DOCTOR WHO MARATHON 33rd MEET-UP - THE EVIL OF THE DALEKS

Sunday 26th April 2015

Our last meet-up for this April AND it was also the last story of the first Troughton (sorry, Trout-Man) season.  This time we all met around Shaun's house.

What was lovely was that we were finishing the season how we started - with a Dalek story.
What wasn't so lovely was that we were missing a Mark (and still a Jim) and that most of this SEVEN-PARTER were missing.  Only episode 2 existed.

Photo 1: Smug-Shaun (holding the sign),
Laughy-Leigh (holding the mock-DVD cover) and Jaunty-Jason
(holding the Lost In Time Cover) around Shaun's house!

Still that didn't deter us and we decided to meet at 1 o' clock and watch the whole damn lot!
Episode 1's re-con started with Jamie and the Doctor looking for their missing TARDIS - they see it being driven off on the back of a lorry!  With a bit of investigating, which spills over to the existing Episode 2, they find the trail that leads to an antique shop that has many brand-new looking Victorian antiques.  Jamie states that they must be fakes but the Doctor disagrees and says they may be new-looking, but they are all genuine.  They also find half a photo of the Doctor!?  Wandering through to a back room they see the second half of the photo clamped down in a box - however, when Jamie lifts up the box, gas pumps out of the box knocking Jamie and the Doctor out....

Photo 2: Shaun (holding the Lost In Time Cover),
Leigh (holding the sign) and MJ
(holding the mock-DVD cover) around Shaun's house!

So when they both wake up they are in a very posh town house, however they are no longer in 1966 but in 1866 - in Victorian London!  We are here introduced to two Victorian gentlemen Theodore Maxtible (a fantastically bearded and slightly unhinged man) and Edward Waterfield (who owns the house) who say they had been playing around with static electricity in order to try and invent a time machine - sadly, for them, they seemed to invite trouble in the form of the Daleks!

The Daleks are there being quite sneaky - they are fed up with losing against the Doctor (and humans) and decide that Humans have some factor that the Daleks are missing!  They threaten to destroy the stolen TARDIS unless the Doctor helps them by conducting an experiment to isolate the "Human Factor" - not the X-Factor but a quality that the Daleks think is unique to human beings.  They seem to want it as they surmise it is THIS factor that has meant that the Daleks have never been able to defeat them.  So once the Doctor has isolated the Human Factor, he is to implant it into three Daleks, who will then become the precursors of a race of "super" Daleks!  They hold the upper hand as they say they have Jamie prisoner AND Edward Waterfield's daughter, Victoria.  So to help learn what the "Human-Factor" is the Daleks send an unknowing Jamie on a task to rescue Victoria where he encounters lots of obstacles and a giant, mute Turk called Kemel (who was ordered to find and fight Jamie).  I really liked Kemel (and his fez!) after initially fighting with Jamie he nearly falls off the roof - but Jamie saves him.  Kemel is confused by this but then gets a chance to save Jamie's life and they both work together to save Victoria.

Photo 3: Shaun (holding the Lost In Time Cover),
Leigh (holding the sign) and MJ
(holding the mock-DVD cover) around Shaun's house!

So we had a lot of re-cons to get through, but they were made easier to watch by having some computer animation AND some re-filmed bits of Daleks and the back of a girl pretending to be Victoria.  This all seemed to work well and not jar too much.

I also enjoyed the trip across time and space to revisit Skaro (the Dalek home-world) and meet the BOOMING voiced Dalek Emperor!  It's here the Human-factor Daleks start attacking the Emperor and the other Daleks - which results in the whole place blowing up - Sadly Kemel is killed by a "Dalekised" Maxtible - they both fall off a precipice together.

Of course the Doctor and Jamie manage to escape but not before Victoria's father, Edward, is killed saving the Doctor's life.  Before dying, he asks the Doctor to take care of Victoria.  So welcome along to our new assistant!  Like Jamie she's another assistant not from present day Earth - well present day fro back in the 60's!

