Which stories have you watched lately?

[Deleted]

Mark of the Rani.

I'm really surprised by how well directed this is. Shame the director never worked on the series again. The plot itself is average, but I like the historical setting and the Master and the Rani make an entertaining if somewhat uneasy pairing. Not a highlight of the season but serviceable and definitely better than Trial and Varos.


6.5/10

[Deleted]

Revelation of the Daleks.

This is the biggest disappointment of the season for me. Attack and Two Doctors are a lot of fun, but sadly I just don't like Revelation very much. The Daleks are not handled well at all and the Doctor's lack of involvement is, shall we say, a problem. Just kidding about that last bit lol. The new characters are actually quite interesting so I don't really care about the Doctor's absence in part one. However, it lacks the action of Resurrection and the epic nature of Remembrance. Harper's direction here isn't as good as his work for Androzani and there are quite a few poorly realized special effects. The destruction of the "specimen" Dalek is particularly shabby. At least Roger Limb isn't sitting on his casio this time and actually produces some decent, memorable music for a change. Sayle is a bit crap as is Jenny "FIND THE INTRUDERS!" Tomasin. Bridget Lynch-Blosse and Stephen Flynn are pretty  good as Nastasha and Grigory respectively and Eleanor Bron is very sexy as Kara. Molloy is also on top form as usual. Sadly the script doesn't interest me and the climax is rushed in my opinion. I've only got Timelash to watch now (don't mind that one) and then I finish the Baker era with... Trial .

5/10

[Brian MK.II]

Apr 27, 2021 11:42:51 GMT @gusgorman83 said:

 and then I finish the Baker era with... Trial .

*Cue zoom in on face with Dominic Glynn's sting* 

[biroc]

‘The Three Doctors’ ep 3: Great entrance of Omega. Thorne commanding and not overdoing it. At least for now. And of course, ‘A hero? I should have been a GOD!’. Excellent. Troughton’s ‘Who’s for a swim?!’ haha…I *think* he might have used that line in ‘Fury from the Deep’ actually…and ‘I’m fairly sure that’s Cromer’, superb. Good work from Jo in this episode. Not a fan of the ‘mental fight’ scene, though the timpani action is worth it. It’s a weird cliff-hanger because the music doesn’t build up to it, which is fair enough and in keeping with the rest of the scene, but it does make the Omega statement intrusive and then it’s ‘cut to credits’ haha. Probably worth it for the exegesis of the Time-lord backstory/Omega explanation so 4/5

[billpatjontom]

Invasion of the Dinosaurs 




I loved revisiting this imaginative tale. We get dodgy looking beasts rampaging through the streets of London, there's distortions in the space-time continuum, political conspiracies and army treachery aplenty, all against the background of a mysterious crisis enforcing evacuation of the masses and it's written by the great Malcolm Hulke to boot. Amongst these highlights there's a great chase episode in this adventure - involving helicopters with the Doctor being pursued by the army - that I think really exemplifies the Pertwee era of the show. And it's funny the little things you sometimes notice when you rewatch these old stories - for instance there's a bit in which a soldier appears to be leafing through a girlie magazine and another scene with pin up girls on the wall!

This is Jon's last season and and it's quite interesting to watch him alongside Elisabeth Sladen's Sarah - the chemistry is subtly different from the way her character works during Tom's era. Very atmospheric start to the story when the TARDIS lands in a creepily deserted city that now seems evocative of the first lockdown. There's a striking but brief scene with the Doctor and Sarah encountering a dead man in the street that's surprisingly gruesome. When it's eventually revealed the dinosaurs are just part of a complex plot to roll time back to a new "Golden Age" it made me think of aspects of the current Covid crisis with its attendant fears of "The Great Reset" linked to the World Economic Forum. Also the way the environmentalists tried to condition Sarah via "educational" brain washing when she's aboard the fake space ship was distinctly sinister although to be fair they did switch sides once they realised they were victims being duped by the politician.

There's some fine villains here in the form of Sir Charles Grover (Noel Johnson), General Finch (John Bennett) and Butler (Martin Jarvis) not to mention a suitably sinister turn from a pre-Nyder Peter Miles as Professor Whitaker. Meanwhile the regular UNIT cast are all in fine form. I loved the Brigadier's typical bemusement when he sees the Doctor depart in his new Whomobile car and there's some nice interplay when they both search for the underground headquarters. Benton gets a few amusing but heroic moments naturally and then there's Yates who is gradually and shockingly revealed to have turned traitor. His progression from needing extended leave after enduring the traumatic events of The Green Death to becoming an environmentalist involved with the Operation Golden Age plotters is surprising but effective and it certainly gives the lie to any erroneous suggestions from some 'New Who' fans that Classic Who never did character arcs. Indeed Yates ultimately takes medical leave and quietly retires, thanks to the Brigadier's compassion, so his developement as a character is set up quite logically for his subsequent role in the drama at the meditation centre leading up to complete the 3rd Doctor's saga in Planet of the Spiders.

