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Post by mark687 on May 2, 2024 13:36:47 GMT
C. Baker 1st Review The Two Doctors - TV Story
I was so disappointed when this was the story that the randomizer chose.
Unlike most fans, I genuinely enjoy Colin Baker's time as the Doctor on tv. I would have gladly watched any other story, yes even The Twin Dilemma or The Mysterious Planet. Heck, I personally think Timelash is loads of fun.
But this....
Not only is The Two Doctors my least favorite C. Baker episode, it is perhaps my most disliked episode of the classic era. And quite possibly in the bottom ten stories out of the show's history.
However, fair is fair. This is what the randomizer picked and I haven't given the story an honest shot since my first viewing of it.
So is it as bad as I remember?
Yes.
It really is that bad.
Granted there are moments in the story that are entertaining, but these are few and far between and don't do enough to save the serial.
The first and foremost problem is that the story suddenly turns the Doctor into a racist!
These are Androgums. They're an enslaved race, born into servitude because they are deemed to be "less intelligent" then more "civilized" races.
The main villain has been experimented on by a mad scientist, used as a sentient lab rat, and has gained genius intellect and knowledge through her forced upon mutations.
She uses her brains to manipulate people, framing the time lords for crimes they, lets be honest, would have committed themselves anyways, and kidnaps the Doctor to force him to teach her time travel so that she may free her people and conquer those that had enslaved her.
You would have thought that the Doctor would be at least sympathetic to her motives, if not her methods, but no!
The Doctor constantly repeats through out the story that Androgums are inherently evil. That it's "in their nature" to destroy everything. That they can never become better people no matter what, and constantly dismisses their plight.
Worse, the story goes on to prove this outlook as correct when the Doctor is forced to become an Androgum himself through genetic experimentation and briefly becomes "evil."
Like why the hell would you write that into your story!?
Did you not stop to think at all that this might not be the best way to write your hero, nor the most appropriate message to put forth in your narrative?
Then again, this is the written by the same man who wrote The Talons of Weng-Chiang because he unironically loved Fu Manchu movies.
I don't place Robert Homes on any kind of pedestal unlike the rest of fandom and bullshite like this story is why.
Oh but there's more offenses to find here.
See, Homes is not only racist, he's also that smug fake leftist that pretends he's better than you because he doesn't eat meat.
His preachy, holier than thou, anti-meat arguments have popped up a couple of times on the show, but here is where it's at it's most overbearing and obnoxious.
See, there are plenty of legitimate reasons to adopt a vegetarian/vegan diet... from religious beliefs, to health and safety concerns in commercial processing, to personal dietary needs... but Homes never makes this argument.
No Homes believes that people who eat meat are no better then murdering cannibals!
Man what I wouldn't pay to see Robert Holmes in a debate with the current writers of the Poison Ivy comics.
But to add injury to insult, Holmes then decides that the Doctor and Peri must become vegans like him at the end of the story.... You know the two characters who are not his creations and have no previously established reasons to adopt his personal belief systems.
Peri has since been retconed into having always been a vegetarian in the expanded universe, and that works okay as there's nothing in previous episodes to contradict it. It also nicely ties into her being revealed as a botanist in the next story.
But the Doctor not only has never held this practice before, the story makes a point to establish that he does enjoy eating meat and has him fishing for fun at the beginning.
So this is essentially the writer forcing his personal beliefs on to the main hero of a long established running series that he himself has only been a part of for a brief amount of time.
Trying to morph a character that isn't yours into just another version of yourself, ignoring anything that came before to do so, is bad writing. Plain and simple.
It's not only disrespectful to the character and their creator, it's also just flat out boring.
If you can't write anyone but yourself and can't present anyone else's view other than your own, then why the f*** are you even writing to begin with?
This a personal pet peeve of mine in professional media, writing characters that aren't yours out of character cause of ego, and I truly think it's a waste of everyone's time.
What else...
Oh the pacing is poor, the direction is flat, and I truly despise the scene where Oscar dies with the passion of a thousand suns!!!
It is the most tone deaf, poorly directed, poorly acted, poorly written scene in the entire story with perhaps the stupidest dialogue in the entirety of the classic era.
I hate it!
At least we can only go up from here.
