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1 August 2013 at 13:56 #14738
I missed that memo! Sorry!
Thanks @bluesqueakpip
As a matter of interest, where did you sit on the Buffy/Angel v Buffy/Spike divide?
And, before my dimming memory completely forgets, as to this:
Somebody who gets series regular on Doctor Who, series regular on Law and Order UK, series regular on a children’s TV series and series regular on a US TV series is not an ‘average’ actor. Actresses, even the pretty ones, just don’t get that amount of work by being ‘average’. They might manage one show (and stay there comfortably for years), but they don’t keep repeatedly convincing different production teams that they’re the one to fill those intensely competitive top slots.
I am afraid I have to disagree. Many actors and actresses audition excellently but perform in an average way. Getting jobs on TV is rarely about talent – sad, but lamentably true, especially in America but certainly often in the UK. And the truth is that once you score a regular role in a profile television series, you have a good to great chance of getting further work, regardless of your actual ability.
I don’t think she is a dreadful actress, but I also don’t think she rose to the opportunities/challenges which the script and Tennant offered. With a different actress, Martha might have overshadowed both Rose and Donna – but she didn’t.
Ophelia is often regarded as the most difficult role for a woman in the Shakespeare repertoire and people say that she does not get the opportunities that other Shakespeare women got. But once you have seen a great actress play Ophelia effortlessly, you know that is just not true.
1 August 2013 at 13:23 #14735@IAmNotAFishIAmAFreeMan
Forgive my ignorance, but what is a “Spuffy shipper”?
I don’t think RTD had difficulty letting go of Rose…I think he knew exactly what he wanted to do and he did it. And I think he was right.
Rose was fundamental to the reboot. Like her or not, we would not be here today but for Rose.
1 August 2013 at 13:09 #14731I am glad I am not completely predictable!
I certainly think RTD’s era was an emotional journey for the Doctor.
Until, SM’s is over, though, I can’t really assess it. You might be right in your suggestion that it is an intellectual journey, but that is not my current tentative impression.
Time will tell.
I don’t know how I would feel about actually meeting the Doctor’s mother in the series…but, then, Moffat says he is going to change everything so…who knows? Might be delicious to have the Doctor’s mother travel with him for a year…
See @Shazzbot…this discussion IS about companions….
1 August 2013 at 10:03 #14723Ah, you are a proper troublemaker aren’t you? 🙂
The thing is, in my humble and old fashioned view, RTD wrote in a multi-faceted way. You can read the Rose arc as you do – teenage love angst in time and space – and then go on to Rebound arc and then whatever you regard the Donna arc: sure, of course those that want to can do that and support it from the text.
But others read the same arcs, the same text, the same characters as demonstrating the Doctor’s inherent misogyny.
Still others can cite chapter and verse about how the entire RTD era is about turning viewers gay and that the relationships between the Doctor and females are emphasised as dysfunctional entirely to spur this “Convert, Convert” agenda.
I am sure there are others – I have just listed the ones I have come across or been subjected to at parties.
For my part, I think the four RTD years show the Doctor in essentially post-catastrophe mode. And I see the Doctor’s relationships with his Companions and their loved ones as a fundamental part of his recovery process.
He is lost – and they bring him home. All of them in their own way contribute to this. And the high point, the joyous moment, finally comes when they are all there in the TARDIS, bringing the Earth back, and the Doctor is as happy as we have ever seen him since Eccelston arrived.
Then the Double Donna crisis takes it all away from him and he goes right off the rails again – in every way, he is worse after Double Donna than he ever was in Rose.
His last stories are an inevitable progression to regeneration – because the hearts of this incarnation were broken by what happened to Donna ( not as far as I know a person anyone thinks he was in love with nor she with him ) and he basically goes nuts.
I don’t see the Doctor falling in love with humans – but that is just me. I certainly see that he can love – no doubt. He does – often. But that is not the same to me at all.
31 July 2013 at 17:41 #14673Okay – I submit. I am not arguing with you two! 🙂
Maybe we can just agree that different people will see these arcs differently.
