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Post by mrperson on Jan 20, 2016 18:52:48 GMT
Last night: Paradise Towers
I had no memory of seeing this a child but I probably did. Anyway, it was effectively new. It was quite ungood.
Weird characterizations all around, overacting, and a strange but unconvicing underlying plot. There's a certain later-period Main Range episode from Big Finish that did some of those ideas ten times better with Colin Baker in it....but I can't really identify it without it being vaguely spoilerish. I kept waiting for Paradise Towers to turn into something like that. But it didn't.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2016 19:12:04 GMT
The Keeper of Traken. Still brilliant!
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Post by seeley on Jan 20, 2016 21:10:29 GMT
Interesting... That reminds me of the existence of that LP that condenses Genesis of the Daleks to 90 minutes. I've always considered The Web Planet to be a criminally underrated story. It's wonderfully weird and alien, in a way that few Who stories manage to be. But I can see why trimming the filler would be beneficial (though half the story seems a bit much!) It reminded me a little bit of The Caves of Androzani in that respect actually. Speaking of Caves, I'm definitely in the minority, but I feel that one would benefit from the cutting of most of the off-planet bits.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 21, 2016 1:55:54 GMT
It reminded me a little bit of The Caves of Androzani in that respect actually. Speaking of Caves, I'm definitely in the minority, but I feel that one would benefit from the cutting of most of the off-planet bits. And miss out on Morgus's delightful scheming? Oh, I think it'd be a lesser story if they went that route. It's much like the scenes with Arak and Etta in Vengeance on Varos. If you look at them from the outset, they're a completely unnecessary addition (originally they were just silent observers in the first draft), but I think it helps lend this world a sense that there is more going on beyond the Doctor's involvement. Mid-eighties Who was very good at fabricating subplots that brought these destinations to life, even if in some cases the main character was neglected (see Revelation of the Daleks for a memorable classic marred by the Doctor wandering about outside of the action, looking for a way in for forty-five minutes). This is just a theory, but I highly suspect given Morgus's original characterisation (with Bob Holmes often stating him to be "like Napoleon") in the script that he was an homage to the Baron Harkonnen from Dune who is known for his careful plotting and deliberation. It fits with the unstable tripod of power, spectrox standing in for the spice, Sharaz Jek sharing a few commonalities in terms of backstory with Paul and the Fremen, etc. However, that particularly grandiose characterisation was more or less thrown out of the window by Graeme Harper, who went for something a bit more memorable and modern (well, modern for the time) by having Morgus appear vaguely Asiatic instead. It was the nineteen-eighties, Japan was thought to eventually rule the world, so it made sense to restate the story's similarities to a Japanese revenge story with Jek's obsessive pursuit of revenge through a war of attrition.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 21, 2016 6:50:31 GMT
Me too. I cry every time. I also think it ranks as the best DW ever. It's probably one of the best pieces of television, period. ~ Watching through a Whoflix fanedit of The Web Planet. Anyone who is bored to tears by the original's seemingly relentless amount of padding, this condenses it all down to an hour and fifteen minutes (roughly the length of a traditional three-parter). It's a pretty taut and nicely handled story with all the fat trimmed away actually, the Doctor playing a double game as codebreaker for the Animus. All in all, quite a lot of fun. The similarities between it and the story for the second half of The Twin Dilemma are pretty eerie though. The Doctor in cahoots with an insectan enemy lead by a seemingly omnipotent hostile entity. Tried watching whoflix version of some stories, but he changes the backing music, which to me takes it too far away from the original. An Unearthly Child generally works well as a single 45 minute episode, but the lassic star trek fight music as the cavemen battle each other is just ludicrous.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 21, 2016 7:34:34 GMT
It's probably one of the best pieces of television, period. ~ Watching through a Whoflix fanedit of The Web Planet. Anyone who is bored to tears by the original's seemingly relentless amount of padding, this condenses it all down to an hour and fifteen minutes (roughly the length of a traditional three-parter). It's a pretty taut and nicely handled story with all the fat trimmed away actually, the Doctor playing a double game as codebreaker for the Animus. All in all, quite a lot of fun. The similarities between it and the story for the second half of The Twin Dilemma are pretty eerie though. The Doctor in cahoots with an insectan enemy lead by a seemingly omnipotent hostile entity. Tried watching whoflix version of some stories, but he changes the backing music, which to me takes it too far away from the original. An Unearthly Child generally works well as a single 45 minute episode, but the lassic star trek fight music as the cavemen battle each other is just ludicrous. Oh, yeah a lot of them are really, really bad. Primarily because of unnecessary changes to the sound (like the Caveman Amok Time) or simple pacing issues where he cuts scenes too short. The Web Planet is the exception in that regard, I think because it's a very bare bones production to begin with. There's no music, background ambience or intricate editing for much of it, so it's very easy to chop and rearrange.
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Post by mrperson on Jan 21, 2016 19:02:14 GMT
Delta and the Bannermen...if it comes today
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Post by Ela on Jan 21, 2016 23:36:23 GMT
Finished Earthshock with my husband last night.
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Post by bohnny on Jan 22, 2016 20:56:03 GMT
Unearthly child with my 9 yr old DW fan. He was v excited to see the first ever story (but fell asleep when the cavies showed up).
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Post by Ela on Jan 25, 2016 5:02:37 GMT
Mawdryn Undead, first two episodes. Then I tried to explain the UNIT dating controversy to my husband.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2016 13:17:48 GMT
Watching The Deadly Assassin, my favourite Who story ever (guilty pleasure, really).
Starting to see the problems many had about the revealing too much about the Time Lords. They are quite pompous in this, and some of the older ones use some Earth expressions like "What the Dickens!" and ending their sentences with "what".
Still, I can't see me getting tired of rewatching this one for a loooooonng time.
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Post by martin on Jan 27, 2016 14:58:24 GMT
Last night I watched for the first time 'Snakedance'.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2016 16:55:17 GMT
Last night I watched for the first time 'Snakedance'. What did you think?
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Post by Ela on Jan 27, 2016 21:16:31 GMT
We finished Mawdryn Undead and started on Terminus. My husband finds the latter somewhat boring, and I have to admit it's not one of my favorites, either. I only included it cause it's part of the Black Guardian Trilogy.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2016 7:10:47 GMT
The Five Doctors
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Post by martin on Jan 28, 2016 10:06:06 GMT
Last night I watched for the first time 'Snakedance'. What did you think? I really enjoyed the story. The plot was really interesting and kept my attention throughout. Yes the costumes were silly, (I'm thinking of Lons costume at the finale), and a mismatch of historic styles. Throughout I couldn't help notice that there were no locks on the doors. Doctor and co were happily walking into and out of private rooms. The only lock was on the prison cell. These are minor negatives on what was a very enjoyable story.
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Post by TinDogPodcast on Jan 28, 2016 15:17:10 GMT
my reverse re watch is now at Greatest Show in the Galaxy
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Post by The Matt on Jan 30, 2016 11:01:00 GMT
Having a total slob out day and a mini Who marathon. First up is one of my personal favourites, The Seeds of Death
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2016 11:30:29 GMT
Midnight
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Post by The Matt on Jan 30, 2016 13:15:00 GMT
As I'm in the process of listening to Paper Cuts I'll make my next story to watch be Frontier in Space
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