Gavin WintersThe 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
Cassandra is such a uniquely RTD creation. I couldn’t imagine any other showrunner having invented her. #DoctorWho
The Unquiet Dead: this completes the initial past/present/future trilogy, showing the series’ potential.
But I like how, this early into trying to show all of space and time, they went “ah, screw it” and set an episode in Cardiff, with Welsh actors and Welsh accents.😄#DoctorWho
The Doctor’s directions to Rose about where to go in the TARDIS, including “past the bins” was another quick eye-opening moment that made me very aware of the new style and had me thinking “Well… JNT wouldn’t have had him say that!” #DoctorWho
Rose literally setting foot in the past illustrated by the footstep in the snow is a great touch, as is the snowflakes falling from the TARDIS when it dematerialises at the end. #DoctorWho
They seemed to be trying to establish a spooky character trait in these early episodes of the Doctor quietly and mysteriously entering a scene (like popping up in a doorway) without anyone noticing until he speaks, which gets dropped later on. #DoctorWho
As enjoyable as this is, the unfortunate and unintentional message of “don’t trust refugees, they’ll come in and try to take over!” just gets more and more noticeable every time you watch it. Really should have been spotted at script stage. #DoctorWho
It only took 42 years, but finally a supporting character, Charles Dickens, asks the very sensible question about how exactly is it “goodbye” when the Doctor and companion walk into a wooden box to leave at the end of an adventure.
Why did no one ask that before?? #DoctorWho
Aliens Of London / World War Three: our first proper full-on alien invasion story of the revival, and they take full advantage of the bigger budget and better production values to really flesh it out and show the world’s realistic reaction to such an event. #DoctorWho
I always think that RTD having the Slitheen farting was a case of, in those early days of figuring out how to make #DoctorWho popular again, throwing *everything* at the show to try to make it appeal to kids. But it probably wasn’t necessary as everything else worked well enough.
Jackie slapping the Doctor is still very funny. As was Mickey being unable to get a date for a year because everyone thought he’d murdered Rose. 😄 #DoctorWho
One thing that’s suddenly very noticeable on this rewatch: the audio around the Powell Estate. Always full of sounds of people and families chatting, shouting, dogs barking etc. Gives it a real atmosphere of an actual place. Subsequent eras never bothered doing that. #DoctorWho
The tension and buildup of the “alien” on the loose… followed by the reveal of the space pig, is hilarious. I don’t think anyone at the time was expecting that! #DoctorWho
Hello Trinity Wells!
And UNIT! Proper ‘United Nations’ UNIT too, none of yer ‘Unified’ gubbins! #DoctorWho
I’d like to think that the actual security on a submarine with missiles is a bit stronger than something that can be hacked by one guy using a universal password that then allows him to blow up Downing Street… 😬 #DoctorWho
Dalek: now this is a textbook example of how you bring back an old enemy and make them powerful and relevant again for modern audiences.
You can tell they took delight in subverting all the tired old criticisms about sink plungers, stairs, etc, one by one. #DoctorWho
I was so glad to see Rob Shearman (on Confidential, I think) saying how he wanted to bring back *the Daleks*, not any of those silly CGI spider-Dalek things we’d seen suggested through the 90s. It just had to be the original design. Otherwise what’s the point? #DoctorWho
Eccleston’s acting in this episode, in scenes like his first encounter with the Dalek, or the “Why dont you just die?” moment, are among the finest by any Doctor actor up to this point. #DoctorWho
Henry Van Statten. Hmm, a “genius” tech billionaire with an over-inflated ego, who uses his vast fortune and resources to acquire something powerful that he doesn’t really understand, and gives it a silly name (Metaltron) because he thinks it sounds cool… 🤔 #DoctorWho
The Long Game: this was possibly the only episode of season one without a particular “hook” to it, like ‘first outer space one’ or ‘first historical’ or ‘a Dalek!’. It’s been a bit overlooked, but its theme of media and news manipulation has only become more relevant. #DoctorWho
It’s still obviously a bit of a budget-saving episode though, with some fairly noticeable re-used sets. #DoctorWho
I don’t personally count Adam as a companion. He’s the one who messed up and “failed the audition”. Plus he doesn’t actually share that much screen time with the Doctor across his two episodes. #DoctorWho
I think he’s only there to give Eccleston and Piper (who previously were in most scenes, either together or apart) a bit of a break while he goes off and takes up screen time with his subplot involving the chip in his head. A forerunner to the ‘Doctor-lite’ episodes. #DoctorWho
Father’s Day: I was always a big fan of Paul Cornell’s New Adventures novels, so was looking forward to seeing him finally write for TV #DoctorWho. He was the right choice for a story like this, that illustrates how the revived show now had a greater emotional depth than before.
Apparently RTD told Cornell not to worry about every last detail making perfect logical sense, as long as it felt right for the story.
I think the TARDIS becoming just a Police Box might have been one of those. No real explanation as to why, but its a memorable image. #DoctorWho
As is the Doctor *actually* being killed and eaten by a monster! #DoctorWho