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Post by number13 on Feb 12, 2024 8:33:53 GMT
I loved it too. In his very alternative novelisation of 'The Myth Makers', Donald Cotton does something vaguely along the same general lines (no spoilers!) to reassure us that all went well with Vicki and her new life in Carthage.
I'd highly recommend the novelisation btw, it's basically the same story but told in a unique and I think very funny way from the perspective of Homer (yes, him and no he wasn't in the TV version!) with loads of anachronistic jokes and references all the way up to the culture of the 1980s when it was written. Even better, the audiobook of the novelisation performed by Stephen Thorne is excellent.
I was having a Shakespeare binge during the early parts of my Target reread (slowed down at the moment because of the new school year, alas) and I had the happy accident of reading The Myth Makers right alongside Troilus And Cressida, which also features a lot of anachronisms, described by Ben Johnson as “…unskilfully filled… with Roman names.” I’m thinking that Mr Cotton made his choices deliberately as well. Most definitely he did! I once described Homer's literary voice in this novel as 'somewhere between P.G.Wodehouse and Jerome K. Jerome' and it's my favourite of the 'alternative' novelisations for that reason.
I have a theory explaining the anachonisms which I'll spoiler tag for anyone who hasn't read the novelisation yet... {Spoiler} I reckon the Doctor has been back to Carthage for more than just the one visit we see him on, and has spent a lot of time chatting with Homer in his olive grove. Giving away rather more about the future than a Time Lord should!
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Post by bethhigdon on Feb 12, 2024 20:20:53 GMT
Hartnell 12th Review
The Gunfighters - Novelization
The Gunfighters is my least favorite Hartnell story on tv. It’s not bad, but I do consider it weaker than most of his other outings. So imagine my surprise when the randomizer landed on the novelization for it.
I would argue that this adaptation is better written than the episode it’s based off of. The plot is more or less the same, but the characterization is stronger, the tone is more consistent, and there’s no blasted song nor fake western accents to sit through.
The story is written almost like a parody of Mark Twain, if Mark Twain had a darker and more violent sense of humor. The book reads like how Revelation of the Daleks watches. It’s a black comedy through and through, where death is common, casual, and caviler.
Almost too caviler at times. I personally did not care for the additional scene of the Doctor accidentally shooting some bystanders, presumably killing them, and the story treating it as no big deal. The overall story is well written, but it suffers from being saddled to a preexisting, family friendly, series where we have established characters that simply would not behave in the way that they do on the page.
While it was an interesting read, the actual filmed story, for all its faults, feels more like Doctor Who.
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Post by number13 on Feb 13, 2024 21:33:52 GMT
Agreed, the novel (while excellent) is a much darker tale (in a very humorous way) than the TV story. But - and this is how I explain the Doctor's gun-totin' antics in the finale at the OK Corral - it's being recounted to us through a haze of memory, illness and several bottles of whiskey by Doc Holliday, who probably wasn't the most reliable narrator in any case.
And then told to us again, in the printed form, by that journalist of the Old West, Mr. Ned Buntline. Now, I don't rightly know how reliable a narrator this gentleman was, but maybe he embellished his sources a little from time to time, as I've heard tell journalists may sometimes be inclined to do. (Sorry if that revelation shocks anyone...)
So perhaps the Doctor just moseyed on down to the old corral and snuck off in his blue cabinet along with Mr. Regret and Miss. Dupont under cover of the action, and his part in the shoot-em-up finale was put in to make the ending a mite more exciting (as they judged things in Tombstone in the old days). I don't reckon as how they was too particular about an extra body or two, more or less. Heck, readers would have expected it!
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Post by bethhigdon on Feb 14, 2024 1:38:19 GMT
Hartnell 13th Review
Doctor Who: Legacy - Video Game
There’s not many Doctor Who based video games out there and even fewer with the First Doctor, but there are a handful of multi-doctor games that he features in. The randomizer chose one such game for the marathon.
Doctor Who: Legacy was a free-to-play mobile game created for the 50th anniversary of the show. I say, ‘was’, because the game has since been discontinued. In order to play it you need an Android emulator and the APK file of the game.
I tried the game out using this method and it seemed to work fine. You can’t use the online features but the story mode and events are playable.
