What Who Are You Currently Watching? - Goes Fourth.

[Andrew Curnow]

Night Terrors.

We're sometimes a bit hard on Mark Gatiss, but by golly what a cracker of an episode. No River, no arc-y faff, just a gorgeous, small-scale, scary & funny & surprising & intriguing episode - and for yer fanboy, its little nods to Paradise Towers and the Celestial Toymaker only add to an already full mix. Even the direction is top-notch.

[Nyder]

Invasion of the Dinosaurs. I've never seen this before. Hope I won't get thrown off PS for saying that There's only a few classic Whos I've never seen. One of the others is The War Games. Yes I know, I'm a very bad fan


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[Andrew Curnow]

Never seen The War Games!!! To it at once, Dave (well, as soon as you've done the Dinos anyway).

[Nyder]

Talking of the Dinos - I'm mightily impressed with the sound of them - really scary! Okay they don't look great, but hey - I'd have been scared by them as a kid way back then


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[Si Hunt]

"The Ark".

Rather a fan of this one. The Monoids are so funny.

"Won't it take a while to bring all the humans to Refusis?" asks Dodo.
"It might take longer than you THINK!" cackles the Monoid.
"What do you mean?" she replies suspiciously.
"Er... er... nothing!" he replies sheepishly, having given away the whole plan.

And bloody hell, all the humans are locked in the Security Kitchen, complete presumably with knives and implements. Even if they don't poison the Monoids, why can't they overcome them with a rolling pin or a swift lug from some barbecue tongs?

Si.

[Stuart Wallis]

It's strange; the monoids seem a bit creepy in the first half of the story, give or take the hair, but after the half-time oranges, they become quite fun with some OTT hand movements.

"So they haven't got lights like the Daleks to let the viewers know who's speaking - I know...!"

[Andrew Curnow]

Having just picked up the DVD, I've started on The Reign of Terror - as far as I can recall, I've only ever seen it once before, back in the very early 90s, and then heard the whole thing once on the BBC CD...

Two things struck me about part one: first is that there's an expectation that the audience will know the gist of the French Revolution, so that such things as the bolshy soldier not taking orders from the sergeant, and the speech about "you may give them weapons but they remain peasants" aren't explained; and second, the end shot as the camera pans up with the flames into the night sky is tremendously impressive.

Can't wait for (a) the hat and (b) the alleged Ronald Pickup, in later episodes!

[Stuart Wallis]

Ah, waiting for the legendary Loch Ness Pickup I see!

I'll rephrase that...

[Andrew Curnow]

Elsewhen, while still waiting for a Pick(me)up, I've done part 2, in which our noble, pacific hero knocks down a foreman with a shovel - and in which while Barbara & Susan are locked up in the Conciergerie prison poor Ian is condemned to film.

And this morning, I got to The Girl Who Waited in my season 6 second stab. These 'standaloners' (like last week's Night Terrors and next week's 'The One With The Hotel') are much more my thing, and I'd forgotten most of this ep since 2011. I'd particularly forgotten that (a) other than some robots & some voicework, only the three (four?) regulars appear in this one; and (b) how very very good Karen Gillan is.

[Nyder]

Just bought The War Games on eBay for £3 - I'll be able to hold my head high on this forum again soon


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[SiHart]

We watched The Time Warrior on Friday night. That was to hearld in a late Pertwee/ Early Tom watch, but, we weren't feeling it, so we're going to do either UpDown or Blake's 7 instead.

[Paul Clement]

Been watching with Aidan recently. So far we've got through Planet of the Daleks, Sontaran Experiment and Visitation. Aidan's chosen Trial of a Timelord as the next Sixth Doctor story.

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[Andrew Curnow]

The Wedding of River Song. Although I'm not a huge fan of season six, I think the finale is extraordinary. Even River doesn't put a dampener on it!

[Stuart Wallis]

The Reign Of Terror - appropriately! - which, by coincidence, I was going to watch at the same time as Andrew; then I realised I hadn't bought it yet... Absent-mindedness in the face of forward planning - that's possibly why I haven't conquered the world yet...

I've slowly grown to like the fact that each of the commentaries on the first five episodes doesn't appear elsewhere (unless they all come down the stairs pantomine-fashion during episode six...).

[SiHart]

We're on Exillon tonight for Death to the Daleks

[Stuart Wallis]

The Creature From The Pit. There's a fair bit going for it if you can get past the I'll Do Anything section for Fagins (whatever were they thinking of!), "We call it the Pit" followed by "We call it the Creature", Erato (whatever were they etc. etc.?) and Terry Walsh being hired more for his stunting than his acting. Myra Frances looking and dressing like Lady Gaga, with Eileen Way and a bloke in leathers and a whip as her Little Monsters (still trying to forget the large green one!); Lalla nowhere near as bad as she thinks she is in it; Tom nowhere near as bad as he'd like to be; and Geoffrey Bayldon. Where's his OBE?

[Andrew Curnow]

Yay, praise for Creature, and quite right too. Superb cliffhangers too, especially part three


For m'self, for only the second time ever and for the first time in colour, I'm watching The Ambassadors OF DEATH. It has that same air and feel as its other 7 part friends from that year, and I'm greatly enjoying it. Last night was part 3, and Liz's oversized hat made her overbalance and fall over the weir! Oh no!

[Nyder]

The Romans

Didn't Ian & Barbara make a wonderful couple!


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[duncan]

I'm off of work at the moment so I have revisited series 5 to see if I can enjoy it any better. The next story to watch is Amy's Choice

[MacNimon]

What are your thoughts so far, Duncan? I remember that you were not in the slightest bit impressed at the time. Series 5 easily remains my favourite Smith season, though...with the exception of a few odd episodes, his first season was the best part of his tenure imo.

[Paul Clement]

Aidan and I have watched Revelation of the Daleks and Silver Nemesis.

[Leah Betts]

Is The Space Museum one of the rare DW's apart from Planet of Fire, Death to the Daleks and Paradise Towers to show a character in a swimming costume or swimsuit?


(isn't it "swimming costume" for boys and "swimsuit" for girls?)

[Dirk Gently]

Swimsuit or swimming costume for girls & budgie smugglers for blokes.

[Stuart Wallis]

Aha! after mentioning Planet Of Fire it was only a matter of time...

[duncan]

What are your thoughts so far, Duncan? I remember that you were not in the slightest bit impressed at the time. Series 5 easily remains my favourite Smith season, though...with the exception of a few odd episodes, his first season was the best part of his tenure imo.

I still don't like The Eleventh Hour as I think that and everything else in the season is way below the standards set by Moffat under RTD. I think I under rated The Beast Below at the time as I enjoyed that a lot more this time around. I still like Victory of the Daleks and the following two parter with the Weeping Angels. The Vampires of Venice is blah and Amy's Choice is still one of my favourites of the season. I have also watched the Silurian two parter today and very much enjoyed it. Next up is another favourite of the season, Vincent and the Doctor.

All in all, I think I would rate the season as a whole better than I did at the time of broadcast but it's still my least favourite of the new series so far.