DOCTOR WHO MARATHON 43rd MEET-UP - THE INVASION

Sunday 13th September 2015

This time we had a moment of madness!  We were coming to a story that had 8 parts - The Invasion!  Now we'd not watched this many in a row - 7 had been the most and that had been a bit of a slog.  I offered the group the option of watching 6 parts and then watching the 2 parts next time - along with 4 parts of the next story.

However Shaun, who was to host, suggested to me that we meet at 12 o' clock and then bash out all 8 in one go!  I was up for that, especially as Gavin would be along to join us and this meant he would see all the parts!

So, much to Leigh's hatred, we all decided to meet early to watch this lovely 8 part story IN ONE MASSIVE GO!

Photo 1:

MJ (holding his copy of the DVD Cover),
Leigh (holding Jason's copy of the DVD Cover), Shaun,
Gavin (holding the sign) and Mark around Shaun's house!

So The Invasion is a story I love (even Jason has a copy of the DVD - which he brought over (in case we needed it!)).  6 parts of this story exist and 2 have been animated by the late, great animation company Cosgrove Hall.  When I was a child I'd loved Cosgrove Hall's cartoons "Dangermouse" and "Duckula" and expected high things of this story when I first saw it.  So, as we put in the disc to watch the first (animated) episode I certainly wasn't disappointed.  The characterisation was excellent, the movement and look of the whole thing flowed really well.

The story itself continues on from the last one where the reformed TARDIS has left the Land of Fiction.  It appears in space - just by the Moon - where a missile is suddenly launched at it!  They manage to avoid this by making an emergency landing but then they aren't sure where they've landed!  A face of a friendly cow on the monitor tells them they are in a field on Earth!  That's all good but in making an emergency landing they've damaged the visual stabiliser - which makes the TARDIS invisible!  They all decide to try to find Professor Edward Travers (of The Abominable Snowmen and The Web of Fear) to seek his assistance.  So they hitch a lift to London with a lorry and the driver tells them that they are on private property of International Electromatics, the world's largest electronics manufacturer.  The lorry doesn't go unnoticed and soon they are followed and stopped by two shifty fellows on motorcycles (wearing sunglasses).  The driver shows his pass, whilst our crew hide and, when the motorcyclists have gone, the driver takes them outside the compound.

Sadly we'll never see the real actor playing the animated driver, as soon outside the compound he gets stopped by the motorcyclists again, who shoot him DEAD!!

Photo 2:

Jason (holding his copy of the DVD Cover),Leigh, Shaun, Gavin (holding the sign)

and Mark (holding MJ's copy of the DVD Cover)

 around Shaun's house!

Sinister stuff - not so sinister is when we arrive at the flat which is supposed to belong to Professor Travers.  He's not there (he gone away travelling) but a young lady (who's trying to take photographs of herself and is quite annoyed by the interruption) answers the door.  This is Isobel Watkins who tells us the flat now belongs to her Uncle, Professor Watkins. She explains that the her Uncle disappeared, after he worked on an invention for International Electromatics. The Doctor asks if there is a phone number they can ring for International Electromatics and he is pointed to the wall in the Hall - this is where Isobel writes all her notes down as "You can't lose a wall"!

So, whilst Zoe stays and poses for photos, the Doctor and Jamie go to International Electromatics's head office in London to investigate.  When they get there a computerised receptionist won't let them past, which infuriates the Doctor "Stupid Machine!!", and they seek out another way in.  However they fall unconscious after being gassed, and are taken by security chief Packer to see International Electromatics's Managing Director, Tobias Vaughn.  Vaughn apologises for the rough treatment they have endured - but they DID try and break in!

Photo 3:

MJ (holding his copy of the DVD Cover),
Leigh (holding Jason's copy of the DVD Cover), Shaun,
Gavin (holding the sign) and Mark around Shaun's house!