The game is a typical match three style game. Where you try to match three or more colors. You build a team of one doctor and five companions. Each color corresponds to a member of your team and how many combos you get determiners your attack power. It’s a turn based battle system, and during your turn you have the option of using a character’s special abilities if they’ve made enough successful hits.
It’s nothing ground breaking, but the game-play is solid enough, using basic match style features and rpg level ups. The more you play the more characters you collect and the stronger they grow. My problems with the game are mostly the same complaints I have for any free-to-play mobile game; the story is poorly paced out, too much grinding, you have to level up every new character you gained from scratch, ect. and so on. However, I do like the feature of being able to move pieces wherever you want to on the board instead of having to move only one space at a time like you do in other match games.
The story, what little there is of it, involves the Sontarans gaining time travel technology and creating a new time war that threatens all of reality, recruiting various villains from the show and fracturing the Doctor’s timeline.
There are four ‘seasons’ where the stakes are increased as new threats build upon the other. The First Doctor doesn’t appear until season three, where the big bad is the various incarnations of the Master.
Which all sounds very interesting, except it takes so bloody long to get through the thing that the story just limps long dully in the background. And it doesn’t even have a proper conclusion because the BBC dropped the game in favor of an entirely different mobile game later on! Which just reinforces my belief that on-going mobile puzzle games shouldn’t have stories to begin with.
The only other thing I want touch upon is the uneven representation between Classic and New Who. Polly is the only 60s companion to be playable in the entire game and yet the most random-ass, forgettable, one-off characters from the new series completely swamp the story, especially early on.
Like I have no interest in playing as the bitchy boss lady from the Rebel Flesh who’s name I can’t even remember. Give me Ian, dammit!
Anyways, the game is a decent time waster, but I can’t recommend it on a story front, and if you’re a classic fan you’re not going to get much in the way of fanservice either.
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Post by bethhigdon on Feb 14, 2024 16:54:01 GMT
Hartnell Ranking
Favorite Story: An Adventure In Space and Time - Still the best thing to come out of the 50th anniversary and such a wonderful love letter to the show.
Least Favorite Story: Doctor Who Legacy - It's unfinished. The game play isn't bad, but the sluggish story presentation and lack of an ending means that it has to come last.
- An Adventure In Space and Time (behind the scenes)
- Set in Stone (short story)
- The Crusade (tv story)
- The Suffering (full audio)
- O' Tannenbaum (short audio)
- Challenge of the Piper (comic)
- The Storyteller (minisode)
- The Empire of Glass (novel)
- The Myth Makers (fan work)
- The Dalek Outer Space Book (spin-off)
- The Gunfighters (novelization)
- Cadet Sweets' Cards (miscellaneous)
- Doctor Who: Legacy (video game)
By and large I truly enjoyed most of what the Hartnell era had to offer. Even the lower ranked stuff had something fun to them.
Now on to Troughton.
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Post by bonehead on Feb 14, 2024 20:12:17 GMT
Hartnell Ranking
Favorite Story: An Adventure In Space and Time - Still the best thing to come out of the 50th anniversary and such a wonderful love letter to the show.
Least Favorite Story: Doctor Who Legacy - It's unfinished. The game play isn't bad, but the sluggish story presentation and lack of an ending means that it has to come last.
- An Adventure In Space and Time (behind the scenes)
- Set in Stone (short story)
- The Crusade (tv story)
- The Suffering (full audio)
- O' Tannenbaum (short audio)
- Challenge of the Piper (comic)
- The Storyteller (minisode)
- The Empire of Glass (novel)
- The Myth Makers (fan work)
- The Dalek Outer Space Book (spin-off)
- The Gunfighters (novelization)
- Cadet Sweets' Cards (miscellaneous)
- Doctor Who: Legacy (video game)
By and large I truly enjoyed most of what the Hartnell era had to offer. Even the lower ranked stuff had something fun to them.
Now on to Troughton.
Looking forward to it!
"It's all over - that's what you said. No, but it isn't all over. It's far from being all over."
