Old Doctor Who - Part 3

[Pranet]

That's weird.  Why?

The chat on twitch assumes it is the estate playing silly buggers. It is very odd though, and annoying.

[Replies From View]

Or any incomplete stories apart from The Web of Fear, and not Planet of Fire for some reason.

RULE #386
TURLOUGH MUST LEAVE WITHOUT EXPLANATION AND PERI MUST APPEAR WITHOUT INTRODUCTION.

[Norton Canes]

Looks like the omission of Planet Of Fire from the listings may have been a mistake as it is now listed [this is second-hand info from Gallifrey Base and not a result of my own research]

[Norton Canes]

RULE #386
TURLOUGH MUST LEAVE WITHOUT EXPLANATION AND PERI MUST APPEAR WITHOUT INTRODUCTION

AND NO-ONE WILL EVER KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO KAMELION

(assuming anyone remembers it was still there)

[Bad Ambassador]

The mid-sixties line-up varies almost story to story:

Hartnell, Russell, Hill, O'Brien
Hartnell, O'Brien, Purves
Hartnell, Purves, Lane
Hartnell, Purves, Lane
Hartnell, Lane, Craze, Wills
Troughton, Hines, Watling
Troughton, Hines, Watling
Troughton, Hines, Padbury

[kidsick5000]

I realise this thread is normally home to more elevated discussion, but I'm watching State of Decay on Twitch right now, and bloody hell I don't half have a crush on 1980 Lalla Ward.

I realise now just what an amazing run of companions Tom Baker had. In the crush stakes - obviously Sarah-Jane but EVIL Sarah-Jane in the Hand Of Doom, then Leela obviously, Mary Tamm as super-posh Romana. Thoroughly captivating.

But to be frank, I think I'll be done with the Twitch run as soon as Davison begins.
There's something about the look of series 18 that the production values are dropping, or at least the filming style makes everything look too raw. I think Creature From The Pit is the last story to look properly lush

[kidsick5000]

I think State Of Decay features the most obvious on-screen evidence that her and Tom are not talking. In some of their scenes they just gaze obliquely across each other rather then make actual eye contact and deliver their dialogue in detached soliloquies.

Yeah, it's palpably frosty and close to awkward to watch in parts. God knows what it must have felt like on set.

It's funny to see how much Lalla Ward does not seem to like Matthew Waterhouse.

[Pranet]

I realise now just what an amazing run of companions Tom Baker had. In the crush stakes - obviously Sarah-Jane but EVIL Sarah-Jane in the Hand Of Doom, then Leela obviously, Mary Tamm as super-posh Romana. Thoroughly captivating.

But to be frank, I think I'll be done with the Twitch run as soon as Davison begins.
There's something about the look of series 18 that the production values are dropping, or at least the filming style makes everything look too raw. I think Creature From The Pit is the last story to look properly lush

I think I am more indulgent of the Davison era than I should be because it is the period of the show I have strongest memories of watching from childhood, so every thing about it- the theme, the sound effects, even the look of it sets of bursts of nostalgic pleasure in my brain.

[Norton Canes]

There's something about the look of series 18 that the production values are dropping, or at least the filming style makes everything look too raw

Really? The consensus seems to be that the production values shot up for season 18, after the increasingly threadbare look of the Williams stories.

I think Creature From The Pit is the last story to look properly lush

Yeah, the jungle set gives even the Planet Of Evil effort a run for its money. But if you want lush then season 18 gives you the Mistfall scenes in Full Circle, the wonderful art deco of Keeper Of Traken and the glorious baroque beauty of Warrior's Gate.

[Replies From View]

the Hand Of Doom

No such fucking thing, son.

The Hand of Fear.

[Norton Canes]

I realise now just what an amazing run of companions Tom Baker had. In the crush stakes - obviously Sarah-Jane but EVIL Sarah-Jane in the Hand Of Doom, then Leela obviously, Mary Tamm as super-posh Romana. Thoroughly captivating

And Nyssa and Tegan too, of course. Mmm... Nyssa and Tegan.

