Doctor Who: season 6

[altariel]

The Troughton era comes to its conclusion. Hear our thorts! Marvel at our insight! Then go about your business.


The Dominators
mraltariel: Let's face it, the Quarks are not very good.
altariel: No.
mraltariel: They're not good even in their own narrative context.
altariel: No.
mraltariel: This story starts out quite promisingly and then completely falls apart. It's not actively bad, but it just meanders around purposelessly for five episodes.
altariel: The problem is that it completely lacks a B-plot. There's barely enough material for a four-parter, and what there is isn't very interesting.
mraltariel: It's not actively bad, it's competently boring.
altariel: FAIL.

The Mind Robber
mraltariel: I don't like 'The Mind Robber'. Actually watching it, it seems quite good. But it leaves a "that was crap" aftertaste.
altariel: I don't like stories about clambering into books. It's a conceit that irritates me. Having said that, this is one of the least irritating versions I've come across. I think I'd rather watch this than read another of those coy Jasper Ffordes for example.
mraltariel: And who wouldn't like Zoe's spangly jumpsuit.
altariel: Well quite!

The Invasion
mraltariel: This isn't as good as I remember either. However, it is considerably elevated by an all-round brilliant guest cast. I think the problem is that the "who's the villain" plot is slightly spoiled by knowing Lethbridge-Stewart, and it's dragged out over too many episodes.
altariel: I loved it. It gave good minion: "Pack-errrr!" And: dude! ANIMATED EPISODES!

The Krotons
mraltariel: I have a sekrit loving for "The Krotons".
altariel: I know. I do not.
mraltariel: "ALL GONDS LEAVE THE HALL!" in a South African bass is one of my favourite DW quotes.
altariel: I know.
mraltariel: It also has some good Bob-alogue--
altariel: Technical term.
mraltariel: --especially between Jamie and the scientist.
altariel: Jameh! Jameh! Jamie and Zoe are awesome.
mraltariel: They're vying with Ian and Barbara for my new favourite companions.
altariel: Wait till we've seen "The War Games".

The Seeds of Death
mraltariel: This was surprisingly rubbish. Substantially better than "The Ice Warriors" from last year, or "The Moonbase", which is the same story.
altariel: Well, that was a thing that happened to me.
mraltariel: I can safely say it won't be happening again.
altariel: Can we watch one without pictures now?

The Space Pirates
mraltariel: I was expecting this to be total rubbish because everyone has always told me it is. It isn't.
altariel: It was a lark.
mraltariel: With some proper nasty bits as well.
altariel: Not much in the way of narrative suspense, but fun getting there.

The War Games
mraltariel: This has always been one of my favourites, despite the fact that structurally it is just ten consecutive episodes of getting captured and escaping.
altariel: You bloody don't notice it. It's a cracker. I was on the edge of my seat with this. All the guest cast are fantastic, from the Barbara-and-Ian style Lady Jennifer and Carstairs, to tiny wee David Troughton's tiny wee scene of great intensity.
mraltariel: And then Philip Madoc turns up (for his second appearance of the season).
altariel: Philip Fucking Madoc! I would never have recognized him if you hadn't said! God, he's brilliant!
mraltariel: And then Gulliver shows up as a Time Lord!
altariel: Philip Madoc! Philip Fucking Madoc! I'm still not past that.
mraltariel: I know.
altariel: The other thing that's brilliant is the sense of impending doom. That alarm going off all the time, it's like the klaxon in "Blake".
mraltariel: And when the Time Lords make their power felt, it's really ominous.
altariel: Absolutely. And it's heart-breaking that they catch Troughton, of all the Doctors to get nobbled by the authorities.
mraltariel: And the direction is really imaginative. It's like they're all bothering for the last story.
altariel: Imagine if they did this every story: it would be the BEST TV SHOW EVAH.


