So yeah, apparently I can't focus on one thing at a time and insist on watching what, three episodes or serials at once now.
Anyway, the story behind this is that it was a twenty-first birthday present, so I kind of wanted to watch it (and therefore had to review it) as soon as possible. I also got 'Remembrance of the Daleks'.
And
Firefly which I also haven't seen. Ever.
And
STar Trek: TOS season one. Which I have seen, but not recently.
And
Sherlock. DEM CHEEKBONES.
And
Omkara.
Point is, so much to review and watch on top of my others. So soon I'm going to be hosting everything offsite somewhere too.
But now stuff let's actually watch the episode.
PATRICK TROUGHTON!! JAMIE!! ZOE!! (Okay, I have no idea who she is at all, is she at all memorable) CYBERMEN!! THE INTRODUCTION OF UNIT AND BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE-STEWART!!!!!
I may be a leetle excited.
And I adore Two’s theme. But I say that about every theme don’t I? But Jesus Christ O'Reilly, that
face over the Time Vortex effect! I will not be seeing it in my nightmare, but I completely understand why the music alone sent children running away to hide behind the sofa.
Because if they didn't
the Doctor would eat them! To death. Still, you got to
smile, so nostalgic in the way all true children's television is when you watch it as an 'adult'.
And the way it melts into the title in such a way that the last of him you see are his eyes. Staring at you.
Those dead, dead eyes.
The writer is
Derrick Sherwin, he was the script editor from 'The Mind Robber' to 'The Web of Fear' and was the one responsible for casting Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor. He was also basically the assistant producer for all of series six. Cool dude.
This serial is based on a story by Kit Pedler. This dude was the
science advisor to Doctor Who, wrote the serials 'The Tenth Planet', 'The Moonbase' and - oh my giggy aunt - 'The Tomb of the Cybermen'. As well as submitting outlines for stories that eventually became 'The Invasion', 'The War Machines' and 'The Wheel in Space'.
'The Tenth Planet' introduced regeneration and the Cybermen. 'The Invasion' introduced UNIT. 'THe Tomb of the Cybermen' is considered one of the best episodes of
Classic Who ever.
This dude you guys. This dude
made Classic Who.
Oh no. It's Nicholas Courtney. A moment of silence please.
So!
We open with . . . . a rather creepy animated thing. Ah, my first lost episode. So many firsts today aren't there?
Why did the TARDIS suddenly piece itself together from nothing?! This kind of implies that the TARDIS doesn't . . . materialise . . . in one piece and that is oh so very freaky. It's like in
ST: TMP where Random Vulcan's materialisation goes horrendously wrong! The TARDIS has broken down in space and no wonder given it's materialisation!
Oh but look at Two's console room! And then - argh! Creepy close up of CG'd Troughton! He. Looks. Insanely. Disturbing. Those bags under his eyes. The shadows. The hair with its utter lack of texture or movement. The eyebrows!
But obviously the freaky materialisation was Very Not Good because the Doctor's panting like he's just run a marathon and Jamie just said "Doctor, it's all right! It worked!"
Jamie’s really cute. And Scottish He’s like Amy Mark One. I can’t wait to see Jamie IRL. I think I'm going to like Jamie.
Zoe on the other hand. A '60s bob and
freakishy obvious eyelashes. She's quite cute, but the fringe truly doesn't suit her. Ehehehe. And she's wearing one of those tank top vesty things.
Dudes. They're stuck on
the dark side of the moon! Better watch out for autobots and decepticons mate. They'll ruin your show. Wait whut. Zoe's seen this before? Is this another backwards girl going forwards? Are we River Songing someone?!
So then there’s a flashy light - a missile - on the moon. It's a bit obvious from the CG so I'll assume that in IRL it wasn't so easy to make out. God Zoë’s a bit annoying. And has a squeaky voice.
Z: "Somebody's fired a missile at us Jamie! Oh Doctor, come on, let's get out of here!"
But there's some stuff about jammed landing circuits. What I want to know is why they can't just . . . vworp vworp to five minutes later.
