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locker_monsterChristmas may be soon approaching but it's not approaching fast enough so I thought why not fill the void with some classic Doctor Who. Got my hands on a copy of "Destiny of the Daleks". An okay episode. I prefer "Genesis of the Daleks" more for various reasons. General thoughts for part one with an accompanying pic spam, just to change things up. :-D Warning, image heavy behind the cut.
I'm not overly fond of the Daleks. They're cool and all but I find that they're used too much and it's always the same result. Doctor defeats Daleks and Daleks come back to kill again. They never want anything else besides death. I also dislike the whole "____ of the Daleks" naming scheme most Dalek episodes seemed to fall under. First off, it kind of ruins the plot. I'm sure the fact that Daleks are in an episode is plastered everywhere before the episode airs, but it wouldn't hurt to have some mystery. Weren't the endings for "Bad Wolf" and "Army of Ghosts" exciting when you didn't know Daleks were going to show up? The Cybermen never fell into this naming scheme; a couple of episodes tops before it was decided to keep the reveal a secret. I also find it hard to keep the episodes straight when all the names sound familiar.
One reason I wanted to see this episode is because of the beginning. Here we see the introduction of Romana II. Romana I has just regenerated to look like Princess Astra whom the Doctor met the previous season. Really it was just a way to explain why the actress playing Romana II looks like Astra. The way it's done is kinda bizarre. Romana treats regeneration like it's no big deal, like trying on clothes is how I've seen it described on sites. This approach totally contradicts the Doctor's previous regenerations which were all very painful. I suppose they wanted the moment to be playful rather than painful. Or maybe female Time Lords can regenerate at will. That's canon I could accept. When new Who gets to Doctor number 13 he can regenerate into a woman and not have to worry about running out of regenerations. :-D
The Doctor tells Romana to "change" and this is her first (second?) choice. You don't get a good look at the face but basically she's short and blue. The Doctor looks rather horrified here, doesn't he?
Romana's next choice. The chains on the dress kept clinking together and it made me laugh for some reason.
Last choice. I bet the Doctor rejects this one because she's taller than he is.
Finally Romana just re-appears as Astra, but we do get this cute moment. You can see Lalla Ward containing her smile. It appears that the Doctor has multiple copies of his scarf lying around the TARDIS. :-)
For whatever reason, Romana changes into a pink and white version of the Doctor's outfit. Look, they match! Same style of coat, same ridiculously long scarf, same pirate style boots. To my knowledge Romana never wears this outfit again, but Classic Who fans please correct me if I'm wrong. I can't decide if the producers are saying Romana is becoming more like the Doctor or they just thought it would be funny. Douglas Adams was script editor during this era.
Side by side comparison of the Doctor and Romana. See how they both loop their scarves in the same way? Cute! And look, rocks. Wouldn't be Doctor Who without a quarry.
Tasting things to find out what the thing is made of seems to be a thing the Doctor picked up from Romana. ;-) Apparently Time Lords can taste the components that make up concrete.
So it turns out the Doctor and Romana have landed on Skaro, home planet of the Daleks. There are other robots running around and there's stuff being blown up. I found this part was kind of slow. A lot of it is just the Doctor and Romana running around through ruins. As a four part story I suppose you could see this part as the first act really. While the format of a serial is the defining quality of Classic Who it doesn't always lend itself to engaging story telling.
The Doctor gets trapped under a beam (made of styrofoam; let's be honest here) so Romana runs off to fetch K-9 who the Doctor left in pieces back in the TARDIS. So he does some reading while he waits. This is totally Douglas Adams here. He only served as script editor for one season, which is kind of a shame. The only other story I've seen from this season is "City of Death" and it's rather good. Equal parts silly and serious. "City of Death" also has a lovely drinking story related to it from Douglas Adams but you have to watch the DVD to hear it.
Romana fulfills her duty as Companion and falls down a shaft. You get a better look at her outfit here. The waist of the trousers are really high for no reason. Her scarf is also starting to annoy me at this point. Like the Doctor's scarf, it's dragging on the ground and she's practically tripping over it. As cool and iconic as the Doctor's scarf is, and I'm sure a whole generation of young boys got their mothers, or grandmothers, or aunts to knit them on just like it, it's just too long. How the Doctor doesn't trip over it while running away from aliens I'll never know. And just think of things it's probably been dragged through. No wonder he would have multiple copies.
OMG! DALEKS! I NEVER SAW THAT COMING! Last two seconds of the episode and here they are. Old school Daleks hold up surprisingly well. They wobble a bit while sliding around but I doubt it's gotten any easier to drive those things around.
