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Post by primsong on Jul 29, 2009 17:26:00 GMT
I finally got to see Meglos, which I've been curious about for some time as I'd seen Cactus!Doctor in a few pics and I was going "what the heck?!"
Ah, megalomanic cacti! I love it. What in the world made them pick a cactus as a antagonist? Being poked by one and getting their revenge? A late-night dare from friend after too many beers? Haha!
The sandy dead planet set where you can clearly see the "moon" is strung up overhead with fishing line gives it additional Cheese Points.
I was also completely floored when the leader of the Dodecahedron-worshippers walked in:
OMG - it's Barbara! In a funny hat! We all bounced around the room for a while we were so gobsmacked and tickled to have her there. And she even got to sacrifice herself to save Romana - as well as nearly flatten the Doctor with a rock (oh noes!).
Lots to love here, the space pirates with their wacky costumes (yes, that WAS a jello-mold on the one guy's head, I swear) and the violent plantlife - best ones since those giant leaping mushrooms that were going after Steven, lol... The blob of cactus-jelly that crawled along the floor, lots of crazy bumpy green makeup and the Doctor in shirtsleeves (always liked him in that vest).
Pirate love for his coat(s) as well as some good dialogue moments - i.e.
"Would you say this wall is vertical?"
(confused pirate guard) "Uh...no...."
"Here, would you mind holding it up for me for a moment while I go round and check the other side?"
;D
The naff blonde wigs were a hoot - they had this serious closeup and the man is pronouncing something about how they're all gonna die and all I can see is where his brown sideburns are sticking out from his wig.
I love old Who.
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Post by jjpor on Jul 29, 2009 23:14:48 GMT
No, Meglos is one of those stories where, by all objective measures, it _should_ be rubbish, but I still want to like it, a lot. There seem to be quite a few of those round the tail end of Four's tenure... ;D
For starters, the idea of a meglomaniacal _cactus_ is just too good to pass up - and then you have the goofy Doctor!doppelganger!action...
And then you have Barbara in it - I mean, Barbara!
And Romana karate-chopping people?!
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Post by magnusgreel on Jul 30, 2009 5:47:41 GMT
There were throngs of people who worshipped JNT and all the changes he made, especially season 18. I point to Meglos to refute all that. I believe this is JNT's second story, and he's already got a cactus for a villain. That's the kind of thing you ordinarily resort to after you've been on the air ten years.... On the plus side however... he's got a cactus for a villain!!! Hooray!!!
There's certainly enough whacked-out detail in this story to keep you interested. And actually, it's a rare and precious thing when someone can produce a story this "out there" and get you to suspend some disbelief anyway. Those bewigged scientists really are unrelentingly "earnest", aren't they? There was a lot of that with early JNT, utterly humorless dedication to science, God bless 'em. They would have adopted Nyssa on the spot or made her run for office.
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Post by IMForeman on Jul 30, 2009 6:07:52 GMT
The only Season 18 stories I like are in the E-Space Trilogy, although Logopolis isn't too bad either. Meglos has to be my least favorite of the lot, although I admit that was partially because it was very confusing to me for some reason. But I do like the evil cactus and Barbara.
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Post by jjpor on Jul 30, 2009 21:03:04 GMT
I want to see the sequel, where the galaxy-conquering cactus teams up with embittered ex-companion the Talking Cabbage to exact terrible revenge upon the Doctor...in fact, I'll suggest it to Moffat as his first season finale; it'll make a change from the Daleks, again...
Apart from the hammer-to-the-forehead Science vs Religion fable, which I assume is Chris Bidmead's input (yes, kids, mathematics is heroic too! Just look at Adric and Nyssa!), the rest of this story strikes me as a leftover Season 17 story - I have no idea if that's true or not, but you know, a talking cactus as the baddie?! A crew of comedy space pirate types?! Cheapo jungle sets with carnivorous plants?! It's that Creature-from-the-Pit Season 17 whackiness, but with added JNT-riffic "hard" science fiction earnestness.
