Gavin WintersAn unfortunate double-booking at the BBC meant #DoctorWho had to share studios with Top of the Pops that week, during one of Pan’s People’s routines.
A suggestion of pre-Hartnell Doctors! Controversy! 😱
(Now imagining if the internet existed in the mid-70s, and collectively lost it’s shit over this…)
Even though it’s not seen clearly in the finished programme, I like how they’re all in costumes from different historical periods, implying the Doctor’s visited Earth chronologically for centuries, with Hartnell’s “Edwardian” outfit naturally being next. #DoctorWho
The Seeds Of Doom: one of my favourite Fourth Doctor stories. Tom’s at his peak - eccentric, alien, witty, occasionally brusque and dismissive, but always totally commanding. If his Doctor says the whole human race is in danger and the world will end, you believe him. #DoctorWho
Also surprisingly violent. No fantasy Venusian Aikido here, but actually punching henchmen in the face! And nearly snaps Scorby’s neck at one point. #DoctorWho
Harrison Chase is one of the most hilariously bonkers nutjob villains. You’ve gotta love a megalomaniac who deals with his enemies by grinding them to a pulp and using them as compost. #DoctorWho
The last lingering vestiges of the Pertwee era as some random UNIT personnel we’ve never heard of turn up at the end. The Brig’s in Geneva again, and even good old Sergeant Benton isn’t around.
Just as well maybe, as the Sergeant who replaces him gets minced! #DoctorWho
The Masque Of Mandragora: the opening TARDIS scene is the first time we get the suggestion that it’s *enormous* on the inside, beyond comprehension. Rather than just the few rooms and corridors we’d seen up to now. #DoctorWho
The studio segments are very reminiscent of the BBC’s Shakespeare adaptations of the time, nicely complemented by all the location filming in Portmeirion. (Almost expected to see Patrick McGoohan running about…) #DoctorWho
Tom using one of Pertwee’s old shirts as a duster to wipe down surfaces in the secondary control room always feels a bit cheekily disrespectful! #DoctorWho
That effect of the temple being magically restored is a bit too theatrical and stage-y to really work. Unless Mandragora knows these medieval cult followers are so dim that they’ll be impressed by some back-projected drawings. #DoctorWho
Mandragora will be in a position to try again in 500 years.
“That takes us to just about the end of the 20th century!”
“Yes, but don’t worry. The series will be cancelled by then so we won’t have to deal with it!” #DoctorWho
The Hand Of Fear: probably Bob Baker and Dave Martin’s least-mad story, but even then we get the idea of nuclear missiles being fired at a nuclear reactor, while people nearby crouch behind a jeep to hide from the potential explosion. 😳 #DoctorWho
The plot runs in circles for a bit - after Sarah is possessed, enters the reactor and nearly causes a nuclear meltdown… one of the technicians picks up the ring, gets possessed and we go through the same motions again. #DoctorWho
First mention of the “Is Gallifrey in Ireland?” joke (hooray! 😄), which Chibnall will pick up on decades later.
And once Eldrad changes sex, he says the Doctor should be familiar with the processes of bodily regeneration, so there’s the first suggestion of that too. #DoctorWho
All the bits on Kastria unfortunately look a bit cheap, and booming, ranting male Eldrad is a lot less interesting a character than female Eldrad was. As Sarah says “I quite liked her, but couldn’t stand him!” #DoctorWho
“Till we meet again, Sarah…” 😢
The Deadly Assassin: well here we go with literally everything about Gallifrey and Time Lord society that will influence the show for the next 40+ years.
You can kind of see why it rankled some fans at the time, with how it destroys the Time Lords godlike status. #DoctorWho
Funny how when we get to see Gallifrey extensively in Tom’s era, it’s basically a planet of William Hartnells. He’d fit in well here.
