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Post by number13 on Jun 5, 2018 20:07:28 GMT
The Tomb of the Cybermen
The creepiest (and imo best) of all classic-era Cyber-stories, I love it, partly because I'm also a fan of the classic B&W horror movies. 'Tomb' draws clear parallels with the early ‘Mummy’ films for characters, iconography and atmosphere, working this together expertly with real science, logic -and the Cybermen! It's riveting from the opening of the outer doors to the emergence of the Cybermen two episodes later in one of the iconic sequences of all 'Doctor Who'.
The three characters of Klieg, Kaftan and Toberman are a good but rather obvious trio of villains (obvious if you're following the 'mummy' parallels) - the ‘eastern’ priest and priestess/princess raising the dead (with grisly results for visiting archaeologists) are familiar from Egyptian-themed horror films. George Pastell (a notable performance here as Eric Klieg) had actually played the mummy-raising priest in more than one film, so the parallel seems deliberate. 'The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb' - on Telos!
The Second Doctor, Jamie & Victoria make an excellent team and among all the action, I like the the Doctor's sympathetic scene with Victoria, aware of her vulnerability after the loss of her father in the previous Dalek story. And the Cybermen of this era look suitably massive and the grating, robotic voices have an unsettlingly inhuman quality. Who would have thought there could be so much menace in the flat statement “You shall be like us.”?
A classic ‘Doctor Who’ that still works superbly after 50 years.
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Post by fitzoliverj on Jun 5, 2018 20:26:43 GMT
It's all a bit haphazard, isn't it? Big delays to the feed on Friday; everybody missed the first ten minutes of "The Time Meddler" yesterday; and "The Ice Warriors" has been dropped tonight (presumably due to the 2 missing episodes - what had they planned to do? Use the VHS filler, or the DVD animated reconstruction?) and "The Web of Fear" (but what about that missing episode?) brought forward.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2018 20:27:45 GMT
George Pastell (a notable performance here as Eric Klieg) had actually played the mummy-raising priest in more than one film, so the parallel seems deliberate. 'The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb' - on Telos!
Fantastic performances he gave in them too. Mehmet Bey in The Mummy and Hasmish Bey in The Curse Of The Mummy's Tomb (related?).....then when he stopped appearing in them, the "Bey" character in The Mummy's Shroud is played by one R. Delgado for a further Who connection.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2018 20:55:14 GMT
It's all a bit haphazard, isn't it? Big delays to the feed on Friday; everybody missed the first ten minutes of "The Time Meddler" yesterday; and "The Ice Warriors" has been dropped tonight (presumably due to the 2 missing episodes - what had they planned to do? Use the VHS filler, or the DVD animated reconstruction?) and "The Web of Fear" (but what about that missing episode?) brought forward.
Eh, I think they'll be a notice prior to transmission, the lure of the lost, etc about The Web of Fear. The Web of Fear is more complete then other Second Doctor serials, so I don't really see the issue. Stuff happens, even with big companies and it's most of the original series for free!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2018 21:45:20 GMT
It's all a bit haphazard, isn't it? Big delays to the feed on Friday; everybody missed the first ten minutes of "The Time Meddler" yesterday; and "The Ice Warriors" has been dropped tonight (presumably due to the 2 missing episodes - what had they planned to do? Use the VHS filler, or the DVD animated reconstruction?) and "The Web of Fear" (but what about that missing episode?) brought forward. How much do you want to bet that there's a surprise showing of Web 3 and that's why it's in the mix? I'll start at 4 pence.
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Post by number13 on Jun 5, 2018 22:07:27 GMT
George Pastell (a notable performance here as Eric Klieg) had actually played the mummy-raising priest in more than one film, so the parallel seems deliberate. 'The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb' - on Telos!
Fantastic performances he gave in them too. Mehmet Bey in The Mummy and Hasmish Bey in The Curse Of The Mummy's Tomb (related?).....then when he stopped appearing in them, the "Bey" character in The Mummy's Shroud is played by one R. Delgado for a further Who connection. I'm ashamed to say I've never seen 'The Mummy's Shroud'. I've enjoyed many of the Hammer films but I'm especially fond (if that's the right word!) of the earlier Universal monster movies. I must fill this gap in my education, thanks Davy.
