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I’ve read a lot of criticism of this story at various times, and I don’t understand the reason for it. This is actually my favourite of the Tennant specials, being tightly edited and well paced, with a lot of great moments and some nice supporting characters. Its overall lack of angst is delightful, and the fact that it feeds virtually nothing into the Doctor’s longer arc is not a problem for me; in fact, it’s actually a plus in my book. We can enjoy this without worrying about past companions or future doom. In a nice change of pace, the threat is not a malevolent being bent on domination, simply a species following its instincts.

I enjoyed Lady Christina. She’s a bit annoyingly smug, but she is meant to be.  She and the Doctor bounce off one another rather well, as they try to outdo one another while also trying to figure each other out. His look when she starts producing folding tools from her bag is priceless. And she’s refreshingly fearless. She might indeed have made a good companion, but I think she would have worn thin fairly quickly. The “dead people in my hair” line was pretty irritating. But as a one-off, she doesn’t have to have staying power, and she’s perfectly suited to this adventure.

The other bus passengers are nicely played, without a lot of depth being written in, but likably portrayed in all cases. Carmen is a bit of a “stock psychic” character but again, convincingly acted. I love her husband’s proof of her powers: they win 10 pounds on the lottery twice a week!

I love the Bond-esque theme music in the opening scenes. Shocking lack of a backup escape plan; and yet even the Doctor has an Oyster card! But the story really starts when we come through the wormhole. The scene when they exit the bus is very cool. They are not in Kansas, or indeed, London, anymore.

I like Tennant’s performance throughout most of this. I think that this Doctor is at his best when he is less emotionally engaged, a little more cool, more restrained. “Humans on buses, always blaming me.” He is having fun, despite the danger and the moments of concern. He does like these adventures, of course. That’s why he lives this way. “The worse it gets, the more I love it.”

His interactions with UNIT are great fun throughout. “Did you just salute?” “… No.”  “You named a unit of measurement after yourself?” Malcolm is delightful, he would have made a rather great companion. “Don’t be ridiculous. That’s Quatermass!”

The scene in the alien ship is really well done, it feels creepy and alarming, as we learn that the desert was recently a city. Then the bad news from the bus, and the Doctor starts to look truly alarmed for the first time. But he goes into high gear when things get really bad, and starts working things out, piece by piece. His affectionate talk about the TARDIS, where it has taken him, and the fact that he stole it, is quite lovely. He doesn’t look the remotest bit sorry, does he?

Malcolm may be the Doctor’s new best friend, but he clearly doesn’t trust Magambo one bit, as he continues to refuse to divulge the nature of the threat. Rightly, as it turns out. Malcolm’s expression when Magambo points the gun at him is wonderful: a scientist out of his depth.

The music during the crisis scene adds loads of excitement and atmosphere, as does the editing, cutting between the bus and UNIT, with the Doctor trying to get the bus aloft, and Malcolm making his brave stand against the Captain. The passengers’ joy at the bus taking flight is delightful, and the swarm of flying creatures is very effective. And it’s through the looking glass, back to earth.

A few dialogue gems: “I said gold.” “It is gold.” “Oh, they saw you coming.” And Malcolm turning the tables on the Doctor: “Not now, I’m busy!” “500 hundred bernards! Do it now!!” And the Doctor to the police: “I’ll just step inside this police box… and arrest myself.”

The kiss was unnecessary but didn’t bother me. Malcolm’s hug, on the other hand, was great. I think it sums up my feelings about Lady Christina that, while I enjoyed her character and her interactions with the Doctor, a part of me was satisfied when he wouldn’t take her in the TARDIS. She was great in many ways, but somehow, not really worthy. On the other hand, it would have been pretty cool for Malcolm to get a trip!

On the whole, I think this is what a holiday special actually should be all about: fun to watch and you feel good at the end.

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Once again, I didn’t have any huge problems with this. Stephenson and Ravensworth were nicely portrayed throughout, and I really do enjoy the Rani. The Ainley Master I mostly tolerate, but he was at his best here because there was less of the evil cackling than we frequently saw. I always thought the sight of the Doctor hurtling down the hill tied to a wagon was pretty hilarious, but certainly there was never any sense of real peril there.

I enjoyed the Doctor’s meeting with Stephenson, you can see right off that they are peas in a pod in their ability to focus on a fascinating detail to the exclusion of the real issues around them. Interesting contrast here with the Rani, who is a scientist of a different calibre. As the Doctor says, “Like many scientists, the Rani just sees us as walking heaps of chemicals.”

Will-under-the-influence puts in a creepy performance, with his eyes staring slightly and his tone of voice just a bit off. As I say, I found the Master okay throughout most of this, as he mostly keeps things low key. I enjoyed him calling the Rani an “intellectual microbe”! I also liked how she called him on his rant about how often the Doctor had gone out of his way to thwart the Master’s plans, pointing out that this time, it was the Master who went out of his way to involve the Doctor!

