DOCTOR WHO MARATHON 16th MEET-UP - GALAXY 4 & MISSION TO THE UNKNOWN

Sunday 21st September 2014

Another Sunday, another meet-up and this time we had a casualty.  Jim, feeling too shattered after a busy few days, bailed out on us!  I know how he felt, having spent the previouse night on the floor at Liverpool Street Railway Station in London!  Still the Who Show must go on!

Photo 1: Shaun, Jason (with the sign), Leigh (holding the DVD cover)
& Michael around Michael's house.

So, after ringing Jason to ask him to pick up snacks, the gang gathered around Michael’s house to watch Galaxy 4 - the first story of Season Three.  Sadly, like a lot of episodes in the third season, most of this story was missing.  So it was down to three re-cons to accompany the existing single episode!  The first episode starts off in the TARDIS with Stephen getting his hair cut by Vicki (some of this scene exists thanks to some off-air cine-camera recordings!).

Photo 2: Leigh, Michael (with the sign), Shaun, Jason (holding the DVD cover)
& Mark (at the front - eyes closed) around Jim's house.

Anyhow the crew lands on a planet with no life on it - which confuses the Doctor as the signs say that there SHOULD be life on it!  So after wandering outside they happen across a funny little robot that Vicki christens a “Chumbley”!  The Chumbley indicates to the Doctor and Co. that it wants them to follow it.  Steven is wary and tries to attack it.  However, as a warning, the Chumbley produces a gun from its shell and sets fire to a plant.  So the gang are led away.

Photo 3: Leigh (holding the DVD cover) around Michael's house.

They have not gotten far when a group of women lying in wait for the Chumbley throw a metal mesh on the machine and deactivate it.  The blonde-haired “beautiful” women introduce themselves as Drahvins, from the planet Drahva in Galaxy Four.

They say that the Chumblies are controlled by a race called the Rill, who are not to be trusted!  They then take the TARDIS gang to meet their leader Maaga (a scene which exists pretty much in its entirety thanks to having been taken out and used in another program that wasn’t Doctor Who!).  Maaga tells them that they were shot down by the evil Rills - but they managed to shoot down the Rills as well!  Maaga’s ship no longer works but the Rills, who tell them lies, have a fully working ship.  Maaga insists that the Doctor must help them steal this other ship as the planet is going to explode in “14 planetary cycles”!  The Doctor goes back to the TARDIS and finds that the planet IS going to explode....

...but in 2 days time!  With this is mind the Drahvins send the Doctor to kill off the evil Rills and help steal their ship - keeping Stephen behind as a guarantee that they won’t disappear.

Well of course it turns out that the ugly “bad guy” Rills turn out out to be the decent ones who have only been trying to help the Drahvins (who turn out to be the “bad gals”).  We learn it was the Drahvins who had shot first at the Rills ship!

Anyhow, Doctor helps Rills, they save Stephen and finally Maaga and her gang end up being fried on the exploding planet!

Although some of the sound quality on the re-cons was a bit muffled I really enjoyed this tale.  There was some good acting - especially by the fantastic villainess Maaga!

After a quick break we then moved onto the single episode story “Mission To The Unknown” sometimes known as "Dalek Cutaway".  This was basically a prequel to the up-coming “Dalek’s Master Plan” - I suppose a longer version of what you might catch before an episode from recent times - via the Red Button!  Back then it would be the Grey Button though!  The main thing that distinguishes this episode is that the regular cast are completely absent (although William Hartnell is still credited on-screen!).

Photo 4: Shaun, Leigh (holding the DVD cover),
Jason (with the sign) & Mark around Michael's house.

 
The story focuses on Space Security Agent Marc Cory and his attempts to warn Earth of the Daleks' latest plan, whilst at their damaged ship on the planet Kembel.

Kembel is a dangerous place to be - one of the crew gets stung by a Varga plant (the thorn, once embedded, slowly turns you firstly mad and then into a Varga plant!) and tries to shoot his crew mates - however Cory sees him and shoots him dead first!

Photo 5: Shaun, Michael (holding the DVD cover),
Jason (with the sign) & Mark around Michael's house.

Yes, this sort of thing goes on and ends with no-one surviving!  Some are killed by the Varga plants - the remaining crew are picked off by the arrival of The Daleks!
However, before they all died (horribly!), they did manage to set up a rescue beacon and the message survives, beaming out to the galaxy.... Meanwhile in the nearby new Dalek city, the representatives from the seven galaxies have gathered in a conference room.  They are worried about the humans, who they believe are hostile, but the Daleks assure them that the humans will be dealt with. The representatives all approve the Dalek plans to conquer Earth...

This will all be picked up next time (after a quick four-parter)!

