Monday, March 10, 2008
The Five Doctors and Tom Baker says
Warning: this blog entry isn't for non-Doctor Who fans.
Well I don't write too much about Doctor Who on this blog (ha ha ha ha ha!! Much derision at that one!) well by that I actually mean I don't write about classic Doctor Who much i.e. pre-Russell T Davies. And I recently purchased The Five Doctors 25th Anniversary edition on DVD, and I'm pleased to say I really rather enjoyed it as much I hoped I would. The Five Doctors doesn't quite stand as one of the all time great Who stories but it is undeniably solid and entertaining. Looking back on it I find it possibly even more enjoyable than I did before, especially as the DVD release features the original broadcast version and the Special Edition which came out on video back in 1995.
Peter Davison was at that time my favourite Doctor (although Tom has since superseded him imho) and I even vaguely remember this story on its original broadcast. Looking back though on most of Peter Davison's stories they were really rather boring, but this is definitely one of the better ones. Terrance Dicks's script is very entertaining and witty, and the inclusion of Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee is also frequently delightful (or scarecrow and the fancy pants as they call each other). Richard Hurndall is also pleasant surprise filling in the shoes of the deceased original William Hartnell as the first doctor, although sadly he too passed off not long after this show as broadcast. The rest of the cast is both amusing and delightful as well, especially the inclusion of Paul Jerricho as the Castellan (a high-up Gallifreyan dude) who's hammy performance is well worth remembering (especially his line "No! Not the mind probe!"). I was surprised though to learn just how little Terrance Dicks liked the Cybermen as he always thought they were ponderous and boring, the Cybermen being morely Eric Saward's (the then Dr Who script editor) inclusion in the story. I must admit the Cybermen by this time had become bastardised from their original robotic, cold, logical selves, and become more emotional in their responses ("Excellent!" "You will be destroyed!"). Ironically though Eric Saward was less enthused to bring in the Daleks as only one appears in the whole story! Probably also the reason why Eric Saward botched Ressurection of the Daleks (an awful dalek story complete with disco death dancing!).
Regardless of this The Five Doctors is alot of fun and a charming and commendable way to commemorate the show's 20th Anniversary.
On a different and on a slightly connected note my friend Stephen let me know about this site tonight which I've just looked at, which is pretty hilarious, Tom Baker says, where through some voice software they've been able to create audio files of Tom Baker saying many different things such as jokes, sayings, quotes from movies (listen to his quotes from Die Hard, Pulp Fiction and Planes Trains and Automobiles), even songs. Its quite funny to hear Tom say motherfu**** and the like as I'm not usually used to that, although I gather he does swear like a trooper. You can find this delightful site at:
http://tombakersays.com/
OK on that note I'm off.
Well I don't write too much about Doctor Who on this blog (ha ha ha ha ha!! Much derision at that one!) well by that I actually mean I don't write about classic Doctor Who much i.e. pre-Russell T Davies. And I recently purchased The Five Doctors 25th Anniversary edition on DVD, and I'm pleased to say I really rather enjoyed it as much I hoped I would. The Five Doctors doesn't quite stand as one of the all time great Who stories but it is undeniably solid and entertaining. Looking back on it I find it possibly even more enjoyable than I did before, especially as the DVD release features the original broadcast version and the Special Edition which came out on video back in 1995.
Peter Davison was at that time my favourite Doctor (although Tom has since superseded him imho) and I even vaguely remember this story on its original broadcast. Looking back though on most of Peter Davison's stories they were really rather boring, but this is definitely one of the better ones. Terrance Dicks's script is very entertaining and witty, and the inclusion of Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee is also frequently delightful (or scarecrow and the fancy pants as they call each other). Richard Hurndall is also pleasant surprise filling in the shoes of the deceased original William Hartnell as the first doctor, although sadly he too passed off not long after this show as broadcast. The rest of the cast is both amusing and delightful as well, especially the inclusion of Paul Jerricho as the Castellan (a high-up Gallifreyan dude) who's hammy performance is well worth remembering (especially his line "No! Not the mind probe!"). I was surprised though to learn just how little Terrance Dicks liked the Cybermen as he always thought they were ponderous and boring, the Cybermen being morely Eric Saward's (the then Dr Who script editor) inclusion in the story. I must admit the Cybermen by this time had become bastardised from their original robotic, cold, logical selves, and become more emotional in their responses ("Excellent!" "You will be destroyed!"). Ironically though Eric Saward was less enthused to bring in the Daleks as only one appears in the whole story! Probably also the reason why Eric Saward botched Ressurection of the Daleks (an awful dalek story complete with disco death dancing!).
Regardless of this The Five Doctors is alot of fun and a charming and commendable way to commemorate the show's 20th Anniversary.
On a different and on a slightly connected note my friend Stephen let me know about this site tonight which I've just looked at, which is pretty hilarious, Tom Baker says, where through some voice software they've been able to create audio files of Tom Baker saying many different things such as jokes, sayings, quotes from movies (listen to his quotes from Die Hard, Pulp Fiction and Planes Trains and Automobiles), even songs. Its quite funny to hear Tom say motherfu**** and the like as I'm not usually used to that, although I gather he does swear like a trooper. You can find this delightful site at:
http://tombakersays.com/
OK on that note I'm off.
# posted by kenny @ 11:55 pm 
