Main Menu

Tip jar

If you like CaB and wish to support it, you can use PayPal or KoFi. Thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy the site - Neil.

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Support CaB

Recent

Welcome to Cook'd and Bomb'd. Please login or sign up.

March 28, 2024, 01:14:49 PM

Login with username, password and session length

Old Doctor Who - Part 3

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

Previous topic - Next topic

weekender

Thanks to all for replying on the BluRay issue, don't think I'll bother just yet.

Some of the Who DVD extras are the things I like the most.  There's a few where the people behind the scenes have clearly done their research, and done things like identified a soundman who worked on a 1970s story, and the interview proceeds along the lines of:

"Can you remember anything about it?"
"Not really"

Those are my favourite.

Would anyone else like to share their favourite Who DVD extras?

Malcy

I like the spoof docs on The Green Death & City Of Death. I really enjoy the production subtitles at times as well.

Norton Canes

On Carnival of Monsters: the BBC training film of Barry Letts demonstrating CSO, with the aid of the delicious Margot.

daf

Three stick in my mind :

Cheques, Lies and Videotape -
What was it like in the days before commercially released videos, when TV was as ephemeral a medium as theatre? How did Doctor Who fans enjoy old episodes of their favourite programme?
(Revenge of the Cyberman DVD)

Looking for Peter -
Who was Peter R. Newman, creator of the Sensorites? Toby Hadoke tries to find out with the help of Hammer Films archivist Marcus Hearn and researcher Richard Bignell. (The Sensorites DVD)

Shades of Grey -
The War Games saw the end of black-and-white Doctor Who. This documentary examines the artistic limitations - and advantages - of monochrome. (The War Games DVD)

I also love the ones about episode recoveries, restoration, NTSC/PAL conversion, or re-colourization.

Huge list of them here :
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Doctor_Who_documentaries

Search by specific DVD :
http://whospecialfeatures.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Documentary

Deanjam

Living with Levene on The Claws of Axos. Toby Hadoke spends a few days with John Levene and his mum. Such a bizarre man. Seems to really dislike Nicholas Courtney.

Alberon


Norton Canes

Quote from: daf on November 22, 2016, 03:53:48 PMLooking for Peter -
Who was Peter R. Newman, creator of the Sensorites? Toby Hadoke tries to find out with the help of Hammer Films archivist Marcus Hearn and researcher Richard Bignell. (The Sensorites DVD)

Oh yeah, that's a lovely one.

I like any of the 'era' documentaries (mostly covering the tenure of various producers); and of the regular features, I do love a good 'Then and now' look at the locations.

Obviously anything from Blue Peter is great too.

Norton Canes

Oh, and of course, the continuity announcements. No matter how packed it was with other value-added features, I always felt short-changed if a classic series Who DVD didn't include an off-air recording of at least the announcer's remarks before and after the episode (and over the credits). The best ones show whole evenings' run-downs. The BBC1 Saturday Night one on The Armageddon Factor (or is it The Pirate Planet? One of the Key to Time stories, at least) is especially good. 

Norton Canes

And, and... the three 'On Target' features on the novelisations of Malcolm Hulke, Ian Marter and Terrance Dicks.

And definitely the 'Stripped for Action' documentaries on the various Doctors' comic strip adventures, from TV Comic to DWM.

Norton Canes


Norton Canes

Anyway

Happy birthday Doctor Who

Will be watching An Unearthly Child tonight - the one episode that just gets better with each viewing.

weekender

Quote from: Norton Canes on November 23, 2016, 09:51:05 AMWill be watching An Unearthly Child tonight - the one episode that just gets better with each viewing.

I sometimes find myself thinking that the other three episodes are fairly dull by comparison, but then I rewatch them and think "Hmm, Cave Of Skulls, Forest of Fear, The Firemaker - actually this stuff's fucking horrifying".

Replies From View

The Doctor nearly stoves someone's head in with a rock at one point.

Norton Canes

Quote from: Norton Canes on November 10, 2016, 02:00:50 PM
Well what do you know, the annual Gallifrey Base Top Three Tournament - where members of the internet's favourite Doctor Who message board engage in a protracted knockout-based voting process to find their all-time favourite story - has once again reached its climactic final round.

