We watched:
ep1 LC recon
ep2 BBC DVD
ep3, 4 LC recon
ep5 BBC DVD
ep6 LC recon
ep7 web animation
ep8-9 LC recon
ep10 BBC DVD
ep11-12 LC recon
This is an epic obviously.
This is very easy to watch and fun to come back to. The length is not an issue.
The plot in this is 'maguffin based' (full Em of Taranium anyone?) and goes around the steal it, try to get it back, fail, try again, succeed, lose it again roundabout in a way that's obvious to anyone over 10 years old. What makes the story bearable is the strength of the characters and the performances.
What's new to DW in this is the high camp, arch villian... mostly Mavic Chen but not exclusively.
Previously, the bad guys in DW were Tlotoxl or Richard the Lionheart or Robospierre or Tegana or Bennett/Koquillon or The Animus or Lobos (very straight sometimes with more and less shades of grey) or Daleks, Voord, Sand/Mire/Slyther Beast (just black 'evil'). Maybe Maaga started to buck the rut some but Mavic Chen as played by Kevin Stoney is arm waving and operatic and consumed of his own ego and obviously dies at the suckers of the Daleks in the last ep so you know the story will end soon.
There is a significant history of such arch villians in DW: Taren Capel, Magnus Greel, Xoanon, Neeva, Eldrad, The Master (and that's just from series 14) There are decades of them.
But it starts here...
This is a phenotypical DW story that actually presages a way for DW to develop. A major achievement.
Somewhere in the middle of that 1966 arrived.
In truly paradoxical fashion, 1966 is both a bad year for DW and the best ever. It manages to slide into failure and guarantee immortality.
ABM Rating 3.50/4.00
LJM Rating 4.25/5.00
SPJ Rating 7.00/10.00
No. 3 (out of 21)
Link to Cumulative Rankings
Rankings Scoreboard
What is the point of the time destructor (nobody knows). Mavic Chen is great. The meddling Monk pops in. 2 companion deaths. Solid 7
ReplyDeleteFrom Quickflix
ReplyDeleteThis dvd and it's companion vol2 are a collection of all the 'bits'. Everything. Many early DW's were junked along with tons of other early television when the B&W era gave way to colour in the 70's. Luckily about half of the early DW survived more or less intact. Many titbits and odd episodes have turned up over the years too and they are presented in this double dvd set. Glimpses of The Daleks Masterplan (the longest DW story ever (at 12 or 13 eps depending on how you count it), the Yeti, The Crusade (banned in Islamic countries), various bits of Cybermen stories and many others. Each of the epsiodes has been digitally restored and is clearer than seen on previous VHS releases.