By now, the arguments of the Doctor and Peri have mostly devolved to mild squabbles, and they actually seem quite affectionate in their own way. The Doctor is quite protective of Peri, and her nagging often feels more like an affectionate attempt to bring him down to size, or back to earth, or both. I liked the way he very casually says, when offered the gun, “No, thanks, I’ve given them up.” And his avoidance of the trap in the dell, through his instinctive sense that something “doesn’t feel right” is nicely low key. I quite like the Rani’s cool response to the Doctor’s outrage after Luke is turned into a tree, but must agree with @phaseshift that the tree moving to save Peri is a bit ridiculous.

Peri is actually the weak link in this for me, and it’s frequently when there’s danger that I find her most annoying. She becomes very whiny during the interview with Lord Ravensworth, and irritatingly stupid in refusing the offered escort. While I have often felt that Colin Baker’s Doctor suffered from the writing, I think that Peri’s suffers equally from Nicola Bryant’s interpretation. She tends to come across as overly emotional even when it isn’t required, with her wobbly voiced approach to the part, when a little more toughness of tone would have made her more likeable.

I enjoyed the fate of the villains, and the ending was brief and amusing, with a minimum of confusing “explanations”. I liked Lord Ravensworth’s attitude on being asked by Peri if he had questions: “Would there be any point?” Please don’t give up on it, @janetteb, I’m looking forward to hearing your promised comments about the Luddites!

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@purofilion    Glancing over what I just posted, I realize that I was on “Doctor Who” form after all! Very Tenth Doctor. “What? What?? WHAT????”   🙂   Or is that Six?  “One thousand?  One thousand??  ONE THOUSAND???”   Hee, hee, hee. It’s been a long hot day, time for a beer I think.

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@whisht    That hilarious track took me straight back to childhood, when my sister and I used to listen to “Greenland Whale Fisheries” on a children’s album by the Weavers. We used to sing “Where there’s ice and snow and the jelly fishes blow” with great hilarity.

I love Billy Bragg. That’s all.

@purofilion   $1000? A season?? Seriously???  And for this you don’t get a professional coach and a reasonably run team? OMG. I will never complain again about my son’s club and their issues. We don’t get proper coaches either, but we don’t pay more than $300 unless its an elite team, so we don’t have high expectations. My son plays several sports and has had loads of coaches, and has moved between being treated like a future all-star to being virtually ignored. As @whisht says, I imagine it’s universal. (My son was passed up a couple of years ago for the all-star baseball team, even with a strong recommendation from his coach, because of club politics. We were all livid about this for quite awhile; until he found out from a team mate who did make the team that, because the coach had overlooked a lot of good players in choosing his own favourites, the team ended up doing very poorly. Bad karma!)

Seriously, I don’t think anyone moderates this thread. It’s like having most of the plane to yourself, because it’s flying somewhere that most people aren’t interested in going.  🙂 But just in case, I will give you this little number that I’ve always enjoyed, because I sucked at sports. It’s not exactly on topic, but it has kids and sport, and makes me smile. (I think we actually had a couple of moments like that on my son’s baseball team this past spring, actually.)

 

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@craig    That is so great– both posts actually, but particularly the first. Definitely more of our heroes should carry screwdrivers, sonic or otherwise!   🙂

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Yes, @purofilion, I would say the same. We listen mostly to our personal collection, with smaller forays into radio. We used to listen much more to the radio before CBC2 (Canada’s version of BBC3) was Dalekized into a shadow of its former self. @whisht, I would imagine that for the purposes of these stats, talk radio doesn’t count, as the graphic specifically refers to music consumption. I would understand it a lot more if talk/news were included.

I fall into the 45-54 group, and I would have expected that category to own lots of recordings, as we came of age in an era when recorded music was plentiful and relatively inexpensive (although probably more expensive than today, I think, when you adjust for inflation). Perhaps we are all listening to classic rock stations on our way to and from work, and spend more time commuting than in our homes listening to music?

Interestingly, my son (who strictly speaking falls a year short of the 16-24 category) doesn’t fit his demographic either, as he doesn’t listen to the online streaming music at all, and probably defaults more to his own stuff, and slightly less to the radio than these stats suggest.

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I just saw this fascinating graphic about how people listen to music, and thought I’d share. I was a little surprised by the amount of radio listening that apparently goes on; shows what I know.  🙂

pic.twitter.com/snnHM9T8pS

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Congratulations, @fatmaninabox! How about a noxious weed (rather than the annoying but innocent clover, which is a weed to my lawn but friendly to the bees!). This great old track by The Coasters contains one of the great rhymes in pop music: “You’re gonna need an ocean of calamine lotion.” (Although I did like the Blur song, never heard them before.)

And how about morning glory? I don’t know if it is technically a weed, but it counts as one in my neighbourhood, where it is horribly invasive, and will take over your garden in no time during spring and summer, if you go away for a couple of weeks you come home to find it twining around everything in the yard!   👿

@whisht    Yes, that PCO piece put a smile on my face as well!

 

 

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And @whisht, I didn’t mean that there were lots of choices for Clara, but lots of versions of “The Impossible Dream”!

Yes, that Stevie Wonder cover feels very much of its time to me. Ben E. King, Sam Cooke, and some of Stevie Wonder’s other songs of the period have that same melodious gospel/soul sound. I don’t remember when I would have been introduced to that version, but I imagine it would have been on some retro radio show in the late seventies or early eighties. I’ve always liked it.

