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My huge Doctor Who episode marathon.


The Friendly Dalek
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14 hours ago, The Friendly Dalek said:

The Abominable Snowmen- What a drag this is. I think if it existed in its entirety it wouldn't be as boring. The Yeti look humorous, not frightening. Their design in the Web Of Fear is far better in my opinion. The characters aren't great and the dialogue is uninteresting and bland. Surely it didn't need to be 6 episodes long? There is no where near enough plot here to remain interesting for that long. Visually, from stills and the existing landscape, the mountain locations look stunning.

Overall- 3/10. 

I think it’s fair to say that this is another visual episode that really needs the scenery and sets to help it. As for the pace and it being 6 episodes long, remember these were never designed to be seen in one sitting. They were supposed to be viewed once per week, then never again. The style of TV then was serials which never ended. Nobody (outwith the professionals) really thought of them as individual stories they were just individual episodes. Not that I’m old enough to have watched this one as a kid but some of my favourite childhood stories seem to drag now when watched even at the rate of one episode a day but back then it was 22 minutes on a Saturday night and it flew by and you couldn’t wait for next week. TV has moved on for the better but not in all ways IMO.

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2 hours ago, Ravogd said:

I think this story has one of the greatest character pieces ever between Doctor and companion where the Doctor is trying to make Victoria feel better about the death of her father. Some nice thoughts about his family too. It is a great scene which had never really been done before. It has nothing to do with the story or plot and wouldn’t be out of place in a modern episode. 

Oh yeah, I agree that that is a brilliant scene.

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2 hours ago, Ravogd said:

I think it’s fair to say that this is another visual episode that really needs the scenery and sets to help it. As for the pace and it being 6 episodes long, remember these were never designed to be seen in one sitting. They were supposed to be viewed once per week, then never again. The style of TV then was serials which never ended. Nobody (outwith the professionals) really thought of them as individual stories they were just individual episodes. Not that I’m old enough to have watched this one as a kid but some of my favourite childhood stories seem to drag now when watched even at the rate of one episode a day but back then it was 22 minutes on a Saturday night and it flew by and you couldn’t wait for next week. TV has moved on for the better but not in all ways IMO.

Fair points. Can't argue with any of that.:D

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The Ice Warriors- Firstly, I greatly dislike the animation. It also drags a fair bit around the middle. The majority of the human characters are also uninteresting.

The regulars are great, and the Ice Warriors themselves are brilliant. These are one of the few recurring monsters which I don't think have had an awful episode yet. The cave sets look great, but the main base is bland and uninteresting. Plot wise, this isn't the strongest story either. It is just brought up by the inclusion of such a great monster.

Overall- 6/10.

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2 hours ago, The Friendly Dalek said:

The Ice Warriors- Firstly, I greatly dislike the animation. It also drags a fair bit around the middle. The majority of the human characters are also uninteresting.

The regulars are great, and the Ice Warriors themselves are brilliant. These are one of the few recurring monsters which I don't think have had an end up episode yet. The cave sets look great, but the main base is bland and uninteresting. Plot wise, this isn't the strongest story either. It is just brought up by the inclusion of such a great monster.

Overall- 6/10.

Yeah I agree with this. I prefer the short recon they made for the VHS release that covers the events of episodes 2 and 3. I think this was released on the DVD set too. 

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I keep meaning to ask, have you seen any or all of these before? I always remember how sad it was knowing that I was running out of classic episodes I had never seen before. I kept Colony In Space on VHS for years after its release just so that I knew that I always had some Dr Who I’d never seen before. Sounds odd I know but it made a sort of sense to me. Eventually I watched it and that was that, or so I thought until a certain RTD got approached by the BBC in 2003....

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1 hour ago, Ravogd said:

I keep meaning to ask, have you seen any or all of these before? I always remember how sad it was knowing that I was running out of classic episodes I had never seen before. I kept Colony In Space on VHS for years after its release just so that I knew that I always had some Dr Who I’d never seen before. Sounds odd I know but it made a sort of sense to me. Eventually I watched it and that was that, or so I thought until a certain RTD got approached by the BBC in 2003....

Oh yeah, I've been a Who fan for years, and have been collecting the dvds for just as long, but I only have two stories on VHS. So I have certainly seen them all at least once at some point. :D

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I'm going to review both Sunday's and today's episode now. :D

The Enemy Of The World- I'm so happy that this story was rediscovered. It is one of my favourite of Troughton's episodes. Both of his performances as The Doctor and Salamander are brilliant. The supporting characters are great as well, and the regulars are fantastic. Story wise, it is strong enough to be 6 parts long and not drag at all, so it's certainly good.

