Doctor Who

[Davros sock drawer]

Honestly, I really don't think spoilers are necessary there APM. But yeah, good point about Fang Rock. I still love it though.

[Exidor]

It's worth having a listen to the commentary for the last episode of Castrovalva for a bit of Adric/Waterhouse schadenfreude.

[squirtle]

Honestly, I really don't think spoilers are necessary there APM. But yeah, good point about Fang Rock. I still love it though.

I've been burnt by the Breaking Bad thread in regards to spoilers so always err on the side of caution these days.

[WibbleWorldGiddy]

It's worth having a listen to the commentary for the last episode of Castrovalva for a bit of Adric/Waterhouse schadenfreude.

I feel sorry for Waterhouse TBH. Sure, he wasn't a great actor and played a character who was exceptionally annoying. However, he doesn't deserve constant mockery from Peter Davison. PD went through a phase of repeatedly criticising him in interviews for the Big Finish audios a few years and often pokes malicious fun at him at DW conventions he's attended, even when the question didn't relate to the companions or Adric/Waterhouse directly.

[Sprite Machine]

The Visitation

(Blog has pictures)

Poor Tegan just wants to get back to Heathrow Airport. Credit to the Doctor that he manages to land the Tardis in the right place, but unfortunately he's about 300 years too early. It is by astonishing coincidence (or simply the Tardis' "Adventure Detector") that they land in the middle of an alien plot to wipe out London with a virus spread by rats. Yep, they did a "plague" story, and they started the fire of London too. What japes!

[Picture: The baker's shop on Pudding Lane.]

At its heart, this is another monster/alien invasion story. It shares similarities with 'The Time Warrior', with the Terileptil alien hiding out and controlling a group of humans with mind control devices. He also has an android that he dresses up as the grim reaper. It's a shame that the Terileptil's motives are so one-dimensional, despite the attempt to sympathise with him because he's an escaped convict and has horrible scarring on his face.

[Picture: The Terileptil costume features moving lips. While it's still obviously a man in a suit (complete with muffled voice), it's a good effort. The scarred face is quite freaky too.]

But somehow, this story worked for me. It's a standard formula, but it's good fun. The supporting cast member who plays the thespian actor-turned-highwayman is a particular highlight. It's always fun to see period characters responding to futuristic or otherworldly scenarios, and Michael Robbins plays the part wonderfully. He's such a lovable rogue, I would have been glad to have him along for more adventures. Alas, we're instead stuck with Adric, Tegan and Nyssa. To be fair, they're not too bad in this and they work together well. There's a bit of action, a bit of humour, a bit of horror. Standard stuff, but it's competently handled.

[Picture: The Doctor and Mace stand ready outside the Terileptil's crashed escape pod.]

The fifth Doctor has had a little time to settle in now. He's more 'human' than the last one; you tell when he's nervous or frustrated because his voice goes high-pitched and squeaky, bless him! He's also had a bit more physical action so far, getting into fights and so on. One final noteworthy event: the Terileptil destroyed his sonic screwdriver! I was distraught! I'm not saying he deserved to burn in the fire at the end, but, well, I can't entirely blame the Doctor for not pulling them all out of it!

[Vespa Alex]

I loved that episode when it first aired. It's one I can still remember clearly.

[Davros sock drawer]

Yeah, it's a nice little story this one. I think it was about the third or fourth VHS I bought of the show when I was at Uni in the mid nineties. My old housemate and I still occasionally say "Drop the sonic deviiice" in that sort of world weary way the actor playing the Terileptil delivers it.

At the time I'd not seen Four to Doomsday since it originally aired, so I couldn't for the life of me work out why The Doctor says "Not again..." when he nearly has his head chopped off.

[Sprite Machine]

Black Orchid

(Blog has pictures)

I'm often critical of stretching or padding out stories over more parts than necessary, and although the show has settled into a rhythm of four-part serials, it's still nice to shake things up now and then.

