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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2021 14:03:58 GMT
Today I am watching the penultimate story from the classic era, The Curse of Fenric. The original version, mind you.
This is as good as Doctor Who has ever been. Peter Davison has often said how much more effective Doctor Who would have been in it was all recorded on film, or at least, if the video was given a 'filmic' post-production treatment - and he is so right. On video, as in here, you can see every blemish, the origins of every effect, every mask - but it still looks great! The Haemovores emerging from the sea look amazing and terrifying, transforming two plucky cockney girls into seductive vampire creatures ("Pllaaay with us!" Won't somebody think of Whitehouse?). The stylus still scratching impotently on vinyl as Mrs Hardecker lies dead and wide-eyed; The Parson's (and I do mean the Parson!) heart-rending speech/sermon; The Doctor and Ace, so wonderfully established as the best of best friends, ripped apart by The Doctor's manipulation of Fenric's game; the underwater shots, "I'm not a little girl, Professor," (Won't somebody think of - oh.) Mark Eyres' creepy, strident music score ... this story spoils us, it really does.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2021 14:42:17 GMT
Your first paragraph highlights something that *really* used to grind my gears as a child. As far as I know, no-one has been psychologically damaged watching Doctor Who, and yet boring adults whose imaginations had been squashed by the rigours of 'respectability' - as I saw it - were determining what is unsuitable. No credit was given to us young viewers whatsoever for realising this was fantasy fiction, and what we'd see on the news and hear in the playground was far worse. Or maybe that was just my school! The fact that we will never see a story like 'The Deadly Assassin' in Doctor Who again would indicate that those censors who were falling over themselves to be offended, have won. How's that for a rant? 😁 Very much on the mark. I think it's one of our blindspots as adults. Childhood gets relegated to this vague image of a single-digit nursery school attendee, which is expanded to fit everything between 6 and 16. The truth is that children are a lot more intelligent and aware of their environment than they're typically given credit for. In fact, I think they're getting more intelligent -- particularly emotionally intelligent -- all the time and, honestly, thank god. Could you imagine the alternative? That'd be terrifying. And their getting wiser is good for us, as it means all the interesting concepts never need be dumbed down. Only explained through a different language without the buzzwords and cliquish slang. I mean, you say the censors won, but then I remember The Sun Makers beginning with its attempted suicide, Leela's knife fight, and the Doctor getting menaced with a hot poker and think... Perhaps a few of the old ideas just went underground, instead. Old face, new cloak. Saved for special occasions. Whilst I agree that sensible, intelligent young viewers can be relied upon to avoid copy-cat violence, I do think that Mary Whitehouse had a point on this one. I remember clearly playing 'Hot Hands' in the infants school play yard after a certain cliffhanger to episode 1 of Pyramids of Mars. We did not expect smoke to rise and to actually grant the gift of death to all humanity on that occasion, but The Deadly Assassin ep 3 did provide an easily replicable and dangerous stunt for kids to innocently copy. Young kids to not always understand the dangers of water and how easily one can become incapacitated. Its why so many non-swimmers get caught out whenever there is a spell of hot weather. So whilst it may never have occurred to ourselves to give 'The Doctor' a ducking during a play acting game, it would only have taken one instance of foolishness for irreparable damage to have been done. Perhaps they could have shown this well remembered Public Information Film afterwards as a warning:
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2021 14:48:29 GMT
Very much on the mark. I think it's one of our blindspots as adults. Childhood gets relegated to this vague image of a single-digit nursery school attendee, which is expanded to fit everything between 6 and 16. The truth is that children are a lot more intelligent and aware of their environment than they're typically given credit for. In fact, I think they're getting more intelligent -- particularly emotionally intelligent -- all the time and, honestly, thank god. Could you imagine the alternative? That'd be terrifying. And their getting wiser is good for us, as it means all the interesting concepts never need be dumbed down. Only explained through a different language without the buzzwords and cliquish slang. I mean, you say the censors won, but then I remember The Sun Makers beginning with its attempted suicide, Leela's knife fight, and the Doctor getting menaced with a hot poker and think... Perhaps a few of the old ideas just went underground, instead. Old face, new cloak. Saved for special occasions. Whilst I agree that sensible, intelligent young viewers can be relied upon to avoid copy-cat violence, I do think that Mary Whitehouse had a point on this one. I remember clearly playing 'Hot Hands' in the infants school play yard after a certain cliffhanger to episode 1 of Pyramids of Mars. We did not expect smoke to rise and to actually grant the gift of death to all humanity on that occasion, but The Deadly Assassin ep 3 did provide an easily replicable and dangerous stunt for kids to innocently copy. Young kids to not always understand the dangers of water and how easily one can become incapacitated. Its why so many non-swimmers get caught out whenever there is a spell of hot weather. So whilst it may never have occurred to ourselves to give 'The Doctor' a ducking during a play acting game, it would only have taken one instance of foolishness for irreparable damage to have been done. Perhaps they could have shown this well remembered Public Information Film afterwards as a warning: Fair enough. I remember getting together with the youngsters who lived next door after Planet of the Spiders, sitting in a circle, and trying to bring forth the giant spiders. Never worked, of course, but it would never occur to us to try and drown each other. I do appreciate your words though, and remember that public service announcement very well. Donald Pleasance is enough to dissuade anyone from doing anything!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2021 21:06:44 GMT
And then some! "Who'd you see at the side of the water?"
