DOCTOR WHO MARATHON 8th MEET-UP - PLANET OF GIANTS

Monday 21st April 2014

Monday??  What's going on!?  Yes, it was a Bank Holiday and what better thing to do, whilst it's sunny outside, than to gather in a dark room with your chums and watch some goddarn Doctor Who from the 1960's!  We were once again around Mark's and this time all of us had made it - including our some-time member, Gavin!  Today we had something important to sort out.  Something that had bugged me right from the very first time we'd met.  Our goal was to watch every Doctor Who episode from the start and we had done that.....except that we'd fallen down at the first hurdle by accidentally watching the Pilot Episode and not Episode 1!  So to right this wrong (and because Planet Of Giants was only 3 episodes long) we decided to watch Episode 1 (An Unearthly Child) properly whilst it was still vaguely in our collective memories.  I think it was a good decision as it's an enjoyable episode, we could spot a lot of the changes and Gavin had never seen it (we told him he really didn't need to see the 3 following cavemen episodes!!).

With that wrong righted we moved onto "Planet Of Giants"!

Photo 1: Gavin, Mark (holding sign), Jason, Leigh (with DVD cover)

and MJ posing around Mark's house.

The story had originally been filmed as four episodes, but the Head of Serials (Donald Wilson) found the story too slow so ordered episodes 3 and 4 to be spliced together in order to form a faster-paced climax.  A strange decision seen as we've sat through stories that were a lot longer and could have happily been cut down!

Photo 2: Gavin, Mark (holding sign), Jason, Leigh (with DVD cover)

and MJ posing around Mark's house.

The story starts with the TARDIS malfunctioning causing the crew to be shrunk down!
They then land in an ordinary earth garden - but with themselves being only a fraction of the size!

Photo 3: Gavin, Mark (holding sign), Jason (with DVD cover), Leigh

and Jim posing around Mark's house.

Things get worse for the crew as they witness a murder and Barbara gets contaminated by a dangerous new pesticide!  Meaning she could die if they don't go back to actual size!

Photo 4: Gavin, Mark (holding sign),Jason (with DVD cover and pulling a cracking face!),
Leigh and Jim posing around Mark's house.

I was impressed with the sets and the messing around with over-sized props!  Plus the story, only being 3 episodes long, zipped along nicely without too much room for boredom!

 Photo 5:
Jason (with DVD cover and pulling a cracking face!) 
posing around Mark's house.

Jason tells me he got annoyed by Barbara getting ill from the pesticide and not telling anyone she was about to die!  Which is a fair enough point!  Barbara seemed to be the main reason for them being slowed down - oh and Susan screamed some more.

One thing that slightly bugged us was that as Barbara got bigger the pesticide in her blood stream stayed the same size (i.e. stayed small) and so was muted as not really dangerous to her any more (it being too small to harm her).  We all did discuss whether this would actually work but didn't come up with a satisfactory answer!  In the end, it's best to let some of these things go....

Still the serial got us singing "Dead Ant" (a la Pink Panther theme) when we saw a giant dead ant! So that's all good!

Afterwards we all went out in the sun and played in the play parks with many of the "widows of the four-whoresmen"!  It's shattering running around playing "it" when you're nearly 40!

Next time we return to the Daleks!  Until then I shall return, yes, I shall return....

MJ 22-04-14

Shaun (after his catch-up on 08/12/14): The Planet of Giants was a really odd one, I’d say unlike any other serial so far, but a lot of fun.

I liked the idea of a basic murder plot, tied to a dangerous new pesticide, had the miniaturised team work together to bring the killer to justice.

Special note goes to the villain, who fit the role of generic, murderous businessman Perfectly. Barbara was uncharacteristically dumb in this one, poisoning herself pretty quickly after the Doctor had warned them of the danger.

The cliff hangers were delightfully terrible. A cat that… just leaves, then the unplugging of a sink. High drama indeed!

A really entertaining filler.

DOCTOR WHO MARATHON 7th MEET-UP - THE REIGN OF TERROR

Sunday 6th April 2014

Another Sunday and, after a last minute switch from Jason's house, we all met up around Leigh's to watch the last serial of the first season of Doctor Who!!

"The Reign of Terror".

Sadly Mark was not able to join us for this meeting (making me, Jim and Jason the only ones to attend all the meet-ups!).  So, once we got the "hello's" and teas out of the way, we proceeded to put the shiny DVD into Leigh's machine and we were off!

