Story 090 The Robots of Death
Needlessly ornate robots condemned to a "life" of servitude for arrogant, greedy, unlikable humanoids with rather stupid clothing and makeup decide to slaughter them all in the name of good taste. The end. Well, it should be. I mean Zelda pretty much deserved to be strangled for wearing that odd winged silver monstrosity of a hat without a trace of irony. But nooooooooo they just had to include a guy in even goofier makeup who was raised by robots and therefore corrupted Asimov's robot laws. Actually wanted to bail on this episode part way through to go read some Asimov. Word of advice to writers: don't invoke material superior to your own too loudly if you want to keep an audience.
Story 091 The Talons of Weng-Chiang
It amazes me how something like this can immediately follow up a clumsy turd like The Robots of Death. Set design was majorly stepped up. Outside of some giant rats on wheels, no effects pulled me out of the story. The villain was actually credible and managed to portray insanity with a minimum of scenery nibbling. Hell, they even had a musical number which wasn't hauntingly terrible. Also dug the supporting cast a bit. Not sure I need the Jago/Litefoot audiodramas but will probably try them out as the idea isn't repugnant. Heck, even Leela was tolerable. Didn't get the feeling The Doctor brought her along solely to tell her she was stupid for once. Nicely done, all around.
Story 093 The Invisible Enemy
If any aspect of this show stresses how inherently stupid it is to apply adult standards for programming to Doctor Who, it has to be K-9. There is no explanation for bringing the character in other than the kiddies would like him. Making him and Leela companions for a season despite the clear lack of chemistry with The Doctor are fine examples of what I refer to as "blatant bad seams moments." I'm totally fine with spotting zippers on costumes or wires on flying creatures. Those add charm in my eyes. However, it can really suck when behind-the-scenes issues with red-tape or personality conflicts intrude on the viewing experience. Even with the great pains I take to avoid knowing such things, it's very clear Baker thought he deserved better than the new staff was giving him.
Also what in the hell were the writers doing? They seemed to spend a lot of time on how Leela was immune because her instinctual drive overriding brains finally served some redeeming purpose. She could contribute something other than eye candy! Hooray! Oh wait... let's have the overly cute robotic dog explain something in terms I'm pretty sure a 12 year old who paid any attention in science class whatsoever could understand then mock her for not getting it. Oh oh oh AND have her welcome further degradation by insisting the Doctor bring K-9 along in the TARDIS. Did anyone involved with the show respect Louise Jameson for something other than her "one for the dads" charms? I guess the money must've been good.
Oh sorry. Yeah... this one doesn't make me hold high hopes for the Graham Williams era of Doctor Who. First off, I really don't like that fact I'm so aware that the show changed hands just from watching. Hinchcliffe and Co. tried things, took some stories down unusual paths, pushed the envelope once in awhile. The overall message of this episode seems to be "we're a safe show! Honest! There's even a cute robot dog and ha ha HE MIGHT BE TARDIS TRAINED! *SNORT*" Fuck you, Graham Williams.
Story 094 Image of the Fendahl
Okay. This is a slight improvement. There's a well-intentioned scientist who accidentally awakens something so evil those stodgy old bastard Timelords broke their own rules just to lock it up. A cult forms. Charismatic megalomaniac exploits them, sees all consumed by evil because of his quest for power, and blows his head off after the camera pans away. Unlike the dark moments in the previous serial, none of the resultant tension is starkly offset because K-9 makes the bare minimum number of appearances to preserve continuity. After that clusterfuck of his introduction, I'm thinking The Dominators would look pretty good so I'm hesitant to say positive things about this episode but I ultimately enjoyed it.
