Hell Bent...

Saturday 5 December

It is definitely one of those days.

 Last night the husband took delivery of a Fourth Doctor coat, which he thinks is fine to wear in public.

I disagree, but I have to keep on his good side as I need his help with removing a massive  old sofa from my Mum's house.

***

Later: the sofa won't go out in one piece.  It looks as if it is possible to take it apart, but the screws are a different kind, and Mum's screwdrivers won't work.  I take a photo of one and call round to my local hardware shop. (The one whose staff were bemused by my request for TARDIS screws.) Fortunately, this time they understood what I was looking for and sold me a gadget.  Armed with this, I am able to remove about half the screws holding the three parts of the sofa together, but the rest won't budge.  The end section is only held in place by one screw, so we try brute force to pull it apart, but with only partial success.  -

Eventually, I go home, fetch a hacksaw, and manage to get the thing into manageable chunks for disposal. (Some use of a hammer and jumping up and down on the bits was involved, but we did it).

All I have to do now is arrange for someone to remove the carcass, shortlist candidates for a management job (no time to do this while in the office), watch our village Christmas lights switch-on and cook dinner.

Only then will I be ready for Hell Bent.  I'm a bit worried about it, to be honest.  I can't think of a story set on Gallifrey that I have actually liked, much.

The end is approaching...

Saturday 28 November 2015

Only two more episodes, Heaven Sent and Hell Bent, left to go this season, and we are actually at home for both of them. [Unlike the Christmas Special - anyone know if and when Doctor Who is broadcast in Beijing?]

From what I have gleaned about tonight's episode, it is going to be an odd one.  The Matrix scenes from The Deadly Assassin spring to mind, but I don't suppose it is really going to be anything like that at all.  Only a couple more hours to wait and all will be revealed...

Later...

I'll need to watch that again to make sense of it, but it looks like I was closer than I thought with The Deadly Assassin. In the meantime, and more importantly, since when are companions, even deceased ones, allowed to tell the Doctor to get off his arse?'

Quoth the Raven...

22 November 2015

"Nevermore!"

Anyone vaguely familiar with Poe's poem The Raven (1845) might have guessed that this would be Clara's final episode, though knowing how Doctor Who works, it remains to be seen whether this is the last we see of Jenna Coleman. I suspect not - isn't Clara still splintered in the Doctor's timeline, 'saving the Doctor?'

I found this episode far more watchable than Sleep No More. I suspect though that over time and repeated watching the latter episode may become regarded as a classic, whereas Face the Raven may not have longevity.

I liked the fact that this was a smaller, ostensibly low stakes episode, where the threat at least appears to be only to a single person, rather than the whole fabric of space and time. Though the true explanation of what is going on will only be revealed in the season finale.

I'm not sure I understood how the shade/raven thing worked, and how and why Ashildr acquired control of it. Or why the 'refugees' needed to disguise themselves as human in a street that was hidden anyway (other than costume budget reasons).

No doubt all will be revealed (probably in about two years' time).

Doctor Who Festival 3

After lunch, we were back in the main theatre for the Writers’ Panel with Steven Moffat, Toby Whithouse and Jamie Mathieson, introduced by Matthew Sweet.  Someone beat me to it and asked about the sonic screwdriver. Steven Moffat replied that it would definitely be coming back at some point. (Though Moffat, like the Doctor, often lies, I think this is a pretty safe bet. The question is how soon.)

The shades were specifically for the Magician’s Apprentice, where the Doctor needed to have a device in Davros’ sick room, which couldn’t be the screwdriver, because Davros would recognise it. He kept them for a while to annoy Clara. Apparently.

A writing tip from Jamie Mathieson is to just keep writing things down.  Eight out of nine times it will be rubbish, but the ninth time makes up for it.  (Readers of this blog may feel that he has underestimated the amount of rubbish that can be generated.)  As with the 50^th , there was a signer on stage, though fortunately no one had cause to mention Nicola Bryant’s cleavage this time.

A deaf member of the audience made a point of thanking Toby Whithouse for including a deaf character in Under the Lake/Before the Flood.  I think the great thing about this was that it wasn't just tokenism - the scene where Cass was being followed up the corridor by a ghost dragging an axe was the creepiest part of an otherwise creepy story.

