Review of The Two Doctors: Unnecessary Travelling Nostalgia

By David Parkinson

Written by: Robert Holmes
Directed by: Peter Moffatt
Starring: Colin Baker, Patrick Troughton, Nicola Bryant, Frazer Hines, John Stratton, Jacqueline Pearce and Laurence Pearce.



You might say the setting makes the story, which is certainly the case for some shows (Midsomer Murders, King of Queens etc.) but in the case of The Two Doctors, it's extremely unnecessary to be set primarily in Spain. Granted, it would've been worse if J N-T got his way to set it in New Orleans, which would not have worked at all. Saying that though, this doesn't really work either.

It's sad to see something like this coming from Robert Holmes. A writer whose previous scripts for Who ( Spearhead From Space, Deadly Assassin to name a few) were brilliant, and whose period as script editor on Doctor Who is widely regarded to be one of the best. He uses his creations, the Sontarans ( more on them later) , and reintroduces the Second Doctor and Jamie.

Let's talk about them. This was the last time Troughton played the Doctor on TV, and boy, is he underused. Episode One only has him in it for about Five minutes, Episode Two he appears a bit more, then in Episode Three, they turn him into an Androgum (Again, more on them later.). You can tell that Troughton loves the Androgum acting, and does a fine job of acting like a hungry pig. It's a pity still though that he's underused.

Now, Androgums. Shockeye is one of the most irritatingly bad enemies I have ever seen. His whole 'Arggh, I am gonna eat ya!' bit gets old quickly, and his most stupidest moment comes in Part 3. Here's a picture to basically sum it all up.

Oscar the thespian, pictured, is also a waiter, and when he refuses Shockeyes' Narg note, Shockeye feels the need to stab him in the chest with a two pronged fork and runs off, which is Oscar's fault, for not noticing how odd the ginger man with cereal stuck to his face looked..

Shockeye is also part of a really controversial moment, when the Sixth doctor kills him using cyanide.

Also comes with an inappropriate Bondish quip.

The Sontarans. So, yeah. Group Marshal Stike is seemingly cursed with getting injured horribly, resulting in only his leg remaining at the end.

The Sontarans are 

1. Both taller/shorter than each other
2. playing second fiddle to Chessene
3. Horribly used (They appear for about 10 minutes in total, one gets killed rather easily, Stike just goes around covered in coronic acid)

+

• Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines are back!
• Colin Baker does a good job, as does Nicola Bryant

-

• Chessene and Dastari are unconvincing villains
• Shockeye is more irritating than a hyper Stacy Solomon (google her Americans)
• The Sontarans
• The setting is unneeded.
• It's unlikely two people would take seeing 1) A giant silver globe flying over them as a plane, or 2) a police box that wasn't there when they arrived as normal.

RATING: 

62%

                     NEXT TIME: Robot, for real this time (hopefully).

I used to be a Group Marshal like you, then I took an arrow to the knee

Review of The Five Doctors

By David Parkinson




Written by: Terrance Dicks
Directed by: Peter Moffat/ John Nathan-Turner(uncredited)
Starring: William Hartnell (footage), Richard Hurndall, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tomb Baker (footage), Peter Davison, Anthony Ainley, Nicholas Courtney, Janet Fielding, Mark Strickson, Elisabeth Sladen, Philip Latham.


Doctor Who was twenty. That in itself needed celebration, but how? Well, you bring back the first 4 Doctors to join your current 5th one, and see what happens. of course, by this time the great William Hartnell was dead, so Richard Hurndall took his place. Hurndall tries to convey Hartnell's personality, and does it a bit bad, but good at the same time. And of course, if you're going to have the Doctors, you're going to have the best of his enemies. Which, in this case, consists of one Dalek, who kills itself almost immediately appearing to challenge Hurndall and a rather mature Susan. Let's call it the Skaro redshirt. Also among the group of atagonists are the over relied on Cybermen, a lone Yeti who is the remnant of the original games of Rassilon, and The Master, although he doesn't get snippy until the climax, where he's rather awesomely floored by Nick Courtney. By rather awesomely, I mean amazingly greatly, and an amusing and awesome move from the Brig.

But the real villain of the set-piece is Borusa, who wants to be immortal so he can rule Gallifrey forever. Here's where the plot hole comes in. If Borusa wants immortality, and he offers the Master a new set of regenerations, therefore he himself could just get a new set of regenerations and not bother to set out the Doctors to retrieve it for him. And, contrary to fan belief, it was never going to be Omega who was behind it all. Never, ever, ever.

But, in the end, Borusa gets his just deserts, forced to live as a stone bust thingy forever. This climax also gives the Brigidier a chance to get re aqquainted with Sarah Jane and Tegan, thankfully without the weird Hair curtains, and a chance for the Brig to floor Anthony Ainley.

Of course, the very obvious exclusion is Tom Baker. Baker, famously, declined to return to the role, a decision he would later regret very much. So, just like Hartnell in the Three Doctors, he's said to be in a time eddy, this time in the Vortex. So they took a publicity photo with a waxwork Baker, but you can hardly see any difference

Although I don't remember Tom Baker looking like a Hispanic Tom Jones.

The ending, which isn't intended to be a sombre, just makes me, I don't know about you, feel a bit sad.

You'll love

• It's most of The Doctors!
• It's like a Doctor Who wet-dream
• The sublime acting
• Nick Courtney flooring Anthony Ainley

You'll hate

• Tom Baker not getting involved properly
• The worst use of the Daleks since Daleks in Manhattan
• Over-reliance on Cybermen

Rating: 4.6/5

Review of The Tomb of The Cybermen

By David Parkinson

Writer: Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis
Director: Morris Barry
Starring: Patrick Troughton, Frazer Hines, Deborah Watling, Roy Stewart, George Pastell,  Michael Kilgarriff

Fans were ecstatic when The Tomb of The Cybermen was rediscovered completely in Hong Kong. They flocked to every HMV or Virgin they could find, and bought it like crazy, only to discover that it wasn't the best. The special effects are next to shite, to be honest.

Basically, the Tardis lands on Telos, the resting place of the Cybermen. But The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria aren't the only humans there. There's also another group of people, on an expedition to find the lost eponymous tomb. They find it by pure luck, and soon the Doctor is dragged along. Troughton is at his best in this serial, playing the Doctor with  pure comedic balance perfectly mixed with a dramatic touch. It shows his full ability as a great actor.
 Anyhow, one of the people die trying to open the doors to the tomb, by means of electrocution. This is just the start of death, and foreshadows the ending. After this little niggle, the group enter and find that the set looks very Cyberman-ish. Well, I saw that, but all that really defines it as Cyberman-ish is the awesome emblem that adorns most of the Tomb.

The serial is also known for introducing the concept of the Cyber Controller and the Cybermats. The mats in this serial differ from those seen in Revenge of THe Cybermen and Closing Time. Basically, here, they're made of tarp and foam. Really obvious foam.

By the end, most of them are dead, Toberman, one of the main character's manservants, is partially converted into a Cyberman, and The Doctor and Jamie are in danger of becoming Cybermen. However, they manage to escape the Tomb, but not without the death of Toberman, closing the Tomb doors but electrocuting himself and the Controller. The Doctor claims that this should be the end of the Cyberman. He obviously doesn't see the Cybermat escape the Tomb......

The problem with the remastering of the story is that the obvious wires and dummies that were used are, well, obvious. Especially the wire used to lift Toberman up above the Controller's head.

You'll love

• Troughton's acting
• The Cybermen

You'll hate

• The special effects
• The persistent human antagonists

You'll laugh at

• The naff special effects

Rating: 3/5