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Post by bonehead on Mar 8, 2024 18:09:58 GMT
And speaking of hiatuses and revivals I re-watched Dimensions in Time last night. I don't care what anybody says, it's still a fun, short celebration of the show, and it's as cannon as anything else. Bacik in 1993, it was just good to have Doctor Who back on telly! I agree - it is a lot of fun. Albert Square, the fictional soap-opera setting, was probably as familiar to many viewers as their own town, what with EastEnders getting big audiences and being on three times a week - so to have the camera panning across this familiar setting and seeing it festooned with aliens, to have various Doctor's interacting once more with a plethora of monsters against a backdrop where all kinds of kitchen-sink dramas had taken place, was (and still is) very effective, I thought. And Tom was in it too! "Take care, my dears ..."
Also, thirteen million viewers watched this (some of them through 3D glasses)!
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Post by sherlock on Mar 8, 2024 19:05:22 GMT
Been working my way through State of Decay last few weeks, which is unusual for me as I normally marathon classic Who but I kept getting interrupted and honestly this was a hard one to pick up again.
Its not bad per say in the way that Meglos was, but it just didn't captivate me. Arguably the behind the scenes anecdotes of Tom Baker and Lalla Ward refusing to speak and Matthew Waterhouse putting everyone’s nose out of joint from day 1 are more lively than the actual script they were filming. Conceptually there’s promise here, but it just never feels like it gets going and plays out like Classic Who by the numbers. There’s oppressed locals, a friendly scientist, villains “borrowed” from gothic horror etc.
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Post by bethhigdon on Mar 8, 2024 21:29:47 GMT
And speaking of hiatuses and revivals I re-watched Dimensions in Time last night. I don't care what anybody says, it's still a fun, short celebration of the show, and it's as cannon as anything else. Bacik in 1993, it was just good to have Doctor Who back on telly! I agree - it is a lot of fun. Albert Square, the fictional soap-opera setting, was probably as familiar to many viewers as their own town, what with EastEnders getting big audiences and being on three times a week - so to have the camera panning across this familiar setting and seeing it festooned with aliens, to have various Doctor's interacting once more with a plethora of monsters against a backdrop where all kinds of kitchen-sink dramas had taken place, was (and still is) very effective, I thought. And Tom was in it too! "Take care, my dears ..."
Also, thirteen million viewers watched this (some of them through 3D glasses)!
See as an American the East Enders stuff never registered for me personally, but it works fine as just a background setting with just random easter eggs for those who do like it. You're not missing out on anything really if you're not familiar with the other side of the crossover.
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Post by timleschild on Mar 8, 2024 23:51:19 GMT
Warriors' Gate. Every time I watch this I think, maybe I'll enjoy it this time, but no still shit.
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Post by number13 on Mar 9, 2024 10:15:50 GMT
The Mind of Evil
An absolute cracker of an adventure, a tough & gritty throwback to Season 7 with its prison movie meets spy thriller vibe. The cast are outstanding in a story where everyone gets to show their best - Jo foils a riot and is wonderful all round, Benton goes undercover and leads his men in action, Captain Yates special agent (doing his own stunts too) and it's one of the Brigadier's finest hours as he leads the no-quarter-given storming of Stangmoor Prison. The action with the HAVOC stunt team is movie quality on a 'Doctor Who' budget and they would never show a sequence like that today, in the modern, sanitised show. Plus, live-action helicopters, a real missile and real stunts impress me far more than all the CGI of today ever could.
Jon Pertwee and Roger Delgado do the science-fiction side of the story brilliantly as a part of the ongoing duel between the two Time Lords and I love the section when, just briefly, they are working together to control the Mind of Evil - what a waste for the cosmos that the Master turned to evil, imagine these two as a genuine team. But then, think of all the great stories we would never have had!
My only disappointment with this excellent entry in Season 8 is that the Chinese contingent fades from the plot at half-time. An east-west mission to hunt down the Master would have been excellent and I'm sure Jo and Chin Lee would have been great together if she'd been temporarily seconded to UNIT for one special mission.
Oh, well, you can't have everything! We're so lucky to have this story back in full colour at all - a modern technical triumph to match the production excellence of the 1970s team.
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Post by bonehead on Mar 9, 2024 10:30:17 GMT
The Mind of Evil
An absolute cracker of an adventure, a tough & gritty throwback to Season 7 with its prison movie meets spy thriller vibe. The cast are outstanding in a story where everyone gets to show their best - Jo foils a riot and is wonderful all round, Benton goes undercover and leads his men in action, Captain Yates special agent (doing his own stunts too) and it's one of the Brigadier's finest hours as he leads the no-quarter-given storming of Stangmoor Prison. The action with the HAVOC stunt team is movie quality on a 'Doctor Who' budget and they would never show a sequence like that today, in the modern, sanitised show. Plus, live-action helicopters, a real missile and real stunts impress me far more than all the CGI of today ever could.