I unashamedly love this story Regards mark687
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Post by number13 on May 2, 2024 14:41:49 GMT
C. Baker 1st Review The Two Doctors - TV Story
I unashamedly love this story Regards mark687 Serve second helpings of 'The Two Doctors' for me too. Incidentally, although Robert Holmes was obviously writing a story with vegetarianism in mind, he said in an interview about the story that he wasn't a vegetarian. And definitely not any kind of leftist. (See 'The Sun Makers' which is one long satire against the Labour government of 1970s UK and their high-tax policies. And brilliant! )
(They shouldn't have killed off poor Oscar though.)
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Post by timleschild on May 2, 2024 14:51:33 GMT
C. Baker 1st Review The Two Doctors - TV Story
I was so disappointed when this was the story that the randomizer chose.
Unlike most fans, I genuinely enjoy Colin Baker's time as the Doctor on tv. I would have gladly watched any other story, yes even The Twin Dilemma or The Mysterious Planet. Heck, I personally think Timelash is loads of fun.
But this....
Not only is The Two Doctors my least favorite C. Baker episode, it is perhaps my most disliked episode of the classic era. And quite possibly in the bottom ten stories out of the show's history.
However, fair is fair. This is what the randomizer picked and I haven't given the story an honest shot since my first viewing of it.
So is it as bad as I remember?
Yes.
It really is that bad.
Granted there are moments in the story that are entertaining, but these are few and far between and don't do enough to save the serial.
The first and foremost problem is that the story suddenly turns the Doctor into a racist!
These are Androgums. They're an enslaved race, born into servitude because they are deemed to be "less intelligent" then more "civilized" races.
The main villain has been experimented on by a mad scientist, used as a sentient lab rat, and has gained genius intellect and knowledge through her forced upon mutations.
She uses her brains to manipulate people, framing the time lords for crimes they, lets be honest, would have committed themselves anyways, and kidnaps the Doctor to force him to teach her time travel so that she may free her people and conquer those that had enslaved her.
You would have thought that the Doctor would be at least sympathetic to her motives, if not her methods, but no!
The Doctor constantly repeats through out the story that Androgums are inherently evil. That it's "in their nature" to destroy everything. That they can never become better people no matter what, and constantly dismisses their plight.
Worse, the story goes on to prove this outlook as correct when the Doctor is forced to become an Androgum himself through genetic experimentation and briefly becomes "evil."
Like why the hell would you write that into your story!?
Did you not stop to think at all that this might not be the best way to write your hero, nor the most appropriate message to put forth in your narrative?
Then again, this is the written by the same man who wrote The Talons of Weng-Chiang because he unironically loved Fu Manchu movies.
I don't place Robert Homes on any kind of pedestal unlike the rest of fandom and bullshite like this story is why.
Oh but there's more offenses to find here.
See, Homes is not only racist, he's also that smug fake leftist that pretends he's better than you because he doesn't eat meat.
His preachy, holier than thou, anti-meat arguments have popped up a couple of times on the show, but here is where it's at it's most overbearing and obnoxious.
See, there are plenty of legitimate reasons to adopt a vegetarian/vegan diet... from religious beliefs, to health and safety concerns in commercial processing, to personal dietary needs... but Homes never makes this argument.
No Homes believes that people who eat meat are no better then murdering cannibals!
Man what I wouldn't pay to see Robert Holmes in a debate with the current writers of the Poison Ivy comics.
But to add injury to insult, Holmes then decides that the Doctor and Peri must become vegans like him at the end of the story.... You know the two characters who are not his creations and have no previously established reasons to adopt his personal belief systems.
Peri has since been retconed into having always been a vegetarian in the expanded universe, and that works okay as there's nothing in previous episodes to contradict it. It also nicely ties into her being revealed as a botanist in the next story.
But the Doctor not only has never held this practice before, the story makes a point to establish that he does enjoy eating meat and has him fishing for fun at the beginning.
So this is essentially the writer forcing his personal beliefs on to the main hero of a long established running series that he himself has only been a part of for a brief amount of time.
Trying to morph a character that isn't yours into just another version of yourself, ignoring anything that came before to do so, is bad writing. Plain and simple.
It's not only disrespectful to the character and their creator, it's also just flat out boring.
If you can't write anyone but yourself and can't present anyone else's view other than your own, then why the f*** are you even writing to begin with?