“We’ll never make it. Oh we’re too late!” Oh Zoe. Oh Zoe. If you’re the archetypal Screaming Damsel of
Doctor Who I will lose my temper all over your whiny - but pretty - face. It has to be the voice I’m objecting to more than anything, I’m sure it’ll get better.
Or I could just be determined to like everything about Classic Who I don’t know. I don’t even know if the previous sentence was an actual fact, but I can’t think of much Classic Who I’ve not liked. On the other hand, I’ve only seen two episodes of ‘Genesis of the Daleks’, so the quality is probably non-indicative.
This is genius. The Doctor is smashing the TARDIS console with what appears to be a
stapler. Percussive maintenance truly
does fix anything doesn't it? I'm surprised people didn't try it more often on
Star Trek.
Oh my god the TARDIS was just asploded!
Maybe the stapler didn't fix it after all.
And then there was a cow.
And
then there was a TARDIS. Staplers: they really do fix everything.
What is Jamie wearing? It looks like a waistcoat with furry lapels. OH WAIT THIS IS PAST ASSISTANT YES! YES! This is an Assistant that is
not from Present Day Earth. (As far as the viewers are concerned) And when I say Assistant I mean 'more than one episode long'. Aside from Captain Jack Harkness this is my first one of these! Well, him and the Master obviously.
My days: they are happy.
J: "I think we've landed." No faecal matter Sherlock. But with that accent I'll forgive you anything.
D: "Yes, I'm . . . I'm sorry about that Jamie."
Okay. Um. Things.
One:
look at my screencap.
I think I'm going to ship these two based entirely on this scene. Also because it's fun.
Seriously. In a reconstructed episode the Doctor and Jamie share a deep, meaningful gaze as Jamie rests his hand on the Doctor and the Doctor HUMBLY APOLOGISES! This is a humble Doctor. For no Serious Reason. Just because.
Granted, I am a fangirl who revels in homoerotic (sub)text, so I could just be completely wrong. F'rinstance, the hand-on-shoulder could be written into the script, and even if it wasn't, well, the actors and/or director may have chosen to do it. And it was the sixties when there were different social protocols and casual touch between men was very common. Or at least couldn't be automatically read as subtext.
Or. Because film was expensive this may very well have been a one or two-shot take and therefore this may very well have been completely spontaneous. I choose to take this option!
Either way the hand-on-shoulder pat could be platonic or romantic. On its own.
But this eye contact is sustained for five seconds.
Could still be platonic. Sheer concern and all that jazz. Although this could easily fall under the romantic section.
Even the tone and attitude could be platonic.
But all three at once? I, personally, call shenanigans. I have evidence
and it amuses me. Even if I'm unsure as to how how the Doctor
looks right now.
Oh, and the pair totes dismiss Zoe, enquiring after her health very casually. Literally 'are you okay Zoe', 'oh absolutely'!
Zoe's a moron. "Why would anyone want to fire a missile at us? Surely they'd figure out who we were first?" Um. No. Perhaps you intruded upon enemy space? During a war?
Maybe you were in the wrong place at the wrong time?! And I can totally say this because at this point in time I don't think they know they're above most-likely-Present-Day-Earth at all.
And she sounds oh so very much like Alice from
Disney's version of
Alice in Wonderland. Now, while I want to call her Alice, chances are there'll eventually be an Alice eventually. Zolice? Aloe? She's even wearing an Alice band for Heaven's sake! Meh. Zoe 'tis.
Z: "The question is was the object we saw on the other side of the moon in this time zone or not?" Whu. Right. By time zone does she mean like GMT timezones? Or time zone as 'does this object belong to the part of history'? Because I don't think the Moon has time zones and - granted, she has a point if she means the latter. But why doesn't she assume it's from the period and place in time and history?
The logical thing to do.
I mean granted, it's probably Cybermen, but Zoe hasn't read the script yet! And her eyelashes are so disturbingly big.
How could the missile still be "out there" Jamie if it asploded! Or did they not sense the asplosion? Because it did go boom.
There’s a cow on the TARDIS viewscreen. I don't know why, but this amuses me greatly. Cow. TARDIS viewscreen. These two things should not meet, which is why they work so amazingly. And really, this is
Doctor Who. The main character has two hearts, eleven regenerations (or possibly more thanks to River Song), sonic everythings, has a magical box that's bigger inside than the universe with . . . whom (or which) he has an unusual possibly romantic relationship and he travels throughout all of time and space for various purposes, but mostly because he wants to.
