Classic Doctor Who :: [ Season 6 ]
I'm not enjoying this season as much as I hoped I would...
If I had skipped the reconstructions, I probably would be enjoying it more, but now? It's starting to feel formulaic.
Interestingly, this matches opinion of the time – none of this season is particulary bad, it's just starting to feel same-y
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Doctor Who | Season 7
I'm 3 stories in to season 7, and while I really like Petwee's Doctor, and the Brigadier, and liz shaw, and the concepts behind the stories...
they're really way too long and slow paced.
Spearhead from Space was great, but both The Silurians and The Ambassadors of Death are 7 episode stories that really should only be 4 episodes.
It took until Season 12 for them to realise that 4 episode stories worked much better
Doctor Who | Season 7
The Ambassador's of Death is really a good example of why you shouldn't make a story that long – for example, there's a whole plotline where, after Liz is captured, she attempts an escape, only to be caught and re-captured just before she can get back to the Doctor.
And the story spends at least 5 minutes on these scenes, which do not progress the story at all – the situation at the end of the scenes is exactly the same as what it was at the start.
Doctor Who | Season 7
I finished Season 7!
Inferno was much better than I remember it being, but still felt one episode too long.
I really enjoyed the parallel universe stuff this time around.
Thankfully: no stories after Inferno are this long (unless you count trial of a timelord as 1 story instead of 4)
We're now up to the danger zone: the last time I tried to watch through the classic series, this is where I stopped.
Doctor Who | Erasure
In the early seasons, the theme music (and much of the stock incidental music) was arranged by Delia Derbyshire.
But because Ron Grainer composed the main melody, she was not allowed to get co-writer credit "just" for coming up with the iconic sounds.
So she remained uncredited for her work on the theme until the 50th Anniversary episode.
Doctor Who | Season 8
There's so much more violence in the classic stories – in one scene from "The Mind of Evil", UNIT attacks a castle prison that's been taken over by convicted criminals.
There are 15 onscreen deaths from the firefight, and it's implied that there are more off screen.
You'd be hard pressed to find a scene in the modern series that contains more than 5 deaths*.
*that aren't like... something explodes and kills everyone
Classic Doctor Who
The BBC just released this amazing trailer:
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Classic Doctor Who | Season 9
The copy of Day of the Daleks that I have advertises itself as having new special effects and new dalek voices.
I was initially very concerned about the replacement of the dalek voices, but then... I heard the original:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2A4E8eI-6YM
Classic Doctor Who | Season 9
(and here is the new voice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxgTuhMxk14 )
Classic Doctor Who | Season 9
And "Day of the Daleks" gets a Highly Recommended rating from me!
I had to remind myself that "Highly Recommended" doesn't mean "the best story of the season", it means "if you only watch one story in this season, this is the story to watch".
(Of course, now there are a couple of seasons with multiple highly recommended stories, so that idea kind of breaks down a bit... hmm)
Classic Doctor Who | Season 9
I also am really glad the Master isn't here...
Classic Doctor Who | The way I'm thinking about things
By default, every story gets a "Maybe" recommendation.
If it's not very good at all, then I downgrade it to "Don't watch".
If it exceeds my expectations, then it gets upgraded to "Watch".
If it exceeds my expectations AND the answer to the question "If I only watch one story from this season, should I watch this one?" is yes, then it gets upgraded to "Highly Recommended"
Classic Doctor Who | Season 9
I'm really enjoying that the stories have gaps between them now.
They've moved away from what the early episodes did ("We have to show every moment!"), and are letting there be spaces of time that aren't shown, where the Doctor and companions could be doing all sorts of things
Classic Doctor Who | Season 9
a "problem" for my guide:
Seasons 8 and 9 have been so much more watchable than Seasons 1–7, which means there are more recommendations for these stories.
Perhaps I need to increase my standards, to make sure I don't end up recommending basically everything from the 3rd and 4th doctor...?
Classic Doctor Who | Season 9
My favourite scene from this story was definitely this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-dXZePMOX4
Classic Doctor Who | Season 10 | The Three Doctors
The Three Doctors is so good. It's a great story in general, but it's also a great season opener and a great anniversary story.
The major conceit is that there's a problem so big that the timelords have crossed the Doctor's timelines together, so the first 3 Doctors can help out.
Classic Doctor Who | Season 10 | The Three Doctors
I do wonder what the scripts would have been like, if William Hartnell had been healthy enough to participate more.
(As his health had degraded significantly in the 6 years since he left the role, he was only able to sit in a chair and read a few lines for the story, he wasn't able to be active or remember too much of a script)
Classic Doctor Who | Season 9
@lizardsquid this is where the fanfic really gets started
Or did, when the Classic Who fandom was big on tumblr
Classic Doctor Who | Season 9
@DialMforMara I'm probably going to write some of my own fanfiction soon, tbh!
Classic Doctor Who | Season 9
@lizardsquid you can recommend everything from the Third and Fourth Doctor. I'm fairly certain you won't, but there's nothing wrong with recommending more stories from the best seasons.
Classic Doctor Who | Season 9 | The Mutants
@lizardsquid The non-bald dude is the doctor, right?
Do people in-universe ever get confused calling him the doctor when there's a medical doctor nearby?
Classic Doctor Who | Season 9 | The Mutants
@BatElite there's an entire episode where the events only happen because someone calls for a doctor and The Doctor shows up instead.
Classic Doctor Who | Season 9 | The Mutants
@lizardsquid I hope that got highly recommended. :3
Classic Doctor Who | Season 9 | The Mutants
@BatElite I'm not up to it yet in my recommendations (it's a 12th doctor episode, and I'm only up to the 3rd doctor), but it's probably not going to be highly recommended, mostly because it needs a whole bunch of other episodes as context.
Classic Doctor Who | Season 9 | The Mutants (spoilers!)
@lizardsquid oooh! I don’t remember that ep, but awesome! :D
Classic Doctor Who | Season 9 | The Mutants (spoilers!)
@lizardsquid hooray indeed
Classic Doctor Who | Season 9 | The Time Monster
@lizardsquid brace yourself, there'll be two Loch Ness Monsters
Classic Doctor Who | Season 9 | The Time Monster
@lizardsquid Well they kept sinking.
Classic Doctor Who | Season 9 | The Mutants
@lizardsquid I forget whether he dies first (the two times before this there was a black actor, his character was the first or only person to die)
Classic Doctor Who | Season 9 | The Mutants
@DialMforMara he isn't the first one to die in this story - that "honour" goes to some other guard.
we'll see if he survives the whole ordeal...
Classic Doctor Who | Season 9
The Curse of Peladon is really, really good.
Except the first episode is a bit too slow, so I can't give it a Highly Recommended rating.