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March 28, 2024, 10:28:47 PM

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Old Doctor Who - Part 3

Started by Ambient Sheep, October 21, 2016, 05:20:01 PM

Previous topic - Next topic
Quote from: daf on December 19, 2018, 03:03:35 PM
I kept the boxes but turned them backwards on the shelf so you can see the DVD spines, and then just re-fill them chronologically, keeping the most chronologically convenient DVD in the box (as marked in bold)  :

I recently had a big purge of my DVDs and physical media in general and, although it pained me, I got rid of all my Doctor Who cases and transferred all the discs into one big DVD folder. Part of me regrets it but jesus they did take up a lot of space.

Deanjam

But they look so pretty on a shelf ...

Norton Canes

Quote from: Ambient Sheep on December 19, 2018, 12:11:19 PM
Great.  Just discovered that The Time Monster is buried in a box-set with fucking Underworld and The Horns of fucking Nimon for £17.  Thanks guy

Fucking Underworld and The Horns of fucking Nimon are great, just watch 'em.


Alberon

Nimon is worth it for Graham Crowden alone.




pigamus

Quote from: Norton Canes on December 19, 2018, 05:23:34 PM
Fucking Underworld and The Horns of fucking Nimon are great, just watch 'em.



Oh come on. Nobody thinks Underworld is great.

purlieu

Quote from: A Hat Like That on December 19, 2018, 03:03:04 PM
Rather enjoying this series of posts, cheers.

Are some of the missing and past doctor adventures are missing?
I might have to get you to re-state that last question. But if you're asking if I'm missing any of them or if I've missed any of them, they're all accounted for in this thread and the previous. I have a stack of 7 & Ace PDAs to go after Survival (mostly Mike Tuckers), and a couple scattered throughout the NAs, but in general I'll be doing a MA/PDA retrospective before I start Timewyrm. Early next year probably.

Quote from: pigamus on December 19, 2018, 05:54:58 PM
Oh come on. Nobody thinks Underworld is great.
The first episode is fabulous, though. Almost worth the shite that follows.
Quote from: Alberon on December 19, 2018, 05:46:51 PM
Nimon is worth it for Graham Crowden alone.


Totally. It's a very rare example of classic Who being so daft and hammy and terrible that it's relentlessly entertaining. My user text over there <<< is genuinely one of my favourite lines in the whole show.
I've heard people say similar about Richard Briers in Paradise Towers, but these people are scum.

Quote from: Jerzy Bondov on December 19, 2018, 01:30:40 PM
What I need to do is adjust my mindset from collector to curator. Not I've got every Doctor Who DVD, but I've got my favourite Doctor Who DVDs.
I've done it with my CD collection - got rid of around 2,000 in the past ten years - but can't bring myself to do it with Who DVDs. I'll never, ever think "I want to watch The Leisure Hive" or "Where's my The Ark DVD? I need to put it on!", but having the whole journey there seems bizarrely important to me. The extras are normally worth it anyway.

Mind you, it's been made easier for me. I got a nice fat royalty payment for album sales yesterday and spent it all on the S19 BluRay and a US S12 one (still holding out for a re-press of the UK though...). Will grab 18 in the new year - that alone will reduce the space taken on my shelf from eight DVDs to around that of three. Plus more extras.

gatchamandave

Briers is ok for the first three episodes, doing a cross between the performance he gave as Molvolio on Twelfth Night that same year and Martin in Ever Decreasing Circles but his possessed performance is appalling. Sheila Hancock is far superior

JohnnyCouncil

Is McCoy worth watching? Can anybody recommend where to start? The start perhaps, anyhow, lemmie know.

Replies From View

Quote from: JohnnyCouncil on December 19, 2018, 07:55:16 PM
Is McCoy worth watching? Can anybody recommend where to start? The start perhaps, anyhow, lemmie know.

Watch Remembrance of the Daleks and his final season, I reckon.

pigamus

Start with Remembrance, which everybody loves, then work backwards. Then go back to the Happiness Patrol and work forwards. Don't start with Time and the Rani whatever you do.

Third shout for Remembrance. Pretty much a perfect Who story.

