DOCTOR WHO MARATHON 35th MEET-UP - THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMEN

Sunday 24th May 2015

Hello Cheeky?  How have you been?  Okay?  Well that's nice.  Here's a story about 5 chaps and their continuing adventures in Dr Who Marathon Land!

The week in question saw us gather around Leigh's house to watch the 6 part story "The Abominable Snowmen"!

Once again it was mostly re-cons (5 parts re-con - 1 part real) but from now on the amount of re-cons left to watch is getting quite small!  Only 1 more story left which is totally re-cons and only a couple with over half as re-cons.

Anyhow what can I tell you about this week's story?  Well Part 1 (re-con) starts off with the TARDIS landing in the Himalayas (actually the Welsh Mountains, but they looked impressive)!  Here we find an explorer, Professor Edward Travers,who is awoken from his sleep when he hears the screams of his companion!  He is horrified to see a lumbering, hairy creature standing over his friend's lifeless body - The Abominable Snowman - aka The Yeti!

Elsewhere The Doctor is happy at where they've landed and tells Jamie and Victoria to start searching for a 'Holy Ghanta' in his chest of treasures/junk.  He tells them that they have landed in Tibet, and the Detsen Monastery will "give them a welcome of a lifetime" if they arrive with the Ghanta: a bell and holy Buddhist relic the Doctor took three hundred years ago for safe-keeping.  Whilst his companions search, the Doctor steps outside but finds the dead body.  He picks up the rucksack that the man dropped and travels up to the nearby Monastery to prepare the way for his companions.  It seems the Doctor has been here before and cannot wait to go to the Monastery and get a heroes welcome!  However he comes against a lot of angry suspicious monks who think he's up to no good.  This leads once again the Doctor being locked up in a cell!

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

Travers goes to visit the Doctor in his cell and says he's been looking for the Yeti - which the Monks say are a race of peaceful, shy creatures.  And yet these ones are attacking people.  Naturally suspicion falls upon the Doctor - especially as his big furry coat makes him look a little bit Yeti-like.  Oh, did I mention the furry coat?  Ah well, he's wearing one.  That bit was important!  Still the Doctor manages to get free by showing the Monk's (specifically their leader - the easily named Padmasambhava!) the Holy Ghanta (that Bell!).  Once free he starts investigating!

Meanwhile Jamie and Victoria have been terrorised on the hills by the Yeti.  The find a cave with a huge pyramid of shiny metal balls. The Yeti however finds them and attacks - causing a cave-in!  Our plucky companions escape (with a shiny ball!) and take it back to show the Doctor at the Monastery.  We view all this as it all happens in the existing Episode 2!  So that's nice.

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

Well as I said I won't bang on about the plot - it seems silly when you can watch it yourself!

Instead let's look at what I liked.  Well firstly Padmasambhava was fantastic!  The poor chap HAD been an old friend of the Doctor's but he'd been possessed by "The Great Intelligence" - an alien being with no form of it's own.  I think Padmasambhava had encountered the formless alien when he was meditating and had been travelling outer space in a sort if out-of-body experience.  It was here that The Great Intelligence had overtaken his body and come back to earth.  The actor, the gloriously named "Wolfe Morris" was great, both playing the gentle, but slightly creepy sounding, weary Monk who had been forced to live hundreds of years!  The Schizophrenic performance reminded me of Gollum from Lord of The Rings - one moment calm - the next rasping with hatred!

As with Marco Polo, most of the oriental people were played by English white chaps with make-up.  Though I thought the Abbot played it quite English like!

Photo 3: Close up of Leigh (very happy)
and Shaun (holding the mock DVD Cover) 
around Leigh's house!

The Yeti's weren't bad - they did have huge bottoms which they didn't shake to music - so that was disappointing!  They turned out to be robots - created by Padmasambhava with guidance from the Great Intelligence.  The metal balls turned out to be important - they were like a battery that, once slotted into a hole in the Yeti Robot's (not like that!), turned them on (again, not like that...!)

Oh I've had to copy and paste "Padmasambhava" every time I've used it!  You try remembering that damn spelling!


Overall it was quite enjoyable - I thought the sets and locations were good.  Some good actors and the Yeti's were quite cute!  Oh and we do get to see a "real one" right at the end - which pleases Travers.  He was a bit down having spent all that time looking for them - only to have them to have been robots!Well that's it - next time we're back in the snow!  So until then, I shall return, yes I shall return!