I agree that the live version of Sloop John B is almost too fast. I wasn’t sure about it at first, but it started to grow on me. Some of the pristine vocal quality of the arrangement is lost, but the energy more than makes up for it. Groups that use a lot of harmonies in their arrangements can lose a lot in a live performance, because you will almost never be as perfectly in tune as a studio recording. But sometimes live can actually sound better if the right energy is brought to the performance. I’m very keen on harmony, which is one of the reasons I do enjoy the Beach Boys.

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@whisht   Okay, you have challenged me to look for something that I hadn’t thought of in a very long time. It didn’t even occur to me to post this version of the Dylan song, as the band is so obscure they don’t even have a stub on Wikipedia. I could have dropped in shock to find that someone has actually put this up on YouTube, as I don’t even own it in digital format. The Wildroot Orchestra was a presence here in Vancouver for a few years in the early eighties, playing in blues clubs, with as far as I know only the one album. Check this out. I think it actually does bring something new to the song, if only from a stylistic point of view. Also the lead singer in this group had a vocal quality that often brought a certain cynical tone to a lyric, that worked really well here.

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I actually think that most of this is pretty fun. The pre-credit scenes are lovely: the Doctor’s total pleasure at finding himself a proper Christmas, his glee at hearing his name being called, his complete shock at meeting another Doctor. The idea that the Doctor might be meeting his future self was great, and I thought it played out well. I loved the Doctor’s initial uncertainty, because the “Next Doctor” behaved exactly as the Tenth Doctor would have expected himself to behave! Fearlessness and a bit of bombast; a gutsy companion; the mutual laughter shared with Ten after their brief adventure.

And then the odd little moments where Ten realizes that this isn’t quite right. “The Doctor” doesn’t recognize his predecessor. There are missing memories. The sonic screwdriver isn’t sonic. The Doctor begins to learn that some things are a mystery even to “the Doctor”. Finally, after the discovery of the Cyberman in the closet (which I thought was really well done in terms of pacing), the Doctor thinks to check his successor’s heart beats. And certain things become more clear.

The villainess of the piece is properly wicked, and as others have said, the funeral scene was really well done. I loved the emotional impact of this very strong woman all in vivid red, facing down a bunch of dark-suited men, and there was this sense that they were helpless before her, that their power over women was really dependent upon the women playing by the rules! This is an example of how good a villain can be with a little extra characterization, I wish that we could have had a little more of Miss Hartigan’s backstory.

David Morrissey is great. He plays it exactly right, seriously but with a touch of swashbuckle, and his moments of tragedy are never overdone. I enjoyed the relationship between the Doctor and Jackson Lake. The Doctor is very gentle and kind with him, right from the start, even before he is sure what is going on. He continually watches him with the greatest look of sympathy and understanding. And Jackson actually turns out to be very brave, very Doctor-like. He repays the Doctor’s sympathy later on with his own, which I thought was nicely done. I actually found the Doctor’s explanation for his lack of companions rather poignant, and certainly right in step with where Ten found himself at this point in his incarnation.

However, they lost me with the climax. I found the giant cyber-monster ludicrous, and the congratulatory hero-worship tone is tough to take. And as others have said, history would not have forgotten a thirty-foot Cyberman in Victorian London.

Highlights for me:
“You ask a lot of questions.” “I’m a companion!”
The TARDIS!!!! An absolutely great moment to see that balloon where we are expecting to see something more… TARDIS-like. The Doctor’s reaction was great.
This, after Rosita pops Miss Hartigan one in the face: “Can I say I completely disapprove!”
Did the Doctor say “Avanti” instead of “Allons-y”?
“That was designated… a lie.” And the Cyber response to Miss Hartigan’s passionate talk of a new Cyber race?  “Diagnosis… system failure.”
“Come on, Jackson. You know me!” before swinging around on a rope to rescue the little boy. (I have a weakness for rope-swinging!)
When the Doctor reminds Jackson that he now has a reason to live, Jackson replies, “And you haven’t?” Their eyes hold for a moment, and Jackson’s expression is suddenly one of understanding. Very understated. Morrissey is very good.
While Jackson’s “yay, doctor” speech is pretty OTT, I must admit that Morrissey delivers it really well.
Jackson’s reaction to the TARDIS is really, really delightful.

Overall, not bad in my view. I’m inclined to agree with the comments regarding Victorian authenticity, but it didn’t bother me as much as the giant robot. Perhaps if they had avoided that expense, they could have afforded a little more accuracy in their application of dirt?   🙂

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@purofilion    Shame on you! Neither one of us is lamentable or talentless. Perhaps what you need is a blog, where you can post your random amusing stories as they happen. You do have a talent for relating things in an amusing way!

Yes, traffic. I live in the middle of town so that I don’t have to drive long distances to get places, and then the “must-do” basketball camp is across the river! I survived the week, and I don’t have to do it again. So it’s all good.

BTW, I meant to say, yes, I do remember Phil Ochs, very haunting voice and lovely songs. He is forever associated in my mind with Leonard Cohen, as I once dated a man who loved them both.I wonder if part of that quality comes from vulnerability, as we know Presley, Lennon, and Ochs were such fragile personalities. One doesn’t associate fragility with Dylan or McCartney!