This a personal pet peeve of mine in professional media, writing characters that aren't yours out of character cause of ego, and I truly think it's a waste of everyone's time.
What else...
Oh the pacing is poor, the direction is flat, and I truly despise the scene where Oscar dies with the passion of a thousand suns!!!
It is the most tone deaf, poorly directed, poorly acted, poorly written scene in the entire story with perhaps the stupidest dialogue in the entirety of the classic era.
I hate it!
At least we can only go up from here.
I unashamedly love this story Regards mark687 Its shit.
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Post by mark687 on May 2, 2024 15:10:13 GMT
I unashamedly love this story Regards mark687 Its shit. Thank You Regards mark687
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Post by bethhigdon on May 2, 2024 15:12:46 GMT
I unashamedly love this story Regards mark687 Serve second helpings of 'The Two Doctors' for me too. Incidentally, although Robert Holmes was obviously writing a story with vegetarianism in mind, he said in an interview about the story that he wasn't a vegetarian. And definitely not any kind of leftist. (See 'The Sun Makers' which is one long satire against the Labour government of 1970s UK and their high-tax policies. And brilliant! )
(They shouldn't have killed off poor Oscar though.)
Him being a libertarian makes me think even less of the dude. But I agree with you on Oscar.
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2024 15:24:49 GMT
I unashamedly love this story Regards mark687 Serve second helpings of 'The Two Doctors' for me too. Incidentally, although Robert Holmes was obviously writing a story with vegetarianism in mind, he said in an interview about the story that he wasn't a vegetarian. And definitely not any kind of leftist. (See 'The Sun Makers' which is one long satire against the Labour government of 1970s UK and their high-tax policies. And brilliant! )
(They shouldn't have killed off poor Oscar though.)
Yes, if he wasn't such a prominent name in an era of the show where a lot of the creatives were not just left-leaning but socialist, and communist in Mac Hulke's case, Holmes' politics would never be assumed as much by fandom as they have been. Eric Saward has been quite clear that Holmes was an opinionated, difficult man to a lot of people but that it was rarely from dogmatic places for political reasons. Barry Letts talked about him being quite a pain in the offices when current affairs came up.
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Post by timleschild on May 2, 2024 15:26:26 GMT
Thank You Regards mark687 yw
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Post by number13 on May 2, 2024 20:46:22 GMT
Serve second helpings of 'The Two Doctors' for me too. Incidentally, although Robert Holmes was obviously writing a story with vegetarianism in mind, he said in an interview about the story that he wasn't a vegetarian. And definitely not any kind of leftist. (See 'The Sun Makers' which is one long satire against the Labour government of 1970s UK and their high-tax policies. And brilliant! )
(They shouldn't have killed off poor Oscar though.)
Him being a libertarian makes me think even less of the dude. But I agree with you on Oscar. Going purely by his classic Who stories, I think he didn't set out to write for/against any viewpoint (except when he was feeling VERY cheesed off with Denis Healey of the Treasury over his large tax bill. )
So, 'The Krotons' was around the time of the 1960s student protests in France and has a lot about freedom of thought/knowledge and also people being manipulated by those in power and 'revolutionaries' for their own ends. 'Carnival of Monsters' is in part a wonderful satire on the British civil service, his Autons stories aren't any sort of anti-plastic polemic, just a 'what if plastic came alive'.
'The Deadly Assassin' pokes fun at US politics to an extent, but also at the old, (then) male-dominated British colleges and similar bodies. 'The Sun Makers' we've seen and by contrast 'The Caves of Androzani' satirises lawless capitalism and (I think) U.S. actions in Central America at around that time in the 1980s. 'The Ribos Operation' is a heist comedy-drama (written by a retired police officer of course) and 'The Power of Kroll' is decidedly 'green' and also like the 'up the jungle' films of empire my Dad might have seen at the cinema when he was young.