Norton Canes

Quote from: JohnnyCouncil on December 19, 2018, 07:55:16 PM
Is McCoy worth watching? Can anybody recommend where to start? The start perhaps

JESUS CHRIST NO


Actually, working back from the end isn't such a bad idea: Survival, Fenric, Ghost Light, Battlefield (shit), Greatest Show, Silver Nemesis (shit), Happiness Patrol, Remembrance. Then if you really like what you've seen, you should be OK with season 24.

purlieu

Quote from: JohnnyCouncil on December 19, 2018, 07:55:16 PM
Is McCoy worth watching? Can anybody recommend where to start? The start perhaps, anyhow, lemmie know.
McCoy-era Who, more than any show / era in the history of TV, is worth not starting at the start. Time and the Rani is arguably the lowest point in the show's history.

Dragonfire isn't too bad a place to begin, if you want to do the Seven & Ace era (involves trekking through a couple of mediocre stories in 25). Otherwise, Remembrance and then all of 26 covers the best of his era. If you do that, the first two stories will feature music from Keff McCulloch, who thankfully fucks off after Battlefield (there's a lot more of his Casio keyboard noodling on earlier McCoy stories).

Replies From View

Quote from: pigamus on December 19, 2018, 08:01:19 PM
Start with Remembrance, which everybody loves, then work backwards. Then go back to the Happiness Patrol and work forwards. Don't start with Time and the Rani whatever you do.

I don't think you should work backwards.  Watch season 26 - which is all good stuff - after Remembrance of the Daleks.  After that you can piddle about with the weaker stories to your heart's content, otherwise you're in danger of not getting around to season 26.

Quote from: purlieu on December 19, 2018, 08:09:01 PM
Dragonfire

Again, one to explore once you already have respect for the seventh Doctor, I think.

purlieu

Part of my appreciation of Dragonfire admittedly comes from how it actually feels like proper Doctor Who after the previous three trainwrecks, but I do think it's generally season 25 quality, and it gives a handy introduction to Ace which gives a little context to a certain season 26 story. But yes, I generally agree that Remembrance & 26 is the best introduction to his Doctor overall.

Replies From View

Quote from: purlieu on December 19, 2018, 08:13:47 PM
Part of my appreciation of Dragonfire admittedly comes from how it actually feels like proper Doctor Who after the previous three trainwrecks, but I do think it's generally season 25 quality, and it gives a handy introduction to Ace which gives a little context to a certain season 26 story. But yes, I generally agree that Remembrance & 26 is the best introduction to his Doctor overall.

It was years before I finally got around to Dragonfire, and don't think the backstory it gives Ace is immediately essential.

Sorry - not trying to argue here; just trying to make sure JohnnyCouncil isn't turned off McCoy too soon.

pigamus

Quote from: Replies From View on December 19, 2018, 08:09:32 PM
I don't think you should work backwards.  Watch season 26 - which is all good stuff - after Remembrance of the Daleks. 

But that gives you unrealistic expectations. It's like eating up all your ice cream and having broccoli for dessert.

daf

Quote from: Norton Canes on December 19, 2018, 08:08:13 PM
Battlefield (shit),

I like Battlefield - mainly as it's got Nick Courtney and Jean Marsh in it.*

But I've never warmed to McCoy - even on audio (the great redeemer), he's catshit.

- - - - -
* Reuniting Dalek Masterplan's Bret Vyon and Sara Kingdom

JohnnyCouncil

Incredible responses, thanks. So Daleks and then 26 is the way to go, will feedback.

pigamus

Unless received wisdom (that Battlefield is shit and Ghost Light is incomprehensible) is right, in which case you'll last precisely one story.

Deanjam

Battlefield is fine (although probably the weakest of season 26) with a nice monster for the time and I love the King Arthur stuff. Also Jean Marsh is always great. I just don't like Ace being a twat to the Brigadier.

Ghost Light is spooky and atmospheric at least, which makes it very watchable even if you don't get the plot.

Curse of Fenric is pretty great. And Nicolas Parsons is shockingly good in it.

Survival is a story that's grown on me over the years. If you can get over the shit cat people then it has a nice melancholic tone of loss that suits the classic series last story very well.

Rememberance of the Daleks & The Greatest Show in the Galaxy are stories I enjoy from season 25. Happiness Patrol has some good bits while Silver Nemesis can be fun if you don't think too much about it.

Season 24 isn't great, but Delta and the Bannermen has some fun moments, while Dragonfire has the best villain demise in all Doctor Who.

