Doctor Who

[Professor Puzzles]

I think RTD threw out the whole 12 regeneration limit in a Sarah Jane episode.

[Mr Cochese]

Every time someone says "Doctor Who" it gives him 1up.

[Harsin]

After my last foray into old Who, the nasty and leaden The Two Doctors, I decided skip The Five Doctors and go with City of Death after reading people saying it tackled a similar person fractured in time concept to the finale of this series.

This story washed away the taste of the The Two Doctors, where that was incredibly mean spirited, this serial was pure fun. It's fairly clear that the modern series is basing its portrayal of The Doctor pretty heavily on Tom Baker's interpretation. But there's always a sense with David Tennant and Matt Smith of them going 'LOOK AT ME, I'M ACTING!' when they're doing the whole Captain Wacky routine, whereas with Tom Baker you honestly feel he is just that odd and they plonked down a camera and let it run while he got on with his day.

The Doctor and Romana are clearly at it like rabbits here, but it's not at all annoying like the current River Song relationship. It's all left as subtext and flirty dialogue and fantastic chemistry between the leads conveying it. As opposed to all the "Sweetie! Oh, my love! My magical man!" bollocks we get with River, which I've always assumed is an attempt at epic romance and grandeur but comes across more as paragraphs Mills & Boon refused for being too purple.

The supporting cast are also really good. Julian Glover is a fantastic villain, playing most of the story with a seen-it-all resignation and trading barbs with The Doctor. His unmasked form, of a horrid cyclops tentacle monster wearing a swank outfit is really memorable despite the limitations of the budget and effects at the time. Inspector Duggan is also good fun, not discovering any problem he doesn't think can be solved by violently smashing it, running at it or punching it.

What was really refreshing with this was that The Doctor is just some odd sort who just wanders into trouble. He's not a a 'Lonely God' or any of that other cobblers we seem to get all to often. The villain remains completely unimpressed with him right up until the end, even after he reveals he's a Time Lord, in the new series this would have been accompanied by Murray Gold whipping the brass section and the villain visibly cacking his pants.

I wondered why I had zero recollection of reading a novelisation of this and a post watching Wiki search revealed that it was because there never was one because Target couldn't afford Douglas Adams.

[Mr Cochese]

It is basically the same as Dirk Gently though, so there kind of is a novelisation - in the loosest possible sense.

[Davros sock drawer]

City of Death is brilliant. It's light-hearted in the best sense, in that it's not pointless, or played just for laughs. It's not silly (unlike some of the other stories of that season). The plot is tight, and the story hangs together, but it's just handled with a real lightness of touch.

It is very Douglas Adams though.

[JPickford]

He was wearing a leather jacket, like ecclestone did. Maybe not having the gumption to choose a new outfit is why this doctor is no doctor at all

It's a knackered looking version of Eccleston's jacket on top of McGann's suit.

Just a visual clue really.

[SqueakyG]

[Davros sock drawer]

Just caught up on the last episode. I sort of enjoyed it, I think. I like cliffhangers. The stuff with the past Doctors was pretty shonky looking, but hey - they tried, and it was fun.

[NecroMorrius]

Idris Elba as the next doctor, because it would be funny.

[Frosty]

My friend said John Hurt was wearing '8 and 9' clothes, which doesn't really seem to make sense to me but any who fan know if John hurt is wearing another Doctors clothes?

He was wearing a leather jacket, like ecclestone did. Maybe not having the gumption to choose a new outfit is why this doctor is no doctor at all

The most obvious direction this can take is that John Hurt is the Doctor's incarnation during The Time War, and so regenerated from McGann and into Eccleston. Afterwards he deems that what he did was not very 'Doctorly' and so resolves to have Hurt struck off and considers his new Eccleston body to be number 9, Tennant 10, Smith 11 e.t.c.

It'll probably something else though. Something... worse.

[JPickford]

It's simpler than that. There have been 12 "Nigels"(whatever his real name is) but only 11 "Doctors". John Hurts version through no choice of his own did not perform the role of "The Doctor".

The name "The Doctor" is obviously deeply significant to "Nigel" and is more than just a random nickname he calls him self. He described it as a promise in this episode.

[AK Bell]

Why are you all calling Trevor "Nigel"?

[JPickford]

Spoilers.

