What Who Are You Currently Watching? - Part the Third

[Jon Masters]

Having an empty house this afternoon, I've finally got round to watching Night Terrors, Girl who Waited and God Complex.

Might finally finish series 6 tonight....

[Antony Cox]

You disappoint me, Jon! I thought you'd be busy typing...

[Dino]

Just finished Resurrection Of The Daleks.

Some seriously crap dialogue, embarrassing deaths from Dalek blasts and as end stories go, Tegan didn't actually do all that much!
The extras are wonderful though.

[Anthony Williams]

...and tonight, we finished off The Abominable Snowmen.

Next up: The Ice Warriors. YAY!

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

The Sarah Jane Adventures: Death of the Doctor

K-9 and Company: A Girl's Best Friend

[Simon R]

We watched "K9 and Company" yesterday to mark it's 30th. The pace really picks up towards the end even with Sarah spending a whole day driving a short distance to a few churches.

We are currently watching "Revenge of The Ronald Leigh Hunt" to mark 25 years since I got it on cass-ette and last week we did "Timelashes" and "Planet of Evil". We genuinely enjoyed the former much more than the latter despite some dreadful dialogue.

[Anthony Williams]

We did One and Two of The Ice Warriors on Thursday night, I think...

then this afternoon, we did Three and Four.

POWERING THROUGH THIS STORY!

[Nyder]

Have arrived back at Chez Nyder. The plan for the day is me, sofabed and Day Of The Daleks (souped up version) and of course, Sherlock later!

[duncan]

The last couple of days have been spent with the Dr Who weekend on the TV coutesey of Watch. They've shown the whole of series 4 and the specials. The Waters of Mars is on as I type.

[Andrew Curnow]

We caught much of The End of Time part 2.... I notice that somebody (presumably some guy with a stopwatch at Watch) has made some cuts to it. Various bits trimmed from the 'long farewell' sequence at the end, which may be no great loss - but also the Doctor's big rage scene inbetween Wilf knocking four times and the Doctor letting him out. I'm not sure messrs Davies & Tennant would approve if they knew!!

[duncan]

Yes, we noticed that too. The lottery ticket was cut out too when he went to see Donna getting Married.

[Anthony Williams]

And we did Five and Six of The Ice Warriors this afternoon. Not exactly one of the better ones of Season 5...

[Anthony Williams]

And we continue to power through Season Five, by doing Episode 1 of The Enemy of The World this evening!

[Andrew Curnow]

Any minute now (and how appropriate!) I shall be watching Castrovalva part 2. But first, to the toaster!

[Antony Cox]

Been catching up on various DVD releases which I received as Christmas presents.

The Mutants
I haven’t seen this for about 15 years, and on viewing it again I can see I haven’t missed much. The premise for the story is excellent, but it goes on for far too long and thus I lost interest fairly quickly. The production values are fairly typical of the period, but the model work wasn’t very good in the first place and could have done with a CGI refresh, I think. For all the criticism of Garrick Hagon I actually thought he was pretty good in the role of Ky – I’m not sure what all the fuss is about!

The Ark
Again, I haven’t watched this story for well over a decade, the last time being the very ropey Nth generation copy I used to have on VHS. Another interesting story but not well realised. Also, the guest cast performances are at best hammy (the Guardians) and at worst atrocious (The Monoids). The second half should on paper be the better half but the Monoid performances and lazy narrative let it down badly.

The Creature From The Pit
Yet another which I haven’t seen for about 15 years, and this one I hardly remember so is almost like watching for the first time. I really enjoyed the opening episode, particularly the rich jungle scenes and the period sets in Adrasta’s house/palace. However, the plot seems to be delivered far too quickly and thus the last three episodes are just dull and repetitive. I very much enjoyed the Christopher Barry retrospective on the DVD; he’s the only directors I can think of who worked right at the start of the series until relatively late on, thus saw all the advances in TV production through the ‘eyes’ of DW (as well as a host of other shows, obviously).

[Si Hunt]

Why is Ant doing a marathon of stories he doesn't like?

We watched "Galaxy Four - Trap of Steel". It has highlights, but it's a very slow episode and there is mountains of talking. It feels very old fashioned. The perky main cast and a great cliffhanger cheer it up.

Si.

[Stuart Wallis]

Why is Ant doing a marathon of stories he doesn't like?

Can you get frog pills in the US?

[Si Hunt]

"Airlock". Not often we sit and watch a recon of an episode that exists. Lovely CGI Rill!

Si.

[Rob McCow]

Like The Sensorites, I reckon that Galaxy 4 has more of a 1950's feel to it than most other Hartnell stories. So it does feel very old fashioned, even compared with the stories around it.

[Antony Cox]

Why is Ant doing a marathon of stories he doesn't like?

Si.

Because I NEED to watch them again, and I've never had my own copies to watch.

Like you, I find some enjoyment in most episodes, though I still find it hard to sit through the whole of Battlefield - I gave up after one episode the last time I tried!

[Si Hunt]

Is it a story that polarises like no other? I think it's great, a really summary story. And the only Doctor Who season to begin with an old couple pottering about a garden centre. Hook 'em in!

Si.

[Antony Cox]

Is it a story that polarises like no other? I think it's great, a really summary story. And the only Doctor Who season to begin with an old couple pottering about a garden centre. Hook 'em in!

Si.

All that I agree with, but there's also so much of it that it so utterly cringeworthy (mostly some of Sylvester's performance) that I just cannot watch it - it's awful.

I would easily rate Timelash above it, though I must admit that I haven't seen Paradise Towers for years so I'm not sure wherher that's better or worse...

[Si Hunt]

I seem to have this disease where-by I adapt my viewing perspective to find any level of good or bad palatable. When it gets crap-bad I start finding it funny and view it as a comedy instead. About the only middle ground I don't like is when Doctor Who gets dull. I'd rather it be shoddy and therefore funny than dull I think.

Si.

[Antony Cox]

Meglos
Yet another which I’ve almost watched anew due to the many years since I’ve last seen it, and that was pretty much my first ever viewing. I’m quite surprised at the slating which the story generally gets as I quite enjoyed it overall. Granted, it’s not a classic and it’s probably the worst of Season 18, but it’s not all that bad! The plot skips along nicely and the performances are reasonable enough – I would say the chap playing Zasta is perhaps the least capable actor but that’s probably being a little harsh. The scene-synch work is very good indeed, and testament to that fact that the relative age and sophistication of the technology still puts the results barely noticeably apart from modern techniques. Though it doesn’t let the story down overall, the worst bit is the awful scene where Lexa is killed which was so obviously an afterthought tagged on at the last minute. It’s feebly acted and no-one seems to show any real emotion towards her death, and the whole (albeit short) scene sticks out like a sore thumb in what is otherwise a reasonable story.

[Dino]

Carnival Of Monsters

Really loved the Five Faces of Doctor Who advert as an extra. Almost five minutes! I forgot when the BBC used to have adverts that long. I'll make it through the second disc tomorrow. But... what exactly was the difference with the Directors "intended" episode ending?
Looking forward to watching it with the commentary as... well Cheryl Hall's rather cute.