Story 095 The Sun Makers
Fuck you, Graham Williams. That may well become my second catchphrase from this watch-through. I'm not entirely sure the grating flaws in this episode were his fault. The script had to have something to do with the fact a squeaky munchkin with green lipstick became some sort of bureaucratic wizard of a severely corrupted Oz. However, I avoided the making of documentary and commentary track largely because my mental image of Graham going "no no no the only thing the kiddies would love more than a robotic dog is a little person with goofy eyebrows and lip liner" could be the only thing to get me through when episodes get worse than this. I mean Adric is yet to come so it clearly gets worse and I can't blame Graham Williams for that apparently so FUCK YOU, GRAHAM WILLIAMS! THE MELTING ACCOUNTANT WITCH IS ALL YOUR FAULT! Oh and thank you for keeping the show running. I'm not seriously blaming you for everything. Your name is just there and I'm too lazy to sift through material to figure out the precise names of the asshats who couldn't take the pressure of Hinchcliffe's "edgy" direction. I do understand that your orders in this direction had much to do with Bob Holmes' attempts at political satire getting excised and the resultant directionless nature of the plot at times. Hell, maybe it even explains why it was okay for the Gatherer to be flung from a building but not for Cordo to jump from the same. Still, you've got to admit that if someone had enough love/affection for the show to not only spend hours watching it but to then spend additional hours documenting said watching for a non-existent audience the person might see reason to create a bad guy based on the blatant decline after Hinchcliffe was forced out.
K-9 & Company A Girl's Best Friend
The kiddies loved K9! Everyone adored Sarah Jane! Let's have the Doctor send the former to the latter as a present and call it a show! There have been worse premises for spin-off series. K-9 may epitomize what I semi-mockingly hated in the first few episodes of Williams-run Who but Sarah Jane is awesome. Plus, give the faux-pooch his own show and it would free Doctor Who to boldly go exactly where it had gone before the BBC ordered Graham Williams to drive the franchise a bit into the ground. Part of me wonders if the creative team behind Murder, She Wrote saw this and said "hmmm idyllic little village, writer, intrigue and murder from within... remove that distracting robot dog, move things to Maine, and no one will ever notice we ripped this baby off!" Honestly, if the writers on K-9 . . . had gone a bit less "human sacrifice" and a bit more "surprisingly innocuous considering the whole murder thing" like Murder, She Wrote then maybe this spin-off would have stood a better chance at survival.
Story 053 The Ambassadors of Death
Interesting story. False invasion. Could've fallen flat quite easily. However, General Carrington and Reegan played their parts quite well. Plus, Pertwee was the Doctor. More I see him more I marvel at how he can work with anyone no matter the script or issues with production values.
Showing posts with label 3rd Doctor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 3rd Doctor. Show all posts
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Who Watch Pt. 8: Baker May Grow on Me but I Will Always Miss Pertwee
Story 063
The Mutants
The opening of this episode rather confused me. I thought that Palin's "IT'S" man was running at the camera. Then some dude who looked like Biff from Back to the Future threw off an "oxy-mask" and delighted in slaughtering him. Eventually, it all resolved into a well-paced exploration of colonialism, race relations, and the horrors of genocide. About the only thing I didn't like was the way Ky's evolved form strongly resembled a psychedelic Prince Valiant/Tinkerbell hybrid. It just felt like a bit of a cop-out after the fairly excellent job on the Mutts.
Story 076 The Ark in Space
This story nearly turned me off classic Who twice. Not entirely sure why. Maybe it was a refusal to believe painted bubble wrap evolved into carved foam. Perhaps Eccleston and Tennant didn't adequately prepare me for Baker. All I really know is third time around with a decent exposure to previous Doctors, this serial clicked for me. I rather enjoyed the interchange between the Doctor and his companions and found Noah's decision to die rather than destroy Vira resonant.
Story 077 The Sontaran Experiment
Part of me wishes they'd use the Sontarans more often. The Time Warrior was a great step forward for the series, simultaneously introducing a credible new menace along with Sarah Jane and also establishing a new type of story for the series. The Sontaran Experiment further developed the titular species and established them as far beyond ruthless. My guess is their next appearance will be the invasion of Earth and its colonies introduced here and it will be downright thrilling to watch.
Story 079 Revenge of the Cybermen
Yeah. Cybermen fear gold. There's a whole planet of it run by the cliche wise leader who has the equally cliche overzealous military commander. An even more cliche double (or triple or quad... whatever) agent is employed so the good guys can prevent genocide by committing it against their enemies. I get that the new Doctor needed to face the classic villainy of the Cybermen but maybe they should have held out for a less clunky script. Rather enjoyed Baker in it though. And Sladen. Hell, even Harry looked awesome next to the Vogans.
