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it’s really difficut to have ‘a classy, vicious murderous enemy’ who is female nowadays, especially in what is still ostensibly a children’s programme on the BBC with a male protagonist; but, also in general.,,,
….but a female baddie could and should be able to be both classy and vicious without those [youthful] sexual elements that come from being ‘gorgeous’
Ahem… do we all forget so soon?
Ohhhhh– Destiny of the Doctors. Great cut-scenes, some glorious (at the time) graphic flourishes, but – the gameplay sucked. It couldn’t compare to this GAP treat I was exposed to in the early 90s. The Bally Doctor Who Pinball:
I forget, exactly how many pound coins I inserted into this beauty in “The Shearbridge” in Bradford, while The Damned played “Smash it Up” and other assorted classics in the background. Too much of my grant probably. I do hope BBC Enterprises (as it was) got its cut. I was king of the table, leaving others disgusted in my wake, in awe at my prowess!
I have promised myself that, when I win the lottery I will treat myself to one of these delightful contraptions, and a suitably sized house to situate it in.
After all – it is advocated by the best. 😀
“You don’t understand regeneration, Mel. It’s a lottery, and I’ve drawn the short plank.” – Seventh Doctor
After Colin Bakers departure, the announcement came that Sylvester McCoy was to play the Seventh Doctor. To be frank that announcement alarmed me. I remembered him from my youth, goofing around on TISWAS, and also from his stage work (mainly introduced to me through turns he did for Amnesty in “The Secret Policeman’s Ball”). He could make me laugh, I knew, and was a gifted physical performer, but – The Doctor?!
Sylvester made his name in the Ken Campbell Roadshow. Campbell, strangely enough, was also up for the Seventh Doctor gig.
There was another issue as well. Presumably to keep some sense of continuity, Bonnie Langford was back as Mel. That was going to be a big drag factor. I therefore wasn’t in the best frame of mind to start watching Time and the Rani. As Colin wasn’t .. ahem .. available, the regeneration scene was conducted with Sylvester in a wig and the sixth Doctors costume. The story itself is a mess, enlivened by one thing. At one point Kate O’Mara as the Rani pretends to be Mel. Lord – it can make cringing watching but she absolutely demolishes Mels character. It’s unrelenting, as she turns everything I didn’t like about Bonnie Langford up to 11. There really was no way back after that. I commend Ms. O’Mara for producing such a viscous caricature.
The Doctors dress sense improved…My fears about the Doctor seemed to be realised. Pratfalls and spoonerisms/mixed up quotations were the order of the day as the series progressed through the largely forgettable Paradise Towers and Delta and the Bannermen. At the end of the series we entered Dragonfire. Suddenly though, with the exception of a dangling scene (which was repeated in “Name of the Doctor”), Sylvester didn’t seem to be goofing as much. On an ice planet the Doctor met a young girl from Earth who didn’t know how she got there (Ace) and, joyfully, Mel decided to leave the Doctor to travel the Universe with the disreputable Sabalom Glitz (Tony Selby). I rejoiced at the end of the series, and hoped Glitz would have the good sense to jettison Mel out of the nearest airlock once the credits had stopped rolling.
Between Season 24 & 25 my life changed, and I set of on an adventure of my own. On gaining the requisite grades at “A” Level I departed my homestead, found the bus station, and escaped to Yorkshire to study chemistry. I mention this because I did not have a TV while in halls. As the series was shown September – December my parents agreed to record the shows for me for my return. I am therefore not judging these shows as they were meant to be watched, but in rapid succession. I have no idea if they changed my impression of the show or not. On return from a term, I’d watch them at night after working as a combination shelf stacker/security guard for my Christmas job at “LiquorSave”. Sexy.
Things behind the scenes of the show had changed as well. A brace of new writers and new Script Editor, Andrew Cartmel. Legend has it he gave each of the writing team a copy of “The Ballad of Halo Jones” to digest, telling them it was this sort of storytelling he aspired to.
Doctor Who was 25 in 1988, and season 25 sought to exploit the anniversary just as the 50th does. Remembrance of the Daleks sees the Doctor and Ace return to Totters Lane as the Doctor has left something important behind – an ancient Gallifreyan artefact. I enjoyed the portrayal of the Daleks for the most, although that bloody civil war was interminable. Panto Davros was back, alas. The destruction of Skaro (alleged) was pretty stupid I thought. I loved the references to Quatermass and the general feel of the serial though. The following storyl The Happiness Patrol I had little patience with. Silver Nemesis (around the anniversary) saw another ancient Gallifreyan artefact with an attachment to the Doctor, and pretty piss-poor Cybermen. For the finale – The Greatest show in the Galaxy, where the Doctor confronts “The Gods of Rrrrrragnarock” in a psychic circus. I simultaneously found elements of these stories a bit laughable in execution, but they interested me in the concepts, and this version of the Doctor who seemed to have an agenda, and also occasional suspicion towards his assistant “Ace”. I have to admit, Sophie Aldred grated on me a bit, with her quirky “Professor!!!!” and ability to distil explosive from virtually anything, but there you go.
A year later and another catch-up session. The return of the Brigadier in Battlefield, with The Doctor as Merlin? Ghost Light I thought of a bit better than other people seem to, as The Doctor takes Ace to a house she burned down in her troubled past. I thought the Curse of Fenric very entertaining, as the reason that Ace had come to be with the Doctor was revealed. A pawn in a chess game between two powerful entities (Fenric and the Doctor). Survival isn’t the best story to finish on, but there were some real feelings of intelligence hidden under some inexpert execution. Both Sylvester and Anthony Ainley as “The Master” are pretty superb in their scenes together though.
Despite my reservations about Ace, I admired what they’d tried to do with the character. New viewers will see many aspects of the modern approach to companions in her story arc. A pretty troubled teen growing in confidence and confronting her demons with the Doctors help. She even ends up rescuing the mother she hates in the form of a small baby. The problem for me really was more presentation than concept. She was possibly the most well spoken teenage delinquent in the Galaxy – a bit hard to believe on occasion (which, to be fair, everyone in the production from writers to actors acknowledge and Sophie Aldred had no say in those choices).
Sylvester, as the “Face of the Doctor”, really grew on me after his first series. Again, there were a lot of duds in his era, but overall his performance pleasantly surprised me. Hints at a Machiavellian mind with an agenda of his own, counterbalanced by some odd behaviour (listening to cheese being a favourite of mine). People who think the modern Doctor relies too much on his sonic will be delighted to know this one doesn’t use one at all. He replaced it with an uncanny ability to talk his adversaries to death. I do think he gets some grief in some quarters because of the relative quality of the stories/production values, and just the fact that the show ended “on his watch”.
Because end it did. Tacked onto the last minutes of “Survival” was a monologue by the Doctor:
“There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea’s asleep, and the RIVERs dream; people made of smoke and cities made of SONG. Somewhere there’s danger, somewhere there’s injustice, and somewhere else the tea’s getting cold. Come on, Ace. We’ve got work to do.”
And that? Well. That was the end…………
Seventh month rapidly approaching – Seventh Doctor. Your thoughts, memories, clips and quips are required to discuss this chap. Mr Sylvester McCoy.
The AI report in his first year had this to say:
Sylvester McCoy was not proving to be a popular Doctor. He received a personal summary index figure of 46 at the end of the series, although it should be pointed out that this includes ratings from people who had decided to stop watching the programme. By the end of the third story in the series his personal rating had shown a steady – if not spectacular – improvement, rising from 44 at the end of the story entitled Time and the Rani (BARB Week 44) to 54 at the end of Delta and the Bannermen (BARB Week 47)