Oh, and he randomly picks up assistants/companions (mostly humans from Present Day Earth) for said adventures. And possibly for other things. If you think the Doctor (in any incarnation) is into that sort of thing.
Which I may do.
Depending on the Doctor and the assistant/companion.
Point is I love this show because nothing about it should work and this makes it work perfectly.
And that is why having a cow staring with bovine curiosity at a blue sentient police box is so fantastic.
I need to learn to shut up.
Jamie then makes the Understatement of the Century: "What's wrong with the TARDIS? It keeps going wrong all the time."
D: "It merely needs an overhaul Jamie, just like any piece of machinery." In bed. And that's a pretty harsh way to talk about your only constant companion for the last several hundred years. Bet she does this on purpose to get back at your insulting her like this. And apparently you can get custom-made TARDIS pieces on Present Day Earth. By which I mean the 1960s. Out of what, bakerlite tubes?
D: "England in summertime I should say. See the rain clouds." XD So they're off to see the
wizardProfessor Travers in the
Emerald CityLondon then. The TARDIS is Dorothy, Zoe is Toto, and Jamie and the Doctor are the Lion, the Scarecrow and the Tin Man. Is Prof. Travers a person or a
person for this serial and no other.
Then things go boom and -
invisiTARDIS! I haven't - or won't - see you until 'Let's Kill Hitler' in over forty years!
And then the Doctor hitch hikes. Oh,more innocent times. Except,
of course the lorry driver is a mean evil person because his eyes had a squinty close up of Evil. And his lorry is followed by two dudes on motorcycles. And motorcycles are evil. Also the driver is poorly shaven.
So the driver pulls over to some ominous music and our trio are told to get out. Huh. Two and Eleven are dressed fairly alike, they both have a Scottish companion and are prone to being awesome (or so I'm told). But Zoe is no Rory. Zoe, I am disappoint.
Ao into the woods we go, and we're hiding because the "only" company around here is stalking Lorry Driver. LD: "You're not from the community then?" Is this a local lorry from a local company only intended for local people? Or just your standard cult? Oh. There's a
compound. Cult is looking more and more likely.
Zoe thinks so too asking if there are "prisoners" inside the compound. To which we get the chilling answer "Those who haven't gone over to the company are, yes".
Cuuuuullllllt.
And some very familiar links to Ten's AU!Cyberman two-parter. A company controlling what people think, Cybermen, Prof. Travers is probably going to be the bad guy. (No I haven't read the blurb on the DVD)
Dirty mind time: LD: "I got in all right. But getting out again might be a bit more difficult." . . . oh yeah.
So this company is International Electromatics. Controlled by Cybermen. Has to be. Electronics. Cyber. Electromat. Cybermat. I'm a genius. And it helps the DVD cover has a bit picture of a Cyberman on it, as well as a dude who looks very Professorish.
So expositions says that International Electromatics is like Microsoft but for
everything electric. And it functions out of one community. Huh. One community that works
only for the Company and nothing else.
And LD is from an infiltration unit or something. Bet he's from UNIT. By the by. Just so you know this is an entire reference to this thing called
communism! el gasp!
So LD pulls over and - repeats some footage - tells the trio to get lost. Also, its foggy now and they're in the same forest as before, but backwards. And then the motorcycle dudes catch LD and well - I look at them and I can't help but think it's an unholy marriage of the SS and the KGB. Particularly as LD is ordered to come back for questioning.
This is surprisingly tense. It's a combination of the (admittedly melodramatic) music and the suspiciously robotic nature of the private police. LD rightly points out they've no authority off-site and then the motorcops pull guns.
Er. Just so you know, I'm relatively certain that guns were illegal without a special license (and mainly to farmers). I mean the police aren't allowed guns for God's sake! Eh. Drama. Also Not!Microsoft probably owns the country as this is heavily implied to be the only compound in the world.
Wow. LD is surprisingly knowledgeable about his rights. "You want to hold me, get onto the police. See you". I like LD. Does he ever get a name you think?