Story 033 The Moonbase
I prefer the Loose Cannons approach to reconstruction. Yes, seeing the same still of Teagana in Marco Polo every 5 minutes got annoying. However, at least the images changed to try and tell the viewer who or what they should be seeing. For half the episodes in this serial, I had to infer that. It wasn't all bad though. In my head, the workers of the titular station didn't all wear overly tight t-shirts with huge plastic name tags in the center. Nor did one of the actors wear a neckerchief to remind you he was French in case the stereotypical accent got dropped for half a scene. Plus, my mental Cybermen are a bit more menacing than the blatant thrift store cobbling variety found in early serials. Still, Troughton and Hines were magical together so even if it was ultimately just average so as a Cyberman story goes, it was often delightful to watch/listen to.
Story 058 Colony in Space
This one proved how much George Lucas sucked. It deals with mineral rights and other Galactic trade issues and was geared towards children but the characters' performances and story pacing prevented it from becoming utter garbage. Sure, I love Roger Delgado and think he was the perfect foil for Pertwee's Doctor. However, Lucas' ineptitude managed to make Christopher Lee forgettable. So three cheers to Disney for buying out Star Wars before my childhood started freebasing to forget its love for the franchise and an infinite number to the producers of Doctor Who for casting Pertwee and Delgado.
Story 60 Day of the Daleks
I think the Daleks really need to leave time alone. In this story, they figured it out and used it to seize control of Earth after a devastating war. Why not just go back to the time-frame of one of their previous narrowly thwarted conquests and exterminate the Doctor? I mean yeah it would make for a shitty episode and end the series but the bastards are ruthless and wouldn't care about such concerns. Plus, they had discovered it during Hartnell's era and it took them this long to figure it out again? That made them look even more inept than insisting on hiring an Ogron army or their apparent case of laryngitis for this serial. All told, this story served to stress the idea of the Doctor as one of the few folks wise enough to be trusted with time travel and Pertwee was delightful so it was only in the aftermath that my brain kicked in and raised a bit of a protest.
The opening of this episode rather confused me. I thought that Palin's "IT'S" man was running at the camera. Then some dude who looked like Biff from Back to the Future threw off an "oxy-mask" and delighted in slaughtering him. Eventually, it all resolved into a well-paced exploration of colonialism, race relations, and the horrors of genocide. About the only thing I didn't like was the way Ky's evolved form strongly resembled a psychedelic Prince Valiant/Tinkerbell hybrid. It just felt like a bit of a cop-out after the fairly excellent job on the Mutts.
Story 076 The Ark in Space
This story nearly turned me off classic Who twice. Not entirely sure why. Maybe it was a refusal to believe painted bubble wrap evolved into carved foam. Perhaps Eccleston and Tennant didn't adequately prepare me for Baker. All I really know is third time around with a decent exposure to previous Doctors, this serial clicked for me. I rather enjoyed the interchange between the Doctor and his companions and found Noah's decision to die rather than destroy Vira resonant.
Story 077 The Sontaran Experiment
Part of me wishes they'd use the Sontarans more often. The Time Warrior was a great step forward for the series, simultaneously introducing a credible new menace along with Sarah Jane and also establishing a new type of story for the series. The Sontaran Experiment further developed the titular species and established them as far beyond ruthless. My guess is their next appearance will be the invasion of Earth and its colonies introduced here and it will be downright thrilling to watch.
Story 079 Revenge of the Cybermen
Yeah. Cybermen fear gold. There's a whole planet of it run by the cliche wise leader who has the equally cliche overzealous military commander. An even more cliche double (or triple or quad... whatever) agent is employed so the good guys can prevent genocide by committing it against their enemies. I get that the new Doctor needed to face the classic villainy of the Cybermen but maybe they should have held out for a less clunky script. Rather enjoyed Baker in it though. And Sladen. Hell, even Harry looked awesome next to the Vogans.