"Oh, the spectre of Death. You?"
"Some muddy old rag."
*skeletal hand placed on shoulder*
*sharp intake of breath*Very much on the mark. I think it's one of our blindspots as adults. Childhood gets relegated to this vague image of a single-digit nursery school attendee, which is expanded to fit everything between 6 and 16. The truth is that children are a lot more intelligent and aware of their environment than they're typically given credit for. In fact, I think they're getting more intelligent -- particularly emotionally intelligent -- all the time and, honestly, thank god. Could you imagine the alternative? That'd be terrifying. And their getting wiser is good for us, as it means all the interesting concepts never need be dumbed down. Only explained through a different language without the buzzwords and cliquish slang. I mean, you say the censors won, but then I remember The Sun Makers beginning with its attempted suicide, Leela's knife fight, and the Doctor getting menaced with a hot poker and think... Perhaps a few of the old ideas just went underground, instead. Old face, new cloak. Saved for special occasions. Whilst I agree that sensible, intelligent young viewers can be relied upon to avoid copy-cat violence, I do think that Mary Whitehouse had a point on this one. I remember clearly playing 'Hot Hands' in the infants school play yard after a certain cliffhanger to episode 1 of Pyramids of Mars. We did not expect smoke to rise and to actually grant the gift of death to all humanity on that occasion, but The Deadly Assassin ep 3 did provide an easily replicable and dangerous stunt for kids to innocently copy. Young kids to not always understand the dangers of water and how easily one can become incapacitated. Its why so many non-swimmers get caught out whenever there is a spell of hot weather. So whilst it may never have occurred to ourselves to give 'The Doctor' a ducking during a play acting game, it would only have taken one instance of foolishness for irreparable damage to have been done. Perhaps they could have shown this well remembered Public Information Film afterwards as a warning:I think that's a very elegant solution. Maybe bumper it on either side with the PSA. One for the kids staying around after the credits and one for those sitting down to set up for the programme.
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Post by timegirl on Apr 16, 2021 23:00:28 GMT
Class (DW spinoff) Episode 1
I wasn’t sure about this because of hearing most of it is a so-so Buffy the Vampire Slayer rip-off but with aliens, then I heard that 12 appears in the first episode so I had to give at least the first episode a watch! Unsurprisingly I was thinking “when is Capaldi going to show up?”for most of the run time. So besides what I was really watching for, it was a bit of a cliche supernatural teen drama. I think I like the two aliens posing as student and teacher the best. Without having to say anything I knew they had to be aliens the moment they came on screen! I didn’t think the villain was very impressive just sort of a big CGI generic doomsday villain that looked and sounded like they belonged in a not very good video game. I loved 12’s appearance even if he was just mostly zapping the villain and delivering exposition, Capaldi still gave an award winning performance! The standout moment though was when 12 looks at Clara’s name on a memorial plaque, I started to get misty eyed! I wish 12 was in every episode! Ah well! I may continue just for the two aliens though!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 17, 2021 15:03:35 GMT
To round off a delightfully Doctor Who-fuelled few days before work (and Covid vaccine number two) beckons this week, what better way to cheer oneself up with brutal little two parter, The Sontaran Experiment?
Shooting entirely on video actually works in this story's favour, making the magnificent landscape wonderfully huge and isolated. The humans, in various stages of terror, and believable, even if the Doctor isn't sure ("Oh it's you again. Can't say I'm thrilled."). Were many viewers aware Tom broke his collar bone at the time? Certainly the stunt double is a little obvious in some scenes, but nothing too out of the ordinary. Nowadays, the leading man's impairment would be all over Twitter!
