Doctor Who

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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)

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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

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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

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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

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Doctor Who continued … The final episode of this serial, and the first season of Doctor Who, is a fast-paced piece with revelations that resolve the plot and plot turns that sync with established history. William Hartnell again has a great scene as the First Doctor rescuing Susan from the […]

40. Prisoners of Conciergerie

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Doctor Who continued … The second animated episode of The Reign of Terror. At last the plot really moves on apace.  Ian is captured and shackled for information.  Barbara is allowed to speak to the Doctor so that they can be overhead.  Oddly, Barbara says that Susan had a fever […]

39. A Bargain of Necessity

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