Makes perfect sense that his Doctor was moulded by this society, while the subsequent ones were shaped by his companions, travels, etc. #DoctorWho
How come no one in this story regenerates when they’re shot, stabbed, etc? All done with special weapons that can kill a Time Lord outright? #DoctorWho
Intentional or not, this is bloody hilarious. Worthy of Airplane/The Naked Gun. 😄 #DoctorWho
Nothing much happens to further the plot during the trip to the Matrix in episode three, but it’s a very entertaining nothing. #DoctorWho
So the Master was responsible for the Doctor’s “summons to Gallifrey” that he received at the end of the previous story, yes? Which means the most evil thing he’s done so far is causing the separation of the Doctor and Sarah. Bastard! #DoctorWho
The Face Of Evil: this has an interesting idea at heart, but I always feel it’s a bit too clever for its own good. It’s a step away from the gothic horror of the early 4th Doctor era and towards the more high-concept sci-fi we’ll increasingly get in the late 70s. #DoctorWho
Leela is probably the most unusual companion we’ve had since Katarina. The start of a run of TARDIS teams with no contemporary humans at all, perhaps making things a tiny bit alien and unrelatable for the audience. #DoctorWho
As much as Tom liked the idea of a solo Doctor, it does get a bit daft with him having to talk to himself at the start of the story, almost breaking the fourth wall when he seems to address the viewers directly. #DoctorWho
The only other Sevateem woman! In her blink-and-you’ll-miss-her appearance in Part Two. God knows what it’s going to be like for her after Leela leaves with the Doctor… 😳 #DoctorWho
The funny thing is… the carving of the Doctor’s face on the cliff isn’t that great a likeness, so people really shouldn’t be cowering in fear at the sight of “The Evil One” when they see him… #DoctorWho
The Robots Of Death: one of the top examples in #DoctorWho of effective, casual world-building making a story so much richer. All the backstories and stuff about Taren Capel, the Company, the robots in Kaldor City… helps it transcend the fact we’re just seeing a few studio sets.
Does the Doctor always have those cubes on standby in the TARDIS just in case a companion asks “the question”? #DoctorWho
It’s nice of the robots to kill off some of the poorest actors fairly early, thus increasing the general quality of the story as it goes on. #DoctorWho
It gets increasingly obvious Dask is the one behind it all. Right from the start he’s the innocuous-seeming one with no agenda, no hostility towards the others… alarm bells right there! 😅
And that discoloured monitor image barely disguises his face. #DoctorWho
Me every time I go out in the front garden and my video doorbell keeps alerting my phone that it sees someone in the front garden. #DoctorWho
The Talons Of Weng-Chiang: you can’t beat the BBC when it comes to lavish period dramas, especially ones set in Victorian times. This looks and feels gorgeous throughout, possibly the best they’ve made an historical setting look up to this point. #DoctorWho
I’m not gonna mention… you-know-what. Yes, we all know it’s there. Yes, we all know it’s bad. Can’t be arsed adding to the “discourse” around that. 🙄 #DoctorWho
For someone who’s supposedly mutilated and in a terrible physical condition, Greel isn’t half agile when he’s doing his Phantom Of The Opera act and swinging about in the rafters. #DoctorWho
If Leela got her Victorian underwear from the TARDIS along with the rest of the outfit… doesn’t that lead to the logical conclusion that the Doctor’s got a room somewhere with an enormous collection of women’s underwear from throughout history?
The dirty sod! #DoctorWho
Jago is one of the best supporting characters ever, and never fails to make me laugh whenever I watch this. I love every line of his florid Victorian dialogue: “Dash me optics!” 😁 #DoctorWho
One minor annoying plothole: Greel claims to be the first man to travel through time, but he’s aware of “Time Agents”?
Or was the idea that the Time Agency may be some alien organisation monitoring time, nothing to do with Earth (as we all assumed since Captain Jack) #DoctorWho
Horror Of Fang Rock: following on from Talons, this seems to be basically in the same style. You wouldn’t initially know there was a new production team in charge.
