The Doctor Who Thread

[will graham]

Of this season it's my fav. Got a real judge dredd universe vibe from this episode. Yes I know there's no real violence etc etc, but the story itself I can easily see.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

A Ghost from the 2015 story Under the Lake.

[Gothmogxx]

Today I watched The Visitation and Kerblam.

The Visitation was a lot of fun and actually had a kind of Terror of the Zygons vibe to it with a very small group of aliens trying to take on humanity. They even have similar endings as well: 90% of both Stories take place in the primary location whether its a loch or the woods and end in London with a quick, hectic ending that either has Nessie in the Thames or everything burning down.

Terror of the Zygons was better but The Visitation was certainly a lot of fun. I loved the Terileptil as monsters: something that's been lacking in the new series, so it was a breath of fresh air. And Richard Mace is the best guest character I've seen in ages.

The Robots of Dea- Sorry Kerblam, Was okay. Lightyears ahead of the last two weeks for a start. But far from perfect. The set up was done right, the script was actually better (I note Chibnall didn't write it) giving Jodie a better chance to shine for a change. I also loved the reference to The Unicorn and the Wasp. But yeah the villain sucked: the janitor not the robots. I did like the robots, but they were done better in Robots of Death and Voyage of the Damned. They didn't have enough time to do anything to establish themselves as a true threat.

So yeah it just felt like a mish mash of previous Stories. Bits of Planet of the Ood, Greatest Show In the Galaxy, Voyage of the Damned and of course Robots of Death (somebody on Twitter compared it to The Beast Below, I can't say if it is cause I haven't seen it in years and remember very little from it). All of which are way better. As mentioned on here: imagine the Nestene emerged as the bad guy. Imagine it was an extra half hour longer, imagine we got more scenes in the dark rooms where the guy got strangled, imagine we had Autons attacking in force etc. Autons, even robots but far more scary ones or ANYTHING: "We’ve got lots of new villains, lots of new monsters" said Chibnall. Where? When do we get to see them? On this specific promise he seems to have screwed up.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Magma Beast from the classic Peter Davison story The Caves of Androzani (1984)

[Gothmogxx]

I liked Black Orchid but I don't want to rave about Black Orchid, like the rest of the Season so far its good. Brief summary, I liked the Giallo/slasher feel it had and the killer looks like Cropsy from The Burning. Peter Davidson is better than ever... But I want to rave about Earthshock.

I believe that Earthshock has just usurped Inferno as my favourite Story so far, or at least equalled it.

I hadn't seen it for years, not since the early days of high school (in my mid high school days I had just discovered the Hinchcliffe era and was steadily building up my Troughtons and Pertwees and stuck to them for a while) and I'd completely forgotten how much of a masterpiece it was.

Episode 1 is Aliens before it was made. The direction, the genuine suspense when the androids were hiding just out of sight... And that cliffhanger. I knew it was coming but jesus Christ its the best the series has had so far.

Episodes 2 and 3 keep things going at a fantastic pace: the battle with the androids, the old Doctor cameos, the awakening of the cybermen, their new theme, their new look, Tegan being useful as opposed to complaining all the time, thatnicely directed shot where the cyberman gets stuck in the door, the cliff hanger to episode 3 with rampaging cybermen... Not to mention the fact that Adric and the Doctor make up and get to parter together one last time, speaking of which...

Episode 4. I knew what was coming, but still, seeing it happen again... The pace is excellent throughout and Peter Davison is now, quite firmly, the Doctor. He had me as soon as he sparred with the Cyberleader in the control room.

But the ending (and its making me break up again as I type) A very emotive, well put together ending. I started crying the second Adric shouted "just leave" to the Doctor, knowing it was the last time they'd speak. Everything hits you where its supposed to. The twist when they go back in time 65 million years ago, to the quite frankly amazing battle in the TARDIS with the Cyberleader and finally the ending I completely lost it, even more than when Jo left (at least she lived). It was haunting how Adric's leitmotif played just after the spaceship exploded. Some of the best writing, acting, characterization, and composing for the character was put together for his death. I've never disliked Adric: he could be annoying sometimes but he always meant well. And he died trying, but never got to know if he was right... Silent credits were well deserved.

I've never seen Time Flight. But how exactly do you match what came before it? Its got a huge mountain to climb.

[trebor8273]

Going to watch watch Ghost light tonight another one can't remember if I've seen.

[Gothmogxx]

Originally Posted by trebor8273

Going to watch watch Ghost light tonight another one can't remember if I've seen.

The third last classic series Story. Haven't seen it, heard good things though.