Also, there used to be a thing called a songwriter: Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, the Gershwins, and later brilliant composers like Burt Bacharach and Henry Mancini, paired with clever lyricists (speaking of which, wasn’t the “little list” song from The Mikado? G&S, anyway.). Then for a long time it seemed as if you couldn’t perform music if you hadn’t written it, or write it for others to perform. But as I have lately learned from my son, there is now a thing called a “deejay”; not meaning any of the things I would have thought that word meant, but what really seems to be a songwriter/producer, who puts the music together and brings another vocalist on board to sing it. So a lot of the songs are listed as “by So-and-So; featuring “Somebody Else”. I am always ready to be educated!  🙂

 

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I have a longer-than-usual post on this story, mainly due to @phaseshift’s challenge that those of us who supported the story should put our mouths where our money is (or something like that). While I don’t love everything about this episode, I do think that it is one of the era’s stronger ones, and the usual Master/Doctor dynamic, which had gotten pretty wearying by this time, was greatly improved by the addition of the Rani. I liked the way they chose to introduce her as a character, with the assumption that she was well-known to both the Master and the Doctor. I liked the Doctor’s understated, metaphoric face-palm when he woke up and recognized her: “Brain regeneration is what I need.”

I like the atmospheric opening, the “historic village” setting, and the music, an unusual style for this era of DW. @phaseshift, as a non-Brit, I can tell you that the accents were confusing at times, but I could follow them well enough. Interesting that people wanted subtitles, I don’t think that would have occurred to me! As always, I enjoy the historicals as the settings are always well done, and (in most cases) the guest actors playing the historical figures are usually enjoyable. I don’t know how aware the British audience would have been of these characters from history, but they were relatively unknown to me, as the Luddite riots were only a brief footnote in my nineteenth century history classes.

Agree with @wolfweed about the Doctor’s triple “malfunctioning”. This triple word repetition was of course Six’s version of a catch phrase, and it got old very quickly, as it usually felt artificially shoehorned in. The Ainley/Baker interactions were never well written in my view, lots of annoying melodrama on the Master’s part, and smug rejoinders on the Doctor’s. On the other hand, the Doctor’s interactions with Lord Ravensworth show how the character could work when he wasn’t being given OTT dialogue. There was a bit of a Pertwee/Brigadier dynamic happening which worked well.

The quality of the Doctor/Peri dialogue varied wildly. On the one hand, the squabbling was always irritating. On the other, we had exchanges like this: “How would you like to meet a genius?” “I thought I already had.” Peri’s voice always bugged me, too nasal and whiny, but we are reminded here that she is meant to be a botanist, educated, not a total ditz, with her little discussion about hedgerows and birds. She proves useful when the chips are down, coming into the bathhouse to find the Doctor, but I wish she was a little mouthier when under threat!

Kate O’Mara is simply awesome. As @wolfweed says, it’s hard not to sympathize with her when the Master starts throwing his weight around, even though her works is completely amoral. It’s great to see this smart, competent, evil female character who views the Doctor and the Master as a pair of irritating buffoons: “You and the doctor are a well-matched pair of pests!” In wondering what the Master is up to, she assumes: “Probably something devious and over complicated.” And, in response to the Master’s heavy breathing and insanely bulging eyes as he talks about his plan that will “encompass the whole human race!”, she dismisses him with a curt “You’re unbalanced.” She also goes on a rant about how humans are carnivores who spare no sympathy for the animals that they eat. Is she a vegetarian?

Some random thoughts:
The rani’s disguise – did anyone really wear a thing like that on their head?
The miners seem pretty dense, but I like the miner waving the rock at the Master: “This hard enough?”
Oh for the days when the Doctor could be truly threatened by a bunch of miners with shovels!
And this line of the Master’s was (perhaps unintentionally) hilarious: “I’m indestructible, the whole universe knows that!”
@fatmaninabox    The Sixth Doctor was in fact, an English language Dalek. Perhaps that’s why I have a soft spot for him despite the undeniable problems with this regeneration!

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@purofilion     If that is an example of an actual conversation in your classroom, you really should write a book. Or maybe a screenplay?

My son did a poetry unit last winter, and his English teacher wanted them to analyze three poems or songs of their choice. As a sample of how a song can work as poetry, he gave them Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues”. My son, who is reasonably bright, could not make head or tail out of it, given the generational disconnect and his own rather literal mindset. I think this was really an example of the teacher overshooting the target! He ended up doing “Blowing in the Wind” instead, a much more straightforward and elegant bit of poetry, with nice clear images for discussion.

I couldn’t seem to find the Dylan version on YouTube, so here are the Lumineers:

And here is “Blowing in the Wind”, neither Dylan nor Peter, Paul, and Mary, but, because I am perverse, Steve Wonder:

That’s me done for today!  🙂

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@whisht

Oh, yes. That song is a barn-burner, and as such, more than appropriate for River.

Since you said “no matter how tenuous”, I will offer this (originally from Man of La Mancha) for Clara, the impossible girl. Loads of choices obviously, but I’ve always been fond of the Elvis version. Not a vocally flawless performance but I always felt that he sang it as if he meant it. And as someone who always seemed so full of promise and good intentions, and who fell tragically short in the end, I’ve always found it moving.

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@thekrynoidman    I’ll see your California Girls and raise you a Sloop John B!

