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Post by theotherjosh on Aug 7, 2021 23:15:42 GMT
Attack of the CybermenI started a new job this week and my cats are feeling ignored, so when one of them curled up on my lap I resolved not to move until she got off. She soon made herself very comfortable, so I decided that I best do the same for myself and I turned on the television to see what was playing on the All Doctor Who Pluto channel. It was the end of Attack of the Cybermen. There is quite a lot to dislike about this and I was expecting to suffer through it, but I found myself enjoying it. Whatever problems Doctor Who had in this era, it's not because of the leads. Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant make great performances from what they're given. I can see the germ of what they cultivated in their Big Finish stories. There was something brilliant there. My cat was frightened off my lap by the exploding Cyber-Controller so we didn't stick around for a second story, but I think she enjoyed it too. I can remember watching it for the very first time, having no idea who any of the characters were. Not a glimmer. At the time, I think I barely knew much about Who at all. The scene which caught my eye, most strongly -- outside of that very first scene with the Doctor -- was the three-handed interrogation between the Doctor, Peri and Russell. You sit up and pay attention when Sixie's patience wanes and says, "Shoot him, Peri. [...] Handful of heartbeats to a Time Lord." It'd be so easy to overplay that whole exchange, but everyone handles it with just the right balance of subdued mania, bewilderment and anxiety. Perfectly understated. There's no hint one way or the other if the Doctor's sincere or just bluffing. Watching his run with the benefit of hindsight, it's very clear that all the pieces are. It just took time (and Big Finish) to put them together.
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Post by theotherjosh on Aug 7, 2021 23:42:10 GMT
Paradise Towers I do dearly love the Cartmel era of Doctor Who. Paradise Towers is a bit of a mess, but what a glorious mess. It attempts a million things and not all of them pay off but it's overflowing with charm and a gonzo punk intensity and completely unlike any other story. The Kangs would seem ridiculous if the actors played them with a wink to the camera, but they take themselves as seriously as children playing at a game (which is how I came to think of them). I unironically love the dialect. It has that same mix of ridiculous and sincere. Pex is the kind of memorable side character I adore. Fizzade, the Rezzies, just all these fun details that came back to me when I watched it again. I think it's structurally a very strong story too, with a clean narrative throughline. I might have preferred a more...understated performance from Richard Briers, but that doesn't detract from the episode. According to this wiki: Stephen Wyatt considered writing a sequel to this story that would have revisited the Kangs, now sent away from the complex to attend a boarding school but instead to determined to find their male counterparts.Big Finish, what are you waiting for?! Produce this story! Build high for happiness!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2021 14:12:01 GMT
Let’s Kill Hitler
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Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2021 13:36:04 GMT
The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos.
This and The Ghost Monument are my most revisited Jodie stories. This may not have been the finale everyone wanted but to me it made perfect sense: Series 11 was full of new characters and new ideas, so it's fitting that a villain created during this time should be the returnee here. Not jaw-dropping then, but good, solid and well told.
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Post by fitzoliverj on Aug 11, 2021 16:49:27 GMT
According to this wiki: Stephen Wyatt considered writing a sequel to this story that would have revisited the Kangs, now sent away from the complex to attend a boarding school but instead to determined to find their male counterparts.Big Finish, what are you waiting for?! Produce this story!
Big Finish snooze, they lose - the new issue of SFX states (and I have a vague idea that I knew this already) that Wyatt is writing 'Paradise Towers' audios for Cutaway Comics.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2021 17:13:04 GMT
Funnily enough, I'm watching the extended Paradise Towers episodes on the Series 24 Bluray. The story that - to my knowledge - was the first current televised tale given a bad review by DWM. Richard Marson found Richard Briers' 'Hitler' moustache offensive, and moved away from the publication not long after. Funny the things you remember. This is, of course, excellent, the extra scenes really adding more than just an extended run-time to the episodes. I loved the multi-layered set of the Towers, the various factions therein and Sylvester really gets his teeth into the Seventh Doctor. As much great, murky fun you can possibly have with cannibalistic old ladies and deadly disposal chutes.
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Post by johnhurtdoctor on Aug 14, 2021 20:22:58 GMT
The Day of the Doctor. I love this one, great story with some classic moments like when 'Rose' talks about the TARDIS offering hope to everyone who hears it & when Tom turns up I still get goosebumps.
