Doctor Who review blog...

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Of course, how bad The Ark and Four to Doomsday is a matter of opinion to all fans. But The Twin Dilemma is considered by general consensus to be the worst story of all time. What makes it even more painful is that it's meant to be the debut of the Sixth Doctor, and yet, before the first episode is through, he tries to throttle his own companion in a paranoid delusion. Scary thing is? It was actually rewritten heavily from the original scripts by Anthony Stevens, so it could have been much worse.

Anyway, here's the DVD trailers. They're probably making the shows look better than they really are.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shJozwGz4SA[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnbkTNxIC3I[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXBp1UpDo_0[/youtube]

Keep in mind that there is no Doctor Who story that is completely unwatchable. Even those mentioned above have a few enjoyable aspects. Then again, I have never watched Dimensions in Time...

Have you watched any of the classic series, Walrus?

Not very much. Earthshock, The Space Museum, maybe a couple of others that I can't remember. I read Justin Richards' companion books to the first two revived series which also explored classic series monsters and serials featuring revived monsters, and I watch clips on the BBC website, so I sometimes get references to the classic series.

Are there any serials you'd particularly recommend, especially Tom Baker ones? Currently I'm watching Caves Of Androzani, but I'd like to see a Fourth Doctor story next. Maybe City Of Death?

Oooh, The Caves of Androzani! Excellent choice! Perfect, save for the dicky magma creature. So too is City of Death, which is also one of the few good stories of its season.

Okay, well, I'll discuss my top three (I'll exclude The Caves of Androzani, City of Death, and Earthshock from the list) for each classic Doctor. I'll try to avoid those stories that are in boxsets, but if you can get stories from the library, then that's good. It's also worth pointing out that a company called Big Finish does audio stories with Doctors 4-8, many of them excellent. I'll give some recommendations for those if you like, but for now, just three from each Doctor...

(*Marks DVD trailers can be found. ** Indicates trailers as part of a Boxset)

FIRST DOCTOR:

The Aztecs:* One of the best surviving historical stories, The Aztecs has Barbara attempting to change history. The Aztecs have mistaken her for the divine reincarnation of one of their priests, but when she tries to stop the tradition of human sacrifice, she makes a mortal enemy in Tlotoxl, High Priest of Sacrifice...

The Dalek Invasion of Earth: A silly plot towards the end and a few dodgy special effects here and there are relatively small impediments to the second Dalek story, and the best surviving one of the Hartnell era. Set sometime in the 22nd century, the Doctor and his companions find an Earth occupied by the Daleks, with only desperate bands of resistance against them...

The Web Planet: A simple, almost childish story, and more than a few wobbly sets. Even so, this is the first, and really only attempt by the series to create a truly alien, human-free world (barring the Doctor and company), and does so with real poetry. The TARDIS is dragged out of space and time to the planet Vortis, an eerie world where insects rule. There is a war between the moth-like Menoptra, and the ant-like Zarbi, the latter of whom is controlled by some malevolent force...


SECOND DOCTOR:

The Tomb of the Cybermen:** One of the best Cybermen stories, let down by some dated attitudes and special effects. The Doctor and his companions join an archaeological expedition to investigate the Tomb of the Cybermen on Telos, but find that the Cybermen are far from dead...

The Mind Robber: While trying to escape a flow of lava, the Doctor is forced to activate an emergency procedure that takes the TARDIS out of space and time. But in the void is a malevolent entity, and after trying to escape it, the Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe are separated when the TARDIS explodes, leaving them stranded in a world of fiction. Very surreal, weird, and wonderful story.

The Invasion: Eight part monster (with two episodes missing, but these were animated for the DVD release) that nonetheless is a historical one, introducing UNIT, reintroducing Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart (a colonel in missing story The Web of Fear, and now a brigadier), and hinting at the Earthbound format to come. The Doctor and company land on Earth and try to have a scientist acquaintance look into repairing part of the TARDIS. Said acquaintance is abroad, and another scientist who can help him is at mysterious corporation International Electromatics. IE's mysterious leader, Tobias Vaughn, seems to be good-natured, but in reality, he is the figurehead for an invasion of Earth by old foes of the Doctor, foes that the Doctor must team up with UNIT to stop.