The final panel was the highlight of the event: Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman, Michelle Gomez in a brilliant Doctor Who Fair Isle sweater, Ingrid Oliver and Steven Moffat (presumably to keep an eye on them), introduced by Toby Hadoke.  

Peter Capaldi was asked about the question mark underpants (as I believe he had been asked at previous sessions). He claimed that the costume department provided question mark boxer shorts for him that day, but wouldn’t say whether he wore them.  I didn’t believe a word of it.  Michelle Gomez was just as mad in real life as the roles she plays in Green Wing and Doctor Who.

Some of the questioners from the audience took the opportunity to deliver a speech rather than ask a question. I have noticed this 'ego trip' type of question at academic conferences as well.  I find it annoying.

At the end, Peter Capaldi presented Jenna with a huge bouquet.

 

Doctor Who Festival 2

After the Millennium FX talk we had three hours or so free for visiting the main exhibition area (we hadn't booked for any of the photo sessions).

I for once succumbed to the merchandising, buying a Pandorica scarf for £27. The day before I had been tempted by an Escher Metamorphosis scarf at the Dulwich Picture Gallery, but thought £75 was a bit steep, so I was an easy target.  I also bought a Dalek soft toy for my German colleague.  Yes, I did use the words 'Dalek soft toy'.  (The Dalek is now keeping up the grand tradition of adorning an office in a major university).  My husband dithered about buying a burgundy 4th Doctor scarf and eventually succumbed - with unfortunate consequences.

We caught the end of an ‘Act Like a Monster’ talk with Nick Briggs and Barnaby Edwards and later watched a ‘Director’s Class’ with Douglas Mackinnon, who took some volunteers through the Rupert Pink’s bedroom scene from Listen.  They did pretty well, considering the script had been thrust into their hands just a moment or two before, but having seen that, I appreciate the talent of the professionals all the more.

The prop and costume exhibition was all from the latest series.  It's difficult to get excited about Clara's costumes, which are just normal clothes. Missy, Osgood and Lady Me/Ashildr's costumes were much more interesting.  I probably wouldn't have recognised Leandro's costume without a label, as he really didn't make that much of an impression.  The exhibition also included a Zygon pod and the confession dial. I'm sure we haven't seen the last of that...

Zygon pod

Missy's new costume

Lady Me's costume

Osgood's costume

Props

There's a hole in my Who scarf....

Saturday 21 November 2015 (Almost Doctor Who's 52nd birthday)

It's been a busy week and I haven't had time to write up the rest of the festival and upload my photos.

In the meantime, my husband decided to wear his brand new burgundy 4th Doctor scarf (bought at the festival last week) to work.  Silly idea, really, but as I was wearing my 'Pandorica Opens' scarf to work, I couldn't really comment.

All was fine, until on the way home, I noticed a rip or tear in the end. Disaster!  It looked as if the label had caught on something and been ripped off, though my other half wasn't aware of it happening.

The upshot is that I now have to find a way of mending it.  Being a busy, professional person, I haven't had much time for craft lately, and I couldn't find my knitting bag (where I hoped to find some suitably-matching yarn) anywhere.  As a last resort, I tried the spare room wardrobe, but all I could find was a deflated Dalek and a Womble costume (only in my house...) 

Instead, I am going to cannibalise one of the tassels from the fringe to get some matching yarn and reconstruct the tassel afterwards.  I hope it works.

The day after the scarf incident, my husband wore his (also new) Fifth Doctor cricket sweater to work. Meanwhile, no one has noticed that my artistic 'Van Gogh' scarf is not quite as it seems....

Update: My cunning plan has worked! The scarf is restored to its former glory (well, almost).



Doctor Who Festival: Session 1 - Monsters

Sunday 15 November 2015

I'm back from the Doctor Who Festival, which was extremely well-run and enjoyable.  This is the third of the official BBC events I have been to since the series returned (the others being the convention at the Millennium Centre in Cardiff and the Fiftieth Anniversary Convention) and they definitely have a format that works. 

I am somewhat disappointed that I was a Cyberman rather than a Dalek, but you can't have everything.  We got through registration and into the main theatre remarkably quickly.  Our first theatre session was the Millennium FX show with special guest Mark Gatiss.  I'm not sure really why he was included in a show about prosthetic monsters (OK he has played one, in Professor Lazarus, and written for several more, including last night's Sandmen), but it still seemed a bit odd. 