[NEG]

I call him Bob.

[JPickford]

[Eighthours]

I enjoyed the montage of previous Doctors and their interactions with Clara, but on reflection I'm rather disappointed that the FX used to integrate her into the shots was worse than in DS9's Trials and Tribble-ations... which aired in 1996.

[Lag]

The Time Lords can't tell their McGoohans from their Bakers.

[Sprite Machine]

The Seeds of Doom

(Blog has pictures)

The Seeds of Doom (unrelated to 'The Seeds of Death', incidentally) starts in the Antarctic, when an excavation uncovers an alien plant pod. As the pod opens, infects one of the humans and turns him into a plant-like creature, I expected a run-of-the-mill monster story all set within the base. An isolated location, cut-off from the outside, with danger of death all around.

[Picture: The frozen plant pod is dug up from under the ice.]

But the story actually only spends two episodes there. The base is blown up and a second pod is taken back to England, whereupon the stakes are significantly raised. Another infected human becomes an enormous monstrosity (a Krynoid) that threatens to turn all plant life on Earth against humans, and replicate itself into more man-eating monsters and take over the planet. To be honest, I preferred it when the stakes were lower, but I must admit, this one is well done.

[Picture: The giant Krynoid attacks the mansion!]

It is a monster story in the truest sense. There's no attempt to reach an understanding with the creature, despite it showing its intelligence. We're left to the Doctor's word that it is an unstoppable evil that must be destroyed, and who are we to question him? But the human face to this evil is Harrison Chase, a millionnaire plant-lover, who I was sure would turn out to be an alien himself (he's so oddly calm and strange), but he is simply a madman who succumbs to the power of the plants.

[Picture: Chase tries to infect Sarah Jane with the plant - all in the name of scientific curiosity.]

Nevertheless, most of the characters are more memorable than usual, and even Chase's thug-for-hire (Scorby) has a personality that almost makes you feel sorry for him, probably because he's played by John "Boycie" Challis and gets more than two lines of dialogue. Meanwhile, the Doctor does his thoroughly enjoyable routine of calm mockery and occasional shouting, and this time does a surprising amount of physical fighting too.

[Picture: The Doctor narrowly escapes a messy end, then nonchalantly claims that would have been a waste.]

It doesn't shy away from a bit of violence, either real or implied. Chase's sticky end in the vegetable grinder is more 'clean' than one might realistically expect, but it was probably a hard job to get away with what they did! Elsewhere, you have vines strangling people, giant tentacles smashing through windows and another explosive finish as UNIT calls in an airstrike to kill the creature in the nick of time. On this whole, it's fairly good, and hasn't aged as badly as you might expect.

[AK Bell]

I enjoyed the montage of previous Doctors and their interactions with Clara, but on reflection I'm rather disappointed that the FX used to integrate her into the shots was worse than in DS9's Trials and Tribble-ations... which aired in 1996.

Actually, a skit on Eurovision putting the presenter into a clip from the 70s was done a million times better than what that episode of Doctor Who did.

[Rev]

Actually, a skit on Eurovision putting the presenter into a clip from the 70s was done a million times better than what that episode of Doctor Who did.

Yeah. That was kinda awkward.

[NEG]

Guessing due to rubbish budget?

[Davros sock drawer]

The Seeds of Doom

it's fairly good, and hasn't aged as badly as you might expect.

Fairly good?! It's ace, is what it is!

It's full of brilliant lines from the Doctor, but I particularly like the Doctor shouting "WAFFLE! WAFFLE, WAFFLE, WAFFLE!" in the Major's face.

Other good ones, courtesy of Wikiquote:

The Doctor: If we don't find that pod before it germinates it will be the end of everything - EVERYTHING you understand, even your pension!

Scorby: Okay, start talking.

The Doctor: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had perfect pitch...

Scorby: [referring to corpse] What happened to him?

The Doctor: Who, Wolfgang Amadeus...? Oh, him. Oh, he died.

The Doctor: Hello this is Sarah Jane, she's my best friend.

Also the desperate way he shouts "SCORBY!!!!" at the top of his lungs after Sarah is taken away makes me wonder what he thinks Scorby is planning to do to her.

The Outside Broadcast Video footage also looks slick again, and I think the model work is pretty impressive as well.