NO MORE.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2021 10:06:59 GMT
Four to Doomsday part 4
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melkur
Chancellery Guard
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Post by melkur on Aug 15, 2021 22:19:25 GMT
Over the past (just over) week I've watched 'The Macra Terror' and 'The Faceless Ones', both of which it was nice to see again, and this evening I'm making a start on 'Tomb Of The Cybermen'.
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Post by relativetime on Aug 15, 2021 22:34:27 GMT
Day of the Daleks
I didn’t care too much for this one. It was the 2011 special edition version, with the updated effects and Nick Briggs voicing the Daleks. The effects were neat I suppose, but the effects that weren’t people getting disintegrated looked a bit out of place. Briggs voicing the Daleks seemed a little out of place to me too - it just sounds too modern compared to everything else happening onscreen.
What really drew me out of the story, though, were some of the editing decisions. Cutting to scenes for just a few seconds, the closing stinger from the last episode remaining at the beginning of the next episode. It’s sloppy. I’m not sure how much of this was in the original broadcast or not, but I certainly hope these are issues that are addressed in the Blu-Ray release when that eventually comes.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 16, 2021 18:19:14 GMT
Meglos: part 1
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Post by Deleted on Aug 17, 2021 9:52:40 GMT
Time Crash
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Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2021 13:12:28 GMT
Kinda: part 1
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Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2021 14:25:23 GMT
The Daleks.
Haven't seen this for an age, and it always strikes me how grubby and sweaty the characters are. A nice reminder of the harshness of the situation. Interesting too, to see the Daleks simply concerned with events on Skaro and how to subjugate the Thals. Ian is much of of the original hero, and The Doctor much more a background manipulator with occasionally shady morals. I did love the First Doctor in his early days when some of his actions were distinctly questionable. Susan is very much the girl in jeopardy, which understandably frustrated the actress, but how effective she is at communicating the audience as to the terror of her situation. I remember feeling hugely underwhelmed when 'modern companion' Amy's first reaction to a Dalek was "Oi!" If the characters aren't afraid of the metal monsters, why should the viewers be?
Form all the welcome revisits to Skaro, this is the one and only story in which the travellers are 'guests' of the Daleks on their own world at the height of its power (with the possible exception of The Magician's Apprentice). Every door and mechanism is Dalek shaped. This is their world and to me, is a lot more frightening than finding one 'on the loo in Tooting Bec', to misquote Jon Pertwee.
The Daleks themselves are unlike anything seen before or since, a truly iconic design and truly fascinating. No wonder they've remained virtually unchanged over the decades. You truly can't improve upon perfection.
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Post by Ela on Aug 18, 2021 22:49:21 GMT
Finally watched the Xmas special, Revolution of the Daleks. Umm...I mean the New Years special.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2021 15:45:16 GMT
Meglos part 2
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Post by grinch on Aug 21, 2021 12:27:03 GMT
The Lazarus Experiment (Stephen Greenhorn)
Even as a nipper, I always thought it was a bit rich that the extremely long lived and practically immortal Doctor lectures Professor Lazarus about mortality.
Might be a cliché but I feel like you could have written the elderly Professor Lazarus to be a bit more tragic and then come his rejuvenation as the transformations begun to take hold, he starts to succumb to his own ego.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2021 12:32:54 GMT
The Monster of Peladon.
I agree with those who say that this story got wrong everything that's its prequel, Curse of Peladon, got right. That isn't to say I don't enjoy this story. Peladon is always the ultimate autumnal retreat for me - all crackling torches and wailing storm winds outside. Filled with nostalgia too - those of a certain age may remember the Weetabix Doctor Who cards many years ago, with many Third Doctor monsters featured. Makes me look very much forward to BF's forthcoming box set.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2021 17:18:39 GMT
The Enemy of the World: part 5
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Post by grinch on Aug 23, 2021 9:10:26 GMT
Boom Town (Russell T Davies)
Annette Badland is fantastic as always. And her scenes opposite Christopher Eccleston are brilliant. Honestly wouldn’t have minded had the entire episode just been the pair of them talking. Hard to make a Next Time trailer for that though I guess.
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