Ranking
The War Games
The Invasion
The Space Pirates
The Krotons
The Seeds of Death
The Mind Robber
The Dominators


mraltariel: So, the Troughton era. The stories continue their general decline in quality since Hartnell's second season. And we've seen amongst the best (Jamie and Zoe) and worst (Victoria) of the companions we've ever had. However, in this last season, there have been some glimpses of how you can make good Doctor Who even when you've exhausted all the basic plots.
altariel: Yes, things like "The Web of Fear" and "Fury from the Deep". And of course, like you said, there's nothing remarkable about the plot of "The War Games", but the energy and belief that's put into it make it something special.
mraltariel: That said, they're going to need to give it a kick up the arse if it's going to carry on.
altariel: I think they should make it in colour and on film.
mraltariel: And - and I cannot stress this enough - they should avoid throwing away the pictures.
altariel: Yes, that would help.

Comments

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Oh dear - as someone who's currently working largely consecutively through Hartnell, and is mid-way through season two, mraltariel's comments are not encouraging! Right now, it is all good, all the time (well, mainly), and I don't fancy the prospect of losing that.

Mind you, I'm WELL looking forward to The War Games. Also, the fact that I've watched so much from later on does mean that by the time I get to season 6, I should hopefully be spurred on by the fact that the finish line is in sight - by that stage, all I'll have left to watch is those Pertwee, Davison and McCoy stories that hadn't yet been released on DVD at the time of my first sweep.

And so now you have 'seen' all the lost-image episodes! Well done - I'm sure not many people can say that. If you could resurrect the original moving images from just one story that had lost them (either completely or partially), which would it be?

[mraltariel.livejournal.com]

It would, without a moment's hesitation, be "Marco Polo". With "Fury From The Deep" and "The Web of Fear" close runners up.

I think it is fair to say that it is still "mainly" good - it is just the number of "really great" episodes declines, and you do start to get a few "quite stinky" stories.

In part, I think that's because the companions aren't as good post Ian-and-Barbara, so the actors don't sell the less-good stories so well.

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Oh, how I love Ian and Barbara! Especially Barbara, because she wins so many feminism points, particularly for being mature and resourceful and clever in a way later companions alas often aren't. But it is also great how Ian is cool with that, and just gets on with his own awesomeness while totally trusting her to do the same. And yes, you're right - they do indeed carry weaker stories like The Sensorites to a large degree (even though Barbara wandered off on holiday for two episodes in that story!).

Anyway, it's good that you're so enthusiastic about Fury from the Deep and The Web of Fear, as that gives me something to look forward to well into the Troughton era. I'm a big fan of Marco Polo, so assume I'll like the other two if you did.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

Love the icon!

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much! This is in fact its first public use, so it is nice to get such instant affirmation. :-)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Oh, loving that icon! Yes to all you say about Barbara, and I don't think it's a stretch to say this is Verity Lambert at work.

Other things to enjoy in the Troughton era include Troughton himself, of course. BTW, I wonder if you'll also think that the programme becomes markedly more sexist in this period.

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Indeed about Verity. Was just listening to part of the commentary track for The Dalek Invasion of Earth yesterday, and loving how she got wrapped up and enthusiastic about these episodes which she hadn't seen for years. Such a pity she is not around to do any more of them. :-(

Given what I know of the Pertwee-era companions, I'm all too aware that there must be a drop-off in Girl Power during the Troughton period. I expect to find that it is fundamentally because they kept recruiting new girls to play what had originally been the role of Susan, and therefore involved being afraid and needing rescuing, but at some point stopped replacing Barbara. I do like what I've seen of Zoe in The Invasion, though.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Liz Shaw is a smashing companion, it's a real shame she didn't do more than one season. That's a character I'd quite like to see come back. Did you ever see PRoBe, the spinoff series with her? It's a long time since I've seen them, but I remember really enjoying them.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I'd like to see "Fury From the Deep" or "The Web of Fear". "Marco Polo" and "The Massacre" are the best of the stories that are missing, but I think their narratives better survive the damage and I liked having the imaginative space that comes with radio.

The stories are still pretty good, but there is less variety and imaginativeness. "The Sensorites" is dreadful, but at least they're experimenting.

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Yes, I like the experimental feel where I am at the moment - I've recently watched Planet of the Giants, and was underwhelmed by the story, the dialogue and the characterisation of Barbara, but appreciated the variety all the same.

As I've said to mraltariel above, The Sensorites seems to be a good example of story being carried by characterisation - I found when I wrote my review of it that I'd spent four paragraphs analysing the character development in great detail, but had almost nothing to say about the plot. Which is fine with me if the characterisation is in place, but obviously not so great if it isn't.

