|
Post by Zone Fighter on Jul 13, 2004 14:47:21 GMT -8
Since the description of this place now says TV too I'll move some of my Doctor Who posts from yahoo to here. I think there are more people here. I won't move them all. Too much work.
Doctor Who: The Hartnell Years (1991) 1 VHS tape
"We are not of this race. We are not of this Earth. We are wanders in the fourth dimension of space and time" -- William Hartnell as The Doctor (listed in credits as Dr Who although he is never refered by that name in the series).
This brief look back at William Hartnell's time as the original star of Doctor Who, November 23, 1966 - October 29, 1966 features the never aired pilot episode, a few scenes from the aired version of "An Unearthly Child" showing some of the changes made before airing the series, episode 3 of "The Crusade" and episode 4 of "The Celestial Toymaker", the only existing episodes of those stories from '65 and '66.
The Crusade features school teachers Ian Chesteron (William Russell) and Barbara Wright (Jaquiline Hill) and young girl Vickie (Maureen O'Brien), who took the place of the Doctor's grandaughter Susan in "The Rescue". The Doctor and his friends meet Richard the Lionhearted.
The Celestial Toymaker features Steven Taylor (Peter Purves) and Dodo Chaplet (Jackie Lane). Steven Taylor was the sole survivor of a crashed space craft who joined the Doctor in the TARDIS and the end of "The Chase" which saw Ian and Barbara finally return home to 1960's Earth. Dodo was picked up by the Doctor at the end of "The Massacre". The Doctor and Steven escape St Bartholomew's Day Massacre in Paris. Steven is upset because the Doctor would not rescue a woman named Chaplet from the massacre. Doing so would interfere in history. The Doctor journies forward in time to introduce Steven to the woman's decendent Dodo, proving she survived without the Doctor's help. At least that's what I read somewhere long ago. Anyway, the Doctor and friends are forced to play games by the mysterious Toymaker. He expects them to loose and die but if they should win he has a nasty surprise instore for them.
The episodes are introduced by Sylvester McCoy, at the time the last Doctor (#7).
It was fun to see parts of these otherwise lost episodes and meet briefly some of the Doctor's early traveling companions. The original Doctor starts out a mean old man, described by Sylvester McCoy as an "anti-hero" but mellows as the series progresses.
Next: The Tenth Planet (a William Hartnell story)
|
|
|
Post by Zone Fighter on Jul 13, 2004 14:58:05 GMT -8
Doctor Who: The Tenth Planet (1966, 2001) 4 episodes, October 8-29 1966 William Hartnell - The Doctor Anneke Willis - Polly Michael Craze - Ben Jackson Polly and Ben met the Doctor (#1) on Earth, London, 1966 in "The War Machines", went on a journey to 17th century Cornish coast (The Smugglers") and finally went with him to the South Pole in 1986. "The Tenth Planet" introduces a new enemy and sees the Doctor regenerate for the first time. A routine space flight goes wrong when a strange planet appears between Mars and Venus. The gravitional pull of the new planet pulls a two-man space craft away from Earth. As the South Pole Tracking Station struggles to bring the men back to Earth the station is invaded by the inhabitants of the planet Mondas, the Cybermen. The station commander suspects the Doctor, Polly and Ben of being spies for the Cybermen. Mondas is said to be Earth's twin which drifted out into space long ago. Mondas is low on energy. As it nears Earth it drans Earth's energy. The Cybermen plan to take humans to Mondas to convert them into Cybermen. The first Cybermen costumes are primative. There faces are obviously hidden in cloth. Their head sets and chest units are larger than in later stories. There is no mention of gold. They have a different weakness. They hold their mouths open and out comes words. See an original Cyberman at incolor.inetnebr.com/stuart/drwho/cyber1.jpgThe Cybermen would become the second most popular Doctor Who "monsters", after the Daleks. Most of episode 4 has been lost. The only complete scene in existance is the regeneration