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Post by Jesse on Jul 24, 2015 13:44:49 GMT -5
Season 25 was better than the previous season and starts off very strong.
"Remembrance of the Daleks" is a fantastic story that sees Daleks battle renegade Daleks as the Doctor returns to 76 Totter's Lane in 1963 (which originally appeared in the very first episode "An Unearthly Child"). There is some really epic action throughout this serial. Ace beating a Dalek with a suped-up baseball bat is one of my favorite moments of the entire series. Love the Hand of Omega scenes as well. The Daleks wobbling around outside over the asphalt always make me laugh. One of my favorite stories to rewatch.
"The Happiness Patrol" is a pretty solid story with some interesting subtext as the Doctor and Ace arrive on a world where sadness is against the law. The design of the Kandyman robot was fun and whimsical and I especially liked how is spiral eyes actually spun. His kitchen workshop design was also well done right down to the moving parts. One of my favorite moments of the serial features The Doctor playing the spoons while bluesman Earl Sigma jams away on his harmonica.
"Silver Nemesis" The Nemesis comet returns to Earth and unleashes a silver statue that will destroy the planet when reunited with its metal bow and arrow. Different factions compete for control over the Nemesis including a sorceress and her servant from the 17th century, Neo-Nazis and the return of the Cybermen. This was a pretty interesting story and I thought the Doctor using Nemesis to destroy the entire Cyber-fleet was a satisfying conclusion. The significance of the chessboard in this serial will be mentioned again next season in "The Curse of Fenric".
"The Greatest Show in the Galaxy" The Doctor and Ace visit the Psychic Circus where visitors are forced to perform for a strange family who destroys anyone who fails to entertain them. There's a lot of fun in this episode; killer robot clowns, a rapping ringmaster and a surprise werewolf transformation. Sylvester McCoy performing magic for the Gods of Ragnarok is one of his best scenes and his speech in defeating them was excellent.
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Post by spoon on Jul 24, 2015 20:16:37 GMT -5
I've heard good things about "The War Games" (the last Second Doctor serial). However, it's apparently out-of-print, as the DVDs cost a zillion dollars on Amazon or B&N. Not to be thwarted, I decided to go low tech and buy it on VHS off of Ebay!
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Post by Jesse on Jul 24, 2015 23:29:35 GMT -5
Season 26 only contains three stories but they are all quite good. It's a shame that after this season we don't see the Seventh Doctor again until the '90s TV movie.
"Battlefield" The Doctor, Ace and the Brig take on the sorceress Morgaine of Arthurian legend. This serial sees the return of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart which is also the final appearance of the actor Nicholas Courtney in the series. UNIT and the Third Doctor's car Bessie also make return appearances. Love the reveal that the Doctor ends up being Merlin at some point in his future. Ace rising from the water with Excalibur just like the Lady of the Lake was a pretty cool visual. Some good action throughout this serial including UNIT fighting Mordred and his knights. I really like the over-the-top demonic special effects makeup of The Destroyer.
"Ghost Light" is an excellent period piece with an eerie atmosphere throughout complete with a moody old house during a thunderstorm and a cringe worthy use of live bugs and taxidermy. Fantastic performance from Sophie Aldred as Ace who is forced to return to a haunted house that terrified her as a child and we get an interesting reveal about her past. The special effects makeups for Nimrod and the animated Husks were pretty creepy. I thought the irony of the anti-evolutionist Reverend Matthews devolving into a monkey man was superb. Great resolution and I like that they ended with a joke.
"The Curse of Fenric" fantastic story it really has a lot going for it including a Lovecraftian vibe, vampires, zombies, WWII England, an eerie crypt marked with ancient runes and a Viking curse, Soviet soldiers and an interesting manipulative villain. I really liked the special effects makeup used for the Ancient One as it looked like something from a Lovecraft story. The Doctor pitting the Ancient one against Fenric and them both destroying each other was an excellent conclusion. There's also some great personal growth for Ace and a look at the darker side of the Doctor's personality.
"Survival" sees the return of Anthony Ainley as the Master which is also his final TV appearance in the series. The Doctor and Ace return to her home town of Perivale to discover that her old friends are disappearing. The Master traps them on another planet that slowly turns the inhabitants into feline creatures. The Cheetah People riding around on horse back reminded me a bit of Planet of the Apes and I would really like to see them return to the series. The Doctor and Midge playing chicken on dirtbikes was kind of epic as was the conflict between the Master and the Doctor on the dying planet at the climax of the episode. Sylvester McCoy's final speech at the end was a nice addition to conclude the series but it's a shame this was the last episode before the show went on hiatus.
