Gavin WintersStill, 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
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
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
Given the budgetary restraints Graham Williams was working under, it’s baffling why he always opted for so many outer-space/alien planet stories, an immediate strain on resources.
The earth-based stories like Fang Rock & Fendahl worked great. Just do more of those! #DoctorWho
RTD was right about the robots in this story and their silly “noses”. They’d look much better without them. #DoctorWho
The problem with this one is there’s *nothing* to grab on to. No likeable characters to root for, no interesting plot, no memorable or funny villain for the Doctor to clash with… in fact the Doctor barely meets or interacts with the bad guys at all. #DoctorWho
Best moment is at the end when the Doctor chastises Jackson and forces him to take the escaped slaves from the planet away with him on the ship.
The only other noteworthy thing about this story is it inspired the name of the knicker-factory in Coronation Street…😄 #DoctorWho
The Invasion Of Time: a very jarring and unusual opening, with the action already underway and the Doctor up to something mysterious. They keep you hanging for two whole episodes, with no quick answers coming as to why the Doctor’s apparently gone mad. #DoctorWho
The Chancellery Guard have never been portrayed as so stupid as they are here, almost getting to Keystone Cops levels of incompetence, with how the Doctor and everyone else run rings round them.
And the Sontarans are almost as bad when they turn up. #DoctorWho
One of the Time Lords in this story is said to be very old and slow, because “I’m on my tenth regeneration, you know!” #DoctorWho
Nice to see lots more TARDIS interior beyond the console room, but hard to buy the location as being part of the same place
And the budget may have been small, but it’s coming to something when the awesome machinery of Gallifrey is represented by…a grotty factory…😕 #DoctorWho
“DIE, SUN LOUNGERS! MORTAL ENEMY OF THE GLORIOUS SONTARAN EMPIRE!”
Leela’s departure is so bizarre and rushed, thankfully the last example of the stupid “marrying someone you’ve known 5 minutes” ending. (Peri’s is at least a bit different)
Between the public favourite of Sarah Jane and the fan-favourite of Romana, Leela was brilliant and criminally-overlooked. #DoctorWho
The Ribos Operation: after the ups and downs in quality of the previous season, things get a bit more consistent from here on.
Bob Holmes delivers the goods again, with great characters and dialogue and his usual effortless worldbuilding. #DoctorWho
The costumes and set design for Ribos are very good. Using bits of historical periods from Earth as the basis for an alien planet helps avoid the usual problem of blank white corridors, shiny “space” outfits and so on. #DoctorWho
I like the Doctor’s initial irritation at being lumbered with Romana(voratrelundar), and her cool psychological analysis of him.
Rodan from the previous story was so similar to Romana I that she must have been an inspiration, surely? #DoctorWho
The Pirate Planet: a fun and imaginative debut from Douglas Adams, with some huge bonkers sci-fi ideas. (and Chibnall cheekily ripped off the whole basic idea of the shrunken planets for Ranskoor Av Kolos, didn’t he? 😜) #DoctorWho
Douglas gets a lot of fun out of Romana upstaging the Doctor when it comes to piloting the TARDIS, charming the locals and later butting in with the technobabble explanations. #DoctorWho
It’s such a great, kid-friendly idea to give K9 a rival to fight in the form of the Captain’s robot parrot. #DoctorWho
I always enjoy a good old-fashioned mad booming villain like the Captain.
Nice twist with the Nurse being the real power behind it all, as she gets subtly more visible and prominent over the course of the four episodes. #DoctorWho
The Stones Of Blood: when the Williams era tries to do gothic horror it’s never with *quite* the same flair as under Hinchcliffe, but this is still very good. Plus it’s earth-based, which automatically makes it look better than many of the space-y stories at this time. #DoctorWho
1970s Britain must have been convinced there were lots of devil-worshipping covens still active in the countryside. We’ve had The Daemons, Image Of The Fendahl, and now this. And just a few years until K9 & Company… #DoctorWho
Tom’s Doctor seems to work well with dotty old ladies, and he’s clearly enjoying Beatrix Lehmann as Amelia Rumford. #DoctorWho
The Androids Of Tara: there’s a definite Star Wars influence starting to creep in around this point, not with space battles or anything (still far beyond #DoctorWho’s budget) but just the general idea of taking old-fashioned stories/characters/settings and giving them a sci-fi upgrade.
And in little details like the electrified swords. They must have been thinking of how to do a low-budget version of lightsabers when they came up with that, surely?
This story only makes the barest acknowledgment of the Key to Time arc, with Romana finding the segment five minutes after landing, and then it’s mostly forgotten about until the end. #DoctorWho
The Archimandrite is really a bit dim not to see through Grendel’s schemes, but then what do you expect from a man who wears the Sixth Doctor’s tea cosy and shower curtain. #DoctorWho
There’s been some entertainingly theatrical villains in this season, but Count Grendel tops the lot. “Next time, I shall not be so lenient!” #DoctorWho
It’s been funny watching this story, with all its royal pomp and coronation sequence, straight after the real one yesterday. But that one didn’t have someone grabbing the sceptre and bashing robot-Camilla’s head in. That’s why #DoctorWho’s version of events is always better. 😄
The Power Of Kroll: hmm, there’s nothing particularly terrible about this one, but nothing hugely exciting either. The least interesting story of the Key To Time season. Bob Holmes must have been having a bit of an off day. #DoctorWho
You have to feel sorry for all those poor extras, painted green and dancing around in loincloths in the middle of the night.
Fair play to John Abineri’s performance as Ranquin though, being totally committed to the part while looking ridiculous. #DoctorWho
SvenI would get painted green and run around in a loincloth for fun.