Doctor Who

[Gregory Wolfe]

I can't remember when I last watched a Jon Pertwee episode of Doctor Who but what struck me recently about Sprite Machine's latest review of the Pertwee era was how synthy the music was getting. Now, I don't really remember how synthy the Claws of Axos is or was or indeed most other Pertwee stories but there is one story I recall from a re-watch many years ago that was mega synthy and in a way I'm hoping this was the pinnacle of Who synth music since it hit me so hard when I last watched it.

I'm going to spoiler the reveal, as it's a later story, Sprite Machine and others may not want to know what it is right now. I have embedded a youtube vid within the spoiler of the synth music of the story I am referring to. Enter at your peril!

http://youtu.be/x3c7GT63SxU

[Flub]

Image spoiler for returning villain (Not sure some people would want to know which it is but here's a pic anyway) It's the one from the last promotional image but a full length shot.

http://i.imgur.com/xA18DEv.jpg

[linkster]

I can't remember when I last watched a Jon Pertwee episode of Doctor Who but what struck me recently about Sprite Machine's latest review of the Pertwee era was how synthy the music was getting. Now, I don't really remember how synthy the Claws of Axos is or was or indeed most other Pertwee stories but there is one story I recall from a re-watch many years ago that was mega synthy and in a way I'm hoping this was the pinnacle of Who synth music since it hit me so hard when I last watched it.

I'm going to spoiler the reveal, as it's a later story, Sprite Machine and others may not want to know what it is right now. I have embedded a youtube vid within the spoiler of the synth music of the story I am referring to. Enter at your peril!

http://youtu.be/x3c7GT63SxU

I knew before I even clicked the link what it was going to be...

they were crazy experimental back then, BBC must have been a truly awesome place to work. Was gutted I never got to that exibition in Manchester for the lady who built all their custom equipment

Image spoiler for returning villain (Not sure some people would want to know which it is but here's a pic anyway) It's the one from the last promotional image but a full length shot.

http://i.imgur.com/xA18DEv.jpg

How's he supposed to run down a corridor in that?

[Flub]

He obviously lifts though. We should ask Crispin

[Sprite Machine]

Colony in Space

(Blog has pictures)

In order to stop the Master from capturing a doomsday device, the Time Lords permit the Doctor's Tardis to leave Earth and follow him to an off-world human colony in the future. And so the Doctor and Jo leave (unintentionally) on a proper Doctor Who Adventure, complete with primitive aliens, spaceships, giant monsters, gun fights, and people in uniforms giving questionable orders to each other.

[Picture: The miners use scare tactics to get rid of the colonists. The Doctor is not fooled.]

This ought to be a jolly exciting romp, and it does have its strengths. I like most of the production design, the uniforms, the ship interiors and the miniature models. The story takes place in a future where Earth is overpopulated and colonists have ventured out, but the greedy mining companies of Earth are stripping their dwellings of minerals to take back and build homes – thus setting up a conflict of interest. Sadly, a lot of this story consists the two groups (the mining company and the colonists) threatening each other, having fights and trying to sort out the legalities of their claims. Also, it's six parts long. Yawn.

[Picture: One of the colonists is Gail from Corrie!]

It's just as well, then, that the Master shows up, disguised as an adjudicator, to make things interesting. While the two groups fight it out, the Master coerces the Doctor into infiltrating the alien inhabitants' dwelling and uncovering their ancient doomsday weapon, with which he intends to rule the Universe. The aliens' leader, a tiny little thing with a big head, decides to blow the weapon up, and the Master predictably escapes again.

This is certainly a better story than some of the recent ones, but not without its problems. Given his freedom, the Doctor is less insufferable than he was on Earth, with no UNIT to tell him what to do either. He continues to engage in a fair bit of judo-chopping action, verging on the ridiculous. Action scenes continue to date badly – and whenever guns are fired, the video noticeably flickers! Cliffhanger endings have started lying, rewinding to a few seconds earlier to show that, actually, everything was fine. Meanwhile, the music is somehow even synthier than ever.

[Picture: The so-called 'Primitives' have a Tuscan Raider vibe about them. They even do that same thing with their spears.]