Further to the “live vs. studio” discussion, I have always thought the above recording pretty much flawless, but there is a lot to be said for this:

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I thought I’d get my two cents in on this one before a new batch of material shows up tomorrow. I haven’t actually had time to rewatch, but going on my memories of it, I enjoyed it, although it was never a favourite. It was great seeing Sarah Jane Smith and company, and as others have said, Lis Sladen was marvelous. Never having seen Torchwood, I found that aspect of Reunion Week a little irritating, but that’s just me. This was also where I stopped liking the characterization of Martha, as she has clearly moved on from being a doctor to being something else. I never saw the need for this, frankly, as I thought she was a strong character as she stood, and her earlier appearance with UNIT didn’t seem particularly at odds with the Martha we knew. I agree with @phaseshift‘s views on Julian Bleach, I thought he nailed Davros. And Donna and Co. were great as always. I really enjoyed Donna/Doctor’s moment of glory against Davros and the Daleks.

Frankly, I thought that the reunion of the Doctor and Rose was a low point. To me, it felt contrived and irritatingly overblown. That being said, however, the “faked” regeneration didn’t bother me at all. I thought it was rather funny, especially when we had Donna and Clone Doctor riffing off of each other after the metacrisis. I’m not sure that any other Doctor/companion pair could have pulled that off. (Although I take @wolfweed‘s point about the two Doctors, I hadn’t thought of it before, but it’s a good point. There really isn’t any good reason why they wouldn’t have shared the same moral viewpoint.) I was both irritated and relieved by the ending: irritated at the whole overly-romantic construct, but relieved that the Doctor didn’t in the end say “the words”, and in fact, it is made clear that there could never be a future for a mortal human and an unaging Time Lord. Rose could only be with a Doctor who would grow old with her.

And of course, Donna’s terribly tragic end. Tragic both for Donna, who with her wonderful memories loses all of her growth and maturity, and for the Doctor, who loses a truly wonderful friend and companion. Donna’s horrified realization, her desperate pleading, is the standout moment in the story for me. So very painful to watch, and so very, very sad.

So a bit of a mixed bag for me, but on the whole, more positives than negatives.

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@thekrynoidman   That “blocked in your region” thing is beyond aggravating. Thanks for putting those alternates up. That live version of Lola, is great fun, isn’t it? A great example of what @whisht and I were talking about earlier, how a live performance can bring a different energy to a song. There’s a great raw energy to the vocals in that performance.

20th Century Man, I actually don’t remember that one, very nice. There’s some really brilliant arranging in there. I love how it morphs from a sort of hillbilly country sound, with the acoustic instruments and nice bit of slide guitar playing, through an electric folk rock sound, and suddenly there comes that gorgeous organ playing and we’re into full on blues rock.

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@fatmaninabox     Fat Man In A Foot Spa?

You have my sympathy. We are used to doing more of our work in a seated position have a hard time when we suddenly have to spend all day on our feet! But cheer up, my son tells me that our life expectancy actually goes up according to how much time we spend standing up.  🙂

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@purofilion   Yes, some wonderful voices, those women. I love a voice that stands out, too many sound the same to me. I didn’t realize that Laura Branigan was no longer alive, how terribly sad. I loved Bonnie Tyler, and used to sing along with the radio full-boogie-tilt on “Total Eclipse of the Heart”, which always appealed to my youthful sense of melodrama.

Probably your mention of Laura Branigan brought this singer to mind, Laura Smith, a Canadian folk singer who had some radio success in the 90’s, but who dropped off the radar for awhile after a couple of accidents led to pain relief addiction. She has overcome it and is back in the biz, happily. I just love the smokey quality of her voice.

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@whisht    That list was epic, I’m going to be having fun with it all weekend. The year 1980 resonates with me because that was the year I graduated high school, left the (newish) family home in Alberta and moved back to the west coast, spent a few abortive months in uni, then quit at the end of the year before starting 1981 in the unskilled job market and a cheap apartment. So many of those songs are permanently embedded in my brain.

Some of those names really make me remember how long ago 1980 was! And I’m rather astonished that Kenny Rogers made number one in the UK, I always thought you guys were way hipper than that!  🙂  Kenny was huge in Calgary, Alberta, but you never heard the Police on the radio there in 1980, I had to go back to Vancouver for that. I’m going to link to Blondie, just for fun, because this song is so darn catchy, and I still love an Island beat (although this video is kind of like a psychotic episode!).

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@thekrynoidman

I’m no expert on the guitar, and don’t always feel a strong connection to it, but I love a good hook, and you’ve included some fabulous ones. I do think that there is a quality to the electric guitar that allows a player to make a riff into something special, which I think is part of what makes the Kinks so fabulous. My favourite Kinks guitar moment comes in Lola. Aside from the opening, which is also great, there is the moment 35 seconds in, when the full band comes in and there is a great little riff before the second verse. That always makes me smile!

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Oops, wrong link. Darn it. That last one, the Pärt, should be here:

 

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A very happy birthday to you, @purofilion! You almost share one with my son, we celebrated his yesterday (the 27th). I hope yours has been lovely.