During this talk, a couple of the designers were given the task of coming up with a visual concept for a new monster. The idea, borrowed from a taxi driver, was an alien race who work on a very different timescale, and who are slowly cooking the earth, which we experience as global warming.  At the end we were asked to call out names.  I suggested 'Fryons', but it wasn't picked up by the roving mike.

There was a discussion of the creation of the costume for the Mire, which was modelled on stage. I think this costume looks great.  Although it appears to be corroded metal, it is actually made of foam.

A young member of the audience had the opportunity to go on stage and try out a monster mask.  The little boy who was chosen had been on stage at a previous event and seemed a bit blasé about it. There was no shortage of hands going up so it's a pity the opportunity didn't go to someone who hadn't had a chance before, but the team had no way of knowing.  He didn't want to wear the mask of The Foretold, so he tried an Ice Warrior instead, even though I'm not sure he remembered who they were. Rather him than me, anyway.  I tried on a Cyberman mask many years ago.  It was not pleasant in there.

My favourite part of the session was seeing Mark interact with Mr Sweet, the prehistoric leech which sat on Diana Rigg's shoulder in The Crimson Horror.

Mark and one of Millennium FX's creations. Isn't he Sweet?

To be continued....

Sleep No More

14 November - Later

Everything has gone to plan. We saw the M C Escher exhibition, including both the work called 'Castrovalva' and the works that inspired the episode, and made it to the Excel in time for a nice Italian meal before Doctor Who.

It all went a bit downhill after that, sadly. I couldn't make much sense of the episode, particularly with the 'found footage' format, and I found myself dropping off. Normally I would watch an episode at least twice,  but this time I'm not sure I even want to.

I've Redecorated! (No I don't like it either)

14 November 2015

Another issue of the excellent Doctor Who Magazine came out this week.  At my age I really shouldn't be reading it, but it's so much more interesting and with more to read than women's magazines.  I mean, who really cares about this season's new shade of lipstick (unless, of course you are River Song, and the lipstick in question is psychotropic).  

Anyway, the reason I mentioned it was that Jacqueline Rayner had the same problem I did with the repair chip in The Girl Who Died. I think it is a weakness of making programmes that can bear repeated watching that crucial points can be missed first time round so you actually need to watch more than once in order to understand what is going on.

In a packed schedule today, I have to:

a) take my elderly mother shopping; and
b) resolve whatever domestic crisis she has for me this week (they vary from 'I can't work the CD player' to 'the roof has blown off the conservatory');
c) pick up husband and travel in to London and out again to Dulwich in order to see the Escher exhibition (Castrovalva, anyone?)
d) travel back in to London and to Excel Centre to check in to hotel and have dinner before Doctor Who is on.

Yes, tomorrow we are going to the Doctor Who  Festival. I'm not sure how a festival differs from a convention, but I suppose it sounds more suitable for respectable middle-aged ladies.  [I'll be the one in the pink 'Hello Sweetie' T Shirt].

My German colleague has asked me to tell Steven Moffat that the sonic shades are 'an abomination'.  I'll let you know how I get on.

Remembrance Sunday

8 November 2015

It's Remembrance Sunday and I had an irresistible urge to re-watch The Family of Blood whilst doing the ironing.  It still holds up well, apart from the Doctor's punishment for the family, which I still think is unnecessary.  The final scenes always bring a tear to my eye.

Truth or Consequences

7 November 2015

The Zygon Inversion

Well, in the words of the great game show host Bruce Forsyth, that was 'so much better than last week.' 

Game shows were something of a theme for tonight's episode. I should have realised that the repeated references to 'truth or consequences' last week were more significant than a simple reference to the town that renamed itself after a game show.

After last week's sub X-Files dashing about the planet, this week we were back in more familiar territory, even down to the police officers who were not quite what they seemed.

As the episode drew to a conclusion the real meaning of 'truth or consequences' became clear, referring back to the circumstances under which the original peace treaty was negotiated in The Day of the Doctor.  It all made sense, and gave Peter Capaldi the opportunity both to do a wicked Hughie Green impersonation and prove his worth as the Doctor with a truly impassioned speech.

So what if the final twist could be seen a mile off. It was a most enjoyable episode. (And I mean that most sincerely, folks!)