[Picture: Nyssa meets her doppleganger, Ann. What is it with Doctor Who and dopplegangers?]

This simple two-part story was presumably quite cheap to make, with minimal effects and an Earthly location. It's something of a holiday for the characters, too, who get to let their hair down and relax. Consequently, none of them irritate or frustrate like they would in a threatening situation; not even Adric, who spends much of the story filling up on buffet food. And the Doctor gets to show how good he is at cricket.

[Picture: It's not like clowns aren't scary enough without there being deranged murderers inside of them.]

If anything, the larking about takes up too much of the runtime, with the mutilated murdering botanist plot having to wrap itself up in record time. I was quite enjoying the Doctor getting arrested and no-one believing his story, but that lasts for all of three minutes before we're back at the mansion and rescuing Nyssa from the roof. The orchid explanation is blurted out as a mere aside to the action.

[Picture: A horribly disfigured George Cranleigh abducts Nyssa, thinking she is his former fiancée.]

The plot may be brisk, and reliant upon a series of coincidences, but it's a fun diversion. Not every story has to be a world-ending drama - there's a lot to be said for simple character pieces, and this was a tragic tale in its own little way.

[Fireproofradiator]

You seem to be enjoying this season Sprite. It's probably the season I watched most attentively when I was little and although the Tom ones I remember bits of (often as much from stills in Dr Who Weekly/Monthly and reading the Targets as from seeing them on telly) have built up a slightly mystical level of awe in me (City of Death and Seeds of Doom in particular) I was too young/out climbing trees for most of them.

I actually watched most of this first season of Peter Davison on the wazzock's lantern though and there's a lot to be said for it. Tons of ideas, nice varied settings, Doctor who is a dude. If the companions were better (were any of JNT's companions any good? Apart from Turlough, who is the business?) it might be a classic.

[Teabag]

Is Black Orchid the only classic story where they get out of a scrape (in this case the Doctor being accused of murder) by taking the cops into the Tardis and saying "Look, we're totally time travellers, we didn't do nothing" ?

[Sprite Machine]

Is Black Orchid the only classic story where they get out of a scrape (in this case the Doctor being accused of murder) by taking the cops into the Tardis and saying "Look, we're totally time travellers, we didn't do nothing" ?

That's the one.

[Davros sock drawer]

I've got a bit of a soft spot for Black Orchid. I remember it quite clearly from the original broadcast, and it's a fun little bit of whimsy/tragedy.

The next story could not be more different!

[Sprite Machine]

Yay, I got my first bit of criticism on my blog comments, for Talons. Apparently, it's not racist at all.

[Davros sock drawer]

I think that's a good reply from you Sprite. It makes me wince too, but I suspect it didn't come from a bad place in terms of the production team's intentions.

[davidcotton]

The Visitation

(Blog has pictures)

Poor Tegan just wants to get back to Heathrow Airport. Credit to the Doctor that he manages to land the Tardis in the right place, but unfortunately he's about 300 years too early. It is by astonishing coincidence (or simply the Tardis' "Adventure Detector") that they land in the middle of an alien plot to wipe out London with a virus spread by rats. Yep, they did a "plague" story, and they started the fire of London too. What japes!

[Picture: The baker's shop on Pudding Lane.]

At its heart, this is another monster/alien invasion story. It shares similarities with 'The Time Warrior', with the Terileptil alien hiding out and controlling a group of humans with mind control devices. He also has an android that he dresses up as the grim reaper. It's a shame that the Terileptil's motives are so one-dimensional, despite the attempt to sympathise with him because he's an escaped convict and has horrible scarring on his face.

[Picture: The Terileptil costume features moving lips. While it's still obviously a man in a suit (complete with muffled voice), it's a good effort. The scarred face is quite freaky too.]

