Days 591 to 594 - Snakedance

Poor Tegan has only just rejoined the TARDIS and she is once again being possessed by the Mara! Why the hell did she want to come back??

So this is the second of the two Mara stories and I think I prefer this one to Kinda as it's just much more understandable. I think Kinda has hidden depths which would benefit from repeated viewing but Snakedance is a much more chilled out episode to watch and you don't have to think too hard.

This story also marks the first television appearance of Martin Clunes. He's brilliant in this, stealing every scene he is in.

The story is set on a planet where the Mara was defeated hundreds of years ago and the story of it has passed into legend such that it is now seen as bit of a joke. This is demonstrated by such things as people playing with toy snakes and snakes being represented as figures of fun in a "Punch and Judy" type show. Therefore when the Doctor turns up and tries to warn the local people of the Mara's imminent return, he is not taken at all seriously and is thought of as raving mad man!

Meanwhile the Doctor is trying to protect Tegan from being possessed by the Mara by making her wear what looks suspiciously like an iPod! An iPod in 1983! Of course it doesn't work and she is soon causing chaos with the familiar shape of the snake like Mara imprinted on her arm.

Can't think what more I can say about this one really, except that I really enjoyed it.

Days 587 to 590 - Arc Of Infinity

Omega is back! And he looks nothing like he did in The Three Doctor, he looks like crap! Oh well..

This is season 20. Another big year and one which see the return of this "iconic" villain who was last seen 10 years previously.

I must say I enjoyed this story more this time around than I usually do. In the past I have found the plot difficult to grasp but I think I finally understand it now. It's not even that complicated really.

Basically Omega is once again trying to emerge into our universe to escape his isolation in the universe of antimatter. To escape he is using the help of a rebel Time Lord who has given Omega access to the Doctor's bio data allowing him to merge with the Doctor's body. Knowing the danger of this anti matter creature emerging into our own universe the Time Lords will stop at nothing to prevent it, which unfortunately means the execution of the Doctor to prevent the transfer from being completed.

As well as the return of Omega, we get another return for the show, this one from not so long ago. It's Tegan! She's back! Having quit her job she accidentally stumbles back into the Doctor's world when she goes to visit her cousin in Amsterdam who unfortunately has become one of Omega's first victims. Tegan's family really do come off badly from her association with the Doctor. First her aunt is miniaturised by the Master and now her cousin has been hypnotised and is being forced to work as a slave for Omega!

As mentioned above we get some scenes filmed outside of the UK for the first time in a while, this time in Amsterdam. It's nice to see some action outside of the UK but at the same time it doesn't really seem to work as well as it did in City Of Death. The location work in Amsterdam feels a little tacked on and there doesn't seem to be any real reason as to why the story should be set there. Part four of the story is pretty much one long chase scene as the Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan chase Omega through the streets of Amsterdam. The chase seems to go on for ages and it's clearly just the production team trying to make the most out of the fact that they are filming overseas.

For the first three parts of the story, the majority of the action takes place on Gallifrey where we meet some familiar Time Lords again. Borusa is back, this time played by yet another actor. This "regeneration" is acknowledged on screen but I can't help but wonder how accident prone Borusa must be to be getting through so many bodies!

The head of the Time Lord security, Commander Maxil is played by yet another familiar face, but this one is a face from the future of the show. It's Colin Baker, the sixth Doctor himself! In the scene where he captures and shoots the Doctor, I like to think it's Colin already after Peter Davison's job!

Finally I have to say my very favourite part of this story happens right at the very end as Tegan reveals the news that she is free to rejoin the Doctor on his travels. We see the Doctor give an uneasy smile which slowly slips away just as the closing credit roll. I'm sorry Doctor. The gobby Australian is back and this time it seems like she is here to stay!

