Sunday 30th August 2015
Hello folks! 'Tis I, Le-MJ! I have a tale to tell you of six chaps who met up for a viewing of 1960's Dr Who! Trouble is we finished the last meet-up too early and so had to fill up the first half and hour with no extra scenery or extra Whoresmen....
Well, except for Gavin!
What the bloomin' heck are you talking about, MJ!? I'll tell you! We all met around Jason's to watch the five part tale - The Mind Robber! Originally this tale was to be a four parter, but I believe they had knocked one episode off the previous tale (The Dominators) to make it punchier! This meant they had a spare episode and so they made The Mind Robber a five parter (instead of a four parter). All fine except that they had no budget for new sets or any extra cast.
So you'd think we'd see lots of padding from Padders (Wendy) & co - but no! Oh no! No, no, no no - there are no ACTUAL limits! The first episode was one of the weirdest and strange episodes I'd seen for a while - slightly akin to the First Doctor story "The Edge of Destruction". The tale continued from the last story by the TARDIS being buried in lava - this blows a fluid link in the process and forces the Doctor to use the emergency unit to take the TARDIS away from danger and indeed out of reality itself....
Between odd things happening in the TARDIS (and on a white, misty sound-stage) this could have been a weird, Dadaist art film from back in the day! For me it was excellent! It had been ages since I had seen it so I had no idea what was going on! I love how strange it all was and thought the main cast dealt with it really well!
Photo 1:
Mark (holding the DVD Cover), Shaun (holding the sign)
Jason and Leigh around Mark's house!
I would say the rest of the episodes followed on normally and, although not as whacky as that first episode, we actually find ourselves out of our reality and in the Land of Fiction!So the Doctor and co have to face a series of puzzles put on by the mysterious Master (a later more famous Villain was also called "The Master" so this one is always referred to as the "Master of the Land of Fiction"), whilst being chased by white robots!
Along the way we meet many story-book characters, like Rapunzel (who's quite happy to let people use her hair for climbing - she's used to it now!) and, even more gloriously, Gulliver!
The chap who played Gulliver was wonderful and had a great and unusual way of speaking - we warmed to him so much that we wanted him to be the next companion!
Photo 2:
Mark (holding the DVD Cover), Shaun (holding the sign)
Jason and Leigh around Mark's house!
Frazer Hinzes, who plays Jamie, actually contracted chickenpox and, as this was a fantasy land, they had the clever idea of turning Jamie into a flat photo - with no face!
Next to this cut-out was a board with many different face-pieces on it and the Doctor had to re-arrange the pieces to make Jamie's face again. Unfortunately he gets it wrong and accidentally gives Jamie a new face (this meant that actor Hamish Wilson could cover whilst Frazer recovered)! This happens only for episode 2 but it is a great way of getting around a problem!
Next to this cut-out was a board with many different face-pieces on it and the Doctor had to re-arrange the pieces to make Jamie's face again. Unfortunately he gets it wrong and accidentally gives Jamie a new face (this meant that actor Hamish Wilson could cover whilst Frazer recovered)! This happens only for episode 2 but it is a great way of getting around a problem!
Photo 3:
Mark (holding the DVD Cover), Shaun, Jason (holding the sign)
and MJ around Mark's house!
Zoe is great in this story - she's looks a treat in her glittery jump-suit and there's a great scene of her clinging onto the TARDIS console (as the TARDIS has exploded) spinning slowly around whilst her lovely glittery bottom comes into view!
She also gets to have a fight with a comic-book hero called Karkus - throwing this giant fellow over her shoulder etc! Great stuff!
She also gets to have a fight with a comic-book hero called Karkus - throwing this giant fellow over her shoulder etc! Great stuff!
Photo 3:
Mark (holding the DVD Cover), Shaun, Jason (holding the sign)
and MJ around Mark's house!
With inventive sets and characters this was a great story. I also enjoyed the reveal that the whole land was being controlled by "The Master" - who in turn was only a novelist from Earth who had been trapped in this weird land and was being forced to control it all. Once he was freed and went back to his time I assume that the Land of Fiction disappeared.
The only thing about The Master that kept distracting me was a tiny bit of spittle that the actor had at the corner of his mouth on his beard! That bugged me more than it should have!! They should spend thousands in CGI to remove it!! ;)
Photo 3:
Mark (holding the DVD Cover), Shaun, Jason (holding the sign)
and MJ around Mark's house!
Anyhow we all found it thoroughly entertaining - well apart from Leigh who wasn't keen at all!
The scores on the doors were:
Jason - 8.5/10
Leigh - 6/10
Mark - 9/10
MJ - 9/10
Shaun - 10/10
Gavin - 9/10
Gavin - 9/10
So it gave us an average of 8.6 out of 10! Shaun really enjoyed it!
So next time we will have to see if the TARDIS rejoins again in one of my favourite stories - The Invasion!
Until then, I shall return, yes I shall return
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