Review The Tom Baker Doctor

ant-mac

ant-mac

Member: Rank 9
Doctor Omega said:
I totally agree on that point. How did they bring them back so many years later and somehow make them less scary than their lower-budgeted debut?
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It takes real skill to manage that.

The sort of skill that only a master storyteller and legend in his own mind could manage...
 
ant-mac

ant-mac

Member: Rank 9
In any other era of Classic Who, it would have been considered an average serial. In New Who, it would probably be considered a masterpiece...

However, in that era of Classic Who and in that season in particular, it was the weak link.

It really was surrounded by giants.
 
Doctor Omega

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
I think maybe it was Terry Nation being a lazy plotter - and it showing on this occasion. Logic is thrown out of the window. So much so that Terrance Dicks had to wrap up all the plot-holes in a passage at the end of the Target novelisation! :emoji_alien:
 
ant-mac

ant-mac

Member: Rank 9
Doctor Omega said:
I think maybe it was Terry Nation being a lazy plotter - and it showing on this occasion. Logic is thrown out of the window. So much so that Terrance Dicks had to wrap up all the plot-holes in a passage at the end of the Target novelisation! :emoji_alien:
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I often get the impression that Tarry Nation gets a lot more credit for his work than he's actually due.

Whether it be on DOCTOR WHO (1963), SURVIVORS (1975) or BLAKE'S 7.
 
Doctor Omega

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
Yes, he was quoted on an Alan Wicker interview once as "Take the money and fly like a thief!"

I suspect this was standard practice for him...

I think he was a fantastic ideas man, but was happy to let other people do the nuts and bolts work, then claim the credit as in when he turned up at Donald Tosh's house, gave him a thin envelope with a few paltry sheets that were the scripts for THE DALEKS' MASTER PLAN, en-route to the airport for a holiday. :emoji_alien:
 
ant-mac

ant-mac

Member: Rank 9
Doctor Omega said:
Yes, he was quoted on an Alan Wicker interview once as "Take the money and fly like a thief!"

I suspect this was standard practice for him...

I think he was a fantastic ideas man, but was happy to let other people do the nuts and bolts work, then claim the credit.
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Yeah, that pretty much sums up my impression of him.

Not that there's anything wrong with being an ideas man. After all, you need someone to get the ball rolling...

But don't try to claim to be something you're not.
 
Doctor Omega

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
And he left Blake's 7 to flounder in the fourth year, agreed to that ending, then was considering suing the BBC for ending the show like that.

His agent, Roger Hancock, was a nightmare by all accounts too...
 
ant-mac

ant-mac

Member: Rank 9
Doctor Omega said:
And he left Blake's 7 to flounder in the fourth year, agreed to that ending, then was considering suing the BBC for ending the show like that.

His agent, Roger Hancock, was a nightmare by all accounts too...
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I still think to this day that ending is possibly the finest ending any TV series ever had.

Viewers - especially fans - seem to forget that every good TV series needs a beginning, a middle and an end. Better to go out on a high and with style than to totter unsteadily onwards, suffering ever diminishing returns and awaiting inevitable cancellation...
 
Doctor Omega

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
Yes, it blew me away when I saw it.

When (not if) the current incarnation of Who ends, it will surely, somehow, be a damp squib finale. Even the Classic show, with everything against it, had the wit to conclude with a poetic, lyrical sadness in the "Tea getting cold" speech.
 
alpha128

alpha128

Member: Rank 3
Doctor Omega said:
I think maybe it was Terry Nation being a lazy plotter - and it showing on this occasion. Logic is thrown out of the window. So much so that Terrance Dicks had to wrap up all the plot-holes in a passage at the end of the Target novelisation! :emoji_alien:
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How did Terrence Dicks explain that Guy Crayford didn't realize he had two good eyes?
 
alpha128

alpha128

Member: Rank 3
I've seen "The Brain of Morbius" praised on numerous occasions. For example, Doctor Who for Newbies: The Fourth Doctor | Nerdist singles out this serial for praise.

I consulted that article when I decided to buy some Who DVDs for the 50th anniversary. However, I remembered all these other serials featured in that guide, and ended up buying them all on DVD:
  • Story 76 – The Ark in Space
  • Story 78 – Genesis of the Daleks
  • Story 82 – Pyramids of Mars
  • Story 88 – The Deadly Assassin
  • Story 91 – The Talons of Weng-Chiang
  • Story 92 – Horror of Fang Rock
  • Story 97 – The Invasion of Time
But Story 84 – The Brain of Morbius was the oddball. If it was as great as claimed, why didn't I remember it? I got a partial answer when viewing the Serial Thrillers special feature included on the "Pyramids of Mars" DVD. When I saw the clips of the creature from "Brain", I laughed out loud!

I did end up rewatching this one on-line in the last few years and it was OK. The horror atmosphere at the beginning is well done. But the tone is inconsistent. The scene of the brain being dropped on floor is pretty gruesome, but the creature design is IMO ridiculous. I guess they were trying to keep it from getting too scary for the kiddies in the viewing audience.

I didn't buy the DVD and have no regrets about that.
 
alpha128

alpha128

Member: Rank 3
ant-mac said:
Now you're just being silly... :emoji_wink:
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I think it's a perfectly logical explanation of why he never showered.

But that doesn't explain why Sarah Jane didn't complain about the smell, or why the Doctor failed to comment on how lucky he was to have a respiratory bypass. :emoji_wink:
 
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