THIRD DOCTOR (These were amongst the most difficult to choose: most of the good ones are in the first season of the Third Doctor, but I needed balance somewhere)

The Ambassadors of Death:* Quite a strong story, despite the ridiculous amount of writers it went through. An expedition to Mars has gone wrong, and when the recovery mission meets up, a strange noise is broadcast. The recovery capsule comes back to Earth, but the capsule is promptly stolen by agents working against UNIT. What's worse is that whatever came back is not only alien, but so radioactive, they can kill with a touch...

The Daemons:* Written by then producer Barry Letts with Roger Sloman, this story has a few bits here and there dodgy, but is otherwise a great story. The Doctor learns of an archaeological dig that is cutting into an alleged burial mound outside the village of Devil's End, which already has a reputation for mysterious goings-on. He becomes obsessed with stopping the dig, like local white witch Miss Hawthorne, but the new vicar of Devil's End is also determined to stop them both, for he is the Master...

The Green Death: AKA the one with the giant maggots. Better than you'd think. UNIT has been assigned to do security for Global Chemicals, a controversial oil company in Wales, while Jo has decided to join the protestors against them. The Doctor is initially having none of this, having a short trip to Metebelis 3, on a dangerous expedition to obtain a powerful crystal from that world. But he soon realises what Global Chemicals is up to, with a deadly green slime causing people to die glowing green, maggots to grow huge, and with the mysterious BOSS behind it all...


FOURTH DOCTOR:

Genesis of the Daleks: THE beginning of the Time War, although they didn't have a conception about it then, the first Davros story, and one of the very best of all time. The Time Lords charge the Doctor with going to the distant past of Skaro and either stopping or hindering the development of the Daleks, before they dominate all life. But pre-Dalek Skaro is not a nice place, consumed by a deadly war between the Kaleds and the Thals. There are no heros here. While Sarah and a group of Mutos, people affected by the biological, chemical, and nuclear warfare, are pressganged by the Thals as slave labour to work on a devastating rocket, the Doctor and Harry are brought to the Kaled dome, and from there to the bunker of the Science Corps. There, they meet Davros, the creator of the Daleks...

The Deadly Assassin:* A violent story, but also one of the best showing Gallifrey and the Master. The Doctor is summoned back to Gallifrey, but ends up being pursued as a criminal. But he is also having visions of the President being assassinated. But when he tries to stop the real assassin, he is found with a gun in his hands, and the President dead. In order to prove his innocence, the Doctor must travel into the repository of the minds of the Time Lord's dead, the Matrix, and battle a mysterious opponent to the death. But said opponent is merely the pawn of the Master, wasted, burnt, and decaying, living only by willpower, hatred of the Doctor, and a plan to save him, at the expense of Gallifrey...

The Talons of Weng-Chiang:** Despite a dodgy giant rat and some unfortunate implications involving the Chinese, this is my personal favourite of all the Tom Baker era. The DVD is available either separately as an older edition, or as part of a Revisitations set with The Caves of Androzani and the TV Movie. The Doctor and his latest companion, the savage Leela, arrive in Victorian London, where the Doctor intends to educate Leela, descended from a human colony, about her people's past. However, they interrupt a group of Coolies trying to dispose of a body, and soon find out that a number of young women have been disappearing. They are linked to stage magician Li H'sen Chang, but even he is the pawn of the vicious and deformed Weng-Chiang, otherwise known as Magnus Greel, a war criminal from the future...