MJ - 29-05-15

DOCTOR WHO MARATHON 34th MEET-UP - THE TOMB OF THE CYBERMEN

Sunday 10th May 2015

Well once again we met on a sunny Sunday afternoon.  Once again we were Jim-less but this time we had a GIRL in our midst!  Shaun (or "Added Shaun" as he's known) invited his sister Toni to come along and sit in a darkened room with five guys to watch black and white 1960's Doctor Who.

Luckily for her she joined us to watch "The Tomb of the Cybermen"!  Not only does it feature the return of a recurring villain (The Cybermen, but you guessed that) but it exists - completely!
 
No re-cons, no animation.  Four complete episodes - found in Hong Kong back in 1991!  What a great way to kick of Doctor Two's second season.

Photo 1: Mark, Toni (holding the sign),
Shaun, Jason (holding the DVD Cover)
 and Leigh around Mark's house!

So we start with the TARDIS crew still on Skaro with new companion Victoria in tow - she can't believe they are about to travel through time and space).
However she soon starts to believe when the TARDIS takes off from Skaro and then lands on the planet Telos/usual quarry pit!

It's on Telos we find an expedition who are trying to find the tombs of the legendary Cybermen.  After setting some explosives they blast away part of a cliff face which reveals the entrance to the Cybermen's tombs.
 
They all cheer and are ecstatic - and quite right as well - it's a very good model shot!  However there cheers are soon muted when the Doctor turns up (having been found by another member of the expedition and brought to the main team at gunpoint) as they assume he's part of a rival expedition!  Still they don't have time to fret as they need to get into the Tombs via the main doors.  One guy tries (ignoring the Doctor's warning) and ends up being electrocuted!  Thankfully, although the guy is dead, the doors have lost all their electrical charge and so Kaftan (a lady on the expedition who is the female villain of the piece) gets her manservant (the giant Toberman) to open the doors!
Toberman is great - a giant, black actor with muscles as large as Birmingham!  He doesn't say much just grunts and shouts odd words - much like The Hulk might say "HULK SMASH"!  His mistress, Kaftan, is a member of the Brotherhood of Logicians.  Along with her colleague, Eric Klieg, she financed Professor Parry's expedition to Telos.  The Logicians secretly hoped to find the Cybermen and re-animate them so that they could form an alliance to rule the Earth.

Photo 2: Mark, MJ, Shaun (holding the DVD Cover),
Jason (holding the sign) and Leigh around Mark's house!

The Cybermen do get found, frozen in suspended animation inside catacombs.  However they don't stay frozen for long as Klieg re-activates them and they quickly thaw out.  It's a really impressive scene to see them slowly thaw and break out of their holes before releasing the Cybercontoller!  He's a tall fellow, with no handles on his head - but he does have a cyber brain on show!

Photo 3: Shaun (being a robot),
Jason (holding AND pointing to the DVD cover) and
a bit of Leigh around Mark's house!

Well I for one really enjoyed watching the story - it zipped along nicely and had a nice mix of stuff that made sense and stuff that was outrageous!  Again we had a nice mix of accents and nationalities (though I wasn't sure on the accent of the American pilot who kept calling Victoria "Vic"!).  I think the Cybermen's design was impressive again, but I still find you really have to concentrate hard to understand what they are saying!  The supportive cast were strong and seemed to be quite fun - oh and of course we have the first appearance of the Cybermen's pet robots - The Cybermats!  They may be small but they can inflict some damage - well unless you trap them within a loop of electrical cable - which seems to fry their brains!

I think the highlight for me, was a quieter moment between Victoria and the Doctor in which they talk about how Victoria's feeling.  I mean let's not forget, she been yanked out of her own time after having had her father brutally killed.  So it's nice that they acknowledge this and we even get the Doctor talking about his own family - and revealing his age, which I think was the first time we heard it - though I might be wrong!

I think the gang (and the new girl) enjoyed the story - a strong start to the Trout-Mans second season.  Next time we're off to the Himalayas!

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

MJ - 18-05-15

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

DOCTOR WHO MARATHON 30th MEET-UP - THE MOONBASE

Sunday 22nd March 2015

Well here we all were again (minus Jim), meeting around Leigh's house for another Troughton.  However, unlike all the ones we've watched so far this four-parter has a proper DVD release!  Woo-hoo!