But somehow, this story worked for me. It's a standard formula, but it's good fun. The supporting cast member who plays the thespian actor-turned-highwayman is a particular highlight. It's always fun to see period characters responding to futuristic or otherworldly scenarios, and Michael Robbins plays the part wonderfully. He's such a lovable rogue, I would have been glad to have him along for more adventures. Alas, we're instead stuck with Adric, Tegan and Nyssa. To be fair, they're not too bad in this and they work together well. There's a bit of action, a bit of humour, a bit of horror. Standard stuff, but it's competently handled.

[Picture: The Doctor and Mace stand ready outside the Terileptil's crashed escape pod.]

The fifth Doctor has had a little time to settle in now. He's more 'human' than the last one; you tell when he's nervous or frustrated because his voice goes high-pitched and squeaky, bless him! He's also had a bit more physical action so far, getting into fights and so on. One final noteworthy event: the Terileptil destroyed his sonic screwdriver! I was distraught! I'm not saying he deserved to burn in the fire at the end, but, well, I can't entirely blame the Doctor for not pulling them all out of it!

Apparantly Davison wanted more "coincidences" with the doctor causing all sort's of history's events along the lines of the fire of london. but sadly jnt vetoed it.

[Sprite Machine]

Apparantly Davison wanted more "coincidences" with the doctor causing all sort's of history's events along the lines of the fire of london. but sadly jnt vetoed it.

Ah, that's a shame. I like the idea, although I can see how it could get a bit cheesy. Yet, Earthshock takes the concept quite far...

Earthshock

(Blog has pictures)

I wasn't sure what to make of Earthshock by about half-way through. The trouble with the Cybermen is, since Tom Baker encountered them in 'Revenge of the Cybermen', they've been a bit rubbish. For all their talk of lacking emotional weakness, they clearly display emotions themselves, from sadistic glee at watching others die, to frustration at being foiled. They're just regular evil villains with a regular evil villain boss, and voices that somehow lack the creepy synthetic monotone of the 60s versions. Ironically, then, a downgrade.

[Picture: The Cybermen watch clips of the previous Doctors' encounters with them. This was a nice touch. How things have changed!]

But in this case, I can forgive the slightly rubbish Cybermen, as the setup is one of the best. Unlike The Invasion, where Cybermen are already overrunning the Earth, here we have a classic isolated environment, a ship full of dormant Cybermen on a collision course. This potential doomsday scenario raises the stakes without over-egging the threat. Part 1 is a creepy little adventure in itself, as two of the android servants skulk around in a dark cave, picking off the squad of troopers, before the adventure is whisked off into space, troopers in tow. This is quite neatly written, with those fossils in the caves foreshadowing the explosive events at the conclusion, and the argument with Adric foreshadowing his ultimate demise.

[Picture: The Doctor is letting the public into the Tardis a little too casually lately. Admittedly, the Cybermen forced their way in.]

This is not the first time a companion has been offed, but I wouldn't count Katarina as a "main character", so this is definitely a bold move. Admittedly, I never liked Adric, but I honestly didn't expect him to die. The Doctor could be planning to go back in time and rescue him or something, but that would be pretty cheap. Besides, the silent end credits kind of said "this is final, be sad". I applaud the bravery of finally doing this, of not simply concocting a last-minute rescue like every other story seems to do.

[Picture: As is often the case in Doctor Who, the action scenes are poor. The lasers look particularly bad.]

That's one of the good things about Earthshock, how utterly powerless the Doctor is. He is completely at the mercy of the Cybermen, forced to do their bidding as officers and crew are killed around him. The conclusion is particularly clever, then; it's not that the Cybermen failed to wipe out life on Earth, it's just that they chose the wrong time to do it. Or the right time, depending on how you look at it. The rise of mammals are all thanks to them. Not content with simply burning down London, the Doctor is now responsible for sentient life developing on Earth. That's pretty cool.

[Picture: See ya, Adric.]

[Davros sock drawer]

A fair write up, although I would be more harsh on it for various reasons.

