Doctor Who: season 17

[altariel]

Destiny of the Daleks
altariel: I have very strong memories of this story.
mraltariel: Me too.
altariel: I think it's... well, it's fine, isn't it? A better version of Genesis.
mraltariel: Better because shorter. Not quite as well executed. Good cliffhangers.
altariel: And the most diverse casting of any story so far. I feel I should be more enthusiastic, but, you know, it's a four-part Dalek story. Which comedy costume does Romana have in this one?
mraltariel: Princess Astra, you mean?
altariel: No, Romana regenerated...
mraltariel: What? Romana regenerated? I thought she'd left!!
altariel: This is going to be a long season.

City of Death
altariel: Well, what can you say? It's lovely.
mraltariel: You can say that. And you'd be right.
altariel: Look, there's Eleanor Bron!
mraltariel: Yum.

The Creature from the Pit
altariel: This was great. This was just great.
mraltariel: See, I told you I wasn't mad!
altariel: It was the costumes. The design. The hats. The wolf weeds.
mraltariel: The giant plastic bag monster! And it passes the Bechdel test.
altariel: I'm sorry Adrasta doesn't get away with it. I think we're seeing propaganda from the Chloris Metal Megacorp PR department. All the bitching about big government is amazing in these last couple of seasons.
mraltariel: It's almost like 1978 was rubbish.

Nightmare of Eden
altariel: Oh, now, this was quite interesting! You can see a direct line from it to The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit. That's what the future looks like. Yellow, but a bit grubby.
mraltariel: The mystery aspect of the plot is a bit botched in the edit. But David Daker holds it together in the first episode despite that.

The Horns of Nimon
altariel: Oh holy Christ. Poor Lalla Ward. She's giving it everything. I think she earned her fee.
mraltariel: She is quite good at the vehement angry stuff. I quite like this.
altariel: The Nimon are wearing platform boots.
mraltariel: And velour figure-hugging tops!
altariel: I blame Marc Bolan. Go on, you were quite liking it. Continue.
mraltariel: Not much actually happens, and what does happen is rather spoiled by Graham Crowden, who always does this boggle-eyed pantomime loon thing. Which worked in A Very Peculiar Practice, but it is shite in everything else.
altariel: Fighting talk.
mraltariel: Only if Graham's mum is in the room!
altariel: Didn't want to mention it, but...
mraltariel: Hello Mrs Crowden!

Shada
altariel: Now I think this benefits from not having been completed. I think we have all the good stuff, and none of the padding. And the good stuff is great: Dennis Carey...
mraltariel: CHRISTOPHER NEAME! IT'S CHRISTOPHER NEAME!
altariel: I was getting to that. Christopher Neame, Cambridge locations, daft jokes. The only thing that makes me want to kill is the barber shop bunch.
mraltariel: Death is too good for them. Unless any of them have actually died by now, in which case, their loved ones have my deepest sympathies.
altariel: Good save. I don't think anyone noticed, like that time we were accidentally mean about Barry Letts.
mraltariel: I thought we weren't going to mention that again.
altariel: Shall we just say then how sad we are every time we see a picture of Douglas Adams?
mraltariel: Yes. Happysad, though.
altariel and mraltariel: Thank you, Douglas xx


Ranking
City of Death
The Creature from the Pit
Nightmare of Eden
Shada
Destiny of the Daleks
The Horns of Nimon

altariel: Well that was a funny old season. K9 sounds like he's being throttled...
mraltariel: And the stories are really suffering from Tom Baker.
altariel: It was all a bit odd and mad, like everyone's minds were slightly elsewhere.
mraltariel: But still some good stuff, including one of the best stories so far.
altariel: I don't think Nimon is one of the best stories so far.
mraltariel: I meant Creature from the Pit.
altariel: I think it's looking a bit tired. They should shake it up a bit.
mraltariel: They need to get rid of Tom. He's too dominant.
altariel: Although I think Lalla Ward carried a good chunk of this season.
mraltariel: While Tom phoned it in. What's next? Something to do with bees, isn't it?

Comments

[steve-mollmann.livejournal.com]

Season 17 is one of my least favorite, though it's always a joy to watch Lalla Ward, the best Romana of them all. City of Death is of course brilliant, and I do enjoy Nightmare of Eden, but everything else is awful. Rock-paper-scissors in Destiny of the Daleks is fun in a so-bad-it's-good sort of way.

The problem isn't that the season is lightly comic, the problem is that it's lightly comic but none of the jokes are actually funny.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I think this season also suffers by being followed by such an effective revamp.