Vaughn explains that Professor Watkins was engrossed in a delicate stage of his work, and agreed to remain on site.  The Doctor seems happy with this and leaves the circuits behind as Vaughn has offered to fix or replace them for him.  After they leave, Vaughn opens a hidden panel in the wall of his office, revealing an alien machine!  OoooOOooooOOoo!I think Vaughn is great!  He's played by the great Kevin Stoney who played Mavic Chen in The Daleks Master Plan.  In this story he's calm, smooth, charming and pretty much a James Bond villain!  In fact the whole story could be a James Bond spy thriller - even some of the music sounds spy-like!

Also in this story we get re-introduced to Colonel Lethbridge Stewart (from the Yetis on the London Underground in the story The Web of Fear) - he's now a Brigadier and works for U.N.I.T. aka United Nations Intelligence Taskforce!  They've been investigating

International Electromatics for a while, watching lots of people going in....but not many of them come out again!

Photo 4:

Jason (holding his copy of the DVD Cover), Leigh, Shaun,
Gavin (holding the sign)

and Mark (holding MJ's copy of the DVD Cover)

around Shaun's house!
All of them trying to do Tobias Vaughn faces!

Anyhow we have a bit more to-ing and fro-ing until the end of Episode 4 where we finally see who Vaughn is in league with....The Cybermen!  In fact the very end of this episode is the only time those poor animators get to have a go at drawing the Cybermen!  Oh well.  So this time the Cybermen want to take over the Earth and have promised that Vaughn can be in charge of a vast part of it!  Will that actor never learn?!  When he was Mavic Chen he went in league with the Daleks and was promised he could rule once they'd won - and then they betrayed and killed him!  Now he's Tobias Vaughn he's doing the same thing with the Cybermen - will it end the same?...  (Spoilers - Yes it will!)

Photo 5:

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

and MJ around Mark's house!

As I said I am a big fan of this tale and there are so many parts I like.  I like the introduction of UNIT (even with that funny little tune that seems to accompany their movements) and the re-introduction of the Brig.  I think the Cybermen look well designed AND I can make out what they are saying pretty much ALL of the time - which is a first!  I really loved when Vaughn used his new weapon on a semi-aroused (easy!) Cyberman to give it the emotion of fear!  It ran through the sewers SCREAMING in terror and attacking anything it came across (Cybermen or humans)!  I felt both sorry and creeped out by it!  Poor Cyberman!  It was all down to nasty Vaughn!  Ahh Vaughn!  Now I'm a big fan of him and his sidekick PACKER!  As I said classic boss villain in the Bond vein.  During the first few episodes he just oozed charm and if stuff went wrong he would just dismiss it casually - often with a smile or laugh!  It was only later, as the story moved on, we saw an angry Vaughn - and sometimes PETULANT!  When he found out the Cybermen were going to betray him he sulks like a spoilt child, angrily saying to the Doctor " I'll help you to destroy them because I hate them!"  Then rather sadly (and with lip sticking out) follows up with "They destroyed my dream."

Awwww, poor Vaughn!

The animation was superb - the first and best of the whole lot of animations.  I thought the locations were good - we got to see helicopters, aeroplanes, trains and lots of different locations.  The whole story seemed BIG!

So that's our last LONG story for a while - I'm glad we got through it in one go and this time we all scored:

Jason - 8.5/10

Leigh - 7/10

Mark - 7/10

MJ - 9/10

Shaun - 7/10
Gavin - 8.5/10

So it gave us an average of 7.83 out of 10!

So, a popular story!  Okay next time we're back for a shorter tale with a four parter tale with South-African robots....!

Until then, I shall return, yes I shall return

MJ - 17-09-15

DOCTOR WHO MARATHON 42nd MEET-UP - THE MIND ROBBER

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!

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!

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

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

MJ - 04-09-15

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

DOCTOR WHO MARATHON 39th MEET-UP - FURY FROM THE DEEP

Sunday 26th July 2015

And lo it was said unto the Four-Whoresmen group:
"You've watched enough full-on re-cons.  Well done.  From now on, as your reward, there will be no more COMPLETELY re-con stories.

Well, except for this one!"

