"Of course I'm all right! I'm certainly all right! It's the situation that's all wrong."
This has been fomenting for several months and has its basis in continuing disagreements with my good friend Captain Chaotica!!, as well as a portion of the extended uber-geek conversation between bizarreoptimism and myself a couple of weeks ago. As much as a reply/follow up to those, though, this is a position paper/explanation for my own purposes, because I've been having a lot of trouble with the situation.
The Sixth Doctor got screwed; that's fairly commonly accepted among Whovians who have actually given him a chance, for well-documented reasons. But then he got screwed again because of when I got to his episodes. To put my introduction to him into RL context, I was trying to finish up an Electrical Engineering degree and English minor, apply to graduate school, deal with roommates who were slobbish and obnoxious at best, find a job, move back home with my parents, and carry on a long distance relationship; I was hardly in the best of moods. To put it into show context, Five was my favourite Doctor since Two, I knew this wasn't ths strongest era in Who history, and New Who was on hiatus and it had just been announced that My Doctor would soon be leaving; none of this made me particularly thrilled about the show. To put it into viewing context, I was asked before starting "The Two Doctors" to take a break because of unfortunate and unforeseeable technical difficulties, Who had been my primary obsession for two full years to the point where even At World's End didn't get its due amount of attention from me, and I was presented with an opportunity to begin watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer - a show I had been meaning to see since sometime back when it was still on the air; I was burnt out on Who, and I was getting distracted. The Sixth Doctor got screwed.
But it's not fair to blame it on circumstances. Not really. Because, when it comes down to it, I had been in awful moods before, and the show had acted as an escape; I thought getting through the Troughton Era would be a chore, and he became My Backup Doctor; I was ready for Baker T to be gone before he actually left, and yet, I thoroughly enjoyed nearly every one of his serials. I could have overcome all of these things. I _should_ have overcome all of these things. Except I wasn't able to because, when I am brutally honest, I have to admit that the Baker C Era just _isn't very good_.
Now, before the accusations start flying - and I know them all well, believe me - I do not in ANY way mean that Colin Baker isn't good. On the contrary, I think he is far and away the BEST thing about the Baker C Era, followed after a bit by Nicola Bryant. The two leads are fan_tas_tic, and I will defend both the actors and the characters against any who would slander them. I was a bit hesitant to say it before, but I will, now: Peri is a Special Companion, closer to The Doctor even than Sarah Jane, really. Their relationship is absolutely, perfectly adorable in a way that hadn't really been seen since Jamie and Zoe traveled with Two, and their interaction at the beginnings of "The Mysterious Planet" and "Mindwarp" is a shining example of how it should be done.
Only, those are the only memorable (in a good way, at least) moments in any of the serials I've seen. And I've only got one more left. I honestly could not tell you the actual plots for the majority of the serials, and I find myself unable to recall even the name of the Dalek serial (it was one of those R ones...) that really should have been the sort of stand-out, story-arc participant that I remember all the details about. It's not that I haven't been paying attention, I just haven't retained anything because there hasn't been anything interesting enough to retain. I got excited about the Dalek serial and "The Mysterious Planet," extolling the virtues of established writers in a sea of newbies, but truth be told, they were full of inconsistencies, silliness, and plots I simply cannot recall.
There is just not much in any of it that is _inspired_. I've been listening to the Cadmium2 podcasts about the early seasons of the show, and, as much as they love slagging off "The Edge of Destruction" and "Planet of Giants" and the like, I have an abiding fondness for them. I'm fairly certain they are right and the serials are not all that great compared to the rest of the show, but I remember quite clearly the majority of what happened in them because they were _different_. There was something in them that stood out above other things I have seen. The somewhat gratuitously ridiculous "The Two Doctors" aside, there are only elements of inspiration scattered throughout the ten serials Colin Baker was in. Similar accusations could be leveled at the Davison Era, in so much as there were not particularly many truly genius stories, but the writing was on the whole better, and the plots were more interesting. "Kinda" may not have been "The Aztecs" or "Inferno" or "Blink," but you don't soon forget the Mara, and there wasn't even a question why Tegan is upset in "Snakedance." It took me a full episode of "Mindwarp" to remember which serial Sil was from (I couldn't even remember at first whether it was Five or Six who had first met him), and that is NOT what I should have been worried about at that point. I was completely engrossed in "Invasion of Time" and, for a time, taken in by The Doctor's ruse. Six has both a deeper affection for his Companion AND a greater reputation for selfish, vicious behaviour, and the younger Baker is quite frankly the subtler actor, so "Mindwarp" should have been the more distressing and engrossing story. Because of the writing and less-than-stellar production, it wasn't.
I adore Six and Peri, I truly do. The all-too-few, all-too-brief character developing moments between the two of them never failed to make me grin and/or giggle like the fangirl I've always been, and I am furious that neither one of them got a proper send-off (although some of my ire over Peri's exit is mitigated by The Doctor's reaction). They deserved far better treatment than they received, and I am looking forward to being able to get to know them both more thoroughly in the audio plays - "Slipback" is certainly my favourite 1980s adventure for the two of them, and I am almost willing to say right here and now that my first forays into Big Finish will be their appearances in said. My lack of commentary on the serials I have been watching this year has less to do with the diversity of other shows I have been watching and much more to do with the lack of anything interesting to say about Baker C Era Who. And that is truly the biggest shame: I would have no idea which Six serials to recommend to someone sampling the series, and I want so badly to be able to point people toward the best of Six. It's there, it is, but it's in the character moments spread out over the whole of his run, not summed up in any couple of particularly good stories.