scene at the end. There are a few partial scenes also in existance. For this 2001 VHS tape the missing scenes have been replaced with still photos with the sound track dubbed in. Most of this episode is shown in smaller frame only the regeneration scene is full screen. The first regeneration is different from the later regeneration scenes. At this point it had still not been revealed that the Doctor was a renegade Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. It fact its not until the final 2nd Doctor story that the term "Time Lord" is used. The name "Gallifrey" is first used in the 3rd Doctor story "The Time Warrior". Nobody knew that regeneration would be normal for the Doctor. Instead the Doctor nearly dies of old age but his life is saved when a beam from the TARDIS console regenerates him. During the scene the TARDIS dematerialization sound effect is heard. Altough Patrick Troughton's face is shown he's not listed in the credits. The ending credits for episode 4 feature the normal Doctor Who theme with an extra "electronic" sound which I'm guessing was the Cyberman theme. The episode credits are followed by episode 4 "restoration" credits. Like all William Hartnell stories The Tenth Planet is in black and white. I was glad to see the first Doctor's last regular story but I think the later Cybermen stories are better. The story put more emphasis on the Doctor's companions then on the Doctor who spends part of the story unconscious. He's worn out, near death the whole 4 episodes.
|
|
|
Post by Xenorama ™ on Jul 13, 2004 15:01:23 GMT -8
I'll be getting some of these from a friend, should be fun to watch.
|
|
|
Post by Zone Fighter on Jul 13, 2004 15:11:11 GMT -8
Doctor Who: The Troughton Years (1991) 1 VHS tape, approx. 84 minutes
"Are you ready? Hold tight! Here we go!" -- Patrick Troughton as The Doctor (#2).
Patrick Troughton stared in Doctor Who November 5, 1966 through June 21, 1969. His Doctor was some what of a clown
Jon Pertwee, good friend of Patrick Troughton's, co-guest at science fiction conventions introduces 3 complete episodes from otherwise missing Doctor Who stories and exerpts from five others.
Since "Power of the Daleks", Patrick Troughton's first full story is missing Jon Pertwee introduces Patrick Troughton's Doctor with the regeneration sequence from "The Tenth Planet". This is followed by episode 2 of "The Abominable Snowman" (1967), episode 3 "The Enemy of the World" (1968), excerpts from "The Web of Fear" (1968), "The Three Doctors" (1972), "The Five Doctors" (1983), and "The Two Doctors" (1985). The tape ends with episode 2 of "The Space Pirates" (1969).
The Abominable Snowman featured companions Jammie McCrimmon (Frazier Hines) and Victoria Waterfield (Deborah Watling) and also introduced The Yeti and the Great Intelligence. The second Doctor picked Jamie up in his second story "The Highlander". Jamie traveled with the Doctor more than any other companion staying with the second Doctor through his last regular story "The War Games". Victoria joined the time traveling pair in "The Evil of the Daleks".
I wish they would find the other missing five episodes of "The Enemy of the World" in which Patrick Troughton plays both the hero and the villain. Jamie and Victoria were with the Doctor in this episode.
The Web of Fear brought back the Yeti and the Great Intelligence. The story also introduced Colonel Lethbride-Stewart, later Brigadier. He was not in the excerpt which featured only the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria.
The Three Doctors celebrated the 10 anniversary of Doctor Who. Jon Pertwee was the Doctor with Patrick Troughton and William Hartnell guest staring. Hartnell died shortly after filming this story.
The Five Doctors had Peter Davison as the Doctor with Richard Hurdnall playing the first Doctor (he died a year later), Troughton and Pertwee playing 2nd and 3rd Doctors. Tom Baker declined to take part so the 4th Doctor was shown in archived footage. A yeti appears briefly in the episode. Jamie and Zoe make cameos.
The Two Doctors paired Patrick Troughton with Colin Baker (Doctor #6). Jamie was with Doctor #2.
