Anthony and Whitney's Excellent Doctor Who Odyssey

[Anthony Williams]

It's okay, chaps... prior to this, The Seeds of Doom was the campest thing ever, according to Mrs W.

I can't wait till we get to Timelash

[Stuart Wallis]

And you've got TATR to look forward to after that!

[Anthony Williams]

This is rather delayed, and my apologies for that - things got ahead of me! We're now two seasons ahead, so the review for Season 14 will follow in a couple of days. Anyway, here goes with Season 13...

Terror of the Zygons

This was an excellent start to the Season. Whitney was enthralled by this story from the very beginning. It helps that she has Scottish ancestry (she's a direct descendant of King Robert II, dontcha know!?), and so the Scottish aspect fascinated her. But what helped was that this story truly reels the viewer in. Every bit is captivating.

Why are these oil rigs disappearing? Who's behind it? What kind of conspiracy is going on among the locals that leads to Harry getting shot at, then kidnapped, before someone tries to suffocate Sarah? This is a story that truly departs from the Pertwee era - we have something that is a lot rougher around the edges, a little more violent. That's a real breath of fresh air. And to add to that, it is just so well directed by Douglas Camfield.

Honestly, we both thought that there's only one thing that lets this story down. And while we hate to conform to the standard comment, it's the Skarasen. Whitney didn't know what I was talking about when I said that I thought that only the Myrka is worse. Oh, I can't wait until she finds out!

And of course, Harry leaves at the end. We both enjoyed his time with the Doctor and Sarah - he's a great character, and it was a shame to see him leave. It's been a blast!

Planet of Evil (or: Whitney gets PMS)

This is a curious one. I had warned the Whitney that Mr Hart refers to this one as Planet of WRETCHED Evil. Didn't phase her too much. Ultimately, neither of us particularly liked this one, but neither of us really disliked it.

Whitney did jokingly say that Sorenson's transformations are reminiscent of her PMSing, to my great amusement!

Ultimately, we both decided that while the jungle sets are great, there's just too little here for it to be anywhere near a truly great story. The spaceship and the costumes are poor. In terms of characterisation (or lack thereof), this seemed to be little better than the worst of the Pertwee era. Adding to that feeling is the sub-standard CSO, and the dialogue that sounds like it was written for the Third Doctor. Then, this story isn't quite sure what it wants to be a pastiche of? At first, it's Forbidden Planet. Then halfway through, Louis Marks changes his mind, and it's Jeykll & Hyde. And that just comes across as indecisive and poor.

Pyramids of Mars

This is just classic. Even Whitney, with her oh-so-critical eye, couldn't find much fault with this. The true joy here is that the storyline is so tight, there are very few plot holes. The acting is brilliant, with all the casting spot on - Gabriel Woolf is so chilling, Michael Sheard does an amazing job at portraying a man struggling to come to terms with what has happened to his brother, while Bernard Archer has just some superb moments (that part where his personality as Marcus starts to come through before he kills Lawrence is just superb) On top of that, it's exceedingly well directed. Honestly, there's very, very little to complain about. Both Whitney and I were captivated from start to finish. Ultimately, this was so good that there isn't that much more to say.

Well, there was one thing wrong. I made Whitney concentrate on Sutekh's chair as he stood up. "WHAT THE F*** WAS THAT!?" she yelled as a hand flexed. "That's someone's hand!" I replied. "What the f*** was it doing there? Or do I not want to know?!?" she once again cried. I kept silent, and left her with those thoughts...

Alas, I subjected the poor girl to "Oh, Mummy" afterwards. She was not impressed in the slightest.

The Android Invasion

I can't remember if I've harped on about Whitney's relationship with John Levene. It harks back to her being assistant minder for Mr Levene at a convention. He, apparently, was not the easiest of guests to look after, and was rather... demanding. Yet, when she realised that this was his last story, she was a little sad. Mr Benton was a character that she had slowly begun to love.

On the surface, this isn't a bad story. It's not particularly innovative - fake village, alien invasions etc. That said, at least Terry Nation didn't decide to simply re-hash The Daleks again(!) But once it's finished, and you begin to think about it, why did the Kraals bother? If they can take the Earth by force without too much effort, as they say they can, why do they go to all the effort of setting up a fake village, preparing a virus etc.? And how the heck did Crayford not notice that he wasn't actually blind in one eye? Then there was the "android detector". Sloppy writing! Oh, and Whitney was disappointed by the appearance of more potato look-a-like monsters. Once again, Terry Nation continues his inability to write anything vaguely original for Who that seems to have lasted since The Chase...

Ultimately, this story truly feels like the end of an era. We have the first UNIT story without the Brigadier. It's the last one with Benton and the last one with Harry. The UNIT-era (barring their fleeting appearance in The Seeds of Doom) is truly over.

The Brain of Morbius

Like the previous story, this isn't going to win any awards for original or innovative writing. But it was a lot more entertaining than The Android Invasion. Evidently, we have another Hinchcliffe & Holmes-era pastiche. This time, of Frankenstein. Right down to the mentally challenged assistant, in this case, Condo. Poor thing.