Overall- 10/10 

The Web Of Fear- Yet another great story. Although I would have preferred episode 3 to have been animated, the recon is ok. The Yeti are utilised far more effectively here than in their last appearance. The claustrophobic setting creates a tense and creepy atmosphere.

Character wise, everyone is brilliant. And how could I talk about this story and not mention Nicholas Courtney? This so his first appearance as Lethbridge-Stewart and he is brilliant. The character goes on to become one of my favourites from Doctor Who's entire history, so it's wonderful to be able to see his first story.

Overall- 10/10.

These were two brilliant stories which do not have any obvious or prominent flaws which drag them down, and they are perfect in every aspect in my opinion. :coolthumb:

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Tuesday's story (I've already forgotten to write a review) - Fury From The Deep

I love this one as well. Highly underrated in my opinion. The characters are great, and the plot is very good as well. Sound design is brilliant, which is important as I had to listen to this story.

The weed creature is used sparingly, which ramps up the tension and makes it more effective when the creature does appear. Oak and Quill are very creepy as well, as the surviving clip shows.

This is also Victoria's final story, and it is ok in that regard. Her exit isn't all that memorable though.

Fun fact- This is the first Doctor Who story to feature the sonic screwdriver. 

Overall- 9/10.

I shall be watching and reviewing The Wheel In Space later today.

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The Wheel In Space- The first bad Cyberman story in my opinion. This is incredibly boring, and none of the characters are interesting. Wendy Padbury is promising as Zoe, and she actually goes on to become one of my favourite companions. The new Cyberman design is interesting, but no where near as effective as their previous designs. I prefer their design in their next story, The Invasion. There's not really much else to say about this one really. It's just bland and boring.

Overall- 2/10.

Overall rating for Season 5- 8/10.

Some of the strongest stories ever are from this season. But sadly there are also some pretty poor episodes here as well. Troughton consistently proves why he is perfect as The Doctor, and the other regulars are also very good for the most part. The base-under-siege formula is used in just about every episode of this season, but it is effective, so I can see why it was used so often. 

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The Dominators- What a poor start to this season. This is one of the most dull and boring Doctor Who episodes. There is nothing of substance here. The characters are awful, and the story really doesn't have enough to it to last for 5 episodes. 

On the plus though, the sets and locations look nice at least, and some of the dialogue is so bad it's actually funny to watch at times.

Overall- 2/10.

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The Mind Robber- A very good and very weird story. Episode 1 especially stands out, visually and in terms of acting. The rest of the story is incredibly weird, but it surprisingly works.

The final part is what pulls it down for me. The whole superhero ring seemed just too silly, and I wasn't really interested in the villain either.

Overall- 8/10.

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On 9/19/2018 at 8:50 AM, The Friendly Dalek said:

Fury From The Deep - Highly underrated in my opinion.

There is no way this story is underrated. Most people rightly hold it up for the classic that it is. It is usually the highest rated story with no surviving episodes whenever DWM do one of their polls.

12 hours ago, The Friendly Dalek said:

The Mind Robber- A very good and very weird story. Episode 1 especially stands out, visually and in terms of acting. The rest of the story is incredibly weird, but it surprisingly works.

The final part is what pulls it down for me. The whole superhero ring seemed just too silly, and I wasn't really interested in the villain either.

Overall- 8/10.

The mind Robber is interesting but nonsense. Another thing of note is the clever solution to Fraser Hines having chickenpox and being unable to appear in episode 2 having the doctor fail to get his face correct and so they end up with a great turn from Hamish Wilson as Jamie.

This entire season is a bit of a disaster what with Derek Sherwin being producer and some scripts being almost literally, last minute editions (The Krotons for example). I’m not expecting any other high scores from this season until War Games which if you don’t give 10/10 for I will never speak to you again ;)

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46 minutes ago, Ravogd said:

This entire season is a bit of a disaster what with Derek Sherwin being producer and some scripts being almost literally, last minute editions (The Krotons for example). I’m not expecting any other high scores from this season until War Games which if you don’t give 10/10 for I will never speak to you again ;)

There are actually two stories from the rest of this season which will get high scores from me. But saying right now would be telling. :P

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The Invasion- There really was no need for this story to be 8 parts long. There is no where near enough plot to justify such a large run time, and as a result this story drags significantly for the first 4 parts. The second half of the story is much better though. 