I never saw Martha as “rebound” girl because I never thought Tennant was in love with Rose.
It seemed to me that RTD showed, quite cleverly, how little the Doctor understood the way he impacted upon his companions. Even with the evidence from Sarah-Jane, he blithely assumes that having fun with Rose carries no consequences. Then he sees how much she has grown to be in love with him and he realises what his nonchalance has done to her.
So, he is on guard with Martha – determined not to hurt her the same way. But first he assumes that she will fall for him and then he gets over that and consequently does not realise that, after all, eventually she has. And with Donna he is subjected to someone who expects him to fall for her and keeps telling him off – and that is the person to whom he gets the closest – the one who fundamentally rejects him.
But what would a mere boy know?
31 July 2013 at 17:12 #14670And Martha specifically calls the Doctor about “rebound” in Gridlock doesn’t she?
If she really was envisaged as “rebound” girl why would RTD have her do that?
31 July 2013 at 16:52 #14666Guilty as charged – I do have high standards for actors. Because there are so many excellent ones to do the work, why use an average one?
But I think you are wrong about Martha being treated differently by the Doctor. This exchange occurs at the end of Martha’s first episode:
DOCTOR: I just thought since you saved my life and I’ve got a brand new sonic screwdriver which needs road testing, you might fancy a trip.
MARTHA: What, into space?
DOCTOR: Well?
MARTHA: But I can’t. I’ve got exams. I’ve got things to do. I have to go into town first thing and pay the rent, I’ve got my family going mad.
DOCTOR: If it helps, I can travel in time as well.
MARTHA: Get out of here.
DOCTOR: I can.
MARTHA: Come on now, that’s going too far.
DOCTOR: I’ll prove it.The Doctor makes the invitation – it is Martha who is reluctant to go. The “just one trip” line (which comes later) is to encourage her to keep travelling not to dismiss her.
Martha is reluctant to discover her inner wild child, to travel freely with the Doctor. It takes time for her to accept that she should be travelling and not be the “sensible” one.
I never had any doubt that she was a “real” companion and I had no problem with the Doctor referencing his loss of Rose – although I really never thought of it as being “constantly reminded” of Rose. Comparisons between Rose and Martha were inevitable in any event.
Martha had to earn her place. All the potential for that was there in my view. but the playing did not achieve it.31 July 2013 at 14:53 #14659@nick @janetteb @bluesqueakpip
I must be the only one who doesn’t really see the problem with Martha as a problem with the actress, but I do see it that way.
Martha is not written any more or less well than either Donna or Rose. And the Doctor looks after her and treats her in very similar ways to Rose and Donna at various points. She gets the phone and the TARDIS key; he is desperate to rescue her in 42, where she really gets a chance to shine, and she has the one true “success” arc of Tennant’s female companions – she travels, she learns what she has to, she grows up, she comes back in the Sontaran two-parter after her time, she becomes integral to UNIT and she is there, with all of the other important characters from the AG Doctors’ life, in Journey’s End.
To me, the character is well conceived and well written (quite dry and funny often) and she has many opportunities to shine – but the actress does not make the most of those opportunities and so the character lacks sizzle and chemistry with the Doctor.
Yes, Tennant’s Doctor keeps Martha at a slight distance – because he knows how hurt Rose has been by their separation, he has seen for himself what he did to Sarah-Jane Smith and he can see that Martha wants something from him that he cannot give. But there is nothing in any of that which means that the Doctor treats her badly – I really don’t think he does.
And I don’t think Martha does a single thing to “humanise” the Doctor. Indeed, it strikes me that Tennant is at his most “inhuman” with Martha.
But, you know, just my own perspcective.
🙂
31 July 2013 at 13:38 #14653One of the things I keep hearing is that River was always intended as the prototype for a female Doctor – a test drive of what a female Dr might be like. The argument runs – River is popular with audiences, so will a female Doctor be.
