Doctor Who: Grand Theft TARDIS

[The Killer Snark]

Inferno, The Green Death and Carnival of Monsters all belong on the Pertwee list. Those are just fantastic. Robots of Death and The Android Invasion should belong on the Tom Baker one. I'll come up with my own list later on. Dragonfire is the finest McCoy tale, IMO, as well as the desperately underrated, satirical The Happiness Patrol.

[The Marquis de Leech]

Greatest Show in the Galaxy is okay, but I'd much rather substitute Remembrance of the Daleks. If you add An Unearthly Child to the Hartnell run (just the first episode) it all ties together quite nicely. Curse of Fenric may be better than either, but it's the culmination of the Doctor/Ace relationship and doesn't make as much sense outside of the context.

I left out Remembrance because I figured Genesis already covers the best of the Dalek stories (I also really hate how they turned Davros into a recurring villain - it lowers his impact). McCoy's era does satire and post-modernism very well, and Galaxy is an excellent example that doesn't slide into incomprehensibility. Fenric by contrast simply has too many things going on at once.

Watching just the first episode of An Unearthly Child as an entrée/introduction is a good idea.

[The Killer Snark]

I find both Fenric and Remembrance somewhat overrated, for the reasons you've just mentioned. All that both possess are atmospheric production values, but they fail at being particularly well structured and are both a little threadbare plotwise and haphazardly paced.

Are there any fans of the criminally underrated Destiny of the Daleks? That happens to be my favourite post-Genesis Dalek story, but Revelation and Remembrance get all the praise.

[Lord Godric]

I know this has already been discussed but it's very interesting that Matt Smith now represents the final regeneration of the Doctor and I'm very curiou to see how Moffat brings in Capaldi now.

The fact that Matt Smith is the last doctor makes a lot of sense as to why Eleven (what else do I call him) was afraid of dying and also why Trenzalore is his grave. It doesn't really make sense though how he started regenerating after the impossible astronaut shot him. But I guess at that point they didn't have The War Doctor planned.

[felice]

It doesn't really make sense though how he started regenerating after the impossible astronaut shot him.

That wasn't him. And if you're going to fake a time lord's death, an interrupted regeneration is going to look more convincing than no regeneration.

[red snow]

Am I also correct in thinking there are "deaths" that over-ride regenerations? Something really bad like being vaporised, etc? So it's not like the Doctor walks around thinking "i've got at least one more regeneration left, I'm fine".

[protar]

Am I also correct in thinking there are "deaths" that over-ride regenerations? Something really bad like being vaporised, etc? So it's not like the Doctor walks around thinking "i've got at least one more regeneration left, I'm fine".

IIRC the Doctor is vulnerable to pretty much anything that can kill him before he can regenerate. A gunshot to the head would kill him like it would any human.

[The Killer Snark]

The manner of dying makes a difference. Pertwee's Doctor was almost completely wiped out by radiation poisoning before becoming Tom Baker's Doctor. He was believed completely dead before he came back.

[The Marquis de Leech]

Have been dabbling in Things Man Was Not Meant To Know - i.e. have been doing a Colin Baker marathon over the last few days, and tonight I watched The Twin Dilemma (I watched the least notorious stories first).

Despite its reputation as the worst Doctor Who story ever made, I was actually pleasantly surprised. It's certainly not good by any stretch of the imagination, with its mediocre plot, bad acting, and worse production, but Colin Baker's anti-heroics weren't as bad as I feared, and he even gets some decent lines ("I've been threatened by experts"). Even the infamous twins weren't that annoying - they were supposed to be autistic and wooden.

I'd take The Twin Dilemma over the new series' Love and Monsters in a heartbeat.

[Werthead]

Interesting. An email from the BFI (British Film Institute) seeming confirms that there are more episodes than those released so far by the BBC: a [redacted] number are back at the BBC already (this might just be the 11 found in Nigeria recently) but more are believed to exist. That number could be as high as 90 - although I suspect that's the BFI person commenting on the Omnirumour - but isn't all 106 of them. This does suggest more episodes/finds are anticipated, though not a lot more than that.

