The Doctor Who Real Time Marathon

The Moonbase - Part One (11/02/07) Quite an interesting episode this week, if a little slow. It was helped along by a good dose of mystery, some suitably eerie music and some great special effects/sounds. The sighing, mechanical breathing of the Moonbase's ventilation system (I imagine that's what it was, couldn't be much else) provided a good backdrop to the unease of the situation the Doctor et al. found themselves in. The Moonbase's commander, Hobson, was a bit eager and easy to persuade to let the Doctor help given their arrival and the mysterious disease that's broken out at the base, but that gave the plot room to breathe, I guess. The Doctor, Polly, Ben and Jamie's space suits were...interesting. Not a bad design, though - I have seen worse! I still don't see the point of Jamie having joined them, though. A few lines in the TARDIS, some clowning about on the moon's surface and within 5 minutes he was unconscious and disappeared, only to sur...

The Underwater Menace - Part One (14/01/07) Another Story, another terrible German accent. Really don't know what to make of this so far. It's okay, but the guards and the priests are reminiscent of 1930s Flash Gordon serials and Professor Zaroff is hammier than a pork factory. It started quite well with Jamie getting a bit of an introduction after the surprise inclusion of him in the TARDIS last week. Their exploration of the volcanic island was good and quite refreshing, as was their capture. The Doctor is an improvement on the last story, seeming to settle into the role and actually giving us an idea of what he's like now - willing to play the fool, but underneath that quite smart (his deduction that Zaroff was on Atlantis - oh, it's set on a sunken Atlantis, by the way - was very well written and played. Polly also had some good lines and scenes, particularly where she deduced the date. The awkwardness of the last story has gone, and this seems to be much ligh...

The Highlanders - Part One (17/12/06) The Doctor, Polly and Ben have arrived in Scotland in the 1700s and almost immediately got caught by some Highland rebels. Their Laird was injured so after Ben managed to pull a gun on them and the Doctor had managed to reason with them, Polly went off with the Laird's daughter to fetch some water. Then some Redcoats arrived and tried to hang the rebels, the Doctor and Ben, but a Lawyer turned up and took them off to be sent to the Americas as slaves. Then Polly fell down a hole. A pretty good episode - nice to be back on Earth with a recognisable location again. Polly was very good - her contrast with the over-emotional Kirsty was well played. Had a few laughs, too, notably a possible gay joke concerning the Dragoons, and the Doctor pretending to be German ("Doctor Von Wer." "Doctor Who?" "That's what I said!"). Getting used to this Doctor now, but he's a bit weird. There was a fair bit of violence, ...

The Power Of The Daleks - Part One (05/11/06) What the fuck? This episode started weird and has got weirder! The Doctor, it seems, has (or hasn't) changed his appearance (because he died?). If the little, dark haired man isn't the Doctor, who is he? (Something to do with the Toymaker?). He seems to know a lot about the Doctor but if he is the Doctor, why does he keep talking about himself in the third person? I'm as confused as Polly and Ben, but they've arrived on the planet Vulcan where an Earth colony has stumbled across a Dalek spaceship. It's all very atmospheric with lots of inter-political intrigue amongst the colonists - like who sent for the Examiner and who killed him, plus how are they going to react to the Doctor who's pretending to be the Examiner? They'll be the only one who knows he's lying. If it is the Doctor. Which Polly thinks it is. But Ben doesn't. I'm still confused. I want Bill back - this guy's a bit weird....

As I reach the end of the Hartnell Era in my blog, a new era has started on TV with Jodie Whitakker taking over the role. It's an exciting time, akin to when Russell T Davies revived the show back in 2005, but while I digest last night's episode, I thought I'd have a look at how I reacted to William Hartnell's time on the show, and how my opinions as I watched it episode by episode from 2003-2006 differ or have remained about, basically, my favourite of all the Doctors. Firstly, let's look at the seasons. The first basically follows the Series' remit – to have educational Historical stories, Science Fiction tales set in the future which could help to educate on a scientific level and 'Sideways' stories (which include the opening serial of the second season). Verity Lambert almost immediately ignored the command to include 'no bug-eyed monsters', but this is basically what made the programme great. The first half of Terry Nation's debut ...

The Tenth Planet - Part One (08/10/06) Wow! What a fantastic episode! Granted, it was a bit confusing to being with but the last five minutes were amazing! The TARDIS has landed at the South Pole in December 1986 and the Doctor, Polly and Ben have been taken into a tracking station there. A shuttle orbiting Earth has run into a few problems and a new planet has appeared looking like an inverted Earth. The Doctor knows what's going on but isn't giving anything much away yet, but the aliens have just landed and look a bit like robots but with Human hands! The episode was very striking due to the number of nationalities presented: Australians, Americans (Black and White), British, German, Italian. And although Polly and Ben didn't play much of a part in the episode, they were still on screen a fair bit and both looked well fit. There's some newly designed, computer-style captions and end credits, too (like The War Machines) which contrast wonderfully with the regular c...

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...