Doctor Who

[will]

Yeah, but doe eyed means innocence and naivity, it's not necerssarily a sexual thing. I suppose you could literally say that Clara/Oswin has big attractive eyes but her character doesn't seem to be on the helpless end of the companion spectrum. All of the Doctors companions have their qualities, but she seems more innately competant than most.

[Radish]

That "one word answers" scene was total bullshit though. Tried so hard to be Good Writing but rang completely hollow.

Oh, this is completely true. They tried far too hard in that scene.

[Harsin]

Not competent enough to shut a fucking door.

[DirkCrisis]

Where is this 15 year old stuff coming from? In what way was she 15?

I realise she's legal (about 22 or something isn't she?) but to me, she looks about 15 or 16. I dunno whether that's intentional or not. The long and short of it is that I'm too old to be fancying her whereas it seems that you're of a similar age.

But putting that to one side, I did like the episode.

[will]

I think you've forgotten what 15 year olds like, 15 year olds look pretty much like children. She's in her mid 20s and looks reasonably young for her age but nowhere near 15.

[Mr Cochese]

It's completely disgusting, providing you imagine she is a decade younger than she is and you are not wearing any pants.

[womblingfree]

when the Doctor copped off with a 15 year old girl. That made me uncomfortable.

Jenna Louise Coleman is 26, Matt Smith is 30. Even bending the laws of space and time I reckon that's non-paedo.

[Hexx]

Right. So...there's villians returning in Neil Gaiman's episode. I know some people hate spoilers so I've broken this into 2 parts

This is the name:

Cybermen

This is the new pictures of the new design

Looking good and scary - much better than previous versions.

[Space Renegade Ulala]

I love how the one on the end in the middle pic seems to be checking his watch or scratching his nips or something.

[Creamstick]

They look pregnant.

[FishyFish]

I love how the one on the end in the middle pic seems to be checking his watch or scratching his nips or something.

It looks like someone's just said "You've got a bit of gravy on your shirt.".

[Davros sock drawer]

Do not like. They look like Iron Man.

[Alex W.]

Surely I'm not the only person who thinks they look almost exactly the same.

[Hexx]

I think they're fairly different. Much more stream-lined and less blocky.

[SonOfSoAngry]

I don't care what they look like as long as they never go "DELETE DELETE" ever again.

[Gregory Wolfe]

I don't care what they look like as long as they never go "DELETE DELETE" ever again.

Nah, all the shit bits of RTD are never happening again. Looking forward to a deletion of the Cybus origin.

[Sprite Machine]

Well, there was nothing terribly wrong with that episode, but by the half-way point I was getting a little bored. Very run-of-the-mill. I did like Straxx.

The Great Intelligence reference seemed to outstay its welcome - surely less than 1% of the audience would have any clue about who it is, but it seemed to be made out as a Big Plot Point. Shrug.

Anyway, I've neglected watching Classic Who over chrimbo, so back to it...

[Davros sock drawer]

Good, I crave your updates. Looking forward to you getting to the 1970's.

[JohnC]

Doctor stamps

Also sheet of 4 2nd class stamps with Dalek, Ood, Weeping Angel and Cyberman plus a 1st class Tardis stamp

[Sprite Machine]

Good, I crave your updates. Looking forward to you getting to the 1970's.

I'm looking forward to seeing episodes made in colour! For that matter, I'm looking forward to episodes that aren't just audio with pictures and captions - it's the future, apparently!

Although I will be sorry to see Troughton's run come to an end - I've enjoyed his performance so far. I think I even prefer him to modern era Doctor Who. He's weird, yes, but he's just so... nice.

Anyway, The Enemy of the World is next. In an undisclosed future date, the 'zones' of Earth are under threat by a sinister world leader, using natural disasters and subterfuge to gain control and leadership and rule the world. He is called Salamander, and by an astonishing coincidence, he looks exactly like The Doctor. No surprise, then, that the arrival of the Doctor and company sees the people trying to overthrow Salamander turn to The Doctor for help in impersonating him and uncovering evidence of his evil-doing.

A previous serial had an unexplained double of the Doctor, with William Hartnell playing the Abbot of Amboise in the (entirely missing) four-parter 'The Massacre'. Whether there is some speculative fiction on the origin of these inexplicable doubles (something about Timelords regenerating into the bodies of real people?), I don't know. I'd imagine it was intented just as a coincidence, which, given the vastness of time and space, seems entirely appropriate. Frankly, this was probably another excuse to have Troughton put on a funny accent. He's meant to be Mexican or something, but it's amusingly bad or brilliant, I can't decide.

Anyway, I enjoyed watching Troughton play both parts, and the plot left a lot of guessing until the end. Is Salamander really 'evil', or is there more at work here that it seems? The Doctor is initially skeptical without hard evidence. He also continues to uphold his non-violence stance and is reluctant to bring harm to Salamander, despite all he has supposedly done to the world.

In the end, a final moment of confusion sees Salamander in the Tardis, moments before dematerialisation, and he gets sucked out of the doors into the 'void'. A dramatic and sudden end.

This six-part serial could easily have been four parts and not lost anything. It wasn't bad, just not particularly interesting, aside from the Troughton double performance. Five of the six episodes are reconstructions, which certainly doesn't help.

PS. I love those stamps above. Oh wow.