FIFTH DOCTOR:

Kinda:** One of the most complex and incomprehensible stories of the series, but also one of its best and darkest, and in a boxset I'm afraid. The Doctor and his companions land on Deva Loka, a peaceful jungle world, and while Nyssa rests in the TARDIS, traumatised by the previous adventure's events, the Doctor, Tegan, and Adric explore. Tegan soon falls asleep under some wind chimes, while the Doctor and Adric are captured by an expedition from Earth. The leader of the expedition Sanders and his unhinged second in command Hindle are suspicious of them (as many other members of the expedition have gone missing), and believe the natives, the Kinda, to be mute savages. But Dr Todd, the scientist of the expedition, believe the Kinda to be advanced in knowledge. Soon, Sanders leaves to try and find the others, leaving the paranoid and deranged Hindle in charge, who promptly imprisons Todd, the Doctor and Adric. But it is Tegan who is in the most danger, as she is assaulted in her mind by aspects of the Mara, an evil entity that dwells within the dark places of the mind...

The Five Doctors:* Great anniversary special, if a bit too much crammed in there. The first five Doctors are taken out of time, with the fourth trapped in a time eddy. The other four end up on Gallifrey, specifically in a misty, devastated landscape known only as the Death Zone, formerly used as an arena for lower lifeforms to die for the pleasure of the ancient Gallifreyans. In the centre is the Dark Tower, where the Tomb of Rassilon resides, but between the Doctors and the Tower stands a Dalek, three squads of Cybermen, and other foes. The Master has been recruited by the High Council to help the Doctors, but someone is pulling the strings from behind the scenes. And at stake? Immortality...

Frontios:* Let down a little by the costumes of the monsters, but otherwise a good and dark story. Far in the future, a ship of humans fleeing from the destruction of Earth have crashed on the planet of Frontios, much of their technology having been damaged beyond repair. The Doctor is reluctant to interfere, as interference this far into the future might draw the Time Lords' attention, but soon he has no choice. A gravitational force drags the TARDIS to Frontios, and a meteorite shower shortly thereafter seemingly destroys it. Stranded with scared and paranoid colonists, the Doctor must solve the mystery of why meteorites pummel the colony on a regular basis and why bodies seem to be dragged into the very soil. It is Turlough, however, who recognises the culprits in a traumatic revisit of ancestral memory: Tractators...


SIXTH DOCTOR:

Vengeance on Varos:* Violent, but prescient, making comment on reality TV before it caught on. In order to solve a power malfunction in the TARDIS, the Doctor is forced to travel to Varos in the future, a former penal colony, now an oppressive dictatorship, where the masses are kept in check by televised torture and executions. The Governor of Varos is trying to negotiate with the unprincipled Sil, an evil mining corporation alien, for a fair price on Zeiton-7, the very mineral the Doctor needs. But Sil is working with the Chief Officer to remove the Governor from office, and to prevent the Doctor from telling anyone about the true worth of Zeiton-7...

The Mark of the Rani: Okay, this didn't get a better than average score, but I'm including it here because Trial of a Time Lord takes a long time and I was trying to think of another good Sixth Doctor. And it's still not a bad story. Killingworth in the 19th century, and the Doctor has traced a temporal disturbance to that era. But there is a rather more mundane disturbance, in the form of Luddites smashing machines and being violent, all with a red mark on their neck. The cause is the Rani, a Time Lord scientist who needs chemicals from human brains for her own purposes. But the Master is present as well, and he coerces the Rani into a scheme to not only kill the Doctor, but disrupt history...

Revelation of the Daleks: One of the best Dalek/Davros stories, ever, despite the Doctor not getting to the main action until halfway through the story. Davros is subtle, even jokey in this one. The Doctor and Peri come to Necros, a world where people come to be interred in suspended animation at Tranquil Repose. The Doctor's old friend Arthur Stengos has been interred here, but the Doctor is suspicious. So too is Stengos' daughter, who has been unable to have the body released to her, and soon finds that not only has his head been turned into a Dalek, but that the authorities refused to hand over the body because those frozen are a threat to those in power. But there is also the Great Healer of Tranquil Repose, a famous doctor and scientist who saved the galaxy from famine with the help of corporate executive Kara. But Kara has hired mercenaries to kill the Great Healer, known by another name: Davros!