And 'The Talons of Weng-Chiang' was an unashamed mash-up of at least 5 or 6 famous stories/series written as a 'rush job' when the original writer crossed to 'the other side' (i.e. ITV not the BBC!) and couldn't write the story that had been intended. Sherlock Holmes, Fu Manchu, Pygmalion, Phantom of the Opera, 'The Good Old Days' (a very popular 1970s BBC revival of the music halls, audiences in full Victorian costume, the works - and a very Jago-esque host) and Prof. Litefoot is a professional predecessor of the 1960s medics who Robert Holmes wrote about in his earliest TV jobs on 'Dr. Findlay's Casebook' and 'Emergency Ward 10'. Even the name Henry Gordon Jago was lifted from one of his own earlier stories. ('Corks! Was I?' Yes, really Mr. J. )
Sorry to have gone on a bit, but once started on my favourite writer of classic Who, it just flowed. But to come back to the starting point, I couldn't possibly work out his personal worldview from that lot. I think he was a highly professional writer who wrote whatever he thought might make a good story - and would get produced. (Incidentally, in science fiction away from 'Doctor Who', his TV adaptation of a novel which was broadcast as 'The Nightmare Man' is one of the scariest things I ever watched.)
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Post by bethhigdon on May 2, 2024 21:09:38 GMT
Him being a libertarian makes me think even less of the dude. But I agree with you on Oscar. Going purely by his classic Who stories, I think he didn't set out to write for/against any viewpoint (except when he was feeling VERY cheesed off with Denis Healey of the Treasury over his large tax bill. )
So, 'The Krotons' was around the time of the 1960s student protests in France and has a lot about freedom of thought/knowledge and also people being manipulated by those in power and 'revolutionaries' for their own ends. 'Carnival of Monsters' is in part a wonderful satire on the British civil service, his Autons stories aren't any sort of anti-plastic polemic, just a 'what if plastic came alive'.
'The Deadly Assassin' pokes fun at US politics to an extent, but also at the old, (then) male-dominated British colleges and similar bodies. 'The Sun Makers' we've seen and by contrast 'The Caves of Androzani' satirises lawless capitalism and (I think) U.S. actions in Central America at around that time in the 1980s. 'The Ribos Operation' is a heist comedy-drama (written by a retired police officer of course) and 'The Power of Kroll' is decidedly 'green' and also like the 'up the jungle' films of empire my Dad might have seen at the cinema when he was young.
And 'The Talons of Weng-Chiang' was an unashamed mash-up of at least 5 or 6 famous stories/series written as a 'rush job' when the original writer crossed to 'the other side' (i.e. ITV not the BBC!) and couldn't write the story that had been intended. Sherlock Holmes, Fu Manchu, Pygmalion, Phantom of the Opera, 'The Good Old Days' (a very popular 1970s BBC revival of the music halls, audiences in full Victorian costume, the works - and a very Jago-esque host) and Prof. Litefoot is a professional predecessor of the 1960s medics who Robert Holmes wrote about in his earliest TV jobs on 'Dr. Findlay's Casebook' and 'Emergency Ward 10'. Even the name Henry Gordon Jago was lifted from one of his own earlier stories. ('Corks! Was I?' Yes, really Mr. J. )
Sorry to have gone on a bit, but once started on my favourite writer of classic Who, it just flowed. But to come back to the starting point, I couldn't possibly work out his personal worldview from that lot. I think he was a highly professional writer who wrote whatever he thought might make a good story - and would get produced. (Incidentally, in science fiction away from 'Doctor Who', his TV adaptation of a novel which was broadcast as 'The Nightmare Man' is one of the scariest things I ever watched.)
Homes is like Moffat to me. Technically proficient, and capable of good stuff, but overall their style does not jive with me and more often then not they each have of a tendency to add things that I find personally offensive.
But I get the desire to gush over what you love, so need to apologize. Gush away.
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Post by number13 on May 2, 2024 21:15:58 GMT
Serve second helpings of 'The Two Doctors' for me too. Incidentally, although Robert Holmes was obviously writing a story with vegetarianism in mind, he said in an interview about the story that he wasn't a vegetarian. And definitely not any kind of leftist. (See 'The Sun Makers' which is one long satire against the Labour government of 1970s UK and their high-tax policies. And brilliant! )
(They shouldn't have killed off poor Oscar though.)
Yes, if he wasn't such a prominent name in an era of the show where a lot of the creatives were not just left-leaning but socialist, and communist in Mac Hulke's case, Holmes' politics would never be assumed as much by fandom as they have been. Eric Saward has been quite clear that Holmes was an opinionated, difficult man to a lot of people but that it was rarely from dogmatic places for political reasons. Barry Letts talked about him being quite a pain in the offices when current affairs came up. Malcolm Hulke is my close second favourite writer of classic Who, after only Robert Holmes himself. His Pertwee stories are superb - and I think by that point he was an ex-Communist anyway.