Giving the Doctor her regenerations might turn out to be quite important…
I also keep hearing that they are casting for a male assistant…mind you, there is also talk that the Paternoster trio will spend time as crew TARDIS in 2014…
I don’t think the BBC would be worried about having a man write a show with a central female lead. At all.
And while I agree that it is ridiculous that female writers are not used on the show, it might be that female writers have not wanted to be used on the show…Do we know of any who have been rejected?
30 July 2013 at 14:35 #14607Gossip is all it is.
Although, to be fair, the Nicola Walker source was the one to mention Matt Smith first after Tennant resigned…
But still…all with a huge grain of salt!
30 July 2013 at 13:41 #14604Capaldi would have been an inspired choice once – but I am not so sure now.
Fires of Pompeii aside (and we know what a mistake casting a former guest star has been in the past…) I think Thick of It may make him undesirable from a marketing point of view.
I am told that both Andrew Scott and Daniel Rigby have indicated to other producers that they might not be available for proposed projects in 2014…
But inside the BBC an older woman in the role seems to be the muttering – because it would stamp the BBC as older woman friendly and “revive a tiring concept” (their words I am told from an internal memo – but I take it with a grain of salt) Nicola Walker and Maxine Peake are said to be the front-runners on that list.
All idle speculation I am sure.
On the other hand – if they don’t go for an older Doctor now, it will never likely happen again…
30 July 2013 at 13:30 #14603I went back to look at Parting of the Ways and, again, I am not sure your reading is right.
The Doctor sends Rose away in the TARDIS to keep her safe. He knows he is going to have to use the Delta Wave and he does not want her to die unnecessarily. That seems to me entirely in tune with the Doctor over the years. He saves those he can save.
Then he builds the Delta Wave, but just as Tom Baker won’t touch the two wires in Genesis, neither will Eccelston start the Delta Wave. He is searching for a way out. But he realizes there isn’t one he can think of and says “Maybe its time”.
Then Rose returns full of Matrix power in Bad Wolf mode and saves the day. She can only do that because the Doctor sent her back and Mickey reminded her about what he had seen in the TARDIS.
So the Doctor’s own actions provided the solution he needed – because neither Mickey nor Rose would stand by and see him die without “taking a stand”.
It seems to me plain that he wanted to save Rose and that he was about to use the Delta Wave. And I think pretty much any Doctor would have done exactly the same.
And I don’t know what you mean about Lynda – she dies. The Doctor knows that they are all going to die – he just tries to reassure them unless something happens to prevent the catastrophe he expects.
I don’t see Eccleston’s Doctor as nasty in any way. Indifferent – sure – but they so often are…
🙂
29 July 2013 at 22:49 #1459329 July 2013 at 22:45 #14592Send him and Moffat a tweet to that effect – own ARSE!
I would urge you to rewatch World War Three.
I think that Eccleston’s Doctor is “unthawing” throughout. He definitely re-evaluates his position re Mickey in that episode and he is not the first Doctor to do that with a close male friend – Hartnell and Ian, Pertwee and Mike Yates, Tom Baker and Harry – even, arguably, Davison and Adric.
The line about saving Rose is said in the context of Jackie and her demands to know from the Doctor that Rose will be safe. It’s not, absolutely not, a choice between the world or Rose. It’s about what the Doctor stands for – the greater good ( Sealing the Time War ) or the personal good ( not being alone).
In the end, he does what every Doctor does – takes a risk that will save both Rose and the world – and Mickey helps him do it. By trusting Mickey, he can save everyone.
That is the lesson for the Doctor – don’t judge, trust.
It is the same lesson Ian and Barbara taught Hartnell right at the start.
At least, that is how it seems to me.
29 July 2013 at 18:24 #14585I confess to not understanding where you are coming from here.
Can you give me some examples of how Tennant treated Martha badly? I do not remember him belittling her nor do I remember him treating her like a third-rate replacement.