Okay 2 episodes are missing (Parts 1 and 3) - BUT those lovely DVD makers have recreated the missing first and third parts with animation.  Hoozah!  Ahh but what style of animation?  Will it be the choppy not-so-popular Reign of Terror style?  Or will it tilt towards the slightly better Tenth Planet style?  Well after the usual bout of hello's and all that jazz we put the DVD in Leigh's player and pressed play.....

Photo 1: MJ, Leigh (with the DVD cover), Mark (holding the sign)
and Jason around Leigh's house!

...and I was very happy indeed!  For me the animation was very good.  Not too choppy, lots of nice atmosphere and the characterisation was pretty spot on.  Polly and Ben had been animated before, but it was a first for Troughton and Jamie.  Patrick Troughton must be a joy to animate as he has such a wonderfully characterful face!  Anyhow the episode starts with the TARDIS making a bumpy landing and the Doctor declaring that they have arrived on Mars.  Sadly the TARDIS (or his control of it) has planted them not on Mars but on the Moon in the year 2070!  Instead of leaving they decide to lark about in space suits - which all looks quite fun, until Jamie leaps a bit far and knocks himself out!  Before the can rescue him his body is discovered from strangers who have emerged from a nearby base.  The Doctor, Ben and Polly decide to go after him and get welcomed by the workers there.  After explaining that they've taken Jamie to sick bay one of their men suddenly sprouts coloured veins on his face (with a cool animation effect that we would see properly in later existing episodes) and collapses.  He gets taken to sick bay whilst the guy in charge, Hobson, tells the Doctor that this base is a weather control station that keeps Earth's weather in check.  They are using a gravity machine called the Gravitron to control the weather.  Offering to help them the Doctor then hears that a recent communication to Earth had been listened in on nearby on the moon....  Oooo!

Elsewhere in the sick bay Polly is looking after Jamie who keeps hallucinating and mumbling about about the Phantom Piper - a legend from his clan (a sort of Grim Reaper type).  Ben has been sent to help another guy, Ralph, in the store-room.  However whilst Ben is busy elsewhere Ralph gets attacked by a metal hand and, when Ben gets back, Ralph's body has gone!

Back in the sick bay another crew member dies - the Doctor tries to convince the Controller, Hobson, that something is wrong and they should warn Earth.  However Hobson doesn't want to trouble Earth with something that might turn out to be nothing!

The episode ends with Jamie waking up alone in sick bay facing his Phantom Piper - which is really a Cyberman!  A Cyberman who advances towards the bed as Jamie collapses again.....

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

Episode 2 exists!  Hoozah!  And we see the fully re-designed Cyberman.  Certainly slicker than the previous ones from The Tenth Planet and I really like how they look, but I would have liked to have seen more stories with the previous design!  Anyhow this Cyberman takes another body and leaves the unconscious Jamie.  Polly arrives to see the Cyberman exit and she screams!  The Doctor and Hobson rush back and she tells them what she saw - of course Hobson doesn't believe her!  In fact he starts to see that all the bad stuff SEEMED to start with the arrival of the Doctor and his companions.  Still he gives them the benefit of the doubt and 24 hours to find out what's really going on.

After lots of to-ing and fro-ing the Doctor works out why this disease is affecting some people and not others.  The sugar supplies have been poisoned - some people take it, some don't!  See, it doesn't just rot your teeth - it gives you dark veins and kills you as well!  The Doctor says Cybermen must have contaminated the sugar, Hobson says the whole base has been checked and nothing found.  However the Doctor asks about the room they are in - the sick bay?  Hobson days they didn't need to as someone's always been in there!  Bad mistake as soon as he says that the covers on one of the beds a thrown off revealing a Cyberman with a weapon!

Photo 3: MJ, Leigh (with the DVD cover), Mark (holding the sign)
and Jason around Leigh's house!

Episode 3 and we're back to animation!  The Cyberman reveals that they have been taking the sick bodies to convert to Cybermen - but they left Jamie as his head had been bashed - they don't like damaged goods!  The Cybermen reveal that they want to take over the Gravitron to destroy Earth so that they eliminate any danger!  I assume they mean just to eliminate the humans as surely the Earth would be a better place to live than the moon?  And surely they ought to keep the human's alive so they can convert them??