In 'Invasion of the Dinosaurs' the "spaceship" with its brainwashing cell, 'Reminder Room' and blue-clad 'back to the land' leader Ruth who won't tolerate any people who aren't 'right-thinking' and is prepared to murder Sarah to "save" 'the people' from 'contamination' is a fairly obvious anti-Communist commentary.
I know the Pertwee era is sometimes seen as a hotbed of Socialism, but I'm a huge Pertwee fan, it's my era, he's my Doctor and I really don't see it (and I'm not a Socialist!) Small 'l' liberal, vaguely or sometimes more specifically 'green', sometimes Buddhist when Barry Letts was co-writing and sometimes topical like the Peladon stories and 'Frontier in Space'. There's also a pacifist theme but then there usually is in 'Doctor Who' - and this is also the time of UNIT who save the Doctor's bacon more than once by being very non-pacific.
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Post by number13 on May 2, 2024 21:16:23 GMT
Going purely by his classic Who stories, I think he didn't set out to write for/against any viewpoint (except when he was feeling VERY cheesed off with Denis Healey of the Treasury over his large tax bill. )
So, 'The Krotons' was around the time of the 1960s student protests in France and has a lot about freedom of thought/knowledge and also people being manipulated by those in power and 'revolutionaries' for their own ends. 'Carnival of Monsters' is in part a wonderful satire on the British civil service, his Autons stories aren't any sort of anti-plastic polemic, just a 'what if plastic came alive'.
'The Deadly Assassin' pokes fun at US politics to an extent, but also at the old, (then) male-dominated British colleges and similar bodies. 'The Sun Makers' we've seen and by contrast 'The Caves of Androzani' satirises lawless capitalism and (I think) U.S. actions in Central America at around that time in the 1980s. 'The Ribos Operation' is a heist comedy-drama (written by a retired police officer of course) and 'The Power of Kroll' is decidedly 'green' and also like the 'up the jungle' films of empire my Dad might have seen at the cinema when he was young.
And 'The Talons of Weng-Chiang' was an unashamed mash-up of at least 5 or 6 famous stories/series written as a 'rush job' when the original writer crossed to 'the other side' (i.e. ITV not the BBC!) and couldn't write the story that had been intended. Sherlock Holmes, Fu Manchu, Pygmalion, Phantom of the Opera, 'The Good Old Days' (a very popular 1970s BBC revival of the music halls, audiences in full Victorian costume, the works - and a very Jago-esque host) and Prof. Litefoot is a professional predecessor of the 1960s medics who Robert Holmes wrote about in his earliest TV jobs on 'Dr. Findlay's Casebook' and 'Emergency Ward 10'. Even the name Henry Gordon Jago was lifted from one of his own earlier stories. ('Corks! Was I?' Yes, really Mr. J. )
Sorry to have gone on a bit, but once started on my favourite writer of classic Who, it just flowed. But to come back to the starting point, I couldn't possibly work out his personal worldview from that lot. I think he was a highly professional writer who wrote whatever he thought might make a good story - and would get produced. (Incidentally, in science fiction away from 'Doctor Who', his TV adaptation of a novel which was broadcast as 'The Nightmare Man' is one of the scariest things I ever watched.)
Homes is like Moffat to me. Technically proficient, and capable of good stuff, but overall their style does not jive with me and more often then not they each have of a tendency to add things that I find personally offensive.
But I get the desire to gush over what you love, so need to apologize. Gush away.
Cheers!
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Post by bethhigdon on May 2, 2024 21:23:40 GMT
Yes, if he wasn't such a prominent name in an era of the show where a lot of the creatives were not just left-leaning but socialist, and communist in Mac Hulke's case, Holmes' politics would never be assumed as much by fandom as they have been. Eric Saward has been quite clear that Holmes was an opinionated, difficult man to a lot of people but that it was rarely from dogmatic places for political reasons. Barry Letts talked about him being quite a pain in the offices when current affairs came up. Malcolm Hulke is my close second favourite writer of classic Who, after only Robert Holmes himself. His Pertwee stories are superb - and I think by that point he was an ex-Communist anyway.
