Classic Doctor Who

A strange epi last night, didn't really involve the doctor, hardly any of Martha.

My advice to Sally Sparrow and Lawrence would have been: Use a pickaxe and some mirrors!

Ah yes but that would cause a time paradox (or something similar that Tom Baker would have said). I think we may want to move this discussion out of the classic thread before a disturbance ensures

The paradox that always annoyed me in Classic Dr Who was at the end of the "Trial of a Time Lord" season (Season 23, 1986, Colin Baker's final season). We have:

A: a 6th Dr whose point of view is that he's never yet been to 1986 Pease Pottage in order to pick up Melanie (Bonnie Langford) in the first place.

and B: a Melanie whose point of view is that she's had a fair few adventures with the Doctor already (although the one involving Vervoids is the only one depicted on screen) and that their initial meeting in 1986 Pease Pottage (which is never depicted on screen) would therefore have been quite some time ago.

This wrong combination of 6th Dr & Mel depart at the end of season together in the TARDIS! Oops, I've fallen down a plot hole...

It is left to the individual viewer to imagine that after the closing credits start to roll on Season 23, the 6th Dr immediately returns Mel to "her" 6th Dr, then travels on alone, until eventually his lone travels take him to 1986 Pease Pottage where he'll meet Mel for "the first time" (from her point of view)*. My head hurts!

* All of which is finally depicted (at long last) in one of the canon Dr Who novels, published by BBC Books since 1996. The novel in question is called Business Unusual . Reading that novel finally laid my continuity demons to rest. Phew!

Hmm to be fair I've been to the service station there many a time and there isn't much to remember! It's nothing compared to Oxford.

Anyway seriously there must be 100s of these sort of paradoxes in Dr Who, especially between the new and old series, and not to mention the film! (We seem to have dispensed with the idea that the Doc is half human!)

You just gotta not let it worry you and enjoy the show!

Watched quite a few last night:

The Three Doctors turned out to be a great, if rather odd, story in the end. Troughton & Pertwee were great in the scenes where they clashed. Does the same happen in the Two Doctors with Troughton & Baker?

The Robots of Death was great, a real whodunnit at the start, I thought Poul was the one who was reprogramming the Robots at first. The robots themselves were rather creepy looking as well in the sense of the expression on their non animated faces.

The DVD is obviously an earlier one however as the features are virtually non existant & when I had the subtitles one, every time the Doctor spoke and was out of shot they put down "Who" as opposed to "Doctor" for his lines

I do have 1 question about the episode however, why does the Doctor's Tardis have that rather unusual interior?

Earthshock , is turning out to be a good story so far as well, odd hearing the Cybermen with a rather normal voice compared to last years story, also a nice little shot of Doctors 1,2 & 4 in one of the scenes.

I think I'm getting a bit obssesed with classic Doctor Who at the mo

If I remember rightly, Mel leaves with a future, and thinner, version of the Doctor in the novelisation.

David

Earthshock had an excellent, if moving ending. Never knew so many people hated Adric at the time, I kind of liked him.

However there was definately too many companions by then, Nyssa was in the Tardis for the majority of the story. I take it Turlough (sp) wasn't introduced until after Nyssa left.

Ah well of to see The Talons of Weng Chaing now, Tom Baker is still the best Doctor IMHO

Just watched Four to Doomsday from peter davison and it was brilliant. Lved the cliffhanger in episode 3. I was wondering, hows he going to get out of that.

Is that one out on DVD? I haven't seen it in shops, though having said that they are quite limited where I live (mainly Tom Baker, hardly any Pertwee in my local HMV/WH Smiths)

HI Johnny83, Glad you are becoming a fan of the classic series. Tom Baker is fantastic. You will love Talons one of the best stories ever.

You asked about the Tardis interior. It was a new set they tried out during one season. If I recall correctly the wood all warped during one of the breaks , so they had to go back to the old design after just one season. The Doctor said it was the alternative control room.

As for Turlough, he did crossover with Turlough for a couple of stories, He joined in Mawdryn Undead, and she left in Terminus

The BBC have just posted a story on the website that they're re-releasing several of the DVDs in new packaging and at a lower price, aimed at new viewers to get them acquainted with the classic series.

Maybe they'll fix the missing effects on Remembrance of the Daleks!

David

....and the packaging for the Five Doctors?