Doctor Who: Season 25

[altariel]

Remembrance of the Daleks
altariel: Far too confusing plot.
mraltariel: Yes, I'm still confused.
altariel: But a lot of fun getting there. I think it may be about racism. Or Daleks.
mraltariel: Probably daleks.Good fun though.

The Happiness Patrol
altariel: I have been excited about seeing this since we started this rewatch.
mraltariel: Did you enjoy it?
altariel: OH BLOODY YES! YES I BLOODY DID! It is BRILLIANT.
mraltariel: I would have to agree. The Kandyman is one of the all time greats in DW.
altariel: "What time do you call this?"
mraltariel: I feel that I didn't fully appreciate this in 1988. Aren't children *serious* about things?
altariel: Well, teenagers are.
mraltariel: Fortunately, I'm now enjoying my childhood properly, so this was great. What was your favourite bit?
altariel: Really, it has to be seen to be believed. There's a giant Bertie Bassett monster. It looks like a Fritz Lang film done on a BBC budget. With a giant Bertie Bassett monster.
mraltariel: And colour. Lovely.

Silver Nemesis
altariel: I think this is a bit silly.
mraltariel: And yet, no Bertie Bassett monster!
altariel: Go on, you like this more than me. Tell the world.
mraltariel: Well, obviously it is a bit shit. But if we didn't like Doctor Who because the story was "a bit shit" then we'd not really watch much of it. And it has OMG!Nazis.
altariel: Ah, the "Animals" defence. *nods sagely*
mraltariel: Not really. It is better than "Animals" - even more so if you take relative quality into account.
altariel: Relative quality?
mraltariel: By comparison with the rest of the show...
altariel: "Animals" is not the worst episode of Doctor Who.

The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
altariel: This is an episode too long.
mraltariel: I think it is two episodes too long.
altariel: But what's there is great.
mraltariel: Like?
altariel: TP McKenna, The Gods of Ragnarok, the names of people in the circus, the look of it, the lady with the fruit stall, the bus conductor.
mraltariel: STOP! STOP THE MADNESS!
altariel: But plot lite.
mraltariel: This is the main problem.


Ranking
The Happiness Patrol
Remembrance of the Daleks
Silver Nemesis / The Greatest Show in the Galaxy

altariel: Fun fun fun. I think the show has turned a corner...
mraltariel: ...in its anniversary season...
altariel: ...and I'm very excited about...
mraltariel: ...the next 25 years.
altariel: Quite.

Comments

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

TP McKenna, The Gods of Ragnarok, the names of people in the circus, the look of it, the lady with the fruit stall, the bus conductor

And the Doctor stalking away from an exploding tent?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Oh yes.

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

All worth it for TP McKenna, Mags, and exploding tents. Also, giant killer robots buried in the desert sand. And the bus conductor. And...

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

Epic Win.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Oh, what a gorgeous icon!

I love the scene even more for knowing that McCoy was wondering whether his clothes were hanging off his back, but just kept walking.

I love that Doctor.

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

The more I hear you talk about The Happiness Patrol, the more I want to see it. And that icon is a wonderful icon.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Oh I hope I haven't talked it up too much!

[gair.livejournal.com]

I love Silver Nemesis! And I do not like The Happiness Patrol, although I accept that this is wrong.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

And we can agree that Ace is ace.

[gair.livejournal.com]

VERY MUCH SO.

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

I don't have nearly the problem with Silver Nemesis that most people do. While the story is basically a retread of Remembrance, I think Peinforte and Richard are brilliantly human characters, and the statue is GENIUS. It's artlessly, innocently evil and alien, a sentient machine that's both too sentient and too efficient. I mean, jazz concerts and tombs and gasworks and time travellers from the 17th century and statues made of Gallifreyan weapons... Cybermen and Nazis were over-egging the pudding slightly, but it was the season for it.

But I do also love Happiness Patrol with some serious love. It's made of metatextual slyness.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

I remember liking something about Silver Nemesis but I can't quite remember what... I probably haven't seen it since the original broadcast. Must have involved Ace. Vague memory of her watching the statue and telling it that it was beautiful, which I don't think had anything to do with the plot but seems oddly moving.

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

That was a fantastic and strange scene, between Ace and the Doctor and the statue and (later) Peinforte. I haven't seen it in ages, too, but it was sort of charged with a strange tension, where silent games were being played all around, and Ace was just becoming aware of them.

(I once wrote Eight/Statue during the war. I wonder where I put it.)

[gair.livejournal.com]

YES EXACTLY THIS. Except that I think addition of Cybermen and Nazis makes the story: it's supposed to be a very eggy pudding, and leaving them out would just turn it into, I don't know, a lo-fat substitute.

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

I could have done with some more 17th century time-travellers; they became a bit of a footnote in their own story, what with all the Nazis and Cybermen. But it was okay. (I think I would have split it into two stories; Peinforte and Richard, and Cybermen and Nazis. But perhaps only because Remembrance just did Daleks and Nazi sympathisers, so it was a bit too soon.)

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

It looks like a Fritz Lang film done on a BBC budget. With a giant Bertie Bassett monster.

I love the Fritz Lang feel of it. And everything about the Kandyman. "You shall feel the back of my candy hand!" And Gilbert M (arguably one of the more culpable people in the show, with a most un-villain-like end) and Susie Susan Q, and all the bemused Sigmas, and the waiting zones and go-karts and bored roof guards (very Boucherian, those) and the sweets that kill.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

"You shall feel the back of my candy hand!"

Heaven. It's heaven. And, yes, it's surprising that Gilbert M gets away with it. Perhaps there's a future where he teams up with Count Grendel from "The Androids of Tara": "Next time we shall not be so lenient!"