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Post by foxley on Jul 25, 2015 0:20:52 GMT -5
"Ghost Light" is good, but borders on incomprehensible in places on a first viewing. It was originally written as a fairly densely-packed four-parter. When it was decided to make it a three-part story, the script was edited to cut it down. However, instead of removing subplots, much of much got cut was the expository scenes.
Still and excellent story, but not one for the casual viewer.
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Post by spoon on Jul 26, 2015 20:50:53 GMT -5
"Battlefield" is the only Seventh Doctor story I've watched since I started getting back into Doctor Who a few months ago. It's a mixed bag. I like the dynamic between the Seventh Doctor and Ace. The special effects people do a better job with the monster than most Classic Who monsters. But there's some hammy acting and costumes that look bad in broad daylight. I think it's probably easier to hide the flaws in a studio versus on location.
This weekend I watched "Arc of Infinity" featuring the Fifth Doctor. I thought it was pretty good. It's the first story with Nyssa I've watched (at least since I was a kid).
Yesterday I bought the Lost in Time box set episodes and clips from mostly missing stories.
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Post by The Captain on Jul 29, 2015 10:29:37 GMT -5
I've been watching the 11th Doctor seasons with my older daughter, and we got to "The Angels Take Manhattan" last night. She'd ruined the surprise for herself ("Spoilers, sweetie"), as she'd bought the "Doctor Who: Who-ology" book and had read it front to back in less than a week; she's quite obsessive about things she likes, and right now, it's the Doctor. Overall she liked it, and she is very interested in watching the Clara episodes now, although she doesn't much care for the look of the 12th Doctor, so I'm not sure if she's still going to be in it as much when we switch to Season 8. I'd seen the episode before, as I watched a handful of them out of order when they were on BBC America, so the surprise wasn't there for me either, but that episode affects me emotionally. I'm not ashamed to admit I had to bite my lip at least twice to keep from crying, as I didn't want to be bawling like a baby in front of my daughter, who would probably think I was weird or something (she's right, but not for that reason  |
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Post by Jesse on Jul 30, 2015 0:59:24 GMT -5
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Post by tingramretro on Jul 30, 2015 1:36:28 GMT -5
I've heard good things about "The War Games" (the last Second Doctor serial). However, it's apparently out-of-print, as the DVDs cost a zillion dollars on Amazon or B&N. Not to be thwarted, I decided to go low tech and buy it on VHS off of Ebay! The War Games can also be found on the Regenerations DVD box set issued in 2013. |
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Post by tingramretro on Jul 30, 2015 1:50:36 GMT -5
Doctor Who The Tenth Doctor #9 recently came out and it concluded the four part story "The Weeping Angels of Mons". Really touching ending and I was very satisfied with it. I think this story arc is the best thing Titan has published thus far. Highly recommend picking up Doctor Who The Tenth Doctor issues #6-9. It also contained a rather nice, though not obvious, tribute to an amazing talent from British comics history: I'm pretty sure the character of First World War soldier Jamie Colquhoun was named not only for the Doctor's former companion, Highlander Jamie McCrimmon, but also for Joe Colquhoun, the artist best known for drawing Pat Mills's hard hitting World War One epic Charley's War. |
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Post by dupersuper on Jul 30, 2015 22:39:45 GMT -5
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Post by thwhtguardian on Aug 1, 2015 9:23:55 GMT -5
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Post by Jesse on Aug 12, 2015 20:32:32 GMT -5
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Post by spoon on Aug 18, 2015 23:11:14 GMT -5
I'm continuing to watch New Who in order. I just watched Season 3, Episode 8 ("Human Nature"). It's the one with the Doctor as a schoolmaster in 1913. It feels like a throwback with the English country setting and the scarecrows. I think this is my favorite episode of the Martha Jones era so far. I didn't realize it was the first half of a two-parter. I wish it wasn't too late tonight to start the next episode.
I like Martha Jones. To me, she's more relatable that Rose and her chaviness (if you can make that a word). But as far as the chemistry, this season is like taking a step back to a more basic level. Even when Tennant replaced Eccleston, the show kept on building on what it had established with the dynamic between Rose and the Doctor. The show probably couldn't replicate the Rose/Doctor dynamic, lest it cheapen what had been built over time. So instead we get a Doctor is more distant and unaware of Martha's feelings for him. It's cool to see something different, but like I said, it's almost like taking a step back.
I should note that since I'm learning about Classic Who, I appreciate the use of the Macra in Gridlock.
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Post by Jesse on Sept 3, 2015 10:03:25 GMT -5
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Post by Spike-X on Sept 3, 2015 16:32:24 GMT -5
Hopefully she won't be as unbearably irritating as she was in her last appearance.
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