Doctor Who: season 10

[altariel]

The Three Doctors
mraltariel: Isn't it lovely to see William Hartnell again, even if he is obviously very ill indeed?
altariel: Yes, it is lovely, and I think he actually does a smashing job, you can see how much this part meant to him.
mraltariel: It also serves to show just how much Doctor Who has changed over the last ten years. I miss the breadth of imagination of the Hartnell stories, but these are much better than the nadir of Troughton's repetitive plots.
altariel: There's definitely new energy to the storytelling, but you feel that the show has now settled into a particular idiom. I also miss the variety of material from Hartnell's earlier seasons.
mraltariel: Plus, blobby aliens! Making blobblobblobblob noises. What's not to like about this story.
altariel: Only a cad could dislike it.

Carnival of Monsters
mraltariel: This story is hilarious.
altariel: I hadn't seen this one before. It's fucking brilliant. I'd hand this one out as a gateway drug.
mraltariel: Bob Holmes gives us some brilliant low-level scheming functionaries.
altariel: They are legendary minion.
mraltariel: Not to mention the carnie polari! Vada the bona polone!
altariel: I just couldn't believe that bit! This is a classic. Also, does one of my favourite things, making the action continous. You feel like these events all took place over about ninety minutes.

Frontier in Space
mraltariel: I was slightly dreading this, but it turns out to be another goodie in a great season. They've really worked out how to package a nugget of story in twenty-five minutes, and turn the whole thing into a six meatball stew.
altariel: What?
mraltariel: If you just scarf the meatballs, it would be a bit boring. But taking one meatball and a bit of sauce, then having a bit of water and maybe a bit of breadstick, and you're ready for the next meatball which, despite being the same ingredients as the previous meatball is still delicious...
altariel: And advances the plot.
mraltariel: Yes. You've got it. These are plot meatballs.
altariel: Gristle-free.
mraltariel: And action sauce.
altariel: Heh you said sauce. Anyway, I like this one too. Cool aliens, great sets, prison planet.
mraltariel: Goodbye Roger Delgado. You will be missed.

Planet of the Daleks
mraltariel: Terry's written a Dalek story!
altariel: I wonder what will happen? Will there be semi-sentient plants?
mraltariel: A character called Taran?
altariel: A character called Rebec?
mraltariel: Will there be a sequence where the Daleks chase people in a lift?
altariel: Will there be invisible aliens?
mraltariel and altariel: YES!
mraltariel: However, all this is saved by the army of Rolykins Daleks.
altariel: That is a high point of my life. The world's cutest alien death squad.
mraltariel: Plus, although we've seen it before, it's actually quite a good version of Terry's Dalek story. And it might even have been time for it again.
altariel: A curious flashback to Hartnell-era storytelling.

The Green Death
mraltariel: Goodbye Jo. I'd almost grown fond of you and your irritating whiny voice.
altariel: Yes, she's been the real surprise of these past few seasons. I thought I'd hate her, but she's really quite sweet, and the dynamic between her and Pertwee is lovely.
mraltariel: Still glad to see the back of her though.
altariel: Ooh, be careful what you wish for! Who knows what companion they'll force on us next?!
mraltariel: This actually has two of my favourite things about this season: the camp computer BOSS and his sidekick from Sandbaggers. There's also mad dressing up from Pertwee, although I'm not sure whether the actual charlady wasn't a less convincing woman than him. Welsh milkman is a particular triumph.
altariel: Those maggots were revolting. They really put me off my Coco Pops. But, yes, good solid story, lots of plot, lots of good characters. All six episodes went to a full twenty-five minutes and it didn't feel padded at all.


Ranking
Carnival of Monsters
Frontier in Space/The Green Death
Planet of the Daleks
The Three Doctors


mraltariel: The best season in a very long time. Funny, assured, exciting, and not a duffer amongst them.
altariel: Nearly enough to make you pay your licence fee.

Comments

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, I haven't seen Carnival of Monsters in many years, but I remember not being very impressed. Maybe I should give it another chance!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Holmes is sending up Doctor Who. It's meant as entertainment, nothing more! Everyone plays the humour, but they do it straight, if you see what I mean.

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

I think Carnival of Monsters is very good indeed, for all the reasons you give. The best of the anniversary stories in the anniversary season.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

The realization of the Drashigs is probably the weakest element, but that's the kind of thing you have to look past, I think.

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

They seem to have been thought terrifying enough at the time... I have heard of people who refuse to countenance anyone watching either Carnival or The Greatest Show in the Galaxy because it is apparently blasphemously wrong for Doctor Who to be self-referential. Thank goodness I don't agree with them...