The Space Pirates featured Jamie and Zoe (Wendy Padbury). Zoe was introduced in "The Wheel in Space". She was returned to the space station at the end of "The War Games" just as Jamie was returned to Scotland.
Again its fun to see what earlier Doctor Who episodes were like. Makes me wish more Patrick Troughton stories were available.
2nd Doctor's most used line: "When I say, 'run', run. Run!" It was actually this Doctor who introduced the sonic screwdriver and jelly babies, although both were used more by the fourth Doctor. The 2nd Doctor played the recorder.
Next: a Patrick Troughton story "The Mind Robber".
|
|
|
Post by Zone Fighter on Jul 13, 2004 15:17:49 GMT -8
Doctor Who: The Mind Robber (September 14, 1968 - October 12, 1968) 4 episodes, 1 VHS tape
This story is similar to the William Hartnell story "The Celestial Toymaker" in that the TARDIS leaves normal time and space to enter an alternate dimension due to an emergeny dematerlization, but the simularties end there. The toymaker force the Doctor to play a complex Trilogic game while his companions are made to play a series of dangerous games in order to win back the TARDIS. In TMR the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe find themselves trapped in a world of fiction, the master of which puts the Doctor to a series of tests. The Toymaker wants to destroy the Doctor and his friends for his own amusment. The master of the land of fiction wants the Doctor to take over his position.
Trapped in this land of fiction the Doctor, Jamei and Zoe meet fictional and mythological characters such as Gulliver, Repunzel, Medusa, D'Artagnan and Sir Lancelot. There are also white robots armed with a hypnotic ray and man-sized toy soldiers with video cameras in their helmets.
Like all Patrick Troughton stories "The Mind Robber" is in b/w.
Next Doctor Who: The Pertwee Years, presented by, who else, Jon Pertwee.
|
|
|
Post by celamowari on Jul 13, 2004 15:19:27 GMT -8
I'm glad they have found as many episodes as they have, but I too hope more resurface. It's a real shame so many are still lost.
I didn't know that Hartnell's replacement as the first Doctor had also passed away. What a shame that so many of the Doctors are now gone.
|
|
|
Post by Zone Fighter on Jul 13, 2004 15:37:40 GMT -8
Doctor Who: The Pertwee Years (1992) 1 VHS tape
There is no quote from the Doctor printed on the box. I'm surprised they didn't use "Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow", the adlib Jon Pertwee used whenever he didn't understand the technical jargon in the script which was most of the time.
Jon Pertwee was the Doctor from January 3, 1970 through June 8, 1974. His episodres were produced in color and b/w versions.
Of all the Doctors the third spent the most time on Earth, often confronting that renegade Time Lord who calls himself The Master.
The first Doctor Who video clip on this tape is of Jon Pertwee's first appearance as The Doctor from "Spearhead from Space" (1970). This is followed by the complete 7th and final episode from "Inferno" (1970). This episode featured UNIT, led by Brigadier Allistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney) and was the final episode for Elizabeth "Liz" Shaw (Caroline John), assistant to UNIT's Scientific Advisor, Dr. John Smith :-)
Next is the concluding episode, episode 6 of "The Frontier in Space" (1973). This was the last episode to feature Roger Delgado as The Master. Though they played enemies Pertwee and Delgado were actually close friends. Roger Delgado was killed in a automobile accident in Turkey. The Doctor's companion in this episode was Jo(sephine) Grant (Katy Manning), his second and last assistant at UNIT.
Then there is an exceprt from the BBC series "Blue Peter" (1973) in which host Peter Purvis (Steven Taylor during William Hartnell's time in Doctor Who) is shown the "Whomobile", the Doctor's experimental hover car from "The Planet of Spider", the third Doctor's final adventure. This is followed by opening booble sequence test footage using a differnt version of the opening theme.
