Post by jjpor on Jun 22, 2009 19:34:25 GMT
So, I was watching this last night for the first time in probably a few years. I think I may subliminally believe the Seven-bashing propaganda, or something, because I do tend to neglect these Season 24 episodes compared to some of my favourites from the next two seasons.
You know when you watch something that you might not ordinarily single out as one of your favourites, but you just seem to be in the right frame of mind/on the right wavelength or something, and end up enjoying it enormously? It was a bit like that.
Okay, Sylv's not quite up to speed yet; you can see it here, but you can also see that he's starting to get a handle on the character and make it his own. The confrontation with Gavrok shows us a bit of Seven steel, probably for the first time.
Gavrok and his Bannermen are good baddies too. Sure; they're a gang of idiots who can't shoot straight, but there's a convincing sort of nastiness about them, and a nice attention to detail in their design (the red tongues, the quasi-fascist uniforms and the samurai-style banners from which they presumably draw their name) - although they seem to be wearing the same helmets as the soldiers in Earthshock. Knowing the BBC props people, they probably were!
A lot of their credibility goes down to Don Henderson's nicely underplayed performance as Gavrok. He could have camped it up and made him a ranting nutter like we've seen in many a Who story, but he keeps it understated, and to great effect. There are a couple of edgy moments that seem at odds with the generally cheerful, fun atmosphere of the story, and I think it's the better for it. The thing that has always stayed with me, though, is the aforementioned confrontation where the Doctor, where he's sat casually chowing down on a huge hunk of raw meat...urgh...
Ken Dodd's casting as the tollmaster is one of the traditionally-quoted omens that "Doctor Who was getting too silly"; I don't know if anyone outside the UK even knows who he is, but for many years he was an enormously popular and successful comedian; JNT stuntcasting at its finest! Still, he's bearable while he's onscreen.
I find the idea of a bunch of aliens disguising themselves as humans to go holidaying in the 1950s a pleasingly quirky notion, and as always the BBC designers excel themselves in creating a sense of time and place. Classic Who always seemed to do the period detail far more convincingly than the alien planets.
Er, and well, those are just some random thoughts on the story - there's a lot of it I haven't covered, but well, what do you think of it?
You know when you watch something that you might not ordinarily single out as one of your favourites, but you just seem to be in the right frame of mind/on the right wavelength or something, and end up enjoying it enormously? It was a bit like that.
Okay, Sylv's not quite up to speed yet; you can see it here, but you can also see that he's starting to get a handle on the character and make it his own. The confrontation with Gavrok shows us a bit of Seven steel, probably for the first time.
Gavrok and his Bannermen are good baddies too. Sure; they're a gang of idiots who can't shoot straight, but there's a convincing sort of nastiness about them, and a nice attention to detail in their design (the red tongues, the quasi-fascist uniforms and the samurai-style banners from which they presumably draw their name) - although they seem to be wearing the same helmets as the soldiers in Earthshock. Knowing the BBC props people, they probably were!
A lot of their credibility goes down to Don Henderson's nicely underplayed performance as Gavrok. He could have camped it up and made him a ranting nutter like we've seen in many a Who story, but he keeps it understated, and to great effect. There are a couple of edgy moments that seem at odds with the generally cheerful, fun atmosphere of the story, and I think it's the better for it. The thing that has always stayed with me, though, is the aforementioned confrontation where the Doctor, where he's sat casually chowing down on a huge hunk of raw meat...urgh...
Ken Dodd's casting as the tollmaster is one of the traditionally-quoted omens that "Doctor Who was getting too silly"; I don't know if anyone outside the UK even knows who he is, but for many years he was an enormously popular and successful comedian; JNT stuntcasting at its finest! Still, he's bearable while he's onscreen.
I find the idea of a bunch of aliens disguising themselves as humans to go holidaying in the 1950s a pleasingly quirky notion, and as always the BBC designers excel themselves in creating a sense of time and place. Classic Who always seemed to do the period detail far more convincingly than the alien planets.
Er, and well, those are just some random thoughts on the story - there's a lot of it I haven't covered, but well, what do you think of it?