Amph Doctor Who Discussion (Russell T. Davies returns)

I'm going to resist watching this. I always find that watching a scene in advance makes me enjoy the eventual scene in the full ep less. I wish they'd go back to minisodes for these sorts of things.

And anyway, I've just watched the End of Time in my re-watching, so this clip would be a bit out of place.

I can watch 6 seasons of Who, 2 SJAs, Torchwood Miracle Day and Class all in a month.

 

I tried to watch one ep of it, but I just... couldn't. It is just so weird. The only full episode I ever remember watching in full was one where some Osiran like aliens showed up, pretending to be good. There was a scroll at one point which showed both Sea Devils and Alpha Centauri's. That felt like a really obscure reference. Plus I think I've now passed the point where K9 was supposed to slot in.

I watched K9 and Company way back between Season 18 and 19. And may Hecate rest my soul.

 

Lest we forget...



...Verity Lambert, OBE. The Doctor's Mom.

 

Man! If the performances by Bradley, Capaldi and Gatiss are at that standard throughout... it's gonnae be stoatin!!!

 

Happy 54th anniversary of Doctor Who everyone.

 

Here's how the Radio Times introduced the first ever episode of Doctor Who, which aired 54 years ago today (it's a legitimately good write-up!):

 

Based on some of the set photos that have been leaked so far, I think Jodie looks significantly better in Peter's outfit. Heck, just borrow McGann's outfit that he seems to have for the radio dramas (blue leather jacket I think?) and give that to her.

 

Who cast made to go through body scanners in attempt to thwart spoilers.

 

Speaking of Spoilers:

Spoiler

 

See what I mean? She looks far more the part than she does in that hipster get-up they call an outfit.

 

Anyone who isn't the doctor wearing any doctor costume is dressing like a hipster, arguably.

 

Well, I finally finished my marathon of all Doctor, having just finished The Doctor Falls. I watched every single episode of Doctor Who, including recons of all missing eps, the reconstructed episode 4 of Planet of Giants, the Tom Baker narrated Shada, as many minisodes as I could find, Dimensions in Time, The Curse of Fatal Death, Scream of the Shalka, walkthroughs of the Adventure Games, K9 and company, all 4 seasons of Torchwood, all 4 and a half seasons of SJA and the one season of Class. The only thing I didn't watch was the K9 series. I watched a few clips of the first ep, but that was enough.

I started the re-watch on the 3rd of June (I know this because it was the day The Lie of the Land aired). I was on The War Machines on July 14th, The Invasion at the start of August, The Sea Devils and Mutants in a hotel on the first week of September, the Deadly Assassin on September 23rd. The FIve Doctors was on October 14th, followed 2 weeks later by Remembrance of the Daleks.

The only parts new to me were the missing ep recons, most of which I hadn't seen, and the second of half of Torchwood Miracle Day. That left the 6th episode of the Space Pirates as the last ep of Who I had to see in some format, and the final ep of the spinoffs watched was The Blood Line, Torchwood's final ep.

Now on to the rankings, (everyone's favourite part ):

Hartnell

Worst

2. The Web Planet
1. The Celestial Toymaker

Best

4. Galaxy 4
3. Planet of Giants
2. The Myth Makers
1. The Dalek's Master Plan

Troughton

Worst

2. The Space Pirates
1. Fury From the Deep
Best

3. The Underwater Menace
2. Power of the Daleks
1. The War Games (my favourite episode)

Pertwee

Worst

3. Death to the Daleks
2. The Sea Devils
1. The Monster of Peladon
Best

4. Invasion of the Dinosaurs
3. Spearhead from Space
2. Day of the Daleks
1. Inferno

Baker

Worst

3. Image of the Fendahl
2. The Talons of Weng Chiang
1. The Seeds of Doom

Best

3. The Leisure Hive
2. The Deadly Assassin
1. Full Circle

Davison

Worst

1. Warriors of the Deep

Best

4. Terminus
3. Enlightenment
2. Castrovalva
1. The Five Doctors

Baker 2

Worst

2. Timelash
1. Attack of the Cybermen

Best

2. The Two Doctors
1. Revelation of the Daleks

McCoy

Worst

2. Silver Nemesis
1. Dragonfire

Best

3. Time and the Rani (yes, really)
2. Remembrance of the Daleks
1. Survival

McGann

Worst

1. The TV Movie

Best

1. The TV Movie

P)