Anyhow the whole episode ends with an army of Cyberman marching across the Moon to the base!  THAT is an impressive site - I can't remember how many there were but it looked good to see them trudging slowly across the Moon set - watching as slow cloud of dust moved up.  I think it being in black and white really helped the atmosphere.

Photo 4: Close up of sleepy, but content, Shaun (holding the sign)
and Leigh around Leigh's house!

Episode 4 begins with the base being told that "Resistance in futile" and they should give in!
They refuse of course as a relief ship is on it's way to help - however that gets deflected by the Gravitron towards the Sun.  They check out the Gravitron's controller and see that it's Evan's - a crew member who has been taken over by the Cybermen!  Before they can rush him the Cybermen radio the base to tell them not to touch him - and to make the point fuller they fire a laser at the base causing a hole to be blasted in the plastic window and the air starts escaping rapidly (again - why didn't this happen in the other hole earlier?  Anyhow...).  This is solved by Hobson and Benoit placing a plastic tray over the hole!

Another Cyber Ship lands and more Cybermen march towards the base -  but our Doctor has an idea!  If they can lower the Gravitron down lower than it usually goes, then they can shoot it at the Cybermen and their ship and that should knock them all off the Moon.  So with a bit of fiddling, they manage this and so the day is won.  The Moonbase crew all turn to thank the Doctor but he (and his crew) are already away in the TARDIS.  Here the Doctor shows where they are going next (on his time scanner) and Polly screams when she sees a menacing large claw moving on the time scanner screen.  Ooooo - that would be the Macra Terror - but that's next time....!

So what about this time?  Well I thought The Moonbase was excellent!  The story zipped along nicely, I thought the set design was excellent - It looked like it COULD be on the Moon.  The base seemed small and claustrophobic (which added to the atmosphere), the story and acting seemed good and the were some excellent costumes and effects (I especially enjoyed the redesigned Cybermen - though I wish we could have had some more adventures with them in their previous costumes and way of talking!  I especially liked the grumpy commander and of course Benoit - the French guy with his very French -style scarf!  Actually why did the crew all have name badges with their countries flag on them?

Anyway apart from some possible dodgy science (and plot holes - well a couple of actual holes.  As I said before wouldn't that first big hole in the base suck all the air out?) this was a great serial, in my view.But what about Jason's view?

"The Moonbase - review by Jason

The more I think about this episode the more I like it.  I declare it PROPER DOCTOR WHO!
In fact I actually did declare that during the episode.  The Doctor announced that he must stay and see the adventure through instead of escaping in the Tardis.  I could easily see any of the later Doctors acting in exactly the same way.  Though there have been some moment I felt that it was at this key-point that the Doctor became fully-formed as to who his core-character would become.  He now definitely sees it as his role and responsibility to take control and save the day.

I feel that all of the characters were written and portrayed as well-rounded and believable individuals.  The office-politics and bureaucracy that I see in a lot of the 60s episodes, no matter what species or location, was again present here.   I loved the interplay between those stationed on the moon and their bosses back on Earth.   Also there were moments where Ben lost his cool and displayed growing concerns about losing his close relationship with Polly.  I'm not too sure of Jamie's intentions, but sailor-boy seems especially threatened by the Scottish lad and it made Ben all the more human.

As for the actual story, I could see no plot holes other than not explaining how the Cybermen survived the events of the Tenth Planet.  If that bothers you, then you may want to skip the next forty-odd years of Who's recurring villains.  I loved the continuity of the people already knowing of the Cybermen, but as a thing of the past.
 
The Moonbase is a proper thrilling sci-fi base-under-siege story full of mystery, threat and creepy villains.

My favourite part though is that they not only continued the 'Polly put the kettle on' running gag (at least in my mind), but it was actually a plot point. 10/10."

Well that was a lovely addition by Jason.

Well next time we have to deal with giant crabs - even though, there is no such thing...

That will make sense next time!

Until then, I shall return, yes I shall return!
MJ - 25-03-15

DOCTOR WHO MARATHON 29th MEET-UP - THE UNDERWATER MENACE

Sunday 8th March 2015

As the year doth "March" on (see what I did there) it was time to meet -up again.  Sadly Jim was still unable to join us (although I did see him on my way to our meet-up and he hoped to re-join us soon...!) and Shaun also couldn't join us because, in the words of Mark, he was "being gay".  Such a shame as there's plenty of room for gayness in our little group - and the following tale could be seen as quite camp.

