The Classic Non Chibby Doctor Who thread

[Dunemoon]

Welcome. The goal is to discuss Classic Who and non Chibby Who. As such, Eccleston is a better Doctor in Big Finish as opposed to the BBC.

[Aclea]

[Aclea]

I'll start the ball rolling with a Bluray set rewatch...



The Masque of Mandragora is one of those classic era stories that seems to have an odd effect on the series’ fans. Those who undervalued it on a first viewing have tended to react far more favourably to its DVD release while those liked it first time round have been slightly underwhelmed on renewing its acquaintance. Not that it doesn’t have a lot going for it. One of the increasingly rare ‘historical’ adventures in Tom Baker’s tenure, it’s a comparatively lavish one thanks to plenty of location filming that saw Portmeirion in Wales standing in rather well for Renaissance Italy. The locations are particularly well used, looking so different from their most famous onscreen appearance that they never once evoke memories of Patrick McGoohan, blazers and bicycles. It’s got a clever hook too, with an energy force stowing away in the TARDIS and travelling to Earth to stop the Renaissance dead in its tracks and keep mankind in the dark ages of superstition and barbarity so that they won’t extend their malign influence into space. Throw in plenty of plotting, revolting peasants and an underground cult of pagan worshippers to raise the stakes for its battle between the forces of reason, enlightenment and progress and the regressive armies of self-interest, ignorance and cruelty and it’s the perfect battleground for a Time Lord at the peak of his powers. The first episode even ends with a great double cliffhanger that sees the Doctor about to be executed by a corrupt Duke and Sarah about to be sacrificed by a cult at the same time. And yet it’s never quite as good as it promises to be.

The larger cast of supporting characters have more to do than usual in a Doctor Who story but aren’t really given quite enough that’s interesting to do, the Mandragora Helix’s nature is only vaguely defined and the stunt doubling during the riding scenes is also less than impressive – it takes more than a curly wig, a scarf and being shot from behind to pass off a stuntman as Tom Baker (

[Show spoiler]

) – but they at least manage to add to the charm. More unfortunately, the plotting becomes rather lazy in the final episode, with the script failing to provide much of an ending with a somewhat perfunctory finale that explains so little of just how our hero vanquishes his foe that you almost expect him to say “Trust me, I’m a Doctor.” Although the making of documentary included on the disc does put the blame firmly on the budget, it’s more a failure of imagination than funding.

Still, the disc is another good package, carrying over DVD legacy features (a good behind the scenes documentary, a featurette revisiting the Portmeirion locations and a surprisingly funny stream-of-consciousness spoof featurette linking the story’s broadcast to the end of the 1976 drought and the death of Mao and featuring a clockwork toy Engels, alongside the usual audio commentary, stills gallery and onscreen trivia track, but not the TARDIS featurette, which was particularly appropriate for the story that introduced the Victorian-style wood panel alternate control room) alongside new ones (Nationwide interview with Elisabeth Sladen; 1976 radio interview with Tom Baker; audio adventure The Pescatons and Behind the Sofa gogglerbox with Baker, Jamieson and Hinchcliffe).

Sadly the downside is that the picture quality on the Blu is a bit disappointing, like most titles on the Series 14 set (Deadly Assassin was the only one I noticed a small improvement on the DVD). I understand the limitations of tape but not being able to revisit the 16mm film location work was very noticeably underwhelming, especially on Mandragora (which should have looked gorgeous) and Talons. The new extras are the main reason to upgrade for me.

[Dunemoon]

Originally Posted by Aclea

I'll start the ball rolling with a Bluray set rewatch...



The Masque of Mandragora is one of those classic era stories that seems to have an odd effect on the series’ fans. Those who undervalued it on a first viewing have tended to react far more favourably to its DVD release while those liked it first time round have been slightly underwhelmed on renewing its acquaintance. Not that it doesn’t have a lot going for it. One of the increasingly rare ‘historical’ adventures in Tom Baker’s tenure, it’s a comparatively lavish one thanks to plenty of location filming that saw Portmeirion in Wales standing in rather well for Renaissance Italy. The locations are particularly well used, looking so different from their most famous onscreen appearance that they never once evoke memories of Patrick McGoohan, blazers and bicycles. It’s got a clever hook too, with an energy force stowing away in the TARDIS and travelling to Earth to stop the Renaissance dead in its tracks and keep mankind in the dark ages of superstition and barbarity so that they won’t extend their malign influence into space. Throw in plenty of plotting, revolting peasants and an underground cult of pagan worshippers to raise the stakes for its battle between the forces of reason, enlightenment and progress and the regressive armies of self-interest, ignorance and cruelty and it’s the perfect battleground for a Time Lord at the peak of his powers. The first episode even ends with a great double cliffhanger that sees the Doctor about to be executed by a corrupt Duke and Sarah about to be sacrificed by a cult at the same time. And yet it’s never quite as good as it promises to be.

