Revisiting the Classics

Sunday 23 October

My other half has celebrated earning a bonus at work by investing in a lot of DVDs of old Troughton stories.

As a result we have been enjoying The Invasion, The Moonbase and The Ice Warriors, all with animation filling in for missing episodes.

The last two are definitely of their time. Poor Polly spent most of The Moonbase making coffee.  Whilst I didn't like Clara that much, she wouldn't have stood for that - the Doctor had to fetch his own coffee!  The Ice Warriors was a  reminder that not so long ago we were more worried about a returning ice age than global warming.

Farewell Adric

Sunday 29 November 2014

Today's offering from UK Drama is Earthshock, which I believe may hold the record as the last Doctor Who story with a spoiler-free ending.  Well, apart possibly from the surprise appearance of Rose at the end of Partners in Crime.

At the time, I was quite upset about Adric's demise, as I had rather a soft spot for him.   

I can't remember having watched this since it was first broadcast, and it seems likely that I haven't, as we don't appear to have a copy.  (The husband has just been doing a stocktake of our VHS and DVD Doctor Who library, and can't find it - yes, we really know how to enjoy ourselves on a Sunday!)

Later:

Adric is having a massive teenage strop.  I don't remember that at all.  Though unlike most teenagers, he wants to go home, rather than go out.

I do remember the Cybermen from this episode, though.  I still think the design is a bit too elaborate, and the voices are rather too fruity and not metallic enough. Plus they say 'excellent' rather too much. Not at all scary.

Beryl Reid has to be the least believable space freighter captain ever.

Liar, Liar! Death in Heaven reappraised (spoilers)

Sunday 9 November

Now I have seen Death in Heaven a second time, and I'm slightly more positive about it.

There are some weak points. The Cyber-pollen made a bit more sense second time around, but I still don't understand how Missy's magic bracelet/vortex manipulator/teleport could bring the boy Danny killed in Afghanistan back to life in Clara's flat. 'Time Lord technology' really isn't a good enough explanation.

Whilst Danny and the Doctor have never really got on, I found the way Cyber-Danny seemed to equate the Doctor with the officer class he despised a bit forced. It seemed as though Steven Moffat was trying to shoehorn in a reference to the old 'lions led by donkeys' view of the First World War.

On first viewing, I didn't register the significance of lying. We all know that rule number one is 'the Doctor lies' and that Clara has been lying to Danny for much of this season, but this really came to a head in Death in Heaven.

Clara lies to the Cybermen.

Seb lies to the people uploaded to the Nethersphere.

Missy lies to everyone, but particularly to the Doctor.

In the end, the Doctor and Clara lie to each other.

I don't know quite why Santa Claus has turned up, but with all that lying going on, I doubt that it's to fill the Doctor's Christmas stocking.

Death in Heaven: Initial thoughts (spoilers)

So what did I do?  I turned off everything connected to the internet and sat down to enjoy Partners in Crime and Fires of Pompeii, of course, and to be honest, I enjoyed them both rather more than some of the more recent series.

When the husband finally reappeared, he announced that we would watch Death in Heaven  straight away. This may have affected my appreciation of it, as I was half asleep by then.  I'll need to watch again to confirm my impression of it.

First impressions though:

As with many season finales, there was too much going on. The action was rushed in places, whilst there were also pauses for emotional scenes that didn't always work, and the plot was somewhat hard to follow in places.

Positives:

• I like the Missy incarnation of the Master. She's totally bonkers, but also recognisably the same person as the John Simm version.

• Osgood was excellent, and her death was shocking, although it was clear that the writing was on the wall when the Doctor appeared to offer her a trip in the TARDIS. 

• The Cyber-Danny also worked well, and was a logical continuation from Doomsday where the converted Yvonne still performs her 'duty to Queen and Country.'

• The pre-credit wind-up with Clara pretending to be the Doctor (which carried over into the opening credits).  It was obviously done so that they could have a clip in the trailer of her saying that Clara Oswald never existed, so full marks for an excellent fan teaser.

Negatives:

•  Earth Force One and the Doctor-President. (I never cared much for the Valiant, either). The whole idea of a planet-wide response to anything is implausible, and UNIT really ought to know by now that the Doctor doesn't do positions of responsibility.

