DOCTOR WHO MARATHON 41st MEET-UP - THE DOMINATORS

Sunday 23rd August 2015

It's the third season of the Trout-Man!  WHO-zah!

Gathering around Mark's we get a chance to watch a fully complete story again (a trend that will get more regular from now on!).  This week "The Dominators" and a chance to get to know the new companion - Zoe!

So we start on the planet Dulkis and see a flying saucer landing - later we learn that they are landing on the so caled "Island of Death" (Da-Da-Da-Daaaaaa!!!).  Apparently this was was a nuclear test site housing an anti-war museum and has been uninhabitable for years and years.  The Dominators soon stop that by absorbing all the radiation on the island - this they use for fuel.  They send out their robots, The Quarks, to prepare boreholes into the planet’s crust in order to convert the planet into rocket fuel!  Meanwhile some students (or sightseers or the like) have come across to the island (with protective suits on) for a bit of adventure!  However they don't last long as one of the two Dominators, Toba, orders his Quarks to kill them - which they do (well except for one called Cully who escapes)!

Meanwhile in the Legion of Doo - sorry - in another part of the island our TARDIS arrives and the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe begin to look around.  Suddenly they hear the explosion of the craft being destroyed and take shelter in the museum building.  Here they meet three other newly arrived Dulcians (the natives of the planet), Educator Balan and his young charges Teel and Kando.  All can't believe that the radiation reading on the Island reads as nought, since it should be radioactive after the nuclear explosion 172 years earlier.  Cully arrives too, and tells them about the murderous Dominators and their robots.  However Balan does not accept this - they think there are no such thing as aliens - besides he knows the son of the Director of the ruling council is well known as a con artist!

Photo 1:

Mark (holding the DVD Cover), Shaun (holding the sign)

Jason and Leigh around Mark's house!

So the story carries on with the Dominators taking the students as slaves to do some heavy lifting work for them.  Our TARDIS crew though manage to coral the Dulcians into fighting back and we get plenty of deaths and the like.

The plan of the Dominators sees them planting a huge bomb inside the planet - which will hopefully tear the world apart, then they can get their fuel from the radiation that this causes!  Of course this all gets turned around when the Doctor manages to plant said bomb on the Dominators ship - which explodes in space.  Getting rid of those pesky Dominators.

Photo 2:

Mark (holding the DVD Cover), Shaun (holding the sign)

Jason and Leigh around Mark's house!

Okay I've not gone too much into plot etc but I thought it would be more fun to get into the nitty-gritty of what I like and don't like!

I did enjoy the setting - it looked suitably alien/quarry-like.  The Dominators Space-ship looked good and it was an impressive set inside.

The Dominators costume itself was quite an oddity - it gave them massive hunch-backs.  However I didn't mind it - I thought the Dominators looked quite sinister in them.  It also helped that they had plenty of charcter in their faces - heavy lines and bag under the eyes, big eyebrows and a grouchy look to them.  As "Baddies" they were quite fun, bickering back and forth with each other.  It's clear that one was in charge of the other but neither of them had ANY respect for each other.  They kept sniping and arguing - when they DID agree on something it seemed quite grudgingly!  All in all I felt they worked.

Maybe what DIDN'T work so well was their robot servants - The Quarks!  Funny box like robots with stiff rectangular arms that could only move sideways and a round head that had spikes coming out.  I guess these were seen to possibly be the NEXT Daleks or Cybermen.  They weren't!  I found them a bit too clumsy to work well - and their voices were quite irritating, a bit baby-talk but with none of the charm.

Photo 3:

Mark (holding the DVD Cover), Shaun, Jason (holding the sign)

and MJ around Mark's house!

The good-guys don't fair any better.  Oh the acting was fine ad we had some good characters, but they wore these strange pleated dress-like things which had the waistband up where their nipples would be.  Most odd indeed.

Still they were aliens!  Anyhow we all enjoyed the story, and I think we warmed to Zoe a bit more.  She's not done anything particularly annoying or stupid yet!

Anyhow we always give rough scores out of ten - but I've never actually written them down before!  This time I thought it would be fun to start.

So here's what we scored it!

Jason - 7.5/10

Leigh - 6/10

Mark - 7/10

MJ - 7/10

Shaun  - 7/10

So it gave us an average of 6.9 out of 10!  Not bad indeed for a story that's quite maligned by many people!