AND DEN HE GET SHOT! And we got a close up of his face as he was shot! Dude! 1960s! Children! Grown ups! Trauma! Particularly as, remember, this was aired twenty-three years after the end of WWII and the . . . Vietnam? war was going on at the time.
Fancy standing up against a warm wall with a last ciggie 'fore you go?
And hello. Murder. LD has family and things. I'm assuming. He was cool.
OH MY GOD! tHEY SHOT HIM AGAIN!
IN THE TUMMY! AND AGAIN! Complete with close ups of agonised eyes! I mean wow. This is some high stakes stuff going on here. A dude with valid (read: extremely well forged or
actual valid papers) was shot
three times in the chest and tummy for no reason. Okay, maybe some suspicious behaviour and major attitude. But dude.
I am so invested in the story. Sure, 10:30 in and all that jazz. But I watch amazingly bad films all the time. I have no standards. Okay. I actually do. I review things after all. But this is really interesting (if corny and a little predictable) because of the
story and our complete lack of knowledge about
anything.
All I know is that we actually
are in 20
th England, relatively close to London. So maybe Kent or East Anglia perhaps. I got a very Kent feel from the opening.
Oh. And there's an evil communistic-but-not-really Company going around brainwashing and blackmailing people into being their slaves because Cybermen! And if you sass back you get shot. I would be so dead if I lived in the Not!Microsoft commune of Doom.
Aside from the communist angle and the Cybermen and the shooting I know as much about what's going on as our protagonists.
This is awesome.
And I just
know that if this were Ten he'd be rattling off all this history and Sherlock scanning everything in sight, and while that's cool, I like being in the dark along with our protagonists.
Granted I don't especially
like Ten - I mean he's not consistent in his behaviour - I mean. Look, when it comes to Ten I'm hot and cold! I just can't get a grip on him, but he really does come across as overbearing and obnoxious a lot. So do Nine and Eleven, but they're cool. They're consistent (mostly) and have attitude and a so wonderful and -
Look. Haters gonna hate, so
I'm gonna be awesome my way. But back to the story!
IS THAT A MINI?! That's a classic mini that is. Those're tiny. And I think our Trio are going to hitch-hike again. They did. Can't believe they all got in the mini. That's insane. Oh, and I just found out from Mum that Jamie's from some five hundred years ago or something. So he's just chilling with the cars. No panic at all. Jamie is awesome. I don't care what canon says, he's a redhead to me.
So London. Very noisy for such
empty streets. And Prof. Travers' house is now Watkins' house. And she's a photographer? Taking photos of herself. Dirty girl. Why's she hiding her face?
And dose hands!
So the DOctor tries to unjam the camera. Camera Chick natters and is Watkins' niece. Travers and
his female-relative-who-is-possibly-his-daughter are currently in Americaland. And
whoa. I FORGOT THIS WAS THE SIXTIES!
Hello Nurse. Mmmm! She is
nice. Obviously she thinks so too as she has a photo of herself on the living room well. Wannabe model. Or worse.
Ah. My mistake. Uppity student mooching off her uncle's generosity whilst
he mooches off of Travers via his daughter's (Travers') lab. What kind of girl has her own personal lab that is good enough for an actual professor of science?!
Specifically "applied physics or something". Oh! Another reference to someone being a "complete nut"! LB thought the Trio were complete nuts, now Travers - Watkins even - is a complete nut. LB and Watkins work for the same person. Calling it now.
Sadly Miss Legs is your typical teenager, so when the Doctor asks when they can find the Other Professor she says "how should I know? I'm not his keeper". You are, however, his niece and are
living with him so you should have
some grasp of his daily routine.
Okay. Rethink. Miss Legs (who completely ignored the Doctor to do this) asks Zoe (I think) to pose for her. But the thing is. Well.
Look at them. I really did think she was talking to Jamie at first.
Ah. Other Professor has been missing for a week. AND MISS LEGS IS HORRIBLE SHE JUST TOLD JAMIE HE WASN'T NEEDED IN THE IMPROMPTU PHOTOSHOOT.
This is all lies and horrible horrible things! Jamie looked adorable when he was posing!
