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March 28, 2024, 09:55:57 AM

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Old Doctor Who

Started by trotsky assortment, January 14, 2011, 09:40:20 AM

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Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Deanjam on October 12, 2016, 04:47:52 PM
How about now?

Here you go.

So that this has some actual content: I read the Fourth Doctor who comics mini-series recently and liked it a lot. They go a bit broad with Tom on occasion but overall it's fun, with a decent plot and some very nice art.


Serge

The tagline 'Originated By Roger Hargreaves' makes it sound like he invented 'Doctor Who'. Sort it out, Puffin.

purlieu

I'm not going to continue my book-by-book reviews as nobody cares, but occasionally something crops up worth a comment.
Tonight I start Invasion of the Cat-People.
This is the worst title ever. My hopes are low.

Bad Ambassador

Quote from: purlieu on October 18, 2016, 11:12:01 PM
I'm not going to continue my book-by-book reviews as nobody cares, but occasionally something crops up worth a comment.
Tonight I start Invasion of the Cat-People.
This is the worst title ever. My hopes are low.

I really enjoyed reading those, and would love to hear your thoughts about them.

Norton Canes

QuoteThe recently regenerated Doctor, along with companions Ben and Polly, teams up with a group of amateur ghost-hunters and a mysterious white witch on a journey that takes them from twentieth-century Cumbria to the Arabian deserts of folklore and Australia 40,000 years in the past. Can the Doctor stop the invaders and disarm the bombs left buried beneath the planet's surface — or have the ancient Aborigines of Australia sung the seeds of their own destruction?

Sounds like one of the best to me.

samadriel

Sounds better than it is.

purlieu

So far I'm not enjoying the absurdly clunky expositional dialogue. Ben and Polly visit a normal town in 1994 is a potentially interesting concept, but we just end up with "Look it's Smiths. W H Smiths. We had those in our time. Let's go in it might feel familiar. But don't say anything as you might make an out of date reference and we'd stand out. Oh look a biography of someone born after we left London but who's already died, thus emphasising how out of touch we are" type shit. Ughhhh.
Interesting plot so far, but the writing is a slog.

purlieu

Quote from: Bad Ambassador on October 19, 2016, 09:15:41 AM
I really enjoyed reading those, and would love to hear your thoughts about them.
just 4 u bb

The Daleks' Master Plan - was glad to be able to finally enjoy this story. Not as epic as I expected. Good stuff though. Shame the Christmas fourth wall breaking wasn't recreated for the book though.
The Massacre - messed up the continuity with the whole saving Anne Chaplet thing. Reasonable story otherwise, but nothing spectacular.
Salvation - I enjoyed this one a lot. A proper introduction story for Dodo, and, like all the original novels featuring her, a chance for her character to be fleshed out a lot more and generally become likeable. An intriguing story that kept me guessing and was enjoyable 'epic' in scale. Upped the antagonism between Steven and the Doctor over the TV ending to The Massacre too.
The Ark - slightly above par novelisation, complete with Security Kitchen.
The Celestial Toymaker - even as a kid, I always hated old fashioned children's games and toys, fairy tales and so on. I think this would have scared the fuck out of me as a youngster. I had a horrible sense of discomfort reading it. I'm in no rush for it to be returned.
The Gunfighters - nope.
Bunker Soldiers - I'm surprised at just how many of the First Doctor MAs and PDAs are historical in setting. I don't read the blurbs so I was half expecting a standard historical, but then it headed off into other territories. Some really creepy sections, a few really nasty characters, and again a decent amount of Dodo-centric stuff which really expanded her character. Wasn't so keen on switching to first-person for Steven's chapters, and the alien-centered ones were possibly a bit too jarring to work quite as I think they were intended, but otherwise enjoyable.
The Savages - a fairly bog standard Hartnell-era premise, but certainly from the book I enjoyed it more than I expected. I wonder if the TV version was as good. Was very surprised to see Steven depart, but those rushed departures were common at the time so not so much in hindsight.
The Man in the Velvet Mask - this was great. Totally different to anything the series attempted at the time (or ever, really, in the classic era). Very dark, very grim. Quite an uncomfortable read, but in a good way. Managed the different perspectives & weird unexplained stuff very well. By this point Dodo has become one of my favourite companions, thanks to the books. Inventive, atmospheric and surprising.
The War Machines - nicely expanded from the TV version. Always one of my favourite Hartnells, and the threat feels more real in this version. Very good. Also gives Dodo a better sendoff.
The Smugglers - probably pretty good on screen, totally lifeless thanks to Terrance Dicks's interpretation.
Ten Little Aliens - this builds up a lot info more about the Empire that was mentioned in The Sorcerer's Apprentice and I believe appears more throughout the '90s novels. I really, really enjoyed this one. Lots of different things going on manage to keep it pacey and keep it surprising. I suppose it's probably not the most original book ever, but I quite enjoy a nice actiony story every now and then so it worked out well. The choose-your-own-destiny-style middle was really fucking tedious though.
The Tenth Planet - changing the year to 2000 put me off-guard, and I'm pretty sure there are a couple of continuity errors from this later on. Otherwise a bog standard novelisation, along with a weird regeneration scene.
Power of the Daleks - found a fairly cheap one of these on eBay. A story I've been interested in for ages, and now I get the book and DVD release at about the same time. I'm glad a story like this got the 280 page fleshed-out novelisation and not, say, An Unearthly Child. Great stuff.