There is never any question that this is a product of its time. But if the 25th century actually does see spaceships that use typewriter print-outs to relay information, I'll change my stance.

Odd thing to mention: when the Tardis disappears and reappears in this story, it does so instantaneously rather than the usual gradual transition. Did they run out of cross-fade effects or something? It looks bad.

[Davros sock drawer]

Never seen that one myself, but I think it's widely regarded as a bit of a bore-fest.

You've noticed the gun interference thing then? That happens pretty much throughout the entire original run of Dr Who stories. Certainly stories as late as Davison's last, The Caves of Androzani, have it.

[Sprite Machine]

The Dæmons

(Blog has pictures)

The Master sure does love Earth. He's back again, and this time he's dabbling in the occult, posing as a village vicar, while actually trying to summon the devil.

Okay, so the devil is actually a 'Dæmon', from the planet Dæmos or something. Hundreds of thousands of years ago, they visited Earth and helped humanity to learn to destroy themselves, and so they entered myth and legend of many cultures and became the image of the devil. The Doctor makes a point to differentiate between science and magic, but when he's talking about creatures harnessing psionic energies from people's emotions, he might as well be talking magic for all the difference it makes.

I would have to describe this one as hokey. It's clichéd and silly and not very interesting. Even the Master plays a one-dimensional evil villain role, without engaging in banter with the Doctor this time. It is nice to have the Brigadier back, but he doesn't have much input into the story. For most of it, UNIT is trapped outside an energy barrier surrounding the village, and when they get inside, they spend the rest of the time fighting the ridiculous-looking gargoyle monster, while the Doctor talks the daemon Azal into submission. To top it off, Azal is ultimately bested by "the power of love", as Jo attempts to sacrifice herself to save the Doctor. I'm almost sorry she didn't. With the Master captured by UNIT, the world is saved and everyone dances around a maypole. No, seriously, they do.

So, this brings season 8 to a disappointing close. I've enjoyed the Master's appearances so far but the stories have been a bit of a mixed bag. Here's hoping things improve.

[linkster]

ok, I'm out, this is one of my favourites. "Chap with the wings, three rounds rapid." Legend. I love the maypole tie in too, it's like Hobbs Lane in Quatermass, a solid connection with modern times and the actual occult

[Davros sock drawer]

I'm in total agreement Sprite, the Daemons was a big disappointment to me when I saw it for the first time recently.

It does get better - at around the end of 1974

[Sprite Machine]

Ooh, devicive!

I feel like I've OD'd a bit on Doctor Who lately; it's getting a bit boring. I'll carry on with the next batch on Monday. Fresh start, clear head.

[linkster]

Davros seems to be a lot less forgiving than I am when it comes to seeing transmissions of stories we already knew and presumably both enjoy. it's definitely the stories I enjoy of the Pertwee era more than the skill of the TV show, I can't really separate the two

[Davros sock drawer]

Unfortunately the TV shows have supplanted my memory of the Target Books now (which I think is probably what you're referencing). For example, I absolutely adored Revenge of the Cybermen in novelised form, but the TV episodes are dire. However The Daemons has the added disadvantage of not being a story I particularly remember reading as a kid, and so I haven't got an in-built love of the story.

I must admit, I've been looking ahead at the Pertwee stories you've got coming up and thinking "Jesus, how is Sprite going to get through all of these". Rest assured though, there are some absolutely excellent stories amongst them.

[Davros sock drawer]

Oh, and I'm currently watching The Mutants, just because I've never seen it before. It's considered a bit of a duffer, but so far it's not bad actually. It's got Geoffrey Palmer in it for one thing.

[Sprite Machine]

Day of the Daleks

(Blog has pictures)

This is the first appearance of the Daleks since their emperor and city were seemingly destroyed at the end of 'Evil of the Daleks'. The thing with time travel is you can bring villains or anyone else back from the dead.

[Picture: The ironically-named Controller is manipulated by the Daleks.]

Actually, this story uses time travel in a way that hasn't previously been done on Doctor Who. Not because it brings the Daleks back (these ones would be from an earlier time) but because it sets up a future history of world wars and disaster, caused by an event in the past, which is caused by the actions of someone from the future trying to stop the event but actually causing it in the first place. A causality loop, or as the Doctor calls it, a paradox.