The Sixth Doctor got screwed; that's fairly commonly accepted among Whovians who have actually given him a chance, for well-documented reasons. But then he got screwed again because of when I got to his episodes. To put my introduction to him into RL context, I was trying to finish up an Electrical Engineering degree and English minor, apply to graduate school, deal with roommates who were slobbish and obnoxious at best, find a job, move back home with my parents, and carry on a long distance relationship; I was hardly in the best of moods. To put it into show context, Five was my favourite Doctor since Two, I knew this wasn't ths strongest era in Who history, and New Who was on hiatus and it had just been announced that My Doctor would soon be leaving; none of this made me particularly thrilled about the show. To put it into viewing context, I was asked before starting "The Two Doctors" to take a break because of unfortunate and unforeseeable technical difficulties, Who had been my primary obsession for two full years to the point where even At World's End didn't get its due amount of attention from me, and I was presented with an opportunity to begin watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer - a show I had been meaning to see since sometime back when it was still on the air; I was burnt out on Who, and I was getting distracted. The Sixth Doctor got screwed.
But it's not fair to blame it on circumstances. Not really. Because, when it comes down to it, I had been in awful moods before, and the show had acted as an escape; I thought getting through the Troughton Era would be a chore, and he became My Backup Doctor; I was ready for Baker T to be gone before he actually left, and yet, I thoroughly enjoyed nearly every one of his serials. I could have overcome all of these things. I _should_ have overcome all of these things. Except I wasn't able to because, when I am brutally honest, I have to admit that the Baker C Era just _isn't very good_.
Now, before the accusations start flying - and I know them all well, believe me - I do not in ANY way mean that Colin Baker isn't good. On the contrary, I think he is far and away the BEST thing about the Baker C Era, followed after a bit by Nicola Bryant. The two leads are fan_tas_tic, and I will defend both the actors and the characters against any who would slander them. I was a bit hesitant to say it before, but I will, now: Peri is a Special Companion, closer to The Doctor even than Sarah Jane, really. Their relationship is absolutely, perfectly adorable in a way that hadn't really been seen since Jamie and Zoe traveled with Two, and their interaction at the beginnings of "The Mysterious Planet" and "Mindwarp" is a shining example of how it should be done.
Only, those are the only memorable (in a good way, at least) moments in any of the serials I've seen. And I've only got one more left. I honestly could not tell you the actual plots for the majority of the serials, and I find myself unable to recall even the name of the Dalek serial (it was one of those R ones...) that really should have been the sort of stand-out, story-arc participant that I remember all the details about. It's not that I haven't been paying attention, I just haven't retained anything because there hasn't been anything interesting enough to retain. I got excited about the Dalek serial and "The Mysterious Planet," extolling the virtues of established writers in a sea of newbies, but truth be told, they were full of inconsistencies, silliness, and plots I simply cannot recall.
There is just not much in any of it that is _inspired_. I've been listening to the Cadmium2 podcasts about the early seasons of the show, and, as much as they love slagging off "The Edge of Destruction" and "Planet of Giants" and the like, I have an abiding fondness for them. I'm fairly certain they are right and the serials are not all that great compared to the rest of the show, but I remember quite clearly the majority of what happened in them because they were _different_. There was something in them that stood out above other things I have seen. The somewhat gratuitously ridiculous "The Two Doctors" aside, there are only elements of inspiration scattered throughout the ten serials Colin Baker was in. Similar accusations could be leveled at the Davison Era, in so much as there were not particularly many truly genius stories, but the writing was on the whole better, and the plots were more interesting. "Kinda" may not have been "The Aztecs" or "Inferno" or "Blink," but you don't soon forget the Mara, and there wasn't even a question why Tegan is upset in "Snakedance." It took me a full episode of "Mindwarp" to remember which serial Sil was from (I couldn't even remember at first whether it was Five or Six who had first met him), and that is NOT what I should have been worried about at that point. I was completely engrossed in "Invasion of Time" and, for a time, taken in by The Doctor's ruse. Six has both a deeper affection for his Companion AND a greater reputation for selfish, vicious behaviour, and the younger Baker is quite frankly the subtler actor, so "Mindwarp" should have been the more distressing and engrossing story. Because of the writing and less-than-stellar production, it wasn't.
I adore Six and Peri, I truly do. The all-too-few, all-too-brief character developing moments between the two of them never failed to make me grin and/or giggle like the fangirl I've always been, and I am furious that neither one of them got a proper send-off (although some of my ire over Peri's exit is mitigated by The Doctor's reaction). They deserved far better treatment than they received, and I am looking forward to being able to get to know them both more thoroughly in the audio plays - "Slipback" is certainly my favourite 1980s adventure for the two of them, and I am almost willing to say right here and now that my first forays into Big Finish will be their appearances in said. My lack of commentary on the serials I have been watching this year has less to do with the diversity of other shows I have been watching and much more to do with the lack of anything interesting to say about Baker C Era Who. And that is truly the biggest shame: I would have no idea which Six serials to recommend to someone sampling the series, and I want so badly to be able to point people toward the best of Six. It's there, it is, but it's in the character moments spread out over the whole of his run, not summed up in any couple of particularly good stories.