Old Doctor Who - Part 3

[daf]

Maybe one or more episodes of Wheel, which would be nice. Well overdue for a reevaluation.

The Loose Cannon recon was pretty good on this with some nice looking CGI bits.

[Bad Ambassador]

I got hold of all the LC recons a while ago, and I've been impressed by the work that went into them. The Celestial Toymaker is actually quite tolerable now.

[JamesTC]

There'll probably be something significant announced on the day, and this is the placeholder. Maybe one or more episodes of Wheel, which would be nice. Well overdue for a reevaluation.

It is very confusing. It surely must be a smokescreen.

Either way, the picture they have revealed is interesting. Jamie is wearing the wrong outfit for The Wheel in Space. It is his outfit from The Marca Terror...

[Malcy]

My eyeball just went into a spasm and the effect on my vision was exactly like the Ice Warriors weapon fire. Terrifying. The first thing that came into my head when it happened was the noise the gun makes. THAT played in my head before my brain thought 'what's going on'!

I want to watch Seeds Of Death now...

[Small Man Big Horse]

It is very confusing. It surely must be a smokescreen.

Either way, the picture they have revealed is interesting. Jamie is wearing the wrong outfit for The Wheel in Space. It is his outfit from The Marca Terror...

That looks more like when Reece Shearsmith played the second Doctor rather than Troughton himself.

[Delete Delete Delete]

Heads up, the (spam) stream has started https://live.fc2.com/6162694/ Why not try it if you haunt before, Doctor Who will be on about 7pm.

[Norton Canes]

Someone's just posted on GB suggesting that the next animated classic era story should be Warrirors Of The Deep, which I think is a brilliant idea. 

[purlieu]

Now for this. Be interested to see if there's any hint of threat, or back story, or anything to actually make me give a shit about the plot or characters.

Fairly well written, and any version without Keff McCulloch is an improvement: it's easier to focus on the fact that the '50s characters are nice, the comedy Americans are broad but entertaining, the Doctor is beginning to show hints of where the character would head later on, and even the main villain just about works. But my fundamental issue with the story still exists: Delta is given no real character or even much time, meaning the actual level of threat feels non-existent. I couldn't really care less about her or her plight, because we're not invited to. The book does nothing to change this.


This was a lot better. Certainly the best-written Target I've read in a long time. The original story isn't dramatically fleshed out, but it's given enough polish to tidy up the TV version's rough edges. All the characters, even those only given a few scenes, are given some pathos, and the tone of the book is closer to the PDAs & MAs than most of the Targets: other than some of Ace's dialogue, it feels much more like an adult book than a kids' one. Coupled with the fact that it's 24's best story by some way, it was really enjoyable to get through, for the first time in a long time when it comes to the novelisations!

And now for...

[daf]

Noticed that Drama has just started showing Tennant's first series : 2 episodes on Saturdays from 7pm to 9pm - 'Tooth and Claw' on now.

(the next 2 episodes scheduled for the same time next week, so it looks like an ongoing thing)

[Alberon]

Haven't read Remembrance since it came out, but I do remember enjoying it. The little touches like what the other Daleks think of the Special Weapons Dalek for instance. Ben Aaronovich (adapting his own script) has gone on to a successful novel series (it's about a policeman drawn into the world of magic (but much better than that sounds)).

It's another from the end of the target line gearing up for the Virgin New Adventures.

[mjwilson]

Remembrance even mentions the time war.

[purlieu]

The little touches like what the other Daleks think of the Special Weapons Dalek for instance.

'The Abomination'. Great stuff.

Yeah, that was definitely a step up from any of the previous Targets. Some of the others had definitely been written as novels, rather than just 'he said', 'she said' novelisations, and The Edge of Destruction in particular was a wonderful expansion on the original story, but that was a whole different thing. Half of the book was told from the perspective of various Daleks, there were flashbacks to Rassilon, Omega and the Other creating time travel, a lot of in-depth stuff for the incidental characters too. Great stuff.

And now...

[Deanjam]

Don't know if this is everyone, or just Amazon.

[Norton Canes]

Remembrance is definitely one of the top 10 Targets. Additions like the ECM warfare between the Dalek factions are brilliant. Though it was years before I realised 'Kadiatu' was a forename and not a title. 

[daf]

Don't know if this is everyone, or just Amazon.

Everyone it seems - Zoom and HMV also pushed back their release dates (before Amazon did).

After the Season 12 disc replacement clusterfudge, I expect they've caught some errors at the last minute and decided to fix them sooner rather than later.

[purlieu]

Just noticed Craig Hinton's ridiculous Millennial Rites was my last Virgin New Adventure. I'll do a roundup at the same time as the PDAs though I think.