Ian Marter is so good as Harry, you would never guess the writers were struggling to find things for him to do. I wish he'd have stayed longer; his banter and general relationship with Elizabeth Sladen as Sarah is adorable. What a great double act they were, and should have continued to be for a while longer.
Of course, Tom Baker is great, great fun. Still full of energy and vigour, still wide eyed and other-worldly.
It's difficult to believe, just a few stories ago, Kevin Lindsay was the benign and peaceful Monk in Planet of the Spiders, because here he is snarling, sneering and utterly ruthless as Styre. Listening to him gives me an even greater admiration for Dan Starkey, who picks up his mannerisms on occasions expertly. Of course, the story even retains its grim class with lines like, "I'll kill you all, but I have more important things to do first (approximate quote)!" They never learn, these villains do they?
A great story, with a deftly produced cliffhanger designed to have us young folk leaping off the sofa!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 17, 2021 20:08:41 GMT
Colony in Space (restored Blu-Ray) Episode 1 & 2. Glad that this is getting a bit of a reappraisal of late as I have always rated it and listened to the Target Audiobook late last year too.
Strong themes of 'Hippies vs Capitalists' perhaps, as someone posted on Twitter yesterday. Very Malcolm Hulke - getting a bit of political interest in under the radar as usual...
To me, its just a good solid yarn, well written, performed and produced. Like his 'Invasion of the Dinosaurs', of which I completed the Target Audiobook (Martin Jarvis) last weekend, this is my 'Golden Age' of Doctor Who stories. I was too young to watch until the VHS releases across some 12 -29 years later, but it was the most consistent run of quality Target novelisations as a young reader, and unlike some readers, the televised versions did hold up to my own memories of the books..
N.B. Tom Baker was my favourite Doctor and corresponding run of televised stories, Jon Pertwee a close second, but I think that the Third Doctor got a better share of the early Target Novelisations.
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Post by johnhurtdoctor on Apr 17, 2021 20:18:07 GMT
The Invasion of Time.
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Post by johnhurtdoctor on Apr 17, 2021 22:05:24 GMT
We have lots of boring Gallifrey stuff, crap aliens, clumsy Sontarans but at least Tom is having fun with the best moment ever in Doctor Who.
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melkur
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Post by melkur on Apr 19, 2021 13:20:22 GMT
Over the past week or so I've watched 'Death To The Daleks' (for obvious reasons), 'Invasion Of The Dinosaurs' and 'The Rescue' (one of these things is not like the others).
So far today I've watched the first half of 'The Time Warriors', in memory of Lis Sladen. Time allowing, I should be able to have it finished before bed...
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Post by johnhurtdoctor on Apr 19, 2021 14:44:44 GMT
The Stones of Blood, one of my favourites. A real fun story, my favourite supporting character in the delightful Professor Rumford (still waiting for BF to do their Professor Rumford Investigates spin-off) & of course the gorgeous, charming & witty Mary Tamm.
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Post by johnhurtdoctor on Apr 19, 2021 20:41:33 GMT
Resurrection of the Daleks the final story for my favourite companion, who looks so 80s in this one, & some rare diversity in the casting of supporting characters.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 22, 2021 10:52:14 GMT
Rose.
It's strange, but I remember watching this on transmission as if it were yesterday. My video recorder - that's video recorder - decided this was the moment to stop working. Such was the excitement I didn't even care. A small group of us watched this, and I was the only 'fan' among them. I think it was about the time The Doctor and Rose were walking away from the estate, and they were joking about the Earth being taken over by aliens, that someone suddenly said, "This is ******* brilliant!" And he was right. Ten minutes in, we were captivated by Rose, fascinated by The Doctor and slightly unnerved by the moving mannequins. We laughed at Jackie flirting with the Doctor, Mickey's transformation, and the Doctor being strangled by the plastic hand. By the time the Doctor offered Rose a chance to travel in the TARDIS and she turned him down, we were mortified!
This first, very important episode of the new Doctor Who isn't perfect, but it gets so many things absolutely right. Mainly, we care about the regular cast. We haven't yet heard about Gallifrey, the Time War or any of that. The Doctor is just a slightly goofy, intense, strange character who travels around in a Police Box. Rose is a wonderful, effervescent, funny, brave soul - and when she eventually runs, grinning, aboard the TARDIS as the credits roll, we were all grinning too.