Story 033 The Moonbase
I prefer the Loose Cannons approach to reconstruction. Yes, seeing the same still of Teagana in Marco Polo every 5 minutes got annoying. However, at least the images changed to try and tell the viewer who or what they should be seeing. For half the episodes in this serial, I had to infer that. It wasn't all bad though. In my head, the workers of the titular station didn't all wear overly tight t-shirts with huge plastic name tags in the center. Nor did one of the actors wear a neckerchief to remind you he was French in case the stereotypical accent got dropped for half a scene. Plus, my mental Cybermen are a bit more menacing than the blatant thrift store cobbling variety found in early serials. Still, Troughton and Hines were magical together so even if it was ultimately just average so as a Cyberman story goes, it was often delightful to watch/listen to.
Story 058 Colony in Space
This one proved how much George Lucas sucked. It deals with mineral rights and other Galactic trade issues and was geared towards children but the characters' performances and story pacing prevented it from becoming utter garbage. Sure, I love Roger Delgado and think he was the perfect foil for Pertwee's Doctor. However, Lucas' ineptitude managed to make Christopher Lee forgettable. So three cheers to Disney for buying out Star Wars before my childhood started freebasing to forget its love for the franchise and an infinite number to the producers of Doctor Who for casting Pertwee and Delgado.
Story 60 Day of the Daleks
I think the Daleks really need to leave time alone. In this story, they figured it out and used it to seize control of Earth after a devastating war. Why not just go back to the time-frame of one of their previous narrowly thwarted conquests and exterminate the Doctor? I mean yeah it would make for a shitty episode and end the series but the bastards are ruthless and wouldn't care about such concerns. Plus, they had discovered it during Hartnell's era and it took them this long to figure it out again? That made them look even more inept than insisting on hiring an Ogron army or their apparent case of laryngitis for this serial. All told, this story served to stress the idea of the Doctor as one of the few folks wise enough to be trusted with time travel and Pertwee was delightful so it was only in the aftermath that my brain kicked in and raised a bit of a protest.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Who Watch Pt 7: Tonsillectomies Suck
Story 055
Terror of the Autons
Ah sweet, sweet, Delgado. I enjoyed The Sound of Drums and End of Time version of The Master well enough. However, this one just has so much more class. He comes across as a Moriarty instead of a spoiled sadistic club kid. Autons also worked well in the classic episodes because they were supposed to be made of plastic. So a few unclean edges or blatantly fake facial appliances make perfect sense. Such well executed villains + Pertwee + Brigadier = awesomesauce.
Story 057 The Claws of Axos
Creepy statuesque angelic beings offer man a quick way to attain ultimate power which turns out to be a deadly world-eating poison. This one made me consider getting Amazon Prime to reliably stream classic episodes. The library's copy was covered in oil and scratched to hell. By the time I got it working, I was too tired to watch the special features that make the DVDs so worthwhile. Probably need to rewatch this sans technical glitches to fully appreciate.
Story 072 Death to the Daleks
Interesting to see the Daleks unarmed and outmatched. Didn't lead to character development persay. Just revealed they were the same old arrogant killing machines. Cool serial all told.
Story 129 The Five Doctors
Sometimes, I want to punch Tom Baker. Richard Hurndall did a decent Hartnell impression. However, stepping up his role when Tom bailed served to drive home everything he got wrong. Ainley wasn't bad as The Master but did make me miss Delgado. All in all, the whole thing felt insanely clumsy and made me miss The Three Doctors.
Story 045 The Mind Robber
Not really sure how I feel about this serial. Whenever Jamie and Zoe went missing, Troughton became a whiny little emo bitch. The first couple episodes were kinda crap then the plot took a nice little twist. By the end, it was a joyous romp. Right up until the robots got a "destructa-beam." Then it got cringeworthy.
Story 046 The Invasion
Well done. Troughton is quirky and awesome. Despite having eight parts, there's minimal drag to the story. The animation is remarkably effective for recreation of lost episodes. Hell, even the features were informative and watchable. Plus this may be the first Cyberman story to make me understand why they recur so much. Only had one "heeey it's silver Doc Martens" moment. Otherwise, I was on the edge of my seat hoping Jamie would make it. Nice up-the-kilt-shot obscuring on the ladder too.