Zygon Times

Sunday 1 November 2015

My German colleague (notable as the only German I have ever met who watches Doctor Who) has raised a question about The Woman Who Lived? Why didn't she use the repair chip to save one of her children?  Were none of them 'good enough'?

Oh well, moving on to this week's episode, The Zygon Invasion.  I like Zygons.  Their debut story, Terror of the Zygons is one of my favourites.  But I found The Zygon Invasion a bit tedious to be honest. 

In 2005, when we were all just so surprised and happy to have Doctor Who back on our screens, there was a two-part story Aliens of London/World War Three in which aliens disguised as politicians took over 10 Downing Street, and attempted to start a war, claiming that there were aliens with 'massive weapons of destruction' that could be deployed within 45 seconds. I was so amazed at the sheer cheek of this topical reference in the run up to a general election that I almost fell off the sofa.

Ten years later, and the (real) world is not a safer place.  The Zygon Invasion starts by reminding us of the small piece of unfinished business from  Day of the Doctor.  You know, the peace treaty between humans and Zygons that was to be negotiated with neither party knowing which side they were on. What with saving Gallifrey, and the Great Curator and everything, no one bothered to ask how it turned out.  Cue another flashback to the Tenth Doctor (and the Eleventh and the other one). Sadly, it all went downhill after that.

It turns out that the Zygons have been living among us, but now a faction among the young are being radicalised.  They are taking hostages, making videos and killing people. One of their bases is in a country ending in -stan.  It doesn't take a degree in Media Studies or Politics to see where this is going.

So we have heavy-handed political satire, locations that range from the amusingly-named Truth or Consequences in New Mexico to somewhere in (presumably) Central Asia, via a London estate; a regular who has been replaced by a Zygon, UNIT (run entirely by women now, it seems) and it somehow fails to gel.  It felt more like an episode of Torchwood  or The X-Files to me.

At least Osgood is back (for now). And it's always nice to see David Tennant.

Update: My aforementioned German colleague wants to know why the Doctor needed a Presidential Plane to get to the Zygon-istan.  He has a point.  I'm not sure where exactly this Zygon village is supposed to be, but it must be at least 6 hours flying time. Husband's response (as per Girl in the Fireplace) 'they can't use the TARDIS, they are part of events now.' 

The Woman Who Lived

Sunday 25 October 2015

It's the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt, I've had an extra hour's sleep and a very nice lunch.

So, having had time to reflect,  what did I think of The Woman Who Lived? I liked it. It felt like a traditional Doctor Who story - there was something comfortably familiar about it that I couldn't quite put my finger on at the time.  I don't think that it was entirely that it reminded me of the 1980s Dick Turpin TV series starring Richard O'Sullivan.

There was also a moving reflection on what it would mean to be 'functionally immortal' - writing everything down in order to remember, and cutting out pages to forget the pain of loss (except for children  - those pages must be kept as a reminder against having more and repeating the tragedy.)

Once again, the alien threat was not central to the story (but this week's alien was frankly not worth more screen time). 

I liked the comedy highwayman - rather in the tradition of Glitz.  I  wouldn't mind seeing him again, but I'm not sure he has enough substance to be a regular character.  Talking of regular characters it was nice to hear a reference to Captain Jack. 

And the Doctor even remembers the Terreleptils, even if his recollection of the cause of the Great Fire of London is perhaps not entirely accurate...

An archetypal 'Who' day...

Saturday 24 October

It's wet and miserable outside and the nights are drawing in. This is just the sort of day on which to draw the curtains and snuggle up on the sofa (or behind it, according to preference) and watch Doctor Who.  It never really felt quite right in the Russell T Davies era watching it in broad daylight in the spring and summer.

We are actually at home this evening so will be able to enjoy the full experience of The Woman Who Lived.  In the meantime, I have re-watched The Girl Who Died, and still think the aliens were rather wasted.  But I do like the tune.

And talking of tunes, could we have the rock version of the theme tune back permanently, please?

To be continued...

The Girl Who Died

17 October 2015

Oops, we are away again. So watching The Girl Who Died from Travelodge somewhere in Cumbria. [Is it just us, or is everyone else unable to walk down hotel corridors without saying either 'All these corridors look the same to me' or 'Praise Him?']