[kidsick5000]

No such fucking thing, son.

The Hand of Fear.

Buggeration. Curses.
Sorry, daddy

[purlieu]

Now, Synthespians™.

Autons, maybe?

Autons indeed. Shame, they would have come as a touch of a surprise without having seen that cover. Pretty decent book, set on a space station 8,000 years in the future obsessed with 20th century television. And Autons. Colin definitely present in the more angry dialogue, but the rest of the dialogue was fairly generic Doctor. Peri given a lot of excellent back story. Some ties to various BBC books era stuff (the Nestene Consciousness is apparently born of Old One Shub-Niggurath), and it also appears The Doctor's actions here cause the Celestial Intervention Agency to have him brought in for trial in the follow series.

[kidsick5000]

Really? The consensus seems to be that the production values shot up for season 18, after the increasingly threadbare look of the Williams stories.

I think it's just the video makes everything seems increasingly worse. No matter the level of effort put into the costumes and sets, everything from 'will this do' to 'take that Star Wars', the art of Studio lighting is often nowhere to be seen. Everything is lights on or lights off.

[Replies From View]

I think it's just the video makes everything seems increasingly worse. No matter the level of effort put into the costumes and sets, everything from 'will this do' to 'take that Star Wars', the art of Studio lighting is often nowhere to be seen. Everything is lights on or lights off.

This is correct.  When you're creating creatures like the Myrka, blanket white lighting doesn't help one jot.

Peter Davison has said at least once that JNT didn't want to alienate elderly people who had the brightness of their televisions turned down too low.  Considering the kinds of decisions JNT made I've never been entirely confident that Davison was joking.  I had an elderly relative who kept her television brightness turned down to the point that everything was an impenetrable gauze of shifting murky patterns, and whenever I tried to correct it she'd complain that it was ruined.  Most of Davison's stories would have been just about visible on her telly.

[purlieu]

They compensated for the whole of the '80s by making Ghost Light.

[purlieu]

Shell Shock, a Telos novella. In which Simon A. Forward attempts literature and ends up closer to pretentious gobbledegook. There's a nice setting of The Doctor living on a beach with some innocent-seeming crab-like creatures, however. And the second book in a row to hint at Peri having been sexually abused by her step-father.


Now my first Sixth Doctor Missing Adventure, Burning Heart. Fairly nondescript cover, although the high-tech weapon and armour is fairly unsurprising given the number of books based around some sort of military setup has been, so far, extremely high.
Immediately feels a bit odd, with the Doctor written much closer to his more arrogant self of series 22, rather than the mellower Trial of a Time Lord version who's featured in the books so far. It does have him ruminating on that very matter, however, which immediately gives this version more warmth. Only a short way in and it seems to be veering wildly between a really quite grim situation on a planet largely populated by refugees who are either being mutated or about to start a race-related riot, and outright absurd humour (notably in the character who's just been introduced, called Queegvogel Duck Duck Duck Duck Duck Duck Seven).

[Bad Ambassador]

Worth noting that Burning Heart was supposed to be a Judge Dredd crossover, but they couldn't sort the rights.

[purlieu]

Haha fucking hell. Well I suppose that makes sense.

[purlieu]

Pretty good book, that. Didn't feel especially like Doctor Who, and the specifics of the ending were a bit wishy-washy, but overall it kept my attention and had some excellent dialogue. Some descendent of a New Adventures character also featured in it.

And now time for Pip and Jane Baker's own The Mark of the Rani. Great.

[purlieu]

Shit novelisation of a shit story.


Ah good, Terrence Dicks is back. Time for some rape followed by a brief aside to explain just what the Boer War was about to educate the kiddies reading.

[Deanjam]

Is old Terry a bit rapey in the new adventures then?* I only read his Timewyrn book when that came out and I recall liking it the best of the 4. Was a long time ago though.