In 'Invasion of the Dinosaurs' the "spaceship" with its brainwashing cell, 'Reminder Room' and blue-clad 'back to the land' leader Ruth who won't tolerate any people who aren't 'right-thinking' and is prepared to murder Sarah to "save" 'the people' from 'contamination' is a fairly obvious anti-Communist commentary.
I know the Pertwee era is sometimes seen as a hotbed of Socialism, but I'm a huge Pertwee fan, it's my era, he's my Doctor and I really don't see it (and I'm not a Socialist!) Small 'l' liberal, vaguely or sometimes more specifically 'green', sometimes Buddhist when Barry Letts was co-writing and sometimes topical like the Peladon stories and 'Frontier in Space'. There's also a pacifist theme but then there usually is in 'Doctor Who' - and this is also the time of UNIT who save the Doctor's bacon more than once by being very non-pacific. I don't know if any era with such a pro-military bent could ever pull off 'leftest' regardless of the personal beliefs of the writers/showrunners. Though it helps that UNIT is with the UN and not just an enforcer of the British Empire.
My favorite writer for the show will always be David Whitaker. He gives such a human focus to the stories, even the monster of the month ones.
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Post by number13 on May 2, 2024 21:44:55 GMT
Malcolm Hulke is my close second favourite writer of classic Who, after only Robert Holmes himself. His Pertwee stories are superb - and I think by that point he was an ex-Communist anyway.
In 'Invasion of the Dinosaurs' the "spaceship" with its brainwashing cell, 'Reminder Room' and blue-clad 'back to the land' leader Ruth who won't tolerate any people who aren't 'right-thinking' and is prepared to murder Sarah to "save" 'the people' from 'contamination' is a fairly obvious anti-Communist commentary.
I know the Pertwee era is sometimes seen as a hotbed of Socialism, but I'm a huge Pertwee fan, it's my era, he's my Doctor and I really don't see it (and I'm not a Socialist!) Small 'l' liberal, vaguely or sometimes more specifically 'green', sometimes Buddhist when Barry Letts was co-writing and sometimes topical like the Peladon stories and 'Frontier in Space'. There's also a pacifist theme but then there usually is in 'Doctor Who' - and this is also the time of UNIT who save the Doctor's bacon more than once by being very non-pacific. I don't know if any era with such a pro-military bent could ever pull off 'leftest' regardless of the personal beliefs of the writers/showrunners. Though it helps that UNIT is with the UN and not just an enforcer of the British Empire.
My favorite writer for the show will always be David Whitaker. He gives such a human focus to the stories, even the monster of the month ones.
Well, the Empire was definitely history by then whenever 'then' means since we're talking about the unfathomable and self-contradictory mess that is the UNIT timeline! But it's 'a few years ahead' I think Barry Letts used to say, so late 70s or 80s.
My first introduction to early Who was David Whittaker's 'The Daleks' novelisation which I bought when it came out in paperback in the 1970s. Brilliant book, a proper novel not simply a novelisation, and for a long time I thought that was how it had really all begun, in the fog on Barnes Common! Also, I love the First Doctor historicals and 'The Crusade' on both TV and again his novel is one of the best.
'The Power of the Daleks' is outstanding and winding forward an era, I'm not sure how much of 'The Ambassadors of Death' was his work as I know it got very complicated and had about four writers in the end, but the first half was his and I assume the storyline was essentially his and it's excellent. For the most 'Bond' Doctor, the most 'Bond' story they ever did and it works so well over all seven episodes, which took some doing.
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Post by bethhigdon on May 2, 2024 21:55:08 GMT
I don't know if any era with such a pro-military bent could ever pull off 'leftest' regardless of the personal beliefs of the writers/showrunners. Though it helps that UNIT is with the UN and not just an enforcer of the British Empire.
My favorite writer for the show will always be David Whitaker. He gives such a human focus to the stories, even the monster of the month ones.
Well, the Empire was definitely history by then whenever 'then' means since we're talking about the unfathomable and self-contradictory mess that is the UNIT timeline! But it's 'a few years ahead' I think Barry Letts used to say, so late 70s or 80s.
