Gavin WintersSilver 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
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. 🙂
#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
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
How gullible is Chang Lee? When the clearly sinister and evil-looking guy with glowing eyes who dresses like the Terminator and manhandles you tries to say: “ No, I’m the good guy really!” #DoctorWho
I think at one point the Doctor says he’s “Alf Newman on his brother’s side” or something… but I wasn’t really listening, therefore we can ignore it and IT NEVER HAPPENED. #DoctorWho
It’s impressive how, with little over an hour of screen time, Eric Roberts gives us one of the campest Masters ever.
No mean feat, given the competition! #DoctorWho
Night Of The Doctor: I’m now cheating slightly by jumping ahead to this minisode but, well, you have to really, don’t you?
What a brilliant surprise this was. I still remember scaring the shit out of the cat with the yell I let out when McGann appeared. 😄 #DoctorWho
I’d forgotten just how short this is. It crams in a hell of a lot into under seven minutes, with another tantalising glimpse of how McGann’s Doctor might have been.
The dialogue is noticeably Moffat. You can’t help but picture Matt saying the “bring me knitting” line. #DoctorWho
The funny thing about the Big Finish companions getting namechecked is it means he forgot to mention any that were/will be created afterwards.
No mention of Grace either! 😆 #DoctorWho
The one minor quibble is the speed with which the Doctor abandons his policy of not getting involved in the war and wants to become a “warrior”, all over the death of one person. But the short runtime means there just isn’t time for a long character arc. #DoctorWho
Rose: right, here we go into 21st century #DoctorWho. Honestly, going from 1989 to 1996, detouring to 2013 then back to 2005 has given me whiplash.😵💫
This was a… well, “fantastic” relaunch. Eccleston & Piper both brilliant. Wise to start with Rose as the audience POV character.
One very important point I have to make about this #DoctorWho episode is…
**TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES. PLEASE STAND BY**
…and I’m sure you’ll all agree with me on that. #DoctorWho
One curious “mistake”, if you can call it that, is the Autons still having wrist-guns, same as back in the 70s.
But these aren’t specially made Autons, as far as we know. They’re regular shop dummies animated by the Nestene signal. So… where’d the guns come from? #DoctorWho
The clear, defining approach of RTD’s relaunch was “make EVERYTHING understandable and accessible to the broadest possible audience”, so you get the Doctor attempting to defeat the Nestenes with ‘anti-plastic’. That’s it, that’s all you need. No technobabble gubbins! #DoctorWho
The End Of The World: RTD’s knack of coming up with complex-sounding yet memorable alien names is the equal of how Robert Holmes would fill in world-building background details. Both make it look so easy. #DoctorWho
And his own world-building is proceeding gradually. No info-dumps here, just a slow reveal of the new mythology of everything that’s happened to the Doctor since he was last on our screens. Clear and accessible to fans and non-fans alike. #DoctorWho
The use of Soft Cell and Britney Spears on the soundtrack was a real slap round the chops to us old-schoolers. No stronger indication that this was a whole new style for #DoctorWho! 😆
I really like the effort they went to with the font seen in this episode. At first glance it looks unfathomable and alien, then you realise you can read it. Subtly suggesting that the TARDIS is translating for the audience too. #DoctorWho
Riley@gavinwinters very excited to hear your takes on the 2005 era!
@riley Thank you!
@gavinwinters God I am so glad Big Finish picked up McGann and ran with him. He went from the Doctor with the least material in the entire franchise to one with several seasons worth of intricately plotted audio adventures with a strong cast of characters.