The third and final complete Doctor Who episode included is a b/w version of Jon Pertwee's favorite episode, episode 5 of "The Daemons" (1971). The color episodes had been lost. I skipped over this part as I have the color restored version of the entire story.
Excerpts from "The Five Doctors" (1983) and the Doctor Who 20th anniversary celebration held at Longleat, Wilthsire end this tape. The exceprt from TFD included Sarah Jane Smith (Elizabeth Sladen), the third Doctor's third, and final companion. Unlike Liz Shaw and Jo Grant she was not a member of UNIT and therefore not officially his assistant although she was given access to UNIT HQ.
Before getting the role of the Doctor actor Jon Pertwee was apparently known in the UK for playing comedic parts. He chose to play the Doctor as a straight dramatic role although some humor does of course show through. I think the best Doctor Who episodes include humor. I think the overly serious 7th Doctor is why the series was ultimately canceled in 1989.
In the audio commentary to "The Five Doctors" DVD script writer Terrance Dicks claimed that Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker were not acting in Doctor Who, they were just being themselves. Patrick Troughton and Peter Davison on the other hand were acting.
|
|
|
Post by Zone Fighter on Jul 13, 2004 15:57:14 GMT -8
Doctor Who: The Daemons (May 22 1971 - June 19, 1971) 5 episodes (1 VHS tape)
Stars Jon Pertwee as The Doctor Katy Manning as Jo Grant
Guest Stars Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart Roger Delgado as The Master John Leven as Sergeant Benton Richard Franklin as Captain Mike Yates
This story had been missing (at least in color) for over 20 years. This restored color version was released in 1993.
This story begins with The Doctor and Jo Grant discusing the ocult and ends with The Master finally being captured by UNIT. Jo believes in magic, the Doctor says there is no such thing as magic that science can eventually explain everything. Then he demonstrates it by causing his roadster "Bessie" to apparently drive itself. Of course he's installed a remote control. When a woman claiming to a "white" witch tries to warn a palentologist against opening the "Devil's Hump" the Doctor seems to have a change of mind, proclaiming that's she's right opening this burial mound will bring death and destruction. Of course both the witch and the Doctor are ignored and the mound is opened, releasing Azal, last of the Daemons, former nhabitants of the planet Daemos. Of course it also turns out that the Doctor does not believe in the witch's supersitions but had some logical reason for suspecting the prescence of the Daemon.
This is one of several Doctor Who stories which claim human history has been influenced by powerful aliens. Azal is esentially a giant saytre with psionic powers that seem like magic to the ignorant. There is also a stone gargoyle which "comes to life". Azal claims the Daemons destroyed Atlantis which is interesting because another alien life form is said to be responsible in another Pertwee/Delgado episode. And I believe there was a William Hartnel episode that had the Atlantians destroy themselves. Doctor Who also has at least two different explinations for the Loch Ness Monster (first in Tom Baker story, second in Colin Baker story). So continunity is not this series strong point.
The Daemons is better then I'm making it sound but still not my favorite Pertwee episode. It was good to see the original Master though. As I said he's finally captured by UNIT but that doesn't stop him from scheming to conquer the Earth in later stories. Roger Delgado's Master obssess over conquering Earth rather than killing the Doctor as later versions do. This is not the first, or last, time he arrogantly believes he can control a powerful alien who could in fact destroy the Earth and him with it.
|
|
|
Post by Zone Fighter on Jul 13, 2004 16:20:05 GMT -8
This one I'm typing from scratch, I know I put a message at Yahoo but I can't find it now.
The Time Warrior (December 15, 1973 - January 5, 1974) 4 episodes (1 VHS tape)
Stars Jon Pertwee as the Doctor (#3) Elizabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith
Guest stars Nicholas Courtney as The Brigadier
This story introduces the third Doctor's third and final companion as well as a new enemy race.
