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Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2021 12:19:12 GMT
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.' True, true, but the Brigadier also mentions having papers drawn up for him at the end of Spearhead in Space. The Doctor likely doesn't have an ounce of official documentation to his name, but Doctor John Smith does. Just enough, perhaps, for a bit of real estate (he has a cottage with a mailing address) and a valid passport, which has just given me an idea. There'd be days where he was simply the Doctor and others where he was Doctor Smith. I wonder if he was ever picked up by an outfit like MI5 and questioned about identity fraud? That awkward George Kaplan moment where someone's hunting down a man who doesn't actually exist. UNIT is typically rather good at that sort of thing, but there'd be the occassional bit of work at cross-purposes. Actually, that'd be kind of fun. The Doctor discovers that someone's stolen his "dormant" Dr John Smith cover identity to scam a prominent organisation/individual out of their funds. Or, alternatively, a miscommunication gets him interrogated for the real Dr Smith. The one moonlighting as a journalist.
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Post by number13 on Apr 28, 2021 12:49:41 GMT
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.' True, true, but the Brigadier also mentions having papers drawn up for him at the end of Spearhead in Space. The Doctor likely doesn't have an ounce of official documentation to his name, but Doctor John Smith does. Just enough, perhaps, for a bit of real estate (he has a cottage with a mailing address) and a valid passport, which has just given me an idea. There'd be days where he was simply the Doctor and others where he was Doctor Smith. I wonder if he was ever picked up by an outfit like MI5 and questioned about identity fraud? That awkward George Kaplan moment where someone's hunting down a man who doesn't actually exist. UNIT is typically rather good at that sort of thing, but there'd be the occassional bit of work at cross-purposes. Actually, that'd be kind of fun. The Doctor discovers that someone's stolen his "dormant" Dr John Smith cover identity to scam a prominent organisation/individual out of their funds. Or, alternatively, a miscommunication gets him interrogated for the real Dr Smith. The one moonlighting as a journalist. It just struck me, through all his years 'homeless' at UNIT he owned the house on Baker Street but he didn't know yet that he'd owned it since Victorian times. Even though 'he' was in sometimes in residence right then! (Depending on when 'right then' is in the UNIT calendar. )
And the Fourth Doctor couldn't drop him a note because he knew he hadn't known and he was already there twice sometimes, so the last thing he needed was another one to turn up. Being the Doctor is very complicated! No wonder he usually keeps on the move, he's probably avoiding himself.
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Post by elkawho on May 1, 2021 15:29:47 GMT
Kinda with my DW fan group. Fun night! We're meeting next week to watch Snakedance.
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Post by Deleted on May 5, 2021 17:48:49 GMT
Can you Hear Me?
It occurs to me that this could have been made in 2020/21 - there's so much social distancing going on. For a lot of the time, characters stand far apart from each other. Perhaps that is to visually reinforce the sense of the loneliness of nightmares, or the loneliness of being lost in one's mind. As a story weaved around mental health, this features the inner torments of the Doctor's companions, and it is, for the most part, very well done. Of course we get monsters too, and there's *that* moment at the end when the Doctor appears to brush off Graham's very justifiable concerns much discussed on this forum and elsewhere. It's another great episode, perhaps a bit talky in the middle, but continues Series 12's strong run of stories - and of course Segun Akinola's music is exceptional throughout. The whole thing looks great (great direction from Emma Sullivan) and acting from antagonists Clare-Hope Ashitey (Takaya) and Ian Gelder (Zelin).
Also, doubts are sown in the heads of Graham, Ryan and my favourite Yaz, and how The Doctor figures in their personal journeys. Contemplative stuff.
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Post by fitzoliverj on May 5, 2021 17:55:42 GMT
True, true, but the Brigadier also mentions having papers drawn up for him at the end of Spearhead in Space. The Doctor likely doesn't have an ounce of official documentation to his name, but Doctor John Smith does. Just enough, perhaps, for a bit of real estate (he has a cottage with a mailing address) and a valid passport, which has just given me an idea. It just struck me, through all his years 'homeless' at UNIT he owned the house on Baker Street but he didn't know yet that he'd owned it since Victorian times. Even though 'he' was in sometimes in residence right then! (Depending on when 'right then' is in the UNIT calendar. )
But he did have the house at Allen Road, and in "Verdigris" the Doctor owns another house that I think has been assumed to be identifiable with Allen Road.
