Crossing the Streams

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Jul 022012
 

News came forth from Mount Moffat today that (Dame) Diana Rigg will be appearing in an episode in the back half of Season 7.  At the risk of using words like 'nerd-gasm' this is a callback to long, long ago days when everything British in terms of entertainment was fascinating and absorbing.  For this fan the 'gateway drug' into these Bundles from Britain was not Doctor Who but rather The Avengers.  

As anyone reading these pages should already know, Rigg appeared as the luminous Emma Peel from 1965-67 during the high-water for this series, or perhaps any British series ever (hyperbole intended) bringing effortless style, charm, and sex appeal all at the same time.

Dame Diana will be appearing alongside her daughter Rachael Stirling and acting together for the first time.  It's probably not an accident that they are a package deal but who cares!  Now if they could find a way to get Patrick McGoohan to appear in the series (which would be quite a trick considering he's dead) then my fan-life would be complete.

Matt Smith's choice of head gear to the left…. probably not an accident.

 Posted by at 5:00 pm

Section Leader Extraordinaire

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Jun 212012
 

Word filtered down today June 21st that Caroline John, Jon Pertwee's first companion, died earlier this month on June 5th.  The sad reality of course is that many of the beloved people on both sides of the camera who were responsible for so much of this show we adore are getting up there in age.  Only three Doctors have died to date, but it at least seems that, just as we are doing today, we're having remembrances of Nick Courtney and Elizabeth Sladen and now Caroline John with increasing frequency. 

Regular readers of the Tour know that we hold the seventh season back in 1970 in very high esteem.  And as different as Jon Pertwee was to Patrick Troughton, it was the introduction of Liz Shaw instead of a more typical 60's companion which really put a more mature sheen on the program and set a template future companions would in some ways emulate.

Use Caroline John's passing as an excuse to visit/revisit these stories and see for yourself what a truly crucial and groundbreaking season it was (especially in the case of Inferno).  Spearhead from Space is the "most" unique story in classic Who.  The Silurians was gritty and ambitious in scope.  The Ambassadors of Death was weird, slow, and wonderful.  Inferno is simply a top-ten all time story.

Thanx Caroline.

 Posted by at 6:38 pm

Doin’ the Polo Hop

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Feb 292012
 

Today we celebrate the 12th Anniversary of possibly the most unusual episode of Doctor Who in the program's history.  12th Anniversary you say?  The math simply doesn't work in the context of nu-Who doesn't it?  On February 29th, 1964 episode 2 of the William Hartnell historical Marco Polo entitled "The Singing Sands" was broadcast for the first and only time on BBC1. 

Sure Mission to the Unknown has the distinction of being the only recognized single-episode story in the classic canon, but this one is the only episode to have been put out on leap day itself, so technically we honor it's 12th anniversary today.

Marco Polo is often cited as one of the most desired stories which are incomplete (or in this case completely missing) in the BBC Archives.  Looking at the Tour's gallery for the story it's easy to see why.  It looked simply sumptuous and, having listened to the audio for the story a few years back, would have been a great example of early Doctor Who at it's best.

 Posted by at 1:00 am

11 by 7 bye bypass

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Feb 242012
 

Doctor Who Season 7 spoilers!

  • The Doctor is to gain a new companion called Liz. Sources suggest she’s a scientist.
  • The Silurians make an appearance.
  • UNIT, who we encountered in the new series in The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky, employ the Doctor as a scientific adviser.
  • Becoming stranded on Earth, the Doctor gets a car called Bessie.
  • There’s an astronaut or two in this series, as well.
  • As for boring into the Earth, somebody’s got further than they did in Wales in Series 5…

Can't claim this is original having found it on tumblr.  Don't know about you, but I was more than halfway through it before I caught the joke (Must have been a long day.  Sure it was.).  It's in part a measure of how long this gap is between seasons that any, ANY scrap of information, is dissected six ways to Sunday.

Still it's an excuse to think a bit about a truly crucial and groundbreaking season (especially in the case of Inferno).  Spearhead from Space is the "most" unique story in classic Who.  The Silurians was gritty and ambitious in scope.  The Ambassadors of Death was weird, slow, and wonderful.  And Inferno is simply a top-ten all time story.  During this long gap, take an afternoon and indulge in one of these beauties.

 Posted by at 4:21 pm

Come on Down to the Kraal Corral

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Jan 152012
 

For fans of a "certain age" here in the U.S. "our Doctor," as the saying goes, is no surprise, Tom Baker.  Ol' Scarf Boy.  So it's with some interest when one of the stories of one of the classic series golden eras, namely Seasons 13 and 14, finally comes to DVD. 

We've made mention on these pages before about neglected gems, stories which, through no fault of their own, get outshone by more celebrated neighboring tales (we often cite Planet of Fire as an example of this). 

The Android Invasion is part of a string of great stories which begin with Terror of the Zygons and runs all the way The Talons of Weng Chiang so it's kind of easy, especially directly following The Pyramids of Mars, to overlook this little gem.  Terry Nation has only two non-Dalek stories in his Doctor Who resume, the other being The Keys of Marinus for William Hartnell, but this story boasts some of the best Tom/Lis interaction in their time together.

Watching this story once again, as has been remarked upon here before, is like an afternoon with an old friend.  We'll be posting some stills and a set of vastly improved caps from this story in the near future, but if you've got a fellow fan who's somewhat dismissive of the classic series, preferring the new to the old, you could do a lot worse in stating your case than sitting down for The Android Invasion.

 Posted by at 5:12 pm
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