• I didn't really get the point of the cyber-pollen turning the dead into Cybermen.  The original point of Cybermen was that they had replaced parts of their bodies with cybernetics, so why would they need real skeletons, when they could easily use artificial ones? And why harvest human minds to populate the bodies, when they have to delete the emotions that make them human?

• The magic bracelet or whatever it was that allowed one person to 'cross back over' with a living body didn't make sense.  Yes, it worked as an emotional climax to the episode, but how was it possible, given that the bodies had been cyber-converted?

• The Cyber-Brig: I suppose it was a nice idea, but I find it somehow disrespectful.  And if any of UNIT had to survive, I would have preferred Osgood to the annoying Kate.

In retrospect, I suspect that the theme was designed to fit in with the broadcast on the weekend of Remembrance Day, but at the moment, I think Family of Blood addressed this far more effectively.

Merchandise, Merchandise

One of the advantages/perils of being known to be a Doctor Who fan, is that people give you merchandise as gifts.

In the dark days of the mid-nineties, my leaving present from a job included David Banks' Cybermen book and a poster of the Daleks crossing Westminster Bridge. The poster duly graced my office wall in my next two jobs.

Then there was the inflatable Dalek that a couple of History professors left outside my office.

But books and Daleks, whether in photo or blow-up formats are fine.  Jigsaws are another matter entirely.

Don't get me wrong, Vincent and the Doctor and The Pandorica Opens are great stories, but the person who thought that the Van Gogh picture of the exploding TARDIS would make an excellent jigsaw should have both his ears cut off.  

The colleague who gave me this abomination wanted photographic proof of the completed article, all 2,000 pieces of it.  All the pieces were either dark blue, or multi-coloured swirls that could have gone anywhere. The only place to do it was my dining table, so I had an added incentive to complete it, or never have Sunday lunch again.

It took six weeks....

May 2006: the Doctor impinges on my working life

3 May 2006

Am moving to new office at the entrance to our building.  Head of Department is concerned that I may get constant interruptions.  I suggest putting sign saying “Hazard: Radioactivity” on the door.  He counters by suggesting sign saying “Beware of the Doctor Who fan”.

Wonder whether mentioning Doctor Who under other interests in my profile in professional journal (‘Who does [redacted for professional reasons] think she is?”) was a good career move.

6 May 2006

Did I say I was overcome last week?  That was nothing to this week.  Steven Moffat strikes again.  Who else could have the Doctor jumping on horseback through a mirror to save the woman he loves?  And he even stole RTD’s ending from Casanova (well, almost).  My only quibble would be that the final shot which shows the name of the spaceship and the explanation of it all is easily missed by a casual viewer.  I had to explain it to our Academic Registrar afterwards.

8 May 2006

An inflatable Dalek, labelled ‘Departmental Administrators, for the use of’ arrived mysteriously outside the Head of Department’s office whilst we were having our weekly management meeting. He attended the remainder of the meeting as an observer.

 13 May 2006

And so from the sublime to the ridiculous. After the wonderful bittersweet ending of last week’s episode, we have some appalling ham acting from Roger Lloyd Pack. I love the idea of the zeppelins though – I wonder if RTD is a fan of Jasper Fforde? And full marks for playing The Lion Sleeps Tonight.

Am getting some interesting reactions to Derek the Dalek. My German colleagues have no idea what a Dalek is as they don’t have televisions.  The American ones are bemused, and the English ones amused. The Head of Department keeps patting him on the dome. (Don’t try this at home with a real Dalek).

Derek the Dalek

 

20 May 2006

Went to local library for talk by Gareth Roberts, who was promoting I am a Dalek.  There was us, assorted kids with parents (including a large proportion of girls) and a rather confused little boy in a spiderman outfit. There was a book-signing afterwards, and husband had brought along his copy of The English Way of Death.   Mr Roberts was a bit surprised at this blast from his past but signed it cheerfully enough. Husband then tactfully commented on the similarities with the work of E F Benson. Oh God!

Better this week than last. I was never really that keen on Cybermen to be honest, but I like the new design. It was quite a shock to see that Jackie (albeit an alternative Jackie) had been ‘upgraded’.

27 May 2006

Slightly disappointed with this week’s episode.  It was good, certainly better than the Cybermen episodes, but I have very high expectations of anything by Mark Gatiss. Maureen Lipman was perfectly cast as the Wire, though.

 

The trailer for next week looks awful.