[executrix.livejournal.com]

The Quarks? You can tell it's not the 80s, it would have been the Creme Fraiches.

...and of course in the 80s they would have made their Power Felt to make Power Suits out of to wear to Power Breakfasts.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Quark is forever Ferengi for me.

[toft-froggy.livejournal.com]

There's something strangely riveting about reading reviews of TV I've never seen that in no way describe the plot and yet are highly evocative. And yet, I feel like if someone said to me, "So what did you think of War Games?" I could say, "I loved the alarm going off all the time! And Philip fucking Madoc!" and I would seem extremely well-informed.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I'm sort of proud about this!

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

Sadly, last having seen most of these stories when they were first broadcast, I can't remember enough about them to comment usefully. In most cases I can no longer even recall from the title what story goes with it. Until now I've resisted buying any Who video cassettes or DVDs, partly because there are so many and partly because I have lots of DVDs of other shows that I've bought and then never got around to watching.

I'm surprised that the BBC has done so little in the way of repeats of Classic Who, especially now that New Who is so popular. Did they perhaps sell the rights to other broadcasters so that they now aren't permitted to show them?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

There are an awful lot of them. How about getting a couple of stories through LoveFilm or something similar?

I'm surprised that the BBC has done so little in the way of repeats of Classic Who, especially now that New Who is so popular.

I bet it's something to do with branding the show as programme that stands by itself, related to but distinct from the old show. The most recent retrospectives had now Classic Who material in them at all.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

You're probably right, but I feel it's misguided of them. They're missing out on a change to sell a lot more classic Who DVDs to New Who fans.

[manna]

Pretty much entirely unrelated to Who, but...

My thoughts on Fan Fiction are pretty much this: That it seems strange to want to copy or 'augment' someone else's work when you could expend just as much energy and have a lot more fun making up your own.

Guess who said this.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

It wasn't my evil twin at again, was it?!

No, I can't guess: clue?

[manna]

You mentioned his name in the post.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Not Philip Madoc!

[manna]

Heh.

Jasper Fforde.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

*boggles*

Oh, I feel even better about not liking his books now.

[iainjcoleman.livejournal.com]

We recently wathced The War Games as well, and it really is cracking stuff. I was prepared for it to be terribly overlong and padded, but in fact the story keeps developing, new characters (Philip fucking Madoc!) appear to shake things up, new mysteries are established (the War Chief knows the Doctor!) then, just as everything has finally worked itself out... the Time Lords turn up, and they're pissed off.

I think you're both a bit harsh on The Mind Robber. It's a lovely, entertaining story with some great design and possibly the finest arse shot in TV history.

I also have to take issue with the idea that there's been a general decline in story quality since season 2. Since season 3, I would grant you, as the Troughton years are marked by playing to a safe formula far too often. but season 3 itself has so many great, imaginative stories that stretch the show in all sorts of directions.

You're quite right, though, to emphasise the importance of the regular characters, and the second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe are certainly the best Tardis team since the original (though I do think that Hartnell and Peter Purves work very well together).

Good idea to make it in colour and on film, but only so long as they stick to the policy of casting serious character actors in the lead role. Heaven help us if they just get some bloke who does funny voices on the wireless.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

I wonder how the show might have developed if they'd opted for a different actor from The Navy Lark. Leslie Philips, say. "Left hand down a bit, Jo... Stupid place to leave a planet."

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Or Round the Horne: "I was walking along the Balls Pond Road when I spied a sign that said Bona Time Lords..."

"Hello, I'm the Doctor and this is my friend Sandy!"

"ooh ello!"

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

Lol!

[mraltariel.livejournal.com]

I think I'm being unfair on Season 3, too, now you bring it up; I still think the peaks aren't so peaky and the troughs are troughier, though.

We too have a soft spot for the Purvester in this house.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

I have fond memories of The Krotons, though I'm not sure I've seen it since 1969. And of course The Mind Robber was the one whose images haunted me for years, so I've made a point of seeing it again. Several times. I love Zoe and the Karkus, which was one bit I didn't remember...

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Yes, to be fair, I do like those bits with the Karkus. I'm irrationally prejudiced against that kind of story: not sure why I don't like it.