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Tuesday, 17 October 2006 10:09![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
usuallyhatsLovefilm has sent me nothing but Doctor Who recently.
Genesis of the Daleks. Excellent from start to finish. Probably the best story I've ever seen (and in fact the only one I remember watching from when the bbc repeated a lot of stuff when I was about nine, so it must have made an impression on me then!). Everything about it works and it succeeds beautifully at what sci-fi at its best is capable of: it takes theoretical dilemmas and makes them real, makes you feel them. It was also beautifully made, yes the effects are a little dated but mostly they hold up pretty well and to be honest I don't need them to be perfect anyway, I just need them to point my imagination in the right direction. And the colour was lovely - all the Daleks and Kaleds in black, white and grey, cream and green for the Thals, and in the middle of it the Doctor's multicoloured scarf, Harry in blue and Sarah Jane in her yellow coat and fantastic pink boots (I want some!). Very well paced and as Izzy pointed out on the messageboard the length of the story gives the ideas time to grow and this one never drags or feels padded. The last episode in particular is fantastically tense and scary. I remember being nine and hiding behind a cushion from the Daleks in this episode. Of course now I am grown up I don't do that any more, oh no. (I hid behind my crochet instead.)
The Leisure Hive. Satisfyingly bonkers! I loved the opening on Brighton Beach, the very first pan was a little bit too long but other than that it was great. And the opening credits! I think we've pinpointed the exact moment at which the BBC entered the eighties. I love how breezy Romana II is, especially when she's explaining something. The scene with her and the Doctor running through the zero gravity squash courts, arguing with each other, entirely oblivious of their surroundings, was excellent. The lizard costumes were a bit dodgy but you can't have everything and the Argolians were pretty cool. I really like the little romance between I think Hardin and Mina, it was very sweet.
The Two Doctors. Jamie is the best thing ever! Six is really growing on me, I love Two and Peri didn't annoy me like she did in Revelation of the Daleks. The cannibalism stuff was incredibly icky (I wonder how many people went veggie after seeing this?) but not nearly as disturbing to me as the Sontarans which creep me out in ways I can't really explain. Something about the way they look a bit human but not quite. And their collars that look like dog bowls! Maybe their heads are made of dog food. Eeeesh.
The Beginning box set. An Unearthly Child was a wonderfully tense and creepy first episode, though it was a shame to lose some of Susan's weirdness from the original version. Pity the cavemen story that followed was a tad on the dull side. The Daleks was very good, especially the very first sight of the Daleks when the camera pulls back to reveal them. But I must admit I rolled my eyes at the end of the fourth episode when they think they're home and dry but then they realised that they've left the thingammybob in the Dalek city and they'll have to go back. The Edge of Destruction was very strange and atmospheric. The recreation of Marco Polo was fun, pity it's lost.
Genesis of the Daleks. Excellent from start to finish. Probably the best story I've ever seen (and in fact the only one I remember watching from when the bbc repeated a lot of stuff when I was about nine, so it must have made an impression on me then!). Everything about it works and it succeeds beautifully at what sci-fi at its best is capable of: it takes theoretical dilemmas and makes them real, makes you feel them. It was also beautifully made, yes the effects are a little dated but mostly they hold up pretty well and to be honest I don't need them to be perfect anyway, I just need them to point my imagination in the right direction. And the colour was lovely - all the Daleks and Kaleds in black, white and grey, cream and green for the Thals, and in the middle of it the Doctor's multicoloured scarf, Harry in blue and Sarah Jane in her yellow coat and fantastic pink boots (I want some!). Very well paced and as Izzy pointed out on the messageboard the length of the story gives the ideas time to grow and this one never drags or feels padded. The last episode in particular is fantastically tense and scary. I remember being nine and hiding behind a cushion from the Daleks in this episode. Of course now I am grown up I don't do that any more, oh no. (I hid behind my crochet instead.)
The Leisure Hive. Satisfyingly bonkers! I loved the opening on Brighton Beach, the very first pan was a little bit too long but other than that it was great. And the opening credits! I think we've pinpointed the exact moment at which the BBC entered the eighties. I love how breezy Romana II is, especially when she's explaining something. The scene with her and the Doctor running through the zero gravity squash courts, arguing with each other, entirely oblivious of their surroundings, was excellent. The lizard costumes were a bit dodgy but you can't have everything and the Argolians were pretty cool. I really like the little romance between I think Hardin and Mina, it was very sweet.