[Davros sock drawer]

I've got the novelisation of that one at home, but never felt the urge to read it...

[Sprite Machine]

Were novelisations of TV shows a common thing back then, or just Doctor Who?

[Exidor]

Fairly common, but obviously not for everything. You didn't have video recorders or anything so you got one chance to watch something and then it was gone. Books filled the gap.

[Davros sock drawer]

As a kid growing up in the eighties the Target novelisations were my only access to classic Who. I used to cycle up to the library and take out as many hardback Who stories as I could, read them in a day, and cycle back to get more the next day. When I'd read them all I'd start again. Sometimes the library would get a new novelisation! Such joy. And they didn't release them in chronological order, so you'd never know which ones you'd find.

They were often better than the TV stories themselves. Tomb of the Cybermen for example was even better when you had no idea what the original B&W serial looked like.

I've got about 50 or so of them, and they're a treasured possession. Some amazing artwork on the covers as well.

http://www.personal....cl6nb/OnTarget/

I know I've already tried to foist Who related materials onto you Sprite, but I've got some doubles if you'd like them.

Some of my favourite covers:

One I loved as a kid, but is pretty funny now:

The wrong Cyberman! But who knew? And it's still great:

All went a bit wrong in the 80's when they started using crap publicity stills.

[Comrade]

When are the new episodes starting on BBC1 then?

[LyonJacques]

As a kid growing up in the eighties the Target novelisations were my only access to classic Who. I used to cycle up to the library and take out as many hardback Who stories as I could, read them in a day, and cycle back to get more the next day. When I'd read them all I'd start again. Sometimes the library would get a new novelisation! Such joy. And they didn't release them in chronological order, so you'd never know which ones you'd find.

They were often better than the TV stories themselves. Tomb of the Cybermen for example was even better when you had no idea what the original B&W serial looked like.

I've got about 50 or so of them, and they're a treasured possession. Some amazing artwork on the covers as well.

http://www.personal....cl6nb/OnTarget/

I know I've already tried to foist Who related materials onto you Sprite, but I've got some doubles if you'd like them.

Some of my favourite covers:

One I loved as a kid, but is pretty funny now:

The wrong Cyberman! But who knew? And it's still great:

All went a bit wrong in the 80's when they started using crap publicity stills.

thebookpeople have a collection of reissues for cheap:

http://www.thebookpeople.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/qs_product_tbp?storeId=10001&catalogId=10051&langId=100&productId=255864&searchTerm=doctor+who

[Exidor]

KKLAK! I remember that one. Carnival Of Monsters was always my favourite as a kid. When I finally saw it on DVD it was a bit of a let down.

[Davros sock drawer]

I quite like the TV version of that. Memorable images.

[FishyFish]

My mum used to buy me the Target Who novelisations. Usually I'd specify the one I wanted, but sometimes she'd surprise me with a random choice. WIting for her to get home from work and the joy of seeing that paper WHSmith back with its orange logo and not knowing what story was inside was amazing. Also great was the special, Dalek shaped cardboard display stand that I remember in the local branch of WHSmith on Sheffield Fargate.

I've got a whole pile of them in the house still, although its been years since I last read one (The Seeds of Doom, fact fans), and part of me suspects my original collection may still reside in the loft at my dad's house...

[Sprite Machine]

I know I've already tried to foist Who related materials onto you Sprite, but I've got some doubles if you'd like them.

Thanks but, honestly, I doubt I'd ever read them.

Next up on the marathon is The Web of Fear. Rather fittingly, this serial follows on from the recent Christmas special, the Doctor having given the Great Intelligence the idea to come to London and conquer the Underground system with his army of yeti robots. Yes, this really happens.

It seems to start as a disaster episode: London is evacuated! Corpses in the streets! But actually the crisis is confined to the tunnels and rooms of the Underground system, so the story doesn't swell out into a bloated epic. The core characters (mostly army personnel, although the scientist from the previous yeti story is back as an old man) have their own unique personalities and quirks, and the story stays pretty tight, much to its advantage. The timid Evans always looking out for himself provides some light relief. We don't discover who is helping the Intelligence (unwillingly) until the end, so there's a bit of mystery and guessing too.

Also, a lot of web. Whether the title of the serial is related purely to this or also the web-like nature of the London Underground, I don't know, but a core danger throughout the story is the yetis' web-like fungus guns (yes, this also really happens) filling up the tunnels and trapping the people in.

The yetis themselves have had a slight design change since last time (on the outside, anyway - they still have the shiny control spheres inside them and make the same noise), with browner fur and scary glowing eyes. Clearly much of the footage of them advancing through the dark tunnels was considered too scary for some censors, hence much of these shots have survived deletion! Additionally, one completed episode exists. The other five are reconstructions. That said, they're done well (I watched Loose Cannon's versions, they tend to do the best work on these).

The Great Intelligence is thwarted by the Doctor's technical skill in reverse-engineering its equipment, however it manages to escape in non-corporeal form once again... so maybe it'll come back for a future episode. Presumably, the people of London are brought back in once the crisis is over and nobody ever mentions it again.

On the whole, I enjoyed this. The setting was unique, the evil was scary, and the Doctor was a genius. I wouldn't rank it as a favourite but it was certainly entertaining. Just a shame so many episodes are missing in action.