Of course, I think I've said it enough times so far that Whitney's Gallifrey obsessed. She's read/heard more of the non-TV media Gallifrey-related stories than she has seen Doctor Who TV stories. Truth. So, she was very excited when she realised that the Sisterhood are the descendants of the Pythia (or, at least, according to something or the other). Then, there was the whole scene going through the past incarnations of the Doctor and Morbius, which excited her very, very much.

Still, back to the story. It was nice to see Philip Madoc on screen. I think it's the first time we've seen him since he died. Whitney did remark that he looks an awful lot like he could be The Master in this story, which got her very excited (and sad when I categorically said that he isn't The Master).

But beyond the Morbius/Doctor scene, and the Sisterhood, Whitney found this story to be thoroughly uninspiring.

The Seeds of Doom

There was something really unfortunate about this story. And that's that we watched it directly after watching the final episode of Garth Marenghi's Darkplace. For those of you unfamiliar with that series, the series is a fake documentary about a series from the 1980s that never got made. It features camp acting and bad special effects. The final episode features a woman who gets infected by some intergalactic spores and turns into broccoli.

So, there we are, watching The Seeds of Doom. Sure enough, the Krynoid pod opens, and all Whitney can think of is this:

Don't get me wrong. This is a story I dearly love. I tried to convince Whitney of its merits, but at times it does seem rather like the campest of the Roger Moore Bond films meets Quatermass (something I still haven't managed to expose Whitney to). We have a very OTT villain, with a penchant for using an excruciatingly slow gadget to kill his foes. I really had forgotten just how camp Harrison Chase is. Additionally, we have a Doctor who points guns at people, and hits them.

For me, this was a case of childhood delusions destroyed by watching it with someone who could watch it through a more critical eye. While I still enjoyed this story, Whitney utterly despised it, which is a shame - although she did admit that there were some great ideas there.

Season round-up

Another mixed season, I think. We had some fantastic highs - Zygons and Pyramids, for example. We had stories that we disagree on, most notably Seeds. And there were the decidedly "meh" stories of Planet of Evil, Android Invasion and Morbius. This wasn't a terrible season, but despite it's reputation for being excellent, neither of us are really going to think of it as one of the all-time greats...

[Stuart Wallis]

(she's a direct descendant of King Robert II, dontcha know)

So we're supposed to grovel now, are we? Don't boast, you and I are the only ones round here who've heard of him!

It's interesting, and in a way refreshing, to hear someone who doesn't rate Morbius quite as highly as a lot of other people.

[Jon Masters]

I really had forgotten just how camp Harrison Chase is.

Well, he is Camp Freddie, after all

[SiHart]

Nothing wrong with having a camp villain, especially one who oozes as much meance as Chase does. I think it's a superb performance and a very memorable character.

[Andrew Curnow]

Whitney utterly despised it

What a lovely, sensible young woman!!

[Whitney]

Andrew, Si Hart, Stuart, etc. Keep the compliments coming, I'm eating them up. Here's love for all of you: <3 <3 <3!!!

We're doing Sun Makers now. I always think about what idiocy occurs behinds horrible stories. In this case, at some point, someone must have said the words:

"Yeah, let's make a story about taxes. That will have everyone at the edge of their seats."

[Whitney]

Oh, man, I'm re-reading Anthony's summations. It's so funny how we totally see these things from different angles:

" It helps that she has Scottish ancestry... and so the Scottish aspect fascinated her." I don't even remember this being Scottish at all, except for annoying bag pipes. Is this the one where the bag pipes would just not shut up?

"Whitney's relationship with John Levene." First, I am certain that Mr. Levene would love to know that we have a relationship. He flirts with everything that moves. Fact. Secondly, just so y'all know, he had me track down a disco ball. I had to find a disco ball. Thirdly, his wife is just about the sweetest thing on God's green earth (behind Mary Tamm). I suppose you have to be sweet and laid back to get along with Mr. Levene.

"Whitney found [the brain of morbius] to be thoroughly uninspiring." It was poor writing. It was just more of the get captured, escape, get captured, blah, blah, blah. I place a limit on "capture" scenes at two per story.

Reg, the Seeds of Doom: What Anthony failed to mention is that we're trying to get our friend into British television. Honestly, she wants to move to the UK so she's gotta kick it up a notch and soon. She only likes new who. First, we did the Dark Place episode, which she totally didn't get. Then we introduced her to her first classic who, the Seeds of Death. You know, more people turning into vegetables. Anthony has been banned from choosing "first who" episodes forever more.

Okie, dokie, <3 <3 <3 all of you! Pray we finish Sun Makers tonight -- quick, like a band aid!

[Anthony Williams]

Anthony has been banned from choosing "first who" episodes forever more.

Season 14 thoughts coming soon. I'll make sure I run my comments by the wife before posting them

[Andrew Curnow]

Although I actually quite like The Sun Makers:

"Yeah, let's make a story about taxes. That will have everyone at the edge of their seats."

[Anthony Williams]

Season 14. Let's go!

The Masque of Mandragora

Oh dear. This season doesn't exactly start with the greatest of stories, does it? We both REALLY struggled with this one, to the extent where I think even I fell asleep (that's normally Whitney that does that). There wasn't anything inherently wrong here, just nothing exciting. I think both of us sum this story up with one word: "yawn".