Whacked-out, Magnus, is pretty much the ideal term to describe it.
And, you know, when I say I like something, I'm not making any big claims as to whether it's actually _good_ or not; I mean, I laugh like a fool whenever I watch Creature from the Pit, and with it rather than at it, more worryingly... ;D
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Post by Maggadin on Aug 31, 2009 20:12:44 GMT
You know, I'm not a big fan of Four's S18 costume*, but I've got to say that when he takes off the huge coat and only wears the vest and shirt-sleeves? *rrrowr* Ahem, I'm only saying this here because there's a nice shot of him in this serial walking away from some building sans coat and scarf and you can really tell how tall he is and stuff. Also, he does an excellent and convincing villain.
*I still say he only wore it because Romana got it for him. ;D
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Post by primsong on Aug 31, 2009 20:56:58 GMT
I admit I really like the shirt-sleeves also, it's quite a flattering style on him - all he needed to top it off was a few ruffles. ;-)
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Post by jjpor on Aug 31, 2009 22:10:48 GMT
I love that bit where the baddie/pirate/whatever steals the infamous burgundy coat and thinks he looks great in it!
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Post by clocketpatch on Aug 31, 2009 22:10:49 GMT
The season 18 shirt sleeves and braces is a good look on anyone I think (see Castrovalva and Fivey wandering around the TARDIS corridors half-dressed for further proof)
I echo the Rroooowwrr
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Post by magnusgreel on Sept 1, 2009 2:29:23 GMT
I'm going to buy a pet cactus and start talking to it, and see if it starts to look like me. Or if I start to look like it.
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Post by Maggadin on Sept 1, 2009 13:50:10 GMT
Anyone ever tasted the juice from a cactus. Don't is all I say, if you value your tongue.
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Post by primsong on Sept 1, 2009 17:27:30 GMT
But will your tongue then look like a catctus? Or will your cactus look like a giant tongue in a pot?
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Post by Maggadin on Sept 1, 2009 17:52:40 GMT
I'm not sure what happened to the cactus, only that my tongue burned like mad the next day and became kind of black.
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Post by clocketpatch on Sept 1, 2009 21:17:50 GMT
Anyone ever tasted the juice from a cactus. Don't is all I say, if you value your tongue. That is the single most surreal thing i've heard all day.  |
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Post by jjpor on Sept 1, 2009 21:29:21 GMT
Only all day? Clocket must have a more varied and exciting life than I do.
To continue the Meglos-osity, I do like oldtime genre shows where actors are required to play their own evil doubles (usually, with some blatantly obvious distinguishing characteristic, in this case coat/no coat, so the audience can tell which is which but which none of the other characters seem able to notice). I think Tom does a good job of it in this story. Another excellent example is that episode of original-series Trek where Kirk gets split into good and evil twins by, what else, a transporter malfunction; Shatnertastic!
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Post by Maggadin on Sept 1, 2009 21:33:55 GMT
Me. Friend. Pub. Cactus in window. Start picking at cactus. ''Hey, I wonder if it tastes anything like milk''. Tongue:  It survived, though. ;D |
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Post by clocketpatch on Sept 1, 2009 21:45:15 GMT
That's the pubs fault for putting cacti where drunks can get at them. What were they thinking?!?!
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Post by magnusgreel on Sept 2, 2009 4:17:14 GMT
But will your tongue then look like a cactus? Or will your cactus look like a giant tongue in a pot? There's the recipient of the 2009 Surrealism Award, I say. If I had a scanner and no eye thing, I'd draw and post that in minutes. |
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Post by primsong on Sept 4, 2009 4:55:56 GMT
Your tongue or the cactus?   I wonder how long it took them to do the makeup on that one - do any of them still have a souvenir green bump in their dresser drawers somewhere? |
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Post by magnusgreel on Sept 4, 2009 18:57:34 GMT
I want someone to photoshop Meglos Me. Unfortunately, no photographs of me have ever been taken.
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