The following stories are in with a shout of taking the coveted top spot:

The War Games
City of Death
The Caves of Androzani
The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances
Human Nature/The Family of Blood
Heaven Sent

And the winner - for the first time since 2009, apparently - is Caves of Androzani. It's the fifth time it's won, thus proving incontrovertibly that Peter Davison is definitely the best Doctor ever.

1st. The Caves of Androzani 150 pts
2nd. City of Death 146 pts
3rd. The War Games 137pts
4th. Heaven Sent 135pts
5th. Human Nature/The Family of Blood 106 points
6th. The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances 100 points

Ambient Sheep

I watched the first four episodes about nine months ago, following a Horror Channel showing.  Hadn't seen parts 2-3-4 for over twenty years, since the Beeb repeated them back in the 90s I think.  Back then I found them predictably boring, but this time round I found myself unexpectedly enthralled, it's actually quite a good story.  Certainly better than some of the 70s ones I've tried to revisit.

An Unearthly Child itself is marvellous, of course.


I would have loved to have gone on and watched the first Daleks story, but sadly Horror didn't go there...


Quote from: Ambient Sheep on November 23, 2016, 09:50:15 PM
I watched the first four episodes about nine months ago, following a Horror Channel showing.  Hadn't seen parts 2-3-4 for over twenty years, since the Beeb repeated them back in the 90s I think.

The whole of the first story was repeated on BBC in November 1981 for the Five Faces Of Doctor Who repeat season, that's probably what you're thinking of, unless you mean UK Gold, as it was shown by them a few times in the 90s.  The only repeat of it on BBC since that I know of is a showing on BBC4 for the 50th anniversary three years ago.

purlieu

I'm not a particular fan of the other three parts. Good enough for a watch, but I find it gets a tad tiresome now I've seen it a few times. The scenes with the main four are excellent, but the actual caveman stuff really gets on my nerves.

Ambient Sheep

Quote from: Alternative Carpark on November 23, 2016, 10:25:45 PMThe whole of the first story was repeated on BBC in November 1981 for the Five Faces Of Doctor Who repeat season, that's probably what you're thinking of.

Probably; I would have been coming up 18 at the time, so yes, prime time to be bored by cavemen!  Forgot it was that long ago, but it's entirely plausible, I suppose.


Quote from: Alternative Carpark on November 23, 2016, 10:25:45 PM...unless you mean UK Gold, as it was shown by them a few times in the 90s.

Possible, but unlikely.


Quote from: Alternative Carpark on November 23, 2016, 10:25:45 PMThe only repeat of it on BBC since that I know of is a showing on BBC4 for the 50th anniversary three years ago.

Nah, because I know I missed that.


Thanks for the info.

Norton Canes

God I keep forgetting how completely brilliant some of the dialogue is in An Unearthly Child once the Doctor arrives. The way he toys with Ian and haughtily rebukes the schoolteacher's persistent attempts to discover the truth is magnificent, and Hartnell sells every line imperiously.

DOCTOR: I'm afraid it's none of my business. I suggest you leave here.
IAN: Not until we're satisfied that Susan isn't in there. And frankly, I don't understand your attitude.
DOCTOR: Yours leaves a lot to be desired.
IAN: Will you open the door?
DOCTOR: There's nothing in there.
IAN: Then what are you afraid to show us?
DOCTOR: Afraid? Oh, go away.

I love his little muttered "Insulting..." when Ian suggests he might attempt to flee while the teachers go off to find a policeman.

Then there's the veiled threats

"Not quite clear, is it. I can see by your face that you're not certain. You don't understand. And I knew you wouldn't. Never mind... the point is not whether you understand. What is going to happen to you, hmm?"

And the great

IAN: I know that free movement time and space is a scientific dream I don't expect to find solved in a junkyard.
DOCTOR: Your arrogance is nearly as great as your ignorance.

Of course Ian gets maybe the most satisfying line of all:

"Just let me get this straight. A thing that looks like a police box, standing in a junkyard, it can move anywhere in time and space?"


purlieu

Took a wee break from the novels as I need to retain my sanity over the next couple of years if I'm going to read all of these. Got through The Murder Game and Dying in the Sun recently, though. The former I found pretty tedious. Straight in with the base-under-seige format for Troughton, only with a fairly boring, meandering story, some fairly obvious character twists and a tedious plot hole. I did enjoy the sharks, though, nicely imaginative enemies.
The latter I found a lot better, with little to compare it to from the other stories so far. Well layered and complex without being confusing, with an enjoyably ambiguous enemy.
Just starting on the Telos novella Wonderland. Anyone know much about how these novellas came about?

