Last Who You Watched

Lucy McGough wrote:Because bow-ships are cool. And Van Helsing never used a flame-thrower.

The Hugh Jackman version would have. But he's best forgotten.

The Hungry Earth 2 parter. Okay in the first part, gets very stupid in the second (not helped by the laughable nuSilurians). The regulars make it watchable, but the purpose of a rehash of a 40 year old story is pretty dubious, esp when the original was vastly superior on all counts.

I didn't approve of the Silurian redesign (I still find aspects of it nonsensical) but I'm used to it, now. And with the best will in the world, the originals were not the most inspired design the classic series ever came up with.

Not strictly speaking "real" Who, but I watched the video spin-offs Downtime and [/i] Zygon[/i] over the weekend. Downtime is probably my favourite of those 1990s spin-offs, and makes good use of the talents of Lis Sladen, Nick Courtney and Debbie and Jack Watling (and is arguably a better Great Intelligence story than most of the Intelligence's more recent outings. Zygon, I hadn't really rated the first time I watched it; it just seemed to be Bill Baggs revelling in the opportunity to get several actresses naked. But watching it again, once you get past the sometimes gratuitous nudity, it's actually quite a tense psycholigical thriller which is a really effective Zygon story. And it does have a neat twist ending.

I may watch the Auton trilogy today...

Just finished watching the entire Auton trilogy. This series was made in the 90s on a budget of a few hundred quid with virtually no resources...and it's not only better than half of new Who, it's better than half of classic Who! The 90s really were an underappreciated golden age for Who fandom...

tony ingram wrote:it's not only better than half of new Who, it's better than half of classic Who!

Not sure that's much of a suprise. Both Classic and Nu Who are a mixture of the good, the average and the downright ugly. Those saying one is more consistent in quality than the other seem to rather miss that point.

Just watched The Visitation. Rather better then I remember - a solid if old-fashioned (or 'traditional') script from Eric Saward, a minimum of Adric and one of Davison's better performances in the role. Add in a fantastic turn from Michael Robbins and it's all rather jolly. Shame the design department got everything so wrong but that's always a hazard in Who.

I do think it's a shame they never brought Richard Mace back.

Oh, I dunno. Recurring characters risk losing the freshness, the novelty, the charm that made them attractive in the first place.

Lucy McGough wrote:Oh, I dunno. Recurring characters risk losing the freshness, the novelty, the charm that made them attractive in the first place.

I wish someone had told Steven Moffat that before he brought back River Song (not that she had much charm to start with).

I agree. Thank goodness she's finally gone.

Lucy McGough wrote:I agree. Thank goodness she's finally gone.

Never say that! If he hears you, next episode we'll be sitting there all relaxed and comfy and out of the darkness..."hello sweetie"!

Nooooooo!!!

Watched the Black Guardian trilogy lately, all very enjoyable, esp Mawdryn and Enlightenment.

Tried watching Timelash last night. Failed. By God, its bad. How this somehow ranks better than Twin Dilemma is beyond me...

The Twin Dilemma doesn't have the saving grace of having Paul Darrow in it.

Dilemma is FUNNY!

codywillis1 wrote:Dilemma is FUNNY!

But did it mean to be? 

Watched The Ice Warriors yesterday, and enjoyed it a lot more than I have done previously-although I have to say, I wasn't impressed with the animated episodes 2 and 3. The animation was very primitive and amateurish compared to what Cosgrove Hall managed on The Invasion, I thought. Some nice DVD extras though, and I now know a whole lot more than I did about Patrick Troughton!

Just thoroughly enjoyed DVD's of " Sontaran Experiment" and "Revenge of the Cybermen" Hadn't seen them in about 30 years!!

I've just been watching The Aztecs on Watch+1 (still am, in fact) and earlier, they showed part one of The Doctors Revisited. Next up is a documentary on the companions, and I gather tomorrow they're showing Tomb of the Cybermen. Watch are dedicating their weekend schedules to Doctor Who every weekend until the anniversary, it seems!

Just watched (Though I had streaming cold!) "Tenth Planet" and "Terror of the Zygons" The latter-just brilliant! The former-not bad if a bit slow in parts! The making of Documentary very revealing on Bill Hartnell's attidute to Earl Cameron-the coloured actor! Today, I think Hartnell would be sacked on the spot!!

A lot of the extras on the Tenth Planet are a bit "warts and all" as far as Hartnell is concerned. A shame in one way, but interesting all the same.

Today: The Web of Fear.

Last night: The Enemy of the World.

Life is good.  

karatattoo wrote:Today: The Web of Fear.

Last night: The Enemy of the World.

Life is good.  

Unless you're a short Mexican dictator.

The first Doctor Lost in Time DVD:

The Crusades #s 1 & 3
the Dalek Invasion of Earth #s 2, 5 & 10
The Celestial Toymaker # 4

The trailer for the new series on the official website. Cara says she doesn't know who the Doctor is any more. *yawn* Same old, same old.

Doctor Who Terror of the Zygons

Terror of the Autons parts one and two, on The Horror Channel last night.

