PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Science Fiction Sunday 674

Doctor Who 0059 The Daemons Five part story that aired May 22 to June 19 1971. Written by Guy Leopold and directed by Christopher Barry.

The story has another encounter with The Master, this time he's playing a vicar in a small town. There's something unusual buried there that The Master is interested in, it turns out to be an alien spaceship with a giant Devil like alien. He's been under the dirt for 100,000 years and his past appearances have created the Devil myth.

I wound up liking the story a bit better than I did in 2013 partially because I've come to like Jon Pertwee's Doctor quite a bit. He's usually quite entertaining. He's still annoying too.

Doctor Who 0060 Day Of The Daleks Four part story that aired January 1 to 22 1972. Written by Louis Marks and directed by Paul Bernard.

The Daleks are a nice change from The Master. The Daleks have taken over the Earth but 200 years in the Doctor's future. Rebels send some men back to kill a guy, they hope to change the time line and stop the wars that reduced the humans to their vulnerable state. The Doctor jumps right in to set thing straight.

There's plenty of stuff going on and I enjoyed the Doctor running about. There's plenty of gun battles and explosions. I enjoyed it about as much as I did back in 2013. I just skimmed through a bit of the revamped serial. The BBC added some poor CGI to jazz up the images and did a bit of story tampering. Neither were needed.

Science Fiction Sunday 673

 

Doctor Who 0057 The Claws Of Axos Four part story that aired March 13 to April 3 1971. Written by Bob Baker and Dave Martin, directed by Michael Ferguson. I have the single DVD on the left. I have ordered the 2 disc set on the right. I hadn't seen it until today and there are some fair number of extras listed that aren't on the single disc set. I'll get it a few days and watch it when it arrives. I probably had a good time. The extras on the series usually deliver something interesting.

The Master has returned to Earth inside a big alien called Axos. It's an intelligent transformable substance that can that can travel through space on it's own. It can create different sorts of humanoid creatures out of its own substance and send them off to do it's bidding. It likes to get stuck into a planet and suck up all the energy in it. Everything on the planet dies but that's just lunch to the alien.

Axos had captured The Master and all he could think of was trading the Earth for his freedom. Killing the Doctor is part of the deal. The Master is the one who really needs some killing. The Doctor and Unit battle the alien and eventually the Doctor comes up with a trick to stop Axos. The Master escapes in the meantime.

A decent story, I didn't think it was quite as slow in the third episode as I felt it was the first time I watched it, I turned the speed up a bit when they were rushing around outside a lot. It was barely noticeable. I have much to watch and need all the help I can get.

Doctor Who 0058 Colony In Space Six part story that aired April 10 to May 15 1971. Written by Malcolm Hulke and directed by Michael E Briant.

Jo gets a tour of the Tardis for the first time. If the massive inside wasn't enough to boggle Jo's brain, the Time Lords decide to free the Doctor's Tardis for a special job they want done. When the Doctor tries a take off, the Tardis delivers Jo and him to a planet where some colonists are having a rough time trying to survive. Jo doesn't believe she's on another planet but it all becomes real right quick. The colonists live in a rock quarry with nearby aliens. Crops don't grow and the colony is nearing the end of their food supply.

A mining company ship arrives and tries to scare away the colonists with tricks and murder. The colonists push back and the Captain of the ship calls for an Adjudicator. The Master turns up as the Adjudicator, he's got an agenda of his own. The planet is home to an alien race that built a super weapon and that just might be what The Master needs to conquer the universe. One track mind that guy. Again, ignored by the Time Lords. They are dicks those TLs.

After the usual running about and yelling you'd expect from a 6 part story the Doctor puts an end to The Master's plan but The Master escapes. Plenty of people are dead but the colonists have their planet back. I'm almost ready to be tired of The Master but I know he turns up in the next serial. No matter, soon enough The Doctor will get the Tardis fixed and be off jaunting about the Universe again. I'll be checking that out sooner or later.

Science Fiction Sunday 672

Doctor Who 0055 Terror Of The Autons Four part story that aired January 2-23 1971. Written by Robert Holmes and directed by an uncredited Berry Letts.

