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Post by Bernard Marx on Apr 22, 2022 11:30:13 GMT
Curious to ask: Which Davison stories would you classify as his best ones? Kinda, Snakedance, Enlightenment, Planet of Fire, the Caves of Androzani Not a bad list. The only one of those I'm less keen on is Planet of Fire, but I'd place Kinda, Enlightenment and Caves in my top 5 (with Caves topping the list). It's a decent era in its own right, but it's easily the era from the Classic Series I revisit the least. |
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Post by rushy on Apr 22, 2022 11:36:03 GMT
Davison quite accurately once said that he didn't really nail the Fifth Doctor until towards the end. He starts out quite interesting when Bidmead writes him, but nobody else really picked up on that and so for a lot of his tenure, he is just "nice guy Doctor".
Around The Five Doctors is when he really starts to develop that identity of "the Doctor who's really tired of this shit", which is when his era becomes a lot more lively.
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Post by Bernard Marx on Apr 22, 2022 11:57:03 GMT
Davison quite accurately once said that he didn't really nail the Fifth Doctor until towards the end. He starts out quite interesting when Bidmead writes him, but nobody else really picked up on that and so for a lot of his tenure, he is just "nice guy Doctor". Around The Five Doctors is when he really starts to develop that identity of "the Doctor who's really tired of this shit", which is when his era becomes a lot more lively. I definitely agree with you on that. However, there is another way of interpreting how this identity is formed. The Fifth Doctor adores life during his early stories, with his "absolutely splendid" remark at the end of Castrovalva establishing this quite clearly. Yet the "nice guy" persona the Davison Doctor exhibits is actually shattered as early as Earthshock, whereby a companion dies upon his watch. What's noteworthy about season 20, despite the stories varying in quality, is that almost every story revolves around the question of death and mortality. Whether it be through Omega in Arc of Infinity, Mawdryn's attempt to prolong his life, the Eternals' blasé and detached position on immortality, or Borusa's hubris in his pursuit for immortality, there's a constant emphasis on life's impermanence which haunts Davison's Doctor throughout the season. There's an argument to be made that it contributes to the subsequent jaded and tired persona you mention, with each story of season 21 seeing the previous season's pondering on death externalised in brutal ways. Most of the stories feature enormous death counts, bringing Davison's placidity into focus and encouraging him to shake it off (akin to Joseph Campbell's "The Hero of a Thousand Faces" where the hero is tasked with shedding his skin), culminating in Caves of Androzani. A story populated solely by malcontents, nihilists and Machiavellians, serving as a microcosm for the Doctor's realisation that being "nice" won't suffice in a universe like this. This could also explain the Sixth Doctor's more active (and initially aggressive) persona, having taken this lesson on board and having therefore stripped away said placidity. Although the era's early stages might not have been as clued in at the time as to Davison's true persona, the actual arc in question is an interesting one. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 22, 2022 12:51:19 GMT
Davison is inconsistent from start to finish from reading and memory.
Colin is a literally 50/50, his first season, bare one story, is very good. Yet then it nose dived into the worse season of the shows history.
McCoy has a rough start yet inspite of that the first season is very solid for what it is. The next two season have one less then good story in the lot.
So McCoy it is for me.
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Post by burrunjor on Apr 22, 2022 17:46:34 GMT
Davison has slipped down my list slightly mainly because of my recent revived interest in the Troughton era. I forgot how good some of Troughton's stuff was. I do think Davison had a more inconsistent run than some of the others, but there's some good stuff in every season with Kinda, Earthshock, Enlightenment, Resurrection and Caves being the pick of the bunch. Not bad choices really. I recently watched a bunch of Sixth Doctor stories the other day and I was disappointed by most of them. Even Attack of the Cybermen did very little for me on rewatch. It baffles me how people rate it higher than Earthshock. The only ones I'm really fond of are Mark of the Rani, which is a beautifully directed period piece with one of my favourite Doctor Who villans, and The Two Doctors. Varos is OK but the direction is lacking. Some of Trial isn't that bad but it's still the worst season of classic who. What do you think of Revelation? I like Attack, but I definitely wouldn't rate it higher than Earthshock, which has a much better story overall, is a lot bolder, and is superbly made. Attack in comparison does feel a little bit more amateurish. That said however I do think Attack makes use of the Cybermen a bit better than Earthshock does as it focuses on the fact that they convert you and the horror of that more than Earthshock. |
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Post by rushy on Apr 23, 2022 7:33:41 GMT
Davison has slipped down my list slightly mainly because of my recent revived interest in the Troughton era. I forgot how good some of Troughton's stuff was. I'm always a bit uncertain on Troughton. He himself is sheer perfection of course, and a lot of his era feels more cinematic than most Doctor Who, but I can't get over the feeling that many of his stories are directed towards a very young audience as opposed to a family audience. Not to mention the repetition of the Base Under Siege format. Yes, they're great stories, but it does get a bit tiresome having yet another adventure with the crazed commander and attacking monsters. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 23, 2022 12:19:08 GMT
Davison has slipped down my list slightly mainly because of my recent revived interest in the Troughton era. I forgot how good some of Troughton's stuff was. I do think Davison had a more inconsistent run than some of the others, but there's some good stuff in every season with Kinda, Earthshock, Enlightenment, Resurrection and Caves being the pick of the bunch. Not bad choices really. I recently watched a bunch of Sixth Doctor stories the other day and I was disappointed by most of them. Even Attack of the Cybermen did very little for me on rewatch. It baffles me how people rate it higher than Earthshock. The only ones I'm really fond of are Mark of the Rani, which is a beautifully directed period piece with one of my favourite Doctor Who villans, and The Two Doctors. Varos is OK but the direction is lacking. Some of Trial isn't that bad but it's still the worst season of classic who. What do you think of Revelation? I like Attack, but I definitely wouldn't rate it higher than Earthshock, which has a much better story overall, is a lot bolder, and is superbly made. Attack in comparison does feel a little bit more amateurish. That said however I do think Attack makes use of the Cybermen a bit better than Earthshock does as it focuses on the fact that they convert you and the horror of that more than Earthshock. I find Revelation to be the weakest 80s Dalek story. It pails in comparison to Remembrance (most stories do, to be fair) and as far as Saward scripts go it isn't one of his better ones. I much prefer Earthshock and Resurrection. I also feel that Revelation has a weak plot resolution too. It's still better than Genesis, though. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2022 5:22:17 GMT
McCoy for sure love me some paradise towers a certain ex friend hated that story the one who shall not be named beginning with letter S
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