Jon Pertwee and Roger Delgado do the science-fiction side of the story brilliantly as a part of the ongoing duel between the two Time Lords and I love the section when, just briefly, they are working together to control the Mind of Evil - what a waste for the cosmos that the Master turned to evil, imagine these two as a genuine team. But then, think of all the great stories we would never have had!
My only disappointment with this excellent entry in Season 8 is that the Chinese contingent fades from the plot at half-time. An east-west mission to hunt down the Master would have been excellent and I'm sure Jo and Chin Lee would have been great together if she'd been temporarily seconded to UNIT for one special mission.
Oh, well, you can't have everything! We're so lucky to have this story back in full colour at all - a modern technical triumph to match the production excellence of the 1970s team.
Absolutely flipping bang on! Especially concerning CGI vs physical effects and comparisons with the show today. I might have to watch this underrated belter again now!
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Post by number13 on Mar 9, 2024 21:07:23 GMT
Absolutely flipping bang on! Especially concerning CGI vs physical effects and comparisons with the show today. I might have to watch this underrated belter again now! As an old hermit who lived up a mountain on Gallifrey might very possibly have once said, time spent with the Third Doctor is time well spent.
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Post by number13 on Mar 11, 2024 20:44:03 GMT
The Claws of Axos
Wins the prize for 'the most 'Doctor Who' story in the season'. Excellent and atmospheric location filming (with freak weather conditions looking very good), great cast as usual (I do wish a trapdoor would open under Mr. Chinn, but that's intended so OK ), lots of action & stunts, a plot involving time and time travel, the astoundingly weird and inventive Axos set - and the most monstery monsters you ever did see. It could only be 'Doctor Who'!
There's so much going on, it could do with an extra episode to build up the sub-plot of the Doctor's supposed betrayal of his friends. In the novelisation this gets more space and works even better and it's still early enough in their friendship for Jo to wonder what the Doctor is up to. Fun story, and as in 'The Mind of Evil', the scenes with the Doctor and the Master working together (and the Doctor out-scheming the arch-schemer himself!) are a highlight. Yes, fun story. Apart from Mr. Chinn. If anyone should have been put in a time-loop...
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Post by number13 on Mar 14, 2024 8:21:52 GMT
Colony in Space
A Wild West shootout on an alien world, with evil miners, feisty pioneers, forgotten Primitives and deeply sinister moustaches - and the lawman is the Master! But the dashing hero and his trusty young sidekick are ridin' into town... Yee hah!
I like Westerns and so it follows that I like 'Colony in Space', a 'western' of the bleak and austere variety in a failing colony where the planet itself is slowly dying from the technological sins of its former civilisation. There are a lot of moral messages but Malcolm Hulke always did them well and there's a lot of tough action to fill the six-parter well. And probably the best 'quarry' in classic Who. It looks bleak and horrible and it's supposed to!
It comes to something when a story relies on the Master to inject a touch of life and humour, but that's what happens here. Favourite moment? There he is, busy 'adjudicating', and everything going so well for his latest plan... when in walk the Doctor and Jo - again. The look on the Master's face is worth all six episodes to see. ' Is there no planet in the cosmos where I can scheme in peace without them showing up?!!'
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Post by bonehead on Mar 14, 2024 18:10:15 GMT
The Tom Baker Years.
First released on VHS, this two-instalment retrospective is now included on the Season 12 Boxset. I'd not seen it for ages. Tom's recollections are disappointingly brief to begin with, but he soon gets into his stride. It's great to see him remembering Elizabeth Sladen, Ian Marter and Nick Courtney early on, and interesting he remembered so little about Louise Jameson. He even gets Leels's name wrong! He remembered Lall though ("I became ever so friendly with Lalla Ward," he recalls)! It's all a reminder of how much closer Tom subsequently got to his time on the show. It's also good to hear him being so impressed by his Series 18 stories and his wish to perhaps watch them. I wonder if he ever did.
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Post by mark687 on Mar 14, 2024 21:15:42 GMT
The Tom Baker Years.
First released on VHS, this two-instalment retrospective is now included on the Season 12 Boxset. I'd not seen it for ages. Tom's recollections are disappointingly brief to begin with, but he soon gets into his stride. It's great to see him remembering Elizabeth Sladen, Ian Marter and Nick Courtney early on, and interesting he remembered so little about Louise Jameson. He even gets Leels's name wrong! He remembered Lall though ("I became ever so friendly with Lalla Ward," he recalls)! It's all a reminder of how much closer Tom subsequently got to his time on the show. It's also good to hear him being so impressed by his Series 18 stories and his wish to perhaps watch them. I wonder if he ever did.
"I became very fond of Lalla Ward" and on Season 18 Collection Blu-Ray Tom does Commentary on The Leisure Hive and Logoppolis. Regards mark687
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Post by bonehead on Mar 14, 2024 22:32:50 GMT
The Tom Baker Years.