This was a six parter with two missing episodes (4 and 5).  However, like all 60's Who, the soundtrack exists so the missing parts have been re-created by animation overlaid with the original soundtrack.

Photo 1: Jason (holding open-eyed Mark!), Leigh (with sign)
and MJ posing around Leigh's house.

For a longer story I really quite enjoyed it - set during one of the bloodiest periods in French History (i.e. The Reign Of Terror) it set out to educate the 60's children about that period in history.  That may make it sound quite dull, but it was filled with a lot of humour, well written (and acted) characters and, for 60's Who, very impressive sets!

Photo 2: Jason (holding open-eyed Mark!), Leigh (with sign)
and Jim posing around Leigh's house.

We did have a brief pause in the middle when Jim's phone went and he had to nip to the shop for his wife, before they closed! (see photo!)

Photo 3: Jim around Leigh's house.

His wife on the phone needs something bought from the shop!

As far as acting goes there were some strong performances - I particularly enjoyed the very Yorkshire sounding jailer - obviously from the very north of France!  And the Doctor who, along with his usual fluffs, gave a very strong performance.  Arguing and tricking the bully-type guy on the road to Paris and later bluffing his way into the Bastille as a fancily dressed dignitary!  He really seemed to enjoy pea-cocking around!

Photo 4: Jason around Leigh's house.

Proudly protecting his groin with new "Mark On A Cushion"(™)

I think the only thing, for me, that let the serial down was the animation.  The style was great as was the sets and the drawings - however sometimes it wasn't overly clear who was being animated.  This would have been get-overable (if that's a phrase!) if it wasn't for the fact that they had so many quick-cut shots.  This may be how it would be with modern animation but did not match the style of how they would have made the 60's shows - which used longer shots with not too much quick cutting.  A shame as I've seen other animated episodes which have been of a much higher quality!  But apart from that niggle I did enjoy the serial - did you like it Jim?


Jim: "I was worried that it may be a let-down after The Sensorites.  It wasn't as good as that but as a non-sci-fi one it was enjoyable.  Actually, all the historical ones have been good, probably better than the sci-fi ones which is odd for a sci-fi show!"

So, rather brilliantly, we've reached the end of Doctor Who Series 1 and it's taken us 12 weeks!  Not too bad but we still have a long way to go...!

Until then I shall return, yes, I shall return....

MJ 08-04-14

Extra.... Thursday 17th April 2014 - Mark's Catch Up!

So on a dark Thursday night I popped over Mark's to watch "Reign Of Terror" with him and to get him up to date with the rest of us!

Photo 5: Mark and MJ around Mark's house for the Reign Of Terror Catch-up!

Photo 6: Mark (with his eyes permanently closed) 

at his house for the Reign Of Terror Catch-up!

I think I actually enjoyed it a lot more watching it the second time and even enjoyed the animation better!

Shaun (after his catch-up on 08/12/14): “The Reign of Terror took a long time to grow on me.

The first couple of episodes were general fare, historical event, Doctor wanders off for a charming little adventure, Ian meets historical figure and befriends him, Barbara and Susan in danger, blah, blah, blah.  Seen it all before.

This may seem unfair, as RoT might have been the first historical serial to be set up this way, and so becoming the template for future ones, but even so it wasn’t a very thrilling start.

I did enjoy the Doctor’s meanderings, though, especially conning the tailor.  That was pretty funny.

Once the threads started coming together, though, with Ian being betrayed, The Doctor being arrested and forced to find the rebel, and the team getting a little hands on with the actual events, it became a lot more interesting and entertaining.  As Jim said (later) about The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve, it probably wasn’t very forgiving if you knew nothing of the era, but it set things up better (probably a benefit of being a longer arc), had a smaller pool of characters and I knew a bit about this time anyway, enough not to be lost at any point”.

DOCTOR WHO MARATHON 6th MEET-UP - THE SENSORITES

Sunday 16th March 2014

Another Sunday and we all met up around Mark's for our latest in a long line of Who-watching!

This meeting looked to be a good one - we were at the start of a brand new story and we were to watch this and this alone!
So once we all got our hello's and teas out of the way - the gang (including Mark's brother-in-law, Gavin) settled to watch "The Sensorites".

This was a six parter which I remember being quite good and creepy (especially the initial episode).

Photo 1: Gavin, Mark (holding DVD cover - eyes shut!),
Jason (with sign), Leigh and Jim posing around Mark's house.

