DOCTOR WHO MARATHON 63rd MEET-UP - THE THREE DOCTORS

Saturday 8th October 2016

We had reached a Who milestone!  The Tenth Anniversary special in which all Three actors who had played Doctor Who were involved!  Sadly William Hartnell - The First Doctor - was quite ill at that point so could only make a minor contribution.  But Troughton was back in full glory!  As it was a special occasion we all decided to meet up around Leigh's on a Saturday night and celebrate with beers - going out to the pub afterwards.  Here is the carnage of that night....

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MJ: "HELLO!!!  I hope this works as this is my new phone - a new recording device on it.  Happy Christmas, Ange!  "

Shaun: "MJ, like why don't you now stop that recording and listen back to it, to see what the sound level needs to be?"

Jason: "No!  I'm not shouting at it!"

MJ: "Well, okay..."

*RECORDING GETS STOPPED & LISTENED BACK TO TO.  THEN WE CONTINUE*

MJ: "So here we are - we tested it, it's fine.  We're around Leigh's on a Saturday night!!  WOW!  That's what COOL people do on a Saturday night!!" *Laughter* "Watching a DVD of 'The Three Doctors' which was the tenth anniversary special.  It had Wurzel Gummidge in it.  And it had the man who was in - what was that 80's thing that (Patrick Troughton was in)?  Like a fantasy?"

Jason: " 'Box Of Delights'?"

MJ: "No!  Oh no wait, 'Box Of Delights' - yeah!  Also the guy from all the military movies..."

Shaun: "I'm already lost!"

MJ: "From the 'Carry On Corporal' or 'Sergeant' or whatever."

Shaun: "I found out earlier today that Sean Pertwee's in a horror movie called 'The V-Vitches' - which is the two 'V's' before it became a cohesive whole."

MJ: *Sean Pertwee impression from his show 'Gotham'* "Yes Master Bruce!!"

*Laughter*

Jason: "He's not in it!"

Shaun: "But he was an old-timey bloke with a daughter, so he'd say:"

*Sean Pertwee impression* " 'Don't be a bitch!' "

MJ: *Sean Pertwee impression* " 'Don't be a bitch, Master Bruce!!' "

Shaun: *Sean Pertwee impression* " 'Don't kill my son!' "

MJ: "I like that Leigh probably the only one who's gone for something Doctory to wear - he's got his Dalek t-shirt on.  I went for Batman.  Shaun's got a very nice, colourful shirt on - I like that.  Jason, you've got a robot starfish and Mark's got a skull thing.  So, three Doctors!  Obviously tenth anniversary - we've got all the Doctor's back."

Leigh: "All three of them."

MJ: "All three of them."

Leigh: "There's only been three of them."

Shaun: "There will only EVER be three Doctor's.  As far as we're aware..."

*The guys get distracted by the DVD menu playing scenes from the show - including the ranting villain*

Mark: "I like this episode already!  That guy..."

MJ: "Perhaps we should press play....  Three Time Lords were used in this episode!"

*Laughter*

MJ: "Episode One - FIGHT!  Hadouken!  It's Saturday night - I'm excitable!"

*Leigh laughs*

*EPISODE ONE GETS WATCHED*

Photo 1: At Leigh's house.
Mark, MJ (holding the sign), Jason (with the DVD case)
& Leigh with his tin whistle!

*Cheering and 'Yays' from all*

MJ: "Well Yayy!  End of Episode One and we're seen THREE DOCTORS!!!  Although one of them is on a screen caught in a Time Eddy - as he said.  That's the character from 'Time Iron Maiden'..." *Laughs to self* "Time Eddy - that's their mascot...."

Mark: "Yeah I got that..."

Leigh: "Time Eddy from 'Time Absolutely Fabulous'?"

MJ: "Haha!  Yes 'Time Absolutely Fabulous' as well!"

Leigh: "And Time Patsy."

MJ: "And 'Time Bottom' - which had Time Eddie and Time Richie!"

*Laughter*

Leigh: "That's who Madonna married - Time Ritchie!"

*Laughter*

MJ: "Banter." *Laughter* "What do you think of Episode One then!?"

Shaun: "Pretty good."

MJ: "That's mental - with the big bobbly-wobbly things - monsters etc."

Leigh: "It reminded me that Troughton was better than Pertwee!"

*Laughter*

MJ: "Do you know, that's what I thought.  As soon as he came into it I thought 'Aww I've missed him!  I really have missed him'.  And I think they (Pertwee and Troughton) were a bit squabbly like that in real life - so it helped their thingies (I think I meant character development!!).  I'll tell you a story next time..." *Reading titles as Episode Two starts* "Bob Baker."