Eh. Screw it. Miss Legs is a closet lesbian who's going to be using these pictures of Zoe as light entertainment once they're developed.
Bee Tea Dubs. Other Professor also works for Not!Microsoft. He's a brainwashed cultist now. Shame that. I do have to love how casually Miss Legs mentions that if they want to try to call the Prof (shorthanding down my shorthand) the number's "scribbled on the wall". I'd get belted round the head for writing on the walls even if I was her age. For that matter I think I
am her age. She's starting to look and sound older with every passing minute.
So while Jamie and the Doctor go off to call the Prof Miss Legs says to Zoe "Let's get you fixed up with some gear". My mind goes to dirty places. And
yes, while I understand that this is, you know, the 1960s and courtesy is incredibly automatic (it still is to be honest), there wasn't even a joke about Jamie staying to watch. Again. I know. 1960s telly regs are not modern day regs, but you got to admit, this builds up my Jamie/Doctor pairing.
And my Miss Legs/Zoe pairing.
You just know off screen they're flouncing around in skimpy underwear.
And out in the Hall.
It made me laugh. I wonder if any of the information on the wall is foreshadowing and if so, how much was added by the CG people as opposed to what was in the original episode.
Hey! I'm on the same track as Jamie and the Doctor. Oh I'm awesome. And then I have to smile, Jamie asks in an earnest tone whether or not the Prof could have been kidnapped to which the Doctor responds fondly, "Ah Jamie, you mustn't let your imagination run away with you." This is balancing on the very edge between flirting and chatting.
Then a woman answers the phone, and she's basically your standard robo-lady on the phone.
Press one to speak to X. Press 2 to run your phone bill up by £10. Press 3 to die of boredom waiting for a human being to answer the phone. Press 4 to hang up.
D: "This is an automatic answering device! [
That's what it's called] Ah, shut up you stupid machine!" And how many of us have said the same thing to one of them? Answer: all of us. Also irony because
Cybermen.
So the Trio (probably plus Miss Legs) are off to break into Not!Microsoft.
Whoa.
Just whoa. And ironically, Zoe is wearing something vaguely similar to what Jamie's wearing. Oh, and Miss Legs has yet another photo of herself in the living room.
Ugh. Zoe'd rather have a girly night in than hang out with the Doctor and Jamie and break into communisitic murdering cultist Microsoft compounds. Zoe's such a
girl you guys. Then again, could be for some kinky fun times with Miss Legs lying down on the floor. Bet she's trying to get an upskirt shot from Zoe.
When Miss Legs informs the Doctor that the address for this cultist commune is also written down on the wall Jamie ripostes "Do you not write anything down on paper at all?" And while this doesn't
read awesome, it does in a Scottish accent. And it's Jamie. Jamie for whom I have developed a fond love.
ML: "Well I'd only lose it if I did. Writing on a wall is much safer. You can't lose a wall, can you?" Eh. You can in Ankh-Morpork. And in the Dominiverse (of
Dominic Deegan repute) has a meme about a randomly appearing/disappearing wall. And the TARDIS
does appear and disappear and get lost and stolen. And actually, given enough mates and a dark night I could probably nick a wall too.
Transition to . . . something that looks exactly like a London office block in the City. You know, I think some of the backgrounds are stills and telesnaps which explains a lot.
GUYS guys
guys guys! GUYS! Jamie's in a kilt! Awesome. And he has some massive cuffs on his shirt too.
The music is overly dramatic and cheesy and thus fantastic as we get the Big Reveal. Aside from cropping the shot as I split screen when I do these things this screencap is completely unedited.
I repeat: I did not edit this shot in any way.
Guess my theory about Microsoft being the true villains was true. At least we now know where Bill Gates got his ideas from. Turn out Bill Gates is the CyberController.
So after more melodrama we get two dudes watching our two dudes walk into the building. Inside the building there seems to be one computer. A 1960s computer. So old-fashioned.
First proper shot of Jamie in a kilt! I am pleased.
The Doctor, being from the Incredibly Far Away Future calls the computer "stupid". Mostly because that computer is the
receptionist! That's right. A multi-global super-hyper-corporation has . . .
one receptionist.
