Old Doctor Who - Part 4

[Malcy]

I still have that issue somewhere. One of the best things they ever printed!

[Deanjam]

That's brilliant. "I'm sure you'll write something nice." So they just publish it as it is to show what an arse he was.

[A Hat Like That]

Every so often, he's quite charming and then ... not so much.

Also, I want to hear Duncan from Blue talk spaceships.

[Bad Ambassador]

As mentioned, it's all on tape, so if he were to complain, they've got evidence of what a prick he was.

[purlieu]

Yeah, I love that interview. Why would you agree to do an interview and then be like that?!

[olliebean]

He probably thinks it's his schtick.

[crankshaft]

David Tennant alludes to Clive Swift being egotistical prick on set in a later interview, plus Swift must have been a nightmare for RTD to allow that interview to run.

[pigamus]

A cunt interviewees thread would be fun

[Bad Ambassador]

Gary Downie, Bidmead... Any other suggestions?

[Phil_A]

I though Richard E Grant came across a bit of a dick when he was interviewed around the time of Scream Of The Shalka, not on the scale of a Downie or a Swift though. The whole piece ended up being mildly surreal though as at one point an over-eager PA forced Ben Cook to hide in a stationary cupboard so he wouldn't disturb The Actors.

[Norton Canes]

Bidmead was brilliant. In no way a cunt.

[crankshaft]

Bidmead was brilliant. In no way a cunt.

He's not a cunt like Swift or Downie are cunts, but his interviews post-2005 are hilarious for all the wrong reasons. He's tiresomely self-aggrandizing (as anyone who's heard his DVD commentaries will know), and hearing the man who brought us Logopolis disdainfully labelling RTD "a first draft writer" is eye-rolling in the extreme.

[pigamus]

Logopolis is great though

[Bad Ambassador]

He's not a cunt like Swift or Downie are cunts, but his interviews post-2005 are hilarious for all the wrong reasons. He's tiresomely self-aggrandizing (as anyone who's heard his DVD commentaries will know), and hearing the man who brought us Logopolis disdainfully labelling RTD "a first draft writer" is eye-rolling in the extreme.

Terrance Dicks calling him a liar in the pages of DWM was a good laugh, as was Bidmead's claim he dated Helen Mirren when they were at RADA.

[crankshaft]

Logopolis is great though

It has its moments. But the story proper takes forever to get started. It spends its entire first episode measuring a box. And, worst of all, it has the ludicrous "let's flush the TARDIS out" sequence.

Terrance Dicks calling him a liar in the pages of DWM was a good laugh, as was Bidmead's claim he dated Helen Mirren when they were at RADA.

Oh, I'd forgotten about Terrance saying that! Those late period "no fucks given" Dicks interviews were terrific. In fact, I think Doctor Who Magazine's high point was between the late 1990s and 2005, because interviewees stopped giving a shit and just said what they really thought about their co-stars, producers and crew, and the results were amazing.

[Gurke and Hare]

It has its moments. But the story proper takes forever to get started. It spends its entire first episode measuring a box.

Not as bad as Castrovalva, where the story doesn't start until halfway through episode 3. The episode 3 cliffhanger in that would be a great episode 1 cliffhanger for a story. Oh, and all that "index file!" shit.

[mjwilson]

It has its moments. But the story proper takes forever to get started. It spends its entire first episode measuring a box. And, worst of all, it has the ludicrous "let's flush the TARDIS out" sequence.

I wouldn't mind that so much but then he makes a big deal about how science-based his vision of Doctor Who is.

[Norton Canes]

And, worst of all, it has the ludicrous "let's flush the TARDIS out" sequence

Great, isn't it! Magnificently erratic behaviour from a Doctor who's cracking up at the end of a long incarnation. As he prepares to open the doors you do suddenly think, "Fuck! They're actually going to try this on a Doctor Who budget!". And if it's padding... well, better some mad shit like that than Saward's preferred method of filling time, the gratuitous bickering scene.

Imagine if Bidmead had carried his policy of not arriving at titular locations until the second half of the story through to Frontios. Two episodes of navigating a meteor storm. 

[Norton Canes]

Not as bad as Castrovalva, where the story doesn't start until halfway through episode 3. The episode 3 cliffhanger in that would be a great episode 1 cliffhanger for a story. Oh, and all that "index file!" shit

I do love the TARDIS stuff in the first couple of episodes - the potential was there for them to be properly tense and exciting but with the exception of Davison, who flies out the trap, they're not directed or performed with any urgency or conviction (or in the case of the companions much competence at all, sadly). Actually the worst bit of filler is the interminable journey through the woods once the TARDIS has arrived, featuring that excruciating bit where the wheelchair ends up in a river.

I've mentioned this before but here's how I would have tightened up the structure of season 19:

• Hive off the first couple of episodes of Castrovalva and turn them into a two-part, TARDIS-set season opener called 'Event One', which ends with the ship arriving at the sanctuary of Castrovalva.
• Follow up with a four-part Castrovalva set entirely within the titular town, expanding on its characters and adding new story elements.
• To balance the episode count, hack Time-Flight down to two episodes - excise all the prehistoric Earth crap and make it a claustrophobic, Midnight-style adventure set largely aboard Concorde.