Shaun: "And Martin someone."

Jason: "Yeah don't forget Martin someone!"

MJ: "Dave Martin."

Leigh: "Chris Martin."

MJ: "Chris Martin."

Shaun: "Chris Martin, yeah!"

MJ: "Episode Two!"
Leigh: "And Danny Baker."

MJ: *Laughing* Danny Baker!  Hah!  Part Two!"

*EPISODE TWO GETS WATCHED*

Photo 2: At Leigh's house.
Mark, Shaun (holding the sign), Jason (with the DVD case and beer)
& Leigh with his tin whistle!

MJ: "So the end of Episode Two and, erm, the big house has disappeared.  Into a black hole?"

Mark: "Yeah."

MJ: "Random."

Mark: "Only to re-appear in the quarry, in the next episode, as a cardboard cutout."

Shaun: "Yeah.  It's only a model!"

*Mark laughs*

MJ: "Errr that was good.  We had The Brigadier going into the TARDIS for the first time and being - "

Shaun: "- The first time ever?!"

Mark: "Yeah."

MJ: "- And being confused by it.  Which was good."

Shaun: "Yeah but, continuity is not great in Doctor Who!"

Leigh: *Laughing* "What are you saying!!?"

Mark: "Look, as far as we are aware, in this episode that is the first time ever!"

Shaun: "They've been to NINE Atlantisees!!"

*Laughter*

Mark: "Atlantisi!"

MJ: "Atlantisees/Atlantisi - let's call the whole thing off!"

*Laughter*

Shaun: "Are we going to have a break?"

Leigh: "Yeah."

MJ: "Yeah!  How are we enjoying it so far then!!?"

Leigh: "Yayy, Troughton's good!" *Laughing*

Shaun: "It's quite fun so far!"

Jason: "It's quite fun - funny."

MJ: "We like the caves made of jam.  Bobbly"

Leigh: "Yay!!!  Cave Jam!"

Mark: "And things made of jam."

Jason: "Anti-jam."

Mark: "Marmalade."

Jason: "I won't accept that.  I'm disagreeing with that."

Mark: "I'm saying marmalade is the anti-jam."

Jason: "The opposite of jam is not marmalade."

Mark: "It is!"

Jason: "The opposite of jam - "
Mark: "- You think it's going to be delicious like jam - but it isn't!"

Jason: "- is something not sticky, not edible and not red.  Therefore - "

*Jason stumbles so MJ goes back on Who-track*

MJ: "There's an impressive 'tache on that guy!"

Jason: "That'll do!  I'll have that!"
Jason & Shaun together: "Impressive 'tache is the opposite of jam!!"

Mark: "That was a VERY smooth segway back into what we should be talking about!"

*Laughter*

MJ: "It has made me, erm, realise how much I've missed Troughton, watching that."

Leigh: "Yeah."

Shaun: "It's made me realise how much I liked Troughton at the time but he's still, in my opinion, the weakest of the Doctors thus far."

Jason: "Ooo!"

MJ: *Gasping* "Controversial!!"

Mark: "He's my favourite Doctor so far!"

MJ: "Yeah me too!"

Shaun: "He's not even got a tattoo!"

Jason: "I'll bet he has!"

Mark: "He might have."

Shaun: "I was just going back to the first Pertwee one where we saw his tattoo."

MJ: "That's true.  They err - well we'll talk about this later - the Hartnell thing."

Jason: "Don't spoil it!"

MJ: "But yes, very good indeed."

Jason: "Obviously Hartnell's got no legs."

MJ: "Hah!  'Hartnell's got no legs'!  How does he smell?!" *Laughter* "Right I'd better turn this off whilst I got to the loo..."

*Recording gets stopped for ablutions....  Then we're back!*

MJ: "So, three Doctors - well, two and a bit!"

Leigh: "I thought you said it wasn't THE Patrick Troughton?  No!  Not Patrick Troughton - erm (William Hartnell)."

Jason & MJ together: "That's 'The Five Doctors'."

Leigh: "Oh right.  Okay."

MJ: "This was the last, erm..."

Jason: "Is this what you weren't going to talk about now?"

MJ: "Oh yes I wasn't - and Mark's not here anyway!"

Jason: "He (Hartnell) dies DURING this episode whilst acting!  He falls off his chair!"

MJ: "Yeah - he falls of his chair and goes, errr....'Ooo Mr. Grimsdale!!' "

Leigh: "So why has this never achieved the same cult status as 'The Crow' then!?"

*Laughter*

Jason: "Did The Crow say 'Mr. Grimsdale' when he got shot?"