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Post by grinch on Apr 22, 2021 11:36:55 GMT
Enlightenment (Barbara Clegg)
Definitely the best story out of the Black Guardian Trilogy. Always thought the concepts of the Eternals and their relationship with so called Ephemerals were a fascinating idea and Lynda Baron is delightfully over the top as Captain Wrack.
Quite the accomplishment considering how the production behind this was apparently a nightmare.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2021 22:27:59 GMT
Just watched episodes 1 & 2 of The Daemons (Blu-Ray) plus the new documentary Devils Weekend.
Fantastic restoration upgrade, I am aware that those fussy pedants with a keen finger on the pause button have picked out extant instances of colour bleed in some sequences, but really, those working on it have done a very good job on that which is most noticeable to most viewers, such as myself. The studio footage has a distinct sharpness and clarity that is remarkable considering the two sources of B/W 16mm film and Betamax NTSC home video colour. Some of the location footage still seems degraded where night-time filming or low lighting is concerned, but where there is brightness and therefore something to work on, the colour enhancements are a significant improvement.
Oh - and they are brilliant episodes of Doctor Who!
The documentary with John Levine and Katy Manning was wonderful. A joy to watch - I had a smile on my face throughout. Richly enhanced with clips from the episodes to highlight where they are or what they are reminiscing about. A genuine sense of their being as moved and engaged to be there as the wide array of Villagers assembled who were given time to reminiscence about their own memories of the filming. Very moving to see John and Katy engaging with now middle aged adults (and grandparents very likely) who were primary school children at the time of filming and who had very interesting anecdotes themselves to tell, for the first time, perhaps. The boy who walked home from school for lunch and encountered Jon Pertwee and Katy down a back lane and whom Katy held his hand as they walked, for example and of whom she remembered very well herself, was a particularly poignant vignette.
The local Garage owner who started working at what was used as the Doctors 'workshop' in 1976 where Bessie was actually maintained (on screen and in actuality on one occasion - the lift apparatus still in use), and who had set up an anti-litter campaign with local youths, building a Talking Dalek and Tardis litter bins....
This documentary was fantastic. A professional production and a remarkable feat to get so many people involved during lockdown. As much as I enjoyed 'A Return to Devils End' from around 1993, with Jon Pertwee, John Levine and Richard Franklin, it always seemed a bit Denis Norden, with our Nick Briggs, clipboard in hand, coaxing amusing anecdotes from the assembled trio and largely standing around with the locations in the background. This documentary was superlative, offering a belated and perhaps last opportunity to reunite cast and observers.
A very good nights viewing, to say the least.
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Post by coffeeaddict on Apr 25, 2021 23:34:04 GMT
My copy of Fury from the Deep showed up Friday - Amazon was really slow getting mine given it was released a few weeks back.
Enjoyed it. While I would love to see top of the line animation, I have to say what has been used on these "restorations" has been fairly good. I do hope that down the road we get to see some of the missing Hartnell stuff get the same treatment.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2021 23:50:17 GMT
Season 11 of the Classic Series.
Here's a question: does the Third Doctor have a character arc? I'd say, yes, in my personal watching experience. It's a lot more subtle than the kind of character exploration we'd typically get in 21st century television, but it is there. Sometimes, it's a product of the scripting (see Colony in Space), but often, I find it's a product of how Jon Pertwee plays the character. Going from warm smiles and excitement (Spearhead from Space) to open frustration during his exile (The Claws of Axos), to a quiet sense of relief when he's released after the Omega Crisis. The Third Doctor that we ended with under the Letts/Dicks era doesn't feel like the same one we started with.
By the time of something like Planet of the Spiders, he feels much, much more like he's hanging around the Earth out of a sense of habit and comfort, rather than obligation or necessity. At this point, we had two script editors informally working on the series. A senior -- the outgoing Terrance Dicks -- and a junior -- the incoming Robert Holmes. I wonder if some of his anarchical tendencies for how he wrote the Doctor rubbed off on the character during this period. Again, not overtly, but just enough to be noticeable. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that Season 11 is the year that feels the most informal in terms of UNIT. His association placing a heavier emphasis on being a trusted friend, as well as a colleague. There's a sense that the Brigadier expects him back in his own time.
