And one more thing...

Sunday 12 February

I just thought of another thing about Doctor Who that really winds me up: celebrities  who claim to be massive fans of the programme, just because it is popular.*   In the last ten years it has not been possible to read an autobiography without some reference to how much X enjoyed watching Doctor Who.  I don't believe a word of it.  Where were all these people when it got cancelled?  If you weren't there in the 1990s, pathetically grateful for Bill Baggs Video and Virgin New Adventures, it doesn't count.

Those who weren't even born in the 1990s are excused...just.

Ten Things I Hate about 'Who'

11 February 2017

Today's Times included a column by Giles Coren in which he argued that what brings couples together is not shared likes, but shared dislikes.  I'm not sure that shared likes are as disastrous as all that. After all, I have survived 26 years of marriage to a Who fan. But the article ends with a list of his own 'dislikes', which got me thinking about the things I don't like about Doctor Who.

1. The Sixth Doctor's coat.  Uncontroversial, this one, I should think. Poor Colin's episodes would have been much better appreciated if viewers had not had to contend with being dazzled by an amazing technicolour dreamcoat that even Andrew Lloyd Webber would have balked at.

2. Over-bright lighting. This was a particular feature of the Eighties episodes. Whilst there is no need to go the full X-Files and have most of the action in pitch darkness, a bit of gloom would help to hide some of the deficiencies in monster costumes (and the Sixth Doctor's coat.)

3. The current credit sequence with the naff-looking clock.  Bring back the time vortex, preferably with the rock version of the theme tune.

4. Excessively long story arcs.  I don't want to have to wait until the year after next to find out what caused Amy's crack.

5. Lame jokes about Daleks and stairs. Daleks can levitate up stairs perfectly well, as has been established at least since Remembrance of the Daleks.

6. Gallifrey.  The Tenth Doctor's description of it to Martha in Gridlock was wonderful, but the reality is a boring place peopled with unpleasant, small-minded hypocrites. And the food doesn't look to be up to much, either. Now that it has been found, could it please be lost again, pronto?

7. The press asking the current Doctor when he is going to leave, almost as soon as he has started.

8. Fantasy Doctor casting.  As soon as it is known that the current incumbent, fed up by being constantly pestered by the press about when he is going to leave, finally gives in and announces the date, the name of just about every celebrity in the country gets linked to the role, even those who aren't actors.

9. Is it about time there was a female Doctor? No. Not even Olivia Colman, fine actress though she is. The speculation every time is just boring.

10. Nothing.  I love Doctor Who. 

Let the speculation begin...

Sunday 5 February 2017

So Peter Capaldi will be leaving at the end of the next series. 

Cue the usual speculation about the casting of the next Doctor, and the possibility that it might be a woman this time. Well, I'm sorry if I'm a traitor to my sex, but I think the Doctor is a role that should be played by a male actor.

I mean, we don't have a female James Bond, Sherlock Holmes or Batman, do we.

It isn't as if the series doesn't have strong female roles now.  River Song and Missy can both give the Doctor a run for his money, and female companions have moved on  a bit from twisting their ankle in a quarry and screaming a lot.

A different planet...

Saturday 7 January 2017

The husband has spent his Christmas vouchers on filling all the gaps in his First Doctor DVD collection. Some of these were stories that we previously had on the VHS tapes we disposed of.

We decided to start with Planet of Giants as it was short (only three episodes, as the original episodes three and four were edited into one.) I don't think it is one of the better stories.  It seems to be an example of what Doctor Who might have been  like if the production team had stuck to their original brief of including educational material about history and science and had  not introduced ‘Bug-Eyed Monsters’ (aka Daleks) early on. The TARDIS crew did their best, but the supporting cast, playing a civil servant, an unscrupulous businessman and a misguided scientist, seem to have been parachuted in from one of the patronising schools' programmes I remember seeing as a child. I don't know about Giants, but the supporting cast definitely seemed to be on a different planet of some sort.

I believe this is the first story to carry an explicit environmental message, but it's no Green Death.