Photo 4: Leigh (holds the mock-DVD cover) ready to
put it up Jason's bottom, around Shaun's house!

So that's that - yes it IS a long tale but there is much to like about the story.  The plot is a bit all over the place (and a tad stretched for 7 episodes) but there's a lot of imagination with it and some great sets.  Maxtable is a great villain - well he's not REALLY bad - he just wants to know how to turn base metal into gold and be rich!  He doesn't care who gets in the way of this pursuit!  He plays it all over the top with his UBER beard and mad eyebrows!  I think Jamie does very well on his own - solving puzzles, being brave etc.  I liked Kemel, the mute giant Turk guy - and not JUST because he wore a fez!  The Daleks are great being sneaky and I LOVED the child-like Daleks with the Human factor - they were quite creepy (spinning the Doctor around on them chanting: "DIZ-ZY DOC-TOR, DIZ-ZY DOC-TOR!").  The finale with the glorious Dalek Emperor was impressive - something that was actually filmed and kept so we could see the Daleks "Final End"....

Well, amazingly that's the end of our first season of the Second Doctor - the season most heavily hit by missing episodes.  Thankfully our next story is a four-parter that exists and sees the return of those pesky Cybermen!

So until then, I shall return, yes I shall return!

MJ - 29-04-15


Extra.... Sunday 3rd May 2015 - Mark's Catch Up - with added Gavin!

Just as an extra Mark caught up with what he missed over the Bank Holiday weekend.  Gavin was also there so it felt like more of a group gathering!  I didn't get a chance to print a new sign - so had to stick new dates on an old sign!  Still at least we had a sign!  Anyhow I really enjoyed re-watching the story again and it seemed to go down well with the two chaps.  More importantly it means that we have all finished Season 1 of the Trout-Man.  Well all of us except our "& Jim".  I miss our "& Jim" - maybe he's become our very own Ian Chesterton!

 

Catch Up Photo 1: MJ and Mark lurk above Gavin around Mark’s house
for The Evil of The Daleks catch-up!

Catch Up Photo 2: Gavin and Mark around Mark’s house
for The Evil of The Daleks catch-up!

DOCTOR WHO MARATHON 32nd MEET-UP - THE FACELESS ONES

Sunday 12th April 2015

Here we are in April, and it was meet-up time around MJ's again!

Yes I'd not held one for a while and, much like when we met around mine for "The Web Planet", it was a lovely sunny day outside!  Also like "The Web Planet" this was a six part story.  However UNLIKE that story only 2 episodes of this story exist!

So re-con city it was.  Thankfully the first episode exists - which is helpful as it gives you an anchor to the rest of the story and some of the characters that are in it.  We started Episode 1 with the TARDIS landing in modern day (well - modern in the 60's) Gatwick Airport!  Right in the middle of the runway.  As the gang leave the TARDIS they immediately get spotted by Airport Police who shout at them making our gang scatter in different directions!

Polly ends up hiding in the Chameleon Tours (apt name as we shall see...) agency hangar, where she sees a guy dressed in air pilot clothes (Spencer) kill another man and report to his superior, Captain Blade.  Polly runs out and back to the Doctor and Jamie and tells them what she saw!  They all go back to the hangar and examine the body - the Doctor noting that the victim was electrocuted by a weapon that can't possibly exist on Earth at that time!

They leave to find someone in charge but Blade captures Polly without the Doctor or Jamie noticing!  He hides her along with the corpse before Jamie and the Doctor return with skeptical airport authorities!  Here we are introduced to a great chap in charge, simply known as the Commandant.  Not only that but he also has a great moustache!  He doesn't seem to care for the Doctor - and, as none of them have passports, he assumes that they are stowaways.  It doesn't help when he's told of a dead body (that isn't there anymore) and scorch-marks (by a ray-gun)!