No. Literally. She is literally the receptionist. And I'm calling a computer a girl. But she's the receptionist and is a computer, and sure, she's running on pre-set programmes or something stupid techno
Treknobabble like that, but she's acting like the receptionist.
She doesn't even have . . . whatever the opposite of speakers are called!
Nonetheless, I love the poking of fun at corporations and bureaucracy.
The Doctor fights with the computer using the word "emergency", but when asked to state the nature of the emergency "It's a private matter!"
Computer: "Private matters have no emergency status." Okay, secretly I like this computer. Plus a computer
from the 1960s with an automated response thingy managed to confuse and frustrate
the Doctor.
I call foreshadowing on this line! "THere must be something else in this building than these stupid machines." Cue a walk down a darkened brick corridor to eerie music. Our Duo are being stalked by CCTV cameras. Somehow I doubt Mycroft is behind it this time.
Back with the dudes in the car. They're communicating with HQ. And our Duo have gone down a dead end so they're going to wait to presumably abduct them. This sounds really, really like Mycroft's usual shtick if I'm honest. It's all ominous because the driver dude says "
If they come out."
Back with our protagonists. Well. Not really. They're on a telly screen being watched by our villain of the piece! We know he's evil because we had an Extreme Close Up of his eyes before zooming out. And he has Vulcan-like eyebrows. And slicked back blond hair. (I think it's slicked back, this CG isn't all that good.) And he has a really high collar coming almost up to his neck. Also: the music is This. Person. Is. Evil.
Actually, now I think about it, literally looks like a
Disney villain. Look.
On your left: Judge Claude Frollo. On your right: our unnamed villain.
So one of the stormtroopers is told to deal with the pair. Our duo are then gassed. Uncomfortable parallels~
And it turns out the two outside in the car
also want our two, so they're not working for Microsoft. The stormtroopers are about to punch the Doctor in the face, but Frollo interrupts and orders them brought to his office. Oh. His name's Mr. Vaughn. And it seems Puncy McPunchesalot gets off on 'interrogating' people. He's so eager to pound people to a bloody pulp, but ultimately does as Frollo says. Good idea too, you don't want to get burned alive.
Our Villain Vibes increase as Frollo is introduced to our heroes standing bolt upright and suave in the Bond Vllain way as he apologises for their near brutalisation, but gently chides them for breaking and entering.
J: "Well, there's no need for all that gas and stuff."
D: [Overlaps with Jamie's line after "all] "Jamie, please."
Look at this! Gentle chiding, being protective because Jamie
is acting a wee bit silly. These two are such a couple. "I think perhaps it is we who should be apologising to you Mr.
F(rollo):"Vaughn. TObias Vaughn." Okay. Tobias is an Evil Name. Natch. Frollo knows all about the Prof because
that computer also acts as an intercom system! And controls the entire building!
Jamie fumbles and accidentally lets slip that their problem is some electronic circuits.
Time Lord circuits I might add. And now Frollo of 1960s Earth and probably works for and/or
is cybercontrolled somehow wants to see them.
Granted he don't know it's Time Lord tech, but still.
THE DOCTOR THEN HANDS HIS TIME LORD TECHNOLOGY OVER! YOU KNOW, THE TIME LORD TECH THAT NEARLY DESTROYED THE UNIVERSE! THE TIME LORD TECH THAT CAN MAKE THE TARDIS DO TARDIS THINGS! Stupid Doctor is Stupid.
And now Frollo is sending them to his workshops (of evil) for examination. Bee Tea Dubs. He has a
gun in his desk drawer. And then he offers Jamie a "disposable transistor radio". They're roughly the size of cassette walkmans. Remember those? Gods, I can't believe I do. In my life span we've gone from those to dinky little iPoddy things.
Also, this
is like 'Rise of the Cybermen'/'The Age of Steel' two-parter. At least this doesn't have Rose in it. So obviously these radio actually
are mind-control devices. Called it. So Jamie gladly accepts the radio and we're quickly shown how it works. Basically it has an on/off switch. Nothing else.
Frollo doesn't blink very often. He must know about the Angels.