Lucy McGough wrote:The trailer for the new series on the official website.

I watched a slightly longer one this morning, it was really fun.

Mbast1 wrote:

Lucy McGough wrote:The trailer for the new series on the official website.

I watched a slightly longer one this morning, it was really fun.

I have high hopes for this series.

Meantime, back to The Horror Channel tonight for The Seeds of Death part one.

I have high hopes for it too.

I just watched the extended trailer. Looks good, but I wish the Daleks would get the year off.

Watched The Three Doctors parts 1,2,3,4.

karatattoo wrote:I just watched the extended trailer. Looks good, but I wish the Daleks would get the year off.

Watched The Three Doctors parts 1,2,3,4.

It's rumoured the BBC has an agreement with the estate of Terry Nation that the Daleks have to appear at least once a year.

I don't mind that. They're an intrinsic part of the show.

tony ingram wrote:It's rumoured the BBC has an agreement with the estate of Terry Nation that the Daleks have to appear at least once a year.

Can that be verified?

karatattoo wrote:

tony ingram wrote:It's rumoured the BBC has an agreement with the estate of Terry Nation that the Daleks have to appear at least once a year.

Can that be verified?

Not really, the BBC don't openly discuss contractual matters. But it's been pretty much regarded as fact since 2005, when they agreed to whatever they agreed to to get the Daleks into the new series. And they've appeared in every series since, even if it was only a cameo. Even in Tennant's "year off", a Dalek appears briefly in one of the Specials.

karatattoo wrote:but I wish the Daleks would get the year off.

Me, too. I get tired of them being "killed off" only to show up again.

All seven episodes of The Ambassadors of Death.

karatattoo wrote:All seven episodes of The Ambassadors of Death.

I rather like The Ambassadors of Death, but (like the stories on either side of it) I can't help thinking that it's at least two episodes too long.

I've just watched parts one and two of The Daleks on the Horror Channel (parts three and four on Monday).

The most recent Doctor Who story I'e watched was "Genesis of the Daleks". The missus and I have been watching all the DVDs in sequence from "Unearthly Child" over the klast 18 months or so and are now in the Tome Baker years...

You're doing the marathon? That's great! I last did that in 2008-it took me about three years! Mind you, I was watching one episode a night and taking a week off between seasons...

We don't have a schedule for this. Some nights we'll watch a couple of episodes, another night maybe 3. It all depends if we're at home, if there's actually anything worth watching on live tv, or if there's some other DVD movie that we want to watch, etc. So I think we're making good progress.
in between DW, the wife has gotten into "Game of Thrones" - we've just started on the season 2 DVDs, and I'm working through season 2 of "Elementary" (the US equivalent of "Sherlock").

PhantomRambler wrote:We don't have a schedule for this. Some nights we'll watch a couple of episodes, another night maybe 3. It all depends if we're at home, if there's actually anything worth watching on live tv, or if there's some other DVD movie that we want to watch, etc. So I think we're making good progress.
in between DW, the wife has gotten into "Game of Thrones" - we've just started on the season 2 DVDs, and I'm working through season 2 of "Elementary" (the US equivalent of "Sherlock").

I love GoT, but I can't get into Elementary, for some reason. The US setting and female Watson just don't work for me, though I do think Jonny Lee Miller is excellent as Holmes.

I wasn't sure about Elementary initially; I'd read about it and eventually decided to take a look. Quite good. Main differences from Sherlock - it moves faster and the episodes are not reinventions of the original ACD stories as in the Moffatt/Gattis version. ALthough there are a few nods to the original stories.
Steering this thread back to DW, I must take a look at my copy of Tom Baker's Hound of the Baskervilles again - maybe as a preliminary to when the wife and I get to "Talons of Weng-Chiang" in our DW marathon.

Have you ever read the New Adventures novel All Consuming Fire, in which the Doctor meets Holmes and Watson?

It's been sitting on my bookshelf for ages. Just haven't got around to it. Obviously been watching too many DVDs...

I recommend it. In fact, I'm going to have to reread some of those books myself, it's been too long...

PhantomRambler wrote:and I'm working through season 2 of "Elementary" (the US equivalent of "Sherlock").

I'm completely behind on season 4, but I LOVE that show. It's such a different take, but very well done on its own.

tony ingram wrote:Have you ever read the New Adventures novel All Consuming Fire, in which the Doctor meets Holmes and Watson?

This makes me wonder, has anyone read any of Lawrence Miller's Faction Paradox stuff? I read it started out as part of the Eighth Doctor's novels, but has since moved into its own continuity. It sounds interesting, but I just wonder what others might thing.

Also, Big Finish is doing a Tenth Doctor series. I bought the set of the 1st three. Brilliant, as always.

I did read some of te Faction Paradox stuff, including the two issues of the Faction Paradox comic published by Image. Really, though, I pretty much lost interest after the eighth Doctor range and the Virgin New Adventures (which also featured FP after they diverged from the Doctor Who continuity) ended. Lawrence Miles is an author I tend to find a bit hit and miss, really.