The larger cast of supporting characters have more to do than usual in a Doctor Who story but aren’t really given quite enough that’s interesting to do, the Mandragora Helix’s nature is only vaguely defined and the stunt doubling during the riding scenes is also less than impressive – it takes more than a curly wig, a scarf and being shot from behind to pass off a stuntman as Tom Baker (

[Show spoiler]

) – but they at least manage to add to the charm. More unfortunately, the plotting becomes rather lazy in the final episode, with the script failing to provide much of an ending with a somewhat perfunctory finale that explains so little of just how our hero vanquishes his foe that you almost expect him to say “Trust me, I’m a Doctor.” Although the making of documentary included on the disc does put the blame firmly on the budget, it’s more a failure of imagination than funding.

Still, the disc is another good package, carrying over DVD legacy features (a good behind the scenes documentary, a featurette revisiting the Portmeirion locations and a surprisingly funny stream-of-consciousness spoof featurette linking the story’s broadcast to the end of the 1976 drought and the death of Mao and featuring a clockwork toy Engels, alongside the usual audio commentary, stills gallery and onscreen trivia track, but not the TARDIS featurette, which was particularly appropriate for the story that introduced the Victorian-style wood panel alternate control room) alongside new ones (Nationwide interview with Elisabeth Sladen; 1976 radio interview with Tom Baker; audio adventure The Pescatons and Behind the Sofa gogglerbox with Baker, Jamieson and Hinchcliffe).

Sadly the downside is that the picture quality on the Blu is a bit disappointing, like most titles on the Series 14 set (Deadly Assassin was the only one I noticed a small improvement on the DVD). I understand the limitations of tape but not being able to revisit the 16mm film location work was very noticeably underwhelming, especially on Mandragora (which should have looked gorgeous) and Talons. The new extras are the main reason to upgrade for me.

Remember quality posts like the one above?

[AnnThrope]

Originally Posted by Dunemoon

Remember quality posts like the one above?

Yep i do indeed.
And it was silly bickering and arguments and pointless aggro that drove him away.
And I'm as guilty as anyone else for such nonsense.
What is it about Dr Who fans that we're always b*i*t*c*hing?
I guess we've never really left the playground a lot of us. Which is good in some ways ("There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes" and all that) but not good with the silly squabbling.
And again I'm as guilty as anyone else.

Anyway, Aclea's fine and he's still posting and it's all still quality stuff.
This is happening.....elsewhere...... (mysterious owls hoot)
.....yes, he's crossed over into.....
serling.jpg


(he hasn't really)

[Dunemoon]

Originally Posted by AnnThrope

Yep i do indeed.
And it was silly bickering and arguments and pointless aggro that drove him away.
And I'm as guilty as anyone else for such nonsense.
What is it about Dr Who fans that we're always b*i*t*c*hing?
I guess we've never really left the playground a lot of us. Which is good in some ways ("There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes" and all that) but not good with the silly squabbling.
And again I'm as guilty as anyone else.

Anyway, Aclea's fine and he's still posting and it's all still quality stuff.
This is happening.....elsewhere...... (mysterious owls hoot)
.....yes, he's crossed over into.....
Attachment 279793


(he hasn't really)

It might also be due to the threat of being permanently banned. The members who caused that hardly even post in this thread anymore. If they do it’s only to mention the Modern Era. Guess they got what they wanted.

[frankrizzo13]

Originally Posted by AnnThrope

Yep i do indeed.
And it was silly bickering and arguments and pointless aggro that drove him away.
And I'm as guilty as anyone else for such nonsense.
What is it about Dr Who fans that we're always b*i*t*c*hing?

You have nothing to feel guilty about, I've never seen an unreasonable comment from you. You're one of the people I respect on this thread.

The tattletales owe everyone here an apology (everyone who hasn't left that is) for getting the other thread nuked but they're still in the denial phase.

[Pondosinatra]

Originally Posted by Dunemoon

Remember quality posts like the one above?

[Show spoiler]

Hmmmm. Love me some Sarah Jane...

[Dunemoon]

Originally Posted by Pondosinatra

Hmmmm. Love me some Sarah Jane...

[BluBonnet]

Originally Posted by Pondosinatra

Hmmmm. Love me some Sarah Jane...

Did you ever watch her show?

[Dunemoon]

[Dunemoon]

Waiting for Sep 21 and the final Seventh Doctor set. In the interim, I'm feeling like a Pertwee story.

[Aclea]

Although I'm just old enough for Troughton to be my first Doctor - one of my very first memories is the Yeti walking down the mountain in The Abominable Snowmen, which stuck in my mind because the location was so similar to a hill we passed on the way to our house that I always looked out for Yeti there as a kid - Pertwee and Baker (T) are my Doctors and for my money the strongest era of the series.

[Dunemoon]

Cool. More Ninth Doctor on Big Finish.

https://nerdvanamedia.com/television...eries2/153699/

[Aclea]

Price drop promotions on Classic Doctor Who discs at UK outlets:

https://www.rarewaves.com/collection...ource=omnisend

https://store.hmv.com/store/film-tv/...-who-promotion

[Dunemoon]

[Spasmo]

Thank god, a sane Doctor Who thread.

[Dunemoon]

Originally Posted by Spasmo

Thank god, a sane Doctor Who thread.

This is the goal.

[Dunemoon]

One more week

[JohnnyF]

Weird that McCoy’s first series was announced in January and it’s been silence since then regarding future season sets. I was hoping we’d get a third set this year. Damn you, pandemic!