Yup we were all gathered around Mark's house to watch the 6 part (completely re-con) story "Fury From The Deep".  This time we were all present - but still Jim-less.  At this stage I think Jim ain't coming back.  Still he did do all of Hartnell, so kudos for that.

In fact for the last few group signs I've changed the "& JIM" to "& SHAUNY-JIM" (Still gotta keep the "Jim" name in the group - I LIKE that name!)

Photo 1:

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

Shaun and Leigh around Mark's house!

So anyway onto the story (which featured the first ever use of the "Sonic Screwdriver"!).  The TARDIS lands on the sea (just off the East Coast of England) and they have to use a rubber dinghy to get ashore!  The Doctor says they must be in England - Jamie agrees pointing out the rubbish weather as proof and suspects that the TARDIS must be broken as it keeps returning them to Earth - a nice little in-joke!  The come across a pipe (with "EuroSea Gas" written on the side) leading into the sea and hear strange noises coming from it!  After larking about throwing foam at each other the Doctor tries to get a look inside a box that is attached to the pipe.  He can't but does use a stethoscope on the pipe where he hears a strange distant, faint, pumping heartbeat!  Definitely not what you should be hearing in a gas pipe!  They move on but are soon all shot down by a remote controlled camera - with a weapon attached (I presume!).

Photo 2:

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

Shaun and Leigh around Mark's house!
MJ and Shaun were the only ones to do the
"Possessed Poisonous Gas Breathing Men" from the story!

When our team are woken up they are in a power station and are accused of being saboteurs, interfering with the pipe.  The guy in charge here is John Robson.  A no-nonsense London-accented chap who's constantly tetchy!  I could have seen Sid James playing that part!  Anyhow they (including another Scientist called Frank Harris) give our gang an antidote to the knock-out drug and try to question them some more.  Not happy with the fact that "they just turned up and aren't saboteurs" excuse, Robson gets Harris and guards to lock them up in a bunk room.

Photo 3:

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

Shaun and Leigh around Mark's house!

So we get some to-ing and fro-ing as we discover that the enemy is SEAWEED!  It's intelligent and when it stings you, you become taken over by it!  Oh and it makes you equipped with poisonous breath!  In fact one creepy scene that does exist (thanks to being snipped out by those Aussies) has two characters, Mr. Oak and Mr. Quill, mentally controlled by the seaweed (or Possessed Poisonous Gas Breathing Men!), advancing silently towards Maggie (Harris - wife of Frank Harris) before opening their mouths to choke her with poisonous fumes!

In fact they aren't the only ones to be possessed!  Even grumpy Robson gets possessed and steals a helicopter (whilst kidnapping Victoria).  There was a cool scene of him covered in foam in the middle of a room talking quite calmly - quite the opposite of the usual hot-headed character we were used to (who had been on the rigs for FOUR YEARS).

Another cool and creepy scene was set outside on the beach Robson and Maggie (Harris) meet up.  They are both now possessed by the seaweed and Maggie, quite cryptically, that  there is little time and that Robson knows what to do!  Then Robson stays there and  watches as Maggie walks out into the sea until she is no longer visible....!  VERY eerie scene indeed!  It's like she's walking out to her death...

...Except we see her again later when all the possessed people are released from the hypnotic seaweed!

SPOILERS!

 

Photo 4:

Close-up of MJ (holding the DVD Cover),
Mark (not impressed andholding the sign),

and Shaun around Mark's house!
MJ and Shaun were the only ones to do the
"Possessed Poisonous Gas Breathing Men" from the story!

Ahem, anyhow the seaweed tries to take over but they stop it by, well firstly Victoria screams at it, which seems to make it recoil (as most of us would!) and the Doctor records this and plays it through an amplifier - which makes the seaweed retreat.

So, yes, our last completely missing story seemed to go down well.  PLUS we had the leaving of a companion.  Victoria has finally had enough of screaming and being constantly scared, so decides to stay.  In fact there were plenty of hints throughout this serial - her moaning about them ALWAYS being in danger and not knowing where they are going.  I wish we could have SEEN this scene as it would have been nice to see Jamie's reaction.  Although never stated you can see he adores Victoria - possibly even loves her.  You might wonder, if it was real life, he would have stayed with her.  Thankfully he doesn't as we NEED a Jamie in the TARDIS!