The Hand of Fear

Now this is a little more like it! The Doctor and Sarah land in a quarry. Which, much to Whitney's amusement, is actually meant to be a quarry, and not an alien world! I'm sure there's a "when is a quarry not a quarry?" joke in there somewhere. Anyway, we were both enthralled by this one. Whitney LOOOOVED the design of the female-form Eldrad - she described it as a masterful costume.

This story is full of lots of lovely little moments, and you can't but help fall in love with a lot of the characters. Both of us got pretty attached to Professor Watson. The moment when he calls his wife to tell her that he has to "work late" is just SO well scripted and acted, that it's truly beautiful. Whitney was upset at one point, when she thought that he had died at the hands of Eldrad.

Then there's the revelation at the end - that Eldrad is the King of a dead World. While I knew that that one was coming, Whitney didn't, causing a gasp of amazement (I may be taking some poetic licence here!) Sadly, Eldrad is much better in female form, rather than the ranting and raving madman. Whitney let out a cheer when the Doctor's scarf was used to trip Eldrad up.

Then there's the end. I'd forgotten how well done Sarah's leaving scene was. There was no big harrumpf. It's not overplayed. She doesn't die in some drastic way, she's not married off to someone that she barely knows. The Doctor, out of the blue, just decides to drop her off. Both of us talked about how well played it was, and Whitney was unsurprised when I told her that it was written by Tom and Liz, rather than anyone else. Just beautiful, and sad to say goodbye to yet another companion.

The Deadly Assassin

I think I've mentioned before how much Whitney loves all-things Gallifrey. So I was really expecting her to love this story. It really does set down so much that we take for granted in terms of Time Lord lore. The thirteen lives thing. The Matrix. The transformation of Time Lords from all powerful beings into stuffy Senators etc. On top of that, her favourite villain - The Master - returns! I thought that she would absolutely lap this up.

Yet, within 10 minutes, having seen Tom Baker talk to the camera one too many times, she declared this one to be "camp". And this continued through the entire thing, whether it was the chalk outline of the dead President (complete with head-board), the train coming at the stuck Fourth Doctor, or the Master triumphantly saying "whoa boy!", this one was camp as Christmas to my darling wife.

Then there was the Master. The problem was that the costume was pretty poor. His mouth barely moves, and he's really quite difficult to understand at times. Additionally, the suave ways of Roger Delgado are not to be seen, and we're left with this husk-like Master. I think the part of him that appealed to Whitney was gone.

How I sighed at this. She appears to hate the ones I think she's going to love, and love the ones I think she's going to hate! I can't wait until we get to Time and the Rani... I had her down for hating that. Anyway, ultimately, the Whitney decided that the Doctor doesn't really work without a companion. Which was really the whole point of this story being written. Still, at least Whitney would get her wish with the next story.

The Face of Evil

At new companion, at last! I think we both agreed that the Doctor works better with a companion that without one, and we both cheered when Leela showed up here.

This was an interesting one to watch. I had memories of absolutely hating it. Whitney hadn't seen it before. Yet, I found myself really, really enjoying this one. There's a lot of wonderful humour here, and it's so obvious from the moment that Leela remarks "It's true then. They say the Evil One eats babies!"

Honestly, Louise Jameson is just brilliant as Leela, who's a wonderful character. She's a marked departure from every companion we've had since Victoria. Here we have someone who doesn't "get" much of what's going on. She's as out of place in 20th Century England as she is on Gallifrey. Her naivety will make for wonderful watching later on.

And the whole concept of this story - the Doctor having to go back and fix a mistake that he made in the past - just works on so many levels. We have so rarely before seen the after-effects of the Doctor's intervention on a society, and here we see the potentially devastating effects. This is very, very well written, and a story that we both thoroughly enjoyed.

The Robots of Death

I love this story. LOVE IT! It's one that's very easily in my top ten of all time. And Whitney quickly saw why. There's very, very little not to like here. It's essentially Doctor Who, Agatha Christie and Alfred Hitchcock in equal measures. What could be better than a sci-fi-whodunnit-thriller?

The wonderful thing here is that despite its alien setting, with characters in funny costumes, the audience grows to empathise with every single one of them, whether it's rich Zilda, warm Toos or psychotic Dask. Every one of them is human and relateable. The world its set in is all-too-real. Despite being on a sandminer, we get the idea of a very well thought-through world, with economics, dissident groups and secret services.

Then there are the sets. Whitney commented on how gorgeous the art-deco sets are. You can see why the production team had very little money for the following season. This story is an absolute feast, both in terms of the plot and the visual aesthetics. It's just gorgeous.

Of course, Whitney being Whitney, she had to point out the one big plot error in the story - how does Taren Capel expect to start a full robot uprising on a sandmine in the middle of nowhere? I told her to stop thinking too hard and enjoy the story. Which she did. Huzzah!

The Talons of Weng-Chiang

Whitney asked me "what's the next one!?" so I told her. "Oh, isn't that the racist one? With the white guy in Chinese make up?" Whitney minor at university was in Asian studies, and she speaks Mandarin Chinese at an intermediate level. This one was going to be interesting...

Yet, despite her misgivings about this (including her complaints at the appauling accent that Tom Baker uses when he speaks Chinese), she really, really enjoyed this one. She remarked that despite its length of six episodes (something that she normally hates), it was well-paced. She also mentioned that the plot was superb, that Mr Sin was truly creepy, and how much she enjoyed the interactions between Jago and Litefoot. She was unsurprised when I told her that they had got their own Big Finish spin-off.