First released on VHS, this two-instalment retrospective is now included on the Season 12 Boxset. I'd not seen it for ages. Tom's recollections are disappointingly brief to begin with, but he soon gets into his stride. It's great to see him remembering Elizabeth Sladen, Ian Marter and Nick Courtney early on, and interesting he remembered so little about Louise Jameson. He even gets Leels's name wrong! He remembered Lall though ("I became ever so friendly with Lalla Ward," he recalls)! It's all a reminder of how much closer Tom subsequently got to his time on the show. It's also good to hear him being so impressed by his Series 18 stories and his wish to perhaps watch them. I wonder if he ever did.
"I became very fond of Lalla Ward" and on Season 18 Collection Blu-Ray Tom does Commentary on The Leisure Hive and Logoppolis. Regards mark687 I remember the Logopolis commentary mainly for his put-down of a pretty pompous Christopher H Bidmead. "Is it over yet?" he asked. Also, Janet Fielding reminded Tom how volatile he was to work with. A pretty lively commentary to listen to!
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Post by bethhigdon on Mar 15, 2024 15:54:51 GMT
Watched The Caretaker last night.
I enjoyed series 8 overall but I had a hard time staying focused on this particular episode. Outside of a few standout moments and some setup for later conflicts, the vast majority of of the episode feels like background noise. It's more of a laundry list of plot points rather than a cohesive narrative.
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Post by bethhigdon on Mar 18, 2024 19:25:57 GMT
Another 12th Doctor episode, Pyramid at the End of the World.
It's a little better than what I remembered, but over all The Monks are the low point of series 10.
Also stories that hinge on the characters being stupid are a personal petpvee of mine.
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Post by bonehead on Mar 18, 2024 19:36:39 GMT
Another 12th Doctor episode, Pyramid at the End of the World. It's a little better than what I remembered, but over all The Monks are the low point of series 10. Also stories that hinge on the characters being stupid are a personal petpvee of mine. I agree. I love this series as a whole - the symmetry of Bill's story, Pearl Mackie's performance, the irregular appearances of Nardole, Peter Capaldi's perfectly chiselled Doctor; and all the stories, except The Monk trilogy. Bit of a low-point. One episode would have been okay - but three?
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Post by bonehead on Mar 19, 2024 18:17:14 GMT
The Impossible Astronaut.
I really enjoyed The Silence in the recent Broken Memories release and so went back to watching this again. This was the beginning of the cinematic Series Six, when a criticism of the show was that it was 'too complicated.' Looking back, there were many many seeds of what was to come planted in this story, which proves to me that Steven Moffat planned his story arcs way in advance. Another suggested criticism, this time by certain elements of the media, was that this story was 'too scary'. Just the way it should be! This is a very creepy episode and a long way from the family-friendly romps that RTD opened his seasons with. The scene in the ladies rest room in particular, when we first get to really see The Silence, is beautifully nightmare-inducing. I like the way the creatures are first introduced, without build-up or fanfare, on a sun-drenched rocky outcrop that reminded me of the opening scenes of David Bowie in The Man Who Fell to Earth. Absolutely brilliant. What a concept these monsters are. Looking like a combination of The Blues Brothers and The Mekon, they should have come back to the show more often. Seeing them in their lair is pure horror film fare. The episode ends with Amy apparently killing a kid. Too scary? Not on your life!
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Post by ollychops on Mar 20, 2024 18:22:01 GMT
Just finished watching Horror of Fang Rock, moving onto The Invisible Enemy…
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Post by number13 on Mar 22, 2024 10:42:34 GMT
The Dæmons
A devilishly fine tale of pastoral horror, with demonic rites, sacrifice, witchcraft and Morris dancing! It's a very unusual Pertwee story isn't it, with not an industrial complex or meddling civil servant to be seen. But the extensive location filming and UNIT action are there and the English countryside in spring looks splendid even though overrun by gargoyles, members of a coven and the staff of BBC 3!
I love this story, even though it's really one superb setup episode then three and a half episodes of 'holding pattern' in which, despite their action and bravery, UNIT are (as the Brig says) nothing more than 'spare lemons waiting for the squeezer' and in fact, so is the Doctor! He tries for the scientific solution but Sgt. Osgood was right - the machine they built (under rather trying circumstances!) couldn't take enough power to overcome the awesome energies of the Last of the Dæmons.
And so, after all the science and action 'window-dressing' which lead nowhere but still make for a great story, it's the final showdown - and Jo defeats the undefeatable opponent by being wonderful, heroic and self-sacrificing. She is of course, pure magic! Maybe Miss. Hawthorne was right after all.
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Post by bethhigdon on Mar 25, 2024 22:19:48 GMT
I rewatched The Giggle this weekend.
I still think the ending is too neat and tidy, and that it fails at being a proper introduction to Gatwa's Doctor, but the lead up to everything is fun and I do appreciate the Doctor's character arc of needing a mental break.
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Post by ollychops on Mar 27, 2024 19:13:27 GMT
Going into Underworld for the first time today… let’s see if it deserves the reputation it has…
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