: Take Two

Releases
2009 - The Game of Death (BBC Children's Books); Children in Time Sticker Poster Book (Penguin Character Books); issue 409 of Doctor Who Magazine (Panini Comics UK)

2013 - Prisoners of Time, Volume One (IDW Publishing)
2015 - Toby Hadoke's Who's Round 122 (Big Finish Productions)

Behind-the-Scenes
2013 - Recording of the Big Finish audio 1963: The Space Race took place

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Drahvins from the 1965 story Galaxy Four.

[Gothmogxx]

So the last four stories in a quick nutshell:
Carnival of Monsters is a smart one. An original idea as well, having all the action take place inside the scope. I really like the idea of humans and a large variety of other species held captive and forced to integrate for entertainment. The drashigs, especially their first appearance at the end of Episode 2, was amazing. The Doctor just looks defeated as it looms over him.
Shira and Borg are a good double act and Packer from the Invasion is back as a member of the tribunal. He has a name but I always call him Packer, same with any other time he’s in the program, based on how memorable that performance was haha.
The only thing which lets the side down are the very weak masks that the natives on Inter Minor are designed with, though the tribunal all look nice. Aside from that its a strong tale.

The Frontier in Space
Well if Carnival of Monsters had natives with bad designs, this one is a huge improvement. The Draconians are amazing. They are such a cool looking bunch.

The plot works well too, even if it is a set-up for the next Story. It is an episode too long (the moonbase stuff and any scene with obvious wires in space could all be cut out completely, along with at least some of the capture/escape scenes) but I could easily buy the Master trying to cause war to break out between two empires (although he’s insane if he somehow thinks the daleks will let him rule Earth).

I enjoyed the stuff with the Doctor, Jo and the Master when the former two are locked up. Also Jo has truly developed as a companion. When we first see her against the Master she’s been hypnotised to blow up her colleagues on day one. Now she not only resists him but essentially tells him to f$%$ off.

Now the ending. This is proof that the Daleks really should not have been in Day of the Daleks. They should have been held off for that amazing ending when they appear on the hill with the master. They hadn’t been seen since Evil of the Daleks in 1967, so having them back for the 10th anniversary celebrations for the first time since then in a scene like that would have been classic. It is a shame that this is the last we see of Delgardo though, his final scenes are so disappointing (that’s not his fault, or Barry Letts or anybody though. What happened to him in Turkey was a tragedy). Aside from that he goes out on a high though.

I didn’t like Planet of the Daleks the first time. I liked it more the second time in 2015. I liked it, more or less the same this time. Its average, albeit and average story with some great moments.

One of my favourite moments in the whole show is when the Doctor, Jo and the Thals wrestle the two Daleks into the freezing water. Just the direction and music makes it work.

The Dalek Supreme is an evil sod isn’t he? No mercy from this guy, as well as looking good, he exterminates any Daleks guilty of failure.

The Thals are all okay and I like the fighting between Taron and Vaber. Replacing a sense of unity with one of conflict helps intensify what’s going on: how can they possibly succeed if they’re at each other’s throats over strategy?

The Dalek army looks good too. It’s clear that all of them are a bunch of toys but who cares? It looks good.

The issue is that again, it could have been an episode shorter. But overall it’s okay.

I cried at the end of The Green Death. More on that In a minute.
Whats to hate here?

The Doctor getting attacked by pretty much 'everything' on Metabelis 3 is just hysterical in the way its done. It looks like a dump, intentionally so though.

The domestic scene where everyone sits around, eats, smokes (1973 folks) and all is relaxed and peaceful. It’s all good but then its shattered by the news that one of the miners from earlier is dead. It makes things feel all the more real and serious despite a brief respite.

BOSS, BOSS, BOSS. Stevens seems more like the computer here, whereas BOSS just comes off as a fully fledged psychopath. It works because its over the top.

Pertwee as a milk man. Enough said!

But I can’t say enough for the ending. Previous companion departures have been good (Susan, Ian, Barbara, Steven, Jamie and Zoe) but… There’s something here which makes this work. You know i’ve seen this Story at least a dozen times and i’ve never cried watching it. But I’ve just spent three weeks or so watching the Pertwee era. I’ve seen how the relationship between them developed in chronological order. Therefore for the first time I truly grasped how close they were.