Speaking of expectations, Sarah Jane gets something of a motif in her debut season, as well. All of her stories, to a greater or lesser extent, deal with her learning to overcome her immediate impressions. Judging by appearances. Something that begins with the Doctor, escalates with Operation: Golden Age (as she says, "Oh, I really know how to pick my friends, don't I?"), reaches a sort of peak on Exxilon (where she befriends Bellal) and resolves in The Monster of Peladon. In a little character scene where she jumps from Alpha Centauri, hurting the delegate's feelings ("I am aware other species can find me... frightening."), but gently corrects her behaviour and makes amends. In that way, as well as others, Sarah comes into her own.
It's not a season that you see a lot of press for, interestingly enough. Not one frequently visited in expanded media. The ideas, certainly, with Spiders, Death to the Daleks and Dinosaurs coming out at the forefront, but not the time period itself. Makes me wonder, actually, what consitutes an archetypal Season 11 story.
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Post by constonks on Apr 28, 2021 3:26:41 GMT
Season 11 of the Classic Series. Here's a question: does the Third Doctor have a character arc? I think it's been built on very well in the EU. Like you said, he's all smiles in Spearhead From Space, but then at the end of The Silurians, he realizes that living amongst these Earthlings might not be as pleasant as he thought. But of course, that "blow them up" ending was only added at the last minute! So Ambassadors of Death doesn't touch on it, but the EU does! Landbound, The Straw That Broke the Camel’s Back, Old Soldiers, Shadow of the Past... Is it any wonder that, after weeks of feeling miserable and angry, the Doctor gets more desperate and tries to escape in new ways in Inferno and Prisoners of the Sun, why he feels caged in stories like Walls of Confinement? Then he's given a purpose with the Master, and only starts to chafe against his bonds again when the Master escapes, like in The Other Woman, or in his section of The Eight Doctors! Then, there's a bunch of great stuff set in Season 10/11 that deals with the Doctor drifting away from Earth (or the fact that he doesn't) - The Heralds of Destruction, Terror of the Master, Midnight in the Café of the Black Madonna, Landbound again...
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Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2021 6:02:55 GMT
Season 11 of the Classic Series. Here's a question: does the Third Doctor have a character arc? I think it's been built on very well in the EU. Like you said, he's all smiles in Spearhead From Space, but then at the end of The Silurians, he realizes that living amongst these Earthlings might not be as pleasant as he thought. But of course, that "blow them up" ending was only added at the last minute! So Ambassadors of Death doesn't touch on it, but the EU does! Landbound, The Straw That Broke the Camel’s Back, Old Soldiers, Shadow of the Past... Is it any wonder that, after weeks of feeling miserable and angry, the Doctor gets more desperate and tries to escape in new ways in Inferno and Prisoners of the Sun, why he feels caged in stories like Walls of Confinement? Then he's given a purpose with the Master, and only starts to chafe against his bonds again when the Master escapes, like in The Other Woman, or in his section of The Eight Doctors! Then, there's a bunch of great stuff set in Season 10/11 that deals with the Doctor drifting away from Earth (or the fact that he doesn't) - The Heralds of Destruction, Terror of the Master, Midnight in the Café of the Black Madonna, Landbound again... Oh, definitely. It's been very well-handled in the supplemental material. There was a lot there to build on. It's the first time, after all, that the Doctor has been convicted as a criminal by his own People. He's more than an exile, to the Time Lords, he's a convict doing a sort of community service. Confined to one planet in one time. That, in and of itself, is a radical shift in his lives, but compounding the problem is that he's at the mercy of Earth's politics and unrest as well. A lot of it is implied, but in order to smooth things over at UNIT, he'd need a British citizenship or visa, a place of residence, and he'd still be subject to both national and international law. Very mundane things from the Doctor's perspective. Painfully ordinary restrictions. The tension between him and the Brigadier has an interesting layer of subtext to it earlier on that I think I can sum it up in two lines: The Brigadier: "Like it or not, Doctor, your experiences make you a person of interest." The Doctor: "I am not your prisoner, Brigadier."Because from the Brigadier's perspective, scientists get snatched up every other month. It happens in The Ambassadors of Death to both the Doctor and Liz, together. Abductions and attacks on UNIT personnel do happen and his concern is to try and protect his scientific advisor. But to the Doctor, already chafing against the Time Lords' restrictions (including lobotomising his memory, so there's always an element of doubt), being imprisoned further is an unconscionable idea. It's going from house arrest to the possibility of being locked in a single boot cupboard. Hence why I think he can be so combatative sometimes. It's a human's perspective vs. a Time Lord's perspective. You're right, I think what the Master gave him was a consistent avenue of otherworldliness. A distraction from the mundanity weighing him down and a reminder of those other worlds he might never get to see. Once his sentence was lifted (tellingly, the words he uses are "They've forgiven me."), he was out among the stars again, but with a new sense of Earth as a home. One to revisit. It began as a cell and became a place he could belong. I've a strong suspicion that, if not for Metebelis, the Third Doctor may have been one of the very few incarnations I could see trying to settle down on the Earth permanently (despite his initial reservations!).
