Problem with the Cybermen though is that they don't really work well as henchmen.  They need to be the main driver in the story and not be alongside or subserviant to another Big Bad.  It didn't work in The Next Doctor alongside Miss Hartigan and it sure as heck doesn't work in Silver Nemesis when 80's Neo-Nazis and Elizabethan characters and Cartmelian Doctor Darkening are thrown into the mix.  

Maybe, maybe, is the story had been allowed to breathe into a fourth episode (a now common Tour complaint for McCoy 3-parters) it could've worked.  As it is it's a jumble, one which hopefully rambles along fast enough to keep the unwary at bay.  Tonally it tries to be more Remembrance of the Daleks than either of the odder-balls on either side, but it's also indicative of the overall shift from the daffiness of Season 24 and the consistency of Season 26.

The caps added today are pure addition for the Tour.  Who knows what next weeks will be?

It's a tribute to Caroline John how well her 'Section Leader Shaw' squared off in intellect and reserved cool against both Pertwee and Nick Courtney when the whole world was crumbling around them.  At seven episodes the story still seems taut and never flags, even if some of the interpersonal dealings, especially with Stahlman, did after awhile seem repetitious.

With seven episodes to cap Inferno is also, from an image management perspective, something of a rule breaker.  There are a lot of caps, and as has been the case of late, these captures do represent a significant improvement in quality as well, though at times the video quality varies considerably from episode to episode.

Thanx once again Caroline.  I wonder what next week's cap addition will be?

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.

These movements of characters both into and out of the program are inflection points upon which endless discussions turn.  Amy and Rory leaving?  Doctor Who will never be same again!  

Now you get it.  And we'll be okay.  I hope.  Remember Eldrad must dance!  And so must you.

As with previous weeks cap additions, those for The Hand of Fear aren't so new new as much improved on breadth and quality.  

I wonder what next weeks cap addition will be?

It's all to easy to remember that the interactions between the characters only consisted of shouting at each other across a BBC stage, but one of the coolest parts of the Trial season, including the opening effects sequence in episode 1, was the revelation, and it was Robert Holmes' last significant contribution to Doctor Who, that the Valeyard was an amalgamation of the Doctor's darker self, somewhere between his 12th and 13th (actually 11th and 12th to be fine about it) regeneration.  

The Ultimate Foe is every bit the sloppy mess we all remember, but the kernels of greatness were in that story.  We wonder how Mr. Future Showrunner will make this bit of future history work here in a few years.

The Invasion of Time only delved into the Tardis out of sheer desperation.  The Edge of Destruction was a bottle story needed to move original cast between two epic stories.  Other than the appearance of the auxillary control room for Season 14 and a few looks at rooms just off the control room once in a great while, the Tardis remains largely unexplored.

The Castrovalva caps offer a distinct improvement in breadth and quality over what was perviously on file.  I wonder what next weeks addition will be?

Even here in flyover country, it appeared as though the Great Doctor Who Expansion of the Eighties was slowing as all the oxygen was being inhaled  Consumption of the past in all it's grainy glory was rapidly catching up to the present, and the glories (as well as a critical eye for quality) we're properly wary of the shambles left in the wake of Michael Grade's intervention with the show.  Gone was Colin Baker's problematic portrayal, but the tonal shift to McCoy was jarring, and appeared from afar to be very much a work in progress.

Season 24 was a mess, but there was a light at the end of that seasons tunnel.  Dragonfire is not a very good story.  At three episodes the pacing, like it was for most of these stories at this time, was off and could have used a fourth episode to allow for more context and characterization. Bue even with all that,Dragonfire was the class of the season, and portended (a promise which could never realistically be fulfilled), a return to the gothic story-telling which was always a strength of Doctor Who.

This weeks cap addition to the Tour is Dragonfire.  Who knows what next weeks addition will bring?

• The Face of Evil had caps but the new collection is far more complete and properly formatted.
• The Dominators caps are brand new however, but take our word for it.  Poor stories (and this is one) aren't nearly as fun to cap as the good'uns.

We also take note of the passing of the Torch, yet again, to Matt Smith.  This time of an Olympic variety.  But did you spot the obvious error everyone made with Smith's carriage of the flame.  Perhaps it's been commented on elsewhere and it just escaped our attention but he's wearing 001 on his running outfit.  If the production staff was canny enough in The Lodger to have Smith in a #11 jersey then, why not now?  

Now for those who don't know… as part of it's online ambitions with Doctor Who, BBCi produced late in 2003 as part of the 40th Anniversary celebrations a new online story starring Richard E Grant as some future incarnation of the Doctor in Scream of the Shalka. This BBC sanctioned event made him Tour-worthy, and by extension was touted for the new Doctor Who series starting in 2005.   Along with the Big Finish audios, this production served as a vital bridge for fans during the closing stretch of the wilderness years.  He also appeared in the 1999 comic relief special The Curse of the Fatal Death, penned by The Moff himself.

Now we've spiffed up the section bringing it into normal Tour look and compliance, whilst doubling the overall size of the section.  The improvement  is only about 150 images, relatively tiny by modern Tour standards, but still it's worthy to remember this part of Who history.