Story 044 The Dominators
There are times where the depth of storytelling, characterization, performances, etc. obscure the fact Doctor Who began geared towards children. Then there are things like the Quarks. Holy attempt at a second Dalek Mania, Batman! Thing is Quarks manage to be even less frightening than when Daleks couldn't leave specially charged panels in one location. They're so grade-school arts and crafts in design and their voices are "aww lookit the little mechanized bear" Sci-Fi pap. Plus, Quarks only kill if guys wearing mudflap shirts and sea shell shoulder pads look at the camera and scream "DESTROY" while doing a gleeful little jig. I guess The Doctor helping people who wouldn't help themselves aspect of the story was nice for the character but everything else hurt. Maybe four parts worth of material here, but barely.
Ah sweet, sweet, Delgado. I enjoyed The Sound of Drums and End of Time version of The Master well enough. However, this one just has so much more class. He comes across as a Moriarty instead of a spoiled sadistic club kid. Autons also worked well in the classic episodes because they were supposed to be made of plastic. So a few unclean edges or blatantly fake facial appliances make perfect sense. Such well executed villains + Pertwee + Brigadier = awesomesauce.
Story 057 The Claws of Axos
Creepy statuesque angelic beings offer man a quick way to attain ultimate power which turns out to be a deadly world-eating poison. This one made me consider getting Amazon Prime to reliably stream classic episodes. The library's copy was covered in oil and scratched to hell. By the time I got it working, I was too tired to watch the special features that make the DVDs so worthwhile. Probably need to rewatch this sans technical glitches to fully appreciate.
Story 072 Death to the Daleks
Interesting to see the Daleks unarmed and outmatched. Didn't lead to character development persay. Just revealed they were the same old arrogant killing machines. Cool serial all told.
Story 129 The Five Doctors
Sometimes, I want to punch Tom Baker. Richard Hurndall did a decent Hartnell impression. However, stepping up his role when Tom bailed served to drive home everything he got wrong. Ainley wasn't bad as The Master but did make me miss Delgado. All in all, the whole thing felt insanely clumsy and made me miss The Three Doctors.
Story 045 The Mind Robber
Not really sure how I feel about this serial. Whenever Jamie and Zoe went missing, Troughton became a whiny little emo bitch. The first couple episodes were kinda crap then the plot took a nice little twist. By the end, it was a joyous romp. Right up until the robots got a "destructa-beam." Then it got cringeworthy.
Story 046 The Invasion
Well done. Troughton is quirky and awesome. Despite having eight parts, there's minimal drag to the story. The animation is remarkably effective for recreation of lost episodes. Hell, even the features were informative and watchable. Plus this may be the first Cyberman story to make me understand why they recur so much. Only had one "heeey it's silver Doc Martens" moment. Otherwise, I was on the edge of my seat hoping Jamie would make it. Nice up-the-kilt-shot obscuring on the ladder too.
Story 044 The Dominators
There are times where the depth of storytelling, characterization, performances, etc. obscure the fact Doctor Who began geared towards children. Then there are things like the Quarks. Holy attempt at a second Dalek Mania, Batman! Thing is Quarks manage to be even less frightening than when Daleks couldn't leave specially charged panels in one location. They're so grade-school arts and crafts in design and their voices are "aww lookit the little mechanized bear" Sci-Fi pap. Plus, Quarks only kill if guys wearing mudflap shirts and sea shell shoulder pads look at the camera and scream "DESTROY" while doing a gleeful little jig. I guess The Doctor helping people who wouldn't help themselves aspect of the story was nice for the character but everything else hurt. Maybe four parts worth of material here, but barely.
The Swell LOST (as in no one actually reads this blog and I've got the pageview stats to prove it) DOCTOR WHO SERIAL WALKTHROUGH PT. 4: And Coincidentally, the first one to cover any Tom Baker
Publishing a few days early in case Sandy punches me in the nuts.