There was almost no chemistry between Martha and Tennant – but that is not down to anything except the actress (at least that is how it seemed to me). Both Billie Piper and Catherine Tate made something quite remarkable about of what they were given – But Freema Agyeman was not up to the task. (Imagine if the actress who played Melody had played Martha, for instance)
And as it is Martha who pretty much single-handedly provides the solution to the Master’s conquest by her coming to grips with who she is and what the Doctor is and what their relationship is – she grows up because of the Doctor and becomes something finer than she was when she started – as a character I can’t see that RTD treated her differently either.
The problem with Martha lies in the actress I think, not Tennant or RTD.
But completely understand that others will see it differently – and would really like to know why you feel so strongly.
To me, it is entirely the other way around. I never felt I saw Amy become the Doctor’s best friend but I certainly got sick of being told that she was his best friend.
🙂
29 July 2013 at 13:52 #14580One of the things that interests me – greatly, as it happens – is how the passage of time can affect your view of eras of Doctor Who. At least for me.
For reasons I have discussed elsewhere, my initial reaction to Pertwee was not warm – but these days, I have a much higher regard for that time. I think I like McCoy more now than I did at transmission and I think I like Eccelstone slightly less now than I did at transmission. I definitely like Tom Baker and Peter Davison less now than at transmission because I find their lows harder to endure than I originally did. With Hartnell, Troughton, Colin Baker and Tennant, my views now reflect almost precisely the views I held at transmission – I disliked C Baker enormously and still do and the other three I have never not liked, even though each, undeniably, has dud stories.
There are many reasons for this, of course, and my reasons will never be the same as anyone else’s.
But I never found anything to cringe at during the RTD era – laugh at, laugh with, sure – it was the ride which was exhilarating. That said, The Next Doctor is definitely a low point…
Of course, other people loathed some of what RTD did – and that is completely fine. But like him or loathe him, you were never unsure of what his Doctor Who would be – enormously varied.
29 July 2013 at 12:34 #14574I guess one person’s OTT is another person’s “fully appreciate”.
Doctor Who is an uneven palette – always was and always will be (if it is to continue). What one person likes another doesn’t. That’s cool.
I was surprised because usually the incumbent wins in polls of this type. RTD did not just win but romped home.
Personally, I much prefer the RTD era , with all of its flaws and self-indulgences, to the SM era, with all of its flaws and self-indulgences. The Tennant/Donna season is far and away my favourite season since Rose.
One day, when you have time on your hands, I’d love to see your analysis of what makes RTD more OTT than SM. I am sure there is a good blog topic in that.
🙂
29 July 2013 at 12:27 #1457329 July 2013 at 12:26 #14572You mean this:
1. The return of River Song (25.9%)
2. Two-part stories (20.1%)
3. Series arc (11.9%)
4. An older Doctor (11.7%)
5. The return of Jenny, Vastra and Strax (7.4%)
6. Some female writers (7.3%)
7. A second companion (4.3%)
8. Classic monsters (4.2%)
9. A younger Doctor (3.7%)
10. Stand-alone stories (3.5%)29 July 2013 at 12:08 #14569Yes, very true re Lambert and Lloyd.
I find it interesting that the BW era is not last! I imagine not that many voters would have been there for the long haul.
Very interesting, as you say that McCoy is so highly regarded.
And I find it quite surprising that RTD is regarded so far ahead of SM – I thought it would be much closer than that.
29 July 2013 at 11:38 #1456529 July 2013 at 09:44 #14561No you have missed nothing.
I have not got around to penning my thoughts – but I hope too soon.
🙂
28 July 2013 at 19:45 #14554I may not have expressed myself very well.
All I meant was that by the end of Ghostlight 1 we do not really know anything about the Doctor’s manipulations. We know he has tricked her by not being up front about why he has brought them there. But we think that is it.
It is not until later that we come to be certain about the Doctor’s manipulations re Ace.
Well, that’s how it seems to me anyway.
Otherwise, I agree entirely with your observations. I particularly liked the subverted music hall numbers!