Shaun: "I'm fairly certain that was Brandon Lee's final thing he said before he died!"

MJ: "He said:" *Puts on flat bad acting stilted voice* " 'Holy moly'." *Normal voice* "Like that really good UNIT guard man (we just saw)."

Leigh: "It was 'Holy Moses'!  Not 'Moly'!"

MJ: " 'Holy Moses!'  He just looks completely bewildered by it - like 'I'm not really an actor I've just been left here'!"

Shaun: "He's better than that Chancellor of the bloody Time Lords!"

Jason: "Oh yes!  At least I BELIEVE he's a crap UNIT man!"

MJ: "Oh yes The Chancellor!" (I find out now he was also a Chancellor in the final Troughton story 'The War Games')

Leigh: " 'Be it on your own head'!  Rather than 'On your own head be it' - which is what normal people would say!"

MJ: "'Be it on your own - ' the other one, with the sideburns (The Time Lord's President of The Council), has got more gruffness about him, whereas he's bit like 'Ohhhhh....'"

Shaun: "The guy with the gruffness (President of The Council) sounds like he's acting in a scene for television  - whereas the other guy sounds like he's monologuing his wife or something!" *Leigh & MJ Laugh* "Just does not appear to be in the moment at all!"

Jason: "That's how he rehearsed!"

MJ: "What about the Time Lord who's really not putting his heart into it?  The leader (The Chancellor)?"

Mark: "Yeah."

MJ: "He's like:" *Puts on wishy-washy voice* "Oh well, I don't know it's a..."

Mark: "The ineffectual leader who's unwilling to lead."

MJ: *Puts on wishy-washy voice* " 'I've got some tea on the table, I really should be looking at THAT actually'..." *Laughs* "This is going to be brilliant written down!  Impressions!"

*Laughter*

Mark: "Yeah it's going to be really good...."

Leigh: "Yeah but we don't know WHO it's an impression of!!"

Shaun: "Yes you always say the name first!"

MJ: "Oh no, I didn't say the name!" *Puts on wishy-washy voice* " 'Oooo-oh-ohhh!  I'm The Chancellor'!" *Laughs*

*After some wiffle-waffle*

MJ: "Well I'll stop this now 'cos otherwise I might start giving stuff away!"

Shaun: "I've got another Doctor Who thing to say!  Doctor Who's quite good."

MJ: "Yayyyyy!"

Shaun: "I like it!"

MJ: "Ten years of good - damn straight!"

Jason: "Wait until it's twenty years!"

Shaun: "Damn Skippy!"

MJ: "More beer!"

Photo 3: At Leigh's house.
Shaun (rudely holding the sign) & Jason.

*RECORDING STOPS BUT THEN I RESTART IT....*

MJ: "The recording starts again because my good friends Leigh and Shaun have HILARIOUSLY -" *Leigh and Shaun erupt in fits of laughter* "- filled up two bottles of beer with water and then watched me drink them!" *Laughter* "I'm like 'Ohhh this has got water in!!??' (and they are like) 'Ha-ha-ha - try this one!' (And I do and am like) 'Ohhh this has got water in!!??' " *Laughter*  "And that's what we get up to..."

*Laughter*

Shaun: "Would you like another chance at the roulette-beer?!

*Laughter*

MJ: "Bet you're all jealous out there!  All you reading my Doctor Who blog thing!"

*Laughter*  "READ MY THING!"

Shaun: "That was our Official Tenth Anniversary Prank!"

MJ: "'Tenth Anniversary Prank' - I like it!" *Reading beer label* " 'Granny Wouldn't Like It'?  Well I've gotta have THAT haven't I!!?"

Shaun: "It's like 'Your Mother Wouldn't Like It' (old kids TV show) which had a crocodile in it!"

Leigh: "It DID yeah!"

MJ: "Yeah!"

Leigh: "That lived in the sewer!"

MJ: "You know she wouldn't like it!"

Shaun: *Having tasted a sip of beer puts on strained voice* "That one's also water!"

Leigh: "It's not also water."

MJ: "Ohh!  Now, that, that's...ooo that's dark!"

*Leigh laughs*

Shaun: "That one...is just my piss!  I have a lot of problems!"

*Laughter* 

MJ: "Are you sure it's not runny water from the 'other end'!?"

*Laughter* 

Shaun: "I have been ill this week!"

MJ: "For the Listeners at home - The Readers - I meant 'runny poo'!"

*Leigh laughs* "And also in case you didn't get my subtle joke there!" *Laughs*

*EPISODE THREE GETS WATCHED*

Photo 4: At Leigh's house.
Mark, Shaun (holding the sign), Jason
& Leigh with his tin whistle!