Story 075 - Robot
I initially tried starting this initiative here. After all, Tom Baker was the one whom my few friends seemingly aware the show existed to 2005 fawned over. That attempt failed because Robot struck me as insanely clunky at the time. After a complete watching with some more perspective, I think that was another argument for the hypocrisy of this blog. I really need to experience entertainments with a bare minimum of pre-conception to enjoy them. Being told a daft yet intelligent man with this epic scarf would sweep me off to the stars and make me never wish to return home for so many years didn't mesh so well with meeting number 4 while he was regenerating and establishing himself as different from 3 yet still The Doctor. It did a nice job establishing what Baker was going to do with the character and effectively told a decent story. Not an instant favorite but far from Adric-bad.
Story 105 - City of Death
Okay. Now I get it. Baker was positively sublime in this one. He struck this amazing balance between insane and insanely gifted. It was just a delight to watch from start to finish. Of course, I adored lead writer Douglas Adams' novel Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and saying he borrowed from this storyline for it would be an understatement. Only real blight on my enjoyment of this one was the wish the third Dirk book got completed because the lead of that and the lead of this had so very many parallels. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
Story 092 - Horror of Fang Rock
Horror . . . simply didn't work for me. After City of Death I wasn't prepared for Baker scowling into the mist a lot. Plus, Leela: Warrior Princess made my head hurt. It was neat meeting the sworn enemy of the baked space potat.. er Sontarans though. Also nice of it to eviscerate some really cloying rich d-bag stereotypes.
Story 051 Spearhead from Space
After the rewatch of Robot, I wanted to try out the debut of another actor in the role. Pertwee was fun in The Three Doctors so I opted for this episode. The Nestene Conciousness scared the crap out of me. They introduced the possibility of my Masters of the Universe Collection strangling me and setting fire to the house while I slept. Jon Pertwee handled them with proper gravitas and made me want to be #13 if only to have access to his wardrobe in the TARDIS.
Story 069 - The Green Death
I'm glad Dad couldn't stand Doctor Who when I was growing up. There was this bucket outside which he dropped garbage into to feed a large colony of maggots. I thought of them quite fondly right up until seeing this serial. I guess so long as we didn't upgrade the Apple //e to B. O. S. S. levels with a Transwarp card. OH WAIT! WE DID! I AM DEAD!
Story 052 - Doctor Who and the Silurians
I had some interest in Silurians because of Moffat's ninja avocado warrior episodes. Got to say I prefer the original version with the funky multipurpose headlights. Sure the costumes are a bit cheesier but there's no random Kill Bill posing. Instead, there's a rather stylish yellow car named Bessie. Loved it!
Story 062 The Sea Devils
The Silurians have some cousins who wear stylish blue netting and live under the ocean. Fortunately, they were manipulated by The Master. I love me some Robert Delgado and Jon Pertwee pairing. The two complemented each other perfectly. Even with historical perspective telling me The Doctor can't los, The Master is a credible enough threat to cause some serious nailbiting.
Story 075 - Robot
I initially tried starting this initiative here. After all, Tom Baker was the one whom my few friends seemingly aware the show existed to 2005 fawned over. That attempt failed because Robot struck me as insanely clunky at the time. After a complete watching with some more perspective, I think that was another argument for the hypocrisy of this blog. I really need to experience entertainments with a bare minimum of pre-conception to enjoy them. Being told a daft yet intelligent man with this epic scarf would sweep me off to the stars and make me never wish to return home for so many years didn't mesh so well with meeting number 4 while he was regenerating and establishing himself as different from 3 yet still The Doctor. It did a nice job establishing what Baker was going to do with the character and effectively told a decent story. Not an instant favorite but far from Adric-bad.