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Post by bethhigdon on Feb 15, 2024 13:24:44 GMT
Troughton 1st Review
Missing In Action - Documentary
So we kick off the Second Doctor’s era with a short documentary on missing episodes. This was a made for television documentary that the BBC commissioned as part of a special airing of Planet of the Daleks, back in 1993. It’s part of a larger series of mini Doctor Who documentaries that aired at the same time. Each one covered various aspects of the show and fandom, and featured narration by various Who alumni. This particular short is narrated by the Brigadier himself, Nicholas Courtney. Of course, being made back in 1993 the documentary is now a little outdated. At the time of writing, there are now only 97 missing episodes. Since 1999 we’ve found
the first episode of The Crusade the third episode of Galaxy 4 the second episode of The Daleks’ Master Plan the second episode of The Underwater Menace the entirety of The Enemy of the World four episodes of The Web of Fear And hopefully by this time next year, this review will be outdated and we’ll have even more episodes to watch. After all, we know for a fact some episodes exist in private collections.
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Post by bethhigdon on Feb 15, 2024 17:34:59 GMT
Troughton 2nd Review
Power of the Daleks (TV Soundtrack) - Miscellaneous
In an effort to experience missing episodes, the BBC has released the surviving audios with narration. This one being narrated by Anneke Wills.
Now naturally Power of the Daleks is one of Troughtons best stories and the production work on the soundtrack is very professional, but I'm not sure if these audios are for me.
While there's a lot of detail that comes through with the narration, I also find it hard to focus on what's going on without images. Perhaps because the episode was made to be seen, or because I have adhd, I found my mind zoning in and out; even when only listening to one episode at a time and trying to do things while it plays in the background so that I'm not distracted. (Yes, I get more distracted just sitting and doing nothing while listing to audio...blame the ADD)
I'm glad to have given it a proper try, but from now on I'll probably stick to retcons and animations.
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Post by mark687 on Feb 15, 2024 22:27:12 GMT
Troughton 2nd Review
Power of the Daleks (TV Soundtrack) - Miscellaneous
In an effort to experience missing episodes, the BBC has released the surviving audios with narration. This one being narrated by Anneke Wills.
Now naturally Power of the Daleks is one of Troughtons best stories and the production work on the soundtrack is very professional, but I'm not sure if these audios are for me.
While there's a lot of detail that comes through with the narration, I also find it hard to focus on what's going on without images. Perhaps because the episode was made to be seen, or because I have adhd, I found my mind zoning in and out; even when only listening to one episode at a time and trying to do things while it plays in the background so that I'm not distracted. (Yes, I get more distracted just sitting and doing nothing while listing to audio...blame the ADD)
I'm glad to have given it a proper try, but from now on I'll probably stick to retcons and animations.
I love this (and the Original version on Cassette with Tom Baker doing the narration in character as the Doctor), plus the Telesnap and Animation recons, a story that keeps giving more in almost any format. Regards mark687
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Post by bethhigdon on Feb 17, 2024 4:38:20 GMT
Troughton 3rd Review
On a Pedestal - Short Story
This story was another mini history lesson for me. As an American, who’s never seen Braveheart, I knew jack all about William Wallace. I didn’t know who he was, what he did, or what he was known for. I didn’t even know what time period he lived in. Which made things a little confusing as the author clearly expects you to know these basics going into the story.
Today’s Short Trip comes from the anthology The Quality of Leadership. The central theme of the book is the Doctor meeting various leaders through out time and space. Hence where William Wallace comes in; the leader of The First War of Scottish Independence.
Aboard the Tardis, Jamie and Victoria have an argument over the historical figure. As a Scotsman who has fought the British army himself, Jamie idolizes William Wallace as a hero. While Victoria, an upper-class woman from late Victorian England, has bought into the British propaganda she’s been told her whole life and believes him to be villain. Only for the Tardis to land them in 13th century Scotland where they get to meet the real William Wallace and both have their preconceptions about the man challenged.
Let’s talk about the things I liked in this story first.
I liked how Jamie’s and Victoria’s backgrounds are used to flesh out their characters. They’re some of the few historical companions to travel with the Doctor, so of course their points of view are informed by how they were raised. Everyone feels completely in character.
I also like how the setting plays into those backgrounds. Jamie is right at home, even if he’s technically centuries in his past, because he has a chance to reconnect with his culture. Victoria is more out-of-place, and believes herself to be from a more ‘advance and civilized’ age, but is then faced with the harsh reality that all that she’s been taught about the British Empire is wrong.
Which is where my problems with the story come in. I know it’s only a story story but I wish the set ups and themes here were pushed even further.
