Doctor Who 0108 The Horns Of Nimon Four part story that aired November 24 to December 15 1979. Written by Anthony Read and directed by Kenny McBain.
The last story of the 17th series. Shada had been partially shot before a strike stopped production. They never finished the story, other producers took over the show with the 18th series.
The Doctor and Romana get mixed up with Nimon, an alien being the people of Skonnos worship as a god. They are a war loving bunch and the Doctor needs to get right on that. When I saw it before I thought it was about average and I still think there's nothing outstanding about it. I did like Graham Crowden as the head of Skonnos.
Doctor Who 0108a Shada Six part story that never aired the year it was made. Written by Douglas Adams, original footage directed by Pennant Roberts, 2017 animation directed by Charles Norton.
There was a VHS reconstruction in 1992 that was put on DVD in 2013. The 2017 version was released on DVD with animated segments to fill in the unshot footage. In 2021 a version with enhanced animation was released on Blu-ray. When I saw this story for the first time in 2014 it was the 1992 version, today I watched the DVD of the 2017 version. It's fairly well animated.
The Doctor and Romana have arrived in Cambridge in 1979 to visit an old friend of the Doctor's called Professor Chronotis. He'd sent the Doctor a message asking for the Doctor to come visit. It's about a book the Professor wants to send back to Gallifrey, it's a dangerous item. Trouble is a student has inadvertently walked off with it. An alien called Skaga has also arrived in Cambridge, he wants the book for his big plan to turn all the beings in the universe into a single mind with himself in charge. Lucky for us it doesn't go his way.
I thought the animation was fairly good overall, except for the faces, I thought those were a bit weak. Despite being a 6 parter I enjoyed the full length version of the story. It's usually got something happening and it moves along fairly well. There's plenty of entertaining characters and a decent villain. Douglas Adams didn't write that much for Doctor Who so it's nice to have this story finished and released.
Doctor Who 0109 The Leisure Hive Four part story that aired August 30 to September 20 1980. Written by David Fisher and directed by Lovett Bickford. A new producer takes over the reigns of the show and holds onto that job until 1989 when the show got cancelled. There were plenty of changes in the show, starting with the opening credits, the logo and the theme. The Doctor got a new coat and scarf, K-9 eventually got the boot. They lost some of the humor, as the producer, John Nathan-Turner, wanted to make the show less silly.
The Doctor and Romana finally get to Brighton Beach, it's the off season and it's kind of windy and cold. Poor K-9 wanders into the water and has an explosion. The Tardis gang decide to visit the Leisure Hive on Argolis. They get involved with a hostile take over by the son of the leader. Kind of a familiar story but still entertaining in the end.
Doctor Who 0110 Meglos Four part story that aired September 27 to October 18 1980. Written by John Flanagan and Andrew McCulloch, the director was Terence Dudley.
The Tardis gang wind up battling a powerful thief called Meglos. He's a big cactus with a big brain. Sadly, he's not powerful enough to beat the Doctor. It was average but there were enough things happening to keep me watching.
Another batch done. As always the links are to the first time I watched the series.
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