('Bey' was (is) a title rather than a name - 'Kerim Bey' in 'From Russia, With Love' is another example. An official or noble somehere below the highest ranks. It's still sometimes used as a formal male title today, a bit like our 'Mr. J. Smith, Esq.(uire)')
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Post by number13 on Jun 5, 2018 22:26:04 GMT
The Enemy of the World It's 2018, but not as we know it! In the middle of the legendary 'Monster season', a refreshingly unique story which goes off into 'mad scientist / political thriller' territory and lands the Doctor and friends in a complex, action-packed 'globe-trotting' epic in the style of 'Bond meets the Avengers', directed with great panache (and a decent budget judging by results) by Barry Letts.
Patrick Troughton was obviously having a wonderful time playing hero AND villain (think evil govenor from 'Zorro' ), the large, multi-national cast is really good and David Whitaker's excellent script has more than enough twists and turns to keep a six-parter going. (And I always lol at the Doctor mishearing 'meet under the disused jetty' as 'meet under the disused Yeti'. Surely that line's a Patrick Troughton contribution? It wasn't in the novel!)
Now it's time to meet a legend and for a 'disused Yeti' to wake up...
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Post by number13 on Jun 6, 2018 1:00:51 GMT
The Web of Fear
Stunning! A claustrophobic ‘Doctor Who’ film noir - with Yeti! - as the plot (and the Web) weaves around the fine cast of complex, well-drawn characters. Expertly directed by Douglas Camfield with tense encounters in the tunnels, engaging moments between the Doctor and his companions, a mystery to solve and a traitor to uncover, the brisk military intent of Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart (three cheers! ) and some brilliant action sequences including the famous Battle of Covent Garden.
Patrick Troughton is superb in every minute of screen time and, roaring through the tunnels and streets of London, the Yeti look wonderfully incongruous but very menacing and in 2013 it was great to see them in an almost complete story at last. They are unforgettable monsters that you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark tunnel!
The soundtrack is excellent, all echoes and 'experimental' music, and those tunnels of ‘The Underground’ are some of the most convincing studio sets ever used in the show. The design is magnificent and with so much gloom and subterranean darkness in the story, the black-and-white filming adds greatly to the atmosphere.
I think it's a masterpiece.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2018 1:06:43 GMT
Fantastic performances he gave in them too. Mehmet Bey in The Mummy and Hasmish Bey in The Curse Of The Mummy's Tomb (related?).....then when he stopped appearing in them, the "Bey" character in The Mummy's Shroud is played by one R. Delgado for a further Who connection. I'm ashamed to say I've never seen 'The Mummy's Shroud'. I've enjoyed many of the Hammer films but I'm especially fond (if that's the right word!) of the earlier Universal monster movies. I must fill this gap in my education, thanks Davy. ('Bey' was (is) a title rather than a name - 'Kerim Bey' in 'From Russia, With Love' is another example. An official or noble somehere below the highest ranks. It's still sometimes used as a formal male title today, a bit like our 'Mr. J. Smith, Esq.(uire)')
Not unlike the Kraus and Traus we're to meet in Androzani, yeah. The Enemy of the World It's 2018, but not as we know it! In the middle of the legendary 'Monster season', a refreshingly unique story which goes off into 'mad scientist / political thriller' territory and lands the Doctor and friends in a complex, action-packed 'globe-trotting' epic in the style of 'Bond meets the Avengers', directed with great panache (and a decent budget judging by results) by Barry Letts.
Patrick Troughton was obviously having a wonderful time playing hero AND villain (think evil govenor from 'Zorro' ), the large, multi-national cast is really good and David Whitaker's excellent script has more than enough twists and turns to keep a six-parter going. (And I always lol at the Doctor mishearing 'meet under the disused jetty' as 'meet under the disused Yeti'. Surely that line's a Patrick Troughton contribution? It wasn't in the novel!) Now it's time to meet a legend and for a 'disused Yeti' to wake up...
