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7 • Time-Flight
This is the sort of Doctor Who that I feel embarrassed to watch, even on my own. Time-Flight is pretty much abysmal in every way. The script. The acting. The characters. Anthony Ainley is nobody's favourite Master, but he's never been further away from Roger Delgado's charm and dignity than he is here; his pointless "disguise" as Kalid is a racist caricature so incompetent that it wouldn't offend anyone—apart from any intelligent viewer. At one point a force field appears around the crew and the Doctor says "I did warn you": I've watched it over several times, and he doesn't. At another, he watches Hayter saunter to his death, not moving a muscle. Davison really struggles in this, and while I don't think it's the worst story ever told, it is regardless an awful, boring mess. (E+)
6 • The Visitation
"I feel my mind slipping into a bottomless pit of gloom and despair." I know how he feels. Historically, Doctor Who has often been at its strongest in the, er, historical stories, but almost all of The Visitation feels off to me. We have to be told the house is spooky, because there's nothing tangibly spooky about it; we learn we've arrived during the great plague very early on, but the story is painfully short on detail, and lacks the sense of urgency and jeopardy you would deem essential for the setting; episode 1's cliffhanger is so sloppily directed, ending on a shot of Tegan and Nyssa staring at each other, neither taking any notice of the apparent threat. Even Davison's squeaky voice gets on my nerves; a sense of phoniness permeates the whole project, and there's no evidence that this sort of thing is what Doctor Who does best. (D)
5 • Castrovalva
It's an uneven debut for Peter Davison. Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding really impress, carrying the story (literally at times) during the dull tracts, of which there are many. Episode 2 is a stinker—Fiona Cumming livens up the trek through the woods, but fails to bring any energy to the stand-and-talk scenes with Adric, the Master, and his hydraulic lift. She also tries her best in episodes 3 and 4 to show the city's Escher-esque qualities, with limited success, though the effect is really beyond the technical ability of the time. There are a few areas of innovation and style, but the Master's absurd plan is indicative of a script that was never fully worked out. (C)
4 • Four to Doomsday
A genuinely bizarre serial in which Peter Davison is actually quite brilliant. (It was his first to be recorded, and I adore his "good grief" when told that Tegan has attempted to fly the Tardis.) The Urbankans are a fine make-up job, allowing an excellent Stratford Johns performance to come through. Elements of the plot lose me a little; I'm as unconvinced as ever by the androids (always a sign of a bored writer), and there's a horrible "fight" scene between Tegan and Adric which serves only to highlight how the story presents the pair of them as total cretins—Tegan tries to leave everyone behind and Adric tries to get them killed. I enjoyed this slightly more upon a second watch. It's at its best when it knows how strange it is, but, as signified by the yawn-inducing android tract, it settles into a lull that fails to inspire much hope. (C+)
3 • Earthshock
I've never loved Earthshock. I'm only able to admire it from afar—I mean, the return of the Cybermen, and an emotional companion departure. And I have huge respect for the enormous preparation that went into its hundreds of scenes. What's not to like? Well, for starters, these Cybermen are the worst in the series: their voices display far too much emotion ("I know that object!" and "Excellent!" are particularly heinous), although the "emotions" scene itself is rather excellent. And then we have Adric. It's difficult. Matthew Waterhouse is clearly up to the task and isn't at all bad here, nor has he been all season, but we must face facts. Pyjama-clad and petulant, he's not looked right in the Tardis from day one. Back in 1964, Susan's departure was preceded by an episode designed to bring her and her grandfather together to maximise the emotion—compare that with Black Orchid. It's never a good sign when the only thing you can think to do with a character is kill them off. Of course, his actual demise is emotional and the silent credits and broken badge are powerful—but they're also sentimental, and ultimately feel a bit cheap. Episode 1 is superbly tense, although its spooky tunnels are badly juxtaposed with flat, unintentionally comical Tardis scenes; aside from poor Adric, Earthshock still doesn't quite work for me. I just don't feel its impact. (B-)
2 • Black Orchid
This solitary return to the "pure historical" theme is a qualified success. It's a mystery with no mystery, with none of the characters given enough time to be suspicious, let alone suspects, but Black Orchid has a great deal of style that helps it overcome its rather limp story. Adric is sidelined—hilariously—filling his plate at a buffet for most of the story. (With not long left of the first episode I still held out hope for his only line being the extraordinary "What do you do with a cocktail in the bath?") Sarah Sutton also finally has something to do as Nyssa and Ann (she's good here as both), but I'm not convinced that people would find them indistinguishable: it's easy, Nyssa's the one with literally no characteristics. (B-)
1 • Kinda
One of my favourite Doctor Who stories ever, this is an astonishing serial that is nearly unrivalled in the series for almost unbearable tension. Nerys Hughes gives a masterclass in understated performance as Todd, and Mary Morris is similarly remarkable. A lot of the words and names have meaning in Buddhism which I'm ashamed to say I don't know anything about, but I can at least recognise the thinking behind a garden-dwelling serpent tempting women with forbidden apples. One could poke fun at Hindle's ridiculous snarl (which has the misfortune to appear twice due to its being a woeful cliffhanger), or the sparse leaves on the concrete studio floor. But why? Not even a giant inflatable snake can stop this being an example of the programme at its best. (A)
(Edited by FH2104)
For the sake of variety and choices, lets just pretend that no matter what you pick it will have the mind and intelligence of a pet dog/cat. lets keep this simple
Rules:
Let's keep this out of the banned topic: fan-fiction.