MJ: "End of Episode Three and randomly - "

Shaun: "- Episode Three in which we all decided that Omega sounds like Matt Berry!  Which brought us almost all to tears!"

*Mark laughs*

MJ: *Does Matt Berry/Omega impression* "'What the Hell are you doing??!'"

Shaun: "Amazing."

MJ: And at the end, The Doctor - as in Pert-wee - was fighting some little pig-faced thing!"

Leigh: "Bill Bailey!"

Mark: "No I think he's going to be raped to death by Bill Bailey!"

Jason: "Dark Bill Bailey."

MJ: "The dark side of Bill Bailey."

Shaun: "I'm tremendously disappointed where they went with that!"

MJ: "Yeah..."

Shaun: "There was so much scope for a cool introspective kind of thing and...no!  It's just a fight scene with a goblin!"

Jason: "It's still going on!"

MJ: "SLOW-MOTION fight scene!"

Shaun: "Yes!  In fact that brings us back to Matt Berry!  'This episode is running several minutes short!  Use a lot of slow-motion'!!"

*Laughter* 

Leigh: "'I don't know, did I?  I was drunk at the time!' "

*Laughter* 

MJ: "Are we doing 'Toast?"

Jason: "Are we doing 'Toast!?"

Shaun: "I propose a toast!"

Jason: "With jam!" 

MJ: "No no I meant (comedy show) 'Toast Of London'!"

Shaun: "'Toast Of London' is also Matt Berry."

MJ: "It is - I do like that."

Leigh: "I like when he loses in the poker game to Andrew Lloyd Webber and they send around - who's his 'muscle'?  I can't remember the name of his 'muscle'!  I wanna say 'Aled Jones' but it's not Aled Jones, it's something LIKE that.  Who does 'Phantom Of The Opera'?"

MJ: "Oh, not Michael Crawford?"
Leigh: "Michael Crawford, Yes!  Michael Crawford is his enforcer!" 
*Laughter* "He does it because he likes it!" *Laughing* "He doesn't need the money!"
MJ: "It's not actually THE Michael Crawford that does it though."
Leigh: "It is!!  Yeah."
Shaun: "It's awesome."

MJ: "No, hold on, isn't it the other one - Michael Ball?"

Leigh: "Oh Michael Ball!  Sorry that's right."

MJ: "Yes I was thinking I remember watching it now!  Somebody, last year, said how good they were so I decided to watch them all on the Channel Four Player.  I'd never seen them before and was very impressed!"

Shaun: "Pretty much anything with Matt Berry in is worth watching."

Leigh: "It's exactly the same!"

MJ: "I like the acting style he goes for in 'Toast'...  It's quite good isn't it!?" *Laughs*

Shaun: "Is it quite exactly the same!?"

*Laughter*

Mark: "It IS quite exactly the same!"

MJ: "He does say different things!  That's how you can differentiate between them."

Shaun: "Ohhhh!"

Leigh: "Yeah he doesn't say 'Jen' as much as he does in 'The IT Crowd' for example!"

MJ: "And people aren't calling him Dixon Bainbridge!" *Laughs* "Anyway the final part of..."

*Leigh laughs* *Singing* "Doctor Whoooo!"

Leigh: "I don't why you paused it for THAT??!  I thought there was a real thing going on!!"

MJ: "No - anyway 'DOCTOR WHO AND THE THREE DOCTORS'!!"

Shaun: "It turns out a time travelling Matt Berry played Omega!"

Mark: "The audio's running a bit short we've got to pad it out!"

Shaun: *Referencing the Third Doctor's onscreen fight* "Much like this slow motion."

MJ: "Sllloooooowwww mooootion!  That would be brilliant if it was audio..."

Photo 5: At Leigh's house.
Mark, Shaun (holding the sign), Jason (playing a beer bottle)
& Leigh (playing his tin whistle)!

*EPISODE FOUR GETS WATCHED*

MJ: "And there we go!  That was the end of 'The Three Doctors'!  And we finished with a joke, with the Gamekeeper guy being nagged at by his wife -"

Jason: "Mr. Ollis!"

MJ: "Mr. Ollis!"  

Jason: "Which I thought was Mr. Hollis for a long time - just pronounced 'Ollis'."

MJ: *Mr. Ollis impression* " 'You wouldn't believe me, woman!'  That's what he said - it's brilliant.  If you could hear that it would be better..."

Shaun: "That's why I turned the DVD off.  To assist with the recording."

MJ: "No, no I meant different people..."

Shaun: "Not the viewers at home?!"

