tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768495027896028196.post2882927893066667298..comments2024-03-06T17:49:20.341-05:00Comments on That's alls I know: Classic Doctor Who countdown (#150 - #141)Tommy Kraskerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12564935526936828636noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768495027896028196.post-86897234829106609402018-02-19T15:04:45.796-05:002018-02-19T15:04:45.796-05:00There's a discussion further up this page that...There's a discussion further up this page that points out an issue that I suspect impacts my rankings and reviews: the fact that I have, over time, watched and rewatched many of these serials in one or two sittings, whereas I truly should -- at some point -- have watched each episode a week apart, to best understand how they were designed to play. With something like "Creature," there's an annoying unrelentingness to it that gives me a headache (it all, for me, plays at one pitch, a fault I find with a lot of Christopher Barry's work) -- but would it bother me as much if I were only watching one episode a week? With the serials I find hobbled by a certain sameness, I probably should have watched them properly spaced, to get a sense of whether that was really a concern.<br /><br />Regarding the Cybermen, well, given that my favorite stories of theirs are set in a wheel in space, a freighter, and an underground control room at the South Pole -- by George, I think you're on to something! That said, if you ever read down as far as #74, you will no doubt want to impale me, because that's where "Silver Nemesis" sits, which I believe is one of your least favorite serials, and one I quite enjoy. And there, of course, the Cybermen are running around the English countryside. But that said, one of the reasons I enjoy the serial is because I don't take it seriously, viewing it as more a sketch comedy than an adventure -- and maybe, indeed, it's the very incongruity of seeing the Cybermen romping around Greenwich Peninsula that's part of what I love about it -- and thus further proving your point.Tommy Kraskerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12564935526936828636noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768495027896028196.post-46347275660348749542018-02-18T05:26:04.610-05:002018-02-18T05:26:04.610-05:00I have less to take issue with you here that in yo...I have less to take issue with you here that in your 158-151 post. Yes, this is a list of stories which would be hard work if watched one after the other.<br /><br />I will sort of stand up for The Creature from the Pit, which I think is quite a witty script (though not the unfortunate Fagin's gang crew - a bit iffy). In fact I'd argue that once you turn the corner into season 17, and Adams is script editor, the dialogue suddenly gets much sharper. I find this story much easier to watch than Kroll or Armageddon. My favourite line is "here's another six inches to add to your collection". Black as pitch, but I smile every time.<br /><br />Mark of the Rani is a very odd piece of work, but I find little to object to in it. It's got the "evil scientist messes with nature" thing which is in every Pip & Jane story, and it really doesn't need the Master, but I think it's rather sweet in other ways. You're spot on about Sarah Hellings; such a shame we didn't get her back.<br /><br />And Revenge... look, I know it's not great, but growing up watching Doctor Who, the Cybermen were my favourite monsters. Looking back though, the only Cyberman story I could have seen as a kid was Revenge (Earthshock being brand new when I became a fan). So it made an impression on me. Or at least the stuff on Nerva did - I agree with you that the Voga material is dreary.<br /><br />I have this theory that Cybermen shouldn't be let out on location. With the possible exception of The Invasion, has it ever worked out well? Keep them on space stations and freighters and so on, I reckonJohnny Spandrellhttp://randomwhoness.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768495027896028196.post-4109705845751134922018-02-04T15:27:02.174-05:002018-02-04T15:27:02.174-05:00It's an interesting question, and one I'd ...It's an interesting question, and one I'd actually been pondering recently, specifically because of a comment that David left under "Seeds of Doom" (which I list at #120), and some comments I'd seen about that same serial on Twitter. It made me wonder how much my responses to these serials would have changed if I'd viewed them with a week between episodes, as they aired for most of the Classic run. I don't necessarily binge these serials in one sitting, but I certainly do, on occasion, watch a few episodes at a time -- and you're right: it's not how they were intended to be seen. And in particular, with serials that I find relentless or oppressive, how much of that is that I'm watching "too much" of them at once? I don't know that watching weekly would have affected my opinion of something like "Creature From the Pit," because I don't respond to the tone or the performances from the start -- but I do wonder about something like "Seeds of Doom." It's a serial that