The Doctor Who Thread

[Gothmogxx]

I re-watched a couple of Hinchcliffe Stories that I didn't appreciate a lot the last time I saw them. The Ark in Space and The Sontaran Experiment.

I think The Ark in Spaces one weakness is that its final Episode isn't as good as the other three. It feels rushed somewhat and I prefer Noah as he gradually transforms into a Wirrn (yes its bubble wrap, but the actor sells it with his performance, something not possible once its a full on Wirrn suit).

But the first three Episodes are quite something, especially the first one. Overall its the she start of a great era and arguably the best TARDIS crew: Baker by this point has already got his performance nailed down, Sladen is good as ever and Marter just fits in perfectly. Great chemistry all round. Yes the Wirrn costumes might look dated (even back then) but the idea behind it is solid. The Wirrn are a frightening concept: several wasp species are similar in nature. 9/10. Better on re-watch.

Sadly its not the same with The Sontaran Experiment. Don't get me wrong: its starts out brilliantly for most of the first Episode but it just falls apart when Styre gets involved with the worst plan the Sontarans have ever had. Earth is practically empty, with "no intelligent species"... So why waste time experimenting on the humans?!? Attack immediately and just colonise the place.

3/10. A Story so thin that you can almost see Genesis of the Daleks through it. The usual TARDIS crew along with the good atmosphere at the start give it some marks though, otherwise it'd have been a 0.

[Gothmogxx]

What the heck. I complained that The Sontaran Experiment was so thin that you could almost see Genesis of the Daleks through it, so I just decided to watch it.

It is the best Dalek Story: and they're barely in it! Some come close: Evil of the Daleks, Day of the Daleks, Rememberance of the Daleks, Dalek, The Parting of the Ways etc but Genesis as it is, has very little wrong with it.

I mentioned this the last time I watched it and it still stands, although I admit I am scraping the bottom of the barrel here. I basically covered all this in June last year so-

"So, at the start of episode 6, the Doctor is going to kill Dalek babies, which in itself is disturbing. But not only that, he's gonna wipe them all out. But does he have the right? He decides that he does not, and you can see the relief in his face when he thinks he's got out of making the decision when the rebels gain the upper hand. But then of course Davros wipes them out and... He decides to commit genocide after all! WHAT? So we have a brilliant sequence with the whole do I have the right speech. He equates what he's doing to killing a child before it grows up to be a dictator. He agonises over the idea of killing a child though... But when he decides to go ahead with it anyway, he's absolutely fine! I get it: He has NO choice... But where's the emotion? The anger? Remember 10's regeneration? He thinks he's got away with it, he's all happy and then Wilfred ruins everything by knocking and he explodes with emotion and rage. Why doesn't this Doctor do the same? He's just been saved from making a difficult decision, or he thinks he is, but then he gets cheated and has to do it anyway. So why isn't he having a rant about it? Why doesn't it look like it bothers him? Does he commit the act himself? No, a Dalek finishes the job, but the intent was still there. Basically, what the Doctor’s saying here is that it’s okay to go back in time and kill a small child without any hint of remorse whatsoever. I just think its a cop-out."

That's what I said then and I was bearing that in mind when episode 6 started. It still could have went like that. But he see's Gharman and the rest of the rebels wiped out and then goes to the incubation room alone. I suppose, if I want to excuse it, he could have done all that off-screen (whilst he was getting his jacket, so necessary when the Universe is at stake and explosives are being primed at the bunker entrance). I just wish we could have seen it.

But aside from that (and even then was that really a criticism? More just a wish of a slight change. Its like when people say the Primords ruin Inferno, when they're actually really good, although just slightly less good when the hair grows on them. They were better looking like a Romero zombie in the early parts) Its basically faultless.

No one. No one, has ever surpassed Michael Wisher as Davros. The single greatest guest actor on the show. I often wonder what it would have been like had he never returned after this. I'm assuming that was the intention. After all, he heard the Doctor tell him everything about the daleks future. Killing him stops that being a problem, keeping him alive doesn't, and its a problem every single Dalek Story after this completely ignores exists. Even Davros apparently forgot all those details?!? How? Or more to the point why: with all that foreknowledge he could have ensured the Dalek Invasion of Earth was much quicker, and therefore at least 3 Episodes shorter, and therefore much easier and less tedious to get through


It is a straight 10/10 though at the end of it all.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

A variety of Daleks in the 2015 story The Witch's Familiar.

[iank]

Saw Terminus again last night. Always liked it, still do. Grim but atmospheric and consistently interesting.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Grand Marshall Skaldak, the Ice Warrior from 2013's Cold War.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Two Sensorites from the 1964 story cunningly titled The Sensorites.

[Susan Foreman]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Two Sensorites from the 1964 story cunningly titled The Sensorites.

There is a rather amusing goof in 'The Unwilling Warriors', which is episode 2 of this story, when one Sensorite accidentally stands on the foot of one of his fellow Sensorites!

[Gothmogxx]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Two Sensorites from the 1964 story cunningly titled The Sensorites.

A very under-rated Story. Everybody says its boring but I sat through it twice with no problems. Its not perfect but I liked it a lot.

[Gothmogxx]

Watched Caves of Androzani yesterday morning and currently watching Inferno and Marco Polo. Inferno episodes 1 and 2 during yesterday afternoon (finishing it tomorrow morning) and Marco Polo now on my laptop whilst everyone else is sleeping. I'm 2 episodes in but its as good as it was in 2017. I was going to go to sleep after episode 2 but I think I may just watch one more... (btw if these two episodes actually are in Iran then they need to work a miracle and get them home. It will be painful to not see 3-7 but honestly considering we have nothing from the Story right now I'd gladly take a few seconds of any of them if even just a censor clip.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

A Marsh Man from the 1980 story, Full Circle.