[Winds of Winter blow cold]

I know this has already been discussed but it's very interesting that Matt Smith now represents the final regeneration of the Doctor and I'm very curiou to see how Moffat brings in Capaldi now.

The fact that Matt Smith is the last doctor makes a lot of sense as to why Eleven (what else do I call him) was afraid of dying and also why Trenzalore is his grave. It doesn't really make sense though how he started regenerating after the impossible astronaut shot him. But I guess at that point they didn't have The War Doctor planned.

We also know that that was fake & he was actually in that "safety suit" or what ever it was.

Am I also correct in thinking there are "deaths" that over-ride regenerations? Something really bad like being vaporised, etc? So it's not like the Doctor walks around thinking "i've got at least one more regeneration left, I'm fine".

IIRC the Doctor is vulnerable to pretty much anything that can kill him before he can regenerate. A gunshot to the head would kill him like it would any human.

In night of the Doctor the Paul McGann Doctor didn't regenerate spontaneously, he was dead, the Sisterhood of Karn brought him back, then they gave him elixir to turn him in to the War Doctor.

[All-for-Joffrey]

I'd take The Twin Dilemma over the new series' Love and Monsters in a heartbeat.

Don't throw things at me for asking this question -- but why do people hate Love and Monsters so much?

[Derfel Cadarn]

My summary in my Dr Who rewatch thread goes into detail. Short answer is it's an abomination. The ending leaves a foul taste in the mouth when the Doctor restores a dead woman, leaving her head attached to a paving stone

[Slick Mongoose]

I thought the start of that episode was actually fairly charming. It goes rapidly downhill when the villain is introduced.

[The Marquis de Leech]

I think the only story Love and Monsters beats is Time and the Rani, and then only because it's shorter. The Twin Dilemma is flawed-but-watchable, and Timelash is So Bad It's Good. L & M is So Bad It's Terrible.

[Derfel Cadarn]

I thought the start of that episode was actually fairly charming. It goes rapidly downhill when the villain is introduced.

Pretty much. They could have left out the whole crappy villain bit.

And whatshisname getting blowjobs from a disembodied head

[felice]

My summary in my Dr Who rewatch thread goes into detail. Short answer is it's an abomination.

I would say it only works if you appreciate its sense of humour. I don't.

The ending leaves a foul taste in the mouth when the Doctor restores a dead woman, leaving her head attached to a paving stone

Being reduced to a disembodied head isn't my idea of a good time, but I'm not sure I'd call it a fate worth than death (unless it came with attached immortality).

[Winds of Winter blow cold]

Are you going to count the Big Finish stuff?

[mormont]

I thought the start of that episode was actually fairly charming. It goes rapidly downhill when the villain is introduced.

Yeah, there was the core of a good story in the episode; a nice concept and some decent performances, and one of those episodes where you get to step back from the Doctor himself and see him 'from the outside'. Then it all takes a weird turn.

The monster being derived from a kid's competition to design a bad guy is only part of the problem: it accounts for a certain degree of silliness, but the problem is the episode doesn't go all-out silly. It manages to create a particularly off-putting mix between absurdity and horror, more or less abandoning all the good stuff that came before in favour of some cheap gross-out moments and inappropriate humour.

If you re-did the ending significantly, you would have an outstanding episode. As it is... you have a tone-deaf mess. Not the worst Doctor Who episode ever, I wouldn't even put it in the top five worst, but I imagine a lot of people hate it precisely because its problem is wasted potential rather than minute budgets and interfering executives.

[Which Tyler]

Right, have started watchibg som eof the clasic serials; and just finised the War Games, seeing 21st century companion Zoe returned to Earth in the 21st century, and the Dr gets sent back as Worzel Gummage

Any chance that she (obviously, not the actress) might meet a 21st century incarnation* of the Dr?

* yeah, yeah, I know; but you all know what I mean