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
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 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…”
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
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
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 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.
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
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…)
Gavin Winters
Neil Corry