TV Tuesday: A Rare Doctor Who Update
May. 23rd, 2017 08:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
evelyn_bDoctor Who is back! I've been trying to catch up on Classic Who by watching an episode a day.
In "The Massacre of Saint Bartholomew's Eve" The Doctor fails to stop a medieval massacre and even pushes a harmless young woman out into the streets after curfew, telling her she'll be all right. Steven is terribly upset that she wasn't invited to go on the Tardis, and makes the Doctor promise to let him off at the next stop. The Doctor muses sadly and self-indulgently on his situation: "Now they've all gone, all gone. . . Perhaps I should go back to my own planet - but I can't." A woman comes running into the police box (he's left the door open for the moping) in an attempt to use it as a police box. No, no, he tells her, no telephones or anything of that sort; she'll have to run along and find another police box. Steven runs back in to warn him that the police are on their way, and because we can't have policemen in the Tardis, they're off again. Steven is horrified to see that they've taken another passenger on board. He tries to explain to Dodo that she might never get back home again; she couldn't care less. She's even forgotten about the injured boy she was trying to call the police about in the first place. We're meant to infer that Dodo is a direct descendant of Anne, whom the Doctor left in France in 1397, and that he was therefore right to leave Anne behind, but this seems like a stretch.
This is a totally missing serial, so what I really saw was about a dozen still photographs per episode and the audio. I tried to watch a fan reconstruction with CGI figures, but couldn't stick with it - the model for the Doctor looked nothing like William Hartnell (but a little like Matt Smith in a wig) and the costumes were all wrong, so I switched back to the still photos. I loved the unscrupulous Queen Mother with her wide plain face and imperious eyebrows and wished there were some moving footage of her.
I also really wish we had more moving footage of the Celestial Toymaker serial - such a batshit plot and elaborate sets, such a great hammy villain. The Toymaker can't keep the Doctor imprisoned in his creepy toy palace forever, so he sends him some excessively chewy candies to wreak havoc with his dental work. It's the next best thing! Meanwhile, Steven and Dodo encounter a series of living dolls who try to kill them by being as annoying as possible.
The extant serial in between, The Ark, is not amazing but not bad - I like the Monoids with their single eye where a mouth would be, and the far-future humans with their ribbon dresses. Contiguous clothing is so medieval!
Dodo's an interesting companion. She's headstrong and naive and makes a lot of mistakes. I love that she just picks random time-travel gear from the Tardis closet to wear whenever - because why wouldn't you? Her perky thirst for adventure and inability to appreciate danger has forced poor Steven into the role of scold. The Doctor is protective and paternalistic toward her because (as we're told in a throwaway line when she first runs into the Tardis) she reminds him of Susan.
I've just started "The Gunslingers" - which is, for some reason, a musical. The Doctor needs a tooth looked at, so they stop in the American West circa 1880. This is a great plan with no drawbacks, and certainly represents the best possible use of a time machine. Anyway it gives Peter Purves the chance to break out his terrible American accent again, and that's the important thing. For fans of bad American accents on the BBC, this serial promises to be a giant chocolate box of assorted delights.
The most recent series has also started - and I'm several episodes behind, as usual, but so far, so good. There's been a creepy living puddle, some creepy robots, a sad ice monster, and a sad creepy house. It feels like the writers are still figuring Bill out a little, but Pearl Mackie is extremely likable. I'm excited to see where it goes.
In "The Massacre of Saint Bartholomew's Eve" The Doctor fails to stop a medieval massacre and even pushes a harmless young woman out into the streets after curfew, telling her she'll be all right. Steven is terribly upset that she wasn't invited to go on the Tardis, and makes the Doctor promise to let him off at the next stop. The Doctor muses sadly and self-indulgently on his situation: "Now they've all gone, all gone. . . Perhaps I should go back to my own planet - but I can't." A woman comes running into the police box (he's left the door open for the moping) in an attempt to use it as a police box. No, no, he tells her, no telephones or anything of that sort; she'll have to run along and find another police box. Steven runs back in to warn him that the police are on their way, and because we can't have policemen in the Tardis, they're off again. Steven is horrified to see that they've taken another passenger on board. He tries to explain to Dodo that she might never get back home again; she couldn't care less. She's even forgotten about the injured boy she was trying to call the police about in the first place. We're meant to infer that Dodo is a direct descendant of Anne, whom the Doctor left in France in 1397, and that he was therefore right to leave Anne behind, but this seems like a stretch.
This is a totally missing serial, so what I really saw was about a dozen still photographs per episode and the audio. I tried to watch a fan reconstruction with CGI figures, but couldn't stick with it - the model for the Doctor looked nothing like William Hartnell (but a little like Matt Smith in a wig) and the costumes were all wrong, so I switched back to the still photos. I loved the unscrupulous Queen Mother with her wide plain face and imperious eyebrows and wished there were some moving footage of her.
