Doctor Who

[Flub]

Testing times to come for our Sprite Machine. Good luck soldier. You'll need it.

[SeanR]

Nice documentary on the Fith Doctor's era here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WvLoyRUjg8

And yes, after the highs of Caves Of Androzani, it's all about to go a bit wrong for a while.

I just watched that all the way through and realised that I don't remember ANY of it. Because I was 7.

Yet i remember the t-baker -> davison regeneration...

[Davros sock drawer]

Not too much to disagree with there Sprite, although colour me slightly surprised that Kinda and/or Snakedance didn't make it into your list of favourites.

I generally agree with your order of preference in terms of Doctors as well, although I'd swap Pertwee and Hartnell myself. As time has gone on I've come to actively dislike Pertwee's portrayal of The Doctor.

Still, something tells me that Hartnell won't be bottom of your list for long...

[Teabag]

Colin was my favourite Doctor for ages when I was younger. I think it was partly bloody mindedness and partly because my main reference point for him was the John Ridgeway comics in DWM during the hiatus.

*prepares for negageddon*

[Davros sock drawer]

No negs from me, but I struggle to see anything positive about his TV performance.

[Teabag]

I always root for the underdog.

[Fireproofradiator]

I watched Resurrection of the Daleks a while back (probs due to this thread I'd imagine) and I thought there were just the odd promising signs in Baker's performance but, yeah, pretty thin pickings overall. It's a shame, but he does have some good audios of course...

[Sprite Machine]

The Twin Dilemma

(Blog has [horrific] pictures)

First impressions are important, and the sixth Doctor makes a bad one. To be fair, a post-regenerated Doctor is always a bit skittish, but never have I witnessed one behave quite so lamentably. He flits between a self-obsessed, arrogant psychopath who quotes poetry, and a whimpering coward who pleads for his life. It's as if the producers have taken the hero out of the show and replaced him with a sidekick.

[Picture: I suppose if your intention is to make the character unlikeable, having him try to kill the companion is as good a method as any. The bigger question is why would you want to do that?]

It's difficult to talk about the rest of the story because the Doctor's new mental state dominates everything that happens. Their getaway to Titan 3 leads them to an old friend of the Doctor's, a kidnapping of two genius twins and an alien slug's plot to infest the universe with his eggs, but the whole time, the Doctor is either hamming it up, being condescending, arrogant or frightened.

[Picture: Nobody's dress sense comes off well here, but who am I to question the fashion of the future?]

There is some cool science to this, namely using complex equations to generate enormous energy to move planets around a solar system, but at the heart of it are two very annoying kids. Now, kids in TV and film are difficult to portray well at the best of times, but when they have to cast twins, that's even harder (I like to call it the Weasley Problem). They can't act, their lines are flat and unconvincing, and those haircuts are atrocious. Meanwhile, Peri's performance is one of unconvincing melodrama, and she is far more forgiving of the Doctor than somebody who has only known him for one adventure ought to be. Their new friend Hugo is barely convincing as a human being, never mind a worthwhile character. Azmael is okay as the elderly Time Lord with a troubled conscience, but none of the extended cast are anything special.

[Picture: Romulus and Remus, the twins. But what's the dilemma?]

So, there's not a lot to like. The aliens look goofy, their slug-like leader Mestor more so. They somehow break into the Tardis in part 4... um, isn't that supposed to be impossible? It amounts to nothing anyway, they just stand around in there until the Doctor kicks them out. Mestor's powers of mind control are rather over-the-top and cartoon-like, and his motives are similarly vague. A complex villain he is not.

[Picture: One good facet that has carried over is the horrible melting death of the villain. I never tire of seeing that.

The Doctor is quite explicit in pointing out that his less likable attributes will settle down, and I'm a forgiving type, so I will give him the benefit of the doubt. To play devil's advocate, there's nothing particularly wrong with having an arrogant self-important lead character, but it's a position that needs to be earned, not by simply saying "like it or not", and that's something that remains to be seen.