Eccleston

Worst (and by worst here, I mean still really great, just not as great, because Series 1 is probably my favourite single season of the show (other contenders are Season 18, and Series 6))

2. Father’s Day
1. The Unquiet Dead

Best

3. Aliens of London/World War III
2. Dalek
1. Boom Town

Tennant

Worst

2. The Sonatarn Stratagem/The Poison Sky
1. The Lazarus Experiment

Best

3. Blink
2. Midnight
1. The End of Time

Smith

Worst

3. Nightmare in Silver
2. The Power of Three
1. The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe

Best


3. Amy’s Choice
2. The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang
1. A Christmas Carol

Capaldi

Worst

2. Under the Lake/Before the Flood
1. In the Forest of the Night

Best

3. Deep Breath
2. The Husbands of River Song
1. Flatline

Overall

Worst

4. In the Forest of the Night
3. The Seeds of Doom
2. Fury from the Deep
1. The Celestial Toymaker

Best

8. Boom Town
7. Inferno
6. Full Circle
5. The End of Time
4. Survival
3. The Dalek’s Master Plan
2. A Christmas Carol
1. The War Games

There… few. That took longer than expected


So what have I learned from this massive great marathon? Well, I’ve learnt that Miracle Day was quite good overall… The Space Pirates wasn’t… that bad. The Celestial Toymaker is atrociously boring. Dalek’s Master Plan is excellent, and I wish that more than 3 parts survived, but man, just having those 3 was ridiculously unlikely. Full Circle jumped out at me as excellent on this viewing, probably my biggest surprise.


It’ll be a long time before I do this again, but I just love this show, in all it’s many forms over the years. I can’t wait to see the Christmas special and then what the 13th Doctor can bring to the role.

 

wow .

so how many hours do you think you watched ?

 

Oooh, now that's a hard one. I'd have to add every single ep of Doctor Who, all the spinoffs, and every other minor bit of filmed media produced for Doctor Who (except if it's Australian).

So, no idea is the short answer.

 

darkspine10
Wow, that shows a lot of perseverance. Classic Who was never intended to be watched in omnibus format and even as a huge fan I find watching the serials for the first time something of a slog; I think if you ever go back and re-watch some of the classic stories you will probably reappraise at least a few.

The Underwater Menace used to have a bad reputation, but since episode 2 was found everyone likes it so much more. Power of the Daleks I want returned mainly for the first episode - seeing the actors deal with the Doctor's first regeneration would be fascinating (it's pretty good to listen to, but being able to see the visuals would be great). The War Games is surprisingly watchable despite its huge length and difficult production, really something of a triumph.

Talons and Seeds are considered stone cold classics by most, though I had to watch both of them more than once to appreciate them; Seeds was particularly difficult for me as I felt the story was not that interesting and lacked any really good dialogue, but you know, it has grown on me over the last few years.

I though Terminus was very boring the first time I saw it, but these days I quite enjoy it. We tend to be in the minority on this one, however - most fans complain about it.

The Two Doctors is a bit long, but it's got some good stuff in it (and I do love a Robert Holmes script). Revelation, despite some bits not working (Alexi Sayle's death scene is painful to watch, imo) has a cracking script and some wonderful performances, especially from William Gaunt and Eleanor Bron.

 

I don't agree with some of your rankings, but I think it's one doozy of an achievement.

Oh, did you see the Rifftrax version of "The Five Doctors"? (Well, since "Curse of the Fatal Death" was included, I figured I'd ask.)

 

I have not, where can I find it?

I did also watch the David Tennat, Phil Collinson and Helen Raynor's commentary, that was hilarious.

 

It was simulcast as a Fathom Events feature back in August. I doubt the live version will be available, due to copyright restrictions, but I figure a studio-made "jokes only" version will be released. And Fathom may just do an encore broadcast in the future.

I will say that Turlough, and Sarah Jane's tumble down the "cliff" inspire a lot of jokes.