I pretty much tuned out pop music from around 1986 right through the end of the century, except for the retro and some local indie stuff, but there is a certain amount from the early eighties that I remember quite fondly. I was taken enough with Prince’s Purple Rain that I actually bought the double album (now there’s a blast from the past for the posters on @whisht‘s blog– double albums!) I gave you the long version.  🙂

For something classical, I considered the lovely Iberia Suite by Isaac Albeniz (I have it performed by Alicia de Larrocha, and the lyrical fourth movement of Mahler’s 4th Symphony. But I decided in the end to offer Arvo Pärt’s Fratres performed by Gidon Kramer and Keith Jarrett.

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@bluesqueakpip, @fatmaninabox

Oh, dear. I’m sorry, but that is a mistake that jumps out at me. I have spent several years training my son out of it, it just makes people look like functional illiterates to me. I guess that makes me a grammar pedant? I prefer “grammar geek”.   🙄

FatMan, that sounds like a lovely way to spend your days. Congrats and enjoy!

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I’d forgotten how good this story is. Davison is at his quirky best here, as he continues to combine youthful enthusiasm for new things (no matter how dangerous) with a tolerance that few of his previous incarnations would have exhibited (“Doctor, you must stop it!” “Yes. I know.”). His reaction when Will kills Sir George while the Doctor is trying to save him, is calm to say the least. Ten was less patient with his own clone.  🙂

I didn’t mind Tegan in this, and Turlough was less cowering and irritating than I remember him often being. I did like his method for figuring out whether there were guards: “Guards!!” I agree with @phaseshift that the Malus is all the better for being wordless, very dangerous and scary indeed.

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This is very dark, post apocalyptic stuff. I haven’t re-watched it often because it is just so relentlessly grim. But it is very well done indeed. Catherine Tate is fabulous, from brash Donna to hopeless Donna trapped in a ruined world, to frightened Donna (wasn’t her reaction to the bug on her bag absolutely phenomenally good?), to heroic Donna. Bernard Cribbins, as others have said, is brilliant here as well. As good as Jacqueline King’s performance is, Sylvia makes me absolutely livid. I can imagine no circumstances under which I would ever treat a child of mine so horribly, with so little love or empathy.

One further thought. I love Series 4, it still my favourite series of AG Who. Part of what I love is that the series arc is wonderfully subtle, different “lost” or “missing” planets dropped in here and there, which will of course pay off in the finale. But for me, the real arc in this season is the growth of Donna. From her beginnings, pushy, loud, a little lost, through her development as a strong, empathic, courageous woman to what she goes through in this story, as things go from bad to worse to worst. I don’t think we’ve ever seen the personal growth of a companion so beautifully portrayed .

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@fatmaninabox

Goodness, I had no idea. How tragic to lose the part of you that creates and expresses your art, especially at such a relatively young age. Singers are so vulnerable to that sort of thing: the wonderful operatic tenor Ben Heppner, who became famous for his performances of Wagner, lost his ability to sing for awhile, and although he fought back for a time, decided this year to retire from performing as he couldn’t maintain the quality anymore.

Here is a brief sample of “Big Ben” (having resisted the urge to post Nessun Dorma!).

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@blenkinsopthebrave

My courageous friend, you are going to get yourself banned if you aren’t careful. I don’t think it’s PC to be that Colin-friendly. Personally, I never minded Sixie. I didn’t blame him for his costume, or indeed some of his scripts, and I thought he had his moments. He was great whenever he had the moral high ground!

Off to the suburbs now to collect the boy from basketball, a drive guaranteed to turn me nasty. 😯 @phaseshift, could I have that beer when I get back?

 

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@phaseshift

Okay, yes, I’ve been meaning to weigh in, but it’s actually a hard call as I remember both episodes fondly. Loved Sil, loved the Rani. I’m going to go with the Rani, for the following reasons:

1. I always love the historical settings!

2. the relatively recent death of Kate O’Mara makes this a nice tribute.

3. Anthony Ainley. I don’t think we’ve seen him yet, and he was rather fun in this as a double-act with the Rani.

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@whisht, @miapatrick, @purofilion

Re GoT, I have posted a little something for your enjoyment over on the music thread.

(By the way, puro, your story about the 28-second trailers had me laughing hysterically.)

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Here is something fun for all fans of Game of Thrones, as well as fans of the low brass section.

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@whisht
Yes, I read about that awhile back. I think it is just a case of getting older and slowing down. I was lucky enough to hear them back in the nineties, doing renaissance English music intermixed with contemporary. Frankly, I would go a long way to hear Rogers Covey-Crump sing the phone book, what an amazing tenor voice. Because I can, here he is with Emma Kirkby, doing a bit from the Bach B-minor Mass, and here again singing Dowland.

I heard them doing something along these lines, although I don’t remember the exact program.

I had a bit of a listen to your Slint, I’m not familiar with them. I will get back to it during the week when I have a little privacy around here.   🙂

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Well, this is fun. As with Black Orchid, we’re given an everyday setting in which something is pretty wrong. But unlike that story, this time the “wrongness” is immediately apparent. As @purofilion says, the atmosphere is lovely. It’s the kind of setting that, back when I first watched it, would have had me thrilled that there are places in the world where they live this way. The fact that the 17th century character can step through time into the modern world and it feels like such a small step.