[Davros sock drawer]

Trouble is, even when they do settle the Doctor's personality down he's still thoroughly objectionable.

Only two seasons though Sprite, so it's not all bad. But I'm afraid it is all downhill from here...

[Sprite Machine]

I've sat through worse, I'll manage.

[Davros sock drawer]

It's hard to imagine a worse story than The Twin Dilemma, but believe it or not, they manage it. Still, you might find something to enjoy over the next two seasons, particularly if you lower your expectations.

[Zio]

See, I really like Sly McCoy's last two seasons. His first was ropey, but it was pretty decent after that. Admittedly I was 9 years old when Rememberance of the Daleks first aired, so the 7th doctor was kind of 'my' doctor.

[Sprite Machine]

Well, it was no "Feast of Steven". *Shudder*

[Davros sock drawer]

Ah, well I've not seen that.

But then you haven't got to the first season of Sylvester McCoy yet...

See, I really like Sly McCoy's last two seasons. His first was ropey, but it was pretty decent after that. Admittedly I was 9 years old when Rememberance of the Daleks first aired, so the 7th doctor was kind of 'my' doctor.

There are some good stories towards the end, but there's still a whiff of am dram about them.

[SqueakyG]

"I am The Doctor, whether you like it or not!" Oh dear...

The thing I remember most about Colin Baker's first season is how much the Doctor and Peri bickered. Perhaps it was supposed to be an "odd couple" type of relationship, but it just came across as Peri hating every moment of being semi-imprisoned by a creepy Time Lord.

I remember that the Trial of a Time Lord season made a slight readjustment, and they behaved a lot more like friends.

[Davros sock drawer]

Except for when

"The Doctor" is interrogating her on a beach. Also they write Peri out in the most ridiculously unsatisfying manner. "Oh yeah, she got married actually. To Brian Blessed"

[Flub]

It's hard to imagine a worse story than The Twin Dilemma, but believe it or not, they manage it. Still, you might find something to enjoy over the next two seasons, particularly if you lower your expectations.

Oh man. Some real corkers coming up. Mark of the Rani, Timelash, The entire endless fucking waste of space that is Trial of a Timelord. Mind you once we get past the mind numbing cringe that is Time and the Rani I start enjoying myself again.

The *only* thing that redeems Timelash however is Paul Darrow because he instantly makes everything gain a score of 10/10 when he's in it.

[Davros sock drawer]

All that and two words that sum up everything that went wrong with the show:

Bonnie. Langford.

[cassidy]

I'd say NO MONEY was the bigger enemy. A director of the BBC hating the show didn't help .

[Creamstick]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUF5EAw63zk

Here's the Colin Baker era doc. Like the Davidson one, it's almost an hour long, which is nice.

[HarMGM]

Along with that fascinating doc, there's also 'JNT: The Life and Scandalous Times of John Nathan Turner' which covers JNT's entire tenure as the showrunner all the way up to his eventual descent into alcoholism. Quite a sad but captivating read I hear.

[Bluejam]

Watched that the other day. A good look into the beeb and JNT

[Teabag]

I think that in the face of the awful costume, terrible artistic choices and dodgy stories Colin did as well as anyone could. There are two stories in his first proper season I see as passable (see if you can guess which)...

Can't help wondering what would have been if Davison had done another season though.

[Flub]

All that and two words that sum up everything that went wrong with the show:

Bonnie. Langford.

I've said it before but she was hamstrung by a bunch of cretins being in charge of the show and the BBC actively trying to kill it. Believe it or not she can act and delivered a cracking performance in the audio adventure "He jests at scars" set in a universe where the Valyard won.

It was actually improving towards the end. Remembrance is one of my fave stories ever. I really wish we'd gotten to see the Cartmell master plan in full gear although that would have meant that the fucking excellent Virgin NAs and later the BBC EDAs wouldn't have happened so swings and roundabouts

[Sprite Machine]

Attack of the Cybermen

(Blog has pictures)

As a rule, I now expect the worst from a Cybermen story. Ever since 'Revenge of the Cybermen', they've been terrible villains. The voices, the design, their mannerisms, all were handled much better back in the black-and-white era (the last such appearance being 'The Invasion'). Well, 'Attack of the Cybermen' doesn't depict them any better, but I was surprised at the attempts to bring back some of that old Cybermen magic by referencing their original story, amongst other things.

