Gavin WintersKilling Murray and all the other Navarinos is the one major mis-step. I know we’re supposed to see Gavrok as a ruthless bastard but it feels tonally wrong compared to the rest of the story. #DoctorWho
Goronwy must be the most chilled out character in all of #DoctorWho, completely unphased by a growing alien baby, and not at all bothered by his house being wrecked or his life’s work collecting thousands of jars of honey being destroyed!
Dragonfire: by this point you had the first generation of writers who’d not only grown up with #DoctorWho, but were also influenced by movies of the 70s/80s.
So we get budget versions of the Star Wars cantina… Terminator (Ace’s nitro)… Alien… Raiders for Kane’s melting face…
The Alien(s) pastiche in particular, with the motion detectors strapped to the guns, is perhaps something to NOT attempt with studio lighting brighter than the sun, killing any potential atmosphere or suspense… #DoctorWho
But anyway… Ace! 😃
I like the relationship between those two, especially when she brings out the nitro-flinging anarchist in Mel. Makes me wish Mel had stayed for a longer crossover period between them.
Not something I ever thought I’d say back in 1987! 😆 #DoctorWho
That cliffhanger of the Doctor climbing over the rail and dangling from the umbrella is even more of an odd choice when you think that, at the same time, Ace and Mel are being threatened by the first appearance of the Dragon. A perfectly good cliffhanger right there! #DoctorWho
I love the philosophical guard: “What do you think of the assertion that the semiotic thickness of a performed text varies according to the redundancy of auxiliary performance codes?”
(Yes, I’m sad enough to have typed that from memory!) #DoctorWho
Mel gets the weirdest departure ever, leaving for… no reason whatsoever. Just as well they diluted Glitz from the psychopath he was meant to be in his first episodes, or she’d be out the nearest airlock.
Oh well, RTD will be along soon with some decent writing Mel! #DoctorWho
The obliviousness of the little girl’s mother is completely stupid. She didn’t notice the massacre or wonder where everyone else had gone? And where exactly are they both going to go now that the colony/spaceship has taken off and is flying through space? #DoctorWho
Remembrance Of The Daleks: after all the minor niggles and flaws of recent seasons, it’s a relief to again have a story where everything just *works*.
All the set pieces are great. A Dalek going up stairs(!). Ace and the baseball bat. The shuttle landing. Top stuff. 😍#DoctorWho
This must be one of the most influential #DoctorWho stories ever, not just in how it inspired the whole character of the Doctor in the New Adventures novels, but also extending its reach up to the modern series.
As RTD said, blowing up Skaro was the first act in the Time War…
Even in the excessively fan-pleasing 1980s version of #DoctorWho, this is particularly continuity heavy, but Ben Aaronovitch handles it deftly, weaving in lots of past history of Daleks and Time Lords without anything being too confusing for the casual viewer.
The junkyard in Totter’s lane is suddenly bigger on the inside. 😳
Honestly, it’s *massive* here compared to how it was even in Attack Of The Cybermen. #DoctorWho
The Special Weapons Dalek! What a lad! Someone bring him back in the modern series, please? And I mean properly back, blowing shit up and being an unstoppable bastard, not just lurking in the background. (side-eyes Moffat 👀) #DoctorWho
Hands up if you paused your VHS recording at this point to try and copy down every detail.
✋
The Happiness Patrol: like a lot of fans who were young when this was first broadcast, I’ve grown to appreciate it more as I’ve got older. I couldn’t see past the (deliberately) tacky look to get what it was trying to say. #DoctorWho
Though I still think there were too many of what JNT called “oddball” stories in this era. If this was in a longer season, with more stories in the style of Remembrance, it would have been more obvious what they were trying to do with the unique approach of this one. #DoctorWho
Hmm, the Kandyman…😬 He’s a memorable villain, granted, but even after all this time and all the various defences and justifications I’ve read of it, I’m still not okay with the costume. Wish they’d done the original idea of him looking like a scientist in a lab coat. #DoctorWho
As a teen I got that Helen A was a Thatcher parody, even if I didn’t pick up on the deeper themes.
Her final scene with the Doctor is a highlight, and it’s a testament to Sheila Hancock’s acting that she manages to wring emotion out of the death of the Fifi puppet. #DoctorWho
Silver Nemesis: not the greatest story ever, but I feel it’s been very unfairly maligned. A lot of the usually criticised parts, such as JNT’s indulgence in giving that “Hollywood star” (🤷🏻♂️) a cameo, are hardly so bad as to ruin things. #DoctorWho
The Doctor in a fez is an amusingly unintentional link to the modern series.
Moffat must have taken inspiration from this in other ways for the 50th and Day Of The Doctor - the different time zones, an ancient Gallifreyan artefact, a Queen Elizabeth… #DoctorWho
There is something quite funny about a bunch of neo-Nazis, fully armed and in camouflage gear, trying to start “the Fourth Reich” while driving round Windsor in a transit van… 😄 #DoctorWho
Honestly the Cybermen are the weakest part, being pathetically easy to dodge or kill.
