Carole Ann Ford


Doctor Who continued … Almost a forerunner to The Seeds of Doom, this episode has some impressive sets.  Some jeopardy/suspense in the guise of the fake chip, and in trying to find out where the key was hidden.  A little bit rushed at the end for time again, with the […]

21. The Screaming Susan … urm, Jungle


Doctor Who continued … For the most part, I enjoyed this one.  Clever use of editing (which must have been tough at the time on the BBC’s budget) to give us Barbara’s viewpoint as well as that of everyone else was very effective. The ending lets it down a little.  […]

21. The Velvet Web


Doctor Who continued … The Keys of Marinus, which effectively has one goal – to give the story a random selection of environs for the following episodes. A very intriguing opening episode begins with the TARDIS landing on what appears to be a beach, only the sea is very still, […]

20. The Sea of Death



Doctor Who continued … Marco Polo is one of the many early Doctor Who adventures that no longer exists in the BBC archives.  This telesnap version was presented on a BBC release. It’s difficult to understand why Marco Polo was a 7-part story as, in this abridged version, Marco Polo’s […]

14-19. Marco Polo


Doctor Who continued … As someone who likes well done “bottle shows” (I’m thinking the likes of “Sapphire & Steel” here), this one comes across as a bit confusing.  In production terms and mystery, it works very well.  In providing explanations and solving that mystery, it somewhat fails.  So the […]

12 & 13. The Edge of Destruction / The Brink ...


Doctor Who continued … I watched The Forest of Fear and The Firemaker whilst I was working on something else at the same time but, even so, it’s pretty clear that there is a deeper story hidden beneath the surface.  The political wranglings between Za and Kal seeking power over […]

The Tribe of Gum (overview)



Doctor Who continued … Recaptured and returned to the tribe’s encampment, the Doctor seeks to drive out Kal by deducing the real killer of the Old Woman.  Za recovers just in time, but his desire for the secret of fire outweighs any sense of gratitude for his life being saved, […]

4. The Firemaker


Doctor Who continued … You can’t say that this episode doesn’t do what it says on the tin.  Our heroes spend most of their time in a forest.  Za defeats a beast that we don’t see and, despite apparently being at death’s door, it doesn’t take him long to recover. […]

3. The Forest of Fear


Doctor Who continued … This episode starts the caveman adventure and, as such, it’s the “first” episode of three.  At first, we don’t get to see what’s going on inside the TARDIS since the dramatic “take off” prior to the cliffhanger.  Instead, some time is spent setting up the heirarchy […]

2. The Cave of Skulls



This third version of the pilot episode of Doctor Who, at just 25 minutes long, is pretty much the same as the “raw” version except that it has some scenes reshot (to avoid the banging doors), and some that may have been edited (Barbara getting her coat trapped in the […]

An Unearthly Child


Continuing my Doctor Who marathon, I watched the shorter (23 minute) “official” broadcast version of An Unearthly Child last night.  In comparison to the previous version, it felt like it zipped along a bit quicker but I couldn’t honestly tell you where the missing 12 minutes were (although a good […]

1. An Unearthly Child


It’s probably no great surprise that my writing of time travel related stories was inspired by other time travel related stories, including TV shows such as Doctor Who.  I’m not (quite) old enough to have watched Doctor Who from the very beginning but thanks first to VHS, and then to […]

An Unearthly Child