The Doctor Who Real Time Marathon

The Smugglers - Part One (10/09/06) Well, it's back and we're starting with an Historical! Yay! Doesn't seem as long a break as last summer - I'll have to check the dates. Anyhow, Polly and Ben have joined the Doctor and travelled back to the Seventeenth Century. Polly used her 'recognise Cornwall' skill but it took them both a while to figure out they actually had travelled back in time. Classic line from the Doctor this week: "You see that scanner up there? That's what I call a scanner.". Um, right you are, Bill. Lots of Cornish accents and pirates going 'Arrr!' and Polly's been mistaken for a lad. The Doctor got kidnapped by some pirates cuz an ex-pirate told him three words - 'Smallwood, Ringwood, Gurney', and Polly and Ben have been arrested by the Squire for the ex-pirate/Churchwarden's murder though the real murderer was the caretaker from Grange Hill. A rather light and fun episode, a million miles from the l...

The War Machines - Part One (25/06/06) Wow! The TARDIS has landed on present day (well, 1966) Earth! And a computer called WOTAN (Will Operating Thought Analogue, apparently - whatever that means) who lives at the top of the Post Office Tower is bent on killing all the Humans - cuz we've failed or something. It's really cool! The Doctor's travelled in a Taxi, gone to the Institute of Science and a groovy Swinging 60s nightclub run by Beatnik Chick Kitty. Dodo's teamed up with Professor Brett's secretary Polly (who's well fit) and a sailor called Ben Jackson (who's also well fit) but has had her mind taken over by WOTAN! Polly's a lot more believable as a person, as is Ben, than Dodo which makes Dodo seem a bit stilted, and Ben had a cool fight with some sleazy chav (who was hitting on Polly) that was the kind of thing you usually see when you're out on the piss. Come to think of it, Polly and Kitty, and to some extent Ben, make Dodo look like one...

The Savages - Part One (28/05/06) Okay, first things first. Part One? What happened to a new story title every week? Not that I'm complaining - this story is clearly about savages (or is it?). This is a really good story so far, with a lot of mystery - are they really in the far future (yes, they are), who are the savages and are they as savage as they seem, how do the civilised people maintain their society, why never go outside, and what's their mysterious power source (it seems to be the savages!)? Dodo has really come into her own in the last few weeks and here she's no exception, questioning the society and their blind acceptance and going off on her own to find out after seeing something suss. The Doctor also seems wary, questioning the leader, Jano, about how they power their society. Pity the guards' headgear is what the Robomen wore in the Dalek invasion story, but maybe the production team thought we'd forgotten - unless the Daleks are behind th...

Doctor Who - A Holiday For The Doctor (30/04/06) This week was much better than the last few. The Doctor, Steven and Dodo have arrived in Tombstone where the Clantons are planning to bump off Doc Holliday. Surprise, surprise, the Doctor has been mistaken for Holiday and is about to walk into an ambush at the saloon. Given the subject matter, this episode was hilarious. The Doctor has toothache thanks to Cyril's sweet (?) so went to local dentist Holliday for its removal. Upon their arrival in Tombstone, the Doctor declared they were musicians (with silly names) - oh, and there's a narrative song running throughout the episode too, which was weird to begin with but was easy to get used to because the episode/story is so funny. And the Doctor's been calling Wyatt Earp 'Mr Werp' which is hilarious. And the Clanton brothers have really awful American accents like they're from Arizona via Clapham and RADA! Hard to get into for the first five minutes but then a...

Doctor Who - The Celestial Toyroom (02/04/06) Another one of those weird episodes, this one with clowns (AAARGH!). It seems the Doctor et al. have been trapped by a character called the Celestial Toymaker whom the Doctor has met before. He kidnaps people and forces them to play his dangerous (and rather dull) games. The Doctor was briefly visible again to begin with, but the Celestial Toymaker made him invisible once more after the Doctor pissed him off. The Doctor's being forced to play a Trilogic game while Steven and Dodo try to win the TARDIS back (which the Toymaker has nicked) by playing a blindfold assault course game. They were up against some very creepy clowns (shudder) and beat them, but the TARDIS at the end was a fake and they have to play another game. It's an interesting idea, but I hope it's not going to continue like this with game after game as that could get quite boring. Ah, well. We'll see. Doctor Who - The Hall Of Dolls (09/04/06) As I sa...

Doctor Who - The Steel Sky (05/03/06) A bit of a disappointment after the last few weeks, but not bad. The Jungle sets were brilliant - though the opening shot of an off-camera stage hand chucking a bird onto a Monitor Lizard was a bit of a disconcerting way to start the story. So, we're in the far future on an Ark in space that's taking the last of Humanity to a planet 700 years away. An interesting premise, if a bit flawed, enlightened by the fact that new companion Dodo has a cold and has given it to the Humans, who aren't immune. Special mention has to be made of the Monoids - aliens with Beatles haircuts! Dear god, what next? Nice idea, though, of the huge wigs covering the actors' eyes and having the single alien eye held and moved around in the mouth.  Plus, there were actual animals (an elephant, toucan, lizard, snake, plastic locust) in the jungle, not stock footage! Dodo is a bit annoying, to be honest - and where the hell is she from? Could be Manc...