Old Doctor Who - Part 3

[Replies From View]

I hope she doesn't catch a cold.

[Malcy]

Trailer for Mission To The Unknown

https://youtube.com/watch?v=_Vk6wtVigew&t=0s

On YouTube at 5.50pm Wednesday 9th.

[Norton Canes]

Lovely, just coming to post that.

[Malcy]

Lovely, just coming to post that.

I think it looks really good. Wasn't too sure about it when it was announced and I like the idea of it being shown at the same time it was 54 years to the day. I suppose it's the only story it can be done with as the rest would have to have recast Doctor's/Companions.

Wonder if the Adventure in Space & Time crew would work for remaking missing stories.

[Norton Canes]

I hope so, I've been thinking for ages they'd make a fantastic job of something like Power Of The Daleks. Shame we don't seem to have an actor with as much as a resemblance to Troughton as David Bradley has to Hartnell.

A few people on Gallifrey Base are complaining that the MTTU recreation features too many 'twinks' (gay slang for 'a young, attractive, usually slender or physically fit male', for those who have a High Court Judge level knowledge of contemporary vernacular), forgetting that it was made at the University of Central Lancashire and presumably uses performers from their own drama course. I suppose they've sort of got a point, in that if you're trying to make a perfect facsimile of an episode then there's no point in getting the technical aspects right if you're going to cast actors from the wrong age group. But you know, taking into account the costs of hiring actors, it's understandable.

[Deanjam]

A few people on Gallifrey Base are complaining that the MTTU recreation features too many 'twinks'

Ah tell 'em to get fucked. That place is a cancer.

I think it looks really good.

Definitely looks worthy of a watch.

[Alternative Carpark]

I hope so, I've been thinking for ages they'd make a fantastic job of something like Power Of The Daleks. Shame we don't seem to have an actor with as much as a resemblance to Troughton as David Bradley has to Hartnell.

His grandson, Sam Troughton, maybe?  He's in his early forties, so only a little younger than Patrick Troughton was when he started.

[daf]

Thought Reece was pretty good - I don't know if he'd do it though.

[Replies From View]

Thought Reece was pretty good

Blimey, really?  I thought he was rubbish; just Gatiss bringing one of his pals on to fulfil what was probably a lifelong ambition.

The photos of Bradley, Reece and Gatiss as the Third Doctor reveal where that trajectory was going - it was a fun vanity project beyond the casting of Bradley.



Reece and Gatiss look like cosplay fans at a convention.  There's nothing even remotely Troughtonesque about Reese.

[weekender]

That MTTU trailer looks really good.  I'm still unsure about remaking missing episodes, but if you're going to do it, doing it with an episode without the Doctor in it seems as good a place as any to start.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

There's nothing even remotely Troughtonesque about Reese.

To be fair, we never got to see him play the second Doctor, just Troughton himself. And for what, all of a minute at most?

[Replies From View]

To be fair, we never got to see him play the second Doctor, just Troughton himself. And for what, all of a minute at most?

It was enough of a glimpse to say he wasn't very good in response to the idea that he was.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I suppose it was.

[Alberon]

Get the best actor to start with and then after that just any old fucker with an equity card, eh?

[Phil_A]

His grandson, Sam Troughton, maybe?  He's in his early forties, so only a little younger than Patrick Troughton was when he started.

You could just stick a Beatle wig on David Troughton surely?

[Replies From View]

When I was about seven I remember looking at another kid in my class and reckoning he had the face of someone who normally wore glasses but temporarily wasn't.

He'd never worn glasses but I just decided that his face looked incomplete, like it was waiting for something to augment it.


Well Mark Gatiss as the Third Doctor has the same thing going on.  He looks like someone who normally wears glasses but forgot to wear them today.

[George White]

To be fair, we never got to see him play the second Doctor, just Troughton himself. And for what, all of a minute at most?

I can see Shearsmith doing a pretty good Father Brennan, though.

[Norton Canes]

To be fair, we never got to see him play the second Doctor, just Troughton himself. And for what, all of a minute at most?

For the amount of time he's on screen they could have just taken a shot of Troughton's face from one of his stories and superimposed it onto any actor

[Ambient Sheep]

Get the best actor to start with and then after that just any old fucker with an equity card, eh?

Hah!

[Deanjam]

Series 23 has arrived (that's series, not season BBC!). Doubt it'll feel any better in bluray, but bought mostly for the extras (and completion of course).

[weekender]

It won't feel better in any medium because it's a shit series.

Apart from episode 13, which I kind of like.

[Replies From View]

Is it wrong to refer to the classic series as being in "seasons" now?  Since when?

