Doctor Who

Doctor Who, season 2 continued … The third episode of The Crusades returns to visual as well as audio, giving us a much clearer understanding of what the cliffhanger was all about. Barbara is kept hidden by a hated enemy of El Akir, who himself is shortly captured.  In trying to […]

64. The Wheel of Fortune

 in Doctor Who / Doctor Who / Reviews / Television  tagged Barbara Wright / Doctor Who / Ian Chesterton / Jacqueline Hill / Jean Marsh / Julian Glover / Maureen O'Brien / The Crusade / Vicki / William Hartnell / William Russell by
Doctor Who, season 2 continued … Due to the “missing” nature of some early Doctor Who adventures, The Knight of Jaffa is reviewed here as the audio version. It’s difficult to get a true understanding of the episode without the visuals and, indeed, the last few minutes prior to and […]

63. The Knight of Jaffa

 in Doctor Who / Doctor Who / Reviews / Television  tagged Barbara Wright / Doctor Who / Ian Chesterton / Jacqueline Hill / Jean Marsh / Julian Glover / Maureen O'Brien / The Crusade / Vicki / William Hartnell / William Russell by
Doctor Who, season 2 continued … What a exceptional first episode of The Crusade! Preceded by a lovely introduction by Ian Chesterton (looking like an older William Russell), reminiscing about his time with the Doctor, the episode begins in a forest in Jaffa with King Richard and his hawk leading […]

62. The Lion

 in Doctor Who / Doctor Who / Reviews / Television  tagged Barbara Wright / Doctor Who / Ian Chesterton / Jacqueline Hill / Jean Marsh / Julian Glover / Maureen O'Brien / The Crusade / Vicki / William Hartnell / William Russell by
Doctor Who, season 2 continued … I haven’t had time to post recently, so here’s a summary of the remaining episodes of The Romans. Taking the story as a whole, it’s a bit of a mixed bag that doesn’t seem to know what it wants to be.  A whole story […]

53-55. All Roads Lead To Rome, Conspiracy, Inferno

 in Doctor Who / Doctor Who / Reviews / Television  tagged Barbara Wright / Doctor Who / Ian Chesterton / Jacqueline Hill / Maureen O'Brien / The Romans / Vicki / William Hartnell / William Russell by
Doctor Who, season 2 continued … For a story that’s become renown for its humour, The Romans has some very dark elements in it. On the one hand we have much humour from the sparkling performance by William Hartnell (with the excellent “Chesterfield”, to which Barbara corrects to “Chesterton,” leading […]

52. The Slave Traders

 in Doctor Who / Doctor Who / Reviews / Television  tagged Barbara Wright / Doctor Who / Ian Chesterton / Jacqueline Hill / Maureen O'Brien / The Romans / Vicki / William Hartnell / William Russell by
Doctor Who, season 2 continued … Except for the rather iffy cliffhanger – that wasn’t at all convincing, really – the rest of the story is fine.  There isn’t enough there to fill any more episodes, and the whole convincing of Vicki to join the crew feels a little bit […]

51. Desperate Measures

 in Doctor Who / Doctor Who / Reviews / Television  tagged Barbara Wright / Doctor Who / Ian Chesterton / Jacqueline Hill / Maureen O'Brien / The Rescue / Vicki / William Hartnell / William Russell by
Doctor Who, season 2 continued … A  much lower-key adventure than the previous Dalek story, with just two other cast members, primarily designed to introduce Susan’s replacement.  The mask of Koquillion is particularly effective.  The effects crew have got better with their miniatures and the split-screen effect of looking out […]

50. The Powerful Enemy

 in Doctor Who / Doctor Who / Reviews / Television  tagged Barbara Wright / Doctor Who / Ian Chesterton / Jacqueline Hill / Maureen O'Brien / The Rescue / Vicki / William Hartnell / William Russell by
Previously … Crisis (extended version) … The DVD release of Planet of Giants included a reconstructed 4-part version.  It was originally intended to be broadcast as a four-part story, but was trimmed down to three parts, presumably because it didn’t have enough story to make it to four full episodes.  […]

43b. The Urge To Live

 in Doctor Who / Doctor Who / Reviews / Television  tagged Barbara Wright / Carole Ann Ford / Doctor Who / Ian Chesterton / Jacqueline Hill / Planet of Giants / Susan / William Hartnell / William Russell by
Previously … Crisis (broadcast version)… The DVD release of Planet of Giants included a reconstructed 4-part version.  It was originally intended to be broadcast as a four-part story, but was trimmed down to three parts, presumably because it didn’t have enough story to make it to four full episodes. In […]

43. Crisis (extended)

 in Doctor Who / Doctor Who / Reviews / Television  tagged Barbara Wright / Carole Ann Ford / Doctor Who / Ian Chesterton / Jacqueline Hill / Planet of Giants / Susan / William Hartnell / William Russell by
Previously … Dangerous Journey … In the style of the old serial cliffhangers, it turns out that the Doctor and Susan had already hidden in the overflow pipe.  Funny how this wasn’t seen last week. Is the episode call “crisis” because “The Dangerous Telephone Receiver” wouldn’t have given the same […]

43. Crisis

 in Doctor Who / Doctor Who / Reviews / Television  tagged Barbara Wright / Carole Ann Ford / Doctor Who / Ian Chesterton / Jacqueline Hill / Planet of Giants / Susan / William Hartnell / William Russell by
Previously … Planet of Giants … The Doctor and Susan climb through a plughole, Barbara faints at the sight of a fly, and Ian opens a briefcase. Some of the sets/props are fantastic (the plug & plughole, the briefcase, etc), while others are less successful (the rack of testtubes). Planet […]

42. Dangerous Journey

 in Doctor Who / Doctor Who / Reviews / Television  tagged Barbara Wright / Carole Ann Ford / Doctor Who / Ian Chesterton / Jacqueline Hill / Planet of Giants / Susan / William Hartnell / William Russell by
Doctor Who, season 2 begins … The second season begins with a good opening to the first of a three-part story.  Hartnell continues on fine form.  Ian & Barbara have pretty much been reset to how they were at the beginning, and Susan provides her usual array of screams. The […]

41. Planet of Giants

 in Doctor Who / Doctor Who / Reviews / Television  tagged Barbara Wright / Carole Ann Ford / Doctor Who / Ian Chesterton / Jacqueline Hill / Planet of Giants / Susan / William Hartnell / William Russell by