The Doctor Who Real Time Marathon

Doctor Who: The Executioners (22/05/05) A very whimsical episode this week. That Time/Space Visualiser the Xerons gave the Doctor last week came in useful for spying on Abraham Lincoln, Elizabeth I & William Shakespeare, and The Beatles (Vicki mentioned their memorial theatre in Liverpool!) singing 'Ticket To Ride'! Not much happened to begin with, well I say to begin with - I mean until the last 5 minutes. This was quite good cos it showed the regulars having a laugh and just relaxing. It contrasted very well with the frantic final five minutes when Vicki and Ian found an underground area on the desert planet they'd landed on inhabited by a bulbous, tentacley thing. At the same time, the Doctor and Barbara found out about the Daleks' plan via the Space/Time Visualiser, went off looking for Ian and Vicki, got caught in a sandstorm, buried, and found the TARDIS buried somewhere in a reshaped landscape and a Dalek nearby. It must have an anti-gravity unit judging by...

Doctor Who - The Space Museum (24/04/05) What a very strange episode! It appears that the TARDIS 'jumped a time track' and everyone spent the episode walking around unseen and insubstantial because they hadn't arrived yet, but were seeing into their own future where they'd apparently been freeze-dried as an exhibition at the Space Museum of the title. Of course, you only find that out in the last 3-4 minutes. The rest of the episode was full of mystery as they explored their surroundings, and halfway through the episode what should turn up? A Dalek! It appears to be another dead exhibit, but that doesn't mean it will be now they've arrived! Will there be more Daleks? Vicki said she thought they'd be scarier as she'd never seen one but had read books about their invasion 300 years before her time. I get the feeling we're going to see more of them! It surely can't be about the dull looking men with bad bouffant hair. So, looking forward to the ...

Doctor Who - The Lion (27/03/05) Ooh, another Historical! The TARDIS materialises in a forest and immediately the crew are embroiled in a battle between King Richard I & his men and some Saracens. It was great to see them arrive; no words, just all of them exploring their surroundings. The Doctor had a great fight scene with a Saracen, clashing swords - even better than his trouncing the assassin in Rome! And there was a really gross bit where a sword got thrown at a Saracen and it embedded itself in his chest with a heavy thud! Anyway, Barbara got kidnapped, and the Doctor and Vicki had a cool, funny bit stealing some clothes from a dodgy merchant in Jaffa. Barbara's meeting with Saladin was good, portraying him and his brother as intelligent, thoughtful and moral(ish) leaders, a complete contrast to King Richard's childish and petulant character. Saladin and Barbara's ridiculing of El Akir was ace. The costumes and sets are brilliant, much more spectacular than ...

Doctor Who - The Web Planet (13/02/05) What a very strange episode! After the recognisable history of the last story and the spaceship and the people of Vicki's first story (not to mention the London of the Dalek story) this one was very weird. The TARDIS has landed on a planet of crags and acid pools which also appears to have a lot of moons. The atmosphere is all blurry and echo-y and there are what can only be described as Pantomime Ants and Woodlice hiding about the place! Oh, and the Doctor and Ian found a big pyramid thing. The story also seems to have had a funny effect of the Doctor who, having donned his space anorak, seemed to have a giggling fit upon leaving the TARDIS. Actually, he's not the only one acting weird: Barbara left the TARDIS seemingly led by the bracelet Nero gave her last week (oh, she's told Vicki what happened, but got distracted) and Vicki's been hearing high pitched noises. And Ian made a fuss about his pen and his tie! No, this is a ...

Doctor Who - The Slave Traders (16/01/05) One month later... And the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki seem to have suffered no ill effects after the TARDIS fell off the cliff. In fact, they're having a right laugh relaxing in a Roman villa! Hooray! An Historical! It feels like ages since we visited the past and this week was brilliant! (Note all the exclamation marks!). Most of the episode was spent with them having a good time - not much plot but lots of humour, and you get the sneaking suspicion that the moment the Doctor and Vicki left for Rome, Ian and Barbara were shagging (well, they have been travelling together for over a year! It was bound to happen eventually). Vicki seems to have fitted in very well, getting on with the Doctor better than Susan - it feels like they're a family. And she has a curiosity that meshes with the Doctor's. The Doctor himself has come along in leaps and bounds - he's much more likeable this season. Anyway, on to the story; there...

Doctor Who: The Powerful Enemy (02/01/05) So, Susan's gone. It was really sad at the start this week where the Doctor told her to open the doors but she wasn't there. Bill Hartnell really put across how sad the Doctor felt about it well. He was probably missing her, the first original cast member to leave. However, they've ended up on a planet with a cripple and an orphaned girl and it looks like the cripple, Bennett, may end up dead as he seems a bit of an arsehole. Vicki doesn't seem all that bad, though there were moments when she started to go all Susan and hysterical. However, the reasons for her being so scared are good. Everyone she knew has been killed and she's being terrorised by the best alien of the series yet - all tusks and spines! The bit where she talked about her father was good - the silences were convincingly long, nowadays you wouldn't have that length of wordless pause. On the lighter side, there was a wonderful bit where the Doctor went...

Doctor Who - World's End (21/11/04) Oh my god! The Daleks are back!! The TARDIS has landed in London in the future and the Doctor, Susan, Ian & Barbara spent the episode exploring their surroundings and trying to figure out where they were. It was the usual, well executed stuff where they were cut off from the TARDIS (by a bridge collapsing) and split up (Susan has sprained her ankle so Barbara stayed with her while Ian and the Doctor went to find an acetyline torch to cut through the fallen girders). And this is where it got brilliant - they've actually been and filmed on location in Central London! The Doctor and Ian had a look around an abandoned warehouse, watched by a man, and found a calendar indicating that they're in the late 22nd Century, some time after 2164. Meanwhile, somebody grabbed Susan while Barbara was wetting a hanky in the Thames, and another guy told her to follow otherwise she'd get herself killed. Cue fantastic shots of Barbara chasing aft...

Doctor Who - Planet Of Giants (31/10/04) Well, it's been quite a few weeks since we left Paris and the new series has got off to a great start! Hartnell in particular seems to be having a whale of a time, taking control and delivering his lines with a cheerful and naturalistic air. TARDIS has landed between some paving slabs in someone's back garden and the team spent quite a while figuring out they'd shrunk to "about the size of an inch" as they explored their surroundings, a surprise slightly ruined by the episode title. However, this isn't actually a Planet Of Giants as it's really Earth and everyone got shrunk because the doors opened before TARDIS had landed; something to do with 'space pressure'. Ian and Susan encountered some brilliant giant ants while the Doctor and Barbara encountered a less exciting earthworm. But everything is dead! Turns out this is likely due to the owner of the house, Forester. He's a businessman and has a sci...