In other news, we eventually cracked the DWM Christmas quiz, managing to answer 47 out of 50 questions - a personal best, as we normally only manage about a dozen.

The Return of Doctor Mysterio

26 December 2016

Well that's another one over (Christmas specials, that is.)  I'm not sure yet what I think of The Return of Doctor Mysterio, having only seen it once so far.

On the plus side, it has returned to the Russell T Davies approach of a pastiche of a popular holiday blockbuster film (see The Christmas Invasion and Voyage of the Damned) rather than visiting yet another alien planet of the Dickensian Christmas people (see A Christmas Carol, Time of the Doctor and The Husbands of River Song.)  On the negative side, I'm not a great fan of superhero movies.

Another good point is that Matt Lucas' Nardole was considerably less annoying than I had anticipated.  In fact, I found myself looking forward to his appearances. I was less pleased to see the reappearance of the aliens with the zip-up heads and gloopy brains.  I think that they are uncalled-for when the nation is digesting its Christmas dinner.

I'll need to see it again a few times to come to a final conclusion, but I watched The Christmas Invasion again afterwards, and I can exclusively reveal that it is still number one.

My All New Top 10 (and a bit) Christmas Specials

Sunday 18 December 2016

Two years ago I did a series of posts on my top ten Doctor Who Christmas specials.  There have been two more since then, so an update is in order.  I am still finding it weird that Doctor Who now occupies the Morecambe and Wise spot as the traditional Christmas Day entertainment for all the family (and the Prime Minister.) However, it's been 11 years now, so here is my revised ranking, with 2014's Last Christmas and 2015's The Husbands of River Song slotted in.

1	The Christmas Invasion	2005
2	The Unquiet Dead*	2005
3	A Christmas Carol	2010
4	The Doctor the Widow and the Wardrobe**	2011
5	The Runaway Bride	2006
6	Voyage of the Damned	2007
7	Last Christmas***	2014
8	The Next Doctor	2008
9	The Husbands of River Song****	2015
10	The End of Time	2009
11	The Snowmen	2012
12	The Time of the Doctor	2013

* Yes, I know that this was technically not a Christmas Special, but it should have been.
**My new team member thinks this one is terrible, but at least it's properly Christmassy. We do agree about Nardole, though, so I'll let him off.

***Marked up for the Rudolph's nose car alarm gag

****Marked down for excessive continuity references and Matt Lucas.

There is still no change at number one.  How can you beat David Tennant, revived by a cup of tea, saving the world with a satsuma whilst still in his pyjamas, then having time to bring down the (female) Prime Minister before tucking in to turkey and all the trimmings?

I wonder which one is Theresa May's favourite?

PS Has anyone ever managed to solve the Watcher's Christmas Quiz in Doctor Who Magazine?  This year I don't even understand the questions.

PPS Have had a breakthrough with the Quiz.  Once we worked out the key, it isn't actually as hard as usual.  Woo hoo!

More Power of the Daleks

Sunday 11 December 2016

I am most encouraged to learn that I am not the only lady of a certain age who watches Doctor Who of her own volition. None other than Theresa May, Prime Minister (yes, we know who she is) enjoys watching the Doctor Who Christmas Special after she has cooked her goose. I just wish I could get away with wearing leather trousers...

Anyway, we have finished watching Power of the Daleks. There are definitely parallels with Victory of the Daleks - yes, we have Daleks in a servile role, bringing drinks. Why doesn't an enterprising Cardiff restaurant try that?

There are a lot of other familiar elements: lots of running up and down corridors; the Doctor being mistaken for someone in authority (psychic paper would have saved a lot of time; the Doctor being locked up; his companions being kidnapped; a misguided scientist; a rebel force and a scheming security chief. As this is the 1960s, the female companion has little to do apart from be kidnapped, although Polly seems to know quite lot about Daleks considering she hasn't actually met any before. Ben and Polly's initial suspicions of the new incarnation of the Doctor are soon forgotten.

The animation is strange in that the human characters are not particularly well realised, but the Daleks look almost photo-realistic.

Overall I enjoyed it.  Now we are on to the end of the Troughton era with The War Games.