I think overall though we were most amused by Robson constantly (and irritably) telling everybody not to tell him what to do  as he'd been "FOUR YEARS" on the rigs!  "FOUR YEARS"!

Did I mention "FOUR YEARS"??!

Until then, I shall return, yes I shall return - IN FOUR YEARS!!!

MJ - 31-07-15

DOCTOR WHO MARATHON 38th MEET-UP - THE WEB OF FEAR

Sunday 6th July 2015

And so we advance into the heat of summer to our next meeting!  I was slightly worried.  The last time we had watched a six-parter, when it was really hot, had been during The Web Planet - which made everyone thoroughly miserable.  The previous few days had been such a hot few days that I was worried how we'd fair with today's story...

Not only that but I'd only just bought the DVD and it hadn't arrived in the post yet....


...I needn't have panicked!  The DVD arrived on Friday, Sunday actually turned out to be a cooler day than the days before - and the story turned out to be a lot of fun!

Photo 1: Jason (holding the sign),
Leigh (holding the DVD Cover)
and Mark (holding his eyes open!)
around MJ's house!

Re-discovered (minus one episode) back in 2013 the story starts with the TARDIS crew being nearly sucked out of the TARDIS doors (like Salamander was at the end of the previous story).  Thankfully they manage to close the doors and the story continues!

So this story take place nearly 40 years after The Abominable Snowmen, and we see an elderly Professor Travers (replete with white beard and extra grumpiness) who has reactivated a control sphere (the shiny, metal balls that controlled the Yeti Robots) during his studies.  He goes to warn his friend (Julius Silverstein - a collector of unusual objects), who actually has one of the de-activated robot Yeti's, that the sphere has re-activated and that he should hand him back the Yeti saying it's dangerous.  Silverstein (a funny little fellow with big glasses) refuses thinking that it's all a scam and that Travers must have found out that the Yeti is worth a lot of money and wants it back!  Travers's daughter then comes along and takes away her supposedly confused father...leaving Silverstein to be, surprise surprise, attacked by the re-activated Yeti!

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

And so follows 5 episodes and 1 re-con (an official high quality re-con, don't you know!) of Yeti's (redesigned with big glowing eyes) on the London Underground shooting guns that make webs.  Yes, webs!  Webs that cover lots of London!  As Russell T Davies would later say "Web guns?  Surely that should be a spider-story?" - but isn't it even more fun that it's not!?  I think we should keep spiders out of Doctor Who until, say, the next Doctor's last story?....

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

Other things of note in this story are the soldiers that the Doctor meets - especially one in particular: Colonel (later Brigadier) Lethbridge Stewart.  He would play a MUCH bigger part in Doctor Who mythology - but more on that at a later date...!  We'd also seen the actor before as he had played Bret Vyon in the Daleks Master Plan.
 

Photo 4: MJ (doing his best menacing Yeti impression),Leigh (holding the sign) and Mark (holding the DVD Cover)
around MJ's house!

I'd never seen the story before and would have to re-watch it to get a better idea of it all but I really enjoyed the tale myself.  There were some great locations, some great characters (the smarmy TV reporter was quite fun and Travers was great as an older grumpier man).

Photo 5: MJ (sneering whilst holding the sign AND the DVD Cover)
around his house!

I think the story went down well with all of us and the re-con was done so well that I almost forgot I was watching a re-con.

A bit of fun trivia was that the production team at the time asked to use an ACTUAL London Underground station but got refused permission.  So the team made their own version in the studio which was SO realistic that London Underground got in touch with the BBC and had a go at them for filming at a real station when they had already been refused permission!

Idiots.

Anyway that's it until next time when we shall be furious about deep stuff....

Until then, I shall return, yes I shall return!

MJ - 14-07-15