This was another of those annoying stories where the aliens (great design, by the way) seem to be rather a minor side-show compared with the Doctor's angst.  I need to see it again before passing judgement, but so far:

Good things about the episode:

• David Tennant!
• Donna!
• Goodbye to the sonic shades

Bad things about this episode

• Vikings with horned helmets (No.)
• That bit of alien repair technology
• Surely there has to be a simpler way of getting adrenaline and testosterone?

Before the Flood

10 October 2015

We were actually at home to watch Before the Flood -  a very timey-wimey episode, where the Doctor goes back in time to try to prevent the events of last week's episode from happening.  Sometimes the Doctor can change history, sometimes he can't. (See Father's Day, The Waters of Mars, Fires of Pompeii, The Wedding of River Song etc.) This time the TARDIS did her best to stop him.

Fortunately the Doctor came up with a way of faking it, through a very Blink-like paradox.

Good things about this episode were:

• The sheer creepiness (the bit where Cass is being stalked by the ghost would definitely have given my 10 year old self nightmares - no wonder it is on at such a late time).
• O'Donnell's 'bigger on the inside' excitement
• The Doctor playing Beethoven's Fifth on an electric guitar and segueing into a rock version of the theme tune. (Can we keep that for a while, please?)

Less good things were:

• The Fisher King, who was essentially a (big) man in a rubber suit. 
• The co-ordinates, which are still rubbish.

On the whole, though, a pretty good effort.

Under the Lake

10 October 2015

Last Saturday night we watched an epic battle, and a Welshman hitting an Englishman with a leek.  No, we weren't watching Doctor Who, and weren't at the rugby either.  The thing about being a middle-aged fan, is that you find yourself going to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre to watch Henry V.  (I blame David Tennant for the fact that I am now going to Stratford 3 or 4 times a year).

Anyway, to cut a long story short, we didn't get to see Under the Lake until Sunday.  A classic  base under siege story, but was it more Waters of Mars or Warriors of the Deep?

It was definitely more the former, with something nasty affecting the crew and turning them into monsters (or 'ghosts') and a remotely-controlled device used to fetch an otherwise inaccessible object, operated by waving the arms around. The final scenes where the Doctor and Clara are separated by the flooded corridor was reminiscent of 42. I also felt that there was something of The Curse of Fenric about it, with an artefact (in this case the alien ship) controlling people so that they carry out the alien's plan.

However, that brings me to a problem. I'm not sure that the plan really comes together. I mean, how much use would those 'co-ordinates' be for a rescue mission from another planet? It's not even as if there is only one drowned town or village with an underwater church on the planet.

But no doubt all will become clear this evening. We are actually at home to watch it live.

And am I the only one who really wants to see the clockwork squirrel?

The Witch's Familar [spoilers]

Sunday 27 September 2015

This week we were at home for the full Doctor Who watching experience.  Having watched it, we weren't sure what to make of it, so watched it again.

I'm still not sure what to make of it.  There were some good bits:

• Missy's pointy stick
• The Doctor's entrance, with cup of tea
• Clara reprising (sort of) her Oswin role from Asylum of the Daleks
• Missy channelling Michael Caine at the end of the Italian Job - I think she even sounded a bit cockney.

But I found the Doctor and Davros scenes dragged on a bit, and I'm not convinced that if the Daleks had rebuilt Skaro since the Time War they would have had time for their sewers to get in quite such a mess...

But the biggest no-no was the sunglasses.  The campaign to bring back the screwdriver starts here.

And so it begins...The Magician's Apprentice

Saturday 26 September

Fortunately the TV in our B&B worked last Saturday, so we were able to see the The Magician's Apprentice in all its glory.  And the wifi also worked, so we were able to watch it again on iPlayer immediately afterwards.  None of which stopped us from watching it again on iPlayer on our TV when we got home on Monday.

My colleague who likes Doctor Who and always discusses developments with me, mentioned on Tuesday that he supposed I hadn't seen it yet, having been away.  When I explained that I had in fact seen it 3 times already, he looked at me a bit oddly and started to back out of the office.

Anyway, cut to the chase. It's back, big surprise (never mind).  And with an epic that references a story from 40 years ago. Hopefully, this approach will work better than it did for Attack of the Cybermen.

As it's only the first half of a two-parter, I can't pass judgement yet, but things I like so far:

• Colony Sarff - a nest of snakes in a dress. What's not to like? "We are Colony Sarff.  We bring...harm."
• The Doctor's anachronistic entrance
• Missy.  I'm still having trouble reconciling this as the same character as that played by Roger Delgado, but Michelle Gomez's 'Scary Poppins' portrayal is brilliant.

