Doctor Who: Season 26

[altariel]

Battlefield
mraltariel: Well, this season picks up where the last one left off. Lots to like here - and they manage this very figgy pudding remarkably un-flatulently.
altariel: We all want some figgy pudding.
mraltariel: From time to time.
altariel: Confused, but enjoyable to watch. Particularly Bambera and Ancelyn. And the Brig, and the Destroyer, and the people in the pub.
mraltariel: And a shout out for Ace's friend of the week. And the Doctor's coinage. Especially the mobile one.
altariel: Yes, Ace gets a girl friend every week in this. Although one is her gran.

Ghost Light
mraltariel: Maybe it is just a delusion that comes with the passage of the years, but I'm fairly certain I got this the first time round, and it isn't nearly as confusing as people say it is.
altariel: That's the way to the Zoooooooo! That's the way to the Zooooooo!
mraltariel: All the plot is there on the screen, unlike several of the episodes in the last couple of years, and most of the episodes of the new series.
altariel: The monkey house is nearly full but there's room enough for yooooooooooou!
mraltariel: And there are some smashing performances; I like Nimrod and the policeman particularly.
altariel: Take a bus to Regent's Park. Make haste before it shuts!
mraltariel: And how could I forget big camp glowy John Hallam?
altariel: On Monday I shall come and bring you such a lot of nuts!
mraltariel and altariel: Oi!

The Curse of Fenric
mraltariel: Is this the best ever Doctor Who? Why yes, I think it probably is. And before anyone picks holes in the plot, I don't care.
altariel: This story.
mraltariel: Yes?
altariel: Shits over any Doctor Who that has come before or since. It is phenomenal.
mraltariel: I have to agree. The design is great, the script...
altariel: ...the pace, the music, the ambition, the depth of characterisation, richness of theme...
mraltariel: And the monsters!
altariel: And the book's good. And...
mraltariel: And?
altariel: Nicholas Parsons!
mraltariel: And he chants his companions' names as an act of faith.
altariel: It is AWESOME!

Survival
mraltariel: Well, this is a bit of a hidden gem. Not exactly hidden, I suppose. They did broadcast it, after all. Then release it on DVD.
altariel: Great script, bringing in a fresh voice that's not mired in the show's conventions.
mraltariel: And then making her deal with The Master. Which she does rather well. Good old Ainley is much better than in his previous outing. And like his natty costume.
altariel: And another girl chum for Ace. This season has been Bechdel-tastic.
mraltariel: It has also been surprisingly consistently themed. This is the third one about evolution.
altariel: And the third one about rejection of conflict.
mraltariel: Just a different three.
altariel: Perhaps, "competition" is the single theme running through the whole series.
mraltariel: This is supposed to be "Survival" you know - the "series summary" is just below...


Ranking
The Curse of Fenric
Ghost Light / Survival
Battlefield


mraltariel: Perhaps, "competition" is the single theme running through the whole series.
altariel: Very astute, Minister.
mraltariel: Well, that was an excellent Season. Really, really good. I'm thoroughly looking forward to the next one, now.
altariel: A small jewel in the crown of the BBC. Season 27 is going to be remarkable.
mraltariel: Unless this was the high point. It could all go downhill from here again - like after Season 1.

Comments

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

It was astonishing that the BBC chose to cancel the show at that point, when it was better than it had been for many years. It's true that the audiences hadn't been great, but I think that was largely due to the way they had messed about with when it was broadcast. The stories from this season have stuck in my mind like few others have done (and especially the Doctor's marvellous final speech in the final episode), though their memorability may partly be because it was the last series before the long interregnum so that they didn't get "overlaid" in my mind by later stories.

I was one of those who were thoroughly confused by "Ghost Light". Perhaps it's because I was already in my late thirties when iot was broadcast, so that my brain was already slowing down. :)

Nicholas Parsons' performance was extraordinary. I had never previously suspected that he could act so well.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I think this season is something special, and it's tragedy it got cancelled when it did. But the new show owes so much to this season - it's like it's following on directly.

I remember watching "Ghost Light" years later, one Christmas, and going, "Ohhhh....!" I think I may have read the novel in between as well, that helped.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

God, it was good. Especially Fenric (the Chekhovian names! Ace's move-fast speech to the soldier! The Doctor's litany!), though I have fond memories of Battlefield (Bambera! Ancelyn! The Brig!). And I know I'll get Ghost Light one day. Maybe I already did, I can't quite remember.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I get "Ghost Light" as it's happening, but I doubt I'd be able to explain what's going on if anyone asked!

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

And he chants his companions' names as an act of faith.

This is indeed awesome. And there are forties vampires in knitted cardies which are brilliant and strangers coming in from the sea, as they do to our grey-soaked island, and Ace diving.

I am sad I never saw the original broadcast of this but Mel was the final straw in my Doctor Who watching at the time, what with that and missing the episodes broadcast on Tuesdays, I never picked up on it again. And by this stage I was at university with very little access to telly. 1986-1990 is a huge gap in my telly-watching life.

[matildabj.livejournal.com]

And by this stage I was at university with very little access to telly. 1986-1990 is a huge gap in my telly-watching life.

I have the exact same problem. I barely watched any TV between 1988 and 1991, so completely missed the the last two series of DW and have never seen these. Sigh.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

I missed Colin Baker (and consequently tend to think of the Sixth Doctor as the friend who kept acting out his favourite scenes for me), plus the early McCoy, but fortunately acquired a very old and small black and white television by the time of Remembrance of the Daleks.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

My similar telly watching gap comes after 1990. I'd picked Doctor Who up again with McCoy, having dropped it sometime during Colin's era. Poor Mel - or, rather, poor Bonnie Langford, who is quite lovely.

[temeres.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, Survival. That planet inhabited by cat-women. And Chiffchaffs.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Unfamiliar bird in garden yesterday. Possibly the moronic-looking one you identified for me several years ago. I grabbed a camera, but Tabitha put it off before I could do anything.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

And the Master!

[temeres.livejournal.com]

I 'd say he's not so much an inhabitant as a denizen.

[lonemagpie.livejournal.com]

Best season since at least season 20 - though Survival and Battlefield both have appallingly bad bits (clattery sound effects, bendy armour, "B00000000000ooooooom!" and Hale & Pace) and endings (Battlefield with the how-the-hell-do-they-actually-keep-Morgaine-locked-up? and Survival with the silly motorbike crash and sledgehammer shouting of the moral message)

Ghost Light and Fenric are great though, with only one dodgy scene in Fenric (Ace's trying to mindfuck the guard with her stopwatch speech, which IRL would get her arrested or shot, instead of just flashing her stockings, which would have worked on said immature squaddie - it was the 1940s, FFS)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Oh, I like the Hale and Pace scene, I think they all play the slightly surreal comedy very nicely. And Ace's stopwatch speech is iconic for me.

But, yes, fabulous season, one of the best, best since season 19 for me.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

(Ace's trying to mindfuck the guard with her stopwatch speech, which IRL would get her arrested or shot, instead of just flashing her stockings, which would have worked on said immature squaddie - it was the 1940s, FFS)

But being from the 1980s, Ace probably wouldn't have realised that. Besides, it seems to me that flashing her stockings would have been out of character. (Which doesn't mean that her own idea was a good one, of course.)

[julesjones]

One of the things I will never forgive about the hiatus is that we never got to see more of Bambera. Bambera was utterly, utterly brilliant, and a worthy successor to the Brig.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I agree, Bambera is brilliant. I'd like both her and Ancelyn back, they're cute.