Doctor Who

[Fireproofradiator]

I was born in '74, so whilst my earliest memories of Who feature Tom Baker (specifically season 17 with Lalla Ward), Peter Davison was the Doctor I actively watched because I wanted to. Baker is still the best though.

Ditto throughout, although I'd add that Davison always felt like 'my' doctor. I loved the heart at the cetre of his version, whereas the warmth in Tom Baker's portrayal was always followed by him giving someone a bollocking or running away or otherwise undermining it. Baker's chimeric and that's simultaneously mysterious and offputting, and probs the reason why his performance is so addictive but I'll always be fond of Davison's fatherly take on the role given I was watching it as a wee kid. The thought of somehow having the two of them together for the 50th is super mad exciting. Are they planning any multidoc Tom stories for Big Finish?

EDIT - Seventeenth season is best season because it has City of Death in it but my second best vote goes to season thirteen. The Android Invasion doesn't make any sense and it's tonally nuts but its take on the English village feels like the genesis of Doctor Who Monthly's Stockholm, so that's good and the rest of the stories are great - Pyramids of Mars has awesome monsters and a great baddie, Brain of Morbius is full of funky lore and v goth, The Seeds of Doom is a riot - and I actually really like Planet of Evil, which has one of the most WTF cliffhangers ever.

[Davros sock drawer]

Yes, I'm fond of Davison too, although his run really takes a dive after the memorable first season. But Tom Baker somehow managed to come over as an actual alien being rather than just a nice scientist guy. I never tire of watching him, he's always the best thing on screen, even when he's dicking about.

[linkster]

Baker was so far ahead of the rest of them as an actor its just not funny, but like most of you experiencing the stories before seeing the show I still think Pertwee era was as good as Baker

[Davros sock drawer]

Trouble is, Pertwee is in 'em! I mean, he's just utterly objectionable in Terror of the Autons. The chap from the ministry comes in all polite, and the Doctor just acts like a total wanker for no reason, even busting out some crap about being at the club with "Tubby" to curry favour. Just bizarre.

It's the only time the character has been actively dislikeable, apart from Colin Baker's run.

[linkster]

He's more anti authority. Same with the one in Sea Devils. Fair enough I reckon!

[Fireproofradiator]

I think Pertwee tries to play him as a character, that's the problem. Tom just plays himself and dicks about (that's not meant to be hurtful, his dicking about is like Da Vinci's splashing about a bit of paint on a ceiling) but the thing is he's so entertaining doing just that. Reading the stuff about the 'Flashman' Who story he and Ian Marter were trying to put together doesn't really suggest much insight into The Doctor, although the ending set on a giant pinball table was pretty cosmic.

I'm not sure who I like best in terms of portraying the Doctor as a character but I do think that perhaps contradictorally, you lose depth when the actor is trying to do him as a character rather than playing oneself. Matt Smith is good tho - agree that he's second only to Tom, really.

[Davros sock drawer]

He's more anti authority. Same with the one in Sea Devils. Fair enough I reckon!

Yeah, but the guy in TotA was perfectly pleasant! The Doctor has a pop at him for no reason at all. In fact he comes across more authoritarian than the people he's railing against.

It's more enjoyable when the authority figure is the one being an arse - Mr Chinn in Claws of Axos for example.

[linkster]

Not to muddy the waters though, my point is Pertwee's run of stories is IMO exceptionally good

[Davros sock drawer]

Yeah, I just can't agree there. I find it very patchy. There's a duffer virtually every other story after the first season. Whereas with Baker it's one duffer every 10 stories. I'll be very interested to see what Sprite thinks when he's seen them all.

In fact, let's do this. In order of preference:

Tom Baker

Patrick Troughton

Peter Davison

Matt Smith

Chris Ecclestone

William Hartnell

Jon Pertwee

Paul McGann

Syvester McCoy

David Tennant

Colin Baker

[Cthulhu Steev]

Tom Baker

Matt Smith

Peter Davison

Everyone else

for me

[linkster]

At the risk of repeating myself, I'm not rating the docs as actors but on the quality of the stories. The ones I listed earlier from Pertwee's era are really top drawer IMO, but then for sheer consistency I'd have series one of the reboot very near the top

[Davros sock drawer]

Yeah I know what you meant. I just don't think the quality of stories is as consistently good.

I mean, I watched most of The Ark in Space on the way home. It's head and shoulders above any story in Pertwee's era. And it's not even the best Baker story.

All IMO of course.

[El Pibe]

I was born in '79 and so it's probably minor miracle that I became so obsessed with Who when I was growing, as C Baker was the Dr I first watched and then McCoy. I've read stacks and stacks of the books but haven't seen much of the earlier Drs on screen.

[Davros sock drawer]

There are a lot of classic episodes on iTunes for £4.99. I find the iPhone perfect for watching them on the train. Or they're on Netflix I believe.

[linkster]

Netflix still stops at troughton

[Davros sock drawer]

Oh right. So hardly any on Netflix then, given the number of missing episodes from that era.

[linkster]

Disappointingly, no.

[Sprite Machine]

Terror of the Autons

(Blog has pictures)

Season 8 opens with another Nestene / Autons story, a relatively tightly plotted four episodes written by Robert Holmes again. There is a noticeable difference in style between his stories and the rest – he seems more inclined to break out of the rigid structure of the old 1960s episodes, and his characters are written with more naturalistic dialogue. Even the grumpy old Doctor occasionally makes a joke.

[Picture: Autons attack! I'm never visiting a fairground ever again.]

