Comments | selenak: Old Who: Terror of the Autons and The Mind of Evil

selenak

Old Who: Terror of the Autons and The Mind of Evil

Mar 27, 2008 21:51

Or: My Evil Ex-Boyfriend Is Back and My Evil Ex-Boyfriend Is Back: The Sequel.

Okay, without kidding, those two serials were just a joy to watch (and rewatch), especially after two not so stellar Pertwee era stories I also watched recenty, The Daemons (I know they had to deal with all the fashionable stuff in the 70s, but satanism is just gauche ( Read more... )

episode review, dr. who

Comments 39

londonkds March 27 2008, 20:43:24 UTC

The Doctor's vision of fire: the novelisation, by Terrence Dicks who as script editor at the time must be considered a near-canonical source, makes it clear that this is a flashback to his experience of the alternate Earth being destroyed by volcanic fire in Inferno.

selenak March 27 2008, 21:14:16 UTC

Oh, I know - as I said, from a Doylist pov there is no way this was a foreshadowing of what was to come, and a flashback to Inferno makes absolute ense. But purely in terms of on screen canon as of NOW, it does work in connection to the Time War nonetheless.

Same way as neither Terry Nation nor Chris Boucher probably had an inkling of an idea of how B7 would end until Boucher wrote Blake, especially given that Terminal was intended as a semi-finale, but you can see Avon shooting Blake foreshadowed any number of times in retrospect anyway.

skywaterblue March 27 2008, 21:14:49 UTC

I'm starting chronologically as soon as the next Netflix disc comes, and I can't wait to see these! They sound amazing. (I can totally ping why you're a Master/Doctor person, because you're also a Xavier/Magneto person. And I'm a movieverse Magneto/Mystique person, which explains why I'm evidently a Romana/Doctor person.)

selenak March 28 2008, 04:34:55 UTC

You'll have fun, I promise.

Both Xavier/Magneto and Mystique/Magneto and Doctor/Master and Romana/Doctor aren't mutually exclusive - as I said in my "best enemy" post, Mystique/Magneto and Romana/Doctor are by far the emotionally healthier relationships, and I love those, too. (Grrr, arggh about what X3 did to movieverse Mystique.)

skywaterblue March 28 2008, 04:57:10 UTC

I am not a mutually exclusive person by nature. (I have such a long time till I get to actually meet the Rani... maybe I'll cheat. OMG it's a Time Lord Foursome.)

selenak March 28 2008, 05:23:25 UTC

There should be Romana/Rani anyway. It would be hot, and also, it wouldn't be that difficult to construct, since the Rani is an amoral scientist, not an obsessive bent on world universal domination.

Thread 16

greenpear March 27 2008, 23:50:56 UTC

After your reviews of the "Three" stories I find I have a better appreciation for that era. Previously it was my least favorite but yes, there are items that became the backbone of much of current Who.

I always love your reviews...

selenak March 28 2008, 04:40:16 UTC

Thank you, and I'm glad I could advertise the Three era a bit. I do love it (though my very favourite Old School era are the Doctor and Ace - the Pertwee years unarguably have the best ensemble, though, because the whole exile-on-Earth plot allowed for the UNIT characters to be build up that way).

misachan March 28 2008, 02:17:53 UTC

Man, it's so disheartening to read these great recaps only to find out that the episodes haven't been released on DVD yet.

I absolutely love the Doctor describing the Master's plans as, "Probably overcomplicated, vicious and in the end ineffective." If ever a character needed a good long sit down with the Evil Overlord List, it's him.

selenak March 28 2008, 04:48:17 UTC

Ah, but in the meantime, that's what we have Youtube for! I am impatiently waiting for the DVDs anyway, though. The Silurians and The Sea Devils, for example, which are out on DVD, have some good audio commentary and extras.

If ever a character needed a good long sit down with the Evil Overlord List, it's him.

Well, it took him many years, but by the time Utopia rolls along he at least has learned that he's not supposed to tell the Doctor about his evil plans so the Doctor can stop them in time.*g* But I fear many of the other points remain lost on him. Some other nice zingers in this regard, from other stories, would be ( ... )

(The comment has been removed)

selenak March 28 2008, 04:55:44 UTC

Here.

No, the Master really wasn't trying to kill the Doctor, he just wanted to almost kill him so that the Doctor would realize his own strength, and therefore that he has to be with the Master, because they are both Timelords and better than everyone else. Is this how anyone thinks outside fanfiction? Apparently so.

I know. The Master: behaving like fanfiction wants him too since 1971. Well, sometimes.*g*