Try to imagine though, if you can, being 7 years old when this story was first broadcast. I'd read the Target novelisations that existed at the time over and over again, and I especially loved Tomb and Revenge of the Cybermen (it's really good in book form, trust me). However I'd never, ever, seen a single televised adventure featuring the Cybermen. Jon Pertwee never faced them, they never repeated Revenge, and all of the other Cybermen stories were either missing or partially missing.

So Earthshock comes on the telly, and it looks like just a normal story. JNT famously turned down a Radio Times cover announcing the return of the Cybermen, so when the end of part one happened it was a genuine surprise.

I think it was probably one of the most exciting things I ever saw as a child.

Of course, in hindsight and with the benefit of the VHS/DVD versions, it's not quite as exciting. Everything you say about the deterioration of the Cybermen since their initial emotionless portrayal is true. If anything the Cyber Leader is just as emotional as the Doctor, which renders his whole speech about emotions curtailing the intellect and logic of the mind rather hypocritical. I do have a residual fondness for their actual design though, the transparent chins being an especially nice touch, and for right or wrong these designs are the definitive one for the show as a whole.

As for the rest, well it's pretty bad really. You're right about the action scenes. Although it's tense in the first episode it soon turns into a bit of an am-dram Alien knock off, with Tegan seemingly given Sigourney Weaver's cast off overalls to wear. I don't know why the laser effects in this are so poor (although the sound is memorable), when the ones in The Visitation were so good. There are some good bits, like the Cyberman fused into the door, but generally I think it can be filed under "over ambitious".

Then you have a pretty appalling bit of stunt casting in the form of Beryl Reid (who apparently had not one clue what was going on, and it shows), and some rather awful supporting performances, such as the traitor Ringway, or worse, Professor Kyle, the drippy scientist woman.

The plot doesn't make sense for a whole list of reasons as well. To quote the Discontinuity Guide:

Why is Ringway (the traitor) so obviously worried about the power drains?

Where do the Cybermen evacuate to?

What'll happen when 15,000 Cybermen land on Earth?

If they could arrive in secret to plant a bomb, why are they going to such trouble now?

Why choose those particular caves?

Why cause a power failure on the ship which threatens to prevent it from getting to Earth (which is where they want to go)?

Why not kill the freighter crew, who are bound to have a go at the controls?

Why leave several Cybermen behind on the freighter, some of them still dormant? (They're revived by accident, it appears.)

If the Doctor wants to convince the crew of his credentials, why not introduce them to the high ranking military officer he's brought with him?

Emotional concepts expressed by Cybermen include betrayal, vengeance and cruelty.

And more besides I'm sure.

And then there's Adric. Hard to believe, but I didn't hate him when I was a kid. Watching at the time it was pretty gut wrenching. Now of course I realise what a total disaster the character and casting was, and this is best summed up by the fact that he can't even do his final scene properly. Watch him typing at the keyboard before the cyberman blasts it - you can see him flinching, anticipating the explosion.

Twerp. Good riddance!

[Yartek]

The first few paragraphs of Davros' post are basically what I was going to say. I was rather obsessed with Cybermen due to books, photos and comics but had also never seen them on the telly so the end of episode one was the greatest thing I'd ever seen.

I still love it. I know it has many flaws and it's a story I constantly worry I'll suddenly not like anymore, but it's not happened yet.

[Darren]

I'd stopped watching by this point but I remember thinking the new Cybermen looked particularly ridiculous in their silver shell suits. Also that the helmets were rubbish because you could see their mouths moving! I thought at the time that they were just meant to be robots. I still stand by the shell suit thing though.

[Davros sock drawer]

I think the helmet design is awesome, the moving mouth showing the flesh within was a great touch. In fact I have a T-shirt!

http://www.redbubble.com/people/ideedido/works/7618743-baddies-v3

Er...and an action figure.

And they're not shell suits, they're flight suits sprayed silver!

The boots are silly though.

[Darren]

Oh god, I'd totally forgotten about the Moon Boots!