Days 583 to 586 - Time-Flight

I was still reeling from the loss of my dear Adric when I began this one. Indeed Tegan asks the Doctor a question that should have occurred to me at the end of Earthshock. The Doctor has a time machine, therefore surely he can go back in time and rescue Adric from the freightor before it crashes into the Earth. The Doctor is visibly upset at being asked to do this and explains that it is impossible and there are some things the TARDIS cannot do, some time can cannot be rewritten...well either that or he's glad to see the back of the snotty little shit!

So in the latest series of Doctor Who, the eleventh Doctor tells his companion, Clara, that he once spent ages getting a gobby Australian to Heathrow airport. Well, Tegan is that gobby Australian and this is the story where she finally reaches her destination of Heathrow airport! As an air stewardess on her way to her first job she has certainly taken the scenic route to the airport!

Of course things can't be as simple as that and the Doctor arrives just in time to hear about the disappearance of a Concorde that was on it's approach to Heathrow. Recreating the exact circumastances with another Concorde, and with the TARDIS on board the Doctor discovers that they have been thrown into a time corridor which has sent them back in time to prehistoric Earth. Look out for Adric's intestines Doctor! I'm sure they must be splattered around the place somewhere!

Sitting at the heart of this time tunnel that has pulled both Concordes and the TARDIS back in time is a mysterious character who is only slightly annoying and spends the first two episodes talking gibberish and chanting. After an explosion from his machinery the character removes his mask to reveal he was the Master all the time. Now this leads me to one of my quibbles with this story. Why? Why would the Master wear a diguise and talk strangely when for pretty much all the time there is no one around to see him anyway! It makes no sense whatsoever!

Our pseudo companions for this story are the flight crew of the second Concorde headed up by the brilliant Captain Stapley. He's just brilliant the way he adapts quickly to his new surroundings and his respect for the Doctor is clear from the outset. He even manages to sort of pilot the TARDIS in one of the episodes. What a guy!

So to skip to the end of what is a pretty dull story, the Doctor traps the Master somewhere (I can't remember where and quite frankly it doesn't really matter as he's bound to escape anyway!) and gets everyone else safely back to Heathrow. As Tegan goes for a wander round, Nyssa and the Doctor depart in the TARDIS believing that Tegan now has her wish and will be glad to be eventually at Heathrow. Of couse, a woman's mind is never that simple and she arrives back in time to see the TARDIS depart revealing that she actually wanted to keep travelling in the TARDIS. Oh well, bye bye Tegan!

Season 11 - Days 356 to 381

Broadcast Dates: 15th December 1973 - 8th June 1974

Relative Dates: 12th November 2012 - 7th December 2012

Right I'm falling behind and so I've decided I'm going to force myself to make an entry about one story EVERY day until I eventually catch up with myself. I'm already thinking ahead to the new series when pretty much every day will require a blog entry as the stories will only be one episode long as opposed to about four at the moment.

Anyway enough of thinking about seasons 27 and onwards, right now I need to look back on season 11.

The Time Warrior

 



And so a legend finally makes her appearance in the show, Sarah Jane Smith! Right from the outset it is clear that she is going to be a much more independent companion than we are used to as she sneaks into the scientific base to report on the missing scientists.

As the Doctor traces the whereabouts of the missing scientists (they have been transported back in time to the middle ages) Sarah Jane stows her way on board the TARDIS. As she sneaks, out once we arrive in the middle ages, she is on her own and we have some great scenes of her not realising that she has been transported back in time.

Keeping her separated from the Doctor in such a way creates some good plot lines as Sarah Jane believes it is the Doctor behind the kidnapping of the scientists. The truth is that they have been kidnapped by a Sontaran (the first one in the shows history) called Lynx who has crash landed on Earth and has been transporting scientists from the future to his time period in order to help repair his ship.

The Sontarans are a brilliant creation. A clone race whose confusion regarding humans having two genders is brilliant. Lynx observes that our reproduction system is "inefficient, you should change it!"

This story is written by Robert Holmes, one of the best writers of the show, and in my opinion this is one of the best of the best!