Story 105 - City of Death
Okay. Now I get it. Baker was positively sublime in this one. He struck this amazing balance between insane and insanely gifted. It was just a delight to watch from start to finish. Of course, I adored lead writer Douglas Adams' novel Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and saying he borrowed from this storyline for it would be an understatement. Only real blight on my enjoyment of this one was the wish the third Dirk book got completed because the lead of that and the lead of this had so very many parallels. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
Story 092 - Horror of Fang Rock
Horror . . . simply didn't work for me. After City of Death I wasn't prepared for Baker scowling into the mist a lot. Plus, Leela: Warrior Princess made my head hurt. It was neat meeting the sworn enemy of the baked space potat.. er Sontarans though. Also nice of it to eviscerate some really cloying rich d-bag stereotypes.
Story 051 Spearhead from Space
After the rewatch of Robot, I wanted to try out the debut of another actor in the role. Pertwee was fun in The Three Doctors so I opted for this episode. The Nestene Conciousness scared the crap out of me. They introduced the possibility of my Masters of the Universe Collection strangling me and setting fire to the house while I slept. Jon Pertwee handled them with proper gravitas and made me want to be #13 if only to have access to his wardrobe in the TARDIS.
Story 069 - The Green Death
I'm glad Dad couldn't stand Doctor Who when I was growing up. There was this bucket outside which he dropped garbage into to feed a large colony of maggots. I thought of them quite fondly right up until seeing this serial. I guess so long as we didn't upgrade the Apple //e to B. O. S. S. levels with a Transwarp card. OH WAIT! WE DID! I AM DEAD!
Story 052 - Doctor Who and the Silurians
I had some interest in Silurians because of Moffat's ninja avocado warrior episodes. Got to say I prefer the original version with the funky multipurpose headlights. Sure the costumes are a bit cheesier but there's no random Kill Bill posing. Instead, there's a rather stylish yellow car named Bessie. Loved it!
Story 062 The Sea Devils
The Silurians have some cousins who wear stylish blue netting and live under the ocean. Fortunately, they were manipulated by The Master. I love me some Robert Delgado and Jon Pertwee pairing. The two complemented each other perfectly. Even with historical perspective telling me The Doctor can't los, The Master is a credible enough threat to cause some serious nailbiting.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Watchin' the Who Part 5: Almost up to Real Time, Bitches
Story 130 -
Warriors of the Deep
On paper, this episode wasn't a bad idea. The Sea Devils introduced the idea of a team-up with Silurians which could pose a nearly unparalleled threat to Earth. Add to that a writer with love for Alien and this should have been one of the most terrifying Who stories ever told. Sadly, almost nothing went right. It was too well lit to have anything approximating atmosphere or character. The equivalent of the Xenomorph became a bearded pantomime horse shedding green paint on cast and sets. Sea Devils put on goofy samurai outfits concealing 3/4 of their distinctive features. Words like "pacing" or "storytelling" didn't apply at all. Davison did an admirable job trying to lend the story an iota of merit but I am not sure Olivier could carry something this bad. Only way it could've been worse was if they added a flock of Adric clones who hugged Ewoks non-stop for a full episode.
Story 082 - Pyramids of Mars
An Egyptian god was part an alien race hellbent on universal conquest and can only be stopped by some rather clever people with a pervasive love for Earth. With a bit of adaptation the premise of this episode sounds quite a bit like Stargate. It's a bit awesomer with a scarf and some downright witty writing.
Story 066 - Carnival of Monsters
As a kid, I would sometimes wonder what would happen if my Viewmaster was a microscope and little people were embedded in the reels. According to this episode, Pertwee would cause a marsh to explode with a sonic screwdriver and kick the asses of monsters whose asses everyone knows cannot be kicked. I adore that man. He is just pure class. Absolutely brilliant Doctor.
Story 067 - Frontier in Space
Apparently, what man will most fear in the future are dudes with rubbery facial polyps, uniform beards, and outfits borrowed from Oz. Little shall they know that The Master pulls their strings! Bwahahahaha. About the only thing about this story that sucks is Delgado died afterwards. Otherwise, it has great pacing and twists only foreseeable if one reads some spoilers. I guess the Oz-ian Draconians are a bit cheesy/grating but Delgado and Pertwee together is pure magic.