Ambient Sheep

Quote from: purlieu on October 19, 2016, 05:54:34 PM
just 4 u bb

...and for me, because I enjoyed reading them too.

Quote from: purlieu on October 18, 2016, 11:12:01 PM
I'm not going to continue my book-by-book reviews as nobody cares, but occasionally something crops up worth a comment.
Tonight I start Invasion of the Cat-People.
This is the worst title ever. My hopes are low.

Ohhh no, that's a Gary Russell book isn't it. I've considered attempting to go through all the novels in order(as I've got them all on my hard drive) but the thought of having to trudge through so many Russell tomes gives me a sense of cold dread(okay, it's only around 9 books, but that's still far too many).

I remember groaning when I heard IDW had picked him to launch their Dr Who comic range. And true to form that first Russell-scripted story arc was so bad I'm amazed the whole run didn't get scrapped there and then.

The Man in the Velvet Mask: I've not read this one but I did read Daniel O'Mahony's other book(Falls The Shadow) and it was great, a proper disturbing Morrison-esque mind-fuck. I will get around to this one eventually.

Replies From View

Quote from: purlieu on October 19, 2016, 01:18:08 PM
So far I'm not enjoying the absurdly clunky expositional dialogue. Ben and Polly visit a normal town in 1994 is a potentially interesting concept, but we just end up with "Look it's Smiths. W H Smiths. We had those in our time. Let's go in it might feel familiar. But don't say anything as you might make an out of date reference and we'd stand out. Oh look a biography of someone born after we left London but who's already died, thus emphasising how out of touch we are" type shit. Ughhhh.
Interesting plot so far, but the writing is a slog.

Sounds like one of the more routine episodes of 'Goodnight Different Actress'.

Norton Canes

Quote from: purlieu on October 19, 2016, 05:54:34 PM
The Gunfighters - nope.

This is 'The Gunfighters', as in the Donald Cotton Target novelisation of 'The Gunfighters'? As in, one of the most hilarious, inventive and skilfully-written books in the entire range? Woah.

Norton Canes

Anyway I was the happy recipient of The Keys of Marinus, The Mutants, Meglos and Time and the Rani DVDs for my birthday yesterday, so a nice slew of episodes to get through there.

purlieu

Quote from: Ron Maels Moustache on October 19, 2016, 08:14:11 PM
Ohhh no, that's a Gary Russell book isn't it. I've considered attempting to go through all the novels in order(as I've got them all on my hard drive) but the thought of having to trudge through so many Russell tomes gives me a sense of cold dread(okay, it's only around 9 books, but that's still far too many.
Yes I noticed he's done a fair few of the New Doctor Adventures as well. Great.