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Post by number13 on Apr 28, 2021 11:39:22 GMT
I think it's been built on very well in the EU. Like you said, he's all smiles in Spearhead From Space, but then at the end of The Silurians, he realizes that living amongst these Earthlings might not be as pleasant as he thought. But of course, that "blow them up" ending was only added at the last minute! So Ambassadors of Death doesn't touch on it, but the EU does! Landbound, The Straw That Broke the Camel’s Back, Old Soldiers, Shadow of the Past... Is it any wonder that, after weeks of feeling miserable and angry, the Doctor gets more desperate and tries to escape in new ways in Inferno and Prisoners of the Sun, why he feels caged in stories like Walls of Confinement? Then he's given a purpose with the Master, and only starts to chafe against his bonds again when the Master escapes, like in The Other Woman, or in his section of The Eight Doctors! Then, there's a bunch of great stuff set in Season 10/11 that deals with the Doctor drifting away from Earth (or the fact that he doesn't) - The Heralds of Destruction, Terror of the Master, Midnight in the Café of the Black Madonna, Landbound again... Oh, definitely. It's been very well-handled in the supplemental material. There was a lot there to build on. It's the first time, after all, that the Doctor has been convicted as a criminal by his own People. He's more than an exile, to the Time Lords, he's a convict doing a sort of community service. Confined to one planet in one time. That, in and of itself, is a radical shift in his lives, but compounding the problem is that he's at the mercy of Earth's politics and unrest as well. A lot of it is implied, but in order to smooth things over at UNIT, he'd need a British citizenship or visa, a place of residence, and he'd still be subject to both national and international law. Very mundane things from the Doctor's perspective. Painfully ordinary restrictions. The tension between him and the Brigadier has an interesting layer of subtext to it earlier on that I think I can sum it up in two lines: The Brigadier: "Like it or not, Doctor, your experiences make you a person of interest." The Doctor: "I am not your prisoner, Brigadier."Because from the Brigadier's perspective, scientists get snatched up every other month. It happens in The Ambassadors of Death to both the Doctor and Liz, together. Abductions and attacks on UNIT personnel do happen and his concern is to try and protect his scientific advisor. But to the Doctor, already chafing against the Time Lords' restrictions (including lobotomising his memory, so there's always an element of doubt), being imprisoned further is an unconscionable idea. It's going from house arrest to the possibility of being locked in a single boot cupboard. Hence why I think he can be so combatative sometimes. It's a human's perspective vs. a Time Lord's perspective. You're right, I think what the Master gave him was a consistent avenue of otherworldliness. A distraction from the mundanity weighing him down and a reminder of those other worlds he might never get to see. Once his sentence was lifted (tellingly, the words he uses are "They've forgiven me."), he was out among the stars again, but with a new sense of Earth as a home. One to revisit. It began as a cell and became a place he could belong. I've a strong suspicion that, if not for Metebelis, the Third Doctor may have been one of the very few incarnations I could see trying to settle down on the Earth permanently (despite his initial reservations!). I think the Brig. kept the Doctor strictly 'off the books' and Chinn says so in 'Axos' - the Doctor has no official file, not even at UNIT! So no citizenship, no official records, nothing beyond UNIT's own most secret files for briefing of the Brig's successor 'just in case', as he does have rather a high-risk job. And of course he said he didn't want money, so no salary and no records of that either. All his resources came from UNIT funds and didn't the Brig., know it!
Over time, more people around UNIT would have learned hints of who he really was, but beyond UNIT I'm sure the Doctor just smiled and charmed and bluffed (and bullied) his way around, like he always does, any time, any world, any Doctor.
Like those clubs of his - 'Doctor Smith? And you were the chap who helped us out over that WOTAN business were you? Top Secret boffin, what? I never did get to the bottom of that - don't think most of the Cabinet did - and the P.M. said it was 'need to know' so I won't ask old chap, all very hush-hush, I know. But of course I'll put you up for the club. Delighted.'
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