Kevin Stoney is brilliant in this story, and the regulars are also great. The Cybermen are well utilised here, far better than in The Wheel In Space. I also prefer their design to this story than their design in TWIS. 

Nicholas Courtney is perfect as Lethbridge-Stewart, and it is nice to see the beginnings of UNIT in this story. Sadly the rest of the supporting characters aren't very interesting.

Overall- 7/10.

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16 hours ago, The Friendly Dalek said:

The Invasion- There really was no need for this story to be 8 parts long. There is no where near enough plot to justify such a large run time, and as a result this story drags significantly for the first 4 parts. The second half of the story is much better though. 

Kevin Stoney is brilliant in this story, and the regulars are also great. The Cybermen are well utilised here, far better than in The Wheel In Space. I also prefer their design to this story than their design in TWIS. 

Nicholas Courtney is perfect as Lethbridge-Stewart, and it is nice to see the beginnings of UNIT in this story. Sadly the rest of the supporting characters aren't very interesting.

Overall- 7/10.

Interesting I thought this might have been one of your higher scored stories. I really enjoy it. I do find the other characters interesting. the ever dumped upon “Packaaaaaar” for example. My biggest gripe is the classic Sci-fi trope of confusing a computer by giving it illogical tasks to do. Good to see Zoe get a proper female friend and the beginnings of feminism in Dr Who and them complaining about what the boys always give them to do. Kevin Stoney is superb. I had a chance to meet him years ago just before his death as he was going to be signing copies of the Lost In Time Box-set but he took ill and couldn’t make it. He died soon after. It was such a shame. I would have loved to have met him. 

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The Krotons- This is an ok story. Not awful, but not exactly great either. The set and costume design is interesting, and I thought that the Krotons themselves looked alright actually. Their voices are very odd though. 

The regulars are good as usual, but the story is very weak in this one. Even at 4 parts long I still thought it dragged a bit. Some of the acting is good, some of it really isn't. There isn't anything particularly memorable about this one either. I can put it on and somewhat enjoy what I'm seeing, but I won't think about it after the credits have rolled. 

Overall- 5/10.

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The Seeds of Death- This is one of my highly rated ones. I absolutely love this story. There is definitely some bias here, as this was the first 2nd Doctor story that I watched.

The Ice Warriors are brilliant here, and I liked that we got to see some development of their society, through the introduction of Ice Lords. 

All the characters are well written and well acted. The dialogue is good, and the story doesn't drag at all (unlike most from this season).

The regulars are all on fine form as well. Troughton gives a brilliant performance here, as do the other regulars. 

Overall- 9/10. 

I imagine I will be challenged for giving this such a high rating, but I am being honest on all of these reviews. If I love a story then I will say so. :lol:

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The Space Pirates- Blimey, now this is a bad story!

There is nothing good about this. The acting is awful for the most part, the characters and dialogue are uninteresting and the regulars barely appear. I understand that the BBC wanted to challenge shows like Thunderbirds, and this story was their answer to that, but it was so poorly executed. Doctor Who is its own thing, and it should never be changed to try to match other shows. This shows why that approach will fail.

Overall- 1/10.

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The War Games- This is my all-time favourite Doctor Who story. In my eyes it is faultless.

Incredibly, I don't think that this story drags at all, despite its massive running time.

The characters are all brilliant and memorable. I love the slow mystery of this story, as the main plot isn't really revealed until around part 3, and even then more mystery is spread throughout the entirety of the story. The performances are all great.

The regulars shine, and as it is Troughton's final regular story, he gives a fantastic performance here. 

The Timelords are great in this story. This is their first appearance, and still their best. They are powerful and imposing, yet mostly calm and quiet. That is what they should be like.

Overall 10/10.

Overall rating for season 6- 6/10.

There are some brilliant stories in this season, but there are also some terrible ones. At least the regulars all give fantastic performances throughout.

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Spearhead From Space- An absolutely brilliant start to the Pertwee era of Who. Pertwee is one of my favourite Doctors, and from the very start he is fantastic. Nicholas Courtney is great as the Brigadier, and Caroline John excels as Liz, who I think could have became one of my favourite companions if we got to see more of her. 

The Autons are very well utilised here, and in some scenes I think they are genuinely creepy. Characters and dialogue are brilliant, and the story is pretty good as well.

Overall- 10/10.

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