I also really wish we had more moving footage of the Celestial Toymaker serial - such a batshit plot and elaborate sets, such a great hammy villain. The Toymaker can't keep the Doctor imprisoned in his creepy toy palace forever, so he sends him some excessively chewy candies to wreak havoc with his dental work. It's the next best thing! Meanwhile, Steven and Dodo encounter a series of living dolls who try to kill them by being as annoying as possible.
The extant serial in between, The Ark, is not amazing but not bad - I like the Monoids with their single eye where a mouth would be, and the far-future humans with their ribbon dresses. Contiguous clothing is so medieval!
Dodo's an interesting companion. She's headstrong and naive and makes a lot of mistakes. I love that she just picks random time-travel gear from the Tardis closet to wear whenever - because why wouldn't you? Her perky thirst for adventure and inability to appreciate danger has forced poor Steven into the role of scold. The Doctor is protective and paternalistic toward her because (as we're told in a throwaway line when she first runs into the Tardis) she reminds him of Susan.
I've just started "The Gunslingers" - which is, for some reason, a musical. The Doctor needs a tooth looked at, so they stop in the American West circa 1880. This is a great plan with no drawbacks, and certainly represents the best possible use of a time machine. Anyway it gives Peter Purves the chance to break out his terrible American accent again, and that's the important thing. For fans of bad American accents on the BBC, this serial promises to be a giant chocolate box of assorted delights.
The most recent series has also started - and I'm several episodes behind, as usual, but so far, so good. There's been a creepy living puddle, some creepy robots, a sad ice monster, and a sad creepy house. It feels like the writers are still figuring Bill out a little, but Pearl Mackie is extremely likable. I'm excited to see where it goes.
no subject
Date: 2017-05-23 05:00 pm (UTC)Dodo's entrance onto the TARDIS, you will be unsurprised to hear, was the moment the script editors swapped over and after the last one had commissioned and edited the Massacre, the new one tagged on a cheery scene with, yes, indeed, Dodo, most random companion ever. (Although Hartnell's preceding little monologue is great. And then RANDOM DODO.)
I hope you enjoy the rest of The Gunfighters! (How people feel about depends a lot on a) how serious they like their Who, and b) how much they like The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon, which is fair enough, because you can't get away from it.) I adore it - it's unashamedly ridiculous, with some genuinely witty stuff here and there and Dodo works in it.
At least this time Peter Purves's accent is meant to be fake and ridiculous and the Doctor tells him off for it. I would add in their defence that they did actually find at least one genuine Canadian! What more can you ask of 60s UK TV? (THe US is a long way away!)
(What's up next? The Savages, I think, and then back to actual moving telly with The War Machines? I've never read The Savages, nor listened to it, so I know v little about it, but The War Machines is good, I think.)
no subject
Date: 2017-05-23 08:35 pm (UTC)I did not know that, but it is 100% unsurprising!
The Savages and The War Machines are next - and after that I think there are only two serials left until regeneration.
(I would also be perfectly happy if everyone in the Wild West were British, just like everyone in the future is British).
no subject
Date: 2017-05-24 07:59 am (UTC)Yes, The Smugglers (missing again, alas) and The Tenth Planet (regeneration ahoy! Nearly all there, except for episode four which was carelessly lost by Blue Peter. Possibly by Peter Purves in revenge for people laughing at his amazing accent.*) And then The Power of the Daleks! Which now exists in animation. Can you get hold of that, or are you like me and dodgy with animation? (This kind seems to give me terrible uncanny valley vibes till I feel like begging the BBC just to make sensible non-moving reconstructions.)
no subject
Date: 2017-05-24 02:49 pm (UTC)My takeaway was that Patrick Troughton is a delight even in weirdly animated form, and that I'm looking forward to meeting him in RL (video). Also that you probably shouldn't let the Daleks "improve" your infrastructure even if they give you a really good deal on labor costs.
no subject
Date: 2017-05-27 12:55 pm (UTC)I think I'd have even more of a problem with that, too! 0_o
(And you should always defend The Web Planet. I will be over here defending the cave people in An Unearthly Child, because layers/meta! Actors giving their all despite being flea-bitten! Susan and her love of skulls. What's not to like? ;-D)
My takeaway was that Patrick Troughton is a delight even in weirdly animated form, and that I'm looking forward to meeting him in RL (video).
Aw. <3 <3 <3 Well, only time and availability of very old TV will tell if your good opinion remains, but, yes, Patrick Troughton is a delight indeed, I think. (Coincidentally, I've just been watching him being very good (as ever) in something else this morning - I'm tackling The Six Wives of Henry VIII for the first time and, as Norfolk, he received his downfall this morning (along with Katherine Howard).