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CLASSIC Dr Who Essentials


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Since RS is out of comission this week, Ill start the thread...but first:

 

Galaxy Four: Season three starts out with the Doctor, Vicki and Steven arriving on a doomed planet where 2 ships have crashed. One is peopled by the hideous alien Rills and the other by the beutiful female dominated Drahvins. It transpires that the women are evil and the Doctor helps the Rills escape by powering up their ship with the TARDIS. One of the friendly robots built by the Rills, that Vicki has dubbed Chumblies sacrifices itself to protect the Doctor from the Drahvins revenge and the TARDIS crew depart leaving the women to their fate.

 

Mission to the Unknown: This teaser for the Daleks' Masterplan doesn't feature any of the regular cast and is only one episode long. Special Space Security Service Agent Marc Cory is investigating the mysterious things happening on the planet Kembel when he discovers that the Daleks are using it as a base of operations. Cory is exterminated but not before he makes a tape of what he has discovered.

 

The Myth Makers: The TARDIS lands on the plains outside Troy. The Doctor is taken to be Zues by the greeks and is set the task of planning the capture of Troy in 2 days. The TARDIS is taken into the city bt Paris and Vicki and Steven are thrown in jail. The Doctor, inspired by the Homeric poem, devises the Trojan Horse and the Greeks sack Troy. Steven is injured and Vicki decides to stay behind with Troilus whom she has fallen in love with. She asks a Trojan girl named Katarina to take Steven back to the TARDIS. Katarina joins the Doctor and Steven as they depart.

 

And Finally....

The Daleks' Masterplan: The TARDIS lands on Kembel where he meets Special Space Security Service Agent Bret Vyon (Nicholas Courtney) who is looking for the missing Marc Cory. They find the tape made by Cory and discover that Mavic Chen, the Gaurdian of the Solar System, has sold out humanity to the Daleks. He has provided them with a Taranium core to power their ultimate weapon The Time Destructor. The Doctor steals the core and he, Katarina, Steven and Bret flee the planet in a stolen space craft. In the chase that follows, Katarina sacrifices herself to save the others, Bret is killed by his sister Sara Kingdom (who once she learns the truth joins the Doctor and Steven. The three escape with the core in the TARDIS and are chased by the Daleks and also run into the Meddling Monk who is trying to revenge himself on the Doctor. The doctor steals the directional circuits from the Monk's TARDIS and uses them to return to Kembel where the Time Destructor is finally activated. The Daleks on Kembel are destroyed and Sara, who has doubled back to help the Doctor is aged to death. Steven and the Doctor depart in the TARDIS.

 

Wow, the Daleks are back in a massive 12 part story. If you throw in the teaser episode it matches the legth of Eccleston's entire run. New companion Katarina who joined the TARDIS crew in the previous story is killed, the first time a companion dies. She is soon replaced by Sara Kingdom, who also dies in the end. Two companions dead in the same story. Talk about emotional trauma. The Actor who plays Bret Vyon goes on to play Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart opposite nearly every other Doctor in the series. The Monk is delightful as ever especially once he is caught between the Daleks and the Doctor and starts trying to play off both of them. The Doctor's theft of his directional circuit leaves the Monk unable to control his TARDIS and as it burns out after one use by the Doctor both are trapped as wanderers, a fact that annoys the Monk far more than the Doctor. Episode 7 is a Christmas story that sees the Doctor address the audience, the only time he ever does it, to wish them a Happy Christmas.

 

Now, let the discussion begin!!!

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although this was a 12 part episode two parts had minimal effect on the actual plot , the movie studio part and the christmas special part . Definitely a different approach to Dr Who at the time .Yes this was outright bloody . This really kicked off the Dalek - TimeLord rivalry as much as the chase did .interesting point is that the Monk knew who the Daleks were as well but the Dr originally encountered the Daleks and never knew who they were . That is story progression for you .

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I think this has to be one of the most vicious things so far, really showcasing how utterly dangerous life for and with the Doctor is. The loss of not just one but two companions is a good reminder that it's a big Universe out there and not all fun and games, and as always the Monk is on top form.

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You could say that. It is one of only two times in Doctor Who history that the body count includes people close to the Doctor. This brings home to the viewer for the first time in 3 years that the Doctor won't always be able to protect his friends.

 

Katarina's sacrafice, as she blows herself and the potential hijacker out of the airlock to protect the others, is especially touching as we had been led to believe by her introduction in the Myth Makers that she was replacing Vicki. Sara's death is also her redemption for killing her brother. She stopped him from warning the Earth but makes up for it by helping the Doctor destroy the Daleks. Bret's death is the most expected of the three; as soon as he appears you know he'll die and the only real shock is that he is killed by his sister and not the Daleks or even by any of the villians.

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One! of the more quality points about this show..is that even from the first ep some 40 yrs ago it has never been afraid to kill off main and importants characters.

While that may sound a little cold it came across with the feeling that even the most popular or talented ppl in the future were not invincible and for a show to put forward that view back then (never mind in the 60,s or 70,s)in the 80,s was just somthing you dont see in this type of show i think the only other show that came to mind that took a step away (for the better of course) from the run of the mill was blake 7 when in the finale all the main cast were killed one by one which was then followed by a very long and drawn out death scene by blake himsef at the end which finished of with the soildier stepping over his dead body! (Classic!!).