Time and the Rani is absolute shit, though Kate O'Mara's impersonation of Bonnie Langford always makes me laugh.

Deanjam

Also Sylvester McCoy gets better in the role as it goes along. He's very good at the quiet introspective bits, or hinting at being a master manipulator. Unfortunately, his casting wasn't received well so they put in shouty bits to show he can act that he's just the worst at.

He's an underrated actor in the right role. I thought he was the best thing in the recent Hobbit films.

#1822
Quote from: purlieu on December 19, 2018, 06:24:47 PM
I might have to get you to re-state that last question. But if you're asking if I'm missing any of them or if I've missed any of them, they're all accounted for in this thread and the previous. I have a stack of 7 & Ace PDAs to go after Survival (mostly Mike Tuckers), and a couple scattered throughout the NAs, but in general I'll be doing a MA/PDA retrospective before I start Timewyrm. Early next year probably.

Too many 'ares' on my part. Sorry.

I think I've conflated two things: I missed a few 6th doctor missing/past adventures and, also, I thought there was a 7th and Ace PDA that was not post-Survival. A quick check says Relative Dementias but The Hollow Men might be as well. But, really, it doesn't matter. Will look forwards to the retrospective.

I think I read every EDA, so that's going to drag me back to my teenage years.


Out of curiousity, I watched Terror of the Vervoids, Delta and the Bannerman and Paradise Towers quite recently, I think after Horror channel had done a few of McCoy and C. Bakers.

The jump in quality on practically every level from Delta to Remembrance is startling.

A season 25 Paradise Towers might be viewed as a classic, the core story is pretty solid.

Replies From View

I actually have a soft spot for Paradise Towers.  It's like a fever dream.

purlieu

Paradise Towers is a solid story with appalling dialogue, production and performances. The novelisation counteracts two of those, and while the dialogue is still poor, it's still leagues above the TV version. I'm considering it the definitive version.

Quote from: A Hat Like That on December 20, 2018, 12:04:17 PM
I thought there was a 7th and Ace PDA that was not post-Survival. A quick check says Relative Dementias but The Hollow Men might be as well.
Yes, they're either side of Ghost Light on my list. I'm currently a third of the way through Relative Dementias at the minute (pretty good so far).


My 12 and 19 BluRays came today. Getting a player in the new year so should be delving into lots of extras and a rewatch then.

mjwilson

Supposedly Revelation and Resurrection are getting Target novelisations (for real this time).

Norton Canes

Quote from: Jerzy Bondov on December 19, 2018, 01:30:40 PM
I need to have a fucking good look at myself I really do. Why do I have so many Doctor Who DVDs, many of which I don't even enjoy? I have a spreadsheet where I was ticking them off as I bought them. I've not got close to all of them - only eighty three! What is that compulsive need I have to collect everything in a series, even if I don't like all of it? They put them in the matching boxes and that's it, I have to get them all lined up. What I need to do is adjust my mindset from collector to curator. Not I've got every Doctor Who DVD, but I've got my favourite Doctor Who DVDs.

But where to begin? That's the appeal of the collector mindset over the curator - no thought required. Is it a grey box with a Doctor Who DVD in it? Yes. Have I already got it? No. BOUGHT. Adding 'how good is it?' opens up such a can of worms for me. I don't want to have to think about that. Sleepless nights


Just looking through my classic era Who DVDs now (trying to make extra shelf space for my Xmas presents dontcha know), and to be honest there aren't any I'd ditch. I mean who knows when I'll be seized by an irrepressible urge to watch episode three of The Dominators? Can't take the chance. Besides, with the exception of the short-lived 'vanilla' run there are very few of these DVDs without at least one watchable extra. And commentaries! I've only done about half the commentaries. Nah, gotta keep the lot.

(I have however decided that I will definitely ditch all my 120-page mid-era Terrance Dicks Targets, which have no redeeming features whatsoever.)

I keep single-issue DVDs on a thin DVD unit and the box sets on one row of a shelf next to it - spines out, in chronological order according to transmission date of the earliest story in the set.

Deanjam

I destroyed the box set packaging immediately. Can't have them out of order on my shelves.

purlieu

I have three still in boxes: The Beginning (lovely heavy-weight box), and the Key / Trial box sets. The rest I dumped though.