A very TV Century 21 vibe to the whole thing, I love it. I love the little distinctions between the Doctor and Salamander from Troughton as well. Little touches in his performance. The Doctor has this kindly sense of wisdom while Salamander exhibits more a wolflike cunning. You can even see a little twitch of pride on his face when Benik returns the file taken by Fariah vs. when the Doctor breaks the news to Jamie and Victoria. The character work is marvellous.
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Post by number13 on Jun 6, 2018 1:15:48 GMT
A very TV Century 21 vibe to the whole thing, I love it. I love the little distinctions between the Doctor and Salamander from Troughton as well. Little touches in his performance. The Doctor has this kindly sense of wisdom while Salamander exhibits more a wolflike cunning. You can even see a little twitch of pride on his face when Benik returns the file taken by Fariah vs. when the Doctor breaks the news to Jamie and Victoria. The character work is marvellous. More than once I've teased by recommending this story and saying only that the villain is played by one of the finest actors ever to appear in 'Doctor Who'... And it's true, he is!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2018 1:47:22 GMT
A very TV Century 21 vibe to the whole thing, I love it. I love the little distinctions between the Doctor and Salamander from Troughton as well. Little touches in his performance. The Doctor has this kindly sense of wisdom while Salamander exhibits more a wolflike cunning. You can even see a little twitch of pride on his face when Benik returns the file taken by Fariah vs. when the Doctor breaks the news to Jamie and Victoria. The character work is marvellous. More than once I've teased by recommending this story and saying only that the villain is played by one of the finest actors ever to appear in 'Doctor Who'... And it's true, he is! Brilliant!
On a semi-related note, Whovitt , @michaelhocking3 and whomever else is interested, I queried the ABC a while back for Australian broadcast dates just on the off-chance they might have something. Surprise! They've gotten back to me and are double-checking some of the details. If I find out anything conclusive, I'll post it up on the forum.
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Post by Whovitt on Jun 6, 2018 9:15:01 GMT
More than once I've teased by recommending this story and saying only that the villain is played by one of the finest actors ever to appear in 'Doctor Who'... And it's true, he is! Brilliant!
On a semi-related note, Whovitt , @michaelhocking3 and whomever else is interested, I queried the ABC a while back for Australian broadcast dates just on the off-chance they might have something. Surprise! They've gotten back to me and are double-checking some of the details. If I find out anything conclusive, I'll post it up on the forum. Awesome! Thanks for checking By the way, fun fact about those repeats, I'm pretty certain that the copy of The Sensorites shown was the original one from the first Australian broadcast! (I'm fairly sure it was in Richard Molesworths' Wiped! Doctor Who's Missing Episodes) EDIT: Actually, I literally just stumbled upon this by accident (I'm not even sure how I found it... this is what you get for Googling Doctor Who, I suppose): twidw.doctorwhonews.net/archive.php?edition=2004-08-11%2011:35:10This says that ABC went straight from Carnival of Monsters 4 to The Green Death 1! They apparently also skipped over Day of the Daleks, on further inspection. I don't really have the time to trawl through all of them, but there's a bit of confirmation there
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Post by sherlock on Jun 6, 2018 9:45:14 GMT
The Tomb of the Cybermen. A classic undoubtedly.
Has anyone else found it a bit weird that they just leave Toberman's body like that? The man just gave his life for them, at the very least give him a grave.
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Post by sherlock on Jun 6, 2018 9:49:11 GMT
It's all a bit haphazard, isn't it? Big delays to the feed on Friday; everybody missed the first ten minutes of "The Time Meddler" yesterday; and "The Ice Warriors" has been dropped tonight (presumably due to the 2 missing episodes - what had they planned to do? Use the VHS filler, or the DVD animated reconstruction?) and "The Web of Fear" (but what about that missing episode?) brought forward. Given they moved The Web of Fear forward, does that mean we're only getting The Dominators and The Mind Robber tonight? Or might they bring The Krotons forward? Weird. Wonder why they included The Ice Warriors on the schedule in the first place.
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Post by sherlock on Jun 6, 2018 20:13:24 GMT
The Dominators.
I can see what they were going for, pacifist society vs militaristic society. But it's just so, so dull. There are some good scenes, mostly whenever the Doctor and Jamie are together and the Dominator meeting the council proves there is value in the concept. The designs are quite nice (though it's weird the pacifist Dulkians seem to be based on the Romans who were a very military-centric society).