The use of gold against them has lazily declined from how it previously needed to be grated into their chest units. Now it just needs a touch and they practically explode. 🙄#DoctorWho
And their lack of interest in “the secrets of the Time Lords” is baffling.
Plus the way their defeat is basically a re-run of Remembrance (acknowledged in the dialogue!) doesn’t help. This would probably be improved a lot with a different alien threat. #DoctorWho
Lady Peinforte’s hint that the Doctor’s not a Time Lord… added to Pertwee’s slip of being “thousands” of years old, plus the Morbius faces… and you see this idea has been bubbling under for decades.
Anyone who thinks Chibnall “retconned” #DoctorWho history is talking nonsense.
The Greatest Show In The Galaxy: this is another of the so-called “oddball” stories, with a very comic book sensibility to it. A lot of the characters feel like they’ve stepped straight from the pages of a DWM strip. It’s one of those ‘only in #DoctorWho ‘ type stories.
I like the idea that the Gods of Ragnarok represent the BBC, judging #DoctorWho on how entertaining it still is, with Captain Cook being the alternative, namely Star Trek.
Though I think people who subscribe to that theory are stretching it a bit with ‘Deadbeat = Blake’s 7’. Eh?
Ace’s fear of clowns was the first time I’d ever seen that portrayed in media, in fact the first time I’d ever heard of the concept! I swear that absolutely nobody had such a phobia before Stephen King wrote ‘It’… 🤡 #DoctorWho
Mags’ werewolf transformation is not exactly An American Werewolf In London. More comical than terrifying. Lycanthropy through the medium of interpretive dance. #DoctorWho
“I know it’s not as good as it used to be, but I’m still terribly interested!”
Subtle. 😄 #DoctorWho
McCoy doing the ‘cool guys don’t look at explosions’ act at the end is *slightly* spoiled by the fact that he does, barely, flinch at the BOOM moment. #DoctorWho
Battlefield: into the final classic season (😨), but with an encore for the Brig! By now fans had built him up into this legendary figure, and as such this story thoroughly celebrates him.
And UNIT gets a bit of a makeover, with a more international flavour to it. #DoctorWho
So often in this era you have ambitious new writers with wildly imaginative ideas… that just can’t be effectively conveyed given the available time and budget.
The Target novelisation clarifies everything (especially Morgaine and Mordred’s universe) immeasurably. #DoctorWho
Sad to see the reduced circumstances of the classic TARDIS interior in its final appearance. Just the console and a few fake walls in shadow.
“Oh shame!”, as Bambera would say (ah, the momentary shock in 1989 when we all thought she was about to say shit! 😆) #DoctorWho
Unfortunately not the best story when it comes to Sylvester’s acting skills. Too much shouting, too much gurning, and that final confrontation with Morgaine over the nuclear missile… oh dear. 😬 #DoctorWho
Ace letting slip a couple of racist comments to Shou Yuing when Morgaine gets into their heads is much more shocking now than at the time. Is that really what Ace subconsciously thinks? #DoctorWho
Overall this doesn’t gel as well as Aaronovitch’s previous story, but still has a lot of great individual moments, and a surprisingly modern ‘timey-wimey’ element, with the references and hints of a future Doctor. No wonder Steven Moffat cites it as a favourite! #DoctorWho
Ghost Light: baffled just about everyone on first broadcast, but after years of rewatches and hearing various explanations, it all makes sense now. Once you get the basic idea of a scientist (Light) experimenting using a control sample and a test sample it all clicks. #DoctorWho
One thing I think can’t be praised highly enough in this story is Mark Ayres’ music, which elevates the whole thing and makes every scene drip with atmosphere. It would be a far lesser production without it. #DoctorWho
After years of 1980s stories being lit like Blackpool illuminations, this has the opposite problem of being incredibly dim and murky in parts. You could say it adds to the ambience, but it’s *so* bloody dark it affects the quality of the video recording. #DoctorWho
Why wasn’t another police officer sent to investigate Inspector McKenzie’s disappearance after he first came to the house two years earlier? Or does Josiah have a whole stack of them in a chest of drawers somewhere? #DoctorWho
I love the streak of black humour running through the story. From the Reverend ‘devolving’ into an ape to the Inspector ending up in the soup. “The cream of Scotland Yard!” #DoctorWho
The obvious plot hole of course is why Light hasn’t encountered the process of evolution anywhere else, and acts like it’s unique to Earth. Maybe he’s a Moffat-esque piece of malfunctioning technology. #DoctorWho
The Curse Of Fenric: this has long been a huge favourite of mine, and watching it again after a number of years it’s always a worry that something that fondly remembered won’t live up to expectations, but no, it’s still exceptionally good. All time top ten #DoctorWho
Who would have ever thought Nicholas Parsons would be so good in a role like this? Sometimes JNT’s “stunt casting” really worked.
