The Doctor Who Real Time Marathon

Timelash: Part One   (09/03/25) Well, that was marginally better than The Two Doctors  on some levels but seemed fairly similar to Vengeance On Varos .  Not that repetitive ideas are anything new to the series (just look at Seasons 5 and 13) but again we're on an alien planet where the citizens are held under an oppressive regime and everyone (all 500 of them!) seems to live in a citadel in an otherwise barren landscape. This time, at least, we see a few more of the locals, but our leading couple seem just as wooden as Jondar and Areta, and their (newly appointed) Leader (or Maylin) is played by Blake's 7 's Paul Darrow with the air of a ham Shakespearean actor. I wonder if the next story will feature Sally Knyvette or Gareth Thomas? The episode go t off to a decent start with three rebels trying to flee capture and failing. The leader was caught and taken to see the Borad, the planet's actual leader; a seemingly mutated (judging by his right hand) dictator hiding behin...

The Two Doctors: Part One   (16/02/25) That was a somewhat odd episode but it started off rather nicely. As is clear from the title, this story features two Doctors and we were immediately shown which other Doctor features as the opening credits faded to a black and white shot of the Second Doctor and Jamie in the TARDIS which slowly changed to colour. It would seem this takes place (for them) somewhere during Season 5 since it was mentioned they'd just dropped Victoria off to study Graphology. This, however, didn't fit with how much older both look; yes, Season 5 did  air seventeen years ago and I could forgive Jamie looking thirty-something but, unlike in The Five Doctors , the production team have chosen to fleck the Second Doctor's hair with streaks of grey indicating he's older even than in any of his previous stories. Not only that, but there's a device fitted to the TARDIS console allowing the Time Lords to navigate it wherever they like, and the Doctor is cu...

The Mark Of The Rani: Part One   (02/02/25) That was a much more traditional adventure than more recent outings and all the better for it! We're in Northumbria in the early 1800s, at the height of the Industrial Revolution, and in Killingworth where George Stephenson is working, and is about to hold a meeting of some of the great intellects of the day (although we haven't actually met any of these historical figures). The Doctor was about to take Peri to Kew Gardens at around the same period but the TARDIS was mysteriously pulled off course, landing them just north of Newcastle (as nearly everyone's accent testifies). This, it turns out, was instigated by the Master, who somehow survived being burned alive on Sarn. He subsequently paid a visit to Miasimia Goria, a planet ruled over my another renegade Time Lord known as the Rani. She's a brilliant Chemist, apparently, and has been visiting Earth during periods of conflict (currently monopolising on Luddite activity in t...

Vengeance On Varos: Part One   (19/01/25) Well, that wasn't a bad episode, more straight forward than the last story and obviously limited y being studio-bound but nonetheless interesting and a further step towards the Doctor Who  we all know. The start wasn't great, to be frank, with the writing of the new Doctor being a little too reminiscent of the easily defeated, petulant and self-centred characterisation of the early episodes of The Twin Discrepancy , but once he and Peri arrived on Varos he became the Doctor we've been following for the last 20-odd years, albeit filtered through Colin Baker's boisterous personality. So, Varos! It's an ex-prison colony where the descendants of the prisoners live as second class citizens with an impoverished lifestyle where they're fed a diet of violent torture and executions of dissidents via a live stream and the requirement that they frequently vote for their puppet Governor in a mock of democracy, whilst the descendants...