[Norton Canes]

I'm transferring this from the new series thread, cos it belongs here

People were wondering whether the classic series historicals really deserved the reputation most of them have for being dull, and I mentioned that in an effort to find out more about the ones with which I wasn't familiar, I'd started reading a transcript of The Smugglers. Well I've finished it now and I have to say that to read, it's a hugely entertaining slice of Boys' Own style adventure with plenty of intrigue, skullduggery and lashings of ripe C17^th dialogue courtesy of Brian Hayles. Of course it's difficult to say how dynamic this would have appeared on screen but I'm sure the actors, including John 'Tlotoxl' Ringham, would have brought their characters to life in their inimitable ways.

Also I can't help but think that if the production team had gone for a more exciting title - perhaps The Curse Of The Black Albatross - the story would be far more highly regarded, because it's bursting at the seams with all kinds of extravagant pirate-y cliches.

Anyway I do recommend www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho for all your Who transcript needs - they're even up to The Tsuranga Conundrum, which is pretty spectacular (by which I mean, it's pretty spectacular that they've transcribed it so quickly, not that The Tsuranga Conundrum is pretty spectacular).

[Bad Ambassador]

I thought that thinking the historicals were uniformly dull was something you grew out of, like listening to Radio 1 or riding a skateboard.

[Jerzy Bondov]

The problem with the historicals is that barely any of them exist. The Aztecs (great), The Romans (funny but wears out its welcome) and The Gunfighters (interminable) are the only ones available in full. Plus the animated Reign of Terror (mostly dull but has its moments), that's only four stories you can actually watch all the way through. Anyone making sweeping statements about historicals is therefore just some troll out for attention.

[purlieu]

On the whole I'm not the biggest fan of the historicals, although some stand out. From the novelisations, I enjoyed Marco Polo, The Massacre and The Crusade. TV-wise, The Romans is tremendous, I hate The Gunfighters, and can admire The Aztecs for its production values and strong story, but it doesn't really grab my interest. The Plotters and The Roundheads are absolutely brilliant pure historical novels.

I honestly can't imagine a pure historical really being in the show anymore, but I'm glad Chibnall has chosen to get close to that as possible this series. I really don't like the 'famous historical figure + alien invasion' plots of the RTD and, to a lesser extent, Moffat eras.

[daf]

The Roundheads

Loved this one! Would love Big Finish to do an adaption of it.

From the interviews on the end of the Big Finish CD's the actors playing the companions REALLY favour the historical story (futuristic sci fi ones seem to bamboozle them a bit) - and I think they've taken note of that to keep them happy - so there's plenty of fantastic Historical Doctor Who on offer - on Audio.

[purlieu]

Loved this one! Would love Big Finish to do an adaption of it.

Gatiss's contributions to the books are so much better than his TV stories it's quite staggering.

[purlieu]

A fair bit of character depth, some back stories and a lot of background info, decent writing and a lack of hammy action & poor production values really helped this. Ok, so even in a more human form, Kandy Man is still a robot made of sugar who kills people with sweets, but overall a solid story.

Similarly, Silver Nemesis was genuinely enjoyable. This era is really making me sad that the TV versions of these stories never got the budget and care that they deserved. Also, McCoy's face here:

[Deanjam]

I'll put this here. George A Cooper has died. Very recognisable face from film and TV including a role in The Smugglers.

[gatchamandave]

And the Grange Hill janny

[Norton Canes]

A knife to the Doctor's throat! Now that's a scene you wouldn't get away with these days.

Purlieu I've been meaning to re-read those McCoy Targets but I looked at my collection the other day and realised I've only got Remembrance, Delta and Fenric. Time to hit eBay.

[Deanjam]

Looks like season 18 will be the next bluray release. Not doing one for every Doctor first then.

[Old Gold Tooth]

Looks like season 18 will be the next bluray release. Not doing one for every Doctor first then.

Gorgeous artwork again. They're really nailing the packaging and the new additional content, which I suppose they have to given most fans probably own the stories on DVD.

Speaking of, anyone else bought Season 19? I pre-ordered this time, after foolishly waiting to see if the Season 12 disc issues got fixed, and then it selling out so bloody fast. Fingers crossed the release date won't be pushed back any further.

[daf]

anyone else bought Season 19?

Yeah - got my pre-order in AGES ago (good job too - it seems to be sold out already on Amazon!)

It's madness that season 12 is out of print - don't they WANT our money? *


- - - - - - - - - - - - -
* technically YOUR money - I managed to bag a copy & the replacement discs - well worth the hassle though!

[daf]

Looks like season 18 will be the next bluray release.

Check out the promo!

(and yes, that's really Tom doing the voice-over - get back in your box, Culshaw!)