A Sontaran spaceship makes an emergency landing on Earth, middle ages England after being attacked by Rutan fighters. Linx the Sontaran gains the cooperation of a local baron by promising him new weapons, but his damaged ship cannot be repaired by "primatives" so Linx uses the mattertransmitter to kidnap scientists from the 20th century.
When the Doctor journies back in time looking for the scientists freelance journalist Sarah Jane Smith stows away onboard his TARDIS.
The Doctor has to stop Linx from altering the development of the human race, by giving them firearms before they are ready. He also has to contend with the local warrior who wants him dead and Sarah Jane Smith who thinks he's the one abducting the scientists.
Sontarans are a race of warrior clones. They're only physical weakness is a vent on the back of their necks. Sontarans do not eat instead they absorb energy from their spaceships. This vent is the connect to the power source and the only opening in their spacearmor. Another Sontaran will plot an invasion of Earth in "The Sontaran Experiment". The Sontarans will invade Gallifrey in "Invasion of Time" and try to become Time Lords in "The Two Doctors".
Sarah Jane Smith will witness the 3rd Doctor to 4th Doctor regeneration and travel with the 4th Doctor until he leaves her on Earth at the end of "The Hand of Fear".
Just as Tom Baker was my first and favorite Doctor, Sarah Jane was my first and favorite companion.
This is all for now. I'll post more when the Tom Baker Years and Colin Baker Years videos arrive. I'm still trying to find a Peter Davison tape and a Sylvester McCoy tape. Since the "Years" series covers the other Doctors I'm assuming it covers the 5th and 7th too.
|
|
|
Post by RoadWarriorYajuta on Jul 13, 2004 20:45:46 GMT -8
Dr Who rocked the house! K 9 was wicked cool!
|
|
|
Post by Xenorama ™ on Jul 13, 2004 20:47:49 GMT -8
I bet you will be getting some of these tapes I get, Chad.
|
|
|
Post by Zone Fighter on Jul 15, 2004 1:36:14 GMT -8
Of the more than 500 episodes of Doctor Who 108 are missing. All the existing episodes are supposed to have been released, on VHS tape and are slowly being released on DVD. Naturally they're availble in the UK before USA. The 1996 tv movie is not available in US due to a disbute over distribution rights.
Here's a listing of the missing episodes:
William Hartnell
Marco Polo all 7 The Reign of Terror 4, 5 [out of 6] The Crusade 2, 4 [out of 4] Galaxy Four all 4 Mission to the Unknown 1 (shortest story made, jus 1 episode) The Myth Makers all 4 The Daleks' Masterplan 1, 3, 4, 6-9, 11, 12 [out of 12] The Massacre all 4 The Celestial Toymaker 1-3 [out of 4] The Savages all 4 The Smugglers all 4 The Tenth Planet 4 [out of 4]
Patrick Troughton
The Power of the Daleks all 6 The Highlanders all 4 The Underwater Menace 1,2,4 [out of 4] The Moonbase 1,3 [out of 4] The Macra Terror all 4 The Faceless Ones 2, 4, 5, 6 [out of 6] The Evil of the Daleks 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 [out of 7] The Abominable Snowmen 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 [out of 6] The Ice Warriors 2, 3 [out of 6] The Enemy of the World 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 [out of 6] The Web of Fear 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 [out of 6] Fury From the Deep all 6 The Wheel in Space 1, 2, 4, 5 [out of 6] The Invasion 1, 4 [out of 8] The Space Pirates 1, 3, 4,5, 6 [out of 6]
Although video is missing all the soundtracks exist and the missing stories have been released as audio versions.
|
|
|
Post by celamowari on Jul 15, 2004 6:52:54 GMT -8
I have to say, that sounds a lot better than the outlook when I first read about those missing episodes ages ago. At that time, they weren't sure if they could recover any of them and many more were apparently gone. I'm glad so much has turned up in that time.
