160 Aliens of London/World War Three

Watched 28-May

We watched the BluRay edition.

The plot is an attempt to invert the UFO invasion trope (at least a little) but it comes across as simplistic.

In particular the behaviour of the flat dwellers' having 'welcome aliens' parties looks kinda odd, same with the farting aliens and the 'just doing me job' bits with the guards.

Dramatically this creates an atmosphere of meta SF which undermines the serious bits in the second episode.

Billed at the time as one of several 'change of gear'/relaunch eps this looks great and feels ambitious but it seems to fall flat for mine.

ABM Rating 2.75/4.00
LJM Rating 3.10/5.00
SPJ Rating 7.60/10   

No. 87 (out of 163) and 90 (out of 164)

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159 The Unquiet Dead

Watched 25-May

On upscaled Bluray.

This is a genre based ep. Horror ghosty stuff with a historical presentation of a famous person.

It's actually pretty fluffy and there's a thematic problem with the way the Gelth are portrayed as mindless alien invaders. Why does the Doctor initially accept their sobful 'help us' story? Why do they turn so abjectly toward 'thanks sucker, now we're taking over'? No reason for this deception then savage turn is offered. None is pursued. The story is incomplete without this.

Nonetheless Callow is good as Dickens. The character could have been cynical or shallow. But the way he reacts to the revelation of the Gelth is consistent with his 19th century worldview and shows the character developing with the story. Good stuff....

That the Doctor is the one who suggests and uses the seance to contact the Gelth is just wrong. My wish is that the end of that scene did not exist. (Particularly after the word games thing of Gwyneth getting all that modern London stuff out of Rose's mind.)

Gwyneth is the story. This is a sign the show has grown from the space monsters and 'Silver Nemesis' style cartoon silliness of the (not so recent) past.

First mention of the Big Bad Wolf meme....

ABM Rating 3.70/4.00
LJM Rating 3.85/5.00
SPJ Rating 8.20/10   

No. 51 (out of 162)


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158 The End of the World

Watched 24-May

On Bluray...

This episode sets the new tone for the series to come.

First mentions of the time war and the 'last of the Time Lords'.

There are some bits of this which are epic. Other bits are factually strange. Others are mystifying and perplexing... and surprising.

The spacey future is not perfect. The lives of the servicey drone people is clearly marked out as second class (at least). The 'knobs' (e.g. Cassandra) are awful and get their comeuppance.

I remember saying out loud when this first aired... This is a new, different series. Because it is.

DW has always changed. That's how it stays fresh and interesting.

Keep going.

ABM Rating 3.70/4.00
LJM Rating 3.85/5.00
SPJ Rating 8.20/10   

No. 38 (out of 161)


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157 Rose

Watched 21-May-2020

From now on it's BluRays all the way but these 2000's eps are upscaled from SD.

Well after 9 years or 16 years (depends on how you want to count it) the lightbulb did start working again.

Things I noticed when I watched this again for the first time in a few years.

• How much the actual trad DW plot is a sideline to the introduce the characters 'action'.
• How Chris as the Doctor veers wildly from deadly serious to whimsical, sometimes within the same scene!!..
• How bogan trash Rose's Mum is...
• How Mickey is a fool
• How Rose is so meticulously characterised by the writer. The role of companion is very clearly the highest priority of the writer.  The identification is heightened. The subservience and incidentalist aspect is suppressed.

Thankyou DW Marathon blog...

ABM Rating 3.61/4.00
LJM Rating 3.497/5.00
SPJ Rating 7.80/10   

No. 48 (out of 160)


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-------------------

From Quickflix

Doctor Who - Series 1

There's an old gag about DW fans. It goes like this. How many DW fans does it take to change a broken light bulb? Answer is none. They just wait for it to come back on again. And guess what? After 16 years (!) off the air, it bloody did!!!!! This new DW has a decent budget and some great stories. The pace is restored (and improved perhaps). The writers and directors are very skilled and have some regard both for the quality of the show they make and the distant past memories of the old fans. But this is not the old Dr Who. This Doctor is the last of the Time Lords, the companion role has a character and a bit more to do than say "What's that, Doctor? and "Why, Doctor?" and the episodes are 45 minutes with most containing a whole story. Massively popular in the UK in 2005, this is the first dvd in a series that will run and run.

Sil and the Devil Seeds of Arodor (2019)

Decision made 21 May

This available as a quite expensive Region 1 BluRay on eBay. But no previews or trailers could be found.

We're gonna give this a miss.


https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/Sil_and_the_Devil_Seeds_of_Arodor_(home_video)


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White Witch of Devil's End (2017)

Decision made 21 May

Unable to preview.

Might have some trouble tracking this down.

I know it was released in 2017 but it's not really a DW ep so Wilderness Years list is where it belongs.

We're gonna give this a miss.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5868630/

https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/White_Witch_of_Devil%27s_End_(home_video)



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Zygon When Being You Just Isn't Enough (2008)

Previewed 22-Apr

We watched a 5 minute preview video on Youtube.

I found a complete copy on-line.

It's not very good.

In the words of one critic.....

Zygon: When Being You Just Isn’t Enough (...) is almost certainly the only Zygon-based soft-porn film ever to have been made.

— Andrew Hickey. LINK

To be clear there are knobs, rooting (rude bits and oral (also rude)), gratuitous nudity and tits. The story is (such as it is) is unclear and boring.

Which makes it definitely off the end zone and definitely not Doctor Who Marathon material.

We're gonna give this a miss.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zygon:_When_Being_You_Just_Isn%27t_Enough


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