So the rest of us trooped over to Mark's to digest a feast of Cheese, biscuits and oven cooked duck-things!  Very yummy indeed!  All this was a prelude to another feast - a right piece-meal of a serial called "The Underwater Menace"!

Why do I call this a "piece-meal"?  Well you may ask that, whilst stifling a yawn, and I'll tell you!  Episode 3 happily exists on my "Lost In Time" DVD collection.  Episodes 1 and 4 do not exist - fair enough, re-cons it is then.  But Episode 2?  Ahh yes, the earliest surviving Troughton does indeed exist and was re-discovered back in 2011 (along with part of "Galaxy 4") but it has still to be released!  There have been hopes of a release with 2 animated parts, but sadly the classic Dr Who DVD is at an end - all other titles have been released and the BBC have dragged their heels with this release.  I suppose, after the discovery of 2 (nearly) complete Troughton serials back in 2013 they wanted to hold off animating in case more came back.  Well they haven't so far.....

So where does this leave us.  Well thankfully someone has uploaded a rough pirate copy of the episode on the internet - so this is what we watched.  2 recons, 1 real episode, 1 rough online episode!  Talk about a right kerfuffle!

Photo 1: Leigh (with the "Lost In time" DVD cover), Mark (holding the sign)
and MJ (with the DVD cover) around Mark's house!

Anyhow our re-con of Part 1 starts with new crew member, Jamie, being quite confused by the inside of the TARDIS!  This is soon interrupted as our crew land on a Volcanic island - where, of course, they are immediately captured and taken underground in a lift!  As they descend further and further downwards they lose conciousness.  When they awaken later, in a compression chamber, they work out that they must be on Earth sometime after 1968 (Polly finds a bracelet from the 1970 Mexico Olympics - so not a bad deduction.  Although it does mean this could be 1970 or 2370!  Anyhow moving on our crew are told they are to be sacrificed!  The Doctor deduces that an amazing scientist called Professor Zaroff (a very clever chap who had done some renowned work but had disappeared...) must be here and gets one of the underground people (Ara) to smuggle a note to Zaroff.  The note says "VITAL SECRET WILL DIE WITH ME. DR. W" - this intrigues Zaroff enough to get the Doctor brought to him!  Jamie and Ben get put to work in some mines by a guy in charge called Damon.  What about Polly?  Well after being shown some underwater farming being done by the "Fish People"  - she is informed that she is to have an operation to give her plastic gills, thus transforming poor old Polly into a fish person!

Meanwhile the Doctor with Zaroff discovers what this underground place is.  Yes it's only the lost sodding city of Atlantis!!  Zaroff intends to RAISE this country once again!  The episode ends with Polly about to be anaesthetised by Damon....

 

Photo 2: Leigh (with the "Lost In time" DVD cover), Mark (holding the sign)
and MJ (with the DVD cover) around Mark's house!

So there we are and we're onto the earliest Patrick Troughton episode to exist!  So after a right kerfuffle finding the leaked online version we see Part 2 starting with the Doctor fiddling with some controls which affect the room Polly is in - this stops the procedure and in much confusion Ara takes Polly and gets her away!

Meanwhile Damon is mad at the Doctor and Zaroff agrees - but still tells him of his plans!  He's going to drill into the core of the Earth, drain the water into the core and let the Earth rip itself apart!  Why?  Because, according to Zaroff, it will be the greatest scientific achievement ever (although if he blows up the Earth who will be around to admire his work!!??).  The Doctor, quite reasonably asks "Are you quite mad"?  Anyhow to cut a long story short the Doctor manages to escape and, after finding Ara, hears that Polly is safe.
Whilst there he overhears Ramo (a priest who distrusts Zaroff) talking to Damon.  The Doctor manages to get to talk to Ramo and tries to convince him that Zaroff is bad.  They decide to take this information to Thoris - King of Atlantis.  He mulls it over but, deciding he wants Atlantis to be raised again, hands them over to Zaroff!  Clearly he doesn't know the Earth will blow up - I think Zaroff left that tiny detail out....!

Photo 3: Leigh (with the "Lost In time" DVD cover), Mark (holding the sign)
and Jason (with the DVD cover) around Mark's house!