Basically they looked very cheap and plastic-y after the awesome metal bastards from a few years earlier. Now they were the definitive Cybermen (IMHO).

[Davros sock drawer]

Awesome metal bastards in wet suits you mean?

[Darren]

Shush you, they were METAL. \m/

[davidcotton]

If you want a (cheap) laugh look up earthshock part 5 on youtube.

Also if you think about it, the end credits bit would never have the same effect if used in todays programme with that bloody shrink screen at the end....

[NEG]

So I recently bought and watched the blu ray of Spearhead from Space. No real experience of Classic Who besides Genesis of the Daleks and clips of bits and pieces from Youtube over the years. Oh and the first couple of Hartnell stories via Netflix.

I wasn't aware it was the first Third Doctor story! ( Though I did know that it was going to look a bit better then the rest due to film quality and such. )

Slow, but watchable and interesting/fun in a different way (compared to the modern series) nonetheless. One or two episodes too many perhaps.

It's made me get the rest of the 7th (1970) season to see how it continues. Sprites blog does discourage (sounds awfully boring, the rest of the season that is) but oh well, I just won't continue if I find myself falling asleep. Considering the prices of the DVDs you don't seem to have to invest 'too' much to enjoy some Who. Though I'm also a sucker for extras/making of's/commentaries, I've been well aware they fill these in with spades of it. I suppose the Spearhead extras also helped make my mind up in that regard. Some emotional stuff on that thing.

[SqueakyG]

I always thought the 80s Cybermen had facial design that made them look gormless and depressed. It's a "Once you see it you can't unsee it" kind of thing.

Perhaps it was intentional -- some of the previous Cybermen had a 'teardrop' design on the eyes, which may have represented the defeated misery of the human inside who was converted. But 80s Cybermen just look bloody gormless.

[Davros sock drawer]

So I recently bought and watched the blu ray of Spearhead from Space. No real experience of Classic Who besides Genesis of the Daleks and clips of bits and pieces from Youtube over the years. Oh and the first couple of Hartnell stories via Netflix.

I wasn't aware it was the first Third Doctor story! ( Though I did know that it was going to look a bit better then the rest due to film quality and such. )

Slow, but watchable and interesting/fun in a different way (compared to the modern series) nonetheless. One or two episodes too many perhaps.

It's made me get the rest of the 7th (1970) season to see how it continues. Sprites blog does discourage (sounds awfully boring, the rest of the season that is) but oh well, I just won't continue if I find myself falling asleep. Considering the prices of the DVDs you don't seem to have to invest 'too' much to enjoy some Who. Though I'm also a sucker for extras/making of's/commentaries, I've been well aware they fill these in with spades of it. I suppose the Spearhead extras also helped make my mind up in that regard. Some emotional stuff on that thing.

Personally I think season 7 was the best of Jon Pertwee's run, especially Inferno. But the stories are all too long.

You'd be better of tucking into seasons 13 and 14. Classic story after classic story.

[SonOfSoAngry]

I always thought the 80s Cybermen had facial design that made them look gormless and depressed. It's a "Once you see it you can't unsee it" kind of thing.

Mark6_03.jpg

Perhaps it was intentional -- some of the previous Cybermen had a 'teardrop' design on the eyes, which may have represented the defeated misery of the human inside who was converted. But 80s Cybermen just look bloody gormless.

It kind of looks like their mouth should "flap" like Beaker's from The Muppets.

[Ivanho]

I always thought the 80s Cybermen had facial design that made them look gormless and depressed. It's a "Once you see it you can't unsee it" kind of thing.

Mark6_03.jpg

Perhaps it was intentional -- some of the previous Cybermen had a 'teardrop' design on the eyes, which may have represented the defeated misery of the human inside who was converted. But 80s Cybermen just look bloody gormless.

So they're basiclly Marvin the Paranoid Android with anger issues?!

[Flub]

A fan has done his own title sequence for the new Doctor

I really like it