The costumes, for the most part, are beautifully designed and realised. The only thing that Whitney complained about were the two costumes that Leela wears through this, which she described as "totally wrong for the period". Me? I had no idea... not my area of history!

But this one was excellent. While Whitney says that it's never going to be up there in her list of favourites, she can see why it's rated so highly by so many people.

Season round-up

This was undoubtedly a season of two halves. The first half wasn't so great, particularly in Whitney's eyes, as she really didn't enjoy either Masque or Assassin. As always, a new companion really seemed to breathe life into the show, and Leela makes for a particularly interesting companion. It's amazing how we get some of the best stories in the entire show once Leela turns up.

All in all, this was yet another fairly mixed season. Whitney ended this one, hoping the next one would carry on the momentum that was building up during the second half of this one. Will it? We shall see...

[Nyder]

Thanks for that Ant. I always really enjoy yours & Whitney's opinions on Who. What did she think of the TARDIS secondary control room?

[Anthony Williams]

I always really enjoy yours & Whitney's opinions on Who.

Thanks, Dave - I really appreciate that!

What did she think of the TARDIS secondary control room?

You know, she didn't like it. She thought that it was a little too unfuturistic. We're well into Season 15 at the moment, and she was SO relieved to see a more classic TARDIS interior when we started.

[Stuart Wallis]

Pray we finish Sun Makers tonight -- quick, like a band aid!

Thank goodness it's not just me then!

[Anthony Williams]

And since we've just finished Season 15 tonight, I'm going to get on and post about it, rather than waiting 2 weeks (again)...

Horror of Fang Rock

"Just this once, everybody dies, Leela! EVERYBODY DIES!"

At least, that's what Whitney and I decided the Ninth Doctor would have said if this had been his story. God, it's grim, isn't it? Not a single person survives. Not a single supporting character is particularly likeable, either. That said, we both finished this story thinking that it was absolutely superb. The reason is that the direction is just SO fantastic. Every part of it helps to make this work on so many levels - the claustrophobic sets, the sense of impending doom, and the way in which the Rutan seems to be one step ahead the entire way. This is the Doctor out of his element, and we loved it! And on top of this, virtually every character has some sort of sub-plot going on. This has so many levels, and it's just wonderful.

But the best thing is really the aforementioned claustrophobia. It takes what the Robots of Death did well, and it's probably the only element of that story that this one does better. A lighthouse!? What a delightful setting for a story!

Whitney's main gripe came at the end, when Leela was momentarily blinded... "oh great, another companion gone blind?!? We had enough of that with Sarah in the first story of last season..." Oh, and we also laughed at the poor scene with the Doctor hanging from the lighthouse. Oh dear!

The Invisible Enemy

This is where everything starts to go downhill, really. There were a lot of things that Whitney complained about in this one. First and foremost, there was the way in which Marius somehow knew how to use the TARDIS dimensional stabiliser to shrink the Doctor and Leela's clones, who could inexplicably feel the pain of their larger counterparts. Huh? What? Why!? They're clones, not bloody robots! Then, there's how Marius was able to see these microscopic "clones" to put them in his syringe. Hmmmmm... Oh, and the supposed ten-minute life that they have is so sloppily kept, that they even take away the clock in the background at one point, to try and make the audience not realise that they're conveniently overlooking that element for a while. Yeeeesh...

But minor gripes aside, there were a few things to enjoy here. The transmission of the virus was done quite well, and we both thought that scenes of the Doctor fighting off the virus were pretty good. And, of course, it introduced us to K9. Yay! And there was the appearance of Michael Sheard again. Double yay! Oh, and Whitney was pretty creeped out by the giant prawn costume of the virus.

This wasn't terrible, but it had a LOT of flaws. Both of us agreed that it was enjoyable enough, if you didn't think about it too hard.

Image of the Fendahl

We LOVED this one! Chris Boucher finally got to do the gothic horror-meets Quatermass that was so typical of the Hinchcliffe-Holmes era (albeit in the Graham Williams era!) This is undoubtedly full of cliches, and incredibly predictable, but that's why it works so well - it plays on the audience's expectations of the tropes. There are people there simply for the purpose of dying, a touch of the occult and a disgusting-looking monster. Damn, the giant disgusting monster that looks like a slug is even allergic to salt! Talk about cliches...

Of course, when I mentioned to Whitney that Thea Ransom is played by Benedict Cumberbatch's mother, she glibly commented with "she doesn't look like an otter..." Oh, the internet! Anyway, I digress slightly. After she's turned into the core, I comment on how hot she is. Whitney disagrees. "I'd do naughty things with the Fendahl core," I say. Whitney sighs. Welcome to life in the Williams household.

But this story is really quite grim in parts - most notably when the Doctor gives Stael the gun to top himself with, rather than be turned into a Fendahleen. Golly!

There were a lot of elements that we both absolutely loved. Mrs Tyler is just a fantastic character - we always feel that Who is often at its best when there's a mad old trout around. And we both felt that this story was better off for the omission of K9. He just wouldn't have fit in with the story. Thank God they decided not to try and shoehorn him in! Oh, and it had plenty of Whitney-pleasers, with mentions of Gallifreyan legend and clandestine interference from the Time Lords. It was a winner all round!