[Susan Foreman]

November 19th: Today in WHO-story [The Late Edition]

Births
1923 - Bernard Davies (German Soldier in The War Games)

1924 - William Russell (Ian Chesterton [First Doctor's companion]; the First Doctor [Big Finish Productions' audio adventures]; Lord Drazil Carlisle in the Big Finish audio The Game and Harry in the 50th anniversary docudrama An Adventure in Space and Time)

1930 - Brian Vaughan (Lieutenant-Commander Watts in The Sea Devils)

1938 - Nicholas Pennell (David Winton in Colony in Space)

1945 - Morgan Deare (Hawk in Delta and the Bannermen, Arthur in Rosa and Waldo Pickering in the Big Finish audio Minuet in Hell)

1952 - Philip Bloomfield (Foster in The Keeper of Traken)
1965 - Anthony Frieze (Xoanon in The Face of Evil)
1968 - Mark Bonnar (Jimmy in The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People; Big Finish actor - Zoltán Frid in The Labyrinth of Buda Castle, Heath Porteous in The English Way of Death and the Eleven in the Doom Coalition series and the Ravenous series)
1979 - Katherine Kelly (Miss Quill in the Doctor Who spin-off Class)

1980 - Adele Silva (Squeak in Survival)

Deaths
2007 - Peter Haining (writer of the Doctor Who biographies A Celebration, The Key to Time: A Year-By-Year Record, 25 Glorious Years, The Doctor Who File, The Time-Travellers' Guide and The Nine Lives of Doctor Who) aged 67

Episodes
1966 - The Power of the Daleks, Episode Three: 7.5 million viewers
1977 - Image of the Fendahl, Part Four: 9.1 million viewers
2006 - Torchwood: Countrycide (BBC Three): 1.22 million viewers
2007 - The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Lost Boy, Part Two (CBBC): 1.86 million viewers
2009 - The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Gift, Part One (CBBC): 0.95 million viewers
2016 - Class: Detained (BBC Three)

Departures
2006 - Conclusion to the first series of the Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures

Releases
1992 - The Universal Databank (W. H. Allen)

1998 - Issue 272 of Doctor Who Magazine (Marvel)

2009 - Issue 142 of Doctor Who Adventures (BBC Magazines)

2014 - Toby Hadoke's Who's Round 74 (Big Finish)

Behind-the-Scenes
2006 - The first official Doctor Who-themed concert, A Celebration, took place at Wales Millennium Centre in aid of BBC Children in Need

2010 - A preview clip of A Christmas Carol was shown during Children in Need
2013 - Recording of the first series of the Doctor Who spin-off Charlotte Pollard took place
2015 - Recording of the Big Finish audio This Sporting Life took place
2016 - Recording of the Big Finish audio O. Tannenbaum took place

[Susan Foreman]

November 20th: Today in WHO-story

Births
1930 - Bernard Horsfall (Gulliver in The Mind Robber, Goth in The War Games and The Deadly Assassin, Taron in Planet of the Daleks and Arnold Baynes in the Big Finish audio Davros)

1974 - David O'Donnell (Doctor Mandrell in the Torchwood story Miracle Day)

Deaths
1984 - Peter Welch (Sergeant in The Highlanders and Morgan in The Android Invasion) aged 62

1994 - John Lucarotti (writer of Marco Polo, The Aztecs, The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve and the Doctor Who Magazine short story The Meeting) aged 68

Episodes
1965 - The Daleks' Master Plan, Episode Two ('Day of Armageddon'): 9.8 million viewers
1976 - The Deadly Assassin, Part Four: 11.8 million viewers
2003 - Scream of the Shalka, Part Two (webcast)
2009 - The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Gift, Part Two (CBBC): 0/39
2013 - The Last Day (webcast)

Documentaries
2006 - Torchwood Declassified: The County Club (BBC Three)

Releases
1975 - The Three Doctors and The Doctor Who Monster Book (Target Books)

1997 - Issue 259 of Doctor Who Magazine (Marvel)

2003 - Frayed, The Eye of the Tyger and Time Hunter: The Winning Side (Telos Publishing)
2008 - Pack Animals and SkyPoint (BBC Books - Torchwood novels); issue 91 of Doctor Who Adventures (BBC Magazines)
2009 - Wildthyme in Purple (Obverse Books)

2013 - Prisoners of Time, Part Twelve (IDW Publishing)
2015 - The Other Woman and Toby Hadoke's Who's Round 74 (Big Finish Productions)

Behind-the-Scenes
1976 - Following transmission of the final episode of The Deadly Assassin, Doctor Who's fourteenth series took a temporary break, resuming on New Year's Day 1977
1999 - Recording of the Big Finish audio Red Dawn took place

2005 - Recording of the Big Finish audio The Kingmaker took place
2013 - Recording of the first series of Big Finish's Doctor Who spin-off Charlotte Pollard took place

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by trebor8273

Going to watch watch Ghost light tonight another one can't remember if I've seen.

Originally Posted by Gothmogxx

The third last classic series Story. Haven't seen it, heard good things though.

Superb... so atmospheric.

One of my all time faves.