Post by Patrick Coles on Apr 25, 2018 18:16:29 GMT
'Space Museum' episode one was superb - very much a stand alone like say 'An Unearthly Child', 'Mind Robber', and later in the seventies 'Invasion of The Dinosaurs' and 'Android Invasion' where just for the opening episode itself it was a worthwhile tale
'Space Museum' was a story written as a spoof but played straight - the key point being that the regular cast themselves can't prevent their seemingly inevitable fate they glimpse as a historical fact (themselves as dead exhibits in the museum) early on in the story, and regardless of their own actions events seem to be taking a pre-determined inevitable course...
them being effectively 'ghosts' early on was an interesting angle that was to a degree revisted later in 'Day of The Daleks' with Pertwee and Jo briefly meeting 'themselves' - again this was due to a Tardis malfunction
- BUT in 'Space Museum' the influence of The Doctor and co on others duly DOES alter the seemingly set in stone course of events....
in that 'Space Museum' denotes the entire history premise of the classic show re The Doctor and companions being the 'random element' in altering the seeming inevitable course of events from a foe succeeding to not ! (again as with 'Day of The Daleks' later)
the irony of 'Space Museum' was it had the native people having been influenced by The Doctor and co doing the 'saving' instead
the story seemed a strange one re it being written one way as a series spoof but then directed and acted out totally straight (as later Pertwee's debut episode was also written as a more comedic spoof but Barry Letts wisely insisted they play it straight)
McCoy's debut could and should have been far better - it lifts it's core theme idea from stories such as The Invaders chilling episode 'The Leeches' plus earlier tales such as 'The Time Warrior' etc however it's played as a panto style homage to seventies American soaps plus despite a few interesting ideas like the bubble traps the whole thing is done in a very non threatening style as BBC over reacted to accusations of some 'nasty' moments like acid baths etc in Colin Baker stories and the 'keep it tame' rule was applied and over acting was the norm by several in the cast - Bonnie Langford was made to revert to dreaded 'scream and scream and scream' mode (something she had NOT done earlier with Colin)
the 'monster' was so silly even Gerry Anderson would have rejected it from the auditions for the second season of Space; 1999
Doctor Who veterans Wanda Ventham and Donald Pickering (both had been in 'The Faceless Ones' with Patrick Troughton) duly looked surprised and full of distain at the hocus pocus going on around them and attempted to 'distance' their performances from the chimps tea party atmosphere as McCoy struggled to bring any kind of screen presence let alone 'The Doctor' stance to his new role - his Doctor really couldn't tell a Kate O'Mara 'Rani' from a Bonnie Langford 'Mel' ? - and to me he just looked like a guy who just happened to be walking passed Television centre and was grabbed and told he was to be the new Doctor !
A Stronger lead actor might have helped then...one who didn't just look so utterly 'clueless' all the time (not helped by the obligatory camera zoom ins on his face to end many episodes that had become the norm since Pertwee days as the 'yeeaaaoooww' supposedly dynamic closing theme intro cut in - an eerie fade to black or credits appearing then the earlier subliminal theme coming in was SO much more menacing...)
Later that Cartmel guy unwisely tried turning The Doctor into some "great manipulator of everything" (yawn) which no doubt sowed some of the seeds of death for the Doctor character later in noowho days (bigger yawn)
whatever I still would happily burn up ALL those McCoys and noowho for just ONE complete missing Hartnell or Troughton sixties adventure
- MUCH of the sheer 'quality' always came from those two actors own magnetic performances as 'The Doctor'
'Space Museum' was a story written as a spoof but played straight - the key point being that the regular cast themselves can't prevent their seemingly inevitable fate they glimpse as a historical fact (themselves as dead exhibits in the museum) early on in the story, and regardless of their own actions events seem to be taking a pre-determined inevitable course...
them being effectively 'ghosts' early on was an interesting angle that was to a degree revisted later in 'Day of The Daleks' with Pertwee and Jo briefly meeting 'themselves' - again this was due to a Tardis malfunction
- BUT in 'Space Museum' the influence of The Doctor and co on others duly DOES alter the seemingly set in stone course of events....
in that 'Space Museum' denotes the entire history premise of the classic show re The Doctor and companions being the 'random element' in altering the seeming inevitable course of events from a foe succeeding to not ! (again as with 'Day of The Daleks' later)
the irony of 'Space Museum' was it had the native people having been influenced by The Doctor and co doing the 'saving' instead
the story seemed a strange one re it being written one way as a series spoof but then directed and acted out totally straight (as later Pertwee's debut episode was also written as a more comedic spoof but Barry Letts wisely insisted they play it straight)
McCoy's debut could and should have been far better - it lifts it's core theme idea from stories such as The Invaders chilling episode 'The Leeches' plus earlier tales such as 'The Time Warrior' etc however it's played as a panto style homage to seventies American soaps plus despite a few interesting ideas like the bubble traps the whole thing is done in a very non threatening style as BBC over reacted to accusations of some 'nasty' moments like acid baths etc in Colin Baker stories and the 'keep it tame' rule was applied and over acting was the norm by several in the cast - Bonnie Langford was made to revert to dreaded 'scream and scream and scream' mode (something she had NOT done earlier with Colin)
the 'monster' was so silly even Gerry Anderson would have rejected it from the auditions for the second season of Space; 1999
Doctor Who veterans Wanda Ventham and Donald Pickering (both had been in 'The Faceless Ones' with Patrick Troughton) duly looked surprised and full of distain at the hocus pocus going on around them and attempted to 'distance' their performances from the chimps tea party atmosphere as McCoy struggled to bring any kind of screen presence let alone 'The Doctor' stance to his new role - his Doctor really couldn't tell a Kate O'Mara 'Rani' from a Bonnie Langford 'Mel' ? - and to me he just looked like a guy who just happened to be walking passed Television centre and was grabbed and told he was to be the new Doctor !
A Stronger lead actor might have helped then...one who didn't just look so utterly 'clueless' all the time (not helped by the obligatory camera zoom ins on his face to end many episodes that had become the norm since Pertwee days as the 'yeeaaaoooww' supposedly dynamic closing theme intro cut in - an eerie fade to black or credits appearing then the earlier subliminal theme coming in was SO much more menacing...)
Later that Cartmel guy unwisely tried turning The Doctor into some "great manipulator of everything" (yawn) which no doubt sowed some of the seeds of death for the Doctor character later in noowho days (bigger yawn)
whatever I still would happily burn up ALL those McCoys and noowho for just ONE complete missing Hartnell or Troughton sixties adventure
- MUCH of the sheer 'quality' always came from those two actors own magnetic performances as 'The Doctor'