A return to the classic ‘base-under-siege’ story, and done very well. #DoctorWho
The conversation in Part One about the old-fashioned use of oil versus the new electric machinery turns out to be surprisingly contemporary. #DoctorWho
Adelaide is such an annoying drip that you wish Leela had slapped her harder. 😄
And it comes as a relief when the Rutan finally bumps her off. #DoctorWho
Doctor! Stop looking at naughty Edwardian cartoons and concentrate on the matter in hand! There’s a bloody Rutan on the loose! #DoctorWho
Come on RTD, you gave us the long-held fan fantasy of “Daleks fighting Cybermen” first time round, how about letting us finally see a scrap between the Sontarans and the Rutans this time, eh? #DoctorWho
Leela at the end of Horror Of Fang Rock: #DoctorWho
Crystal Gayle - Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue (1977) - stereo (studio & live version)
The Invisible Enemy: and here’s where the Graham Williams era really begins (you can read that whatever way you like!) Bob & Dave are back, with their overactive budget-busting imaginations. Combined with Williams new production style it’s all a bit… slapdash. 😕 #DoctorWho
It’s a story that feels like it’s being made up as they go along. Just lots of interchangeable characters being infected and saying “Contact has been made!” #DoctorWho
Still, it does have the one saving grace of course. It’ll always be memorable for his debut.
Love the bit where he’s sneaking up on someone, motors grinding as loud as a car engine, and the actor gamely pretends he can’t hear him. 😄 #DoctorWho
Love the bit where he’s sneaking up on someone, motors grinding as loud as a car engine, and the actor gamely pretends he can’t hear him. 😄 #DoctorWho
The Nucleus Of the Swarm though… Jesus, this has to be in the “Top Ten things in #DoctorWho we never want non-fans to see because they’ll rip the piss out of us.” 😨
Image Of The Fendahl: this immediately seems like a bit of a throwback to the Pertwee era, with its time scanners and satanic covens. You half-expect the Brig and UNIT to burst in and arrest everyone.
(In fact… they *should* be all over this. Where are they? 😛) #DoctorWho
So who did unlock that door and leave the Doctor out in episode two? Adam or Thea? Or are we supposed to infer it was a delayed reaction from the sonic? Which means it worked on wood back then… #DoctorWho
“You must have been sent by providence.”
“No, I were sent by the council to cut the verges…”
😄
Still not entirely sure of Max’s motivation in all of it, but he does get some hilarious bad-guy dialogue:
“It’s too late…”
*pauses, looks off-camera*
“…TOO LATE FOR ALL THE MEDDLING FOOLS!”
Jesus, Graham, what happened to the BBC edict to “tone down the violence”? Fendelman is shot in the head!
And the Doctor giving Max the gun so he can commit suicide rather than succumb to the Fendahl is quite the eyebrow-raising moment too… 👀 #DoctorWho
The Sun Makers: another brilliantly witty script from Bob Holmes. Just as well really, as some of the studio sets are a bit cheap looking. Almost seem half-finished and in front of black backdrops. Fortunately the story’s so good you don’t notice. #DoctorWho
The scripts are also now being adjusted to accommodate the last-minute addition of K9, after his near-total absence from Fendahl. Love the bit where he’s beating the Doctor at chess, and the Doctor’s petulant reaction! #DoctorWho
The presence of Michael Keating and a bunch of scruffy rebels… all wanting to overthrow their despotic rulers… plus mind-altering gases pumped into the city’s air to suppress dissent… all very reminiscent of Blake’s 7. #DoctorWho
I love Cordo’s character arc: from terrified subjugation to reluctant rebel to daring-to-dream-they-might-win and finally cocky overconfidence. #DoctorWho
SvenIt's a kids show!
Underworld: oh boy, “underwhelmed” more like. 😕
To be fair, the first episode on the Minyan spaceship is passable enough, it’s only once we dive into the glorious world of full-on CSO (greenscreen for you under-40s) that it all goes to pot. #DoctorWho
Metebelis Two PodcastThe Graham Williams era begins when the money runs out. 🙃
@gavinwinters I was really hoping the Rutan/Sontaran war would be the threat in The Woman Who Fell to Earth, but instead Chibnall delivered up Tim Shaw. 😕
Gaia