The Doctor and chums find themselves on a spaceship with the crew apparently dead.  The Doctor decides there's nothing they can do and that it's none of their business so they shouldn't interfere (which I certainly laughed at!  The Doctor does nothing BUT interfere - if he didn't then the stories would be a lot shorter!) - however those sneaky aliens - the Sensorites decide to steal the Tardis lock and so it all begins!
 

Photo 2: Gavin, Mark (holding DVD cover - eyes shut!),
Jason (with sign), Leigh and Michael posing around Mark's house.

I did enjoy this story, the aliens were quite fun, as was the initial crew member driven insane!  Ian got poisoned, Susan got telepathy and Barbara disappeared for a few episodes and got a tan!

Photo 3: Gavin, Mark (holding DVD cover - eyes shut!),
Jason (also with eyes shut & with sign), Leigh and
Michael (with an orb!) posing around Mark's house.

I also loved the initial reveal of the aliens - the Doctor, Susan, Ian & Barbara look out of the Spaceship's window and, very slowly, a Sensorite silently rises into view.  For me this is one of the best reveals I've seen in all of Doctor Who and certainly added to the creepiness!

Photo 4: A FULL GROUP SHOT (thanks Alex)!
Gavin, Michael, Mark (holding DVD cover - eyes shut!),
Jason (with sign), Leigh and
Jim posing around Mark's house.

Mark: "I liked it.  It was the first story where the Doctor seemed to be in charge and knew what was going on."So overall it was a serial I enjoyed.  So I'm off until we meet up again.
Jim: "I liked it too. It seemed more of a complete, coherent serial than the previous ones".
Until then I shall return, yes, I shall return....

MJ 16-03-14

DOCTOR WHO MARATHON 5th MEET-UP - THE KEYS OF MARINUS PARTS 4-6 & THE AZTECS

Sunday 2nd March 2014

The next Who meeting was around Leigh's house - our first meeting there AND it completed the first cycle of house meet-ups!  I got there a little early and decided to walk once around the block - I'm usually late and don't want people to start thinking I've changed in my old age!!  Once we all got settled in with welcomes, teas (thanks for having Earl Grey Leigh!  Been a while since I'd had it!), general chit-chat and admirations of the GREAT birthday card I made Leigh (thank you!) - we settled down to watch the remaining episodes of The Keys Of Marinus - the Doctor & gang's quest to find, WELL, The Keys Of Marinus!  With the Doctor still missing (searching ahead for the keys on his own/William Hartnell having a holiday!) it was left to the other three to struggle in the freezing snow.

Photo 1: Michael, Mark (holding obligatory sign and with his eyes shut - as is the norm!),
Jim and Leigh posing around Leigh's house
with the Keys Of Marinus DVD cover and obligatory sign.

Thankfully somebody seemed to find Barbara and "save" her - a huge "Hagrid" like man from the mountains!  He then finds the others and brings them safely to his hut.  Well, although nice at first, his true intentions start to become more sinister - especially when he sends the others off with a bag full of meat scraps (to attract some hungry wild wolves to the poor travellers)  and then, when left alone with Barbara, he becomes extra creepy!  Seemingly, having not had lady company for a while, he seems to attack Barbara!  Thankfully she's a feisty thing and gives him a nice walloping, just before the others come back (realising they'd been duped)!
 

Photo 2: Jason, Mark (eyes shut !), Jim and Leigh posing around Leigh's house
with the Keys Of Marinus DVD cover and obligatory sign.

Anyhow I won't go all through all the plot - suffice to say they all have to climb across a tiny chasm, Hagrid falls to his death, they find the keys and meet up with the Doctor (Refreshed and on top form!) for the last episodes where Ian is framed for murder!

Photo 3: Michael, Mark (holding obligatory sign and with his eyes shut - as is the norm!),
Jim and Leigh posing around Leigh's house
with the Keys Of Marinus DVD cover and obligatory sign.

Of course it all ends nicely and they end up getting back to the start to give the keys back to Arbitan (who of course has been murdered by the Rubber-suited Voord, Yartek!). However they do not know the old Keeper is dead and that Yartek is now in charge, clothed in Arbitan’s robes to maintain the ruse.  How could the not been fooled by his ingenious disguise?  Apart from the fact that his (now hooded) head has become square in shape - and you can see that his face is a rubber mask!

Anyway it all ends with the building blowing up, Yartek being killed, the keys being destroyed and the Doctor admitting "I don't believe that man was made to be controlled by machines".   Thus rendering the who quest a bit mute!  Still it was about the journey - and for me, it was a fun one!

