Okay. I liked it, on the whole, but it was what you’d call a character piece. The only real villain was the Doctor(s) himself, preferring to die rather than change. The TARDIS delivers him to his earlier self, and the resulting paradox diverts The Captain’s return to his own time zone. The Testimony are simply trying to put things right while…[Read more]

@lisa

Yes, the TARDIS was ringing the Cloister Bell during the Regeneration, and then seemed to not only open the doors, but turn herself so that the Doctor had no choice but to fall out.

Given the shot of an interior which is seen, as the Doctor is falling, in a mass of flames – it may be that the TARDIS has ejected the Doctor for her own…[Read more]

To everyone: I’m dashing between services (that’s what comes of having Christmas Eve on a Sunday), but just to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, and a happy Who-watching session – whenever it may be. 🙂

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@Whisht

I’m curious as to what the audience knew of what would happen before this episode aired – did anyone in the general audience know that this was the last time they’d see Hartnell as the Doctor? Was it a ‘big deal’ as an episode? Was Troughton known as joining the cast?

Judging by the archive copy of Radio Times, the audience could eas…[Read more]

The DVD has the animated version as standard, and the stills reconstruction as an extra. Right decision, I think. Having watched both, I found that the animation was a much better continuation of the story, while the stills/ video reconstruction was of mainly historical interest. It is, as @Craig says, fascinating to see the remains of Hartnell’s…[Read more]

The audio commentary for Episode 3 is actually the audio commentary for Episodes 3 and 4, since the BBC decided not to do a commentary for the animated episode. Chris Dunham joins the commentary (Radio Technician, Eps 3 &4). I will confine myself to the Ep. 3 comments.

Cybermen: there was some discussion of using the actors’ own voices, but it…[Read more]

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The special effect for the spaceship formation looks suspiciously like a black backcloth with holes cut in it, mounted on a circular frame so they can turn it round, then backlit.

William Hartnell isn’t in this episode at all; his stand-in is playing ‘collapsing Doctor’. That’s why we don’t see the face. It was Acute Bronchitis, it seems, and he…[Read more]

Audio commentary time

The Cybermen are rated ‘terrifying’ by the actors. The costume was like a very tight tracksuit covered in plastic – very, very hot. There was some Cyber-fainting.

Anneke Wills notes that the crew were all dedicated to making Who work. The designer talks through the design process: read the script, discuss with director,…[Read more]

Aaaand the ‘everyday Sixties sexism’ comment.

Good as the story itself is, it’s a very bad example of the way to tackle a ‘male-only, semi-military’ setting. While it’s perfectly reasonable to have a male only base in Antarctica in 1986 (a lot of countries still see it as a difficult environment for women, and even the mixed gender bases run…[Read more]

@Missy

Why does it have to be a female? No one has come up with an adequate answer

Yeah, they have. But it’s not adequate *to you*. No answer can be adequate *to you* because you don’t want a female Doctor.

Can you just accept that gender-switching the Master to Missy was a magnificent success? And that earlier, the Sarah Jane Adventures…[Read more]

The Mondasian Cybermen are seriously creepy; what with the human eyes peering out of the helmet, and the human hands that are impervious to frostbite, I don’t think the series hit this height of body horror until that Cyber-head ejected a decayed skull, in Pandorica Opens. I think I prefer the sing-song to the later, more robotic tones; though I…[Read more]

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The DVD has arrived. It’s rather spiffy; not only does it have both the animated AND the stills reconstruction of Episode 4, it has a ‘making of’ documentary, the immediately post Who Hartnell interview, plus interviews and discussion pieces with several Who companions.

And, of course, an audio commentary. They seem to have managed most of the…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave

I really enjoyed that clip. Gawd, yes, the JNT ‘disco Who’ theme. And that bloody wink, which I believe even McCoy himself disliked.

Hope life gets better for you.

One tiny piece of good news: I’m now a NaNoWriMo Winner. That is, I’ve managed to write 50,376 words during November. 😉

And I have reached ‘The End’ on my first draft. And it looks okay; needs a lot of work, obviously, especially since I seem to have outlined several scenes rather than writing them and other scenes are in entirely the wrong…[Read more]

Happy 16th Birthday, Thane!

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