28 July 2013 at 18:31 #14552Ace: It’s true, isn’t it? This is the house I told you about.
Doctor: You were thirteen. You climbed over the wall for a dare.
Ace: That’s your surprise. Isn’t it? Bringing me back here.
Doctor: Remind me what it was that you sensed when you entered this deserted house. An aura of intense evil?
Ace: Don’t you have things you hate?
Doctor: I can’t stand burnt toast. I loathe bus stations. Terrible places. Full of lost luggage and lost souls.
Ace: I told you I never wanted to come back here again.
Doctor: Then there’s unrequited love. And tyranny. And cruelty.
Ace: Too right.
Doctor: We all have a universe of our own terrors to face.
Ace: I face mine on my own terms.
Doctor: But don’t you want to know what happened here?
Ace: No!
Doctor: You’ve learnt something you didn’t recognize when you were thirteen.
Ace: Like what?
Doctor: The nature of the horror you sensed here.
Ace: Alien?I am not all that sure that, on first viewing, the machinations of the Doctor were as profoundly clear as everyone here seems to think.
Ace had told the Doctor a story about a house and he knew that she had encountered alien power – and so he came to investigate. Do we really know any more than that on first viewing this episode?
The sound relationship between the Doctor and Ace is the foundation of this episode: it is only because the Doctor knows that Ace trusts him that he can contemplate doing what he does.
I found this atmospheric and intriguing – but the same two things irritated me then as they do now – the music and the lighting.
The writing is quite sophisticated and suspenseful and with proper lighting and suitably atmospheric mood music, this could have been quite scary indeed. But the JNT “light-entertainment” mantra sees the bright lights and the almost jaunty music used, despite its contrapuntal effect on the acting and the text. A great pity.
There is nothing wrong with the compositions – its just the brief they were given that seems to me misplaced.
McCoy, of course, was not the first comic and physical comedy performer to play the role of the Doctor – Pertwee was a comedy voice man through and through and a vaudeville expert – and he plays the “straightest” (in the sense of non-comic) Doctor of them all.
McCoy seemed to me to be warming up nicely here. He is unexpected in many scenes.
@Shazzbot – his producing a Cave Bear Tooth always seemed to me a nod to Unearthly Child – not sure why. And I know what you mean about stylised direction – but, actually, I think that is just how television period drama was made then. Its the lighting which makes it seem more stylised than it otherwise would I think.
This story could easily be made now. Marc Platt was ahead of his time.26 July 2013 at 16:55 #1445726 July 2013 at 16:24 #14454You don’t come across as a naysayer, fear not.
I don’t, for my part, see any difference between Dalek Invasion of Earth and War Machines, as story types, except degree. The Doctor is not there when the enemy in War Machines arrives – their invasion has commenced and the Doctor ends their plans.
That too, is what happens in Dalek Invasion of Earth – but there the invasion plans were considerably more advanced before the Doctor arrives.
They are both reassuring to me – the Doctor defeats the enemy. Defeating the Daleks in Daleks Invasion of Earth, though, does seem a bigger deal than War Machines. At least to me. So it is more reassuring.
It is rare, if indeed it happens at all, for the Doctor to be somewhere on Earth and engaged before the invasion begins: the Pertwee era is the exception in its first three years. Usually, the aliens have arrived on Earth and their invasion is underway before the Doctor gets involved.
You know, I have totally forgotten why we are discussing this on this thread…
🙂
26 July 2013 at 11:35 #14439Agreed – that Invasion animation is great. I too am looking forward to the Moonbase one…I always thought it was the scariest, moodiest Cybermen story – it builds suspense beautifully. That moment at the end of part two when Troughton realsies where the Cyberman is hiding…gold!
And agreed – the Krotons could be easily reimagined as workable for AG and they are rich with possibility. They could easily be the victims in a new story…
26 July 2013 at 11:22 #14435Yes, no issues from me.
Its not possible to watch the Troughton equivalent of Talons or Caves because it doesn’t exist in the archives. 🙁
You are right though – absolutely – that the experiment was about watching the episodes in their original transmitted format so for Troughton that only leaves you with Tomb or Krotons if you are after four parters. I have watched them both countless times and don’t prefer one over the other : for me the idiocy of Kaftan and Kleig matches the idiocy of the design of the Krotons, so both stories are far from perfect, although both are easy to watch and enjoy.
