Monday 21st April 2014
Monday?? What's going on!? Yes, it was a Bank Holiday and what better thing to do, whilst it's sunny outside, than to gather in a dark room with your chums and watch some goddarn Doctor Who from the 1960's! We were once again around Mark's and this time all of us had made it - including our some-time member, Gavin! Today we had something important to sort out. Something that had bugged me right from the very first time we'd met. Our goal was to watch every Doctor Who episode from the start and we had done that.....except that we'd fallen down at the first hurdle by accidentally watching the Pilot Episode and not Episode 1! So to right this wrong (and because Planet Of Giants was only 3 episodes long) we decided to watch Episode 1 (An Unearthly Child) properly whilst it was still vaguely in our collective memories. I think it was a good decision as it's an enjoyable episode, we could spot a lot of the changes and Gavin had never seen it (we told him he really didn't need to see the 3 following cavemen episodes!!).
With that wrong righted we moved onto "Planet Of Giants"!
Photo 1: Gavin, Mark (holding sign), Jason, Leigh (with DVD cover)
and MJ posing around Mark's house.
The story had originally been filmed as four episodes, but the Head of Serials (Donald Wilson) found the story too slow so ordered episodes 3 and 4 to be spliced together in order to form a faster-paced climax. A strange decision seen as we've sat through stories that were a lot longer and could have happily been cut down!
Photo 2: Gavin, Mark (holding sign), Jason, Leigh (with DVD cover)
and MJ posing around Mark's house.
The story starts with the TARDIS malfunctioning causing the crew to be shrunk down!
They then land in an ordinary earth garden - but with themselves being only a fraction of the size!
They then land in an ordinary earth garden - but with themselves being only a fraction of the size!
Photo 3: Gavin, Mark (holding sign), Jason (with DVD cover), Leigh
and Jim posing around Mark's house.
Photo 4: Gavin, Mark (holding sign),Jason (with DVD cover and pulling a cracking face!),
Leigh and Jim posing around Mark's house.
Photo 5:
Jason (with DVD cover and pulling a cracking face!)
posing around Mark's house.
Things
get worse for the crew as they witness a murder and Barbara gets
contaminated by a dangerous new pesticide! Meaning she could die if
they don't go back to actual size!
Photo 4: Gavin, Mark (holding sign),Jason (with DVD cover and pulling a cracking face!),
Leigh and Jim posing around Mark's house.
I was impressed with
the sets and the messing around with over-sized props! Plus the story,
only being 3 episodes long, zipped along nicely without too much room
for boredom!
Jason (with DVD cover and pulling a cracking face!)
posing around Mark's house.
Jason tells me he got annoyed by Barbara getting ill from the pesticide
and not telling anyone she was about to die! Which is a fair enough
point! Barbara seemed to be the main reason for them being slowed down -
oh and Susan screamed some more.
One thing that slightly bugged us was that as Barbara got bigger the pesticide in her blood stream stayed the same size (i.e. stayed small) and so was muted as not really dangerous to her any more (it being too small to harm her). We all did discuss whether this would actually work but didn't come up with a satisfactory answer! In the end, it's best to let some of these things go....
Still the serial got us singing "Dead Ant" (a la Pink Panther theme) when we saw a giant dead ant!
So that's all good!
Afterwards we all went out in the sun and played in the play parks with many of the "widows of the four-whoresmen"! It's shattering running around playing "it" when you're nearly 40!
Next time we return to the Daleks! Until then I shall return, yes, I shall return....
MJ 22-04-14
Shaun (after his catch-up on 08/12/14): The Planet of Giants was a really odd one, I’d say unlike any other serial so far, but a lot of fun.
I liked the idea of a basic murder plot, tied to a dangerous new pesticide, had the miniaturised team work together to bring the killer to justice.
Special note goes to the villain, who fit the role of generic, murderous businessman Perfectly. Barbara was uncharacteristically dumb in this one, poisoning herself pretty quickly after the Doctor had warned them of the danger.
The cliff hangers were delightfully terrible. A cat that… just leaves, then the unplugging of a sink. High drama indeed!
A really entertaining filler.
One thing that slightly bugged us was that as Barbara got bigger the pesticide in her blood stream stayed the same size (i.e. stayed small) and so was muted as not really dangerous to her any more (it being too small to harm her). We all did discuss whether this would actually work but didn't come up with a satisfactory answer! In the end, it's best to let some of these things go....
Next time we return to the Daleks! Until then I shall return, yes, I shall return....
MJ 22-04-14
Shaun (after his catch-up on 08/12/14): The Planet of Giants was a really odd one, I’d say unlike any other serial so far, but a lot of fun.
I liked the idea of a basic murder plot, tied to a dangerous new pesticide, had the miniaturised team work together to bring the killer to justice.
Special note goes to the villain, who fit the role of generic, murderous businessman Perfectly. Barbara was uncharacteristically dumb in this one, poisoning herself pretty quickly after the Doctor had warned them of the danger.
The cliff hangers were delightfully terrible. A cat that… just leaves, then the unplugging of a sink. High drama indeed!
A really entertaining filler.
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