This was just fantastic. It's the shame that it's the last of its type (the gothic historical) for quite a while, really...

The Sun Makers

This was THE story that we were both dreading. For Whitney, it was the story that she had seen before that she liked the least. I summed it up as such (roughly plagiarising from something that I once read somewhere):

"An oppressive government rules over a drugged population. An underground resistance movement is waiting to strike. Sets look like they might fall over if you blow on them too hard. Then Villa turns up. You know you're in trouble when things start looking a little TOO much like Blake's 7..."

Yet, this one was strangely enjoyable. Yes, the subject matter is a little dull (excessive taxes), and the costumes are a little OTT in parts. But actually... the satire works, Whitney got the little jokes for the first time (I think our marriage has made her "get" British humour), and Robert Holmes uses his genius to create an entire society with a solid backstory in the space of four episodes.

While we were both dreading this, I think we both ended up rather enjoying it, in a strange way. Probably me more than Whitney, though. Shame that we can't say the same thing about...

Underworld

Ouch. This was truly the pits. The nadir of the Tom Baker era. This was the one story from Season 15 that Whitney had never seen before. I hadn't seen it since a UK Gold repeat in the late-90s. I had forgotten how terrible it is.

The Quest is the Quest. Yes, it is. Whatever the f*** that means. The problem with this is that the first episode actually shows quite a lot of promise. Then the entire story degenerates into a large number of crap sets, crap performances and nonsensical plot. And by "crap sets", I mean "what sets?" Once we get onto the planet, everything seems to be badly done CSO. It's obvious that the budget had run out by this point. Oh, and we had a ship's computer gone mad. Why do so many ship's computers go mad? We've had Xoanon, BOSS, WOTAN and now Oracle. Yawn.

I would say more on this, but I'm losing the will to live here.

The Invasion of Time

You know, I wasn't looking forward to this. I had memories of this one not being that great. But you know what? I really enjoyed it. And so did Whitney.

But you know Whitney. She loves all things Gallifrey, and she loves all things TARDIS. And she got both in abundance here. I think it's a shame that the TARDIS is quite shoddily handled, but Whitney just didn't care. She loved it all! She even loved the grumpy Doctor who yells at everything that moves (be it Leela, Borusa or the Castellan!) Oh, and when I said "the Castellan really is utterly snivelling," her response was to comment "YES! I never knew precisely what that word meant before tonight, but he is the absolute definition of it! He defines the word!" I suspect that this was her favourite story of the season.

That said, she did cringe when the Doctor looked directly at the camera and said "even the sonic screwdriver won't get me out of this one!" She most certainly did not approve. And she was upset at Leela's departure to run off with a man that she barely knows, and has pretty much zero sexual chemistry with (shades of Jo Grant here).

As for me? Well, it's a middling story, enjoyable enough. I enjoyed it a lot, even though there are some severe plot holes (why did the Doctor have to let the Vardans in, in order to time-loop their planet? That really makes no sense. Ho hum!) A not-terrible end to what was actually a not-terrible season...

Season round-up

This may be a controversial opinion, but I felt that despite its reputation, this was actually a fairly consistent season. Certainly no less so than either of the two preceding ones. We had what I would describe as three very good stories, two okay stories, and one atrocious story. That's a hit rate of 50%, with 80-odd% of the stories being "okay" or better. Not bad at all! But, we've got the story we were dreading out of the way (and it wasn't bad!), and we're about to move into Whitney's favourite season (that she's seen before...)

[Stuart Wallis]

(I think our marriage has made her "get" British humour

She did marry you...

A definate spot the join season; you can tell where the old team ends and the rather inexperienced (on this show anyway) starts. To be fair, Invasion Of Time isn't too bad a script given it was knocked up in not that long a time. I'm not a great fan of the Graham Williams era, but i can see some of the areas where he was up against it; Underworld might have been more tolerable if circumstances weren't against him for instance. You can keep The Sun Makers though.

[Junkyard]

You seem to be enjoying most of the Tom Baker stories, in spite of one or two rubbish stories such as Underworld (which has never made sense to me). Genesis of the Daleks, Robots of Death, Talons of Weng Chiang, Pyramids of Mars and Brain of Morbius are all favorites of mine. Key to Time next!

[Andrew Curnow]

I like season 15 precisely because it's so ridiculously mixed - terrifying horror, relentless death, edgy subject matter (Fang Rock & Fendahl) mixed in with almost B-Movie space opera (Invisible, Underworld). The Sunmakers is a great story, but when I watched it last year I did see that it's very ploddily done - some of the 'comedy business' needed maybe a lighter touch, and the whole thing could have been a bit more 'peppy' but it's a good show.

I always like to think of it as Bob Holmes just on his way out of the Script Editor's office, saying to Graham Williams, "Well if you're not allowed to do horror anymore, I suppose you could always do this..." and in a sense gifting a whole new style of Who. Mind you, I also picture him doing it in the style of Columbo ("Oh now Graham, my wife's a big fan, just one more thing...") so maybe I should just lie down quietly and take more water with it...

[Stuart Wallis]

I like season 15 precisely because it's so ridiculously mixed - terrifying horror, relentless death

Are you sure you've not been watching The Lads at work instead...?