Now, things may have changed (since I don't follow the series that closely), but wasn't "Mission To The Unknown" the only episode to not feature the Doctor at all? I read it was a prologue of sorts to "The Dalek Master Plan" (and what a high concept for a children's show that serial was in the 1960s United Kingdom!).
|
|
|
Post by Zone Fighter on Jul 15, 2004 8:32:25 GMT -8
They found episode 2 of The Daleks Master plan recently, so although the number of lost episodes found has decreased over the years they still do find them occasionally.
You're right on with Mission to the Unknown.
Have you heard about the new series planned for 2005? It's going to be 13 forty-five minute episodes. There's some bad news, there won't be any Daleks in it. Talks between the BBC and the Terry Nation estate have broken down. Who is to blame depends on who you ask. The Terry Nation estate claims the BBC wants to break with 40 years of tradition and not allow the estate final approval of how the Daleks are used. The BBC in turn says the estate is too controling.
|
|
|
Post by celamowari on Jul 15, 2004 8:44:12 GMT -8
I had heard a little about it, and that's really too bad about the Daleks. I'm sure they will eventually come to an agreement, but it may not be soon.
At least the fans have something to look forward to! With only a limited number of episodes, the Daleks being missing won't be THAT glaring.
|
|
|
Post by Zone Fighter on Jul 16, 2004 19:00:18 GMT -8
Back to the first Doctor:
The Keys of Marinus (April 11, 1964 - May 16, 1964) 6 episodes (2 VHS tapes)
William Hartnell as The Doctor William Russell as Ian Chesteron Jaqueline Hill as Barbara Wright Carol Ann Ford as Susan
The Keys of Marinus is the 5th Doctor Who story. It was written by Terry Nation, creator of the Daleks.
In those early days each invidual episode had its own title so The Keys of Marinus consists of: The Sea of Death The Velvet Web The Screaming Jungle The Snows of Terror Sentence of Death The Keys of Marinus
The TARDIS materializes on the planet Marinus, near a beach of glass with a sea of acid. Arbitan, Keeper of the Conscious of Marinus, a computer with the power to control the minds of humans thus eliminating all evil, forces the Doctor and his friends to go on a quest to retreive 4 of the 5 keys to the machine. Arbitan has the 1st key but needs the other 4 to activate the machine.
In the early days of Doctor Who the cast and crew were under such tight time constraits that if an actor messed up his lines they may not have bothered to reshoot the scene. This is evident in the beginning of the first episode of The Keys of Marinus when William Hartnell flubs his lines. He starts to say one thing and in mid sentence switches to saying something else. There are a couple of other false starts from him in the course of the story. Aparently forgetting his lines is what ultimately led to William Hartnell being replaced by Patrick Troughton.
Despite the cheap sets, Hartnell's messing up on his lines and the obvious use of small model for the TARDIS I enjoyed The Keys of Marinus. The first episode set up the premise. Then episode 2 covered the search for the first lost key, episode 3 the search for the second key, episode 4 the third key and episodes 5 and 6 the final key. Each key was in a different location with different obstacles to over come. There are two cities, a jungle and an arctiic waste land.
There are concepts in this story which will be reused in later stories. The basic plot will be expanded under the 4th Doctor in the Key To Time saga, for example.