[Picture: The Doctor and Peri search for the source of the distress signal.]

There aren't many shows that run long enough to be able to revisit "future events" once that fictional date rolls around for real. I'd almost completely forgotten that 'The Tenth Planet' was set in 1986, and so the Earth will very shortly experience the arrival of planet Mondas in the sky. This is what the future Cybermen are trying to prevent, having encountered a time machine of their own, by destroying the Earth before it destroys what was once their home. If nothing else, that's a pretty cool concept.

[Picture: The Cybermen only appear strong when they exert force on somebody. Here, Lytton's wrists are crushed and bleeding.]

Elsewhere, this story seems intent on tickling the nostalgia glands with a few winks and nods. The Tardis lands in the original junkyard from 'An Unearthly Child' (complete with I.M. Foreman signage), and the Doctor finally "fixes" his chameleon circuit, allowing the Tardis to change into different forms (although this fix does not seem to last long). I liked these references.

[Picture: The Cryons remind me of the Sensorites. I think it's the beard around the base of the mask, the bulbous head and the plain jumpsuit uniforms.]

There is plenty I didn't like, though. The blippy-bloppy electronic music is almost uniformly awful throughout. Lytton (who returns from 'Resurrection of the Daleks') is a decent enough character, but his gang of villains is annoying. Peri is reaching almost unwatchable levels of bad at the moment; her acting is awful, so forced and melodramatic. The Cryons are an interesting sort of race, but their costumes and masks are... not so good. Every time the Cybermen attack, I have to laugh at how rubbish they look, swinging their arms around, throwing the Doctor across the set unconvincingly. And just HOW did they get inside the Tardis? Did the Doctor just leave the door open? And the ending is rushed to the point where it stretches logic to quite some length.

[Picture: I'm sorry, do you have an appointment?]

On the other hand, I liked the crazy zombie Cybermen smashing through the windows and grabbing people. I liked how one of the them exploded after being shot through the mouth. I liked seeing the humans trapped in the machinery being converted into Cybermen (that's a first, isn't it?). I think this story is novel enough to earn a passing grade, despite its problems. And, actually, the Doctor himself has at least mellowed out a bit, and shows some redeeming characteristics towards the end. He's a charmless, arrogant so-and-so the rest of the time, but hey, it's a start!

[Flub]

And don't forget the utter novelty of the Tardis changing shape I have a soft spot for Attack of the Cybermen. When I first watched it as a teenager outside of horror movies it was probably the grimmest thing I've seen and that was probably mostly down to the cyber conversions at the end. I think it struck a chord with me.

Let me look and see what you have next. Ah. Vengence on Varos. Another grim fest with flaws (Like most of them) but decently enjoyable. Then....oh my. I think we'll let you hit that one yourself

[Davros sock drawer]

Peri is reaching almost unwatchable levels of bad at the moment; her acting is awful, so forced and melodramatic.

Still, that pink lycra top eh?

Not much to like for me in Attack. The violence is tonally wrong IMO (hands crushed to a bloody pulp? In a kid's show? Really?), and the whole thing has a nasty vibe. It's like they've mixed in an episode of the Sweeney or something.

I love how their solution for creating a stealth Cyberman is to just paint one of the costumes black though.

Vengeance on Varos is up next and pretty good in some respects actually, it's the only Colin Baker story I sort of like. Sort of.

[Sprite Machine]

I just did some back of napkin calculations and I reckon I'll have finished my marathon (to the end of the McCoy era) around mid-November, shortly before the 50th anniversary. How convenient.

Still, that pink lycra top eh?

Awwwyeeeeah!

[Flub]

I still say do Blake's 7 next.

[Harsin]

Why does Clara have to look so bloody smug all the time?