So the existing Part 3 starts with the Doctor and Ramo being taken to High Priest Lolem (played by the same chubby actor who was Cyril in "The Celestial Toymaker").  Before they can be be-headed the temple idol of Amdo booms out that they should all bow their heads.  They do this and the Doctor, recognising the voice as Ben's (played through a microphone and speaker system) takes Ramo and escape into the Idol!  Inside here the Doctor starts to organise his plans.  Sean and Jacko (a couple of Irish shipwrecked sailors who also became slaves) are to insult and goad the Fish People into going on strike.  Meanwhile Ben and Jamie are to disguise themselves as guards and Doctor and Polly are going to disguise themselves as regular Atlantean shoppers - here they manage to trick Zaroff away from his guards and capture him.  However he manages to escape by stabbing Ramo and taking Polly hostage - Jamie manages to get her back but Zaroff still escapes!

We then go back to Thous wondering if they should have a nice chat with the Fish People and sort things out.  Zaroff comes in and disagrees with all that, so Thous tries to have him arrested but Zaroff is having none of this and shoots Thous!  The episode ends with Zaroff's glorious line:"Nuzzink in the World can stop me now!!!"

Photo 4: Leigh (with the "Lost In time" DVD cover), Mark (holding the sign)
and Jason (with the DVD cover) around Mark's house!
Here I asked them to pose with a "Nuzzink in ze Vorld can stop me now!" pose!

Back to recons for Part 4 and we begin with the Doctor and Ben finding the guards killed by Zaroff, but Thous is still alive.  They decide to take the wounded Thous to the temple.  The Doctor then comes up with his grand plan - he is to flood Atlantis to stop Zaroff!  He gets Jacko and Sean to move the people while he and Ben will begin the flooding process.  A bit much but hey, being flooded is what Atlantis is famous for!

Zaroff starts hearing of reports of the chaos occurring and decides to bring his plans to destroy the World forward!  However he gets locked in his laboratory by Ben and, as Atlantis starts to flood, he slowly drowns!  Thanks to those Aussie censor clips we have this grisly demise of Zaroff!

Well our TARDIS crew, the Irish pair and the Atlanteans all seem to make it to safety!
Thous wants to raise a stone for our Doctor in a new temple, but Damon says there will be no temples in the new Atlantis!  So lessons are learned and our TARDIS crew head off with the Doctor being mocked about his lack of control over the TARDIS!  The Doctor takes umbrage to this and sets co-ordinates for Mars.  I won't say if he makes it or not, but the next serial is called "The Moonbase" so I'll let you make your own guess....!

So overall I enjoyed it - we had a proper mad scientist in it!  Plus we had some other nice characters and it all seemed well costumed with nice sets!  This story hasn't the greatest reputation on the world of Who - but I thought it rather good (so did "The Book")!  Still that's what I thought - how about Jason?

Jason:

My review of 'The Underwater Menace'.
It was fun to finally see a good chunk of a 2nd Doctor story moving as intended.  And move along it did, as I didn't feel it dragged at all with pointless filler.  The set up is established quickly with the Tardis crew immediately being captured and whisked straight into the adventure on Atlantis.

Polly's character seems a bit inconsistent with how we last saw her.  In 'The Highlanders' she was all gung-ho / waving knives / blackmailing / say exactly what she thinks to anyone. Here the first episode began with her asking 'the boys' if they can take a break after they've been walking up a hill for less than ten seconds and later she frets, but doesn't help at all, while her friend is being attacked in front of her.

I note that so far the 2nd Doctor has at some point used a disguise or false identity in each of his adventures and also seems to enjoy starting rebellions.

What was great about this weeks episode was that the reasoning behind the enemy's actions was simply that he was a 'Mad Scientist (™)'.  He knew full well his plan would destroy the Earth and he didn't care.  I loved it! Zaroff's plan to 'RAISE' Atlantis is up there with Ian's understanding of scale.  He would 'raise' it by lowering the sea.  As a by product this would cause the end of life on Earth which he seemed very excited about.

I thought there were some good ideas in this story and a good balance of action, characters and humour.  The mutant slave race were well-realised for the time and did not overshadow the human drama.
9/10

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

Shaun did catch up with the story on his own and said:
"I would have watched it sooner if I knew it had a SHARK PIT!!! :D
The setting was forgettable, could have been anywhere really, but Zaroff was superb.  Especially his insane motivation."
So I think that was positive!

Well that's all for now - next time we have a four-part that's fully moving!  2 parts animation - 2 parts real!  So join me us next time when we take a trip to the Moon....!

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

MJ - 12-03-15