Photo 4: Jason, Mark (eyes shut!), Jim and Leigh posing around Leigh's house
with the Keys Of Marinus DVD cover and obligatory sign.

Jim: “I liked Keys. Good story and never got dull”.

Shaun: “I have to say, it's my second favourite so far (behind Edge of Destruction).  A classic quest, several new, interesting, diverse areas and a real threat to the people and the Who-crew.  Interestingly, Barbara was the only really competent member of the team.  Other than Ian's little flourish at the end with the fake key, Babs solved almost every problem.  It was really odd seeing her go bat-shit crazy and brutally kill those brain slug things with a pipe.
 
The threat was good, brainwashing on a grand scale, the new characters were good (love being a theme again), and I liked the villains' look.

It was long but never dull, changing styles/genres a few times.  Not a surprise to see Terry Nation in the writing credits.  Susan was nought but kidnap bait, as always.

Rapey Hagrid was a highlight”.

Photo 5: Michael, Mark (eyes shut!), Jim (also eyes shut!) and Leigh posing around Leigh's house with The Aztecs DVD cover and obligatory sign.

So after a quick break we went onto the next story - the four part historical story "The Aztecs".

Photo 6: Jason, Mark (eyes covered!), Jim and Leigh posing around Leigh's house
with The Aztecs DVD cover and obligatory sign.

  

This was another historical adventure where the team get separated from the Tardis - which has been blocked off - and Barbara gets confused for a Goddess!  It's quite a fun story but Barbara does lose her mind a bit - thinking that she can stop the Aztecs and their human sacrifice ways!

 

Photo 7: Michael, Mark (eyes shut!), Jim and Leigh posing around Leigh's house
with The Aztecs DVD cover and obligatory sign.

For me the highlights were the comedy of the Doctor accidentally getting engaged and the GLORIOUS villain, Tlotoxl, an actor who either had, or REALLY wanted to, play King Richard III!  He was a proper stage-villain!

 
Photo 8: Jason (eyes shut!), Mark (eyes shut!), Jim (great quizzical face!)
and Leigh posing around Leigh's house
with The Aztecs DVD cover and obligatory sign.

Shaun (playing catch up a few months later) said: "Okay, The Aztecs.  It was entertaining, but a bit too close to Marco Polo overall.  Maybe a few more eps between and I would have liked it more.  I liked the moral aspect to it, especially in the end.  Barbara again showing herself as the most competent.  They shouldn't have been tricked twice by the Aztecs omitting a name.  It felt repetitive. Shame The Doctor didn't take his fiancé along.  She was fun.  Acting was pretty solid throughout, and the main baddy priest kept reminding me of Jafar from Aladdin, and that made me smile.  I was hoping for an evil song.
As always, remember that my thoughts are inconsequential, as we have The Book to tell what we really think".

So all in all a good story - and Ian even got to have a slo-motion fight!  So that's all from me now - we're not sure when we're meeting next but, as always, Until then I shall return, yes, I shall return....

MJ 04-03-14

DOCTOR WHO MARATHON 4th MEET-UP - MARCO POLO (RE-CON) PARTS 5-7 & THE KEYS OF MARINUS PARTS 1-3

Sunday 16th February 2014

This time our intrepid bunch of future Whovians (and me MJ - full time Whovian and all round bloody nice chap!) met around Mark's house to finish watching our Marco Polo re-construction.

Firstly I met up with Jim and we called for Jason..... and there was no answer!  We also tried ringing him..... and there was no answer!

So we tried knocking louder..... and there was no answer!  So we thought, oh well, maybe he's forgot we're calling and will be around Mark's.

With that in mind we trotted off to Mark's house and were delighted to be joined for this session by Mark's brother-in-law Gavin!

After getting settled with teas etc (and FINALLY being joined by a delayed Jason!) we sat down to watch the remaining parts of the Marco Polo re-con.  I found them very good indeed and enjoyed some great character actors - especially enjoying the Kublai Kahn himself - a very amusing character.

Photo 1: Gavin, Mark (holding obligatory sign and with his eyes shut - as is the norm!)
Jason, Jim and Michael posing around Mark's house
with Marco Polo mock-up DVD cover and obligatory sign.

Just before the last episode, Mr. Leigh turned up (it was great to have the team back!) and sat down very patiently watching the last episode of something that must have been quite bewildering to him!

Photo 2: Gavin, Mark (holding obligatory sign)
Jason, Jim and Michael posing around Mark's house
with Marco Polo mock-up DVD cover and obligatory sign.