Like I said, the author expects the audience to already know who William Wallace is and what time period he lived in, so there’s not enough effort spent on establishing how out of time Jamie and Victoria really are. Which is something you have to take extra care in establishing since they’re already historical companions.
I also don’t think Victoria was challenged enough on her beliefs. She seems to view Wallace’s injustice in isolation rather than as part of a larger systematic problem. The villainous English officer who hounds them and threatens them is just a bad egg to her mind and not a product of his environment. Therefore, it feels like she’s just sorry that the she’s being separated from the guy she has a crush on instead of learning a valuable lesson on the evils of imperialism.
Which leads to my second complaint. As a Victoria and Jamie shipper, I’m not too fussed over her romance with Wallace. Which just abruptly ends when he has to go on the run from the law, and she has to continue on traveling with the Doctor. He doesn’t even ask her to come with him or anything, so we don’t even get a rejection to resolve the plot point.
All in all, it’s not a bad tale, but I think this is one of the few Short Trips that could have benefited from being a longer story.
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Post by number13 on Feb 17, 2024 8:14:19 GMT
Troughton 3rd Review
On a Pedestal - Short Story
That sounds interesting, I do like the historicals. But it does sound as if it makes Jamie a Scottish warrior rather than a Jacobite. Unlike Wallace centuries earlier, Jamie wasn't fighting for Scottish independence at Culloden.
The Jacobites supported the claim to the thrones of Scotland and England by the exiled Stuart dynasty. Far from being against the Union (or the Empire), the Jacobites wanted it to be ruled by a Scottish king! (Plus the usual religious divide of those days played its part.) By 1745/6 most Scots didn't support them and backed the Hanoverians, so Jamie found himself on the losing side and ended up in the TARDIS...
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Post by bethhigdon on Feb 17, 2024 23:41:03 GMT
Troughton 4th Review
Destiny of the Doctors - Video Game
This the first of many multi doctor stories that we’ll be looking at for the Second Doctor. This one is a PC adventure game released back in 1997. (But apparently made back in 1995.)
Now I absolutely refused to subject myself to clunky first person Doom controls so I watched a Let’s Play of the game for my review, by walsallmatt on Youtube. You can check it out here for yourself if you would like.
As for the plot of the game, the Master, played brilliantly by Anthony Ainley, has kidnapped all seven of the Doctor’s incarnations inside a place called the Determinant. A psychedelic prison that the Master has created with his mind by taking control of the planet Siralos, which is made of "pure psychic energy".
Basically it’s a mindscrew land where the Master can warp reality at his will. You play as Graak, a gelatinous blob like creature that the Doctor created by utilizing the planet’s psychic energy. You have to free each doctor by solving the Master’s riddles, fetch quests, and games before running out of energy; all while dodging famous Doctor Who monsters who have teamed up with the Master to stop you. The various Doctors only appear as a series of reused audio and video clips, though they hired a couple of VAs to voice the First and Second Doctors who had past on at this point. Also the Brigadier shows up to give the players hints over the radio. Nicholas Courtney I believe did record new lines for this but he never makes an on screen appearance. The only person you actually see on screen is Ainley’s Master, and you can tell he’s having blast.
This was Ainley’s final performance in the role and it’s arguably his best. Ainley himself has gone on record to state that this was his favorite Doctor Who story to work on. It’s also the only reason to seek the game out. The Master sells the the show and the story neatly ties into the tv movie with Paul McGann, which makes that bizarre opening sequence make a little more sense.
Outside of those two things though, there’s really no reason to play the game. The story is good, but the controls are atrocious. You’re wondering around in low-polly maze-like corridors with no direction nor map, using tank like, first-person controls which hamper your visibility even more. Oh and there’s underwater sections!
On top of that there’s some quality of life mechanics that are either missing or should be removed all together. The limited energy countdown/timer mechanic isn’t a fun challenge. The save points are literally hidden within the maze and you have to pick them up, if you miss any you can be shot back to square one. The sound mixing is bad. The weapons don’t do much against the bad guys chasing you. And due to graphic limitations, it’s hard to keep track of where you’re going and where you’ve been as everything looks the same, and you have no markers to indicate whether or not you came this way before, so it’s easy to get stuck walking in circles.