You know with Liz he takes to her like a duck to water. Why? Because she’s a scientist and a good one. Therefore they immediately have a good friendship. But with Jo he wants here gone literally the second she knocks “no tea thank you. I said NO tea thank you (Jo proceeds to ruin his experiment)”. She has to earn his friendship. And she does. By the final Season with them they are so clearly close, which I have never noticed as well because I never watched the era in order and in such a short time. Just look at the way he escorts Cliff from the room before they kiss. Showing her the crystal: He’s trying to compete but to no avail. It isn’t sexual jealousy, though. Its a best friend kind of thing. He doesn’t want to shag her, but he doesn’t want anybody else to shag her, either. It just shows how close he’s got to her since Terror of the Autons. (it isn't all sad though. Just take a look at Mike Yates face when Cliff and Jo announce their marriage. He's so gutted. Its only for a second but its funny)

Yeah it feels like the Golden era is coming to an end. We have another season yes but it's Jo's last appearance and you can see how much it is hurting the Doctor, and the final scene of him driving back alone across a darkening skyline… Its just perfect. Not overblown and protracted in any way, it just what happens when the Doctor realises the pain of getting too emotionally close to a human. Its done better than with Ian and Barbara.

But its not just Jo’s departure that’s at work here. Barry Letts is leaving. Terrance Dicks is leaving. Roger Delgardo has tragically died. UNIT is becoming less and less. You can see it in Pertwee’s face. The Party is over. He’s even said in interviews it felt like an era was coming to an end, hence his decision to leave. I’ll certainly miss him when he does…

Still, one more Season to go at least. Commander Linx, Peter Miles, Daleks and Exillons, Peladon and the finale.

[Demoncrat]

Yes, it's all done in an understated fashion ... that's what makes it work. Because it's within the framework that team set up. Pertwee far more emotional ... "I like being childish ... " etc. Imagine Hartnell saying that


Finished the Bale book. Interesting 'postscript' from Ingeborg. A decent enough read.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demoncrat

Yes, it's all done in an understated fashion ... that's what makes it work. Because it's within the framework that team set up. Pertwee far more emotional ... "I like being childish ... " etc. Imagine Hartnell saying that

Hmm! Childish you say? It's not very likely, it's not very likely.

[Susan Foreman]

May 29th: Today in WHO-story

Births
1929 - Frederick Jaegar (Jano in The Savages, Sorenson in Planet of Evil and Professor Marius in The Invisible Enemy)

1934 - Neville Jason (Prince Ryenart in The Androids of Tara)
1938 - Barry Jackson (Ascaris in The Romans, Jeff Garvey in Galaxy 4 and Mission to the Unknown and Drax in The Armageddon Factor)
1941 - Mike Lucas (Tom in The Smugglers)
1952 - Louise Cooper (writer of the Telos Publishing novella Rip Tide); Oliver Smith (Drak in The Twin Dilemma)
1964 - David Kinder (Billy in Delta and the Bannermen)
1965 - Dursley McLinden (Mike Smith in Remembrance of the Daleks)
1977 - Brian Treitler (Doctor Murphy in the Torchwood story Miracle Day)
1982 - Anita Breim (Sally Jacobs in The Christmas Invasion)
1987 - Pearl Mackie (Bill Potts)

1992 - Gregg Sulkin (Adam Lloyd in the Sarah Jane Adventures story The Mad Woman in the Attic)

Deaths
1981 - Ramsay Williams (Brook in Frontier in Space) aged 64
2000 - Aubrey Richards (Professor Parry in The Tomb of the Cybermen) aged 79

Episodes
1965 - The Chase, Episode Two ('The Death of Time'): 9.5 million viewers
1971 - The Daemons, Episode Two: 8.0 million viewers
2010 - Cold Blood: 7.49 million viewers

Documentaries
2010 - Doctor Who Confidential: What Goes on Tour...

Releases
1980 - Issue 34 of Doctor Who Magazine (Marvel)

2003 - Issue 331 of Doctor Who Magazine (Panini Comics UK)
2008 - The Beast is Back in Town (online comic strip); issue 396 of Doctor Who Magazine (Panini)
2013 - Prisoners of Time, Part 5 (IDW Publishing)
2014 - Issue 474 of Doctor Who Magazine (Panini)

Behind-the-Scenes
2013 - Recording of the Big Finish Productions audio 1963: The Space Race took place

[Susan Foreman]

German DVD covers:

'An Unearthly Child'

'The Daleks'

'The Edge Of Destruction'

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

New issue.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Space Pig from 2005's Aliens of London.