[Post transferred from my old blog.]
Seriously, I've been watching a few of the old Doctor Who episodes from 1983 on the ABC because my brother wants me to tape them while he's out of the country. When I say "tape", I mean record on my Foxtel iQ and then dub it down on my DVD recorder. Anyway, the first episode of The Five Doctors is one of the most boring things I've seen recently - and I watch a lot of TV, so I've seen a lot "recently". Most of the episode is spent watching left over footage of the previous four doctors being kidnapped by a large black triangle that looks lower tech than Pong.
I'm up to part three now, and my point is the show itself is okay -- the series, not The Five Doctors, which is the biggest load of thrown-together crap I've ever seen, Tom Baker did well to stay away from that one -- they aren't even bothering with cliffhangers at the end of the episode -- even if the really low budget was beginning to really bite; but the picture quality of the filmed exterior shots it so bad they should have stuck to stories that could be done inside. The videotape might look tacky, but cutting from clean tape to dark dirty film is just jarring.
Not sure what I think about the new spin-off that was announced.
~November 7, 9.50pm
syme points out that it was originally made to be broadcast whole. That doesn't explain why the entire story was so bad. Especially since this was an anniversary special.
Poor old Jamie. Old being the operative word. Still, at least he wasn't dead.
~November 8, 10.50pm
Thanks for the info, syme. (See comments, imaginary other readers.) I guess it was just a shame the 25th anniversary came up during what seems to be a low budget period. Especially compared to the glory days of the 4th doctor.
[END]
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Syme said...
"Originally, Tom Baker and Lalla Ward were approached to be part of the story -- the Fourth Doctor was to go to the Capitol with Romana, the Fifth with Tegan to the Dark Tower and the First staying with Susan and Turlough in the TARDIS -- but when Baker refused to be a part of the story it was rewritten to its current form. Clips were eventually used of the two from the untransmitted story "Shada". Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah), Carole Ann Ford (Susan) and Nicholas Courtney (the Brigadier) eventually returned to play major guest stars, as well as Anthony Ainley's Master and Paul Jerricho from "Arc of Infinity" (Thalia and Borusa from that story, Elspet Gray and Leonard Sachs, were unavailable, so Dinah Sheridan was cast as a new character, Flavia, and Philip Latham was a newly regenerated Borusa); John Leeson (voice of K-9), Frazer Hines (Jamie), Wendy Padbury (Zoe), Caroline John (Liz) and Richard Franklin (Yates) returned for cameo appearances. A Dalek, the Cybermen and a Yeti were also featured, as well as the first view of Rassilon in this story and his eternal Tomb. (Omega, contrary to popular belief, was never included in a story draft). Katy Manning (Jo), Ian Marter (Harry) and Victoria (Deborah Watling) were all originally to take part but didn't because of time concerns, and the Autons were to be seen in a sequence with the Third Doctor and Sarah; all of this was dropped at script stage as was a brief sequence on Gallifrey with Leela (Louise Jameson, again unavailable)."
And myke bartlett (someone I don't personally know!) said...
"I'm with you on the tedium. As a long time Who watcher, I was pleased to be bought this on DVD a year ago. Unfortunately I have yet to make it more than 15 mins in. It is woeful.
I pity any casual viewer stumbling across this as an example of Who..."
Post a Comment