Luckily for them all they soon deal with was a Detective Inspector Crossland - a moustached (yes another one!), pipe-smoking chap who has been investigating people disappearing after they have boarded planes at Gatwick airport.  He believes the Doctor is more than a stowaway and between them both they persuade the Commandant to give the Doctor time to investigate - so The Doctor is given 24 hours to investigate the airport and find out where the people are disappearing too.

Handily they do come across Polly again - at a check-in desk - but she claims not to know the Doctor or Jamie and that she works for Chameleon Tours.  Very strange!  A hypnotised Polly!  During all this we are introduced to another lady, Samantha, a Scouse gal who's trying to find her brother who, yup, went on a Chameleon Tours flight to Rome and never returned!  During the course of the story she and Jamie end up together investigating a bit.  They have a nice chemistry and she's quite feisty and fun.  I believe the actress (Pauline Collins - who would appear as Queen Victoria in a 2006 episode of new Who) was so liked that she was asked to be a full time companion.  She refused and had a much bigger career (in fact she was well known for appearing as the title character in the film Shirley Valentine).

A shame, but it might have been a bit grating having a Scouse accent every week!

Photo 1: Leigh, Jason (with the Lost In Time DVD cover), Shaun (holding the sign),
Mark (with eyes open!) and MJ (holding the DVD cover) around MJ's house!

This is a fantastic story!  The main premise is that Chameleon Tours is a cover up for aliens - they've come to Earth and have no faces - so THESE are the Faceless Ones.  They take would-be passengers on their planes, get them to write postcards to send home (on the plane), then take them up to an alien spaceship that's orbiting the Earth.  Up there they create bodies - using humans as templates - apparently a giant explosion on the Chameleons' home planet resulted in the loss of their faces and their identities.  So to save their race from dying out, their scientists developed a process that would allow them to assume the identities of other beings!  The Doctor stops them of course, but is kind enough to help them find other ways to carry on existing.  So in the end all is lovely!

Photo 2: Leigh, Jason (with the Lost In Time DVD cover), Shaun (holding the sign),
Mark (with eyes open!) and MJ (holding the DVD cover) around MJ's house!

However at the end we lose Ben and Polly - they were really side-lined in this tale and I can see why!  Behind the scenes the producers had decided to get rid of the character of Ben and keep Polly.  However Anneke Wills (Polly) felt loyal to Michael Crayze (Ben) and decided to leave with him.  So we have a rather rushed, but sweet goodbye scene at the end.  It sort of made sense, they had landed back in Polly and Ben's correct time, so it made sense for them to get off and get on with their own lives.  Still as I say it did feel a little rushed and I felt the pair deserved a much better role in their final tale.  Samantha was more of a companion than them both in this tale!

Anyway after their goodbyes the Doctor and Jamie go off to find the TARDIS which has disappeared!  Ooo, what can that mean?....

I enjoyed the story, there was enough intrigue to keep us getting through 4 recons, the actors who played the "Human-Chameleons" were fantastically menacing - but all whilst being slow and measured.  There were also some cracking performances from the airport staff and all the extra characters.  Yes a fun tale!

Anyhow that's it for now - next time we have some Daleks to be evil with!

Until then, I shall return, yes I shall return!
 
MJ - 13-04-15

DOCTOR WHO MARATHON 31st MEET-UP - THE MACRA TERROR

Sunday 29th March 2015

A revolutions has occurred - and not just one against giant crabs - oh no!  There's revolution in my reviews!

You see I have been looking over some old reviews and I find myself just explaining the plot out - which is ridiculous!  You can read about that elsewhere online or can watch the re-cons/real episodes yourself!  So no more LONG explanations!  It also makes it less fun for me if I spend AGES writing out a blow by blow account of what's happening!  Especially if no-one reads this! :)
So onwards with my review and yes, another Sunday and we were back to TOTAL-RECONAGE!  Still, sadly, Jim-less but with added Gavin, we all trooped over to Jason's house to watch the four-part story "The Macra Terror"!  At last time meet-up we'd been left with the cliffhanger of a giant claw on the TARDIS screen!...