Now we all know the reputation of this story is tarnished by the lingering criticism of how the dinosaurs themselves are depicted. Actually I think the model pterodactyl works quite well when glimpsed briefly whereas other effects are admittedly badly compromised either by dodgy CSO and budgetary limitations or are simply just too unconvincing - especially in the case of the T-Rex. Such sequences could now be altered quite easily with cgi replacements so I really hope this does happen if and when the story ever gets a blu ray release (and the colour on the first episode needs remastering too). I'm convinced enhanced special effects can be very successful if they're done in a spirit that respects the original work - Star Trek the original series managed this very well indeed I think and those episodes with enhanced effects are regularly shown here on the Horror Channel. Indeed I'd very much like to see classics like Invasion of the Dinosaurs repeated on terrestrial tv - they could even use new effects as an excuse to show a "reimagined" version - although I suspect the BBC might worry with some justification they'd risk highlighting just how superior the classic series still looks when compared with their more recent efforts masquerading under the title of "Doctor Who" 

"Good grief!" Invasion of the Dinosaurs is still after all this time a really great story that would truly benefit from some well-deserved effect enhancements. Recommended.

[biroc]

‘The Three Doctors’ ep 4: I loved Omega when I first saw this as a lad, and I still do. Idea of just existing because you will it is great concept. Lol at the moment the mask slips up to reveal Thorne underneath haha. But after that point, it’s a weird episode, as if there’s not quite enough o a story here to fill a full four parts. Might even have been better as a 90-minute special (a la ‘The Five Doctors’ 10 years down the line). ‘Wonderful chap, both of him’…nice and re0used of course to great effect later. Decent enough celebratory story and the acting is generally top notch. 4/5

[Deleted]

Tried watching the first part of Trial earlier. It all goes downhill after the impressive model scene. The direction is completely flat (which is surprising because the same guy went on to direct the excellent Curse of Fenric) and there's this really depressing cloud hanging over it. It feels like a show in trouble and that the people on and off the cameras are completely lost and out of ideas. The story is as tedious and generic as it could possibly be and the trial scenes lack any kind of suspense or tension. The switch to all videotape is a plus, but even then it isn't as visually impressive as some of the stories in Season 24. Attack and Remembrance is how you open a season. Fans waited 18 months to see the series return and THIS is what they got? This entire season betrays the Sixth Doctor. The intriguing dynamic between Peri and the Doctor is completely gone. Now they're best pals as Colin Baker has toned things down considerably. I wish we would have got The Nightmare Fair instead of this crap.

[biroc]

‘Carnival of Monsters’ ep 1: Possibly the first Target novelisation I read in a primary school library. And loved it. Probably watched it for the first time as part of the ‘Five Faces of Dr Who’ thing. Atmospheric stuff in the ship hold and the contrasts between the planet stuff and the ship works great here. Music’s good too in the ship scenes – must have been awkward to film in that space. Nice joke about the Doc being a poor traveller. Wisher is excellent here (not unusual of course) and Dwyer and Hall are a great double act. Often find the loop-as-filler stuff a bore in Who, but here it’s directly tied to the story and has a bit of variety at least. Classic cliff-hanger. 4.5/5

[biroc]

‘Carnival of Monsters’ ep 2: Love Pertwee’s admiration of the inside of the pulse mechanism circuitry…The normally boring corridor running are made much more interesting here with a fabulous set and the eyes looking in at the circuitry stuff is well done. Nice fudge on the effect of the Tardis getting larger, pretty convincing. The Drashig reveal has been lauded enough, good cliff-hanger though. 4/5 (not bad for a corridor/chase based episode really!)

[biroc]

‘Carnival of Monsters’ ep 3: Good sense of peril and nice moment of ‘Eureka’ when the Doctor realises where they are. So if the Drashigs are omnivorous why are they not eating the machine from the inside out? I guess they prefer meat lol. Kalik and his pals are at turns interestingly subtle and irritating as f*ck. Weird episode, reels from dull Inter Minor politics to dynamite damage and Drashig mayhem and some Doctor derring-do. Good cliff-hanger again, even the effects just about stand up. 3.5/5

[biroc]

‘Carnival of Monsters ep 4: Pertwee’s command of the situation is superb and not over-done (which it easily could have been). The ‘omega’ circuit eh? Looked like Pertwee forgot his lines and ad libbed that lol. Lol’ed at the ‘good, that must be the live terminal’ moment. Vorg generally v good in this, and a dab hand with the ‘eradicator’ . Nice final shot too…decent ending, not jaw-dropping, 4/5

[biroc]

‘Frontier in Space’ ep 1: Opens with good production values, and nice having Jo set up the ‘deception’ stuff. It’s a good opening, strong female lead as human president…the frontier stuff seems a bit of a copy from Star Trek patter, but I can live with that. Ogron boarding scene is very effective. Good opener, not stunning, 3/5

[biroc]

‘Frontier in Space’ ep 2: Another of those long Pertwee recaps. Back to the hold for the Doc and Jo, becoming a recurrent motif here. Nice to have the outside location shots, haven’t had that for a while. Weird quasi-swashbuckling episode for the most part and not a terrible cliff-hanger, but it’s not really floating my boat I have to say. 2/5

[biroc]

‘Frontier in Space’ ep 3: Ah, the mind probe. It’s perked up a bit now Delgado’s appeared, and the moon prisoner acting is fairly decent with the nice subterfuge of the Professor planning an escape etc. This is a proper 70s Who cliff-hanger though with the rising indicator of depressurisation etc…raises it all a bit, still not top Who, 3.5/5

[biroc]

‘Frontier in Space’ ep 4: Funny moment when one of the Master’s charges on the Doctor is stealing a spaceship. The Doc and Jo in a cell again, lol, though nice that he talks about borrowing rather than stealing the Tardis and the story about 2nd Doctor. Scenes outside the spaceship work well, and nicely produced, same with the choreographed fight scene with Pertwee and Delgado. That’s about it for the episode though, everything just seems ‘stretched’ – probably could easily have been a 4-part story I reckon. 2.5/5