Menu Close

Month: November 2012

A Pretty Good Trip

6 Comments

Review of The Claws of Axos: SE (#57)
DVD Release Date: 13 Nov 12
Original Air Date: 13 Mar – 03 Apr 1971
Doctor/Companion: Three, Josephine “Jo” Grant
Stars: Jon Pertwee, Katy Manning
Preceding Story: The Mind of Evil (Three, Jo)
Succeeding Story: Colony in Space (Three, Jo)

My reaction to this story has always been pretty much full-on Pigbin Josh: “Ooh arr?” Seriously – this one’s just a bit weird. Psychedelic, even.

To a certain extent, that’s on purpose. It was, after all, made in 1971, and the whole drug-tripping scene was still a Thing (or so I understand). The director and editor had a grand old time messing with the effects to make it all visually striking. And the design is incredibly creative, especially when it comes to the ship, which is both amazingly organic looking and, externally, a bit… anatomical (as Katy Manning (Jo) points out in one of the extras).

The story itself has the usual ups and downs. The basic premise is quite cool, with the alien visitors who may or may not be out to get us all, and a substance that can manipulate energy and thus solve huge problems like world hunger. But the inclusion of the Master feels utterly spurious, even if it does lead to some lovely Delgado moments (his Master is perfectly smarmy) and interesting Doctor/Master dynamics.

Oddly, I think the insults are one of my favorite parts of the whole show. For example, when Mr. Chinn, the government official nominally in charge of the whole operation, phones in to report to the Minister, he asks, “Will you scramble, or shall I, sir?” The reply is a terse, “Just your report, Chinn. I’m sure that will be quite garbled enough.” Makes me laugh every time.

Read more →

Confession #29: I Just Can’t Think About It All the Time

10 Comments

I thought I could do it – I really did. I thought I’d be able to get through this month participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and keeping up with the blog. There was only one new DVD out in November for me to review, and G and I had a pretty regular schedule going, so I’d have Retro-Views to post in the other weeks. It was all coming together.

Or so I thought. As the middle of the month crept up on me, it simply didn’t pan out that way. Much as I love Our Show, sometimes I need a break from it. I got Doctor Who fatigue, coupled with a big ol’ smack upside the head from Real Life.

Aside from the time commitment involved in trying to write a (rough draft of a) 50,000-word novel in 30 days, we got the unexpected news that my father has a critical illness. He is undergoing treatment, but we don’t know how much it will help beat back the disease, or how much longer he might have. Obviously, that situation has pushed things like blogging to a back burner – especially when I ended up spending three days visiting him in the hospital due to An Incident instead of the day and a half I’d planned to spend with him there. I have absolutely no regrets of any kind about putting my family first, but it has kind of put a kink in my regular schedule.

Read more →

Retro-View #7: Here We Go Again

7 Comments

Robot (Story #75, 1974-75)
Viewed 05 Nov 2012

Doctor/Companion: Four, Sarah Jane Smith, the Brigadier, Harry Sullivan
Stars: Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen, Nicholas Courtney, Ian Marter
Preceding Story: Planet of the Spiders (Three, Sarah Jane)
Succeeding Story: The Arc in Space (Four, Sarah Jane, Harry)

We’ve finally made it up to the era G saw bits of in college. “Yep. I remember him” is her first comment as Robot begins. It’s wonderful to see this post-regeneration transition period again through the eyes of someone who’s never seen it before. Granted, it’s only been about five years since I first saw it myself, but evidence suggests I’ve turned into a bit of a ming-mong since then.

So I take great joy in her delight over things like the Doctor’s erratic behavior, his mention of “the definite article,” his first sight of himself in a mirror, and the way he chooses his outfit. It is, perhaps, the main reason to recommend this particular serial. Not, of course, that G doesn’t enjoy it thoroughly while still pointing out the obvious and/or silly bits.

To wit, she realizes immediately when our intrepid Companion (Sarah Jane always did have a bit more gumption than sense of self-preservation) ends up at Think Tank that, “whatever it is is going to fall in love with Sarah.” She wasn’t taken in by the off-screen tinkering with K1’s inhibitor, either: “A little WD-40, and we’re on track to kill!” As Part Two progresses, she is particularly enamored of the way Sarah Jane is so proactive (she loves the Brig’s call to action, “or shall we leave it all to Miss Smith?”), and she believes she’s got it sussed when Kettlewell (whose hair is truly impressive) goes to answer a knock at the door: “Uh oh. It’ll be the silver dude. It’ll be like killing dad.”

Read more →

Retro-View #6: That’s a Wrap

Planet of the Spiders (Story #74, 1974)
Viewed 26 Oct, 01 Nov 2012

Doctor/Companion: Three, Sarah Jane Smith, the Brigadier
Stars: Jon Pertwee, Elisabeth Sladen, Nicholas Courtney
Preceding Story: The Monster of Peladon (Three, Sarah Jane)
Succeeding Story: Robot (Four, Sarah Jane, the Brigadier)

Our first session started out a bit rough. G couldn’t commit to sit down straight through because she needed to pop home briefly to give her dog B some meds at a particular time, and I couldn’t go too late because I needed to vacate the premises at a later particular time. However, we started early enough that we figured a pause after Part 1 for dog-doping would still give us time to finish in one sitting.

How wrong we were.

Poor G got home and discovered B had eaten all the meds in the half hour since she’d left. Luckily, they were of the dietary supplement kind rather than the deadly overdose kind, but we spent the next hour watching Who with a kind of nervous concern at the backs of our minds as we waited for the vet to return her call. It was a weird day.

Things started out well for the Doctor, though. G recognized the om mani padme hum chant, and figured using it as the basis for “black magic” would not go over well with Buddhists. Can’t say that I disagree, but I suppose at the time it seemed as exotic as bubble wrap, so in that sense I can’t get too uptight about it.

Read more →