Classic Doctor Who

Jenny Tomasin appeared in 'Revelation of the Daleks' with Colin Baker as the doctor. Also noteworthy is that the same story featured Clive Swift (Richard Bucket from Keeping up Appearances) and Alexei Sayle!


What's a bit odd though is that the earlier episodes with William Hartnell have survived far better than the Troughton ones, here's the stats:

HARTNELL ERA

Total number of transmitted episodes 134
Total number of transmitted stories 28

Total number of existing episodes 88 (66%)
Total number of existing complete stories 17 (61%)

Total number of missing episodes 46 (34%)

TROUGHTON ERA


Total number of transmitted episodes 119
Total number of transmitted stories 22

Total number of existing episodes 57 (48%)
Total number of existing complete stories 6 (27%)

Total number of missing episodes 62 (52%)



I thought the TVM was pretty nifty too. Much of the criticism to it seems to stem from assertions that the show was 'Americanised' and how it wasn't true to the original. Viewed 10 years on, it's not *that* different in concept from the current series and the 'Americanisation' I can't see as anything more than essential modernisation if the movie was to stand any chance at all of becoming a series.

Those who complained about it seemed to want nothing more than a nostalgia fest for a couple of hours - going down that line was impossible in a movie which was a serious bid at restarting the series. The conception might have been a bit rough around the edges, but I don't think it did a bad job.

I'm another who enjoyed the 1996 film - the only thing I found very wrong with it was the ill-conceived version of the Master. Paul McGann did a great turn as the Doctor (I hear he did well in the audio books, too, although I've never listened to any), and I keep hoping that he might make some sort of cameo in the new series.

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I hope this will included the Dam Timewar

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You are not alone . I really want to see the time war in a movie.

I got The Tomb Of the Cybermen* and apart from the rather primative Cymbermen suits (although it adds a certain charm to it seeing as it was from 1967) it was overall a great story, I liked Troughton's Doctor as well he seemed like a kindly father or uncle & was a likeable Doctor.

Shame so many of his episodes are missing, even more suprising that more of Hartnell's survive even though he was the previous doctor

* Error corrected

Tomb of the Daleks - never seen that

Do you mean Cybermen?

Great story - shows Troughton at his best.

Didn't see that when I was writing it, just corrected my error

Like I say he was great in that show & it's a shame more of his don't survive in full. So far out of the three Doctors I have seen (Troughton, T.Baker & Davidson) I have liked them all, I think Davidsons story was best & then Troughton's, T.Baker's was good but I personally don't think as good as the other two stories.

Just need to see Hartnell, C.Baker, McCoy & McGann's stories although I have been put off by C.Baker's judging by comments on here & on other websites

Colin's first story - The Twin Dilemma - is awful he is so over the top - Vengenace on Varos is good plus you get to see Jason Connery topless

Back to Troughton if you get the chance to get any videos of old WHO off ebay - try The Krotons - many people slate this story but Pat is fab in it.

On DVD you could also try The Seeds of Death.

Thanks for the tip I did sort of go into this story wondering if I had made the right purchase, but from seeing the first scene in the first part I knew I had.

BTW is Hartnell's "The Dalek Invasion Of Earth" any good, I do expect this to be very dated but I'm interested to see the episode, especially after seeing the DVD cover:

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/51S9J7NEHDL._SS500_.jpg

Like the spacships in the background

Dalek Invasion of Earth is pretty good, it's faster paced and more engaging than the first Dalek story (it's also a 6 parter which IMO is the longest a Doctor Who story should ever have been - 7 parters like the first Dalek story were always ridiculously drawn out). The DVD also features upgraded CGI effects which you can switch in as a branching feature.

The early Dalek stories - before Davros and before it became a requirement for every Dalek to scream 'Exterminate!' before operating their weaponry IMO made them a much more menacing and scary enemy. I wasn't alive in the 1960's, but if i were, this is much more likely to have got me hiding behind the sofa than the Davison/Colin Baker era Daleks whch I grew up with.

Some are saying that McCoys portrayal was poor but considering the amount in the budget at the time any actor would have had a very tough job at keeping The Doctor going.

My favourite McCoy stories are:-

Remembrance of the Daleks
Ghostlight
(please forgive my memory lapses for story names on the next two....)
The one with the haemevore (set during world war 2) - a real damn good story and one of my all-time favourites
The one set slightly in the future and featuring the last appearance by Bgr Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart

and finally the very apt story to be ever televised from the old series - Survival (although this was the penultimate story to be made!!!)

The first is The Curse of Fenric - the DVD also contains an extended "movie" version with usual updated effects and 5.1 sound.

The second is Battlefield , another episode that dropped a few hints (that didn't have a chance to go anywhere) about the Doctor's past/future - as well as what was probably the most expensive monster ever made for the classic series!

David