Things I'm not so sure about:

• Hand mines.  Interesting idea, but how do they work? What is the eye for, if they are buried in the ground?  I can't help feeling that this is just a pun on 'landmines' that seemed funny on paper.
• UNIT getting the PM to call Clara at work.  Really?
• Invisible planets.

Only a couple more hours to find out how it ends.

It's coming back

18 September 2015

Well, the Doctor is about to return...and am I ready? No. We picked this weekend for a short break.

This is not the first time this has happened. We managed to be at a country house hotel near Rye in April 2005 when the series returned after its enforced sabbatical. If there hadn't been a functioning a TV in the room, I would have been in dead trouble.

The following year, disaster struck when we found that our holiday in Sorrento meant that we would miss Army of Ghosts and Doomsday. When we got home, catching up on Doctor Who was the first priority after slinging our dirty washing in the machine.

But aside from that, and the time we were in Ashgabat when the 2012 Christmas Special was on, we usually manage to be somewhere with a TV where we can see the Doctor. We watched the God Complex in a soulless hotel in Coventry, which was quite scary.

So tomorrow we will be sitting down in our B&B in Douglas to find out what exactly Missy is up to.

Programmes are HOW much?

Saturday 23 May 2015
 


The Audience take their seats

To Wembley Arena for the first  show of the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular UK Tour. Of course, when my husband booked the tickets, we had no idea that our local football team would be in the League Two playoff final the same afternoon. This made for an interesting journey in a train full of Wanderers fans in blue.  On arrival at Wembley, we went in search of a cup of tea, and soon cane across someone wearing a fez - we had found 'our people' at last.
 
Once we arrived at the Arena, we  located our seats, and then husband went off in search of a programme - a large, glossy 32-page brochure, but hardly worth the £15 he told me he was charged for it. 
 
At the appointed hour, we heard the metallic tones of Nick 'Voice of the Daleks' Briggs ordering us to turn of mobile communications devices and not to use flash. "Get lost Nick, you bald git', I muttered under my breath  [I can't help it - Pavlovian response from 22 years ago] and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, aka 'the Doctor Who House Band' were off, with A Good Man?
 

The show was introduced by Peter Davison, who made a number of jokes about the unexploded World War II bomb which had been found the day before, leading to the evacuation of the building, and wreaking havoc with the set up. He also joked about Colin Baker being on stand-by to take over from him in the event of an emergency, and the Doctors being 'like a family - some more so than others.'
 
With ten years of Murray Gold's music to choose from, the programme naturally had to be selective, and the emphasis was on more recent music, predominantly from the Twelfth Doctor's first season (series 8). However, there were also some favourites from previous series, including Song of Freedom and the themes from the first four companions of the new era: Rose, Martha, Donna and Amy. And then the Daleks took over, forcing conductor Ben Foster to play their quasi-Wagnerian operatic chorus. The first half of the show concluded with the music from the 2014 Christmas Special.
 

After the interval, Cybermen roamed the stalls for All the Strange, Strange Creatures. I was slightly disappointed that there weren't more monsters in the auditorium, as there had been at the Prom - though there were some Ood, the Teller and The Foretold on the stage at various points. The second half continued the companions theme with The Impossible Girl and then 66 Seconds from Mummy on the Orient Express. These were followed by The Pandorica Suite, which was a nice chance to see some of Rory on the big screen,  and then Abigail's Song, sung by soloist Ellin Manahan Thomas before we got to the fiftieth anniversary This is Gallifrey, another favourite of mine.  Death in Heaven Suite brought us back up to date before the show rounded off with the best and most famous theme tune in the world.

All in all a very enjoyable afternoon.  But £15 for a programme?

 
 

The Horror, The Horror (Channel)!

It's amazing what you can find in the deeper reaches of Freeview.  I recently discovered the Horror Channel (Sky 319, Virgin 149, Freeview 70), which is showing a rather random selection of Doctor Who classic episodes.

Tonight it was The Seeds of Death. See their website for details of what's on when.

Crossing Over...

So this weekend I'm going to a convention.  Danny Hargreaves will be there, blowing things up.  Maybe I'll get to see Steven Moffat or Mark Gatiss...