SEVENTH DOCTOR:

Remembrance of the Daleks: Another good Dalek story, and the moment when the Seventh Doctor began to really do his thing. Travelling to Earth in 1963, the Doctor and Ace investigate strange goings-on at Coal Hill School and 76 Totter's Lane, places that a military group are interested in as well. Daleks are there, two factions, and both want a powerful Gallifreyan superweapon, the Hand of Omega, a superweapon the Doctor left behind...

The Greatest Show in the Galaxy:* Very good story. The Doctor and Ace travel to Segonax, where the Psychic Circus, the self-proclaimed Greatest Show in the Galaxy, is currently ensconced. But the circus is luring audience members in to perform for a mysterious trio, and if they don't entertain, they die. While Ace confronts her fear of clowns, the Doctor teams up with the mysterious Mags, companion to selfish and talkative explorer Captain Cook, to get to the bottom of the mystery...

The Curse of Fenric: Good story, but if you get this on DVD, watch the special edition, it's easier to understand and has better effects. The Doctor and Ace land at a naval base during World War II, where brilliant cryptologist Dr Judson is working with the ULTIMA machine. But there is a plan to allow a group of Russian commandos to steal the ULTIMA machine, booby-trapped with a chemical weapon. And the dead rise as vampiric Haemovores when an ancient curse begins to unfold. But even this is part of the culmination of a deadly game between the Doctor, and the eons-old evil entity known only as Fenric...

Why does everyone always hate on Love And Monsters? Yeah I guess everyone remembers the slapstick goofiness and the concrete blowjobs, but it's a fun memorable episode with likable characters and it illustrates how their day-to-day lives are affected by the Doctor in a unique way. I actually kind of remember the characters from Love & Monsters, and I don't remember anyone from Blink.

You don't remember Sally Sparrow? Or Billy, who had until the rain stopped? Or "the angels have the phone box"?

I hate on it because it was really terrible. I can't remember why I hated it, because I don't tend to revisit things I've already seen if I didn't like them the first time.

Quatermass: thanks for the recommendations! I am preparing for my A-Levels (which decide whether I will get into university) so I don't have the capacity to watch loads of serials right now, but I have a long summer holiday this year. I recognise the names of several stories (particularly the Fourth Doctor ones). Many of the serials are on Metacafe, which is like YouTube but not as scrupulously checked by copyright holders, so I shall watch them there and maybe look at buying the best ones in the future.

"Blink" is the first episode to feature the Weeping Angels and is one of my favourite episodes. The Angels have to be one of the best monsters ever.

I know what A-Levels are, although I'm an Aussie. We have something called a Core Skills test, or at least we did back in the days when I was in high school.

It was rather difficult choosing just three from each era, especially where the third and fourth Doctors were concerned.

A warning with Kinda: it is very hard to understand at times.

I'm reviving this thread, temporarily, for a few reasons. In a few months' time, I might do a revisit of The Enemy of the World, as it has been found along with The Web of Fear. However, I'm leaving a full review blog until November at least for everything else. I might start a new one to precede the transmission of The Day of the Doctor. So yeah.

I've made the decision that, in the lead-up to the 50th anniversary, while I won't review any more extant stories on DVD (I'm leaving that until later), I will review at least one story dear to my heart: The Evil of the Daleks. I recently got that on audio, and I'm hoping that this seven-part epic is as good as I enjoyed listening to it back in the 90s...

Actually, I'm going to have to not listen to and review The Evil of the Daleks. I forgot that I was doing something on Saturday, and on Sunday, I've got The Day of the Doctor to watch and review, and I might even include An Adventure in Time and Space...

What about The Night Of The Doctor? I definitely think that deserves a review- though of course it is your project!

I don't review the minisodes. But it was good nonetheless.

WARNING: Mild spoilers ahead!


REVIEW: The Day of the Doctor by Steven Moffat

SERIAL: 50th Anniversary Special, 75 minute special

SEEN IT BEFORE?: No (Reviewed immediately after transmission)

In the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who, it was promised that there would be more Doctor Who than ever before. And one of these things was, in the mold of The Three Doctors and The Five Doctors, an anniversary special called The Day of the Doctor. So would Steven Moffat manage to pull off an excellent story? Here's hoping...