Norton Canes

#80
Ah shit, just found out that one of the very best classic series directors - Ken Grieve, who directed Destiny of the Daleks - passed away last week. Fantastic, ground-breaking work - including the first use of a Steadicam in the UK - for a story that's otherwise remembered for all the wrong reasons. His DVD commentary with Lalla Ward is massively enjoyable.

Bad Ambassador

There's an easter egg on City of Death, where Douglas Adams tells a long story about he and Grieve going on a bender to Paris during production, coming back by plane and going into a BBC meeting still both plastered.

Phil_A

I've just started watching poparena's Doctor Who Book Guide on youtube, basically a series going through all the spin-off novels from the beginning of the New Adventures, currently up to Transit. It's really rather good, with a seriously impressive amount of effort put into researching background and historical context.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSg6jbcoD8U&list=PL63ushetAZ-yy2gTezVivL4_cIDU1KKwn&index=2

samadriel

Thanks for the link, this looks interesting. I didn't get into the Virgin stories until around the middle, so I should learn some things from this series.

Replies From View

There's a rumour going around that Galaxy 4 episode 4 has been found.  Adding fuel to the fire, the Loose Cannon reconstructions of that episode (but none of their others) are being blocked on the video sharing sites.

Malcy

Quote from: Replies From View on December 11, 2016, 08:53:21 PM
There's a rumour going around that Galaxy 4 episode 4 has been found.  Adding fuel to the fire, the Loose Cannon reconstructions of that episode (but none of their others) are being blocked on the video sharing sites.

I always hold out hope that more will be found. To be honest i reckon most if not all do but are being held in private collections.

samadriel

Oh boy, I really liked the Galaxy Four novelization as a kid, I hope this is true. Drahvins! The... other monsters!  Whee.

Norton Canes

Quote from: Replies From View on December 11, 2016, 08:53:21 PM
There's a rumour going around that Galaxy 4 episode 4 has been found

Doubtless soon to be followed by episode four of The Underwater Menace.

purlieu

More book thoughts, to keep this thread alive...

Wonderland was enjoyable. Some fairly blunt, but spot-on, political stuff. I also like how the Telos novellas definitely seem to go for a very different approach to the standard novels, this one being told from the perspective of the story's main guest character.
The Highlanders didn't do much for me. I'm not a huge fan of the historicals, and this one felt very run of the mill. Nice to finally get to Jamie though!
The Underwater Menace. I absolutely love the fact that there's a chapter called 'Nothing in the World Can Stop Me Now!'. Decent enough novelisation. Time to get used to base-under-seige bottle stories I suppose.
Doctor Who and The Cybermen. Well, I love The Moonbase, and I found this novelisation utterly boring.
The Macra Terror. This, however, was brilliant. Great story, lots of suspense and surprises. This is high on my list of stories I'd like to see recovered.
The Roundheads. Ah fucking hell Gatiss, why can't your TV stories be this good? Absolutely loved this, one of my favourites so far. Absolutely brilliant story, spot on writing of the characters, tons of detail, the perfect level of humour. Utterly brilliant.
The Faceless Ones. Why the fuck did stories like this end up lost, but stuff like The Gunfighters exist in their entirety? Another excellent one here, again lots of surprises. I'm enjoying how many of these stories are going in totally unexpected directions. Shame Ben and Polly were missing for quite a bit of their final story, but as they've never been my favourite companions I'm not too sad to see them go.
Evil of the Daleks. Another very different story here. Another I'd love to see on screen! The whole trap set for the Doctor, the long experiment on Jamie, the friendly Daleks playing trains, how utterly brilliant. Loved it.


And season 4 is over. Not many lost stories now, so it's back to a more typical mix of novelisations of stories I've seen and Missing/Past Adventures. The next lot includes a fourth Doctor crossover and a fairly gruesome cannibal story...

daf

Anyone branched out into the Big Finish audios?

Dipped my toe in recently with a couple of Tom Bakers and all 12 of the 'Jago and Litefoot' series boxes - which are tremendous fun!



Corks!