[Whitney]

"The Quest is the Quest." We say this, like, all the time now. The little old lady in Stones of Blood should be a companion. Period.

We're going to finish The Key to Time tonight. Which is rough for me, because I'm terribly vain and Lalla Ward's hair drives me insane. I mean, just put some curlers in it. Jeeze. My hair looks EXACTLY like her's when I'm straight from the shower and dried it all up. But if I were going to be on tv, I'd expect someone to do SOMETHING with it.

It's seriously hard for me to pay attention when Lalla Ward is on the screen. That. Hair.

[Stuart Wallis]

But if I were going to be on tv, I'd expect someone to do SOMETHING with it.

We'll have it shaved off.

[Ian Lethbridge-Stewart]

Lalla's hair is lovely!

That is all

[Anthony Williams]

Sooooo... I've got a little behind with this, and have two completed seasons to report on! And we're over halfway through Season 18, too... whoops! Anyway, we'll start with... Season 16!

Have I mentioned before that this is Whitney's favourite season? She's seen it all before, and adores it. So, it was with great excitement that we started on...

The Ribos Operation

He may have stepped down from his script-editing duties, but it's always just marvellous to have a Robert Holmes story.

There is one thing that we both pondered when re-watching this story this time around. Was it ever the White Guardian who sent the Doctor on his mission? Was it, in fact, the Black Guardian all along? After all, he threatens to destroy the Doctor if he doesn't go on the quest (which, as we all know... is the quest!)

Anyway, we are soon introduced to the first Romana... and, in our opinion, the best! She just oozes sophistication and glamour. Something that no companion has before. She's just so utterly, utterly classy. And intelligent. Whitney wants to BE her, and I want to be WITH her. As an aside, Whitney was once the assistant minder for Mary Tamm at a convention. She says that she was utterly lovely (in total contrast to John Levene). Perhaps that's another reason she likes the first Romana so much.

Now, as for the story itself, Holmes introduces so many memorable characters, whether you're thinking of the Graff Vynda-K, his loyal deputy of Sholakh, or the classic Holmesian duo of Garron and Unstoffe (second only to Jago and Litefoot), who are themselves a parallel of the Doctor and Romana - the older teaching the younger the tricks of the trade. And then there's the most touching character of them all - Binro the Heretic. The combination of Holmes' writing with Timothy Bateson's acting gives the character an absolutely wonderful pathos.

Then there's the plot. Yes, it's ridiculous. But it works. It's a heist story with a Doctor Who spin to it. The idea that someone is trying to sell someone else an entire planet that he doesn't own is farcical. It'd be like me trying to sell India to someone on here. But, this was just a wonderful way to open the season, and a definite improvement on Season 15.

The Pirate Planet

While the first story was a wonderful character-based drama, this is something different. Equally brilliant, but inherently different. We were both excited to see Douglas Adams' debut in writing for Doctor Who in its proper context, and it's an interesting one.

Here, ideas, concepts and humour are the name of the game. And it works marvellously. Pretty much everyone is firing on all cylinders, whether it's Adams with his crazy concepts of a hollow planet, jumping through space to swallow and mine other planets, or the notion of an evil Queen, struggling to stay alive in a bid for immortality, or even the Mentiads. Then, we have the actors - Tom Baker, Bruce Purchase and Andrew Robertson all particularly shine, and are really firing on all cylinders to make this work on every level.

But Bruce Purchase really does deserve to be singled out for special praise. His Captain is just wonderful - full of bluster, with wonderful lines such as "by the left frontal lobe of the sky demon!" But, when he plays the part for pathos, he really can, and the scene where he mourns Mr Fibuli's death is where he's at his absolute best.

This yet another stonking story in what seems to be shaping up to be an excellent season...

The Stones of Blood

Aha! My favourite story of the season! The thing that amazed both of us was just how small the cast for this is - there are only eight people who have speaking roles. We've done PS audios that have bigger speaking casts than this(!) But that seems to work in its favour.

I try not to influence Whitney's thoughts too much on stories before we watch them, but knowing that she'd seen this one before, I mentioned that it's undoubtedly my favourite of the season. And I think that by the end of the season, she was agreeing with me.

This story is so balmy, but it works. We have blood-feasting stones, a woman who's been the major property owner in the local area for thousands of years (and no-one's noticed) and then a batty old lady who, quite frankly, should have joined as a companion at the end of the story (Whitney's opinion, there!), and it's such a shame that Beatrix Lehmann would die only a year after this.

Then there's the humour. Lines like "run as if something very nasty was coming after you, because something very nasty will be coming after you." had us both in fits of laughter. Then there's the Megara. I know Douglas Adams hadn't taken over yet, but to us, these creatures had a Hitchhikers feel to them, with their pedantic voices and arguments with each other. Just wonderful.

It's a shame that David Fisher's next story wasn't nearly so solid...

The Androids of Tara

Whitney's first recollection of this one was "Romana's outfit is wonderful". Sadly, it all began to fall apart around the time of the coronation scene. Whitney was really quite amazed when I told her that fan consensus on this one was that it was rather good. "Really? But what about the GAPING plot holes?"

