Been on a big Doctor Who binge this month which has been a lot of fun. Some serials that were new to me and some that were like old friends. Here's what I watched...
The Invasion of Time (Tom Baker) - Parts 1-5 were really cool, the Doctor claims his place as President of Gallifrey. Starts off very mysterious with the Doctor acting seemingly erratically with the layers of the story getting peeled away episode by episode. But sadly the final part is where it all crumbles. It's just running around a factory that is supposed to be the Tardis with almost zero set dressing and no story and the bit at the end with Leela is bullsh*t. Vast areas of the plot are left unexplained.
The Silurians (Jon Pertwee) - I love it when the Pertwee episodes get political and this was no let down. The Doctor is the couragous pacifist trying to hold back a war between the equally 'hawkish' man and alien. Interesting as it places the Brigadier in direct conflict with The Doctor.
Destiny of the Daleks (Tom Baker) - Essentially written by Douglas Adams it even slips in a reference to H2G2. Mostly brilliant thanks to witty dialogue from Adams/Baker, but it got a bit silly at the end with the seemingly deadly Movellans defeated by little more than a game of tag-you're-it. Always great to have Davros in the show. I thought a similar concept of computer warfare was handled better in the earlier ST:TOS episode 'A Taste of Armageddon'.
Frontier in Space (Jon Pertwee) - The first of an experimental double 6-parter (The experiment would not be repeated for reasons I'll explain). The production values are stunning, feeling like a precursor to Babylon 5. A big sprawling space-opera on the brink of war, with The Doctor and Jo caught in the middle. However it's a real shame that all the brilliant buildup of the 6 episodes is wasted at the end in a clumsy segue into the next 6-parter. A real WTF just happened moment and a poor send off for Delgado's Master (He sadly died soon after).
Planet of the Daleks (Jon Pertwee) - The second part after FIS ends up being better than the big budget intro. Firstly because it's all about character (There was no money left for anything else) and secondly because it has a proper end. It's worth seeing this DVD just to witness the documentary about how episode 3 was restored to colour. They somehow designed a program to extract and extrapolate the original colours from a black and white film of the episode (By reading the tiny patterns of dots)... seriously it's like voodoo!
Battlefield (Slyvester McCoy) - Hard to believe the show was cancelled 3 serials after this, as I think it's possibly the highpoint of the entire 50 years. I remembered loving it as a kid but my memories weren't wrong, it's a masterpiece. Aliens in medieval armour with laser guns battling UNIT and The Doctor was Merlin, it don't get no better. It's got action, drama, mystery and beautiful comedy too. The old Brigadier makes a final appearance and the new Brigadier is fantastic, see picture below (Shame she only got one go at it).
Interesting to note that it is an unknown future Doctor who will become Merlin (In the past) so the new-Who could follow this story up with a prequel/sequel/timequel.
Ghost Light (Slyvester McCoy) - However, it's not hard to believe the show was cancelled right after this serial as it's a mess, a strange and intriguing mess but a mess none the less. One of the 4 episodes was cancelled mid-way into production meaning a full quarter of the story was cut which explains most of the baffling holes in the plot. Still it's an entertaining Victorian ghost story of a serial with some wonderful dialogue from the Doctor.
Logopolis (Tom Baker) - Brilliant concept about a planet of humanoid computers, thousands arranged on pews like monks with abacuses. The Master returns thanks to Anthony Ainley in fine form to threaten the entire universe and The Doctor's very life.
The Mark of the Rani (Colin Baker) - The imoral Master is a bit wasted in this story as he's overshadowed by the brilliant and amoral Rani. Loads of location filming add a lot of style to this production but The Doctor feels a little lost in the story. I think they were having too much fun writing argumentative dialogue for the Rani and The Master.
Warriors of the Deep (Peter Davison) - This is a mere shadow of the two former Pertwee Silurian/Sea Devil stories. It all feels a bit flat taking place in only a couple of sets (Great sets though) with very little external photography. It's hard to get invested in the characters because they keep dying so often and the less said about the Myrka monster the better. However the chilling end with a superb performance by Davison is worth the watch alone.
Planet of the Spiders (Jon Pertwee) - The emotions are still too raw to talk about "A tear Sarah Jane?". But seriously, the beautiful writing allows you to easily forgive some of the production problems around visualising the Spider world.
