vivdunstan

Continuing our 20 years on rewatch we watched this episode again last week. Which I did not remember fondly. But it was better than I remembered.

A big problem that I realised this time is that the core child character is very unlikeable, at least initially. This makes the viewer making a connection and empathising almost impossible, at least early on.

More problematically there is a huge amount of tell not show, in particular re an alien's lengthy back story. This breaks all the standard rules of good TV storytelling, and is painful to watch. Problems here are further compounded by the director's choice to make the child actress whisper her way through this. It's excruciating.

But the main child actress is otherwise fine, as, unsurprisingly, is Nina Sosanya as her mum.

At the heart it’s an incredibly dark story, and not nearly as child friendly as might be assumed.

But there are lighter moments as well. Kel and the pick axe scene on the street is hilarious.

The singing resolution is rather painful. I don't get on well with singing in episodes ...

But yes, better than I remembered. And, to be fair, it has been undertaken in my rankings by a couple of stories in the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Doctor eras. But I'm doubtful I'll watch it again.

Another rewatch for us, 20 years on. And this two parter is still superb.

It's a fresh twist on a base under siege story, with big ideas, a superb guest cast (especially Claire Rushbrook and Danny Webb), and an innovative new monster/creature in the Ood. As an agnostic I find some of the religious angles harder to relate to, but it still works on many levels, and is so ambitious. And the music at times is breathtaking.

If it was in any other year it would be a contender for the best story of the season. But this is such a strong year with some stellar stories. But it's really, really good.

And I've just remembered there's a new Target novelisation that I still have to read. That will be fun. It's novelised by the original scriptwriter Matt Jones. Who, sadly, we didn't get any more Doctor Who TV stories from. Though he did write a Torchwood episode. As well as some other Wilderness Years books and short stories.

We're rewatching (or for Martin for many stories first time watching) the Peter Davison era of Doctor Who. Starting up with Castrovalva, which we watched last Sunday night and tonight, fitting in a couple of episodes at a time. We are watching on the remastered Blu-ray release, albeit opting for the original special effects.

I remembered enjoying this on original TV watch, and a couple of decades later. But this time I found it really dragged in the opening two episodes. Way too much wandering around the TARDIS, and Tegan and Nyssa repeatedly climbing up rocks. I've never worn high heels, but I felt huge sympathy for both actresses re the climbing, especially Janet Fielding. I don't blame the director so much for the poor pacing, I just don't think there was enough content in the written scripts for these episodes to make sufficiently satisfying episodes.

Things pick up once they reach the city, and there are some fantastic ideas in here. I've long loved Escher's art. But even here there are too many not fully shown scenes, e.g. Shardovan swings into the web, then there's a cut, then we see an aftermath (again note I'm watching the original SFX).

I wasn't sad to see Adric sidelined. And his “wardrobe malfunction” was, erm, far too noticeable ...

Things get so much better when the Doctor takes a more active part, though I suppose that’s the intention.

Watching the the making of documentary (nearly 40 minutes long!), which is steered by Mark Strickson (Turlough), for much of his life a television producer, I was amused that Mark is refreshingly frank on how boring he found watching the opening two episodes! Also in the "making of" documentary I was frustrated that the BBC clearly didn’t get permission to show the relevant inspiring Escher art prints on screen, so they could only be talked about instead.

We plan to watch a couple more of the mini documentaries included in the Blu-ray's bonus special features - the one with Tom Baker discussing the large TARDIS crew back then, and also Peter Davison explaining how he tackled his new Doctor. But we'll fit those in sometime over the coming week, ready to swap discs and carry on to the next story next Sunday.

Our local Oxfam's volunteers have been listing more items that we donated recently. 12 more items were listed on their web store today, including 6 Big Finish Doctor Who (or Doctor Who spinoff) audio adventure boxsets. Within just a couple of hours 4 of those newly listed Big Finish boxsets had already sold. Which is very good news for the charity, bringing in almost £60 of revenue. I don't think even if I'd sold these myself I'd have sold them for that much. And there would have been all the practical hassle, which I really don't need, especially right now.

Starting our Peter Davison / Fifth Doctor era rewatch of Doctor Who with Castrovalva. It’ll take us a couple of goes to get through the story, and we also plan to watch some of the special features on the remastered season Blu-Ray box.

Technically it’s a rewatch for me only. Martin, who didn’t grow up with a telly at home, has only seen a few bits of this era before.

We enjoyed watching this immensely. It’s prompted by the newly rereleased remastered 1996 TV movie. But the chat with Sylvester covers his whole TV era of Doctor Who and more since then.

Rewatched this pair of episodes last week and the week before, as part of our continuing 20 years on rewatch of the first David Tennant series.

Going to discuss some major spoilers, so going into spoiler space. Spoiler discussion will also include the later 2006 series finale.

( spoilers )

Best known for TV's Blake's 7, but also a familiar face from other programmes, including Doctor Who and Eastenders. I've just dug out our old Dutch Blake's 7 DVD boxset which includes season 4, so we can rewatch his superb performance in "Orbit". https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0500252/

Note I don't think this episode is available to stream legally anywhere, and the collection remastering project for Blu-ray etc hasn't got this far through Blake's 7 yet. Luckily we have the old DVDs.

Another 20-years-on rewatch for us, last week, with my review only going up now.

This is a strong episode, that brought back a much-loved old character, in a way that appealed to both long-term fans from the 1970s and new fans who had no idea who Sarah Jane Smith was. Or indeed K9. It was a risk going for the jealousy angle, and Rose doesn't always come out well, including re the final bit with Mickey. But it gives a new perspective on the role of a companion, and I think was generally well done.

It's another tightly written episode - rewatching this 2006 series I'm constantly agog at how much tighter the single parters were writing wise than in the RTD2 era - with a strong plot and good guest cast. Anthony Head is particularly strong in his role, and I honestly thought that the main kid actors were ok, though I've seen other reviewers less positive about them.

As an old time fan myself, albeit starting watching in 1978 after Sarah Jane Smith left the TARDIS, I loved the ending. And it was easy to see how much fun David Tennant was having, as another lifelong fan. It's no wonder that this led to the very successful Sarah Jane Adventures spin off.

Continuing my Twelfth Doctor rewatch, and going into spoiler space to discuss some more specific spoilery details.

( spoilers )