[Picture: The Guerrillas initially appear to be the bad guys... until we learn the truth.]

This also neatly sidesteps the continuity issue with the first Dalek invasion, which by my recollection, should have occurred a couple of decades prior to the future events depicted here. If the timeline was (temporarily?) altered so that mankind nearly wiped itself out instead, the original Dalek invasion would not have happened, and instead we learn that they took control of Earth at a later date, more passively, controlling its leaders and building its workforce from the survivors. This would also mean that Susan would not have stayed behind. She wasn't mentioned; in fact the original Dalek invasion is only referenced in passing, but it got me thinking and I enjoyed it.

[Picture: The Daleks use a mind scanner to reveal the Doctor's identity. Nice touch.]

The Doctor is, of course, able to travel back to the past and stop the explosion that would kill the world peace delegates and plunge the world into world war three... and in doing so, allows humanity to escape its fate. A lot of sci-fi shows and movies from this era played with the idea of atomic wars in the near future, so it was nice for Doctor Who to end this story on a more optimistic note.

[Picture: Alien slaves, the Ogrons are the policemen of the future.]

Tightly plotted into four parts, this was enjoyable, thought-provoking and clever. One slight disappointment was that the Doctor's time experiment with the Tardis control panel at the very start (they see future versions of themselves enter the room) is not followed up on. That would have been fun to see them walk in on their past selves, completing the loop, but it didn't happen. Never mind.

[Picture: Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey.]

It was good to see the Daleks back, in colour this time. With no sign of the Master, and the Doctor still stuck on Earth, we need more stories like this. Big ideas, played out on a small scale. This worked for me.

[linkster]

but it got me thinking and I enjoyed it.

Amen, brother

I adore this one. Like Terminator, I believe they were both influenced by an episiode of The Outer Limits called Soldier. Regardless, the twists are well handled, as is the concept of facism (in the novel, the controller is made a very sympathetic character)

[Rev]

A new pic from series 7 part two has been revealed:

I know the bloke who did that. He's quite good with Photoshop.

[Davros sock drawer]

I like it when you enjoy them Sprite. Never seen Day of the Daleks, although I've read it plenty of times.

Curse of Peladon and The Sea Devils next!

[Sprite Machine]

The Curse of Peladon

(Blog has pictures)

Having (seemingly) repaired his Tardis, the Doctor takes Jo along for their first "test flight", and lands on a planet called Peladon. Thus begins another good old fashioned adventure on an alien world, complete with silly costumes, silly voices and silly rituals, as the Doctor pretends to be a delegate from Earth who, along with an assortment of little green men, must decide whether Peladon can be accepted into the Galactic Federation.

[Picture: The delegate from Alpha Centauri has a comical squeaky voice, rather at odds with the tone of the episodes.]

Although the aliens look silly, this is to be expected from a 1970s TV show on a tight budget, and actually they're all quite unique and imaginative. Sensibly, Peladon's people are humanoid, and so they are able to properly emote and empathise with. The young King Peladon is a tragic character, trying to bring his world into a new age, but held back by the traditional views of his elder advisor and mentor, who ends up betraying his king and trying to sabotage negotiations.

[Picture: The events of this story are contained within the castle.]

This is probably one of those stories that works better as a novel, with your imagination able to fill in the gaps (see also: 'The Web Planet'). Nonetheless, despite some silliness, it worked well enough on screen for its purposes. It also tries to develop Jo's character for the first time... but does so by having her pretend to be a princess and fall in love with the king. An unfortunate cliché, but at least it's something! I did genuinely think she was going to stay behind at one point, but nope.

[Picture: King Peladon and Jo, sitting in a tree...]

Elsewhere, the Ice Warriors are fleshed out, having put their warlike ways behind them and become a peaceful member state of the Galactic Federation. It was weird to see them behaving honourably, even saving the Doctor's life, but I liked it because they had previously been written as one-dimensional aggressors, and that just gets old. I'll be interested to see how they are handled when they are revived in the new series.

[Picture: The Ice Warriors, now a peaceful race of... er... warriors.]