*_{He looks the sort}

[purlieu]

Warmonger features direct and indirect references to rape and rape threats repeatedly throughout. It also features the Fifth Doctor with a shaved head leading an army of Draconians, Sontarans, Cybermen and Ogrons into war against Morbius, while Peri spends as a year as the leader of a band of guerillas.
There are also rape references in Catastrophea.

Players so far feels like it's a sequel or prequel to Dicks' 'Season 6B' story World Game so far. One point in the future I'll probably go back over all the Virgin and BBC books and read them in publishing order, as I'm sure there are plenty of references I'm going to miss by reading them in the order I am.

[purlieu]

Ok, that was actually a very fun little book. The Doctor and Peri save Winston Churchill's life during three wars of the 20th century. One character seems to have met the Seventh Doctor and Ace before. Lightweight but enjoyable and none of Dicks's usual shit.

And now, back to Bulis.

[purlieu]

Well, that was an unusual experience, a really enjoyable Christopher Bulis novel. All the usual elements are there: paper-thin characterisation; plenty of plot and dialogue cliches. And then most of them are given a specific purpose. There's still a bit of a 'random encounters' element to the plot, but overall it avoids Bulis's usual adventure / quest format for several connected mysteries, which are gradually revealed to the reader over the course of the book. Why are the Doctor and Peri on an asteroid-sized planet populated by medieval Lords and Ladies, gardening robots, talking teddy bears, and 'savages', and how does it connect with a warlord seeking a seemingly unrelated royal family?
It's light, silly fare, but very readable, intriguing, and all round fun. Excellent.

And now crashing down to Earth with The Two Doctors and Timelash.

[Bad Ambassador]

There's a rumour going around that The Macra Terror and The Wheel in Space are going to have their missing episodes animated next. TWiS is an obvious one to do, since it's the remaining unreleased Cybermen story, but I'd been hoping it would be paired with something for a contrast, like The Crusade. The two stories only have six missing episodes between them, so you could get twice the revenue for the same outlay as Power.

[Replies From View]

Yes, The Macra Terror is a strange choice.  Not a Troughton story I would prioritise, especially when the models for Evil of the Daleks are ready to go (unless I'm mistaken they can just reuse the ones from Power).

I wonder if they'd save The Crusade for when they are working on the season 2 Blu-Ray, since it is the only story needed to complete that season, and that would be a good selling point.  Similarly they just need to animate Marco Polo to put out a complete season 1.

[Bad Ambassador]

Yes, The Macra Terror is a strange choice.  Not a Troughton story I would prioritise, especially when the models for Evil of the Daleks are ready to go (unless I'm mistaken they can just reuse the ones from Power).

I wonder if they'd save The Crusade for when they are working on the season 2 Blu-Ray, since it is the only story needed to complete that season, and that would be a good selling point.  Similarly they just need to animate Marco Polo to put out a complete season 1.

I think the Macra logic is that it's another completely animated story that can be sold and marketed without being a mix-and-match. Reusing character models for Troughton, Wills and Craze would be handy.

Should the Blu sets go forward, I think they ought to release any new animations separately as well, if only as vanilla DVDs or downloads, so those who just want the episodes don't have to shell out for a box set in a different format.

[Replies From View]

Oh yeah I definitely think they should release them on DVD.  I don't even have a Blu-ray player so I'll be pretty peeved if they decide to abandon the single-story DVD market.

I just meant they might schedule the releases of Marco Polo and The Crusade for when they want to put out the complete seasons 1 and 2.

[Malcy]

Oh yeah I definitely think they should release them on DVD.  I don't even have a Blu-ray player so I'll be pretty peeved if they decide to abandon the single-story DVD market.

I just meant they might schedule the releases of Marco Polo and The Crusade for when they want to put out the complete seasons 1 and 2.

I was about to say that I don't know anyone who owns a Blu-Ray player but just remembered my parents do but never use it. Thanks for the memory jog! I might ask for it. I almost bought one for the Spearhead From Space release but never did.