Gavin WintersCongratulations to Graham Crowden for being the only actor in the seven-year run of the Fourth Doctor who manages to give a performance even more bonkers and over-the-top than Tom himself.
“MY DREEEEEAMS OF CONQUEST…!!” 😄 #DoctorWho
Shada: possibly not the long-lost all-time classic of legend, but this is still very good, and a natural partner to City Of Death. Such a shame it was never completed, as it would’ve made a great bookend to the Williams/Adams era. #DoctorWho
The punting footage is so familiar from The Five Doctors that it’s impossible to watch it and not expect that the time scoop is about to appear in the sky above Tom. #DoctorWho
Chronotis is such a brilliant creation. Like an older, more befuddled Troughton.
Another for the long list of ‘Bring them back in the modern series!’ He can just have regenerated. #DoctorWho
Why is every renegade Time Lord in #DoctorWho obsessed with reading The Time Machine by H.G. Wells? I’m surprised we didn’t see the War Chief browsing through it in between bouts of bitching at the Security Chief.
It’s one thing to have a character dressed like this striding about on an alien planet or wherever, but it suddenly becomes very funny when they’re walking the streets of contemporary Earth looking camper than Christmas. #DoctorWho
Right, next up - the 1980s! Neon! Synth music! Rubik cubes! Flock-of-Seagulls haircuts!
(Yes, I know technically we reached the 80s during Horns Of Nimon but you know what I mean.) #DoctorWho
The move to colour in 1970 hit you like a slap in the face, but JNT’s 1980s makeover hits you like a ten ton truck.
But here comes Bidmead to drain all the joy and life and fun out of the show, and turn it into a Very Serious Programme, for Very Serious Fans. Sigh. 🙄 #DoctorWho
To be fair, some of the excesses of the previous era did need curbing, but there’s a lot of throwing the baby out with the bathwater here. What’s the point of having Tom Baker as your leading man if you’re going to mute and subdue his style of performance so much? #DoctorWho
The highly stylised direction, with lots of extreme closeups, means at times it’s bloody difficult to know what the hell is going on.
The Foamasi cutting into the Hive from outside is muddled enough, but the cliffhanger across episodes 3/4 is utterly unfathomable. #DoctorWho
The Foamasi in their human skinsuit disguises (that mysteriously make them smaller and thinner) must have been an influence on RTD when he came up with the Slitheen.
Not to mention we have a villain who gets regressed to a baby… #DoctorWho
I think I agree with Lalla Ward, who said that her first season was aimed at everyone, but her second season narrowed its appeal to “14 year old boys who were into maths and science and computers”.
Real-life Adrics, basically! #DoctorWho
Meglos:
Space Babs! 😃
I hope there’s a Space Ian too, in case any other Tigellan tries to chat her up and he’s ready to punch their lights out. #DoctorWho
Meglos can create a time loop to trap a TARDIS, which is an amazing level of technology for a cactus.
That’s not a sentence I ever expected to write… 😐#DoctorWho
Young and foxy Lalla Ward in a story featuring a ‘science vs religion’ debate. No wonder Richard Dawkins said he was fond of this era… #DoctorWho
Not really a good idea to have the Doctor and Romana stuck in the TARDIS for the whole of part one.
In fact with the episodes being so short, with long recaps, and that repeated time loop clip… there must be only about an hour of footage across this whole story. #DoctorWho
Full Circle: the location filming in part one all looks very lavish and expensive, and with loads of extras it helps to make a convincing alien society.
And with a story full of original ideas, it’s very impressive to think this was written by an 18 year old. #DoctorWho
The Outlers are a wet bunch but Jesus, any of them would have been a better choice for a new companion than Adric. His brother Varsh is a vastly better actor. Kill off Adric and bring him instead! #DoctorWho
Poor old K9 is removed from the action yet again, this time by being decapitated! And just as they were starting to sort out his motors so he quietly glides across the studio floor too. #DoctorWho
The Sea Devils is remembered as “The one where the monsters come out of the sea” but this story is equally deserving of that title. Arguably done better in fact, and with more realistic masks. #DoctorWho
State Of Decay: well thank goodness for Terrance Dicks, who in a season of experimental oddities gives us a proper straightforward traditional story, with Bidmead’s high-concept sci-fi gubbins about CVEs or tachyons or whatever kept to a minimum. #DoctorWho
It’s a very #DoctorWho-y twist to give us what initially appears to be a medieval society, only for someone to then pull out a hidden communicator that’s clearly hi-tech.