Story 068 - Planet of the Daleks
Gargh. Thalls. Ick. At least some of them die horribly. Plus, there is some great model work going on. Not so sure why an invisible race would decide to use the fur of Grimace. Sure the planet gets cold but Snuffleupagus would blend in better with trees. All kidding aside, Pertwee is fairly brilliant even managing to play off the dull, monotonous of the Thall race.
Story 070 - The Time Warrior
I was pretty much destined to love this story. It introduced Sarah Jane Smith. I loved that character so much I named a puppy after her. As a bonus, it was a fun tale. A Sontaran lands in medieval times and sets about arming a robber baron anachronistically. By the third or fourth straight-up history story during the Hartnell era they started to become an exercise in endurance. This one had a story beyond "a man from the future and his companions get captured by ignorant savages then escape last second." Plus, Pertwee brought the kungfu poses which look absolutely smashing with his stylish jackets.
Story 071 - 025 The Gunfighters
Oh man. This one was an exceptionally awkward historical piece with multiple musical numbers. About the only thing approximating a highlight was when the Doctor introduced himself as Dr. Caligari instead of using the Smith alias. Otherwise, a real snoozer.
On paper, this episode wasn't a bad idea. The Sea Devils introduced the idea of a team-up with Silurians which could pose a nearly unparalleled threat to Earth. Add to that a writer with love for Alien and this should have been one of the most terrifying Who stories ever told. Sadly, almost nothing went right. It was too well lit to have anything approximating atmosphere or character. The equivalent of the Xenomorph became a bearded pantomime horse shedding green paint on cast and sets. Sea Devils put on goofy samurai outfits concealing 3/4 of their distinctive features. Words like "pacing" or "storytelling" didn't apply at all. Davison did an admirable job trying to lend the story an iota of merit but I am not sure Olivier could carry something this bad. Only way it could've been worse was if they added a flock of Adric clones who hugged Ewoks non-stop for a full episode.
Story 082 - Pyramids of Mars
An Egyptian god was part an alien race hellbent on universal conquest and can only be stopped by some rather clever people with a pervasive love for Earth. With a bit of adaptation the premise of this episode sounds quite a bit like Stargate. It's a bit awesomer with a scarf and some downright witty writing.
Story 066 - Carnival of Monsters
As a kid, I would sometimes wonder what would happen if my Viewmaster was a microscope and little people were embedded in the reels. According to this episode, Pertwee would cause a marsh to explode with a sonic screwdriver and kick the asses of monsters whose asses everyone knows cannot be kicked. I adore that man. He is just pure class. Absolutely brilliant Doctor.
Story 067 - Frontier in Space
Apparently, what man will most fear in the future are dudes with rubbery facial polyps, uniform beards, and outfits borrowed from Oz. Little shall they know that The Master pulls their strings! Bwahahahaha. About the only thing about this story that sucks is Delgado died afterwards. Otherwise, it has great pacing and twists only foreseeable if one reads some spoilers. I guess the Oz-ian Draconians are a bit cheesy/grating but Delgado and Pertwee together is pure magic.
Story 068 - Planet of the Daleks
Gargh. Thalls. Ick. At least some of them die horribly. Plus, there is some great model work going on. Not so sure why an invisible race would decide to use the fur of Grimace. Sure the planet gets cold but Snuffleupagus would blend in better with trees. All kidding aside, Pertwee is fairly brilliant even managing to play off the dull, monotonous of the Thall race.
Story 070 - The Time Warrior
I was pretty much destined to love this story. It introduced Sarah Jane Smith. I loved that character so much I named a puppy after her. As a bonus, it was a fun tale. A Sontaran lands in medieval times and sets about arming a robber baron anachronistically. By the third or fourth straight-up history story during the Hartnell era they started to become an exercise in endurance. This one had a story beyond "a man from the future and his companions get captured by ignorant savages then escape last second." Plus, Pertwee brought the kungfu poses which look absolutely smashing with his stylish jackets.
Story 071 - 025 The Gunfighters
Oh man. This one was an exceptionally awkward historical piece with multiple musical numbers. About the only thing approximating a highlight was when the Doctor introduced himself as Dr. Caligari instead of using the Smith alias. Otherwise, a real snoozer.
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