MJ: "Yes the viewers wouldn't hear my excellent accent!"

Mark: "What the whole viewer?"

Shaun: "Well we're HERE and WE didn't hear your excellent accent!  So why would they get special treatment??!"

MJ: "Damn you KAAAHHHHNNN!!" *Laughs*

Shaun: "KAAAHHHHNNN!!"

MJ: " 'The Three Doctors': Shaun, impressed with that?"

Shaun: "It was super fun!"

MJ: "That was super fun."

Shaun: "Yeah I really enjoyed.  Omega was a very good bad guy.  I very much enjoyed the whole kind of theme they had going with him and the idea that he progenated the Time Lords' ability to manoeuvre through space and time and everything like that - it was good fun!"

MJ: "Yep!"

Shaun: "And the whole thing of his Will being the only thing that kept him there despite the fact that his body had long since corroded into nothing."

MJ: "I also like that, although it had a lot going on, it was quite light."

Shaun: "It was quite jovial, yeah."

Jason: "It seemed like a fun fan thing.  I enjoyed the beer too!  That was good."

MJ: "The beer was excellent!"

Shaun: "That was by far the greatest part!"

*Leigh laughs* 

MJ: "And Troughton.  It was so brilliant to see Troughton again!"

Shaun: "He looked like he was having a lot of fun!"

MJ: "He did!  And I like the fact that, erm.  Well, it would be the same as if I met ME -"

Jason: "Oh God, if you met you!"

MJ: "If I met me, I would probably not get on with me!!"

Leigh: "I can't find a recorder but I've got..." *Blows whistle type device*

*Laughter* 

Jason: "Now Readers, Listeners - whatever - that will sound BETTER in audio!"

MJ: "That WILL sound better in audio!"

Shaun: "People who are getting this cast directly into their minds via some kind of hologram...!"

*Leigh laughs*  

MJ: "So yeah, Leigh has got some sort of tin whistle!"

Leigh: "Yep!"

MJ: "I say 'some sort' but I sure it's the DEFINITIVE tin whistle!"

Leigh: "Yes, known as 'A Tin Whistle'."

MJ: "What was the Professor's name?  The Doctor Professor?"

Shaun: "Doctor Professor!"

Jason: "Tyler."

Leigh: "Doctor Professor Tyler.  Yeah you're right."   

MJ: "Looking befuddled going 'Hahaha!  I don't know what all this is about - but it's been fun going to the Anti-Matter Universe'!"

Shaun: "I was very surprised he survived and even more so the Gamekeeper.  Normally they're brought in specifically to be killed off!"

MJ: "Yeah!"

Shaun: "But both of them lived!"

MJ: "I think they were very few casualties (which I pronounce as 'cause-u-alities' to be hilarious...)!"

Shaun: "I mean UNIT got a few deaths in, obviously!"

MJ: "Oh yeah of course!  I mean there's always some of their deaths."

Shaun: "There's always going to some UNIT-death."

MJ: "UNIT-death!"

Mark: "There was only two though."

Shaun: "There was two that we saw - I presume that number was at least ten-fold."

*Mark laughs*

MJ: "That rhymes with someone who was in 'Dangermouse'!" *Laughs*

Leigh: "Penfold!"

MJ: *Laughing* "Well done!"

Shaun: "It also rhymes with 'Grenfold' which isn't a thing."

Photo 6: At Leigh's house.
Mark, Shaun (holding the sign),
 Jason & Leigh.

MJ: "Mark, were you happy to see Mr. Troughton back in again?"

Mark: "I was happy to see Mr. Troughton back in again.  I thought it was just the writing of these Pertwee ones that I didn't like, but it is actually Pertwee himself!"

*Leigh chuckles*

Jason: "True."

MJ: "It did make me - even though I do like Pertwee as a Doctor, having Troughton back made me think 'Ohhhhh, he's just brilliant'!"

Mark: "I like Troughton."

Shaun: "I like all of them so far but this still made me remember Troughton as the weakest of the three we've seen so far."

MJ: "Oh yes, yes!  You're not a fan!"

Jason: "Oh really?"

Leigh: "I liked Troughton."

MJ: "Yeah yeah!"

Shaun: "It's not by much!"

Mark: "Yeah.  Overall though I did - "
Shaun: "- I mean I remember, when we went into Troughton, that I remembered seeing his old ones and really disliking them."

Mark: "Yeah."

Shaun: "I mean it took a couple of episodes to bed-in but..."

MJ: " I suppose it's because it's someone different.  I think a lot of the time you really like someone before-hand and then you go into someone new it's a bit like ohhhhh..." *Laughing* "I mean Mark's still gotta get past that!!"