[The Giggling Bean]

I got my Blu Ray set this morning from Amazon (so pleased they deliver on a Sunday). I've spent a fantastic afternoon watching the newly edited "Terror Of The Vervoids" and the extras disc on this. I love the new title sequence they made for Vervoids and was surprised that it still felt the same length as the usual serials. I thought it would have had a shorter run time with the trial scenes cut out but it felt standard length. I had a hoot watching the Doctor Who Cook Book show...although every dish seemed to have a seafood element too it. I enjoyed the cliffhanger documentary but I know I've seen that before on one of the DVDs. However I dozed off halfway through the Panoptican footage...only waking up as it finished. I'm looking forward to watching some of the other documentaries tomorrow night.

I remember enjoying the Trial season (except for the Trial bits) when it first aired. I was probably 8 when it was on and I remember not being impressed that they'd changed the theme tune. The accompanying booklet was fascinating in that it said "Mysterious Planet" had to be re-written to remove violence and add comedy. I wonder what Holmes original would have looked like. I do think that a 14 episode arc was not the right thing to do when you need to freshen the show up and remind everybody how great it could still be. Unfortunately it got neutered by the suits at the BBC. The dictate to not make it as scary and add more humour was the completely wrong way round. They needed another full season of Hinchcliffe horror style stories, get the kids behind the sofa again. As it was I've always liked the Drathro robot from Mysterious Planet and it was great to see Sil back again. I enjoyed Vervoids as a kid and they stuck in my memory for years with the poison thorns in their hands.

I still think JNT was right to veto the original ending of the Doctor and Valeyard tumbling into the time vent and ending it on a cliffhanger. It's the sort of thing that wouldn't be out of place in the RTD era where you could get away with a big end of season cliffhanger. However as the suits were desperate to cancel it, an ambiguous ending like that would have been a tailor made excuse to pull the plug. It still rankles to this day though that Colin Bakers last on screen words were "Carrot Juice"x3. I liked Colins Doctor at the time and still like him today. I wish the BBC would have conceded his request to one last series with a regeneration at the end, unfortunately he had a very bad deal and I don't blame him for leaving the way he did.

Anyway the blu ray set is gorgeous with some amazing artwork in the booklet. I'm looking forward to the rest of the extra stuff on there, I don't think they've got Colins in character charity appeal which is a shame but there's a few other bits and bobs I've never seen before.

I'm looking forward to the McCoy set when that's released after Christmas (you don't seriously think they'll get it out in time for the 23rd do you?)

[Deanjam]

Is it wrong to refer to the classic series as being in "seasons" now?  Since when?

Yes it's very wrong. Since I decided.

[Bad Ambassador]

According to the BBFC, the trial-less Terror of the Vervoids runs for 87 minutes.

The other new extras are:
Extended versions of all 14 episodes
Behind the Sofa on all four segments
Studio and location footage compilations for all four segments
Isolated music score on all four segments (rerecorded for Mindwarp), both transmitted and extended
The Doctor's Table (Colin Baker interview)
Blessed on Doctor Who
The Sixth Doctor Revisited
50 Years in the TARDIS: Colin Baker Interview from 2013
Temps X (French TV report on DW with BtS footage from Mindwarp
Breakfast Time
Bonnie Langford in Conversation
The Writers' Room: The Missing Season 23
Tomorrow's World Christmas Quiz
French and Saunders sketch (previously on The Curse of Fatal Death VHS)
The Doctor Who Cookbook Revisited
Three Bonus Recipes
The Panopticon Archive - Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant
Studio clocks
Season 23 Blu-ray trailer
PDFs: 1986-87 Golden Wonder Doctor Who promotion; BBC Enterprises sales sheet

However the following DVD extras are missing:
A Children in Need appearance from 1985, a sketch from The Lenny Henry Show (also on TCoFD VHS), some news reports regarding the 1985 Hiatus and the Doctor in Distress music video.

All of these could quite conceivably be on the Season 22 set.

[purlieu]

Mine's sat up on the shelf now waiting for me to get a BluRay player and a telly.

[Norton Canes]

Despite having the DVD box-set I haven't watched any of the Trial season for a few years now. Mindwarp is about the best segment, isn't it? It's certainly the story that looks like it's had the most effort put into it. Unusually for an 80's offering the lighting is low and atmospheric - Ron Jones was far from the best director of the era but (in his later stories at least) he realised nothing was a bigger atmosphere-killer than an over-lit set. Nabil Shaban and Patrick Ryecart are good value, there's some great use of Paintbox effects and the twist is particularly chilling. It's just a shame that the reason for the Doctor's defection to the dark side is so garbled. For once I have some sympathy with Colin Baker, who asked Ron Jones, Eric Saward and writer Philip Martin about the character's motivation and couldn't get an answer from any of them. 