Time Lords + Daleks
Cybermen + Daleks
Time Lords + Cybermen
Eternals + Time Lords
20 Votes in Poll
Comment down below your problems with the tenth episode of the fourth series of Doctor Who. Good luck this week!
Same rules apply. Feel free to add expanded media stories but this will stick to exclusively tv characters for this (if not we’d be here forever😂) not necessarily the best but the one you enjoy the most!
This list is for characters who are recurring characters who serve as almost companions but are more debated as companions. Mostly if they’ve traveled in the TARDIS before or serve as a companion type role in the story, or are a significant part of the stories they are in.
The Brigadier: terror of the zygons
Sergeant Benton: the three doctors
Mike Yates: the green death
Jackie Tyler: Army of ghosts/Doomsday
Adam: Dalek
Mickey: Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel
Wilf: The End of Time
Craig Owens: The Lodger
Brian Williams: Power of Three
Kate Stewart: The Giggle
Osgood: The zygon invasion/inversion
Ashildr/Lady Me: The woman who lived
Missy: World Enough in Time/The Doctor Falls
Vinder: Once, Upon Time
Professor Jericho: The Vanquishers
Claire Brown: Village of the Angels
So today it was announced that Doctor who will be released Early with a TWO EPISODE premiere on May 10/11 sending on your time zone.
It will drop on I player at midnight BST and then air on BBC one later in the day.
What are your opinions on this new streaming early decision?
Personally for me in the US Eastern time zone we will get it at 7pm on the 10th so I’m happy about that. but I can see where this will cause problems for those of you in the UK who now will have to tiptoe around spoilers if you wish to avoid any until the live airing. It also means that peoples reactions will come out at different times and I can see where this will cause more bad than good. The era of streaming Who is upon us, and they’re catering more towards us in the States which I can see why people would be annoyed. Personally I thought the 2pm drop here in my time zone was fine! That way no one really had to stay up ungodly late to watch it! But they wanted to change it I guess so here we are…
The voice of our beloved robot dog, K-9.
My last episode of Honest Opinions. Never thought I would make it. Thank you to all those that responded and thanks again for being so civil to each others Opinions and all.
So let's end things off with your honest opinions on:
The Twelfth Doctor
Yaz
Your favourite Master
Blink
(Edited by SonicTsils)
Same rules apply. Feel free to add expanded media stories but this will stick to exclusively TV characters for this (if not we’d be here forever😂) not necessarily the best, but the one you enjoy the most!
NOTE: I’m personally not including any Torchwood episodes in consideration for Jack and Martha but you can if you wish.
(Since definitions of “companion” vary from person to person, feel free to create your own list if I forgot or didn’t include someone who you consider)
Rose Tyler: Bad Wolf/Parting of ways
Captain Jack: Empty Child/Doctor Dances
Martha: The Sound of Drums/Last of the timelords
Donna: Wild Blue Yonder
Amy: Amy’s choice
Rory: A good man goes to war
River Song: Husbands of River Song
Clara: Flatline
Nardole: Extremis
Bill: World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls
Yaz: Village of the Angels
Ryan: The Woman who fell to earth
Graham: Battle of Ranscor av Kolos (the episode is shite but Graham actually gets SOME development)
Dan: the Halloween apocalypse
I am going to do one more with “companions” who are a bit more debated (Kate, Jackie, Mickey, etc…)
and MAYBE one for the eighth doctors big finish companions but we’ll see about that one as I personally have not listened to most of them…
Hello,
I don't know if anyone's seen it, but there was an SJA round on the Mastermind semi-final on Monday 11th March. Did anyone watch it, want to say their scores? It's on BBC iPlayer if you've not seen it but are interested.
Thanks.
(Edited by Kevin 'Chalky' Kaiba)
Any classic monsters you want to see return Series 14, or future series?.
Meant the world to me that you guys responded and kept everything civil and yes there was questions but everything got solved in the end.
So as a quick thanks here's 2 of your favourite Classic and New Doctors and yes I did analysis. That's called dedication.
Black Guardian (Classic)
Eternals (Classic)
Death (TW/EU)
Nestene Consciousness (Classic/Modern)
24 Votes in Poll
I want your honest opinions on
The Fifth Doctor
River
Your favourite modern series
Waters Of mars
This also will take the episodes with the fourth doctor into consideration for Adric, Tegan, and Nyssa. If you wish to include the modern episodes for Tegan, Mel, and Ace feel free as well)
Same rules apply. Feel free to add expanded media stories but this will stick to exclusively TV characters for this (if not we’d be here forever😂) not necessarily the best, but the one you enjoy the most!
(Since definitions of “companion” vary from person to person, feel free to create your own list if I forgot or didn’t include someone who you consider)
Adric: Full Circle
Nyssa: Black Orchid
Tegan: Kinda
Turlough: Planet of Fire
Kamellion: Planet of Fire
Peri: Revelation of the Daleks
Mel: Bang Bang a Boom (Big Finish) (honorable mention to “the Giggle”)
Ace: Survival
It's just I always thought it was The 8th Doctor, who regenerated due to it while The 9th Doctor was left with the trauma he gained. However, I'd heard people online thinking that The 9th Doctor fought in it and caused him PTSD which might not be a bad argument (with some problems).
I want your honest opinions on
The Fugitive Doctor
Ryan Sinclair
Series 6 (Smith)
Day Of The Doctor