And I agree that Androzani and Terror of the Autons are excellent choices.
26 July 2013 at 10:54 #14430I am happy for @phaseshift to decide. I don’t know a Troughton story I can’t defend… 🙂
I owe @jimthefish a rambling about In Defence of Krotons and hope to get to that soon.
I do wonder though whether, when it comes to Hartnell and Pertwee, we might be better off looking at three or four episodes from different stories, rather than pick a whole story? It might be a better way to reflect on the strengths/weaknesses of their Doctors, rather than be distracted by the myriad ways in which television production has improved over the years. Just a thought.
I guess I would advocate Underwater Menace 2, Moonbase 2, Invasion 8 and War Games 10 – or as @phaseshift has suggested Tomb of the Cybermen (or Mind Robber) if you went for whole stories.
Would people listen to an episode a week of just audio? If so, Web of Fear is hard to beat…
26 July 2013 at 00:31 #14410No – I had no clue.
I have been the beneficiary of Craig posting for me. Will amend tomorrow.
Apologies.
25 July 2013 at 21:42 #14399Again, fair enough.
I reconciled that by taking the view that Lucy had been mind-controlled by the Master to shoot and revive him- and once that was done the spell broke and she was revulsed…
But that is just me…
25 July 2013 at 21:00 #14397Maybe we could just rename the topic?
Companions and Concepts: past and present
What do you think. This one is very organic in its twists and turns. But, of course, whatever you decide is fine with me.
I retract Topic Nazi and, in my defence, noted you mentioned the title first, in what I thought was a twinge of “quite right too”. I note it was not the use of “Nazi” which caused offence…
But apologies anyway!
25 July 2013 at 20:47 #14394@MadScientist72 @craig @Shazzbot
True re the Master, except that as the story develops it becomes fairly clear that Lucy did not kill him but did what had been pre-arranged so that he could be revived.
So, I don’t think she meant to kill him dead – she meant to kill him alive.
But it’s just a matter of interpretation.
@craig, of course, is right; it is not something that the Time Lord could decide. But, given how the regeneration energy has quite remarkable powers, perhaps it can recognise the animus?
Or the accidents that Troughton mentioned as being the cap on Time Lord life become those moments when the Time Lord victim is caught off-guard because of someone else’s deliberate actions and the Regeneration process does not kick in because the Time Lord is not conscious.
I am not wedded to it as a theory – but it does seem to fit the available evidence. At least in a way….
But, no, Lucy is not a companion. The Topic Nazi is right – this discussion is off-topic – apologies!
25 July 2013 at 17:35 #14388Yes, you are quite right – there are a number of murders of Time Lords in BG Doctor Who.
It is an interesting question this: but I have always thought one way to rationalise it is that if the Time Lord is deliberately murdered by another, they die. If it is accidental, they might be able to regenerate.
Except in Troughton’s case, no Doctor has regenerated because someone has directly tried to kill them – apart from McCoy and even there you could argue that while he was murdered there was no specific animus or intention to kill him – as opposed to kill anyone who was watching/present.
The truth of it is that writers write what works: and don’t care about the issues that might arise in continuity.
🙂
25 July 2013 at 17:29 #14387Fair enough.
For me, the iconic scene of the Dalek emerging from the Thames represents, in a very fundamental way, the concept of aliens invading Earth, regardless of whether or not they have invaded, are about to invade or are invading.
And it always seemed to me that the resistance that the Doctor worked with was the equivalent of the forces with whom the Doctor would work in any number of stories: the “good” locals banded together. UNIT represented a new concept – a dedicated force for repelling aliens.
Of course, the Doctor saved Earth from an alien threat in Time Meddler too.