So the Doctor hurries Jamie out, rather rudely I must say, and - in what I think is foreshadowing, Frollo simply says "Goodbye Doctor" as opposed to enquiring to his surname. Jamie on the other hand is quite effusive about his gift. Honestly, I think we can forgive the Doctor his brusqueness as he's just had part of his TARDIS nicked.
Punchy McPunchyfist is rather rude as he kicks our two out and Jamie (seriously, I love him) says "Oh don't tell me you can read as well. What else do you do?" Get soundly beaten in a game of wits by a Scotsman who's five hundred years displaced in time that's what! This probably does mean Jamie can't read though.
I
adore how the Doctor has to keep scolding Jamie.
Called it. THe Doctor also think Frollo's lack of blinking is suspicious. I do like the irony brought up about the average rate of human blinking when in the CG episode the rate of blinking is perhaps two or three times a minute.
Wait what. What "charm" are you going on about? He's creepy weird. In fact, he's "[s]inister. Almost inhuman." Okay. Calling it now. Frollo is actually a Cyberman.
dramatic cut to Frollo
He is posing provocatively by the window, gazing out over the city skyline. Evilly. Down at our duo presumably. He then reputs the circuits in his gun drawer and reveals a . . . well.
You know those cartoons about The Red Button? Well, that's what Frollo has on his wall. It opens a secret passage in his wall. Inside that alcove is what I assume to be Cyberman tech. It is a little annoying that I know that the villains are cybermen I admit because it removes some of the mystery.
Okay. I think that egg-shaped thingy has roughly Cyberman shaped edges to it. Ominous.
Cue the scream and credits!
Preview thoughts: None today. And Lorry Driver has no name sadly.
Best Moment: Jamie is so sassy! But I also liked the badass nature of the Lorry Driver.
Worst Moment: Zoe's marvellous 'were they firing the rocket at us' moment.
Best Special Effect: First, a cheat: the entire episode because without it we’d be missing an episode, even if it’s not the best CG I’ve seen. Also, because of this I can't really pick a best effect either. What I am baffled by is that this was made
in 2005!
Worst Special Effect: First, a cheat: the entire episode because it removed some of the charms (or kitsch value) of
Classic Doctor Who. And really, despite the fact that this was animated in 2005 the quality isn't all that good.
Don't get me wrong, it's still better than no
Who, but I'm eternally creeped out by those misshapen fish hands and the inflexibility of the hair.
Best Actor: Eh. It was a radio play really. But Jamie. Um. What's his name? Frazer Hines! And Patrick Troughton!
Worst Actor: That one dude in the car in the plaza who wasn't the driver. What? There were a lot of really good, or just plain hammy performances and I felt they really fit the story.
Most Punchable Character: Give me a Zee!
Death Count: One! A very violent one!
Kink of the Episode: Jamie. I’m sorry, but he’s Scottish and has a lovely accent and has a kilt and I’m fairly sure that if this was an IRL episode rather than CG he’d be so much nicer.
Do you think Jamie’s a redhead?! That would be amazing.
And Miss Legs. I don't even know what her real name is.
Thoughts overall?
The CG is really weird. It certainly takes some time getting used to, and I can’t help but imagine how tricky it must have been for the artists to reconstruct this episode based on recordings, scripts, telesnaps and the like.
Kudos to them.
But overall? I'm really looking forward to this serial. It's tightly written and without my exterior knowledge that there are Cybermen in this serial I'd probably have no idea who was behind everything. Most likely because I'd have missed the Cyberegg looking cybery.
I love Jamie, Zoe is a
girl and annoying, and Two is . . . different. Good different. He's rather . . . nervous and perhaps a bit timid (I think) and definitely introspective which is a good thing I think. He's definitely interesting and I think will grow on me quickly.
And his relationship with Jamie (in whatever capacity) is truly wonderful! I don't know how long they been together at this point but their interactions are really lovely. Adorable even.
Can't really say much else because I've seen maybe an eighth of the serial entirely. But this is a very good and intriguing introduction to the serial. And the accidental jokes amuse me.
Re: Doctor Who thread II: "I should have a hat like that." [SPOILERS]
Originally Posted by V'icternus
Bathatar!
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