The Two Doctors. Jamie is the best thing ever! Six is really growing on me, I love Two and Peri didn't annoy me like she did in Revelation of the Daleks. The cannibalism stuff was incredibly icky (I wonder how many people went veggie after seeing this?) but not nearly as disturbing to me as the Sontarans which creep me out in ways I can't really explain. Something about the way they look a bit human but not quite. And their collars that look like dog bowls! Maybe their heads are made of dog food. Eeeesh.
The Beginning box set. An Unearthly Child was a wonderfully tense and creepy first episode, though it was a shame to lose some of Susan's weirdness from the original version. Pity the cavemen story that followed was a tad on the dull side. The Daleks was very good, especially the very first sight of the Daleks when the camera pulls back to reveal them. But I must admit I rolled my eyes at the end of the fourth episode when they think they're home and dry but then they realised that they've left the thingammybob in the Dalek city and they'll have to go back. The Edge of Destruction was very strange and atmospheric. The recreation of Marco Polo was fun, pity it's lost.
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Date: 17 Oct 2006 12:56 (UTC)Genesis Of The Daleks - an extremely clever and ambitious plot idea to go back to the very origins of the Daleks and flesh out their backstory. One of the greatest television villains of all time is seen in the Nazi-ish wheelchair-bound character of Davros, who became a regular in the series from this point on (the only Dalek stories to lack Davros are all post 2005). The story puts a new slant on the Daleks, who before this story aired had become cliched and repetitive, and the story has a much more ethical and adult feel to it. The effect of the story is obvious - because of the Doctors meddling with Dalek history any previous Dalek adventure (1963-1975) is either erased from history or is vastly different, in other words 'The Daleks' never happened. The only let down in my opinion is the cheap appearance of some of the sets and of Davros himself, who looks much much better in the most recent Dalek stories. This story was voted the greatest of all the BBC adventures in 1999.
The Two Doctors - imfamous for being in the 'violent' series, the rat scene, the blood-on-face scene. You forgot to mention the fantastic location shooting in Spain, the battle-hardened Sontarans, Shockeye and his mini chainsaw, the chase scene through the field and so on. There is also a subtle response to fanboy speculation at the beginning where the second Doctor spies a videocamera in the Tardis console room and angrily shouts something to the Timelords, implying that this story is set after his capture by them in 'The War Games' - so why is he still in his second incarnation? :-)
Edge of Destruction - cheap and creepy, intended to get the eudience better acquainted with teh main characters. Susan with a pair of scissors :-0
An Unearthly Child - A mysterious blue box in a junkyard in darkness of winter. Two teachers are suspicious about one of their 15 year old pupils. Nuff said :) Tho I agree the cavemen stuff can be ignored.
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Date: 20 Oct 2006 13:47 (UTC)I've been seeing everything in the wrong order so the idea of all the pre-1975 Dalek stories being different/gone is making my head spin! I don't remember much difference between Davros's appearance here and in the Colin Baker dalek story I saw him in but then I don't really notice things like that :-) Also at least the corridors didn't wobble quite as badly as some of the Blakes 7 ones did - everyone must've known not to lean on them!
I've now watched the commentary/extras for The Two Doctors so I have more thoughts (not many...). I agree, the location filming was gorgeous, I especially like the bit where Oscar, whatsername, Peri and Jamie are all lying around in the grass waiting for the Doctor(s) to come back. And Jamie's baffled response to Colin Baker explaining regeneration was great ("I was him, he will be me."/"Who will I be?"). Jamie is my favourite companion in case you hadn't guessed! It really is pretty violent isn't it? And very gruesome with all the hunks of meat hanging around and whatnot. The exploded Sontaran leg was icky, there was no need to have quite such a long, lingering close-up on it! It's a bit of a shock seeing blood in the old Doctor Whos - you hardly ever see it in the new series.
One of the great things about the dvd of the first few episodes is it really makes you understand how strange and different Doctor Who was. It's great to watch the first episode with a sort of "forget everything you know" attitude - it works very well.