Mark: "Yeah.  I still, as yet, have to get past that.  Yeah...no...."

MJ: "I'm just waiting for Jason to get back before I carry on talking - oh, here he is."

Leigh: "Shall we fill with sllllllloooooowwwww mooootionnnnnn?!"

*Referencing The Doctor's slow-mo fight with the weird little goblin creature.  We all join in!*

Shaun: "THAT was by far the worst bit!  They could have done SO much more with that, and why was he a goblin?!"

MJ: "That was mad!"

Jason: "They created a costume for THAT!!"

MJ: "They did!!"

Shaun: "That was just rubbish."

Mark: "That was fun!"

Jason: "That was the best costume of the show!" 

Mark: "It was an awesome costume!"

MJ: "One of the facts that I know is that they got to it and thought 'It's the tenth anniversary one, wouldn't it be nice to have all three Doctors again, we've never done that before!'  So that got in touch with Trout-Man and he said 'Yes that's fine' and they rang up William Hartnell and he said 'Oh yes I'd love to do that!'"

Mark: "Yeah."

MJ: "And then they wrote the script and Hartnell had a LOT more to do in it.  So they got nearer the time, they sent the script off and suddenly they had Hartnell's wife ringing up and saying 'Bill's been talking to me - ' Bill is what everyone called him, Bill Hartnell, "- Bill's been saying he's going to be in Doctor Who again, but he can't be?' and they were like 'Yeah, yeah, yeah we've written the part for him.' and she was like 'But he can't remember ANYTHING!'  You see they had actually caught him on a good day in his life.  Some days he could not even remember playing The Doctor, he was so ill!"

Mark: "Wow."

MJ: "So that's why, originally, he was going to be more hands-on.  But they couldn't.  So they had him in the studio, inside that thing (It was like a perspex throne or something!), reading his lines off big cue cards!"

Mark: "Yeah."

Shaun: "That was evident."

MJ: "Yeah that WAS evident.  But it was just so they had him in it - I mean it was good to have him in it."

Shaun: "It was well worth having him in it."

MJ: "It was and it was the last thing he did as an actor - in fact he died I think the following year, so..."

Leigh: "I thought you said he fell of a chair and died during that?!"

*Laughter*

Jason: "He DID say that."

MJ: "I DID say that!"

Leigh: "Was that not true??!  You LIED to me!?"

Mark: "It was nice to have two and a half Doctors though."

MJ: "It was nice to have two and a half Doctors."

Shaun: "It was very nice of the Time Lords, for all of his efforts, to finally reward The Doctor with his knowledge and his flux-capacitor thing to fix the TARDIS with."

MJ: *Laughing* "Flux-capacitor thing!"

Mark: "The de-materialisation circuit."

MJ: "So yeah I think overall we all enjoyed that."

Jason: "It was enjoyable."

MJ: "It was a four-parter - that's always good."

Shaun: "I was expecting that to be terrible.  You had NOT talked that up enough!"

Jason: "It was based on me saying I had tried to watch it and not finished it before."

Shaun: "No it was with MJ when we were talking the other week and he said it wasn't received that well."

MJ: "Oh no are you sure I was talking about this?"

Shaun: "I was expecting it to be something of a slog.  Yeah you were talking down about this one."

MJ: *Surprised* "Oh?"

Photos 7 & 8: At Leigh's house.
Jason (with the DVD case)
& Leigh playing with his tin whistle!

Jason: "But what does 'The Book' say!?"

Leigh: "We need to score it first!"

MJ: "We do, yeah.  Thank you Leigh!"

Shaun: "Leigh is keeping this on track.  It's his house and he's taking command!"

Leigh: "I know!"

Mark: "I'm not used to you taking control."

MJ: "I think Leigh was the one, most eager out of all of us, who wanted to have a Doctor Who marathon!" *Laughter* "So it's good that you keep us all on track!  Anyway, I can't mark that low as it was like, nice and -"

Jason: "- It was like a Christmas episode!"

MJ: "It was!"

Jason: "I could probably find fault with it if I wanted to."

MJ: "I think there's lots of fault."

Leigh: "You say that, though, but I think the bad guy was quite good!"

MJ: "No the bad guy was good."

Leigh: "He had an understandable reason for doing what he did.  Which you don't always get."

Shaun: "It was a more credible threat than usual where it's a couple of random workers that The Doctor's walked into.  He's (Omega) actually going to destroy the universe out of petty vengeance!"

MJ: "Yes, he wasn't bad in the first place - he just felt a bit wronged.  And he'd been there for eternity so he had lots of time to get - "

Shaun: "- Mad!  He'd been left on his own!"