As for his legal status, in some books he's descrobed as having been unpaid, in others not cashing his paycheques. But he must have been 'on the books' considering the properterial manner in whcih some UNIT personnel treat him in later years.
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Post by grinch on May 5, 2021 18:17:05 GMT
It just struck me, through all his years 'homeless' at UNIT he owned the house on Baker Street but he didn't know yet that he'd owned it since Victorian times. Even though 'he' was in sometimes in residence right then! (Depending on when 'right then' is in the UNIT calendar. )
But he did have the house at Allen Road, and in "Verdigris" the Doctor owns another house that I think has been assumed to be identifiable with Allen Road.
As for his legal status, in some books he's descrobed as having been unpaid, in others not cashing his paycheques. But he must have been 'on the books' considering the properterial manner in whcih some UNIT personnel treat him in later years.
I like to think all those uncashed pay cheques went straight into the Curator’s pension.
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Post by Deleted on May 5, 2021 19:58:36 GMT
But he did have the house at Allen Road, and in "Verdigris" the Doctor owns another house that I think has been assumed to be identifiable with Allen Road.
As for his legal status, in some books he's descrobed as having been unpaid, in others not cashing his paycheques. But he must have been 'on the books' considering the properterial manner in whcih some UNIT personnel treat him in later years.
I like to think all those uncashed pay cheques went straight into the Curator’s pension. Maybe that's why he decided to keep on a housekeeper after all that time? If he'd someone like Mrs Wibbsey, he might have caught some of the "change of address" notices in the post...
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Post by johnhurtdoctor on May 8, 2021 10:17:25 GMT
City of Death. A classic.
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2021 21:07:08 GMT
Advantages of a favourite with the family. Watched two episodes two nights earlier and episodes 3&4 this evening. Talons of Weng Chiang. The Blu-Ray restoration is a revelation (again). 33 years since I got the VHS and two DVD editions down the way, I am finding so much detail never noticed before. Even down to dialogue, one is drawn further in, through the lifting of the grainy, murky lighting that has always afflicted this production. I feel there is so much more to observe and appreciate, script and acting included.
Noticing for the first time, the stage dancers climbing down the steps back stage. The Doctor (well, Tom Baker) giving the fainted Jago a little kick and saying "come on, Rock of Gibraltar" before dragging him away by the arms.
The details in Litefoot's parlour, such as the 'bell' for the front door, the button to ring for the servant. All the scenes as the Doctor and Weng Chiang scale the rigging behind the stage. Even in normal scenes, there is a greater contrast and sharpening of the light and colours, depth between fore and backgrounds.
The outdoors footage is so much more detailed too. I believe it was restored in the previous DVD special edition, but it was the first time I specifically noticed the Nunchaku weapon in the fight scene, that caused the total excision of the scene in the 1988 VHS release. It was all too darkly lit in previous versions to focus on details.
One notices the acting more keenly and the rich dialogue. That Jago & Litefoot , both written and performed, were merely guest characters is remarkable, so well drawn and acted as they are. Christopher Benjamin in particular is clearly having a ball.
And then there is the new special effects. So well done that a first time viewer would remark how good they were and not know that they were supplanting the earlier efforts. These themselves totally vanquish the earlier weaknesses of the production that always seemed to painfully remind oneself that this was after all just Doctor Who.... It moves it further into my Top 5 all time greats.
And it seems strange now, watching and seeing clearly how they are all younger than I am now, John Bennett (the eldest) being the same age as I am now. To think that Casey & Litefoot, who always seemed like old men back in 1988, are a now few years younger than me. I used to think it remarkable just a few years back that I was approaching their age, but now I can actually see it. Corks!
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Post by Ela on May 10, 2021 3:12:46 GMT
Re-watched The Eleventh Hour the other day on a whim. I always enjoy that episode. Great intro to the Eleventh Doctor and Arthur Darvill is a hoot as Rory.
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Post by mark687 on May 12, 2021 20:11:25 GMT
9th Doc Marathon in perpetration for Tomorrow.
Regards
mark687
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Post by grinch on May 13, 2021 9:12:12 GMT
Planet of the Ood (Keith Temple)
Always nice to see the Ood and it has some lovely moments in it especially with Donna. But I can’t help but feel that the story would have gone exactly the same way had the Doctor and Donna never shown up.