Oooo!  The sad thing is that none of this story exists in the archives!  So with tele-snaps, the soundtrack and odd bits of moving footage (thanks Aussie censors and people with cine cameras!) we ploughed into this little-known story - well, little-known to my friends! 

I'll tell you a little about the start where our travellers arrive on a new unnamed planet/usual quarry pit and are immediately greeted by Medok, a half-crazed colonist!  They don't spend long with him as Ola, the Chief of Police, comes along and arrests him and takes the TARDIS crew back to his colony.
 
And what sort of sinister place IS this colony?  Why it's quite like an English Holiday camp - similar to Butlins back in the 50's and 60's.  It's camp, bright and cheery (someone described it a "Gay"!) - all of which are HUGE signposts that something sinister MUST be going on!  The Doctor also is unconvinced by the joviality of the place and, when the mysterious Colony Controller appears on a television screen to welcome the new guests to the colony, he's even more convinced of the fact!

Medok is brought in front of the crowd and he tries to tell everyone about the horrible creatures that come out at night - with hideous claws!  He's taken back to jail but later The Doctor visits Medok to find out more and so releases him.

Photo 1: Jason sits behind Gavin, Mark (with the DVD cover),MJ, Leigh (holding the sign) and Shaun around Jason's house!
Me and Jason are doing our best Macra-claw impression.

So we have lots happening.  To start off the whole base is not run by the Controller - but by giant crab like creatures called Macra!  The Controller also isn't the macho looking guy whose photo appears on the screens throughout the base every time there's an announcement - but instead he's a rather frightened, confused, white-haired, frail man! When we eventually see this real Controller on screen he doesn't last long and gets menaced, then killed, by a giant claw!  A shame - I liked this confused chappie!

The Macra need pollution to live so they get lots of gas pumped down into the earth where they seem to mainly live.  The whole base does what they are told as they seemed to be placed under a hypnotic trance every time they go to sleep.  Voices come out of speakers in their bedrooms telling them that "Everything on the base is good - everything is lovely" - I paraphrase of course - but it also re-iterates that "There Are No Such Thing As Macra".  A mantra that most of the base seem to adhere to!

Photo 2: Jason lounges behind Gavin, Mark (with the DVD cover),MJ, Leigh (holding the sign) and Shaun around Jason's house!

So what about our team?  Well The Doctor gets arrested, escapes and gets up to the usual mischief.  Jamie gets sent to the mines (where they mine for the gas), Ben gets hypnotised to be one of the base guards and turns on all his friends and Polly... well, Polly gets a haircut!!

Photo 3: Jason sits behind Gavin, Mark (with the DVD cover),MJ, Leigh (holding the sign) and Shaun around Jason's house!
Me and Jason are doing our best Macra-claw impression.

Of course that's not just it  Ben and Polly do get trapped down in the under-parts (oo-er) of the colony and get menaced by a Macra - about the size of a Mini (the car).  The clips of the Macra exist and, although quite impressive with their size, glowing eyes and claws, they are VERY slow and when Polly gets caught in one of the claws you can see she's REALLY trying to help it achieve that task.  However the low lighting and smoky atmosphere really help the mood - especially when compared to the brash, overly-lit and camp uper levels where everyone lives.  I think the juxtaposition works well!

The episode ends up with the Doctor using the Macra's own gas to blow them up and the colonists no longer appear hypnotised!  Sadly this does turn them into happy-holiday-camp people and, quite, rightly, our TARDIS crew see fit to leave!

So overall I enjoyed this zippy tale.  Although unweildy, the Macra are convincing enough for this one serial and the other characters in the base give some fine performances.  It would be lovely to see this story back in the archives!

Next time we're off to Gatwick Airport!

Until then, I shall return, yes I shall return!
 
MJ - 09-04-15