I find grows repetitive and tiresome as it goes along -- but if I were watching weekly, then instead of finding its steady stream of scares repetitive, would I find them impressive -- that it could *sustain* that level of terror for six episodes? Maybe. I'm sure not gonna go back now and rewatch all the serials in a weekly format (eek!), but I do wonder if it would affect my view of scare-fests like "Seeds of Doom," "Ark in Space" and "Web of Fear," where the same tactics are used repeatedly: a device that might only bother me now because I'm watching the episodes in (too) rapid succession.Tommy Kraskerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12564935526936828636noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768495027896028196.post-57912496890189426062018-02-04T13:42:22.007-05:002018-02-04T13:42:22.007-05:00You sorta off-handedly raise an interesting issue....You sorta off-handedly raise an interesting issue. Do you see a difference in interpretation between those of us who - in the day - watched (and briefly more recently re-watched on old-tv-show broadcast channels) Classic Who serials on a weekly basis and those like you who can binge-watch on DVD, without the benefit (?) of waiting a while for the next episode?homosezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18292545493281815694noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768495027896028196.post-9727513176933222082018-01-20T13:29:03.155-05:002018-01-20T13:29:03.155-05:00I do have at least one friend who feels that the r...I do have at least one friend who feels that the recovered second episode of "Underwater" truly elevates the serial, or at least gives it a consistency of tone or depth of ambition that makes it more palatable -- I just don't see it. I thought -- when I last rewatched "The Smugglers" and recalled that it was a strong and underrated historical, and that Julia Smith was a solid director -- that maybe I really needed to try to view "Underwater" this latest time with fresh eyes, to see if the recovered second episode made a big difference. But it didn't get any better...<br /><br />That said, I'm suddenly possessed -- and maybe "possessed" really is the right word -- of a desire to rewatch the DVD for the commentary and the extras, which I've not seen. I don't suspect the behind-the-scenes stuff will affect my opinion of the serial, but I'll bet it's fascinating. I was thinking all this because I just saw something at Wiki about how Anneke Wills reveals in the extras that Patrick Troughton didn't care for Smith at all. Now I want to hear more -- even if it means watching this thing again! :)Tommy Kraskerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12564935526936828636noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768495027896028196.post-54856094759538965142018-01-20T11:53:26.298-05:002018-01-20T11:53:26.298-05:00Too right about The Keys of Marinus. There's a...Too right about The Keys of Marinus. There's a compelling story in there...somewhere. Sadly,it seems Nation couldn't be bothered to find that story and instead provided a script full of the weakest plot devices of a typical Nation story. Harrumph.<br /><br />Regarding Colin's performance in Mark of the Rani -- perhaps he was just following improv comedy's Rule of Three? Well, maybe not. If he were, we should have seen some "Yes, and..." with Kate O'Mara...<br /><br />Also, now that we can see The Underwater Menace on the DVD machine perhaps you should reconsider its ranking. I think seeing Furst's unique performance makes this story a solid 146. Maybe even a 145.Bob Gallagherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08064350802590956177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768495027896028196.post-21156033284670998012018-01-20T10:04:20.759-05:002018-01-20T10:04:20.759-05:00I have several friends who have mentioned loving t...I have several friends who have mentioned loving the Colin Baker era when it first aired, when they were, I suspect (from what you've mentioned of your upbringing) roughly the same age you were. I've not asked them if their opinion of the era changed as they got older. I myself don't know what I would have made of it, had I discovered it in my youth, and watched it on the heels of three years of Peter Davison. But certainly, as an adult, marveling at Davison (and I've been working with actors for nearly thirty years in the recording studio, and my husband is an actor himself, so you'd think we would no longer be awed by actors, but we were by Davison), Colin Baker and his era seemed a huge letdown. (That said, there are certainly serials of his I like, but by and large, I find the bulk of the stories weak, him too often charmless, and worst, the treatment of Peri genuinely disturbing.) But then, I'm not a fan of "Caves" either -- or at least, not the way most of fandom is; I definitely don't feel, as many do, that the Fifth Doctor era went out in a burst of glory or, heaven knows, that -- as some fan polls say -- it's the greatest classic serial. ("Caves" sits just outside my top 100.) <br /><br />I had forgotten that you did your own marathon rewatch in 2016-17. Although I