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I have heard of people who refuse to countenance anyone watching either Carnival or The Greatest Show in the Galaxy because it is apparently blasphemously wrong for Doctor Who to be self-referential.

Heaven forfend it should be fun!

[nwhyte]

Looking forward to these - I am about six months behind you so will get there in the summer!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I'm enjoying reading your posts, takes me back! I have a feeling we might end up going back to the beginning once we're done... a perpetual state of Who.

[mraltariel.livejournal.com]

We'll definitely go back to the beginning when we get to the end - after all, there will be far more episodes on lovingly restored DVD by then (not least all the ones that have been coming out a few weeks after we needed them...)

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

I do have a soft spot for Jo, she has a certain irrepressible charm. A little badly served by some writerish disagreement on whether she was competent at more than making tea, but I think it eventually resolved in her favour when they realized that they'd had their little joke, and it made for a poor recurring character.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

The relationship between her and the Doctor is what makes it, I think.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

The trouble I have reading these reviews is that, after so many years, I can no longer remember from the title which story it is. I'm guessing that "Planet of the Daleks" had daleks in it, though. :)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

You guessed right! (These pages might help - it's partly a reprint of The Discontinuity Guide, which I think is one of the most entertaining episode guides out there.)

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

I do actually have a copy of the Discontinuity Guide. I agree that it's very good, and if I wasn't so idle I would go and dig my copy out. :)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

LOL! Online has pictures!

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

Pictures, eh? That's a big attraction. I've added the link to my Favourites. Thanks.

[toft-froggy.livejournal.com]

I do enjoy your Doctor Who reviews. Coco pops! Cute alien death squads! It makes me feel like I'm sitting behind the sofa playing with lego as you watch.

[mraltariel.livejournal.com]

I'll pop some more Lego back there, just in case you are.

[toft-froggy.livejournal.com]

Oh, ta! Can I have some more wheels?

[skywaterblue.livejournal.com]

I loved 'Carnival of Monsters'. It's really zippy and weird and funny. I thought that of all the ones in this season that I've seen, Carnival is probably the only one they could restage on the new show and have it fit in really well with the tone.

(Which is not to say I am opposed to the old show: as a new commenter I should say I am a big fan of those early Hartnell seasons where the limit to the show's vision was whatever props they could rummage out of a closet.)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I think you're right: tonally 'Carnival of Monsters' has a lot in common with episodes like 'Love and Monsters'. Here are some jotting on similarities between the first Hartnell season and new Who.

(This post is part of our Doctor Who-from-the-beginning rewatch: an episode a day over breakfast. The previous posts are linked off my tags list.)

[skywaterblue.livejournal.com]

I've been really enjoying them! An unexpected treat to find on a newly friend-ed journal.

[lostmoon71.livejournal.com]

I've been on the fence about whether to go back and watch old Who via Netflix. I have vague but very fond memories of watching them with my older cousins on PBS years ago. I've been holding off because I'm not sure they could be as good as the haze of nostalgia has made them--but I think you may have persuaded me to give it a try.

Thanks for the dual commentary. That was fun.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

We've been doing a DW rewatch for about eighteen months, i.e. start with 'An Unearthly Child' and keep going until we run out of programme. An episode a morning over breakfast. (Yes, including the missing episodes! - audio versions or reconstructions.) The posts are all linked in list of tags. It's huge fun and by far the best way to watch the longer stories.

[raspberryfool.livejournal.com]

I watched The Three Doctors recently courtesy of a friend's DVD. Blobby aliens, an invisible nutter in a mask and plenty of jump-cuts. Now we know where Mr. Blobby came from. :-)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

LOL!

[raspberryfool.livejournal.com]

I also love the way the professor fella whips a sheet of 5"x4" film from his X-ray doohickey *in daylight* (surely it would be fogged!), places it into the developing machine and receives a 10"x8" enlargement in return... :-)

[iainjcoleman.livejournal.com]

It appears I am a cad. A pity. I always wanted to be a bounder.

Nonetheless, I am in complete agreement over Carnival of Monsters and The Green Death.

When I was a wee boy, I found the novelisation of Planet of the Daleks almost unbearably exciting. The television story proved to be less so.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Aw, I can appoint you an honorary bounder, if you like. *waves hand* There you go, a cad and a bounder.

'Day of the Daleks' was my favourites novelization. I've been trying to get it on BookMooch to see if it's as good as I remember. I hope so.