Let me explain. We both noticed the first of these around the coronation scene. Whitney actually pointed this out "If Grendel is so certain that he's going to be appointed King, then why does he need an android duplicate of Princess Strella as an assassin to pretend to swear loyalty, in order to get close to and kill the King?" I tried to explain this away "Well, it's uh... just in case?" "But surely by the stage that Princess Strella is swearing loyalty, then he would have been King, and she would have killed him." I can't fault her logic.

Then there's the other plot hole with that. Evidently, the whole reason he kidnapped Princess Strella was because she had a stronger claim to the throne than he did. That's why he wanted to marry Romana, so that he would be King, right? Wrong, apparently. Evidently, if he was to be crowned King when there was a duplicate of Princess Strella (that everyone thought was the genuine article) present at the coronation, then her involvement is unnecessary.

And that's the problem with this story. It's just so convoluted to the point where Count Grendel's machinations just make no sense whatsoever.

The Power of Kroll

The problem with this story is that there's nothing inherently wrong with it. But neither Whitney nor I could really say anything good about it at the end. It's pretty much Who-by-numbers. It's amazing to think that this was written by the same man who even wrote one of the best stories of the Season. Honestly, we didn't really have anything overly interesting thoughts on this story, so I'm going to cut it short.

And on that note, we're having calamari for dinner.

The Armageddon Factor

Well, let's start this one off with the return of the look-a-likes! And here we have:

So, here we have John Woodvine starring as Marshal Arsene Wenger. And then there's another lookalike:

Yup, Princess Astra looks EXACTLY like the Second Romana. I wonder if anyone else has noticed?

Anyway, this isn't as terrible a story as I remember it. I remember it as dull and uninspiring. But, broken up into about two episodes at a time, it was rather enjoyable this time around. Certainly nothing special, but enjoyable nevertheless. And, of course, we got introduced to the lovely Lalla Ward.

Whitney's biggest issue was with the cartoon villain that is The Shadow. She particularly laughed when he was described as "emaciated". Her reaction? "Honey, that mask and makeup ain't foolin' anyone. He's fat. Not emaciated. Do they really expect me to take that?" This is the same woman who decided that Shapp was the finest character ever in Doctor Who, and Davyd Harries the best ever actor to appear in the show. Yes, really.

And Lalla Ward just annoyed Whitney too. She hated her hair. Whitney doesn't like blondes anyway, and made a comment along the lines of "my hair looks better than that when I've just got out of bed!" And to be fair, while Lalla's hair is lovely in other stories, it's not so good here. But it doesn't annoy me in the way it did my wife. Oh well...

But, there were some things that she loved. As you are all well aware, Whitney LOVES all things Gallifrey. And the introduction of Drax with hints at the Doctors academy days gave her quite a thrill. And she thought that the notion of a cheeky-chappy-cockney Time Lord was great. I think she may go and start a campaign to bring back Drax...

And then Whitney breathed a sigh of relief when I told her that this was the last six-parter in Who EVER. Well, not counting Shada. But that will have its time. This was enjoyable for me, not so much for Whitney, I think!

Season Round-up

Well, for the most part, this was a better season than the previous one. A great first half to the season that falls apart in the second half. At least there was some relief for me when I realised that I enjoyed the final story more than I used to. And we got the glorious Mary Tamm for twenty six sweet episodes. How we both wished we could have had more of her!

Beyond that, the whole Key to Time arc was interesting. It could easily be attributed to being the sort of loose arc that inspired what RTD did when he brought Who back in 2005. But I think he's more likely to cite Buffy than Classic Who Season 16!

I'll do my best to get the Season 17 review up in the next few days...

[Anthony Williams]

And without too much ado (and now we've started watching Season 19...), it's high time I put up our review of... Season 17! Maybe we'll catch up before we finish Season 19. Maybe.

Destiny of the Daleks

Wow. We start the season, and we couldn't have more different opinions on a story!

Let me start off with a short story. Mr Hunt recently told me about how his other half describes certain stories as "Christmas stories", normally because he got given the VHS at Christmas, and necessarily because that story is particularly Christmassy. In this case, this is a Christmas story for me. I have fond memories of first watching this on a Christmas day, perhaps in 1994 or 1995. I forget which year exactly. Anyway, as such, this has been etched in my mind as a story that I love, and one that I'm unable to watch objectively.

Anyway, we started out, and Whitney was already upset. Her favourite Romana was gone, explained away by a bizarre regeneration where Romana tries on different bodies, before settling on Princess Astra in a pink version of the Fourth Doctor's costume. Hating Lalla's hair, Whitney was thoroughly unimpressed.

As time goes through this story, I had a little fun with Whitney. After Romana apparently dies, I made a comment along the lines of... "Welp, Romana's dead. I hope you like the new companion... Tyssan!" Whitney's reaction? "Really!? I kinda like him..." and after about five minutes... "But, wait... how come I've never heard of a companion called Tyssan before?" Oh, it's just too easy, guys!

Even more bizarre is that Whitney thought that the Movellans were marvellous, and thoroughly nice people. She seems to be working on the whole "enemy of my enemy is my friend", regardless of the fact that their Commander was willing to kill Romana, and seemed a little upset when it didn't happen. Her reaction was "well, he wants to kill off the Daleks and Davros for good... they can't be all bad!"

This is a story that we had to agree to disagree on. I love it, she doesn't. End of.

