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Post by newt5996 on Aug 25, 2021 3:21:08 GMT
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Post by newt5996 on Aug 27, 2021 4:13:55 GMT
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Post by newt5996 on Aug 27, 2021 23:34:16 GMT
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Post by newt5996 on Aug 30, 2021 3:18:20 GMT
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Post by newt5996 on Sept 1, 2021 3:19:15 GMT
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Post by newt5996 on Sept 5, 2021 18:57:39 GMT
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Sept 6, 2021 9:29:39 GMT
Excellent analysis. It's one of my favourites as well. It's never made clear on television or in the novelisation, but my head canon is that the Chinese delegate believed himself to be mauled to death by a bald eagle. An equal and opposite representation of the fears exhibited by the American ambassador. Everyone afraid of everyone else for precisely the same reason. What they represent to one another. Feeding into that, I did a bit of research a while ago on stories originally censored or banned for/from first airing on Australian television. Once the ABC were able to do their own censorship in-house, they were released without incident. The post got a bit Umberto Eco, but there's some interesting symbology and themes in The Mind of Evil that show up in other comparably intense stories of the series: Reporting back on the "1986/87 uncensored ABC season", for want of a better descriptor. Featuring uncut versions of Inferno, The Mind of Evil, The Daemons, The Brain of Morbius (a rarity then) and The Deadly Assassin. Watching these stories immediately in sequence, I was struck by a few very interesting key similarities. Outside of the general intensity of the violence. All stories, bar the last, deal with a demonic depiction of fire. A pervading, mystical, if not outright malevolent presence in the story. Three of them also have to do with political killings in the murdered Chinese delegate, the execution of Morbius and the assassination of the President. Four if you include the royal family's mentioned executions in Inferno. Every story deals, in one respect or another, with a loss of control over the self due to an outside influence. Through body horror or unwilling mental manipulation.
This grouping also flows extremely well into one another thematically, beginning with The Mind of Evil's direct reference to Inferno's world of flames. The Doctor's assertion to the Daemon, Azal, that mankind is more than capable of destroying itself without outside intervention is hard to refute against the drilling project and Stangmoor prison. The "magic" in The Brain of Morbius has the same vein of ambiguity as that in Devil's End. In the last story, we get the nod to events on Karn with reference to the CIA in The Deadly Assassin. I really enjoyed it. Odd to think that Trial of a Time Lord would've been slap-bang in the middle between the Pertwees and the (Tom) Bakers, but again, it's deceptively complimentary. There's that tip of the hat to the Third Doctor in The Mysterious Planet and the Time Lord shenanigans of The Ultimate Foe would have primed viewers for Morbius and Assassin. Anyone looking for a new twist on how to watch the old series -- I can definitely recommend this one.
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Post by newt5996 on Sept 6, 2021 20:42:07 GMT
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Post by newt5996 on Sept 6, 2021 20:43:17 GMT
Excellent analysis. It's one of my favourites as well. It's never made clear on television or in the novelisation, but my head canon is that the Chinese delegate believed himself to be mauled to death by a bald eagle. An equal and opposite representation of the fears exhibited by the American ambassador. Everyone afraid of everyone else for precisely the same reason. What they represent to one another. Feeding into that, I did a bit of research a while ago on stories originally censored or banned for/from first airing on Australian television. Once the ABC were able to do their own censorship in-house, they were released without incident. The post got a bit Umberto Eco, but there's some interesting symbology and themes in The Mind of Evil that show up in other comparably intense stories of the series: Reporting back on the "1986/87 uncensored ABC season", for want of a better descriptor. Featuring uncut versions of Inferno, The Mind of Evil, The Daemons, The Brain of Morbius (a rarity then) and The Deadly Assassin. Watching these stories immediately in sequence, I was struck by a few very interesting key similarities. Outside of the general intensity of the violence. All stories, bar the last, deal with a demonic depiction of fire. A pervading, mystical, if not outright malevolent presence in the story. Three of them also have to do with political killings in the murdered Chinese delegate, the execution of Morbius and the assassination of the President. Four if you include the royal family's mentioned executions in Inferno. Every story deals, in one respect or another, with a loss of control over the self due to an outside influence. Through body horror or unwilling mental manipulation.