Mark: "Yes gone a bit mad."

Shaun: "I mean he's gone SO mad that he imagined jam-monsters!" *Laughter* "As we found out he created that entire planet AND all its inhabitants out of his own mind and THAT was the best he could come up with!!?"

Jason: "Actually that's a good point.  Any issues we have with it it's 'Oh it's in his mind - that's fine!'  They were crap costumes but he invented that!"

Shaun: "Yeah he imagined that."

MJ: "And he imagined himself!  He didn't exist!!"

Shaun: "Yeah."

MJ: "There was NOTHING there - just his will!"

Shaun: "That was very cool

MJ: "Just his will.  Not his willy!"

Jason: "He thought about that as well."

Shaun: "Well presumably, as he corroded, the area replicated its will and kept it as a continuing force."

Jason: "Oooo."

Photo 9: At Leigh's house.
Mark, MJ (holding the sign), Jason
& Leigh with his tin whistle!

Leigh: "I'm going to give it an eight!"

Jason: "Wow."

MJ: "I think that's a good one.  I was thinking 'Shall I give it ten?'  But no, I've given other ones ten and it's not the best, but it's... I think eight.  Yeah, eight's good!"

Shaun: "I'm going to take off one point for The Master not being in it!" *Laughter* "The villain not turning out to be The Master - And I'm still going to give it an eight point one three two nine five!"

MJ: "Ahhhh!"

Shaun: "I thoroughly enjoyed it!"
MJ: "Ahh, well done!  Mark?"

Mark: "I'm going to give it eleven - 'cos I don't think they are going to beat that."

*Uproarious laughter!*

Shaun: "Wow the mark's have been destroyed!!"

MJ: "What!!??  You've destroyed the point system!!  Huh???"

Jason: "Erm, eleven point three!"

MJ: "Nooo!!!"

Shaun: "WOW!!"

MJ: "No, no!!"

Jason: "I meant eight point three!"

MJ: "Oh right okay!"

Leigh: "I think the beer has had an effect on the scores!"

*Laughter*

Jason: "Yep - SOBER it's a four!"

*Laughter*

MJ: "But?"

Jason: "Sober, on my own, on a Sunday - I didn't finish it!"

*Laughter*

Shaun: "I tell you what I will say about that one: Like many with The Master I could see myself watching it again."

MJ: "Yeah."

Mark: "I would."

Shaun: "And for the most part I wouldn't.  Like, it's not that I don't enjoy them but I'm not going to sit around and watch it again!  But that one, and most ones with The Master I would."

Jason: "When we finish this marathon we'll just start again!"

*Laughter*

MJ: "And at the end we'll watch it until we become nothing!  Only our will is making us watch!" *Laughter* *Does Omega impression* "WHAT IS THIS!!?" *Normal voice* "It's 'The Three Doctor's again." *Does Omega impression* "NERRRR - I REMEMBER THIS THE FIRST TIME AND THEY LEFT ME HERE!!"

Shaun: *Referring to my impression* "I love the idea that your mind has turned Matt Berry and Brian Blessed into one conglomerate human!"

MJ: "I only have a few impressions!"

Shaun: "That's slowly happened over time!"

Jason: "You usually tell people that they are different ones!"

MJ: "Ahh okay."

Jason: "It depends on what they are saying."

Shaun: *Laughing* "You were screaming about going around f**king a mountain earlier on!  Which is a very Brian Blessed thing!"

MJ: "I'll edit that..."

Shaun: "Edit it back in!!"

MJ: "Hey so what does 'The Book' think?"

Mark: "It was awful."

Leigh: "Two out of ten!"

Shaun: "A waste of time!  A waste of three perfectly good Doctors!"

Jason: "Ooo here we are!  We're there.  Okay!" *Reading from 'The Book'* "This story marked William Hartnell's final acting assignment.  He appeared on pre-filmed inserts only, reading lines off-cue as memory-loss was preventing him taking part in the studio.  UNIT HQ scenes were filmed at Halings House, Denham Green in Buck's.  Whilst Springwell Quarry in Rickmansworth represented the black hole landscape.  Four latex Gell Guards were made.' - 'Gell Guards'??!"

MJ: "Gel!"

Jason: "Well, it's double-L!"

Leigh: "They were still never called 'gel' or 'gell' in the show!"

Shaun: "When it first started I assumed they were the Zygons?"

MJ: "No!"

Shaun: "Which were with Matt Smith - I thought it was an early version of them!"

MJ: "No they first appeared with Tom Baker."

