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Post by richardwoods on Nov 11, 2014 19:02:06 GMT
Yeah, bit of a travelogue for a start IIRC but Ok when it got going. Haven't watched it since it was first broadcast to be honest.
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Richard Develyn
Member
Living in hope that more missing episodes will come back to us.
Posts: 574
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Post by Richard Develyn on Nov 11, 2014 21:07:54 GMT
Talons is excellent but seems more Sherlock Holmes than Doctor Who for me. It does, however, contain something which I think is part of quintessential Who which is the idea that a group of people are threatened by something which the Doctor overcomes because he *understands* the situation better (though without just *having* the answer - he still still has to work at it). I'm not sure about The Daleks - in the sense that although the Doctor should be unpredictable he is a bit reprehensible then. There's a bit in Tomb that I don't like that way either, when he electrifies the doors with the potential to kill even someone innocent.
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Post by Richard Marple on Nov 11, 2014 21:50:23 GMT
Genesis is good on many levels, though some elements don't work so well if you think about them too much, though if you are concentrating on the story you won't notice them too much.
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Post by lousingh on Nov 11, 2014 23:25:33 GMT
That's a really interesting post not least because it highlights a flaw in my original question (apart from mis-spelling quintessential). I wasn't really after a good "average" story for the series - i.e. one which best represents Doctor Who with all of its strengths and failings. What I'm after is the story which *you* think represents Doctor Who as it should be. This is still different to your favourite story, because your favourite could easily be one where Doctor Who went off at a tangent. The story I want is the one that you would want to give a new producer of the show, who had never watched Doctor Who, with the instructions "make a show which resembles this!" Thank you, Richard. That makes this very difficult because what I like about Doctor Who is that it is so flexible that it can do anything. I love that Doctor Who has had completely evil aliens, adversaries that I have empathy for, complete fantasies, social commentaries, straight dramas, straight action stories, black comedies, total farces, political satire, etc. I would want the person to see each of the various types of story that the series has done and say, "remember: you can do all this - and more; have fun!" One of the reasons I can still watch it is that, for instance, Shada is at once camp, drama, science-fiction, fantasy, social parody (academe), action-adventure, and just plain surrealism (when read without the time element, _The Worshipful and Ancient Law of Gallifrey_ is a nursery book). The same series brought us The Crusades, The Mind Robber, The Ambassadors of Death, Pyramids of Mars, Shada, Snakedance, Revelation of the Daleks, and The Greatest Show in the Galaxy. How many shows can do either of these? Gads, if Shada were a bit more serious in tone, I might pick it. As it is, I am going to take Battlefield. Action, UNIT, comedy, blend of magic with both advanced science and pseudo-mediaeval fighting rules, every line of out the Brigadier's mouth, awesome pay-off,...
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Richard Develyn
Member
Living in hope that more missing episodes will come back to us.
Posts: 574
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Post by Richard Develyn on Nov 12, 2014 10:00:39 GMT
Wow - that's a surprise. I wasn't expecting any JNT stuff to get in here. I remember watching it when it came out and all of us being quite impressed with the blue devil thing. I must admit I think JNT more or less got it right towards the end (apart from those bloody question marks), and he had it right at Tom's last season too but that was because it wasn't really his show then.
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Richard Develyn
Member
Living in hope that more missing episodes will come back to us.
Posts: 574
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Post by Richard Develyn on Nov 12, 2014 10:01:21 GMT
(forgot about the previous mention of Caves of Androzani, BTW - but I don't think of that as a JNT story so much)
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Post by richardwoods on Nov 12, 2014 18:01:42 GMT
Wow - that's a surprise. I wasn't expecting any JNT stuff to get in here. I remember watching it when it came out and all of us being quite impressed with the blue devil thing. I must admit I think JNT more or less got it right towards the end (apart from those bloody question marks), and he had it right at Tom's last season too but that was because it wasn't really his show then. Yeah, I remember thinking at the time that that the Keeper of Traken was a return to form and then being seriously disappointed with Logopolis.
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Post by lousingh on Nov 12, 2014 23:35:17 GMT
I think you are selling JNT short, or, more correctly, are not placing the blame precisely. IMHO, you should blame him for bringing on Eric Saward as script editor. The stories you seem to be higher on are from Chris Bidmead's and Andrew Cartmel's tenures as script editor. JMO. I think I am higher on JNT's tenure as a whole than most who frequent these boards.
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Post by lousingh on Nov 12, 2014 23:43:58 GMT
Oh, and back to topic: I wonder if there are a few that people might grouse about but agree to? I could see Pyramids of Mars, The Brain of Morbius, or The Robots of Death all getting a lot of support.
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Post by garysrothwellx on Nov 13, 2014 0:08:21 GMT
Answering slightly tongue in cheek here, but surely a 60's quintessential story should include the following:
Fluffed lines At least one if not too episodes of padding Be at least partially lost so that those who did see it at the time can talk about how wonderful it was Storylines of a non PC nature Wonderfully cheap costumes with men in plastic as aliens
And also of course be a rip roaring yarn of slight strangeness that we all love!!
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Richard Develyn
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Living in hope that more missing episodes will come back to us.
Posts: 574
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Post by Richard Develyn on Nov 13, 2014 11:51:04 GMT
I got into Doctor Who through the early target novelisations, funnily enough, so to a certain degree they're more quintessential Doctor Who for me than the actual series. Maybe what I would want to give some new producer is novelisations such as The Cybermen, Abominable Snowmen, Web of Fear (of course), most of the Pertwee stories and basically any that had covers by Chris Achilleos. I remember how disappointed I was when I finally saw Day of the Daleks - the novelisation is much better.
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Post by lousingh on Nov 13, 2014 14:15:09 GMT
Gary brings up an interesting point. There is so much Doctor Who from the original run that choosing one as "quintessential" is maybe asking too much of us. Maybe one per Doctor, or something - although Tom Baker's Doctor splits into three very distinct eras because of various BBC mandates. Rick W - If memory serves me right, Terrance Dicks and Barry Letts admitted that a few of the cool things from the novellisation, such as the different time stream bit in episode one appearing at the end of episode four, were edited for time.
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