In the present day, the Eleventh Doctor is summoned by UNIT to the National Gallery to investigate strange paintings. In Elizabethan England, the Tenth Doctor is caught between a Zygon incursion and a romance with Queen Elizabeth the First. And deep in the Time War, a Doctor who abandoned his moniker has declared 'no more', and has stolen The Moment, the ultimate weapon. How do these three moments intersect? Can three Doctors stop a Zygon invasion? And how can the War Doctor live with his ultimate decision, one that would doom billions of Time Lords to extinction? The Doctor's past is catching up with him in a big way, and he will be forced to confront his greatest failure...

If I have any fault with the story in general, it is that I am not actually fond of the Zygon subplot, which doesn't really do the Zygons the justice they deserve. However, the subplot does tie into the main story enough that I am willing to forgive this. That, and the whole Elizabeth I thing. But otherwise, the story is an excellent examination of the Doctor and his morality, as well as his choices in the Time War, and the ending, while doubtlessly going to be controversial with many Whovians, nonetheless sets things up for a later story arc, as well as resolving much of the new series' history. It is certainly a great celebration, and Moffat, while not quite pulling things off perfectly, does manage to do things right.

Matt Smith and David Tennant are excellent as usual as their respective Doctors, though I think John Hurt as the War Doctor is probably the star of the show. This fine actor would have made an excellent Doctor, and it's a shame he isn't likely to be in it more than this special. Despite being in the Time War, the War Doctor is given nuances, melancholy, and a sense of humour that wasn't expected, and is a very pleasant surprise. Jenna Coleman is a good Clara, Jemma Redgrave makes an interesting return as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, though I wish that Ingrid Oliver as Osgood was a little more fleshed out. I found Elizabeth I a little irritating, though not due to Joanna Page's performance, I must confess. And finally, Billie Piper makes a return, albeit not as Rose, but as The Moment, a living Gallifreyan weapon. This is a relatively minor spoiler, compared to what's to come, and she is not that far from Surenne Jones' Idris from The Doctor's Wife, albeit less quirky. But she's still pretty damned good.

Production-wise, well, as usual, impressive special effects are the norm in the new series. I watched a 2-D broadcast on the ABC, but even I could tell that the story was meant to be shown in 3-D, with impressive setpieces like 3D paintings and frozen moments. And there's an impressive moment involving a Zygon changing partially back from a human form. What little we see of Zygon tech is a vast improvement over their debut, and while I was not sure about the redesign of the Zygons themselves, they won me over. The story is visually impressive, which is, of course, what it's meant to be. An utter spectacle.

While nowhere near perfect, The Day of the Doctor is nonetheless a pretty damned good celebration of the 50th Anniversary of this great series. And it promises much for the future...


SCORE: 9/10

Nick Hurran has to be the best director this show has ever had. I can't wait to see what he does on Sherlock.

I'm reviving this review blog thread for a trilogy of stories recently released. There are plenty of other stories I have left to watch or listen to, and review, but I'm starting with these three for various reasons.

They are:

The Enemy of the World (revisited with the DVD release of the recently found episodes)

The Web of Fear

The Time of the Doctor

Now, although, leaving aside the above, there are only seven other releases on DVD I can watch (including the yet-to-be released The Underwater Menace). But I will be reviving this review blog whenever there are new episodes of the series, or else I get hold of more missing episode soundtracks.

After these three, and once The Underwater Menace comes out, I will watch and review the following:

The Reign of Terror

The Tenth Planet

The Underwater Menace

The Moonbase (potentially revisited, due to animated episodes)

The Ice Warriors

Terror of the Zygons

Scream of the Shalka

Anyway, a new scoring system will be used. I already started using it in the Big Finish review blog, but I will debut this new system with The Enemy of the World. Now, my old numerical scoring system was rather skewed, so here's what the equivalent scores would be...

10/10= 5 stars

9.5/10= 4.5 stars

9/10= 4 stars

8.5/10= 3.5 stars

8/10= 3 stars

7-7.5/10= 2.5 stars

6.5/10= 2 stars

5/10= 1 star