It’s a shame really. You can tell a lot of effort was put into this, and there are good ideas buried in it but it lacks polish. This is one of those games that would actually benefit from a remake/release if someone went in and fixed the controls and tweaked the mechanics a bit, maybe add a mini-map in the corner or something.
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Post by bethhigdon on Feb 18, 2024 21:04:54 GMT
Troughton 5th Review
The Black Hole - Full Length Audio
The Early Adventures are a cross between The Companion Chronicles and a regular full cast audio. It would feature returning actors to their original companion roles, recasts for characters who’s actors had past on, and new actors brought in to play bit parts and guest characters. However, along with this full cast, there would still be narration like in the CC ranges and oftentimes actors from the original run would double up on parts. Which is the case for this story.
Frazer Hines plays both the Doctor and Jamie in this outing, and I think he does a fine job. Less convincing, sadly, is Deborah Watling as Victoria. It’s no one’s fault really, but you can’t help but notice how much her voice has changed over the years every time she speaks. It’s something of a distraction from an other wise strong cast. Speaking of which the guest characters are all superb in this.
It’s hard to talk about the story without getting into spoilers but I shall try.
The Doctor, Jamie, and Victoria land inside a spaceship colony that’s been entrapped by a black hole. Everyone but them is affected by this; with time suddenly freezing or people winking out of existence. The only people who know what’s going on is the leader of the colony and an another investigating Time Lord.
There’s some great twists in this serial. Hence my reluctance to spoil anything. I truly appreciate anyone being able to pull off a decent twist correctly, let alone the three or four we get in this story. All of which you don’t see coming but make absolute sense once revealed.
If I have any criticism it’s that the final act does feel a bit rushed. The monster of the day arrives late on the scene and fails to make much of an impression, and being on audio, the action can be hard to follow at times. But as these creatures aren’t the main focus of the story, this is a very minor complaint.
Overall I do recommend this story to anyone who is a Second Doctor fan. It’s a well executed story that plays around with continuity without braking it, brings back some fun old foes, introduces new and interesting characters, and gives me the shippy Jamie and Victoria scenes that I’ve been asking for this marathon.
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Post by bethhigdon on Feb 20, 2024 3:20:13 GMT
Troughton 6th Review
Doctors Assemble! - Minisode
During the middle of the pandemic, Emily Cook, then editorial assistant of Doctor Who Magazine, created a multimedia campaign to help keep the show going and to provide outreach to people trapped at home. This project was called Lockdown! and it involved live streams of older episodes, original minisodes, singlongs, comics, short stories, charity outreach, and even fanworks.
The project had it’s own website, youtube channel, and twitter feed. It also featured cast and crew from various areas of Who, to provide semiofficial media.
Doctors Assemble! is a minisode, that’s more like a mini-podcast. It features all 13 Doctors (plus War) communicating over a live screen share chat as they try to figure out how to stop the Fourth Doctor’s Tardis from collapsing. The story is told through voice over only and still images. The only thing animated is the interior of the Tardis. This is both because of safe social distancing practices, and because none of the original actors reprise their roles here.
All of the voice actors are good, though some are better at impersonating their respective doctors than others. Some are uncanny in their recreations, and others you can tell are a recast but they get the personality right which is what’s really important.
Of course though what really shines here is the writing. It’s nothing complex and half the dialogue is in-jokes and memes, but the characterization is spot on and it’s just pure fun listening to all the Doctors bounce off each other. I especially like the dynamic of them all acting like bickering siblings, except for the first, who is their clueless old Grandpa who can’t figure out the tech and who they’re all trying to avoid getting in trouble with.
Also if you can track it down, Cook posted a special edition with a fun extra cameo at the end.
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Post by bethhigdon on Feb 21, 2024 3:24:48 GMT
Troughton 7th Review
The Dominators - Novelization
It’s been a few years since I’ve seen the tv story this book is adapting, but I remember enjoying it at the time. It would seem that I enjoyed it for all the wrong reasons though. Without the silly 60s designs and over the top acting this story is rather dull.
I don’t mean that it’s bad, per-say, or that I was bored reading it, but it’s very Who by the numbers, isn’t? On paper it becomes very clear that this was supposed to be a Daleks (serial not monster) reboot. The Quarks are discount Daleks (monster not serial); lacking in both personality and menace The Dulcians are just even more boring Thals The story is located in a barren land destroyed by nuclear war.