To top this all off we even get the first mention of the name of the Doctor's home planet. Apparently it's called Gallifrey!

Invasion Of The Dinosaurs

This was the first time I had seen this one and I was really looking forward to it. I'm a big fan of the third Doctor and stories set on Earth and this had a certain reputation about it so I was curious to see what it was like.

Dinosaurs are invading London as a side effect of some time experiments being run by a group of scientists determined to return the Earth to its prehistoric age, free of pollution and the damage caused by man. A shocking moment comes when we discover that Captain Yates, one of the stalwarts of UNIT is in fact working for the baddies in this story. It's well played as we can understand Yates' point of view, being concerned about the state of the Earth. There were quite a few stories along these lines in this era of the show.

The effects of the dinosaurs are a little ropey but I think they stand up quite well. You can't go into a 1970s Doctor Who thinking you are going to get effects that will blow you out of the water. Anyway, as Toby Hadoke brilliantly put it, it's not like we are not aware we are watching television, there always have to be some suspension of belief...or at least I think that is how the saying goes.

The one disappointment I remember from watching this one is episode one. It currently only exits in black and white which is perfectly fine. It's never bothered me watching black and white television. And the rest of the six episodes are in colour. My only gripe here is that on the DVD they have attempted to recolourise the episode and it's done really badly! Fortunately the black and white version is also included on the DVD so I'll be sure to watch that version from now on.

We also get our first sighting of the "who-mobile", although it wouldn't be directly called this in the show. Jon Pertwee, ever a fan of gadgets (especially the ones that you could drive), commission his own car which resembled a futuristic hovercraft. Approaching Barry Letts, the producer of Doctor Who, it was decided to use it as the Doctor's car in the show. I'm not a big fan of it to be honest. I think it looks a bit daft and much prefer his little yellow car, Bessie.

One more thing. I've just been thinking about how good Nicholas Courtney is as the Brigadier in this era of the show to look up at the television where my brother is watching Only Fools and Horse and there he is! Nicholas Courtney in Only Fools. I never noticed him in it before! Spooked me out a bit!

Death To The Daleks

It's of little surprise that the Daleks are in this story. And I can remember hardly anything from it! I have only seen this one once.

I remember that the Daleks use the ability to use their laser weapons and therefore resort to devloping machine gun type weapons to attach to their casings. They test these weapons out on some handy little TARDIS models that they just happen to have lying around!

There are a lot of Dalek deaths as you would imagine from a story called Death To The Daleks and Sarah Jane has one of her first (but not last) experiences of nearly being made a sacrifice.

This would be the last Dalek story in the classic series before the creator of the Daleks, Davros made his appearance. From then on the Dalek stories would feel very different. Out of the three third Doctor Dalek stories I'd say this was not the worst but not the best either. This is the middle one.

The Monster Of Peladon

A return to Peladon! This was really exciting as I've been a big fan of the previous story, The Curse Of Peladon and Curse was also the very first classic Doctor Who story that I watched. Therefore seeing a return to the planet was an exciting prospect.

As with the previous Peladon story we have a political type plot mirroring what was going on in the real world. Curse focused on Britain entering the EU where as Monster deals with the miners strikes.
The miners of Peladon are upset when their work is interfered with by representatives of the Galactic Federation who are forcing new technology on the miners which they worry will make their jobs redundant. Peladon is rich in a rare mineral that is needed by the Galactic Federation in some kind of war they are fighting. The miners, however, believe that the curse of Aggador will once again fall upon them if they start using the new machinery.

The Ice Warriors make their final appearance in the classic series here. They wouldn't return to the show until 2013! And I'm afraid to say they are back to their sneaky ways here again and aren't the benevolent creatures we had come to know in The Curse Of Peladon.

We also have a welcome return of Alpha Centuri, the hermaphrodite hexapod! I bloody love this character! So so funny!

