Ever done a Tom-a-thon?

[Toothy Grin]

Don't take much notice of companions' outfits to be honest (unless it's especially revealing!).
Genesis of the Daleks is a story I've seen so many times I could probably recount the script backwards, but it's still one of the most gripping stories in the series and well deserving of it's "classic" reputation. Easily the best thing Terry Nation ever wrote for Dr Who, there's a sense of genuine danger in this and Davros is a superb creation, played chillingly by Michael Wisher, the ultimate Davros. Nyder is also highly memorable and the **** overtones add a sinister air to the story. Interesting how little the Daleks actually feature in this story. The Doctor's confrontation with Davros is a real classic moment as is his "have I the right?" scene. In fact, Genesis of the Daleks is possibly thedefinitive Dr Who story. The performances are all magnificent, the pace never drags, the direction and music are perfect - what more can I say?

[Toothy Grin]

In case anyone's wondering, the asterisked word in my review was the name of those naughty people who worked for Adolf Hitler during the second world war - for some reason I am unable to have that word published. Not sure why as it's purely in a historical context.

[Wonkakid]

...
Genesis of the Daleks is a story I've seen so many times I could probably recount the script backwards, but it's still one of the most gripping stories in the series and well deserving of it's "classic" reputation. Easily the best thing Terry Nation ever wrote for Dr Who...

Quite agree. One of the best. If not *the* best. I have others that I like a lot but this one takes the scarf. I mean cake.

[Captain Rum]

I tend to watch a year's worth of Classic Who over the course of a week, one story per night. I've got all of the dvds from Tom-Colin's Doctor as that was the time I watched it all the time as a kid-teen. When it's been a stressful day I love to put on a Classic Who dvd and listen to the commentary via headphones and have the subtitles on...it makes you feel like you're in the room as they commentate

Maybe next time I'll do it while also crouching behind my sofa......

[Toothy Grin]

Revenge of the Cybermen is next in line. (Isn't revenge an emotion? Aren't the Cybermen supposed to be devoid of emotions?) Well, that's just one little niggle in a story jampacked with them. Introducing gold as a weakness for the cybermen just lessens the threat of them, but when you have a planet that contains an abundance of gold, where almost everything is made of gold surely the cybermen would avoid it like the plague? And yet two cybermen appear to be able to gun down half the vogan army (why aren't the vogan's bullets made of gold??).
The Cyberleader in this story is probably the worst ever seen, with his strange south african accent (what is it with season 12 and south african accents??) and his very emotional body language (strutting around with hands on hips). At one point he appears to be giving the Doctor some kind of swedish massage!
Reusing the sets from the Ark in Space seems like a cheap cop-out and for some reason they don't look as good. Nice to see the Cybermats return, althoug a shame that characters have to hug them to make it look like they're attacking. The filming in Wookey hole caves is quite nice, but the incidental music is atrocious. Acting is pretty iffy too. At least Tom is on fine form, but Revenge of the Cybermen is easily the first below par story in Tom's era and the weakest of season 12.

[MCH]

In destiny of the daleks what was the point of male and female androids?

[Toothy Grin]

Up to Terror of the Zygons now. Interesting that every story from Robot to this one follows directly on from each other, a trend that wouldn't really happen again until the 80's. Zygons is almost a Doctor Who cliche, with scary aliens trying to take over the earth, dopplegangers and the like, but it's also got "classic" written all over it. LIke The Green Death patronized the welsh, Zygons portrayal of Scotland is like an American's view of the place - bagpipes, people wanting to eat haggis, superstitious locals etc. Even though not filmed in Scotland, you'd wouldn't think it as the location filming is very realistic. The Zygons are one of the best alien races created for Dr Who and it's very surprising (and disappointing) that we've never seen them again since. ALos the last time we'll see the dear old Brigadier for quite some time, but great that his last regular appearance is a good one in an excellent story. Tom is absolutely spellbinding in this, the scene where he hypnotizes Sarah shows just how alien he can be. Love the Zygons ship too with it's melted pizzas everwhere!
Overall, Zygons is creepy, atmospheric classic stuff!

[tch]

Writers of the new series should look at Tom's first series as an example of how to have a bunch of episodes with a running sub-plot and not have it take over. There's a story arc, but the episodes stand alone and the story arc never feels intrusive or shoe-horned in.

I love the Smith/Moffatt era, but the 128 loose plot threads are making me crazy.

[Toothy Grin]

So true, tch, so true...
Well another day , another story. Now I've reached Planet of Evil, amazingly after over a year in the role this was the first time we get to see Tom inside the TARDIS! I've always thought that Tom works that console better than any other Doctor - he just makes it look so natural!
The story itself clearly owes a big debt to Forbidden Planet, but the set design for Zeta Minor is so fantastic that it hardly matters. The jungle set is quite simply the most alien looking and best realised planet ever seen in the show. Shame that the sets for the Morestran spaceship are so cheap and minimal looking by comparison. There's a real sense of menace to this story that makes it a real "behind the sofa" job, and although the make up for the anti-man Sorenson is rather poor, the savagery that the actor conveys compensates for this. Hard to believe that someone as unstable as Salamar would be put in command but seeing him descend into madness is quite entertaining. I really enjoyed Planet of Evil, it's something of an overlooked gem with some really tense scenes, good performances and an alien planet that still looks remarkable today.
One question: Why does Tom suddenly decide to remove his scarf at the start of episode 2 and go scarfless for the rest of the story? And how does he get it back??

[Krono's]

In destiny of the daleks what was the point of male and female androids?

What's that got to do with this thread? Besides, we don't know the TRUE origins of the Movellans!

Planet Of Evil is one I will have to struggle & wait to watch another month from now. This gorgeous piece of 70's, BBC, Sc-Fi nostalgia, with its beautiful alien jungle & groovy Morestran spaceship should be enjoyed on a winters evening!

I've done allday Doctor Who marathons in the past, with diffrent Doctors & plenty of beer