Orchestrating the Nestene's plot to return to Earth and control all our plastic is none other than The Master (the actual Master, this time!), in his first ever appearance. I'm only familiar with the Master from the more recent Doctor Who series, but the character here is similarly evil, devious and cunning. More than that, though, he's an intellectual equal for the Doctor, and from the looks of things, he's going to be sticking around for a while. Arguably, the Netene and the Autons aren't the focus here – there's still the odd scary moment, like the little troll doll coming to life, or the fake policeman pulling his rubber mask off – they're just part of the Master's plot. But this is the sort of focus the series needs to avoid becoming stale, since we're still stuck on Earth for the time being.

[Picture: Attacked by the plastic telephone cable, the Doctor makes the now obligatory face.]

Doctor Who continues to have big ideas – alien invasion, deadly plastic sculptures, armed forces having shootouts and saving the country from a genocidal Time Lord – but budget cuts are becoming more apparent. We still don't see inside the Doctor's Tardis, and the Master's Tardis only ever appears as a caravan! UNIT seems to ditch the jeeps for this story, and instead the Brigadier and his troops drive around in a little car. It's quite amusing, actually. Elsewhere, bluegreen backdrops are used extensively, sometimes in place of actual sets. It's fine, it's just noticeably more dated than something like 'Spearhead from Space', which should always look good due to how it was shot.

[Picture: To alert him of the Master's arrival, an inexplicably tiny Time Lord materialises in front of the Doctor. With a bowler hat. What?!]

So, apparently, Liz Shaw left. I didn’t realise she wasn't returning. I don't have much to say about her as she wasn't in it for long, but I liked that she was clever enough to keep up with the Doctor and take initiative herself. By contrast, the Doctor's new assistant, Jo, is just there to look pretty and get kidnapped. An unfortunate downgrade, but I will give her a chance.

[Picture: The Master poses as a businessman, using the highly inconspicuous alias, Colonel Masters.]

I like The Master. He's the villain the show needs, and he's a pleasure to watch. Granted, he does look like magician crossed with General Zod, but given he has the power of hypnosis, this seems entirely appropriate. I'll be interested to see what his inclusion brings to the show going forward.

[Commander Jameson]

"That face" really needs to be a tag in your blog, Sprite.

[linkster]

I like The Master. He's the villain the show needs, and he's a pleasure to watch. Granted, he does look like magician crossed with General Zod, but given he has the power of hypnosis, this seems entirely appropriate. I'll be interested to see what his inclusion brings to the show going forward.

[Davros sock drawer]

Having watched this myself only a couple of nights ago I agree with most of that. The overuse of CSO in the story is quite comical, Jo is drippy and a step back in terms of companions, Delgado is great. Just as well you liked him, as he's going to be around a fair bit!

[Sprite Machine]

When they shot him at the end, I actually thought "he's gonna regenerate!!", but it wasn't him, the sneaky sneakster.

[Davros sock drawer]

Poor factory guy though.

[Sprite Machine]

Poor undisclosed number of people suffocated by plastic flowers!

[Davros sock drawer]

Yes, there were certainly a lot of killings in that story! Not that it bothers The Doctor that much, who seems to relish the opportunity for more scrapes at the end.

[Davros sock drawer]

Incidentally, this is what graced the cover of the Radio Times the week before transmission:

[linkster]

fucking hell... why didn't it run the shot of her with her tits out draped over a dalek and have done wtih it?

[Davros sock drawer]

She's very unfortunate looking these days. Surgery-tastic:

[Sprite Machine]

The Mind of Evil

(Blog has pictures)

The Master returns with another plan to conquer the world, although I'm not sure it's a very good one. Using another false alias, he equips a prison with a new 'correctional' device (that he claims to have invented), which can remove the 'evil' emotions from habitual criminals. In reality, the device is an alien creature that feeds on these emotions and can project fear and terror into the minds of others.

Meanwhile, he has hypnotised a Chinese delegate at a peace conference and has somehow used this device to amplify the terror through her telepathically and kill other delegates, with the intent on plunging the world into chaos. Oh, also he's stolen a missile and plans to use it to throw the world into chaos... thus rendering the whole alien terror thing redundant, no? Coincidentally, UNIT is providing the security for the peace conference and the Doctor is visiting the prison, so everything is wrapped up in a neat little bundle of coincidence.

So, this was a bit poor, really. It's not like the alien menace is particularly scary – it's a brain in a jar that makes people clutch their heads and overact. The upside, I suppose, is that it makes the Doctor do that wide-eyed contorted face again (twice!). Also, it bombards him with images of the monsters he's faced before, such as the Daleks, which was a nice touch.

The method of death doesn't make any sense, though. The device can project hallucinations, but even if the mind thinks it's real, it doesn't explain how a person can drown by thinking they're drowning and have water in their lungs. Or how someone imagining they're attacked by rats can have real tooth and claw marks on their body.

What does work well, as ever, is the Doctor and the Master exchanging threats and pleasantries. They play off of each other well and are good fun to watch. Despite the stupidity of his plan (he requires the Doctor's help, again!), the Master manages to get his Tardis circuit back and then informs the Doctor that he's leaving. I suspect he'll be back, though.

The Doctor's character is starting to annoy me now. He's so relentlessly grumpy and mean. At one point, Lethbridge-Stewart rescues him from being shot, and all he can say is "couldn't you have been a bit quicker?" There is no joy in the man's hearts, he takes no pleasure at anything. Granted, being stuck on Earth could be the sole cause – I just can't see this man as someone who is filled with wonder and joy about the Universe. He'd more likely be annoyed that it's too bloody big.

One final note, although originally made in colour, only monochrome copies of this serial exist at the time of writing. I understand they have been recoloured and will be released to DVD later in the year. I don't think colour will help this one very much, though.

[linkster]

I mentioned this one earlier cos of the Mao reference...