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2021 7:48:26 GMT
Well, two nights ago, but we finished off episodes 5&6 of Talons of Weng Chiang on Blu-Ray. Superlative. The restoration and new effects place this up as one of the all time best of the series. The development of Jago & Litefoot into a perfect double act partnership over the course of the story is brilliant. Hard to believe that was it for about 30 years from them too....
Big Trouble in Chinatown is how the last two episodes play out to me - I wonder if John Carpenter ever saw it?
Having watched The Assassination Bureau a few weeks back (Diana Rigg & Oliver Reed) I recognised a few elements borrowed by Robert Holmes. Namely their means of escape from the locked room - a laundry shaft in the film replaced by a dumb waiter serving hatch, and the gas explosion to blow the door - though it was far more destructive in the film.
Also demonstrable was the sheer clarity of the world building in the background to Magnus Greel and the Peking Homunculus. To think that such verbal exposition was so enticing and spellbindingly evocative that it could have warranted a six part tale in itself. Again, something left open for Big Finish to take up decades later.
I also feel that John Bennett as Li H'sen Chang, provides a powerful figure, tragic in his dismissal, desperation and grisly fate, whereby he provides a depth of characterisation and sympathy at his manipulation and final death in disgrace. To touch upon Opium Den's, the severance/devouring of his leg by the Giant Rat and his escape from its putrefying larder was quite a different form of horror for the show to explore especially so descriptively.
Anyhow - this is one that really takes some beating. I don't blame Tom Baker for rating it as the pinnacle of his time in the show. 10/10 or 5*...
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Post by doctorkernow on May 16, 2021 18:37:50 GMT
Hello again. An Arena special on BBC4 at 21:00 BST and BBC IPlayer a must for all fans of the electronic music of Delia Derbyshire. A docu-drama looking at all aspects of her life and work.
EDIT: Following the programme will be a rebroadcast of the 2018 BBC Prom Pioneers of Sound featuring the work of both Delia Derbyshire and on of the founders of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop Daphne Oram.
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Post by Digi on May 16, 2021 21:23:36 GMT
As mentioned in another thread...with no new Sylvester material on the schedule for the rest of the year, this seems like a good time to do a big rewatch/relisten of Seven's life. To that end, watched Time and the Rani this morning.
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Post by Digi on May 17, 2021 23:07:32 GMT
As mentioned in another thread...with no new Sylvester material on the schedule for the rest of the year, this seems like a good time to do a big rewatch/relisten of Seven's life. To that end, watched Time and the Rani this morning. After (re)listening to Unregenerate! and Red last night/this morning, have got Paradise Towers on right now.
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Post by mark687 on May 17, 2021 23:32:43 GMT
As mentioned in another thread...with no new Sylvester material on the schedule for the rest of the year, this seems like a good time to do a big rewatch/relisten of Seven's life. To that end, watched Time and the Rani this morning. After (re)listening to Unregenerate! and Red last night/this morning, have got Paradise Towers on right now. Ice Hot Drinks and Plenty of them needed! Regards mark687
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Post by Digi on May 20, 2021 14:04:45 GMT
As mentioned in another thread...with no new Sylvester material on the schedule for the rest of the year, this seems like a good time to do a big rewatch/relisten of Seven's life. To that end, watched Time and the Rani this morning. After (re)listening to Unregenerate! and Red last night/this morning, have got Paradise Towers on right now. Several more audios over the last few days, and now Delta and the Bannermen. I'd forgotten how strange this story is. Edit: And after a few more audios today, got Dragonfire on right now.
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Post by Digi on May 21, 2021 13:18:37 GMT
Kicking off my day today with Remembrance of the Daleks
EDIT: That was a really solid, enjoyable revisit.
Earlier today also did The Happiness Patrol, which is exactly as dreadful as I remember it. Got Silver Nemesis on now and hoping for the best (it's probably been 15 years since I've seen any of these stories).
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Post by Deleted on May 21, 2021 23:59:00 GMT
Starting rewatching Attack of the Cybermen as part and parcel of a brief discussion on one of the Third Doctor threads about opening titles over the years. That might seem like a non sequitur at first, but I'll explain: The Ambassadors of Death has a unique title sequence that you only see once in that serial. Nowhere else. It was part of the transition from monochrome to colour. I made a *.gif that covered what future stories might have looked like if they'd decided to go with Ambassadors-style, but it was so satisfying to make, I decided to do the whole thing. Attack of the Cybermen's opening moments in the style of The Ambassadors *PRTANG!* OF DEATH! Enjoy.
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