🙂
25 July 2013 at 15:29 #14379If it matters, I would watch Ghostlight in preference to Greatest Show in the Galaxy…
25 July 2013 at 15:27 #14378I think the thing about Invasion setting up the Pertwee is simply that it introduces UNIT and the notion of the Doctor working together with UNIT to repel alien threats.
War Machines is certainly an invasion of Earth story – but not the first, that honour going to the Daleks back in Hartnell’s second year.
🙂
24 July 2013 at 11:55 #14323Curiouser and curiouser…
I wonder if we have all been duped into thinking Eccleston is not involved and this push to make us all believe it is McGann is part of the SM distraction process?
When I saw the Daleks photos, though, I did wonder if the Daleks were invading the McGann Tardis (or at least some TARDIS) rather than Gallifrey…
I was under the impression that the filming for the Christmas Special had not started officially, although, of course, scenes may have been recorded ahead of time.
Genuinely, I don’t think we can be sure of anything and the more the “evidence” seems to suggest the time War and McGann, the more I wonder what it really means…
🙂
23 July 2013 at 18:26 #14298WENG: Give me that key and I will spare her life.
DOCTOR: Never trust a man with dirty fingernails.
WENG: You can trust me to kill her if you do not immediately put it down! Now obey me at once!
DOCTOR: I tell you what, I’ll make a bargain with you. You can have the trionic lattice when we get to the House of the Dragon.
WENG: What trickery is this?
DOCTOR: No trickery. You’re holding two others of my friends.
WENG: What of them?
DOCTOR: I want them released.
WENG: Two blundering dolts? Why?
DOCTOR: I doubt if you could understand that, but that’s the condition.
WENG: Very well. They’re nothing to me.
DOCTOR: Good. Right. Then you and your chaps can lead the way and I’ll follow.
WENG: Bring the girl.
DOCTOR: No! The girl stays.
WENG: You would be wise not to press me too far.
DOCTOR: Just lead on.Tom Baker is on fire in this episode and demonstrates, surely and definitively, why his Fourth Doctor was a wonderful creation.
He stares down Magnus Greel with a cool detachment, ensures the safety of as many as he can, ingeniously engineers escape by making a sort-of home-made bomb and assists in sending Mr Sin over the edge of his control so that he reverts to undiscerning feral pig carnage mode which incapacitates Greel and permits the Doctor to turn his own evil distillation device on him. It’s a cold and gruesome end for Greel – at the Doctor’s hands. But somehow it seems entirely justified: Greel was finished, the Doctor just saw him end his painful life more intensely and a trifle sooner.
Leela is sensational – her attempt to slaughter Bent Face and her courage in the face of death marks her out as a companion the like of which we have never seen before or since. Her tea lesson, on the other hand, demonstrates her inherent charm:
LITEFOOT: And then, for example, I would say “one lump or two, Miss Leela” To which you would reply, “one will suffice, thank you”. Now, do you follow?
LEELA: Supposing I want two?
LITEFOOT: Oh, no, no, no, no. One lump for ladies.
LEELA: Then why do you ask me?
DOCTOR: Come along, Leela.Louise Jameson, in just three stories, had clearly established herself as one of the great Companions.
Jago and Litefoot cement their reputation as the greatest support double-act ever in the history of the programme. I remember McLeela and I hoping that they would join the TARDIS crew for the next season. Alas, as ever, our best hopes for the programme never eventuated…
I was, in the end, glad that Greel turned out to be a murderous psychopath from the future, the Hitler of the 51st Century, and not the Master. It was a nice timey-wimey touch having the Doctor encounter a foe in Victorian London he had fought against in his past, the foe having escaped into the past and “caught up” to that “present”. It was a first in BG Doctor Who – and a fine first at that.
Robert Holmes at his finest.
19 July 2013 at 22:45 #14154Everyone – many thanks, again, for your well wishes. I appreciate the support – enormously.
x
19 July 2013 at 22:41 #14153@tardisblue – many thanks for your kind words.
19 July 2013 at 20:51 #14150Totally agree.
Cusick really is the unsung champion. The Daleks would be nothing without him.