My first introduction to early Who was David Whittaker's 'The Daleks' novelisation which I bought when it came out in paperback in the 1970s. Brilliant book, a proper novel not simply a novelisation, and for a long time I thought that was how it had really all begun, in the fog on Barnes Common! Also, I love the First Doctor historicals and 'The Crusade' on both TV and again his novel is one of the best.
'The Power of the Daleks' is outstanding and winding forward an era, I'm not sure how much of 'The Ambassadors of Death' was his work as I know it got very complicated and had about four writers in the end, but the first half was his and I assume the storyline was essentially his and it's excellent. For the most 'Bond' Doctor, the most 'Bond' story they ever did and it works so well over all seven episodes, which took some doing.
The Ambassadors of Death is probably my second favorite of season seven. It's an underrated gem
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Post by bethhigdon on May 3, 2024 13:22:52 GMT
C. Baker 2nd Review
A Fix With Sontarans - Minisode
Now this is more like it. A Fix With Sontarans is a cute special that aired right after the The Two Doctors. A young fan at the time basically won the chance to participate in a mini episode of the show and meet the Sixth Doctor. What really makes the story work however is the return of Tegan.
While trying to get rid of some Sontarans, who is implied to have boarded the Tardis during the last story, the Doctor accidentally teleports Tegan aboard, and it is glorious.
Tegan and Six are a perfect pair. They're like two exes taking the mickey out of each other every chance they get. Unlike Peri, (who I must stress, I do like) Tegan doesn't take Six's bs. She confidently fires back when he tries to talk over her.
Contrariwise, Six won't let himself be steamed rolled over by Tegan's brashness. Unlike Five who seemed to cower under her anger, Six just dismisses her grouchy complaints.
That is until things get serious and they have to work together to protect the child that accidentally gets teleported up next.
Apparently, in the Doctor Who universe, Gareth Jenkins is a prodigy. He can keep up with the Doctor's technobabble and helps him fly the Tardis.
Not only that, but according to the Sontarans, he will be the one to stop their invasion of Earth come the year 2021, and if they can kill him now then they can prevent that future.
Now we did get a Sontaran invasion in the year 2021 in the show. There was no mention of Gareth Jenkins in Flux at all, however, and I think "super-fan" Chibnall missed a trick.
I mean, all it needed was a brief in-joke about the Doctor contacting an old friend off screen to handle some technical mumbo jumbo, but oh well. I guess that's what fanfiction and short trips are for.
Now I suppose I should mention the two different versions that exist of this short.
The original aired version involved a different show called Jim'll Fix It. The host of that series interrupts the story at the end and breaks the forth wall entirely. To make matters worse, said host would later be accused of multiple sexual abuse scandals years later.
For these reasons, the DVD version features an alternate ending where the host is edited out completely and instead the heroes spy an army of Sontaran spaceships outside the Tardis.
This effectively removes the forth wall elements, which is a plus, but it also ends things on a cliffhanger that will never be resolved.. so eehhh...
Also I haven't a clue where Peri is supposed to be during all this... Maybe she went traveling with Two and Jamie for a bit... or is just taking a nap in her room or something.
Anyways, I recommend checking this short out when you can, just for the Six and Tegan match up.
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Post by theillusiveman on May 3, 2024 13:26:00 GMT
C. Baker 2nd Review
A Fix With Sontarans - Minisode
Now this is more like it. A Fix With Sontarans is a cute special that aired right after the The Two Doctors. A young fan at the time basically won the chance to participate in a mini episode of the show and meet the Sixth Doctor. What really makes the story work however is the return of Tegan.
While trying to get rid of some Sontarans, who is implied to have boarded the Tardis during the last story, the Doctor accidentally teleports Tegan aboard, and it is glorious.
Tegan and Six are a perfect pair. They're like two exes taking the mickey out of each other every chance they get. Unlike Peri, (who I must stress, I do like) Tegan doesn't take Six's bs. She confidently fires back when he tries to talk over her.
Contrariwise, Six won't let himself be steamed rolled over by Tegan's brashness. Unlike Five who seemed to cower under her anger, Six just dismisses her grouchy complaints.
That is until things get serious and they have to work together to protect the child that accidentally gets teleported up next.
Apparently, in the Doctor Who universe, Gareth Jenkins is a prodigy. He can keep up with the Doctor's technobabble and helps him fly the Tardis.
Not only that, but according to the Sontarans, he will be the one to stop their invasion of Earth come the year 2021, and if they can kill him now then they can prevent that future.