And now that classes are done for the semester I can watch more Classic Who. :-D
I'm not overly fond of the Daleks. They're cool and all but I find that they're used too much and it's always the same result. Doctor defeats Daleks and Daleks come back to kill again. They never want anything else besides death. I also dislike the whole "____ of the Daleks" naming scheme most Dalek episodes seemed to fall under. First off, it kind of ruins the plot. I'm sure the fact that Daleks are in an episode is plastered everywhere before the episode airs, but it wouldn't hurt to have some mystery. Weren't the endings for "Bad Wolf" and "Army of Ghosts" exciting when you didn't know Daleks were going to show up? The Cybermen never fell into this naming scheme; a couple of episodes tops before it was decided to keep the reveal a secret. I also find it hard to keep the episodes straight when all the names sound familiar.
One reason I wanted to see this episode is because of the beginning. Here we see the introduction of Romana II. Romana I has just regenerated to look like Princess Astra whom the Doctor met the previous season. Really it was just a way to explain why the actress playing Romana II looks like Astra. The way it's done is kinda bizarre. Romana treats regeneration like it's no big deal, like trying on clothes is how I've seen it described on sites. This approach totally contradicts the Doctor's previous regenerations which were all very painful. I suppose they wanted the moment to be playful rather than painful. Or maybe female Time Lords can regenerate at will. That's canon I could accept. When new Who gets to Doctor number 13 he can regenerate into a woman and not have to worry about running out of regenerations. :-D
The Doctor tells Romana to "change" and this is her first (second?) choice. You don't get a good look at the face but basically she's short and blue. The Doctor looks rather horrified here, doesn't he?
Romana's next choice. The chains on the dress kept clinking together and it made me laugh for some reason.
Last choice. I bet the Doctor rejects this one because she's taller than he is.
Finally Romana just re-appears as Astra, but we do get this cute moment. You can see Lalla Ward containing her smile. It appears that the Doctor has multiple copies of his scarf lying around the TARDIS. :-)
For whatever reason, Romana changes into a pink and white version of the Doctor's outfit. Look, they match! Same style of coat, same ridiculously long scarf, same pirate style boots. To my knowledge Romana never wears this outfit again, but Classic Who fans please correct me if I'm wrong. I can't decide if the producers are saying Romana is becoming more like the Doctor or they just thought it would be funny. Douglas Adams was script editor during this era.
Side by side comparison of the Doctor and Romana. See how they both loop their scarves in the same way? Cute! And look, rocks. Wouldn't be Doctor Who without a quarry.
Tasting things to find out what the thing is made of seems to be a thing the Doctor picked up from Romana. ;-) Apparently Time Lords can taste the components that make up concrete.
So it turns out the Doctor and Romana have landed on Skaro, home planet of the Daleks. There are other robots running around and there's stuff being blown up. I found this part was kind of slow. A lot of it is just the Doctor and Romana running around through ruins. As a four part story I suppose you could see this part as the first act really. While the format of a serial is the defining quality of Classic Who it doesn't always lend itself to engaging story telling.
The Doctor gets trapped under a beam (made of styrofoam; let's be honest here) so Romana runs off to fetch K-9 who the Doctor left in pieces back in the TARDIS. So he does some reading while he waits. This is totally Douglas Adams here. He only served as script editor for one season, which is kind of a shame. The only other story I've seen from this season is "City of Death" and it's rather good. Equal parts silly and serious. "City of Death" also has a lovely drinking story related to it from Douglas Adams but you have to watch the DVD to hear it.
Romana fulfills her duty as Companion and falls down a shaft. You get a better look at her outfit here. The waist of the trousers are really high for no reason. Her scarf is also starting to annoy me at this point. Like the Doctor's scarf, it's dragging on the ground and she's practically tripping over it. As cool and iconic as the Doctor's scarf is, and I'm sure a whole generation of young boys got their mothers, or grandmothers, or aunts to knit them on just like it, it's just too long. How the Doctor doesn't trip over it while running away from aliens I'll never know. And just think of things it's probably been dragged through. No wonder he would have multiple copies.
OMG! DALEKS! I NEVER SAW THAT COMING! Last two seconds of the episode and here they are. Old school Daleks hold up surprisingly well. They wobble a bit while sliding around but I doubt it's gotten any easier to drive those things around.
And now that classes are done for the semester I can watch more Classic Who. :-D
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no subject
Date: 2007-12-08 04:43 pm (UTC)Also: Tasting things to find out what the thing is made of seems to be a thing the Doctor picked up from Romana.
SO TRUE OMG I LOVE THAT. That's totally what I said the first time I watched DotD. And Four was David Tennant's favorite Doctor! SO THERE YOU HAVE IT!
no subject
Date: 2007-12-08 06:01 pm (UTC)The DVD also has the Prime Computer ads Tom Baker and Lalla Ward did in the 80s. Have you seen those? They're quite funny. Four proposes marriage in one. :-)
Ten's licking things just shows some of Romana rubbed off on the Doctor. ;-)
Slight spoiler for Robots of Death
Date: 2007-12-08 10:53 pm (UTC)Slight spoiler for Robots of Death.
I'm not surprised the Doctor looks shocked at Romana in the blue outfit because the last time he saw it was on Zilda who was murdered in Robots of Death.
Re: Slight spoiler for Robots of Death
Date: 2007-12-08 11:38 pm (UTC)