Sadly, it's a Sherlock convention.  My other half, who got me into Doctor Who is also a Holmes fan.

I like late 19th and early 20th century crime fiction, but the works of Arthur Conan Doyle are not among my favourites.  Moffat and Gatiss' revamped version for the 21st century is very clever, and certainly watchable, but it's just a (good) TV programme. Maybe the problem is that Benedict Cumberbatch just isn't David Tennant...

Update

Just back from Sherlocked. In comparison with the Doctor Who 50th, which was the last convention I attended at ExCel, it was disappointing.  Not really surprising, when Doctor Who has 50 years of episodes, fiction and related stuff (albeit with a long gap in the middle), whereas Sherlock has only 9 ninety-minute episodes.  We had basic tickets, rather than one of the event 'packages' which meant that we were second-class citizens.  We didn't even get passes, just ink stamps on our hands. With this level of access we were entitled to admission to the main event space and could attend talks on the second stage (most of which seemed to be about cosplay, which doesn't interest me) and the special effects demonstration by Danny Hargreaves in the main stage.  We could also see a taxi and a bus (big deal!)  some room sets and a costume and prop display.  We were however able to buy tickets for another of the main stage talks, 'Ladies of Sherlock', which also gave us free entry to a session with Messrs Moffat and Gatiss.  Without that, it wouldn't really have been worth our while to attend the event.

Wedding outfits from John and Mary's wedding

The problem with the prop and costume displays is that most of the Sherlock  costumes are just fairly ordinary clothes. It's not quite the same as coming face to face with a Silurian or a Cyberman, or meeting K9.  I mean, taking a photo of a London bus is not actually that difficult, if you live or work in London.

I noticed quite a few TARDIS bags (and even dresses) among the attendees, and one of the merchandise stalls had Doctor Who action figures.  It would have been perverse to go to a Sherlock event and buy a 10th Doctor figure, though, wouldn't it?

The Ribos Operation

4 January 2015

One of my husband's birthday presents was a DVD boxset of The Key to Time.   I missed the first part of this season on first broadcast.  I'm not sure what was on ITV at the time, Buck Rogers maybe? but whatever it was, we preferred it in my house.  My Mum never really took to Tom Baker, as she didn't like his eyes.  (She didn't like Marty Feldman's eyes, either, which prevented me from ever being allowed to see Monty Python - the fact that he wasn't in it didn't matter).  I therefore came in part-way through The Stones of Blood, and have no memories of seeing  the first two stories on first broadcast. Until we eventually got hold of a VHS tape, my only knowledge of them was through my husband's Target novelisations.

Our VHS machine is no longer operational, so when we settled down last night to watch The Ribos Operation, I was in the situation of having seen it only once before, and that quite a long time ago. The first surprise on viewing was the discovery that it is actually pronounced 'REEbos' and not 'RIbos' as I had assumed all these years. The second surprise was just how annoying Romana (or 'Fred') was in her debut story. Though that is no excuse for dressing her up like a reject from Boney M. I kept expecting her to break into a chorus of 'Mary's Boy Child' any minute.

The story is entertaining in a very silly sort of way. The intergalactic con artist Garron, is rather similar to Glitz, who turned up in a couple of stories in the 1980s. He is attempting to sell the planet to the Graf Vynda-K, a rather unpleasant military type who is trying to win back his own planet, by conning him into believing that Ribos is a source of a valuable mineral. All this takes place surreptitiously, as the locals still believe that  the seasons are caused by warring gods and have no concept of interplanetary travel. The exception is Binro, who was ostracised as a heretic for his novel belief that the planet is a sphere that rotates around the sun, and that the lights in the sky are other worlds. It is a touching moment when Garron's accomplice Unstoffe tells Binro that he was right all along.

Ribos being such a primitive planet, when the local authorities need to search for criminals they employ a Seer to track them down. The Seer, whose predictions prove strikingly accurate, is a delightfully over the top role, though towards the end of the story she gives up on the blood-curdling shriek at the end of a prophecy.  Sadly, she, the Graf Vynda-K and his men and poor old Binro all end up being killed in the catacombs under the city. Garron and Unstoffe survive, but may be forced to go straight, as the mineral they were using as part of their con turns out to be a segment of the Key to Time and Garron is adroitly relieved of it by the Doctor's sleight of hand.

All in all a good opener to the season.