So apart from the sound being a bit hard to make-out sometimes, the stories were pretty good.  Galaxy 4 was a lot of fun and Mission To The Unknown whets the appetite for a Dalek EPIC to come.  More important than that, however, is the fact that we have a new TARDIS group!  So we need a new TARDIS group photo!  Here it is!

Photo 6: Us as the third TARDIS team - with some Chumblies!
Mark (Chumbley), Leigh (Stephen), Me (The First Doctor),
Jason (Vicki), Shaun (Chumbley)......AND JIM!

Well, we shall meet again in a few Sunday's time.
Until then I shall return, yes, I shall return....

MJ 22-09-14

DOCTOR WHO MARATHON 15th MEET-UP - THE TIME MEDDLER

Sunday 7th September 2014

Yay!  Our next meet-up was cause for celebration!  We had reached the end of Season 2 of Doctor Who!  As we all gathered around Jim's house on a lovely sunny day there was a real sense of excitement and achievement!

Sadly, this was only felt by me!  Still that's not important and after our usual greetings we (and drinks) we settled down to watch this dodgy-sounding ("Time Meddler"???) four parter.

Photo 1: Leigh, Michael (with the sign), Shaun, Jason (holding the DVD cover)
& Mark (at the front - eyes closed) around Jim's house.

The story starts off with Vicki and the Doctor sad at having left behind Ian and Barbara.  This is soon halted when they hear a noise from another room in the TARDIS!  It MUST be a Dalek, they assume so get ready for an attack.

Surprisingly they instead discovery that a disorientated Steven has stumbled into the TARDIS at the end of the previous serial (minus his panda), unknown to Vicki and the Doctor.  When they discover him he laughs at the notion that they are in a time machine and thinks it's all some kind of jokey-trick!  The Doctor and Vicki hope to convince him and land in England back just before the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

Photo 2: Leigh, Michael (with the sign), Shaun, Jason (holding the DVD cover)
& Mark (at the front - eyes closed) around Jim's house.

For a change the TARDIS materialisation doesn't go unnoticed and they are observed by a strange monk on some cliffs.  He doesn't seem surprised by the TARDIS, more concerned.  He has a little check and then goes back to his monastery, when singing of the Monks soon floats out of the building.

Photo 3: Jim (with the sign) and a surprised Shaun (holding the DVD cover)
  plus part of a Mark around Jason's house.

Anyhow, it's the usual meet the locals (Saxons this time!  The main women was recognisable as one of the cave-women from the very first serial!) who, at first, think our travellers might be Viking spies!
Soon that's sorted and they decide to go and visit the monks on the hill....

Photo 4: Leigh (bored with photos!), Jim (with the sign), Shaun (holding the DVD cover), Jason (trying to keep awake!) & Mark (at the front - eyes closed) around Jim's house.

Anyway lots happens over the course of the next episodes in which the Doctor has a holiday - aka gets locked in a cell by The Monk.  The Monk reveals he's pretending to help the Vikings as he wants to help Harold (and get rich himself) but the main surprise of the reveal is that the Monk has a TARDIS and is one of the Doctor's own race! (Note the phrase "Time Lord" isn't used yet).

Photo 5: Leigh, Jim (with the sign), Shaun (holding the DVD cover), Jason & Mark (at the front - eyes closed) around Jim's house.

 
Anyhow all goes back to normal - the Viking scouts get killed (in a 12 second scene that's now missing - we have the audio, which we had a listen to afterwards!) and the Monk gets trapped after the Doctor sabotages the Monk's TARDIS!  When the Monk looks inside he realises (the Doctor takes the dimensional control and the interior of his the Monk's TARDIS has shrunk beyond use, leaving him stranded in 1066!  He promises revenge on the Doctor!)

So with the tide having gone out, the Doctor and Co. are free to depart!

Personally I really enjoyed these episodes - The Meddling Monk (played by Carry On star Peter Butterworth - surely the first “Star” guest they’d had?) was really funny and likeable.  The scenes between him and the Doctor were great to watch.  Like all the best “bad guys” he was actually quite likeable (bad is probably a bit strong - “mischievous” might be a better term!) .

So what about the guys opinion?

Shaun: "I liked it, but it could have been an ep shorter.  I was starting to drift during the last one.  I find Purves a bit distant at the moment, kind of wooden, so the full ep without the Doctor suffered for it. Hopefully he loosens up in the near future.  Looking forward to the next one and very much the Daleks' master plan you mentioned. :)"

Jim: "It was OK.  I'm a fan of the whole "can you change the past" malarky but this seemed a bit pedestrian.  I liked the script though and it was the right length."

I'll leave the last quote to Jim's daughter Evie (Driving home from Shana's mum's):

Evie - "Are the boys still there?"
Shana (Jim's wife) - "The boys...?"
Evie - "The man-boys."

Haha!  Yes we are indeed the man-boys!  We'll leave on that fun note!  See you next time!

Until then I shall return, yes, I shall return....


MJ 08-09-14