The text on the knackered old display screen in the rebels base looks like Ceefax. 😄
Plus it appears to give the date the Hydrax left Earth as 1998(!) Let’s just put that down to it being ancient and broken and the digits messing up. #DoctorWho
Zargo kills Tarak and Camilla *instantly* complains that his blood will now be stale because he’s dead.
He’s still warm love, have a nibble. 🧛♀️ #DoctorWho
I wish at some point we’d got to see more of this epic ancient battle between the Time Lords and the Vampires. It’s a great unexplored area of #DoctorWho mythology.
Another for the list of “Dear RTD. Please, please please…”
Warriors’ Gate: after the previous story was the most “traditional” in season 18, the pendulum now swings wildly in the opposite direction to one of the strangest, most surreal and ‘out there’ tales in the whole history of #DoctorWho…
I can never quite make up my mind about this one. It all looks very beautiful of course, with lots of eerie dreamlike fairytale imagery (the realm made up of black and white photos) but it must have been bafflingly incomprehensible to kids (and most adults) at the time #DoctorWho
It’s an abrupt departure for Romana and K9, as more and more of the Fourth Doctor era gets chipped away by the new production team, leaving Tom as the last man standing.
With just Adric left as the sole companion at the end, it’s all starting to look a bit… Davison… #DoctorWho
I’m glad something like Warriors’ Gate exists, as part of the rich and varied tapestry of #DoctorWho, and that the show is flexible enough to dip into these stranger and more experimental waters from time to time, but you wouldn’t want every story to be as opaque as this.
The Keeper Of Traken: there’s something particularly ‘BBC Shakespeare adaptation’ about this story. The costumes, the sets, the theatricality of it all. The fake exterior of the night sky adds to the feeling of stagey-ness. #DoctorWho
With no Romana or K9 to talk to, the Doctor actually seems to acknowledge Adric for the first time. Incredibly, Tom even manages to occasionally look him in the eye when speaking to him! #DoctorWho
It’s a slow, gradual build-up to the revelation that Melkur is a TARDIS with the Master inside. Though as will become typical under JNT, when he’s finally dramatically revealed there’s no (initial) explanation of who he is, the audience is expected to just know. #DoctorWho
Poor Tremas, one of the unluckiest people in the whole #DoctorWho universe to coincidentally have a name that’s anagrammatically suitable for the Master to take him over.
The coda where the Master possesses him is great though. Its unusual enough for the action to take us back to a planet after the Doctor and co have left, and then this kicker.
If this were a modern movie, it would be a mid-credits scene to tease the next sequel. #DoctorWho
Logopolis: and so the Fourth Doctor goes out with this appropriately sombre story. The ominous presence of the Watcher is a great touch, especially his mysterious conversation with the Doctor on the bridge, that neither Adric or we the viewers are allowed to hear. #DoctorWho
On a brighter note: Tegan! 😃
The first episode and a half is devoted to her intro, while the Doctor and Adric faff about measuring a police box.
Of the three recent companion additions, this is the only one that makes you think “Oh, a proper companion. At last!” #DoctorWho
The Doctor’s plan to land the TARDIS underwater and open the doors to flush out the Master is one of the maddest suggestions he’s ever come up with. #DoctorWho
There are some interesting ideas in here but unfortunately Bidmead seems to think that dialogue about mathematics and machine code and subroutines makes for *fascinating*, gripping, edge-of-the-seat drama that will stop viewers switching over to Buck Rogers… 😐 #DoctorWho
“The Watcher!”
“He was the Doctor all the time…”
Er… okay… take us through your thought processes and logical deductions there Nyssa? Because we’d all really like to know… #DoctorWho
Overall season 18 remains a curious beast, an odd transitional year as JNT remoulds the show to suit himself. There’s lots of good material, but I just wish they hadn’t felt the need to cut so much of what made the show fun and accessible over the previous six years.
However the themes of death, decay and entropy, leading eventually to renewal and rebirth are worked through the season brilliantly. This probably has the most unique identity of any season of #DoctorWho, Classic or New.
Gaia@gavinwinters maybe 🤔 NuWho Series 18 (season 44) will be similiar
Castrovalva: once more Bidmead gives us a story with great concepts but hampered by technobabble, with no attempt to give the companions natural sounding dialogue.
And just like Logopolis, we’re TARDIS-bound for almost two episodes before we get to the titular planet. #DoctorWho
I think this story more than any other cemented fans’ idea of how the TARDIS interior should look. The location filming in Invasion Of Time didn’t really cut it, but here we finally get lots of rooms and corridors with the same roundel pattern as the console room. #DoctorWho
Tom’s boots magically regenerate into shoes for Peter. Hmm, clothes that regenerate with the Doctor… what a crazy idea, eh?