This grouping also flows extremely well into one another thematically, beginning with The Mind of Evil's direct reference to Inferno's world of flames. The Doctor's assertion to the Daemon, Azal, that mankind is more than capable of destroying itself without outside intervention is hard to refute against the drilling project and Stangmoor prison. The "magic" in The Brain of Morbius has the same vein of ambiguity as that in Devil's End. In the last story, we get the nod to events on Karn with reference to the CIA in The Deadly Assassin. I really enjoyed it. Odd to think that Trial of a Time Lord would've been slap-bang in the middle between the Pertwees and the (Tom) Bakers, but again, it's deceptively complimentary. There's that tip of the hat to the Third Doctor in The Mysterious Planet and the Time Lord shenanigans of The Ultimate Foe would have primed viewers for Morbius and Assassin. Anyone looking for a new twist on how to watch the old series -- I can definitely recommend this one.
I'd never noticed how much of the early Pertwee era used fire as a symbol and the whole intersection of looking at hell as almost other people (Inferno's parallel world is all about people who have made different choices, The Daemons having the demonic influence, and Mind of Evil dealing on the fear of letting others die).
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 6, 2021 23:15:58 GMT
Excellent analysis. It's one of my favourites as well. It's never made clear on television or in the novelisation, but my head canon is that the Chinese delegate believed himself to be mauled to death by a bald eagle. An equal and opposite representation of the fears exhibited by the American ambassador. Everyone afraid of everyone else for precisely the same reason. What they represent to one another. Feeding into that, I did a bit of research a while ago on stories originally censored or banned for/from first airing on Australian television. Once the ABC were able to do their own censorship in-house, they were released without incident. The post got a bit Umberto Eco, but there's some interesting symbology and themes in The Mind of Evil that show up in other comparably intense stories of the series: I'd never noticed how much of the early Pertwee era used fire as a symbol and the whole intersection of looking at hell as almost other people (Inferno's parallel world is all about people who have made different choices, The Daemons having the demonic influence, and Mind of Evil dealing on the fear of letting others die). Neither did I. There's an interesting thread about better natures that runs through those first three Pertwee stories. I'm remembering The Daemons and Magister's little speech to the Devil's End townsfolk about their dirty laundry, as well. The casual extortion, implied gambling and the quite telling: "Mister Grenville. Has your wife come back from her sister's yet? Will she ever come back, do you suppose?" Hypnosis may be a partial element of it, but his appeal is to quite ordinary vices. Many of them to do with disillusionment. Even the Doctor isn't immune, as his argument to Azal is that humankind is well capable of destroying itself without external influences. The modern day is treated almost like an adolescence. In those first two series, especially, the Doctor has very little patience for the problems of modernity. The 1970s were originally coined in some circles as the "Me" Decade, so his reactions could be seen as Doctor Who's own bit of rebellion against the status quo. The insularity and the socioeconomic chaos of it all. "Hell is other people" as a theme is counterbalanced by the Doctor, an exile and alien to our world, saying -- it doesn't have to be. It's teething troubles. Let humanity be given the chance to grow up, whatever the odds are against it (as the parallel Liz and others did in Inferno). By the time of The Mind of Evil and The Daemons, it's a display of earnest virtue that ultimately saves the day. And, at Devil's End, we're allowed to actually keep it in Jo.
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Post by newt5996 on Sept 8, 2021 2:35:58 GMT
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Post by newt5996 on Sept 9, 2021 0:07:38 GMT
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Post by newt5996 on Sept 14, 2021 23:48:05 GMT
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Post by newt5996 on Sept 18, 2021 17:31:14 GMT
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Post by newt5996 on Sept 24, 2021 3:52:51 GMT
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Post by newt5996 on Sept 26, 2021 4:55:23 GMT
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Post by newt5996 on Sept 27, 2021 1:55:16 GMT
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Post by newt5996 on Sept 29, 2021 3:54:35 GMT
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Post by newt5996 on Oct 3, 2021 17:55:53 GMT
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Post by newt5996 on Oct 5, 2021 2:55:06 GMT
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