Not wanting to build up the hype, but the next season is widely considered to be Baker's best.

[Sprite Machine]

Not wanting to build up the hype, but the next season is widely considered to be Baker's best.

[sweetdaddyg]

I still reckon he is a potential regen that the doctor didnt let happen but was influenced by to do what he did...

however I could be wrong and moffat will just make a shite resolution that makes no sense to anyone but him like he always does

the beauty of who was it was uncomplicated and the little kids could enjoy it with their mums and dads...now its become like a poor mans "american show with a clever twist"

also, has anyone read the Nth doctor? great book and reveals that at one stage they were going to go with Pierce Brosnan as the doctor....

[MrPogo]

If John Hurt really is a secret regeneration of Doctor Who, that will make the next Doctor the 13th and final incarnation.

According to tautological Who adventure The Deadly Assassin, a timelord's final incarnation resembles a kind of withered, emaciated husk. Assuming that his character in Game Of Thrones has been killed off by then, MacKenzie Crook would be the obvious choice.

They should have Karl Pilkington, whose sense of wonder and amazement at the universe has withered along with his external appearance. The Doctor clearly considers early 21st century Britain to be the pinnacle of all the universes civilisations, and in his final reincarnation will keep getting begrudgingly dragged out of retirement to save races and planets he thinks are a bit rubbish and not really worth bothering with, but feels some sort of vague obligation towards.

[Harsin]

He's done something so terrible he can never again use the name Doctor. Maybe he shagged Bonnie Langford.

[NEG]

Davros did point out (whilst wagging his finger) that The Doctor is the 'destroyer of worlds'.

[Space Renegade Ulala]

At which point does the Doctor destroy Skaro? Is it thousands of years in the future, was it 'present day' in the 80s? All this time travelling lark gets so frightfully complicated...

[sweetdaddyg]

He's done something so terrible he can never again use the name Doctor. Maybe he shagged Bonnie Langford.

Rassilon's beard....

[Sprite Machine]

The Masque of Mandragora

(Blog has pictures)

Over the past 10 seasons, the Tardis has generally steered clear of travelling to the past, with very few exceptions. I suppose sci-fi is easier to do when it's futuristic or present day, and to be fair, most of those early historical episodes were bloody awful. But this is a new era of Doctor Who, under new writers, new talent, in what is allegedly Doctor Who's "Golden Age", and so this four-part serial set in 15th century Italy actually turns out to be pretty good after all!

[Picture: Giuliano and Marco.]

By now, Tom Baker is really settling into the character of the Doctor. Not just settling in, but actually making the character his own. The way he faces down death with a joke, perfect comic timing, mockery and an undercurrent of threat, is just masterful. There are moments in this story that had me genuinely laughing out loud, in particular when the clan of cultists are about to sacrifice Sarah Jane to their god, and the Doctor casually slides her out of the way of the falling dagger. He regularly looks death in the eye with an insane smile on his face, and he escapes believably because he does what nobody would expect. It's brilliant.

[Picture: Sarah is casually saved from being sacrificed. "Yoink!" *grin*]

This could have been a fairly run-of-the-mill story - certainly, cultists worshipping an alien they think is a god is nothing particularly new - but it's raised to something far better simply because of how good the Doctor is throughout. It's also pleasing to see a sympathetic character in Giuliano, someone who embraces scientific reasoning over superstition and actually trusts the Doctor's judgement - however this is undermined somewhat by the alien being a big ball of magic fire. The Doctor can call it "helix energy" all he wants, it's basically a fiery ghost thing that possesses people.

[Picture: It's like a meeting of the Death Eaters, without the wands.]

There's a running theme of identity and disguise. The Mandragora alien possesses Hieronymous, blanking his face; the cultists all wear elaborate masks; there's a masquerade party that the cultists infiltrate; and of course, the Doctor saves the day by dressing up as their leader. In one scene, he even wears a lion head and growls, it's rather amusing.

[Picture: The Doctor graciously accepts some salami as a parting gift.]

A noteworthy opening scene shows, for the first time, a tour of the Tardis interior corridors, leading to a second control room. This is the first indication that there even are multiple control rooms, that the Tardis is effectively infinite inside, and the scene is played out with a sense of humour too. It's nicely done.