DWM Mighty 200 - Top Ten Watchathon: Robots of Death (#9) Reaction Post
Who_Daily Link: < a href="http://persiflage-1.livejournal.com/302957.html">DWM Mighty 200 - Top Ten Watchathon: #9 Reaction Post by < lj user=persiflage_1>
The ninth placed story in the Top Ten of the DWM Mighty 200 survey of its readers is the second story to feature Leela of the Sevateem, the fourth Doctor's 'savage' companion whom he meets in 'The Face of Evil'. I've watched this serial more than once this year, but I feel it bears repeated viewings. My thoughts are below the cut.
A homicidal robot wearing the Doctor's hat and scarf is attacked by a second homicidal robot, leaving the Fourth Doctor free to escape from both robots.
- The start of this serial is somewhat sinister with its spooky music, its bleak landscape and its menacing looking mining machine, not to mention that the first characters we see are the eponymous robots - if you've never seen it before, you might wonder if this is an invasion force.
- I laughed at Leela playing with the yo-yo - and her thinking that it was 'part of the magic' that makes the TARDIS fly, rather than that it's a toy the Doctor gave to her.
- The Doctor's using the wood-panelled secondary console room again (last seen in 'The Hand of Fear').
- D84 somehow looks more sinister than the other robots we've seen up to this point.
- Leela's sarcasm towards the Commander Uvanov is funny: 'Has anyone told him that?' (in reference to the supposedly mute D84 robot with whom she'd been talking shortly before).
- Not long after this the Doctor's sarcastic to Uvanov too - giving the impression that his pomposity invites sarcasm from others.
- The model shots of the sandminer are really well done - I like the fact that we can see characters moving about inside through the windows.
- Leela's observation that Poul moves 'like a hunter' is very telling.
- I laughed at Leela clearing her throat in a significant manner in order to remind Poul to set her free from the restraints holding her to the pillar.
- We have to wait until the third episode before we meet the villian of the piece, which seems like a long time.
- I liked Leela's 'Now you're showing off' comment to the robot at whom she has thrown her knife when it knocks the knife away.
- The scene where one of the robots tries to kill the other after the Doctor puts his hat and scarf on it (as illustrated in the screencap above) was amusing.
- I love the deadpan delivery of D84's 'Please do not throw hands at me' when Leela throws another robots disembodied hand at him, when she thinks he's attacking Toos.
- The Doctor gets a bit grumpy when Leela's asking a number of questions: 'Do you have to talk so much?'
- I confess to laughing when the Doctor refers to Leela as a 'mouse' when she's speaking after inhaling the helium.
- The Doctor clearly has little patience with Dask/Taren Capel - although one could argue that his mental state isn't entirely *his* fault if he was brought up solely by robots.
All in all, I find this an interesting and suspenseful story, even after watching it more than once. And I really must have a listen to some of the Kaldor City audios that Magic Bullet produced as a spin-off from this serial and the writer, Chris Boucher's, Past Doctor Adventure 'Corpse Marker'.
Feel free to add your thoughts/comments below.
The ninth placed story in the Top Ten of the DWM Mighty 200 survey of its readers is the second story to feature Leela of the Sevateem, the fourth Doctor's 'savage' companion whom he meets in 'The Face of Evil'. I've watched this serial more than once this year, but I feel it bears repeated viewings. My thoughts are below the cut.
A homicidal robot wearing the Doctor's hat and scarf is attacked by a second homicidal robot, leaving the Fourth Doctor free to escape from both robots.
- The start of this serial is somewhat sinister with its spooky music, its bleak landscape and its menacing looking mining machine, not to mention that the first characters we see are the eponymous robots - if you've never seen it before, you might wonder if this is an invasion force.
- I laughed at Leela playing with the yo-yo - and her thinking that it was 'part of the magic' that makes the TARDIS fly, rather than that it's a toy the Doctor gave to her.
- The Doctor's using the wood-panelled secondary console room again (last seen in 'The Hand of Fear').
- D84 somehow looks more sinister than the other robots we've seen up to this point.
- Leela's sarcasm towards the Commander Uvanov is funny: 'Has anyone told him that?' (in reference to the supposedly mute D84 robot with whom she'd been talking shortly before).
- Not long after this the Doctor's sarcastic to Uvanov too - giving the impression that his pomposity invites sarcasm from others.
- The model shots of the sandminer are really well done - I like the fact that we can see characters moving about inside through the windows.
- Leela's observation that Poul moves 'like a hunter' is very telling.
- I laughed at Leela clearing her throat in a significant manner in order to remind Poul to set her free from the restraints holding her to the pillar.
- We have to wait until the third episode before we meet the villian of the piece, which seems like a long time.
- I liked Leela's 'Now you're showing off' comment to the robot at whom she has thrown her knife when it knocks the knife away.
- The scene where one of the robots tries to kill the other after the Doctor puts his hat and scarf on it (as illustrated in the screencap above) was amusing.
- I love the deadpan delivery of D84's 'Please do not throw hands at me' when Leela throws another robots disembodied hand at him, when she thinks he's attacking Toos.
- The Doctor gets a bit grumpy when Leela's asking a number of questions: 'Do you have to talk so much?'
- I confess to laughing when the Doctor refers to Leela as a 'mouse' when she's speaking after inhaling the helium.
- The Doctor clearly has little patience with Dask/Taren Capel - although one could argue that his mental state isn't entirely *his* fault if he was brought up solely by robots.
All in all, I find this an interesting and suspenseful story, even after watching it more than once. And I really must have a listen to some of the Kaldor City audios that Magic Bullet produced as a spin-off from this serial and the writer, Chris Boucher's, Past Doctor Adventure 'Corpse Marker'.
Feel free to add your thoughts/comments below.