I watched this serial the first time in 2013, post linked above, and find the story still entertaining. I like the 4 part stories, they move quickly. We get new characters this season, Katy Manning plays Jo Grant, Roger Delgado plays The Master. Lethbridge-Stewart supplies The Doctor a new assistant in Jo and the Time Lords come to Earth to warn The Doctor that The Master has come to Earth. I wondered why the Time Lords didn't shut The Master down, he needs killing. Jo helps The Doctor most of the time. I skipped the extras on both discs.

 

Doctor Who 0056 The Mind Of Evil Six part story that aired January 30 to March 6 1971. Written by Don Houghton and directed by Timothy Combe.

The Master is back in this story. It's a slaughterfest from start to finish, apparently there were a good number of complaints of violence. I noticed the violence but it's still got a good story and good baddie. It moves along quickly enough for a 6 parter. The Doctor trades with The Master, he'll let the murderous villain escape if he leaves the Earth, he does, but we know he'll be back.

Science Fiction Sunday 671

 

Doctor Who 0053 The Ambassadors Of Death Seven part story that aired March 21 to May 2 1970. Written by David Whitaker, Trevor Ray, Malcolm Hulke and Terrence Dicks, directed by Michael Ferguson.

I watched this serial in May 2013 and posted about it here. I might have liked it a bit better this time through, I'm also enjoying the better production values. I'm still thinking the story could have been trimmed 1 or 2 episodes.

Terence Dicks once said it's aliens or mad scientists with the Doctor stuck on Earth. We got aliens this week and guess what next week.

 

Doctor Who 0054 Inferno Seven part story that aired May 9 to June 19 1970. Written by Don Houghton, directed by Douglas Canfield and an uncredited Barry Letts.

I saw this the first time in May 2013, here's that post. I liked this story better a second time. Caroline Johns, she played Liz Shaw, leaves the show after this story. I'm glad Nicholas Courtney remains, he plays Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, I enjoy his interactions with the Doctor.

Science Fiction Sunday 670

 

Doctor Who 0051 Spearhead From Space Four part story that aired January 3 to 24 1970. Written by Robert Holmes and directed by Derek Martinus. For some reason the BBC packaged DW DVD reissues in set boxes, this one has two serials, the second being Terror Of The Autons. I already had a US DVD of Spearhead In Space but the set was cheaper to buy than the US DVD of Terror Of The Autons and that's including the shipping from the UK. Now I have both the UK and the US version in the box and the other disc is in place in release order as it should be.

I watched this back in April 2013 and enjoyed it. There's a link to the post in the title above. I feel about the same as I did then. On second watch, my main thought was how nice it was that the new Doctor, Jon Pertwee, wakes up in a bright and colorful world. The whole serial was shot on 16mm film and in color. They would go back to the studio, and the usual combination of video and film, the next episode.

The Doctor has been exiled to the Earth by the Time Lords. The Tardis arrives in the UK in 1970, the Doctor stumbles out of the police box and collapses. He's found and taken to a small hospital. Eventually the Doctor winds up in the hands of Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart, played by Nicolas Courtney, and he gets a new assistant, Liz Shaw, played by Caroline John.

The story was entertaining the second time around and it's a good reminder why I like the 4 part story.

Doctor Who 0052 Doctor Who And The Silurians Seven part story that aired January 31 to March 14 1970. Written by Malcolm Hulke and directed by Timothy Combe.

I watched this in April 2013 and you can read that post by clicking on the link in the title above. Another longer serial with a bit of padding. I still enjoyed it.

Science Fiction Sunday 669

Doctor Who 0050 The War Games A 10 part story that aired April 19 to June 21 1969. Written by Terrance Dicks And Malcolm Hulke, directed by Derrick Sherwin. The last story of the 6th series, the last story in B&W, and the last appearance of Patrick Troughton, Frazier Hines and Wendy Padbury.

I watched this back in 2013, link for post in the title above, and still feel about the same about the story. It's still too long even thought it has some interesting stuff going on. Like meeting the Time Lords. I thought the forced regeneration scene didn't look that interesting. I am looking forward to watching the Jon Pertwee series that's coming up.

Science Fiction Sunday 668

Doctor Who 0048 The Space Pirates. Six part story that aired March 8 to April 12 1969. Written by Robert Holmes and directed by Michal Hart. Audio CD linking script by Micheal Stevens, read by Frazier Hines. The last of the missing serials, only the second episode remains in the archives. Hopefully they'll get around to making an animated version. I had seen the second episode back when I watched the series the first time. Today I listened to the audio CD.