didn't have childhood memories to combat when I did my own, I did have dozens of fan reviews and polls swirling around in my head, and having joined social media in the fall of 2015, I had all *those* voices as well, including some new Twitter friends with very passionate opinions. It was hard to shut all of that out, and in cases where I clearly didn't agree with others (be they friends or legions of fans), it was hard not to make my capsule reviews a "response" to them: a defense of my opinions rather than simply an expression of them. It is so hard to be in any way "objective" about the classic series, but perhaps that's one reason it's so beloved and enduring: by virtue of the serials going on for four, six, or even eight weeks, giving us so much time to bask in them and reflect on them, we end up bringing so much of ourselves to the show; and by virtue of millions of other people having watched them and commented on them, we end up bringing so much of *them* to the show as well. And for those who first watched it as a child, you bring all that baggage to the table as well. No wonder no two of us see the classic series in exactly the same way!Tommy Kraskerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12564935526936828636noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768495027896028196.post-15975594242208395782018-01-19T14:27:29.288-05:002018-01-19T14:27:29.288-05:00At first, I conducted my 2016-17 Who marathon in a...At first, I conducted my 2016-17 Who marathon in a similar frame of mind to you, I guess, in that I judged the stories purely on their merits. Then, with the advent of Tom (my earliest clear memory of the show is of Linx taking his helmet off in The Time Warrior a year earlier), I watched in two minds, or two emotional states. There was 'I'm a sober, critically minded man of nearly 50 who's about to have a book published' and 'Yeah, but think of the impression this made on you as a kid/teenager/student.'<br /><br />And so we come to The Twin Dilemma. I liked it in 1984. Oh sure, I could see that it was often laughable, but after three years of Peter Davison, I lapped up Colin's larger-than-life performance. Also, in the months that followed, I honestly didn't understand why the fans kept gushing over Caves of Androzani. At school, the magma creature had caused almost as much mirth as Mestor; so, for that matter, had Morgus's monotone monologues to camera. Quite honestly, I preferred Twin Dilemma to Caves (or 'fun romp vs gritty self-importance', as I saw it).<br /><br />I have to say, after watching the stories in order after all these years, that you've got a point about Davison. He's very fine in the role. I will admit, too, that Caves is brilliantly directed and has more to commend it than TTD. And I'm sad to report, having championed Colin and season 22 all these years, that I can understand why his Doctor and his era get lambasted. It saddens me, to be honest, to be agreeing with the fan consensus.David Ryanhttp://ryanflair.org/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768495027896028196.post-82133881668640289802018-01-11T18:28:30.855-05:002018-01-11T18:28:30.855-05:00I admit I was hard on "Creature" -- it w...I admit I was hard on "Creature" -- it was a capsule review that wrote itself rather quickly, because after I watched it again this last time, the thoughts just flowed. And they flowed "mean." I know logically there are far worse Classic Whos, and that it's probably (certainly?) not among the twenty worst, but every time I watch it, my reaction is visceral. I think in part, I see Lalla Ward struggling so with Mary Tamm-ish lines, and that gets me off to a bad start. And for some reason, from there, I find it headache-inducing, and I guess with a lot of the classic serials that are very insistent -- where people are screaming a lot -- I have less patience for them than I do the quieter ones. You might well be right, that Myra Frances does exactly what's asked of her, and that there's an element of irony in the conception of her character that eludes me, simply because of where it's pitched. I suspect -- given that I'm otherwise a big David Fisher fan, and that I find Christopher Barry, even at his worst, a competent director -- that if "Creature" didn't feel so tonally unrelenting, I'd be more able to admire its good qualities, and would like it a whole a lot better.Tommy Kraskerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12564935526936828636noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768495027896028196.post-4567327999748019062018-01-11T13:48:21.073-05:002018-01-11T13:48:21.073-05:00I think The Creature From The Pit was actually mad...I think The Creature From The Pit was actually made more entertaining by the over-the-top performances of Myra Frances and Eileen Way, the latter perhaps from being seen otherwise in more 'serious' TV roles of the times, and the former because Lady Adrasta was almost a proto-feminist and took herself so seriously in a perceived non-contextual comic role. They are indeed vintage drag queen inspirations.homosezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18292545493281815694noreply@blogger.com