The only thing new here is the Dominators, and they’re one dimensional, ineffective villains that would rather argue more amongst themselves then do, well anything really. They’re only a threat because the Dulcians are just that pathetic. The only thing that makes this story interesting is the regulars. The Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe are such well defined characters that they make any scene shine… yet their true strength lies in the great actors playing them and this aspect is of course lost on the page. They’re still entertaining but not quite as much as they are on the screen.
And that’s pretty much my assessment of the novelization as a whole. It’s a passable adaptation, but the original story is better. Not because of any failure on the author’s behalf, but because the change in medium takes so much away from the story.
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Post by bethhigdon on Feb 22, 2024 2:44:16 GMT
Troughton 8th Review
The Invasion - TV Story
Oh I lucked out with the randomizer on this one. The Invasion is arguably one of Troughton’s best stories. At eight episodes, rather than feeling over long, the story uses it’s length to slowly build tension and mystery. Even the two missing episodes are well animated and fit the rest of the story nicely.
It features the creation of UNIT, the return of the Brigadier, the debut of Benton, and at the heart of the story, a cat and mouse game between the Doctor and Tobias Vaughn. Vaughn is one of the most entertaining and charismatic villains the franchise has ever produced, and it all hinges on Kevin Stoney’s fantastic and commanding performance.
Which is only backed up by Troughton’s equally mesmerizing acting. It’s truly a tragedy that so much of Troughton’s work in Who is lost. His performance is so physical, so much so that most of his stories simply don't translate to other mediums, even with decent animation. Watch his movements, his understated facial expressions. The Doctor is a character who is always thinking, and Troughton arguably conveys that aspect of the character better then any other who has played the part.
If I have any complaints about the story they’re all very minor.
For starters, some of the pseudoscience and fake military jargon is silly sounding to anyone who is remotely familiar with the real stuff. A machine that forces you to feel emotions is pure fantasy, but it’s also very Doctor Who so I can’t dock the story for it too much.
Also poor Jamie isn’t well served in this outing. He brightens any scene he’s in and gives the characters someone to bounce off of, but he himself accomplishes very little. However, Zoe gets tons of cool things to do so I guess it balances out.
And finally, I just don’t like the character of Isabelle all that much and she’s sadly everywhere in the story. She’s less than useless, flighty, stupid, and infuriatingly stubborn, turning her nose up at everyone save for Zoe. Worst she gets two people killed trying to ‘help’, and she still makes no impact on the plot as her endeavors wind up being pointless. Let’s just say I’m glad the show brought Benton back and not her for the next season.
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Post by mark687 on Feb 22, 2024 10:15:28 GMT
Troughton 8th Review
The Invasion - TV Story
Oh I lucked out with the randomizer on this one. The Invasion is arguably one of Troughton’s best stories. At eight episodes, rather than feeling over long, the story uses it’s length to slowly build tension and mystery. Even the two missing episodes are well animated and fit the rest of the story nicely.
It features the creation of UNIT, the return of the Brigadier, the debut of Benton, and at the heart of the story, a cat and mouse game between the Doctor and Tobias Vaughn. Vaughn is one of the most entertaining and charismatic villains the franchise has ever produced, and it all hinges on Kevin Stoney’s fantastic and commanding performance.
Which is only backed up by Troughton’s equally mesmerizing acting. It’s truly a tragedy that so much of Troughton’s work in Who is lost. His performance is so physical, so much so that most of his stories simply don't translate to other mediums, even with decent animation. Watch his movements, his understated facial expressions. The Doctor is a character who is always thinking, and Troughton arguably conveys that aspect of the character better then any other who has played the part.
If I have any complaints about the story they’re all very minor.
For starters, some of the pseudoscience and fake military jargon is silly sounding to anyone who is remotely familiar with the real stuff. A machine that forces you to feel emotions is pure fantasy, but it’s also very Doctor Who so I can’t dock the story for it too much.
Also poor Jamie isn’t well served in this outing. He brightens any scene he’s in and gives the characters someone to bounce off of, but he himself accomplishes very little. However, Zoe gets tons of cool things to do so I guess it balances out.