|
|
|
Post by Zone Fighter on Jul 20, 2004 14:13:51 GMT -8
"The Daleks" box set consists of two VHS tapes, one containing the 1st Doctor story "The Chase" the other containing the 7th Doctor story "The Remembrance of the Daleks", the final Dalek story. The Chase (May 22, 1965 - June 26, 1965) 6 episodes stars William Hartnell as The Doctor William Russel as Ian Chesterton Jaqcueline Hill as Barbara Wright Maureen O'Brien as Vicki and introduces Peter Purivs as Steven Taylor After helping to foil "The Dalek Invasion Of Earth" (1964) the Doctor's granddaughter Susan decides to stay on Earth in 2167, to marry human male David Campbell. The Doctor, Ian and Barbara travel on to the planet Dido, in the year 2493, where the pick up Vicki, survivor of a crashed space ship ("The Rescue"). The Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki then visit Rome in 64 A.D. ("The Romans"), the planet Zarbi ("The Web Planet"), 12th century Palestine ("The Crusade") and "The Space Museum" on planet Xeros. While the Doctor and his companions have all these other adventures the Daleks are planning their destruction. "The Chase" begins with the Daleks boarding their newly invented time machine. They intend to use it hunt dowm the Doctor and companions to "exterminate" them. The Doctor has installed a Time-Space Visualiser in his TARDIS. The device allows any past invent to be brought up on a monitor screen. It can only look backwards in time, not forwards. Ian uses it to watch Abraham Lincoln give the Gettysburg Address. Barbara spies on Queen Elizabeth talking to William Shakespeare about one of his plays. Vicki tunes in a 1965 television broadcast of The Beatles peforming "Ticket To Ride". The clip used in this episode is now the only surviving copy. Later the Doctor discovers, through the Visualiser, that the Daleks are after him. And the chase through time and space begins. The Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki first visit the desert planet Aridius, where they encounter two local species, one friendly (at first) and one carnviourous. When the Daleks arrive they exterminate a few locals. The Doctor and his companions escape, to the top of the Empire State Building, then the tallest building on Earth. I think this was the Doctor's first trip to the United States. It was a short visit. After a comic relief chat with a tourist from Alabama who thinks the time travelers are actors making a movie and that the Dalek is a movie monster, the time travelers find themselfs onboard the Marie Celeste (BBC spelled it Mary Celeste). The crew jumps ship to escape the Daleks. That mystery solved. Next both sets of time travellers find themselves in a gothic mansion in which they encounter Count Dracula and Frakenstein's monster. The final confrontation takes place on the planet Mechanus. In the jungle of Mechanus lives giant, carnivours, mobile (but slow moving) mushrooms. In the city of Mechanus reside the Mechanoids, cylindrica robots which put humans in cages, like animals in a zoo. There the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki meet Steven Taylor whos space craft crashed on Mechanus two years ago. When the Daleks invade the city the Mechanoids defend it. At the end of episode 6 Ian and Barbara use the Daleks' time machine to return home to Earth. They arrive in 1965, two years after they left. How they explain their abscence to the Coal Hill School we will never know. Now all that remains of the original cast is William Hartnell. These early Dalek stories are interesting in that there is no Davros, Terry Nation invented that character years later, and the Daleks have a some what larger vocabulary. Besides saying "exterminate, exterminate" and "you will be exterminated" they say also "annihilate", "destroy, destroy". Next: The Time Meddler (which was the next story). I've expanded my little Doctor Who page incolor.inetnebr.com/stuar/drwho/#nosmileys
|
|
|
Post by Zone Fighter on Jul 20, 2004 16:57:09 GMT -8
The Time Meddler (July 3, 1965 - July 24, 1965) 4 episodes
stars William Hartnell as The Doctor Maureen O'Brien as Vicki Peter Purivs as Steven Taylor
For the first time the Doctor encounters another time traveler from his home planet, a man who becomes known as the Meddling Monk. There are no refrences to Time Lords or Gallifrey. That the Doctor is a Time Lord is not revealed until the 2nd Doctors last regular story "The War Games" (1969) and the planet of the Time Lords is not named until the 3rd Doctor meets the first Sontaran in "The Time Warrior" (1973).
The Doctor and Vicki are missing Ian and Barbara who have just used a Dalek time machine to return home to 1960s Earth. As the Doctor and Vicki are talking in the TARDIS control room they hear a sound coming from the livng quarters. Vicki thinks there is a Dalek onboard. It turns out that Steven Taylor had stumbled into the TARDIS after escaping the Mechanoids.