After that we then switched back to ACTUAL moving-picture episodes with the first three episodes of "The Keys of Marinus"!  I must say I did find the first few episodes quite fun and exciting - even if Susan is becoming more of a token screamer!

Photo 3: Gavin, Mark, Jason (holding obligatory sign),
Leigh (hooray!) and Jim posing around Mark's house
with The Keys Of Marinus DVD cover.

There were a lot of different locations and stories within stories and Barbara helped add to the fun by doing the classic "twisting her ankle" routine!  But the story seemed to start off on exciting feet - a sea of acid (that attacked Susan's shoes!!!), aliens in rubber "gimp" suits and a good guy being stabbed to death.  I look forward to watching the rest of this fast-moving (well fast-moving for early Who!) tale!

Photo 4: Gavin, Mark, Jason (holding obligatory sign),
Michael and Jim posingaround Mark's house
with The Keys Of Marinus DVD cover.

Anyhow we'll be back again in 2 weeks to watch the remaining episodes!

Until then I shall return, yes, I shall return....

MJ 18-02-14

EXTRA:

Shaun (who joined our marathan later in the year, played catch-up and watched this in September 2013) said this about the tale:
“The Doctor and Kubla Khan, bonding over the aches and pains of old age.
Didn't see that coming.  Fantastic.
That was pretty good, a nice amount of depth to the main characters, an interesting journey that seem to really progress, an elaborate plan to kill...

......KHAAAAAAAAAN!!!!!!!!!!

It was enjoyable."

DOCTOR WHO MARATHON 3rd MEET-UP - THE EDGE OF DESTRUCTION & MARCO POLO (RE-CON) PARTS 1-4

Sunday 2nd February 2014

So this time the gang met around my house as 1pm but unfortunately we lost a Leigh.  Only the third serial in and we're a man down!

After saying a couple of prayers for our fallen comrade we started with the excellent two parter "The Edge Of Destruction".

Photo 1: Jim, Jason, Michael (holding replacement Leigh) and Mark posing

around Michael's house with The Edge Of Destruction DVD cover and obligatory sign.

Not much to say except that we actually all seemed to enjoy it - it was quite creepy and there was some real paranoid and creepy acting!

Photo 2: Jim, Jason, Michael (holding replacement Leigh) and Mark posing

around Michael's house with The Edge Of Destruction DVD cover and obligatory sign
I added this second photo to show our dog, Yana, trying to get some Mark-loving!

Jim said of it:
" Very surprised they did a one-set story with just the four of them.  At first I thought "lack of budget" but I like to think it was a brave move by the writers.
Susan's overacting reached crescendo-point though!  Put the scissors down!!"

Good points there though I do actually believe they made this episode DUE to lack of budget!

Then the real challenge came for us as we came face to face with the first serial with missing episodes - in fact "Marco Polo" has NONE of it's 7 episodes left!
Still some bright sparks have put together the originally soundtrack (taped off the TV onto audio tape back in the 1960s!) with still photographs (taken off-screen).

Photo 3: Jim, Jason, Michael (holding replacement Leigh) and Mark

posing around Michael's house with Marco Polo mock-up DVD cover and obligatory sign
- it's a bit blurry but hey-ho!

So we watched the first four episodes and everyone seemed to find them watchable enough - which pleased me as there are a lot of cracking stories that don't exist any more!
So this is an excellent way to see them all.  I think the only episode that was hard to watch was the one where Susan gets caught in the sandstorm - it's hard to hear what's going on!

So that was that.  Oh and Leigh missed some yummy cheesecake!

Anyhow we'll be back again in 2 weeks!  Until then I shall return, yes, I shall return....

MJ - 04-20-14

Extra.... Monday 5th May 2014 - Leigh's Catch Up!

So I'd stayed over the nights at Leigh's (separate beds of course!) after a heavy night's drinking and suggested it might be a nice time to watch this two-part story that Leigh had missed before!

Photo 4: MJ and Leigh around Leigh's house for the Edge Of Destruction Catch-up!

Photo 5: MJ and Leigh around Leigh's house for the Edge Of Destruction Catch-up!
Not a too bad shot for a selfie!

Photo 6: Mr. Leigh around his house for the Edge Of Destruction Catch-up!
Note the sign - I'd made it for another meet-up (which hadn't happened)
so had to biro in the new date!

I enjoyed watching it again (such an odd serial) and I think Leigh liked it as well!  Also I felt that Leigh might be missing Susan (seen as she'd left in the serial we had watched the day before...!)

I ask you, what better way is there to spend a hungover morning!?!