Terror Of The Vervoids just about functions as a serviceable whodunnit but it's completely hamstrung by Pip and Jane Baker's horrendous dialogue and the none-more-pastel set design. The Mysterious Planet has a typically enjoyable Holmes script but it's a Krotons retread that lacks any real cogency. The least said about The Ultimate Foe the better - the location work is OK. There.

What really gets me though is the complete lack of imagination or inspiration in the design of the courtroom set. It's at the centerpiece of the season and should have been something spectacular. It could have been a disconcertingly familiar setting, like an creepily-lit Victorian drawing room, or they could have gone ultra-minimal and made it inky black, with the characters sitting in pools of light. Or even utterly surreal Alice In Wonderland type surroundings. But instead they went for the most humdrum and hackneyed option, with each of the protagonists immobile in their cordoned-off sections, and the whole thing looking thoroughly underwhelming despite its supposedly grand aspirations.

[Bad Ambassador]

It might have been a good idea to build a very grand and impressive courtroom set and amortise the cost over the entire season.

[Replies From View]

Mine's sat up on the shelf now waiting for me to get a BluRay player and a telly.

I'd be buying these if Blu rays could be played by spinning them on my nose and shining a torch on them.

[purlieu]

I love the way the jury all just spin around to see the evidence. It looks so absurdly cheap. What makes it worse is how grand the opening model shot is, an incredible looking thing that clearly blew a lot of the budget. The best model shot in the whole classic era being at the start of the season that began the show's 'CBBC on a shoestring' looking era is just so daft.

I do really enjoy The Mysterious Planet, it's a fun and intriguing runaround with some great dialogue - something about the repeated use of UK Habitats of the Canadian Goose always tickles me - although the use of video, a shit looking village and some awful props makes the outdoor stuff look pretty naff. Mindwarp is certainly the best story, although I find the lack of clarity about what the fuck is going on with The Doctor just ruins it for me. Vervoids is shite, a second-rate Davison story written by two hacks who should never have been allowed near Doctor Who. Its inclusion is so staggeringly nonsensical, too (of all The Doctor's good deeds, he chooses a future adventure in which he commits genocide. Very clever, Doc.) The Ultimate Foe does, at least, have Onslow on it, which is all I can say there. When my flatmate and I watched the then-available DVD range ten years ago, both of the Master's appearances with Colin received sighs, although I think this time it was more of a "for fuck's sake".


So, Deceit.

Ughhh. There's definitely a good story in there somewhere, but fucking hell Peter Darvill-Evans was not capable of telling it. A planet kept in a medieval-style state to be used as part of an experiment by some higher being is not the most original plot (being largely the same as Witch Mark about five books ago), but the actual villain - basically a room full of human brains - is enjoyable gruesome. But fucking hell, all Darvill-Evans does is write endlessly long, boring action sequences which just recount which bombs are going off or which of the countless androids Absolom Daak or Ace happen to be shooting. Benny is given nothing to do and barely spends any time with The Doctor (who himself doesn't appear until almost a hundred pages in). She carries on the New Adventures line once the BBC start publishing Doctor Who novels, so there's got to be something about her that people like, but so far she's a complete lack of a character.

Then there's Ace using her naked body to lure someone into a trap at the start; she spends most of the rest of the book being groped by Daak at various points. Two of the 'bad' characters are portrayed as having some vague S&M-like lesbian relationship, in a very unpleasant, pervy way. Ace says 'fuck'. When trying to be more 'adult', the books so far are sadly following RTD & Chibnall's 'sex and swearing' route of early Torchwood, and it's so embarrassing.

The book also ties up a few 'plot strands' (to be generous) from Warhead, Witch Mark and Love and War, although they were so unimportant at first, and the references so vague here, that I didn't even spot a couple of them. There's a cliffhanger which I'm sure will be resolved in a few books time, about why Ace has returned. An appendix outlines a history of Earth, post-Dalek wars and building up to its empire, written as a history book extract (mildly interesting), and an afterword gives Darvill-Evans opportunity to explain why, as editor, he's limiting the universe that the NA's inhabit to a fairly narrow range of times and places, despite the show the books are based on being so much broader. It definitely feels like the books are slowly coming together to be a contained series, but in an awkward way still that isn't sitting right.

I know there's good stuff to come, and that the series definitely gets more coherent and of a higher quality, but with books of the quality of last two, and a Bulis just around the corner, it's still quite a trudge.

Anyway, next it's Lucifer Rising.