Now I thought blake 7 was cheesy shit yet that last episode in my mind is still to be beaten even by programs today...I have never watched an episode of a tv show that has lifted itself from crappyness just by one episode like that did! (if you dont believe it or you aint seen it check it out because for the time it was a bold move for that type of show) now thats what i call irony eh ;)

Also (you wouldnt have guessed by now that i love irony would ya..) Ironicly after saying the words crappy and cheesy about blake...i fuc*ing loved it...thats the geek in me coming out ppl :P

 

Having to edit again because its just struck me that,In ST-TNG when the cheif of security was killed(the blonde bird with short hair as i cant remember her name at the mo) by the black sludge if i remember right was shocking as hell as i think that was the first time i had seen it happen other thn the 2 very old by then, above shows...(sod the films with kirk and data... and trip at the end of enterprise.it just doesnt count as 2 of them were final movies and one was a cancelation of a show).

And being star trek obviously made it all the more unexpected..it seems (with no insult of course) that american sci-fi likes to cling on to far too many characters till the bitter end which unlike other shows does not work well in science-fiction...which once again is far too ironic to pu into words so i guess i better STFU now ;)

 

P.S sorry about the long paragraphs and lack of proper english but thats the way i do it :P

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Don't apologize, no one cares....

 

Blake's final episode is one of my all time fav peices of television. I thought it was great that everyone apperead to have been killed. I heard an interview with Joss Whedon where he said that in the first 2 episodes of Buffy that he wanted to put Xander's friend who dies in the second episode in the opening credits so that after ep2 went out people would be freaking out about no one being safe. B)

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Good lad!

 

I didnt mean the last comment too literally but if your used to msg boards,when ppl post that aint perfectly literate then some Dick*ead always has to have a dig in a post about it....I damn sure youve seen it B4 i was just covering my ass as im an arguementative sod that will end up turning it into the armageddon of flame wars :P ...but enough of that! :P

 

Its great to see that someone who responded as quilckly as you did knows what scene im talking about as it was just one thing that stuck in my mind when it comes to sci-fi above all else (as im sure youll agree is pretty unexpected considering what is out there) even given the fact it was a b-grade british show which is hard for alot of ppl to take in in this day and time especially americans! (no offense meant but the usa always usually got by on the budget rather than ppls imagination)so thx for that post ;).

 

Good call on Buffy i wasnt a big fan but i did like watching, and your right ..i even heard about that but it was a good thing to hear as it was one of the few shows that made a difference.

ive also never seen too many shows like that come up with a storyline to kill off the main character only to come out with another excuse to ressurect her while creating a half way plausible story and keeping the integrity of the show!, so ppl didnt throw their remote and shout "aww piss off what a load of BS!.

Typically i was expecting a horror version of the OC :P

 

BTW.. sorry for getting off topic ill get back to it nxt post ;)

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Blakes 7's ending was a masterpiece of evil minded writing, I loved it. And cat, you should get/watch that show - if you like Dr. Who you'll probably love B 7. Babylon 5 also had a 'no one is safe' policy regarding their characters and several were killed off in various interesting ways, one of them being a personal favourite of mine - it worked, I was extremely upset for a while heh.

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In ST-TNG when the cheif of security was killed(the blonde bird with short hair as i cant remember her name at the mo) by the black sludge if i remember right was shocking as hell as i think that was the first time i had seen it happen other thn the 2 very old by then, above shows...(sod the films with kirk and data... and trip at the end of enterprise.it just doesnt count as 2 of them were final movies and one was a cancelation of a show).

And being star trek obviously made it all the more unexpected..it seems (with no insult of course) that american sci-fi likes to cling on to far too many characters till the bitter end which unlike other shows does not work well in science-fiction...which once again is far too ironic to pu into words so i guess i better STFU now ;)

 

When they killed Tasha Yar on TNG most of us fans here in the states knew it was coming. It was just a matter of how it was going to happen and in which story. This means that the trailer for next week's episode during that set of new episodes (In the US we get a handful of new eps, followed by repeats, followed by a handful of new eps, followed by repeats, etc.) showed Tasha in mortal danger just to make us watch to see how she died. Of course, when they finnally showed Skin of Evil and she dies so abruptly and really not even heroically, it was shocking as we had expected her to go down in a blaze of glory.

 

I agree that a big problem in Sci-Fi is an unwillingness to kill off characters. (Harrison Ford wanted Han Solo to be killed off but Lucas wouldn't do it.) If an actor leaves, usually the character is written out in such a way that s/he can come back. In the US this happens far to regularly in most programs; nobody wants to be Dallas, where they have to undo a death by having the last year be a dream. Tasha and Jadzia in Star Trek being exceptions. I didn't see the end of Enterprise so I don't know what happened with Trip, but I can hazard a guess that if it wasn't hurriedly added after the cancellation notice there was probably a plan to bring him back at a later date. My personal motto is "kill 'em all and worry about a sequel later."

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I'll have to re-watch that story to refresh my memory, but wouldn't that girl that sacrificed herself be more considered like a suicide to save the others? pretty bold for the time wouldn't it.

 

A bit of trivia for the discussion so far:

 

I seem to remember that the guy who played the guardian of the universe who sold us to the Daleks was played by the same guy who sold us again to the Cybermen in The Invasion.

 

Also, as far as Blake 7 is concerned: Wasn't the last scene (if memory serves me well) the suicide of avon? I seem to recall the last shot is a bunch of guards approaching him, he put the gun to his head. then fade to black and we hear the shot.

 

Lastly, the episode with Tasha Yar getting killed by the black tar monster was written by Joseph Di Stefano who was co-creator of the 60's Tv series "The Outer Limits".

 

And Chief Potato is right about the uneasiness to kill off characters. just look at the V TV series. They had one blond guy/alien killed off... only to bring back his exact twin brother a short while after (you knew they were brothers cause both of them couldn't act) hehe

 

That is, if my memory serves me well (you know, I'm an old guy).

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