City of Death

Aha! Now, one that we do agree on. This is probably the most overrated piece of twaddle in Doctor Who history. It's not actually BAD, but it's not the amazing piece of Who that most of fandom seems to think it is. Undoubtedly padded out by scenes of the Doctor and Romana just... walking around Paris.

And while it undoubtedly has some lines of sparklingly witty dialogue, that does not necessarily make for a good story. Now while the plot here isn't bad, it's padded beyond belief.

Now, there are a few good things. While the setting of Paris gives a lot of padding, it is a very nice location. A few things here are very well realised - the Jaggaroth ship, the Da Vinci-era scenes (well, we all know how good the BBC are at costume dramas!) and the Scaroth costume. The idea of Scaroth being split through time is an excellent concept, too.

Whitney also noted one particularly amusing thing - Romana and Duggan break into a cafe in episode 3, and proceed to get hammered. By the time they of the next morning, when Duggan wakes up, the cafe is open and the staff are serving other people. Has no-one wondered what happened when the staff came to open up? "Oh, these two people broke in and helped themselves to our wine last night... par for the course, really. Carry on as normal, guys!"

Ultimately, this one just comes across as all style, and very little substance. Neither of us thought that it was really worthy of the "classic" tag that some many people seem to ascribe to it.

The Creature from the Pit

You know, for a story that's about the Doctor giving a blowjob to an alien, this is actually strangely good.

Let us first take Romana. As I've said before, Romana I was Whitney's favourite Romana. She mentioned on several occasions how Romana II here was behaving more like Romana I than herself. I then pointed out that this was the first story that they recorded for this season. "Oh, so Lalla Ward must've modelled her performance on Mary Tamm's for this story, right?" "Oh, probably!" I replied in a very Fourth Doctor kind of way...

While we're talking of companions. K9. Ouch. As soon as we first heard David Brierly's voice, Whitney was unhappy. She felt that this version of K9 was way more sarky and mean than usual. And he's not exactly used very well in this story - somewhere between a bargaining chip and a blaster. Not so good.

But this story has so much more to it than Erato's penis-like appendage (which made Whitney laugh SO much!) The sets and costumes are just gorgeous, and there are some great turns from the guest cast - in particular Eileen Way and Geoffery Bayldon. Whitney cheered when I pointed out to her that Eileen Way was the old woman in the very first story... And as for Myra Frances, she just OOZES sex appeal. She's wonderful as Lady Adastra. I caused Whitney to laugh hysterically when I said "I know her problem. She just needs to get laid, then she'd be okay."

The one big downside to this story (beyond Erato) is that the Bandits were a little... well, am-dram. But they're the true comic relief here. And in my opinion, the humour works here better than in City of Death, because this isn't entirely relying on the humour to carry it...

Honestly, this story is pretty damned good. Again, I don't get where it gets its reputation from....

The Nightmare of Eden

Aha! A personal favourite of mine. I'm sure that we've all got stories that are so terrible that they're actually enjoyable. This is one of those for me. This is camp in the extreme, and unapologetically so.

Firstly, let's look at what's often considered to be the worst thing in this: Tryst's accent. Whitney spent ages trying to figure out what it is. I'm not sure I know what it is, either. But does it matter? The whole point of it is that it's faintly ludicrous. Without it, my favourite exchange in all of Doctor Who just wouldn't be the same...

Romana: What happened to him, Tryst?
Tryst: He died.
Romana: How did he die?
Tryst (shrugs): He died!

Comedy gold.

Anyway, there's just so much here that's utterly brilliant, and it works on so many levels. We have the morality play about drugs (and no, the idea of the Mandrils breaking down into Vraxoin is NOT ridiculous!), a love story and a comedy all rolled into one.

I don't think Whitney was so impressed. She didn't hate this one, although there was some definite cringing at "oh my everything!" Probably a sign of Tom's ego at its most out-of-control stage...

The Horns of Nimon

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! This one really is terrible, isn't it? Whitney was pretty excited by Graham Crowden showing up (she loves waiting for God), but even his OTT acting can't save this. I'm going to be honest, I've never seen any Waiting for God, but I was amazed when she told me that that's his actual voice. Really!?

Then, there's the whole "weakling scum!" thing. What's with that? Whitney found that so utterly laughable it was unbelievable. The pilot really is one of the most stupid characters to have appeared in the Doctor Who universe. A real idiot. And then there's the costumes of the Nimon... just terrible.

But the biggest problem here is the total lack of subtlety. Anthony Read so clearly copies the Theseus legend (badly) that I couldn't help but wonder whether he'd been reading far too much Psuedo-Apollodorus.

You know when something's gone wrong when you realise that Graham Crowden is the best thing going for this story, even though he's so OTT. The way he portrays Soldeed - a man so taken in by the Nimon that he waffles on about the Great Journey of Life without really knowing what it all means - is just wonderful. Don't tell her that I said this, but maybe Whitney was right...

Season round-up

Not exactly the best of seasons here. In fact, we've had some major disappointments, and even though we both have things in this season that we love, we both acknowledge that it's poor in comparison to the past seven(!) seasons. Eeeep!

By the end of this season, we've both got to that stage where it feels like something major needs to be shaken up, whether it's production team or the Doctor. Thankfully, we'll see some of that next season...