The TARDIS materializes in England in 1066 but Steven doesn't believe the TARDIS is a time machine. When he takes a modern wrist watch from a local he's convinced the Doctor and Vicki have lied. In fact the watch was dropped by a "Time Meddler", someone from the Doctor's planet who's been intervening in the history of Earth.
This Time Meddler wants to destroy the Viking invaders so that King Harold will be able to defeat William the Conquerer at the Battle of Hastings, changing history, for the better he claims. The Doctor of course cannot allow this. Instead of refering to the "Laws of Time" as later Doctor's will he quotes "the golden rule of time travel".
The Monk (Peter Butterworth) will show up again in "The Daleks' Masterplan", as an unwilling agent of the Daleks.
Some Doctor Who fans have speculated that the Meddling Monk could be an early version of The Master (first seen in "Terror of the Autons" [1971]). I see no evidence of this. The Monk and the Master have very different personalities. The Master is ruthless, if someone gets in his way he'll kill them. The Monk caused no lasting harm to anyone. The vikings he intended to kill were going to die anyway, he was just going to kill them sooner. The Master also seems more intelligent than the Monk. The only things the Monk and the Master have in common are a desire to change Earth history and they both have a TARDIS which is more advanced than the Doctor's, with a fully functional chamelion circuit (called camouflage system in this story).
Next : one of William Hartnell's last stories "The War Machines".
|
|
|
Post by Zone Fighter on Jul 23, 2004 23:51:34 GMT -8
The War Machines (June 25, 1966 - July 16, 1966) 4 episodes (1 VHS tape)
stars William Hartnell as The Doctor Jackie Lane as Dodo Chaplet
introduces Anneke Willis as Polly Michael Craze as Ben Jackson
The TARDIS materialises near London's Post Office Tower. When the Doctor looks at the tower he has a stronge sense of evil. His skin tingles, just as it does when Daleks are near. There are no Daleks near by, however housed at the top of the tower is "WOTAN" - Will Operating Thought Analogue, the most powerful computer on Earth. In the tower the Doctor and Dodo meet Professor Brett's secretary Polly. WOTAN determines that humans are a threat to the future of Earth and begins to enslave those humans it finds useful while planning the elimination of the rest. The first humans taken over by WOTAN are Professor Brett, its creator; Major Green, chief of building security; Professor Krimpton, an elelectronics expert and Dodo Chaplet, the Doctor's companion. WOTAN plans to use Dodo to gain control of the Doctor.
At a local nighclub Dodo, Polly and the Doctor meet a merchant seaman Ben Jackson, who is upset because he's just been assigned to 6 months of on-shore duty.
To conquer London, then Washington DC, then Moscow, WOTAN has hypnotized humans build war machines.
This story contains an error which is repeated several times. The Doctor is refered to as "Doctor Who", by WOTAN. This is as far as I know the first and last time this mistake is made.
"The War Machines" ends with Dodo deciding to stay in London. She gave Ben her TARDIS key, to return to the Doctor, but Polly and Ben use it to follow the Doctor into the policebox.
"The War Machines" was once missing. It was restored and released on VHS tape in 1998. The tape begins with an excerpt from "Blue Peter" which features a war machine moving around the studio.
|
|
|
Post by Xenorama ™ on Oct 14, 2004 23:02:01 GMT -8
just finished watching this story, it's pretty fun. the mechanoids didn't look too threatening, but the battle between them and the Daleks was entertaining. i liked the miniature city on Mechanus as well, it looked very cool. too bad the mushrooms didn't laugh while trying to eat people...
|
|
|
Post by amphiboid on Oct 17, 2004 20:53:11 GMT -8
I'm usually not the type to speak negatively about things I'm not fond of, but that 1996 English/American TV movie of Dr. Who really could benefit from never being released again, evah! I thought it was the most un-Who like Who thing I ever saw! Ohhh, it gives me the cold shivers, it does!
I made a special evening to sit down with another Who fan to watch this, and our jaws just dropped, the further along it got. But I mean that in a good way!
|
|