Shaun: "But these were a different weird, jam-looking monster!  Bobbly, jam-monsters."

Jason: *Reading from 'The Book'* "'Were made by Alistair Bowtell.  Roger Liminton designed a NEW TARDIS interior set.' - well done for you going all out on that then!"

*Laughter*

Shaun: "Yeah!  It looked SO different - he says with sarcasm."

Jason: *Reading from 'The Book'* " 'Harking back to the original one from 'An Unearthly Child'.' - It says 'Episode One' in brackets."

MJ: "Yeah, yeah."

Jason: "There's a lot of stuff here!" *Reading from 'The Book'* " 'New synthesised title music was arranged by Delia Derbyshire and Paddy Kingsland."

MJ: "Ahh right okay -"

Jason: *Reading from 'The Book'* "- But was scrapped -" *Laughter* " '- just before transmission'!"

MJ: "I was thinking it didn't sound any different!!"

Jason: *Reading from 'The Book'* " 'Appropriately a tenth 'Radio Times' cover featured all three Doctors.  Verdict: An obvious idea done on the cheap!  Four out of ten!"

*Uproarious laughter!*

MJ: "Ahhhhh!"

Shaun: "Excellent!"

MJ: "Awwww -'The Book'!  Come on, 'The Book'!!"

Jason: "'The Book'!"

MJ: "I mean don't 'come on' 'The Book' but I mean, come ON 'The Book'!!"

Shaun: "Even if nothing else, the bad guy was far more conceptual than usually we have!  I mean that was a cool idea!"

MJ: *Sarcastically* "Eurrgh - an OBVIOUS idea! Says 'The Book'!"

Shaun: "Apologies - I'm arguing with 'The Book'!  We all know it's sacrosanct."

Jason: "'The Book' did not know about Matt Berry, to be fair!"

Shaun: "That's what ruined it for me!"

*Laughter*

Mark: "I think 'The Book' should have had a couple of beers beforehand."

*Laughter*

MJ: "I think you're right, yes!  Well there you go, strangely enough we disagree with 'The Book'?  So that's unusual for us!" *Laughs*

Shaun: "We have kind of come a bit more in line with 'The Book' lately."

Jason: "Yeah we have."

MJ: "It's a bit like people in Nazi Germany.  They sort of fell in line - "

Shaun: "- I'm already feeling the editing out coming!  I can sense it!  Perhaps MJ's 'Will' will enforce that it stays in!  Maybe when he's no longer here!"

MJ: "Oh I meant people saying 'Do you know, I don't think little moustaches are that bad really!  I reckon that they can catch on!  That's fine...' "

*Jason laughs*

Shaun: "I think Jason has something to add!"

Jason: "I was just going to say that the next episode is ALSO one I started and didn't finish!  'The Carnival Of Monsters'."

MJ: "Ohhh yes!  It's got someone from 'Hi-Di-Hi' in it!"

Shaun: *Sarcastically* "I'll look forward to that..."

Leigh: "Su Pollard!"

MJ: "No, she's only been in one thing - no-no, she's been in two!  She was in - no-no!  THREE!  She was in 'Oh Doctor Beeching', she was in that thing - 'You Rang M'Lord' and of course 'Hi-di-hi'!"

Shaun: "I thought you meant three Doctor Who serials!!"

MJ: "No, no, no."

Shaun: "I'm sure Su Pollard has had a large and varied career..."

Jason: "Let me guess again!  Is it...Paul Shane!?"

MJ: "It's not Ian McShane!"

Jason: "Is it Jeffrey Holland?"

MJ: "It's not Jools Holland."

Shaun: "WHAT!!?  Why are you referencing people from 'Hi-di-hi'!!??"

*Laughter*

Leigh: "Right can we just get on with this and go down the pub!!?"

MJ: "Oh yeah we've got to take a picture!!  Okay that's MJ Fouldes - signing off!"

Jason: "Tripping over a table!"

Photo 10: At Leigh's house.
MJ with beer & sign!

Photos 11 & 12: A close up of the front and back of the sign!
Scrawled upon by one of the gang (Shaun!).

*******************************************************************************************************

Phew that was a long one!  They even started chatting nonsense AFTER that to try and make it to thirty minutes!  But I'm not transcribing that!  The Hi-di-hi stuff was enough, thank you!  Anyhow here are the scores!

MJ - 8

Shaun - 8.13295

Leigh - 8

Mark - 11

Jason - 8.3

So that gives us an average of 8.68659 out of 10.  Phew!  Right a few more to write up but now I need a lie-down!!!

Until next time I shall return, yes I shall return...

MJ - 13/12/2016