And finally, I just don’t like the character of Isabelle all that much and she’s sadly everywhere in the story. She’s less than useless, flighty, stupid, and infuriatingly stubborn, turning her nose up at everyone save for Zoe. Worst she gets two people killed trying to ‘help’, and she still makes no impact on the plot as her endeavors wind up being pointless. Let’s just say I’m glad the show brought Benton back and not her for the next season. This was my very 1st DW VHS with linking narration from Nic Courtney covering the missing EPs 1 and 4 and I still consider it a top tier story. Regards mak687
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Post by bethhigdon on Feb 23, 2024 0:36:02 GMT
Troughton 9th Review
The Wheel of Ice - Novel
When the Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe are forced to land the TARDIS unexpectedly, they wind up stranded on a mining colony on an ice moon of Saturn during the early days of Earth’s space exploration. The little colony is little more than a slave camp run by the Bootstrap corporation and it’s melomaniac CEO. But while tensions start to rupture between the children of the colony and their oppressors, a new threat emerges. A much older threat. An ancient threat. And it wants to go home.
Alright, let’s talk about what I liked about this story first.
The world building is great, to start with. In fact it maybe the book’s biggest strength. The author not only lays out this futuristic colony and culture extremely well, but he also fills in the past leading up to it’s creation, giving you an idea of how everyone got there and why.
The author also does a good job of providing little character moments to make you care about his original characters while also representing the regulars very well. I especially liked the conflict Zoe had to visiting her near past, where everything was familiar and yet wrong at the same time to her. And of course, the most successful of these new characters is MMAC the Scottish robot, who you wind up feeling for very deeply.
Though this does lead to a minor problem. Some characters are introduced and then not given much of a resolution... like with First and their growing sentience or Harry trying to reconnect with his estrange kids after a divorce. These plot points are introduced and then either dropped or given a measly pay off.
Worse is the villain's arc. The author tries to give her depth and and a tragic backstory, and it just doesn’t work because her past doesn’t logically connect back to her current goals. The Doctor says she’s just out for revenge, but revenge against whom exactly? No one aboard the colony has anything to do with what happened to her in her childhood, and her plan doesn’t stand to gain her anything against those she does blame for her woes.
Which is a shame because I would have gladly accepted her as just a Elon Musk/Jeff Bezos stand in. She doesn’t actually need to be anything more than greedy and stupid.
Which loops me back around to what I do enjoy about the conflict. The classism and socio-economic disparity between the uber rich and the exploited poor is a tale as old as time, but is sadly even more relevant today than when the book was publish only a decade ago. It’s a nice little allegory to real world problems, with interesting socio-political problems born from advance technology reshaping the world; just as all good science fiction should be.
At least the political conflict is interesting, the alien invasion stuff not so much. The Blue Dolls/Soldiers and the ancient being controlling them, are just a little too similar to Autons and the Nestene to really make an impact. And efforts to try and make them more unique, only fail in the end because of the lack of follow through. The idea that they might have minds of their own are dropped in favor of generic base under siege stuff.
There’s also the weird pacing at times. Like the author builds up to something climatic only to cut away and claim it was resolved off screen. Then we get chapters of exposition instead. Or in the case of the runaways subplot, Jamie having to rescue a bunch of teenagers from their own stupidity over and over again.
I mean there’s only so many times I can read about a dumb kid braking his ankle on a scooter for the umpteenth time, before I start to think that maybe the adults had a point in trying to ‘ground’ them, so to speak.
Really the trip to Titan is such pointless filler in the end and is where the book starts to drag a bit. Which is a shame because it would have been the perfect time to give us some more world building/character development and it just doesn’t. It’s also when the more boring alien invasion stuff reaches it’s peak.
Fortunately, once Jamie returns things start to pick back up again, as the book heads towards it’s finale.
All this is to say, I really enjoyed the novel over all, despite its weaknesses. I think it’s a strong contender for the top five slot in the Second Doctor ranking I’ll do later, but it’s never going to beat the likes of The Invasion.
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Post by bonehead on Feb 23, 2024 4:11:51 GMT
Just to say, this thread is terrific reading. 👍
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Post by bethhigdon on Feb 24, 2024 4:11:12 GMT
Just to say, this thread is terrific reading. 👍 Thank you, and thanks to everybody who's been liking and commenting in the thread. On Tumblr these posts would just get lost but I'm glad they found a home here.
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