Sylvester also gives the best performance of his time in the role. We’re light years away from the pratfalling of Time And The Rani. #DoctorWho
The psychic paper may speed things up and get around such things as introductions and passes, but it’s not as much fun as watching the Doctor quickly type up his own authorisation and sign it in Churchill’s handwriting. #DoctorWho
This scene remains embarrassingly clunky though. Least sexy seduction ever. 😆 #DoctorWho
Was anyone ever actually surprised that baby Audrey turns out to be Ace’s mother? #DoctorWho
It’s still remarkable that in the twilight of the classic series, at a time when it was unloved and unwatched and seen as well past its prime, it was actually coming out with a run of gems like this, in a late burst of creativity. Well done Cartmel and co. 🫡 #DoctorWho
Jan@gavinwinters Cartmel and Aaronovitch are the heroes of the McCoy era :D
Survival: so after 26 years, it all comes full circle as the Doctor brings his teenage companion back to contemporary London. And it really hits you watching this now how much it also foreshadows the 2005 revival, with its tower blocks and ordinary domestic life. #DoctorWho
They’d worked out by now how to do decent #DoctorWho on the available budget, by making everything mostly earthbound, but still managed to give us one last believable alien planet.
And the Cheetah People makeup is easily equal to the cat nuns from nearly two decades later.
On paper the return of the Ainley Master here could have been a bad idea, as he’s more associated with previous eras and more outlandish settings. Like bringing Sil or Sharaz Jek to Perivale. But he surprisingly works very well, giving one of his best performances. #DoctorWho
Look, a future Doctor left all this stuff here for him to land on, okay? That’s my headcanon and I’m sticking with it. #DoctorWho
As if the feeling of this grasping towards what 21st century #DoctorWho would be wasn’t strong enough… in the final moments Jackie bloody Tyler turns up (if you squint).
Damnit who opened a window and let all that dust fly into my eyes… at the same moment that someone’s peeling onions under my nose… at the same moment I’m suddenly struck with strong hayfever… 😢😢😢😢😢 #DoctorWho
What a season. What an era. What a TARDIS team.
And what a pity so few at the time, either in fandom or in the BBC, could appreciate what they had… #DoctorWho
As always in #DoctorWho, there’s a never-ending cycle where a “disliked” era becomes more loved with the passage of time, as the kids who enjoyed it grow up and replace the grumpy adults who slagged it off. It happened before and it’ll happen again.
Every Doc has their day. 🙂
Metebelis Two Podcast@gavinwinters And it doesn't hurt for the actor that was the Doctor to record a bunch of Big Finish dramas. Colin's Big Finish work surpasses his time as the Doctor on television, as that goes for McGann too.
Eric_S@gavinwinters @forschungstorte even with grumpy face 12?
@Eric_S @forschungstorte Yes, why not?
#DoctorWho - The TV Movie: I enjoy this more every time I watch it. It was a bit of a mixed-feelings disappointment in 1996, not really what fans wanted or expected, but divorced from that level of expectation it can now be appreciated as a fun adventure in its own right.
McGann is excellent of course. Still the great lost Doctor. And I’m glad Sylvester is there for the regeneration or else this could have been dismissed as a bit of non-canonical ephemera, on a par with the Cushing movies. #DoctorWho
Andrew BoostsWithWildAbandon@gavinwinters It doesn't really fit into the original series but seen as a prototype/prologue to the relaunch, the TV movie looks quite prescient.
Female-presenting nipples@gavinwinters that's my tardis team right there
MahagonnyBill@gavinwinters
C'mon Ace, we've got work to do 😀.
C'mon Ace, we've got work to do 😀.
@MahagonnyBill “…in Vancouver! Well me, at least Ace. Maybe not you…”
SweetAI Belle 
@gavinwinters
Not sure how true it is, but I've heard it said before that Survival was the one time he got to play the Master the way he wanted to...
Not sure how true it is, but I've heard it said before that Survival was the one time he got to play the Master the way he wanted to...
Laserdisc Turtle (Ewan)@gavinwinters It comes full circle for you and tonight I just finished the story Full Circle! I'll catch up some day.
It's really surprising how new series Survival feels at times. The show was cancelled just as it was finding its feet and feeling fresh again.
@gavinwinters It's a favourite of mine too, I even got my DVD signed by Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred. Which version are you watching?
@LaserdiscTurtle The movie length special edition. I don’t think I’ve actually watched the original broadcast version in nearly 30 years!
@gavinwinters I can't remember the last time I watched the broadcast version. I prefer watching episodically but the extended feature length one is just so superior.
Me and my wife are currently half way through season 18 on our rewatch and have been doing one episode a night...will probably watch the feature length ones when we reach the last season though.