I’m enjoying the portrayal of the Doctor here. He is all the things that we know and love: inquisitive, unflappable, kind, humorous. I loved it when he just started right in with the schoolteacher about the strange metal, it’s from another planet, of course. I find myself remembering that Five was David Tennant’s Doctor, because I could really see Ten interacting with the characters in a similar way.

Although Tegan is certainly less annoying here than she has been at times, she is still pretty irritating. I’m pretty sure that Five’s gentle incarnation is one of the few that would have put up with her!  Turlough is pretty much in the background in this story, which is fine with me as I never cared for the character.

@wolfweed    Yes! I loved it when the Doctor’s response to the obvious threat behind the cracked wall was to suddenly start pulling the whole thing apart! Such a Doctorish moment.

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This is one of my favourite AG episodes. I was startled at one point to realize that it was an RTD episode, as it is so different from his usual style. I love that, although there is a dangerous alien element, the real “baddie” of the story is human nature and mob mentality. The story is beautifully reminiscent of classic science fiction stories, with its “base under siege” and mysterious unidentifiable threat.

I loved the arc of the story: the Doctor in his social, human-loving persona amid a mixed group of fairly unexceptional characters; the Doctor in “take-charge” mode amid a group of helpless humans that need his protection; the Doctor fighting against people’s fear to do “the right thing”; the Doctor helpless, at the mercy of both the alien and the fearful, angry crowd; and finally, the Doctor sad, angry, disappointed, disillusioned.

All the performances are just great here, and at the end, I was so glad that he had Donna to come home to!

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@kingofthemountain     also given there were “all 13 of him” there does that mean tennant’s double somehow showed up as well?

I had to do some counting to sort this in my mind, but don’t forget about the War Doctor. There were thirteen even without Tennant’s double. Capaldi is called 13 because the WD doesn’t get a number, but really he is 14 (or 2.1): 12 regenerations, 13 doctors.

 

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This wasn’t as strong for me as the first episode, although it did zip along. And events did seem to epitomize the era of the Fifth Doctor. As things spiral downward for him, he moves from bewildered to disbelieving to resigned.

I was also surprised when he came out with the bald statement “I’m a Time Lord.” But on reflection, it seems to me that the Doctor revealed his identity in the same way that he questioned Ann with his, “You’ve done me no harm, so why would I hurt you?” as thought this logic would actually have any bearing on the situation. “I’m an alien, what reason would I have to harm someone here?” In his essential naivety he misses the fact that they don’t expect the culprit to necessarily have a reason!

These two episodes really demonstrate the qualities of the Fifth Doctor: sobriety punctuated by youthful energy and enthusiasm, and his essential charm.

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I salute you, @purofilion! Hope you are feeling well and the weather has finally cooled down for you. All is well here. I was AWOL for a few weeks due to a combination of my son’s school year wrapping up in the middle of teacher/government labour unrest, and the end of his baseball season. Then we blew out of town on an awesome 9-day trip into the Canadian Arctic, where the sun currently doesn’t set and (some) people freeze their food in the permafrost. Fabulous.

Here is a song for you, an ode to the north by Canada’s late lamented Stan Rogers. I had it in my head much of the time we were away.

Now we are home and it is summer, Vancouver’s best time, except that I am finding it terrifically hard to get work done! I just want to spend all my time poking around in the garden, and drinking wine on the patio. Setting my own deadlines works great in the winter, not so well in July and August.  🙂

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I’m seeing an ominous-looking “zone 19” label on the video I just posted. Does that mean you can’t view it in the UK? Just in case, here is a YouTube link to the same track.

By the way, @whisht, that was a nice piece of Pink Floyd. I am way way behind on the Hitchhiker’s watch, hopefully this weekend I will get caught up on it. And I still want to watch Midnight, as well! I never watched so much TV before I found this forum!  🙂

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Oh, no. It’s been a tough couple of weeks in the music world. Thanks for that, @thekrynoidman. Here’s some of the kind of thing I was listening to when I first became familiar with Winter, back in the early eighties. I was just diving headfirst into all kinds of vintage blues, listening to indie radio blues shows late at night, and this kind of thing just blew me away.

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@kingofthemountain

I read your long post last night, but had to put a little more distance between myself and the bottle of Italian rose before trying a response.  🙂  I really liked the notion that the reason Clara didn’t see  Capaldi Doctor in the timestream in NotD was because he didn’t exist in that timeline (where the Doctor did die at Trenzalore). I suppose that was already clear to some of the smarties on here, but it hadn’t occurred to me!

Nice user name, BTW.   🙂

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As I have said before, Donna is definitely my favourite AG companion. I really enjoyed this episode for its light touch and slightly poignant moments for both Donna and the Doctor. (Others have mentioned the brief scene in the TARDIS where the Doctor goes into full explanatory mode, only to remember that there is no one to explain things to. The TARDIS looked so big and empty at that moment.)

Agreed that, for the most part, the threat never felt very scary, but I never felt that was the point of the episode anyway. This was about seeing how Donna has evolved into someone who is really ready to take on the universe at the Doctor’s side. And I know it’s been said to death, but as a proper companion in the old-school Who fashion, who depends on the Doctor and who helps him, who has lots to learn but also lots to teach him. I know that not all the AG companions were like this, but the best ones were.