And people say the sonic is over-powered now, here the Doctor uses it to break down a wall!
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Post by glutamodo on Jun 6, 2018 21:31:12 GMT
Ugh, due to my work schedule I wasn't able to catch the Purves episodes. Yes, I know, I can always buy them to watch. However I've never bought any DW DVDs that I didn't catch "on air" previously. And very very few stories from Doctors One and Two ever aired on Denver PBS. I did track down and watch "Gunfighters" on a download a while back though, as it's one of the very few DW stories set in the USA and I also have a soft spot for "underrated" episodes. (It was, well, "OK"... at times cringe-worthy, but overall, not horrible either) but I'd liked to have seen it again on this Twitch marathon. As I've very much come to like PP's Steven Taylor on Big Finish, and was certainly interested in seeing some of his original stories. Alas I only got to see his introduction at the tail end of "Chase" (which was another story I also rather wanted to see). I had bought the "Programme Guide" paperback back around 1983 or so, so I at least knew "something" about the first six seasons, even if they didn't air in my area.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2018 21:52:43 GMT
Brilliant!
On a semi-related note, Whovitt , @michaelhocking3 and whomever else is interested, I queried the ABC a while back for Australian broadcast dates just on the off-chance they might have something. Surprise! They've gotten back to me and are double-checking some of the details. If I find out anything conclusive, I'll post it up on the forum. Awesome! Thanks for checking By the way, fun fact about those repeats, I'm pretty certain that the copy of The Sensorites shown was the original one from the first Australian broadcast! (I'm fairly sure it was in Richard Molesworths' Wiped! Doctor Who's Missing Episodes) EDIT: Actually, I literally just stumbled upon this by accident (I'm not even sure how I found it... this is what you get for Googling Doctor Who, I suppose): twidw.doctorwhonews.net/archive.php?edition=2004-08-11%2011:35:10This says that ABC went straight from Carnival of Monsters 4 to The Green Death 1! They apparently also skipped over Day of the Daleks, on further inspection. I don't really have the time to trawl through all of them, but there's a bit of confirmation there This looks very promising. Ahhh... That clears up some of the confusion. There's a site with listings on a month-by-month basis here, tentatively up until the end of 2003 with no Pertwee era Dalek stories, but everything following Death to the Daleks. However, TWiDW says there was an unexpected programme shift due to the intervention of the Nation estate which resulted in the other stories up and vanishing. A decision to start broadcasting Season 21 and everything thereafter back-to-back in an hourly block also sped things up significantly. Had things gone as originally predicted, Christmas Day in 2005 would have been The Twin Dilemma (bet someone would have fallen about sick laughing on that one ). However, we did get to see The Five Doctors with the Dalek scene edited out to fit the four-part format. Sarah goes over the slope (Hillock? Hillock.) and that's our cliffhanger for "Part One". I suspect that The War Games didn't broadcast due to that single scene at the very end of the Dalek and a lack of an editing suite on-hand to take it out. So, from the looks of things, only Death and Genesis aired after the original Dalek tales from the Hartnell years. Kind of explains why I remember the Cybermen being top dog come the colour stories, now to think of it (before BF anyway). Oh, woe, the deprivation! Wasn't home video and DVDs a wonderful thing?
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Post by sherlock on Jun 6, 2018 22:02:03 GMT
The Mind Robber. One of my favourites, it's so creative. They even find a way to get around Frazer Hines' illness without resorting to Hartnell-era character disappearances mid-story.
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Post by number13 on Jun 6, 2018 23:23:08 GMT
In one episode's time I'm going to begin an experiment: can I stay awake until the end of 'The Dominators' around 2.45am It's the last (intact) classic-era story I've never seen! No doubt I will be riveted by unexpected twists and turns in the the plot and dynamic action scenes...
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Post by sherlock on Jun 6, 2018 23:41:15 GMT
The Krotons. Bob Holmes arrives on the scene and it's ... meh.
A perfectly serviceable piece of Who. It's not amazing, but it's not bad either. The Doctor and Zoe's interactions were fun.
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