In my view it is closer to 98% Cusick and 2% Nation…
🙂
19 July 2013 at 20:22 #14146They look like Cusick designs – there is a real feel of Chumblies and Mechanoids about them.
Very interesting.
19 July 2013 at 18:44 #1414219 July 2013 at 17:22 #14117Ah…well, that explains a lot.
Its probably quite hard to understand the magic of regeneration without at least watching the final episode of each Doctor, to get a good idea of context. I’d recommend you do that.
To help, the final episodes are: Tenth Planet 4, War Games 10, Planet of the Spiders 6, Logopolis 4, Caves of Androzani 4, Time and the Rani ep 1, the McGann movie (first fifteen minutes you will see McCoy’s regeneration), Parting of the Ways, End of Time.
You might also watch Lets Kill Hitler and Utopia – to see others regenerating.
19 July 2013 at 17:08 #14113Actually, the second Doctor is not in the TARDIS when he regenerates. The Time Lords force his regeneration on Gallifrey as a punishment. So his is a very different process from the first or the one from Pertwee to Tom Baker.
@bluesqueakpip has asked you excellent questions – which should help clarify your thoughts for us all, so that we can understand your points and engage with you about your theories.
A further question from me – what do you think about the Watcher? Did you like that idea? Have you seen all of Logopolis or just the regeneration scene?
19 July 2013 at 16:47 #14110Well, its good that you recognise that the other regenerations we have seen make it unlikely that Tennant’s was the cause of the TARDIS crashing.
Indeed, when the first regeneration occurred, when Hartnell changed into Troughton, the new Doctor explained to his companions, Ben and Polly, that he was a part of the TARDIS and it was a part of him.
So the regeneration process was established to be linked to the mysteries of the TARDIS from the very first time we saw it happen.
I am not sure why the “new” regenerations bother you. They are all the same, but I think that is a good thing. Regeneration is meant to be a natural process which occurs in a particular way – so why shouldn’t it look the same each time it happens? A bit like when the TARDIS materialises – it should always be the same way.
In the old days, when the series was still finding its way, regenerations were represented in a very similar fashion – a glow around the face while the features changed – but there were variations dependent upon the excesses or instincts of the various then producers.
Personally, I think it is a wonderful thing that we now know exactly what regeneration looks like – for little viewers, it brings certainty.
19 July 2013 at 16:24 #14106Hello.
Why do you think that Tennant’s regeneration was what “full out wrecked the TARDIS”?
Its an interesting thought – but we might all be better off if you tell us why you think it was the regeneration and what consequences, if any, you think that has for the series.
You probably should get through season 5 though – that might make you re-assess.
🙂
19 July 2013 at 16:21 #14105I don’t think I have ever seen any sign of alternative designs from Cusick.
Which, now you make me think about it, is indeed odd…
19 July 2013 at 15:04 #14100Equally, as well as a future Doctor, a Companion would – in theory – be able to change the Doctor’s timeline. It’s not their own timeline. But the implication has always been that it takes the power of a Time Lord to change time. River might be able to do it.
Really?
As early as Aztecs you have a scenario where the Doctor is concerned about a human (Barbara) altering time.
I think anyone can alter time – its just Time Lords who seem to have the ability to do it with less consequences than others.
Basically my attitude is ‘the Doctor cannot alter his own timeline’. That’s why he’s so careful about spoilers; once he knew he didn’t rescue Amy and Rory, he can’t.
But there is a whole SM season devoted to the Eleventh Doctor altering his own future to avoid a fixed point in time where he dies…
Moffat alters the “rules” about this stuff as he goes along – which, many will say, is fair enough if good stories are told. This fluid notion about what is and isn’t a fixed point in time makes everything possible.
Given what happened in The Wedding of River Song, isn’t it more a case of “once he knew he didn’t rescue Amy and Rory” he didn’t?
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