Quote from: Norton Canes on October 20, 2016, 09:32:49 AM
This is 'The Gunfighters', as in the Donald Cotton Target novelisation of 'The Gunfighters'? As in, one of the most hilarious, inventive and skilfully-written books in the entire range? Woah.
The whole 'story being told as remembered by someone else' thing just pulls me right out of it, coupled with not being a fan of the story or, in general, westerns. On the plus side, I didn't have to hear the song or Steven and Dodo's accents.

Deanjam

Quote from: Norton Canes on October 20, 2016, 09:41:31 AM
Anyway I was the happy recipient of The Keys of Marinus, The Mutants, Meglos and Time and the Rani DVDs for my birthday yesterday, so a nice slew of episodes to get through there.

I like Keys of Marinus although I may be in a minority of one. The Mutants has some dodgy acting by Rick James but I like it too. Meglos I've not seen in ages. Anything with the Rani in I hate.

There ends my unsolicited opinions.

Norton Canes

Quote from: Deanjam on October 20, 2016, 04:17:40 PM
I like Keys of Marinus although I may be in a minority of one. The Mutants has some dodgy acting by Rick James but I like it too. Meglos I've not seen in ages. Anything with the Rani in I hate.

There ends my unsolicited opinions

Thing is, I was down to the last dozen or so classic series DVDs I hadn't got, so the remaining stories are hardly the cream of the crop. The Keys of Marinus at least has some variety; I liked the psychedelic madness of he Claws of Axos and assume The Mutants will be along the same lines; Meglos was the last Tom Baker story except for The Invisible Enemy and I am not repeat not shelling out anything for a box set containing K9 and Company; and Time and the Rani... has lots of good value added material.

purlieu

Meglos is fine, some nice creepy stuff in that. I am, however, baffled by someone refusing to buy something because it comes with K9 and Company who is happy to buy Time and the Rani.

Deanjam

Quote from: Norton Canes on October 20, 2016, 04:30:48 PM
I liked the psychedelic madness of he Claws of Axos and assume The Mutants will be along the same lines;

Sadly not. It's more political, taking shots at Xenophobic little-englanders who cling to the idea of Empire. Good job we don't have any more of that nowadays!

Quote from: purlieu on October 20, 2016, 04:57:29 PM
Meglos is fine, some nice creepy stuff in that. I am, however, baffled by someone refusing to buy something because it comes with K9 and Company who is happy to buy Time and the Rani.

Yeah I'd much rather watch K9&co than the Rani Bollocks. But each to their own.

weekender

Quote from: Norton Canes on October 20, 2016, 09:41:31 AM
Anyway I was the happy recipient of The Keys of Marinus, The Mutants, Meglos and Time and the Rani DVDs for my birthday yesterday, so a nice slew of episodes to get through there.

Seeing as you didn't ask for it, here's my opinion.  I have tried to be concise, and also drum up some interest in the stories for you.

The Keys of Marinus

Someone tries to rape Barbara[nb]Yes, really.[/nb].

The Mutants

The writers try and rape 1970s political allegories to death.

Meglos

Tom Baker looks like he has been raped by a cactus.

Time and the Rani

John Nathan-Turner rapes Doctor Who.

Hope this helps[nb]weekender does not condone actual rape.[/nb]!

Oh, happy birthday for yesterday by the way.  Please consider this post to be your gift/card.


Gurke and Hare

Quote from: Norton Canes on October 20, 2016, 04:30:48 PMMeglos was the last Tom Baker story except for The Invisible Enemy and I am not repeat not shelling out anything for a box set containing K9 and Company

K9 and Company really isn't the big problem with that box set.

Ambient Sheep

With this thread having reached 100 pages, it's time to start a new one.  So here it is.

Make Barry happy.  Use the new one today.

Replies From View

Quote from: Ambient Sheep on October 21, 2016, 05:21:00 PM
Make Barry happy.  Use the new one today. Subscribe as a Golden Member for only £8 per month.