Overall this isn't a bad story but it isn't as good as The Curse Of Peladon and at six episodes it does tend to drag along at times.

Planet Of The Spiders

So this is it. The end for the third Doctor. This was a rather sad moment for me as I'm a big fan of Jon Pertwee as the Doctor and I think he is fortunate enough to have some of the best ever stories. I also knew I was entering the era of Tom Baker which I was excited about but also a little worried about because I knew I was in for a long long slog with his seven year era!

This story isn't a great one but it's not too bad. Most of the spider effects are quite good and the particular image shown above is one that certainly stays with you. I'm not a big fan of spiders so this seriously creeps me out!

We get a nice mention of Jo Grant as she writes to the Doctor from her travels up the Amazon. It's nice we hear about her because as much as I like Sarah Jane, Jo Grant would always seem the definitive companion for the third Doctor.

The focus of the story relates to a blue crystal that the Doctor has take from Metabelus 3. It turns out this is one of the great crystals of power and as such the spiders want it back. Possessing a human by the name of Lupton, they break into UNIT headquarters and steal the crystal. We are then "treated" to one of the longest chase scenes in television history! It's ridiculous! I think it might very nearly last an entire episode! Jon Pertwee was a fan of any kind of travelling machine and as this was his last story the producer (who was also writing this story) decided to give him a treat by writing this chase scene in. Now let me see if I can remember what happens:

Lupton steals the Who-mobile and makes his getaway, followed by the Brigadier and Sarah Jane in Bessie who in turn is followed by the Doctor in a kind of Gyro copter. Cornering Lupton, Lupton sneaks out of his vehicle and hides. Whilst everyone is standing around talking, Lupton jumps into the Gyro copter and takes off. The Doctor gives chase with Sarah Jane in the Who-mobile, which we suddenly discover can fly! Losing fuel, Lupton is forced to land by a large lake, where he steals a boat. The Doctor steals a boat/hovercraft and continues the chase. I'm exhausted just thinking about all this!

The Doctor ends up returning to Metabelus 3 to confront the great spider and whilst there is subjected to lethal dose of radiation. He makes it back to UNIT HQ where he collapses in front of the Brigadier and Sarah Jane, who look on in shock, as his features slowly change and the regeneration begins...

And that was the end for the third Doctor. I've abandoned my look backs that I was doing per Doctor as I have done with the first and second Doctor as this blog is just taking ages to catch up with and keep up to date and to be honest no one probably cares. This is something that people can read if they wish to, I can look back on it myself in a few years and also it's evidence that I'm not just sat on my ass watching television. I've been worried that people may not be sponsoring me because they don't think it a worth while challenge. Well believe me it is! People do do daft things for charity and this is much more exhausting than growing a moustache or sitting in a bath full of beans!

Anyway, come back soon where I will beginning my look back on the early years of the fourth Doctor, Tom Baker!

 

Days 579 to 582 - Earthshock

The Cybermen are back! Excellent!

Usually with the return of such iconic monsters as the Cybermen or the Daleks the surprise is given away by the simple fact that the name of that creature appears in the title, eg. Revenge Of The Cybermen. As such it's cool here that they decided against doing this and simply called the story Earthshock. Why it's called this specifically I'm a little unsure. Maybe it's something to do with the brilliant shock reveal of the Cybermen at the end of the first episode.

The first episode begins in some caves where the Doctor investigates some dinosaur bones whilst explaining to his companions how the dinosaurs were destroyed when Earth collided with an object from space. If you were told that an old monster was about to make a surprise come back then this could lead you into thinking it would be something like the Silurians. Well that's what it would make me think anyway!

The Cybermen have had another redesign as the tradition whenever the Cybermen show up. This is the design that will be used right up to the shows cancellation in 1989. Additionally the Cybermen appear to be much more emotional than in previous stories. Some people don't like this but I don't mind it too much. It can get boring listening to emotionless speaking so it makes the scenes come alive more when you can sense the menace behind the Cybermen's voice.