Before leaving, the Doctor muses that the Tardis is probably still under Time Lord control, because their arrival was so perfectly timed to provide assistance. I found this amusing, because the Tardis's arrival is ALWAYS perfectly timed to provide assistance! There's no difference! Still, it does seem like the Doctor hasn't fully broken free of his shackles. The series was probably testing the waters, I suppose, seeing what it could do on its budget with these little getaways. I can't say I truly cared that much about the fate of Peladon or its politics, but at its heart is a story about setting aside superstitious beliefs and accepting a broader society, so I'll give it a little credit. This wasn't a bad effort, and at only four parts, it didn't outstay its welcome either.

[linkster]

I'm assuming someone has explained the reason for the TARDIS being stuck on earth was budget cuts at the BBC?

If I've seen this one it's gone straight out again, no memory at all

[Davros sock drawer]

Funnily enough, this was one of my favourites in Target form. As Sprite says, it was better with your imagination to fill in the gaps. That said, as it was one of the earlier novelisations it was one of the few to have illustrations:

[Sprite Machine]

I'm assuming someone has explained the reason for the TARDIS being stuck on earth was budget cuts at the BBC?

I'd assumed the Earth-based locations was to offset the cost of producing episodes in colour, rather than actual cuts to the budget. Do you have any links to good articles about this?

[linkster]

I think i read it here...

[Davros sock drawer]

I've got that book on the shelf behind me, someone at work brought it in. Not read it yet.

[linkster]

Found this forum post, hardly definitive but hey

As stated earlier the Time Lords exiled the Doctor to Earth as punishment for interfering .

They disabled the Tardis and changed his appearance as part of the deal.

The reason for his exile was that Who was becoming unpopular and they needed to cut the budget if it was to continue and Troughton had made his decision to quit a while before as had Frazer Hines who was going to leave earlier but Troughton persuaded him to wait so they could leave together

Having the doctor on earth meant less requirement for expensive alien sets .

Having 3 stories of 7 parts was also part of the budget cuts but they soon realised that it did not help having to stretch the story to this length.

The parallel Earth part of Inferno was not even in the original script but was added (by Terrance Dicks IIRC) to lengthen the story.

The second season of Pertwee is for me , the peak of the series entire history.

Terror of The Autons took the show to new levels and there were even quesions in Parliament about it.

During that season the Time Lords temporarily allowed the Dr to use the Tardis in Colony In Space to track the Master down in one of Pertwees worst ever stories that will only ever appear on dvd hidden in a boxset I should think.

The earthbound years were definitely the peak of Pertwee but they did limit the story possibilities .

Saddest part of the era is that the BBC wiped virtually all the original tapes of these classic stories without even repeating most of them even once .

So we are stuck with a mix of B&W/16mm/NTSC recordings for much of the era.

Nice that the restoration team do such a great job of the dvd's in getting them back as close to the original as possible

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1282879

I've got that book on the shelf behind me, someone at work brought it in. Not read it yet.

awe man that was my bible

[Cthulhu Steev]

I've got that book on the shelf behind me, someone at work brought it in. Not read it yet.

heh, I have it on a shelf behind me as well. It's one of my all time favourite Christmas presents (1983! £10.95!) and one that will never make the trip to the loft where, sadly, my collection of Target novels resides.

[Davros sock drawer]

I have all my Target novels on display, next to my complete set of FF books. I've not got all the Targets though, I really should fill in the blanks.

[Cosmic_Guru]

Tempted by these.

[Fireproofradiator]

Re:Stamps - are they sending these out then? I signed up on the Royal Mail website for more info but don't seem to have had anything. I've been pretty distracted by the entertaining missives from the good people at Byrdr though...

[Cosmic_Guru]

The stamps are due out on 26 March but don't yet seem available for pre-order on-line which is a bit odd given they are sending these brochures out to the mailing list.

[sofasurfer]

The stamps are due out on 26 March but don't yet seem available for pre-order on-line which is a bit odd given they are sending these brochures out to the mailing list.

You can order the stamps here

http://shop.royalmail.com/doctor-who/doctor-who-stamps/icat/doctorwhostampsets/