The Tardis gang winds up on a space beacon that's blown apart by space pirates for salvage. The Earth Space Corps are after the pirates. The Tardis gang is separated from the Tardis and works to get to it. 

There's the usual running about and yelling. There's plenty of entertaining characters. I enjoyed it for the most part and wished I could see the video.

Science Fiction Sunday 667

Doctor Who 0036 The Evil Of The Daleks Seven part story that aired May 20 to July 1 1967. Written by David Whitaker, directed by Derek Martinus. Only the second episode survived, I had watched that back in 2012 when I went through the series for the first time. I listened to the audio version of the story just a few weeks ago. Here's that post.

The new 3 disc DVD from the BBC has plenty of material to get through. The 7 episodes are animated and presented in color and B&W. There's commentaries on the episodes, episode 2 has 2 commentaries. The Telesnaps version of the story is on the third disc as well as more making of material.

I watched the color version first, then the B&W version with the commentaries on, then the Telesnaps version followed by all the extra material. It took most of the day and well into last night. I enjoyed the animated versions well enough but more enjoyed the Telesnaps version. At least you can see the real actors.

The extras are up to the usual standard of the BBC. Sadly there aren't many of them still alive from the 60s and they have to fill in some material from other sources. Still, it's nice that they collect what they can and save it with the episodes. All in all entertaining.

Science Fiction Sunday 666

Doctor Who 0047 The Krotons Four part story that aired December 28 1968 to January 18 1969. Written by David Maloney and directed by Robert Holmes.

After watching the serial today I read my old post from 2013, link above, and I still think the story is about average. There's nothing too astounding about any of it and the big alien robot guys are still pretty funny looking. I'm happy to sit through the episodes without bothering to look at all the extras. I'd looked at them in the past and they really eat up the time, still I'm glad they are there. Next time I watch the series I'll do the extras too.

Doctor Who 0048 The Seeds Of Death Six part story that aired January 25 to March 1 1969. Written by Brian Hayles, directed by Michael Ferguson. Script editor Terrance Dicks rewrote episodes 3-6 but is uncredited on the episodes. Terrance is credited on the VHS and the US DVD but not the UK DVD. The Wikipedia says that Terrance thought the script needed some punching up and the delay in Frazier Hines leaving the show caused some rewrites. The Tardis trio will call it quits at the end of the 6th series, only two more serials to go.

The return of the Ice Warriors is a bit more entertaining than the previous serial. There's certainly more going on, not that it couldn't have been a 5 or even 4 episode story. It seems more padded than I remembered. Nice big sets though.

I see from my old post that I hadn't listened to the commentaries on the episodes. Sometimes I skipped the commentaries, some busy Sundays I didn't have time to get to it all, occasionally I had to get the disc back to the library on a Monday, Doctor Who DVDs often had a wait list and that meant no renewals. I'll be getting to those commentaries tomorrow, too late now.

Science Fiction Sunday 665

Doctor Who 0045 The Mind Robber Five part story that aired September 14 to October 12 1968. Episode 1 written by Derrick Sherwin, episode 2 - 5 written by Peter Ling, directed by David Maloney. I watched this serial in March 2013 and blogged about it. See link in title above.

After rereading my own post, and watching the episodes, I certainly feel I'm still annoyed by some of the stuff in the scripts. Especially stuff Jamie does, he's so prone to rush right into danger. Both of the companions are prone rush into danger. In the first episode of The Mind Robber Zoey runs off into the white mist surrounding the Tardis. Jamie follows.

I skipped all the extras and watched a second serial.

Doctor Who 0046 The Invasion Eight part story that aired November 2 to December 21 1968. Story by Kit Pedler, screenplay by Derrick Sherwin, directed by Douglas Camfield. This is the 2nd last of the incomplete serials, episodes 1 & 4 have been recreated in animated form. I saw this serial back in 2013 and posted about it. Link in the title above.

I enjoyed The Invasion more than The Mind Robber, even though it's pretty long. I do like seeing the return of Lethbridge-Stewart. I enjoyed the UNIT stories with him and Jon Pertwee. There's only one more serial with missing episodes ahead and only four more serials until the new Doctor arrives.