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@janetteb.  Oh, it’s big there? Then possibly you don’t know my neighbour’s cousin’s mother-in-law who lives on the opposite side of the country from you?  😉

Yes, of course, winter in the other half of the world. It’s pretty hot here at the moment, the word “hot” being used tentatively, knowing what you in Australia go through in your summer! But the low-thirties temperatures we are getting right now are unusual for Vancouver. On our return from vacation the other day I felt as though we had mistakenly landed in another country!  🙂

And I meant to say that I thought of everyone here last week, when I encountered the words “Bad Wolf” written on the door of a washroom stall in Inuvik! Well, they do have lots of satellite dishes up there, as we were reminded by our local guide, “for our HD TV and our high-speed internet”.

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Oh, this is so much fun. I’m very fond of these country house stories. I seem to remember that this story isn’t rated all that highly, but I quite enjoy it. I love the music in the ball scene! And Tegan’s dress!! And the Doctor lost in a stone tunnel in his silk dressing gown!!!

While I agree that this lot of companions were on the whole not a success, I must admit to a fondness for Nyssa. She was very straightforward, likeable, and intelligent. Although she never seems to twig the need to fit in: “Where are you from?” “The Empire of Traken.” And I noticed in the opening scenes, the Doctor gives Tegan the fisheye even when she is being positive about checking out the place they have landed. Odd. But then his huge happy smile when he realizes that he will be playing cricket!

Idea: Maybe the reason that the Doctor chose to be called “the Doctor” is simply because it is such a usefully common title! “Are you the Doctor?” “Why, yes. Yes, I am.”  🙂

I loved the little line about Adric being Alzarian, and how hard it was to keep track of those “funny Baltic bits”. It reminded me of how my stepfather used to refer to someone as being from “one of the Stans”.

@jimthefish   Very well stated, some episodes are more “generically doctorish” than others, and this one is definitely very “Fifth Doctor”. I also liked @arkleseizure’s comparison to the Castafiore Emerald!

My only moment of irritation with this came in the final scene. I must say, I’m not the toughest girl going, but if I were being attacked and someone came to my rescue, I would help out a bit with some kicks or maybe a piece of furniture. I certainly wouldn’t just stand there, watch my rescuer being strangled, and then collapse. Nuff said.

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@whisht  @purofilion

Yes, I was very sad to see the news about Haden. Here is one of my favourites, with Pat Metheny. This has always felt to me like the string equivalent of Oscar Peterson’s Hymn to Freedom.

Also, yes, shocked to realize that the Ramones in their entirety are no longer with us. I don’t like feeling old!

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Wow, just been away for a week, traveling through the spotty internet of the Canadian Arctic, and of course everything happens while I’m gone. Spoilers, trailers, two weeks worth of retrospectives. I barely know where to begin. I will have to schedule a lot of catchup viewing between catchup work and catchup weeding (the weeds have grown up quite alarmingly in nine days!).

I’m also rather stunned to look at the calendar and realize it’s only six summery weeks until the arrival of the new Doctor. Hurray!

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I’m well behind here at the moment, there will be a lot of listening to do tomorrow morning while the Arbutus teenager is sleeping in. But just a quick post this Canada Day, to wish my country a happy birthday!

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My two cents…

I enjoyed Tennant’s Doctor, although I didn’t feel that he always hit every note correctly. Similarly, I enjoyed many of RTD’s episodes, but not all of them, and not every element of them. In fact, two of them (Utopia and Midnight) list among my favourites. I have voiced my views on Rose before, she will never be a favourite of mine, but again, she had her moments for me.

Regarding the Master, I didn’t always care for Simm’s portrayal, but I did feel that he and Tennant played well off of each other. I am firmly in the Delgado camp as far as favourites go. But I certainly had no expectations that a new incarnation should be particularly like an older one. I don’t think that regeneration works that way. The Fifth Doctor, for instance, was about as unlike the First as you could get. You might certainly prefer one over the other, but that doesn’t make one or the other more correct.

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@blenkinsopthebrave       Win nothing… well, it beats not winning anything, which is my usual tactic!

@toinfinityandbepond      I had a “round tuit” fridge magnet once… it didn’t work.

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So brilliant. “That’s a spaceship!” Possibly the best line of the episode.

Tom Baker really sets the bar for me. Watching this reminds me of why, although I have enjoyed all of the AG Doctors in different ways, this restrained, non-shouty version, moving effortlessly between cheeky and quietly ominous, will always be my measure of what the Doctor should be. I loved the scene with the Countess. I even enjoyed his brief rendition of Hamlet, in his lovely rich low voice. It’s always a pleasure to listen to him. I am reminded of the end of Day of the Doctor, when we hear his voice from behind Matt Smith, instantly recognizable. It sent a chill down my spine!

@phaseshift‘s dreams of Duggan replacing Adric in the TARDIS were very tantalizing, until @scaryb‘s comment reminded me that it wouldn’t have been Duggan and Four, but Duggan and Five, and I’m not sure if that would have worked as well. I loved the Doctor’s impatient but fond treatment of Duggan throughout.

@scaryb     If the beginning of life on Earth isn’t a fixed point in time, then nothing is!  🙂

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