Well I'd best stop dominating this part of the internet!  Next time we're Robbing Minds....Ooo! Until then, I shall return, yes I shall return

MJ - 25-08-15

DOCTOR WHO MARATHON 40th MEET-UP - THE WHEEL IN SPACE

Sunday 9th August 2015

Well the year rattles on and we've finally gotten to the last story of Troughton's, sorry, Trout-Man's, second season!  "The Wheel In Space" is a six-part story - set on a wheel.....in space!

Oooo!  Sounds exciting!  So, for our 40th meet-up (we should have all had a glass of Ruby Port - or a curry (Ruby-Murray) to celebrate!) we all met around Jason's to watch a story which had 2 real episodes and 4 re-cons.  Happily (if you're not a re-con fan) this is the last re-con we shall watch UNTIL Trout-Man's penultimate story!

Anyhow onto today and the story starts (as a re-coon) with The TARDIS landing but the scanners show nothing!  The Doctor's readings show that air and temperature is OK but they are surrounded by metal!  Then the scanner begins to work and Jamie is happy to see a lake which soon turns into a scene with birds then into a waterfall and then a beach.  Jamie is confused but the Doctor explains that this is the TARDIS' defence mechanism and that there is danger!  Something I believe we may have seen WAY back in the third story (The Edge of Destruction).  Anyhow before they can take off again there is a power overload which triggers a mercury vapour in the console room.  Our duo have to leave and the Doctor opens a panel near the TARDIS door and removes a rod.  The TARDIS begins to shake and tremble as they leave.  The Doctor explains he has disengaged the time vector generator - the TARDIS is no longer bigger on the inside. They start to have a look around and realise they are on a spaceship - with a random servo robot slowly moving about!  After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing they manage to blow-up the robot, but not before it has released some orbs into space....

Oh and the Doctor and Jamie get knocked out!

Meanwhile at a nearby Space Station ("The Wheel") the leader, Jarvis, notices the random spaceship coming towards them and decides to blow it up - with his X-Ray laser!  This episode ends with the Doctor waking up not knowing that he is about to be blown-up!

Photo 1:

MJ (holding the sign), Mark, Leigh (holding the Lost In Time DVD Cover)

and Shaun around Jason's house!

Anyhow we move on to episode 2 (still a re-con) and Jamie saves the day by taking some technical equipment he's ripped off the wall, pointing at the Wheel and causing a right noise!
When the Wheel Crew hear this they deduce that someone MUST be on board.  So they go across and rescue Jamie and the still knocked-out Doctor!  In fact the Doctor stays knocked out all the episode (Patrick Troughton was on holiday!).

Photo 2:

Jason (holding the sign), Mark (holding the mock DVD Cover),
Leigh (holding the Lost In Time DVD Cover) and Shaun around Jason's house!

Anyhow blah blah more orbs get sucked in etc the crew want to blow up the rocket still - but, as the TARDIS is still on it!  In episode 3 (which exists) Jamie stops them blowing up the rocket by spraying some equipment with liquid plastic and thus knocking out the laser.

Anyhow ALL this not important - what's more important is that we are introduced to a young lady called Zoe Heriot - a young (slightly know-it-all) genius who will be the next companion.

I like Zoe - she's all big-eyed and pretty!

Photo 3:

MJ (holding the sign), Mark (holding the mock DVD Cover),
Leigh (holding the Lost In Time DVD Cover) and Shaun around Jason's house!

I'm finding it quite hard to remember all what happened - the story was a bit too long and the plot had to be stretched.  I liked a lot of the characters, the Cybermen looked cool BUT I still found it quite hard to understand what they were saying!  The effect on their voices is good but you have to REALLY concentrate to get what they are saying.  This could have been a better four part story.

 

Photo 4:

Close-up of Jason (holding the sign),

and Mark (holding the mock DVD Cover)
 around Jason's house!

We had some good destructive Cyber-Mats (the Cybermen's little pets) beeping about causing mischief!  Oh and we had some of the crew being hypnotised by the Cybermen - which is always good.

Photo 5:

Close-up of Leigh (holding the Lost In Time DVD Cover),

and Shaun around Jason's house!

I think all of us found it quite hard going, but there were some positives.  The look and design of the piece was excellent.  I liked the Cybermen (even if I couldn't understand them).  Zoe, though a haughty know-all, seems like she could have potential AND it's our penultimate re-con (and our last one for a while)!  Well that will be it for now.  Before I go - we need a new group photo, so here it is!

Seen as we were missing one other character I decided to add in Leigh as Victoria - well I hadn't created a group photo for her and I didn't want her to feel missed!


So now I'm going to leave and go YAY!

Until then, I shall return, yes I shall return

MJ - 14-08-15