We are also treated to a rare flashback scene and the Cybermen review all their previous encounters with the Doctor. It's just a shame that they never met the third Doctor as it means he is missed out of the flashback scene.

Now to the second big shock of Earthshock. The death of a companion. Poor poor Adric. He stays behind on the space freighter that is spiralling toward the Earth, convinced that he has the mathematical capabilities to crack the coding the Cybermen have placed on the navigational controls. Unfortunately a Cyberman appears at just the wrong moment and destroys the computer Adric is using making his task impossible to complete and he ends up smashing into planet and the true reason for the death of the dinosaurs is revealed as Adric's body parts rain down upon them.

R.I.P Adric

 

 

Days 577 to 578 - Black Orchid

The Doctor finally gets to play some cricket! That's exciting. It feels like this is the classic series version of the eleventh Doctor playing football in The Lodger.

Also Peter Davison manages to bowl someone out which is complete fluke that was caught on camera and his delight is clear to see. I love it when things like that happen.

The TARDIS arrives on a railway station in the early stages of the 20th century and soon, through a series of mistaken indentities, the Doctor and gang are invited to the home of Lord Cranleigh.

This is a strange story for a couple of reasons. First of all it is only two episodes long which is unusual at this point in the series and secondly there is no alien threat at all. The "monster" of this story is the brother of Lord Cranleigh, George who has been locked away in a room of the house after an encounter with some natives of the Brazilian rain forest who cut out his tongue and drove him mad when he attempted to retrieve the fabled black orchid.

Unfortunately for Nyssa, she is the doppelganger of Ann Talbot who was engaged to be married to George before his mysterious disappearance. Therefore when he breaks loose it is Nyssa who he grabs and carries to the roof of the burning house.

Another thing I like about this one is Adric. People have a very poor opinion of Adric and I think it's a little undeserved. At the party at the house in episode one, whilst everyone else is merrily dancing, Adric is content to stand at the buffet table and eat himself silly. He's clearly a man after my own heart. I love Adric!

Days 573 to 576 - The Visitation

 

It seems ages since we had a good historical..and the waiting continues. I'm joking actually. This story isn't all that bad. I just always seem to forget about it for some reason. I only watched it about a week ago and already I can remember very little from it!

 

The action starts in the 17th century where a family is getting ready for bed. The head of the family is played by John Savidant, Fred Elliot from Coronation Street, who is always great fun to watch. As such I was gutted that he didn't make it past the first scene before being killed off!

 

This story's companion is a highwayman and a thespian Richard Mace, a cowardly man who nevertheless tries his very best to help the Doctor in his plight.

 

Meanwhile Nyssa is again resigned to stay in the TARDIS for most of the story to create a giant vibrator! Unfortunately it's not quite as exciting as you may think. She is creating a machine capable of destroying the robot that is chasing them throughout the forest.

 

The Terileptals are the monsters in this one and they are a fairly good design, their mouths actually move when they talk for one thing!

 

They are attempting to release dozens of infected rats into London in order to spread a great plague that will kill all of mankind. To take over the planet I guess. God! I really can't remember thins. Why do I have such a blank spot for this story??

 

Meanwhile the Doctor has to recover from a terrible loss. His sonic screwdriver is destroyed! The producer of Doctor Who had decided (and probably quite rightly) that the screwdriver was becoming too powerful and was being used to often to get the Doctor out of trouble too easily. Thus the decision was made to get rid of it. We wouldn't see the screwdriver back properly until the era of the ninth Doctor!

 

The story ends with the Terileptals destroyed as a fire is started in a certain bakery in Pudding Lane in London. Yes, the Doctor and his gang start the great fire of London. The Doctor realises its a part of history so doesn't bother to stop and help. Fortunately after a little research I've discovered that only a few people are reported to have died in the fire so I guess that ok is it Doctor?? Is it??