And Tom’s scarf gets unravelled - heresy! Oh, but it’s just the burgundy version, so who cares? 😄 #DoctorWho
Davison is of course immediately great, but then he would be since they filmed this fourth in order.
Could’ve done with a little less of the fan-pleasing impersonations of old Doctors. This was a particular JNT obsession - the idea of a regeneration ’failing’ somehow. #DoctorWho
Winner of the All-Time Silliest Hat In #DoctorWho award.
(He had to go one better than Samantha Briggs…)
Everyone involved in this gamely tries to get across the whole notion of Castrovalva and space folding in on itself using the sets and visual FX available at the time, but it’s one of those ideas you watch now and think: Oh, just imagine how they could do this today… #DoctorWho
Four To Doomsday: I think they were aiming for a Hartnell-style opening episode for this, with just the crew exploring a strange new environment, but it ends up more like one of those stories you’d find in the #DoctorWho annuals. There’s nothing very substantial to it at all.
There’s a TARDIS scene with the companions early on that’s pure padding, and just allows Adric to spout some outrageous sexist bollocks to Tegan and Nyssa.
Come, Cybermen, come…
I presume the ‘humans’ (androids) on Monarch’s ship have some built in defence in their software to prevent boredom, otherwise having to endure those same entertainments of dancing and wrestling and Chinese dragons for thousands of years would have driven them all mad. #DoctorWho
The problem with this one is that it’s mostly about just wallowing in sci-fi ideas, while forgetting to tell anything resembling an entertaining story that the audience can latch on to.
Particularly with the episode endings - The aliens can change form! Bigon’s a robot! Er, yes… and? 🤷🏻♂️
Only part three ends with a traditional ’Doctor-in-peril’ cliffhanger. #DoctorWho
Metebelis Two PodcastI liked the didgeridoo music probably the best in Four to Doomsday, otherwise than that it is a bland story and Adric is insufferable.
Bit of trivia — the recording is from "Quest Under Capricorn", a 1963 series with David Attenborough. The music track is titled "Gunavidi Tribe" on his CD: "My Field Recordings from Across the Planet" and can be heard at the start of episode 4, "The Artists of Arnhem Land":
Quest Under Capricorn - The Artists of Arnhem Land (Episode 4)
Kinda: now this is more like it, a clever and poetic script, with one of the most well-thought-out attempts in #DoctorWho to depict a truly alien and unfathomable culture, even if they do look like humans.
The jungle set has been much maligned over the years, but looking at it now from this distance, it’s not *that* bad. Once you suspend your disbelief and accept the studio-bound VT nature of how it looks, it’s perfectly fine. #DoctorWho
Hindle’s descent into madness is undoubtedly done very well, but it’s hardly the Oscar-worthy performance that some fans would have you believe. #DoctorWho
Adric falls into his usual plot groove of siding (either deliberately or as a ruse) with this week’s nutcase.
Meanwhile Davison’s scenes with Todd show how his Doctor would really work better with a single, relatively normal and down-to-earth companion. #DoctorWho
If for no other reason, this story holds a special place in the annals of #DoctorWho history for providing fans with the term ‘Not-We’. 😁
If you know, you’re a ‘We’.
If you don’t, you’re a ‘Not-We’.
Neil Corry@gavinwinters See also: “He blisters to the touch.”
The Visitation: this has a very 1970s-style opening, with characters in a historical setting witnessing the light show caused by a spaceship descending through the atmosphere, like The Time Warrior or Horror Of Fang Rock. #DoctorWho
Nyssa is checking the Radio Times listings to make sure she’s fully in it this week. #DoctorWho
The Doctor’s taking Tegan back to Heathrow just after she left, so there “won’t be any awkward questions about where she’s been.”
Er, apart from the small matter of your Aunt being murdered and miniaturised Tegan. The police might have a few questions about that! #DoctorWho
@gavinwinters The jungle set really is *that* bad even with out comparing it to past jungles that appear on film, such as Murray-Leach's brilliant set in Planet of Evil. Just compare it the jungle on Tigella in Meglos that Philip Lindley designed in the previous season. Sure, the audience can suspend disbelief for the Deva Loka jungle, but I disagree that makes it 'perfectly fine.'
@Metebelis2 Maybe I’m just used to it after all these years and accept it for what it is, same as many other examples of things being faked in the studio.