[Norton Canes]

Wasn't 'Xeriphas', the early version of Time-Flight, initially down as Tom's regeneration story? <shudder>

[Bad Ambassador]

Wasn't 'Xeriphas', the early version of Time-Flight, initially down as Tom's regeneration story? <shudder>

It was planned as the last story of the season, yes, but before Tom decided to leave. It was bumped due to script issues. Logopolis was formally commissioned after Tom announced he was going.

[Replies From View]

• To balance the episode count, hack Time-Flight down to two episodes - excise all the prehistoric Earth crap and make it a claustrophobic, Midnight-style adventure set largely aboard Concorde.

• Instead of making Time-Flight rubbish, make it good.

[pigamus]

Great, isn't it! Magnificently erratic behaviour from a Doctor who's cracking up at the end of a long incarnation. As he prepares to open the doors you do suddenly think, "Fuck! They're actually going to try this on a Doctor Who budget!". And if it's padding... well, better some mad shit like that than Saward's preferred method of filling time, the gratuitous bickering scene.

Imagine if Bidmead had carried his policy of not arriving at titular locations until the second half of the story through to Frontios. Two episodes of navigating a meteor storm. 

The season before you would have been sure he was taking the piss, but he seems to be serious, which gives it a bit of edge. Much more convincingly mental than the Invasion of Time anyroad.

[crankshaft]

• Instead of making Time-Flight rubbish, make it good.

• Instead of making Time-Flight, make something - anything - else.

[A Hat Like That]

I remember watching on UK Gold on a run of Kinda - The Visitation - Black Orchid - Earthshock (and I did not have the ending spoiled that first time) and the first episode of Time Flight is quite good, iirc. A nice puzzle to solve and some decent location work.

Oh, how it stacks it.

[purlieu]

Doctor Who and... I Dunno, Ace's Tits Again Set Piece by Kate Orman


This is a difficult book to talk about.
Narratively, it's very strange. Orman pulls no punches when it comes to going for utter bleakness. The opening section finds The Doctor being tortured for weeks. Ace and Benny both get stranded at points in the past, on their own, both believing the other, and The Doctor, are dead. The Doctor goes through a period of PTSD.
It's mostly a book about Ace, and she's given a lot more depth and warmth here than she has since her return, for the most part. Which is good, as her character goes out on a high, with her leaving the series as a likeable character who's developed and changed, rather than simply an angsty brat. She spends a lot of the book in ancient Egypt, where she spends a lot of time simply living, getting to know locals, befriending Pharaohs, being a waitress again, generally not having too much happen. Benny and The Doctor have similar, if much briefer, spells in Earth's history.
When the three main characters are finally reunited for the final third of the book, it's to the backdrop of revolutionary France. The Doctor is accompanied by Kadiatu, who makes a very long awaited reappearance after departing to find The Doctor at the end of her previous entry, Transit, 20+ books ago. Here she and The Doctor are constantly trying to one-up each other in terms of manipulating the situation and the enemy. I can't remember if this is in keeping with her previous portrayal, because I read Transit so long ago, and it was such a confusingly terrible book that I've blocked most of it out of my mind.
The villain of the piece is an organic ship that has slipped through a rift in time - caused by Kadiatu's DIY time machine - and has malfunctioned, misinterpreting its programming as a need to absorb the consciousness of every being in history. It's all fine, but not really the focus of the book. It's a character-led story, and really exists to give Ace a fitting farewell, as well as bring Kadiatu into things - I'd be astonished if she doesn't reappear somewhere down the line. And it does it very well.
The characterisation of the main three is generally very good, although The Doctor is definitely at his most troubled here. Orman is a genuinely good writer, and the text has a lot of more literary flourishes that set is apart from the generally pulp-like meat-and-potatoes fare of most authors so far.
So yeah, pretty good, and as I say, difficult to write about.

[crankshaft]

This isn't my favourite Kate Orman book but it's still very strong, and the opening section on Ship is one of the best bits of Doctor Who ever.

[JamesTC]

The Season 12 and 19 Blu-rays are being re-released in standard style packaging.

[purlieu]

"This is definitely the last time these will be released"

"Actually, now you've spent £100 for a second hand copy of the box version, you can buy a standard version!"


Hopefully this will mean the initial pre-orders will run out less ludicrously quickly, if nothing else.

[M-CORP]

THIS IS SUCH A BRILLIANT IDEA.

So you can have the Season 12 Blu-ray, in packaging which is less nice than before, but I could live with it on my shelf. New plainer BBFC age certificates aside (change for change's sake, methinks).

Except on Amazon it's £38.

Isn't that similar to what the limited edition packaging originally cost when it was new? Comparing it with season 24 on Amazon, there's only a difference of £8.

In general though, the retail prices of Doctor Who Blu-Rays - especially for the new series - have skyrocketed in the last few years. Series 8 is £15.99 on Blu-Ray, Series 11 has less episodes and features yet costs £30.

I dunno - I'd invest more in this physical media if it weren't so expensive (some say it's justified with the Collection of classic stories, but when most of the special features are ones that already exist on DVD, I'm not so sure).