Now we did get a Sontaran invasion in the year 2021 in the show. There was no mention of Gareth Jenkins in Flux at all, however, and I think "super-fan" Chibnall missed a trick.
I mean, all it needed was a brief in-joke about the Doctor contacting an old friend off screen to handle some technical mumbo jumbo, but oh well. I guess that's what fanfiction and short trips are for.
Now I suppose I should mention the two different versions that exist of this short.
The original aired version involved a different show called Jim'll Fix It. The host of that series interrupts the story at the end and breaks the forth wall entirely. To make matters worse, said host would later be accused of multiple sexual abuse scandals years later.
For these reasons, the DVD version features an alternate ending where the host is edited out completely and instead the heroes spy an army of Sontaran spaceships outside the Tardis.
This effectively removes the forth wall elements, which is a plus, but it also ends things on a cliffhanger that will never be resolved.. so eehhh...
Also I haven't a clue where Peri is supposed to be during all this... Maybe she went traveling with Two and Jamie for a bit... or is just taking a nap in her room or something.
Anyways, I recommend checking this short out when you can, just for the Six and Tegan match up.
Honestly it would have been neat if there was a 6/Tegan audios together i think they would compliment each other quite well
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Post by bethhigdon on May 4, 2024 12:31:38 GMT
C. Baker 3rd Review
Doctor In Distress - Behind the Scenes
Really, there was never any other choice for this category, was there?
So during 1985 the BBC placed Doctor Who under 'hiatus' for 18 months, derailing plans for season 23 that were already in pre-production. Citing falling ratings as their excuse.
In reality, Michael Grade, then head of BBC drama, personally hated the show and science fiction in general, and wanted to cancel the series outright.
This was met with massive backlash.
We're talking petitions, media coverage, and a even a protest song!
Fans, cast, and crew banded together to make a charity album in protest of the hiatus. Sales were donated to cancer research, and Reeltime productions recorded the music video using an abridged version of the song.
Neither the song nor the video did very well.
The BBC refused to play it on the radio and critics panned the album. Nowadays those involved express regret and cringe over the whole ordeal, but honestly, it's not a bad song.
Listen to the instrumental B-side here.
The bones of a good electric pop song are there.
Hans Zimmer, yes that Hans Zimmer, the Oscar winning composer, was involved in the arrangement. And he apparently played the keyboard/synth parts of the song himself.
The chorus is also catchy as heck and I dare you not to be humming it to yourself as you go about your day.
What problems the song does have are hard to ignore though.
While I like the chorus just fine, the versus are, well, stilted. Granted, I don't know how you could make a song detailing the history of the series and it's current corporate politics without making it sound lame, but nevertheless it's not the song's high point.
Second, the guest performers are decent, but it's clear that the none of the Doctor Who cast are professional singers themselves. Some of them are little pitchy, or speak-sings their lines, and I'm not sure why another take wasn't recorded or used.
Despite the protest's lukewarm response, Grade did relent and allowed the show to return... Albeit with reduced episodes and several 'notes' on how to improve the series.... more on that later. The consequence of this was a complete rewrite if season 23, and the eventual firing of Colin Baker at the end of that season. (Rumor also has it that Grade was dating Colin's ex-wife at the time... so make of that what you will) I'll no doubt will be talking about the behind the scene's troubles a little more as we go along, but for now I'm putting the instrumental version of Doctor in Distress in my playlist.
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Post by number13 on May 4, 2024 20:58:39 GMT
C. Baker 3rd Review
Doctor In Distress - Behind the Scenes Love it! Oh nostalgia.
18 months without the Doctor, we should have thought ourselves lucky. Next time, it would be 9 years gone, back for one night only and then another 9 years. But... from all this on-and-off-air malarkey we got Paul McGann and Big Finish, so not bad after all!
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Post by Alastair on May 5, 2024 7:30:59 GMT
I found an opportunity to slot it into canon, largely to annoy a friend who loathes the song with a disproportionate passion. I’m only a little bit sorry.
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Post by bethhigdon on May 5, 2024 13:18:50 GMT
I found an opportunity to slot it into canon, largely to annoy a friend who loathes the song with a disproportionate passion. I’m only a little bit sorry. Never be sorry! It is glorious!
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