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…
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
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
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…
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
Hands up if you paused your VHS recording at this point to try and copy down every detail.
✋
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
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
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.
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?
“I know it’s not as good as it used to be, but I’m still terribly interested!”
Subtle. 😄 #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
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
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.
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. 🙂
The opening doesn’t make much of a concession to new viewers, launching straight into an info-dump with references to Time Lords, Daleks, Skaro, the Master, regenerations… helpfully showing RTD what *not* to do!
And what’s with the Daleks having Smurf voices? 😆#DoctorWho
I always think Grace’s whole look and character was designed to echo Scully from The X-Files, which was massive at the time.
And elsewhere they lift from Classic Who - the two hearts X-ray and the new clothes scene are obviously taken from Spearhead From Space. #DoctorWho
@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 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.
Gavin Winters
Jan
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