[Summer Falls]

Originally Posted by The Shadow Strikes (View Post) The friction between the Doctor and the Brigadier/UNIT never really goes away, as they represent the military, afterall. But it does soften into a grudging respect.

That is true

[DigificWriter]

I'm really happy that I knew practically nothing specific about the Third Doctor's era before I started watching it, because I don't think there's been a bad story thus far and Team UNIT has pretty much been flawless and has quickly established itself as one of the franchise's best combinations of characters.

I'm also super happy that, beyond one snarky comment to Liz in private, Three and the Brigadier's relationship didn't really change in The Ambassadors of Death... which just might be the best Classic Who story I've watched to date (even including the greatness that is pretty much all of Colin Baker's era, which is chock fill of brilliant stories).

[Summer Falls]

Originally Posted by DigificWriter (View Post) I'm really happy that I knew practically nothing specific about the Third Doctor's era before I started watching it, because I don't think there's been a bad story thus far and Team UNIT has pretty much been flawless and has quickly established itself as one of the franchise's best combinations of characters. I'm also super happy that, beyond one snarky comment to Liz in private, Three and the Brigadier's relationship didn't really change in The Ambassadors of Death... which just might be the best Classic Who story I've watched to date (even including the greatness that is pretty much all of Colin Baker's era, which is chick fill of brilliant stories).

Oh thats amazing i have to admit I haven't seen a lot of his seasons

[The Shadow Strikes]

A personal favourite of mine, is The Sea Devils. There's no Brigadier, but otherwise, it might just be the most 3rd Doctorish 3rd Doctor story. The Doctor gets caught in the middle of an impending war, trying desperatly to convince both sides that they don't have to do this. Meanwhile, the Master is up to his usual tricks, manipulating the Sea Devils for his own gain.

[Summer Falls]

Originally Posted by The Shadow Strikes (View Post) A personal favourite of mine, is The Sea Devils. There's no Brigadier, but otherwise, it might just be the most 3rd Doctorish 3rd Doctor story. The Doctor gets caught in the middle of an impending war, trying desperatly to convince both sides that they don't have to do this. Meanwhile, the Master is up to his usual tricks, manipulating the Sea Devils for his own gain.

Oh sounds like a good episode

[DigificWriter]

I went into Inferno knowing that it was held up as a seminal part of Classic Doctor Who and the Third Doctor's era, but, much to my surprise, I didn't enjoy it quite as much as expected given the concept and conceit of the story.

I did enjoy it quite a bit, but not as much as I enjoyed The Ambassadors of Death, which still holds the crown as the best Classic serial I've seen so far (which, as mentioned before, is a pretty major feat given the quality of the stories it had to beat out to claim that honor, such as The Caves of Androzani, Vengeance on Varos, Revelation of the Daleks, and The Mysterious Planet).

For what ended up being her final story, Liz did not get nearly as much to do as she should have, especially if we're not talking about her AU doppelganger, but I did like the way we first get introduced to her in the story where the Doctor just turns up and we learn that she and he are in the middle of tinkering with the TARDIS console. I also like that we see her with her own sonic screwdriver-esque device at one point, although her possession of it it does beg the question of why she didn't use it to let herself out one or two scenes prior to us as an audience discovering that she has it.

Three got to be deliciously and grumpily Ten-esque in this story when dealing with 'prime' Stahlman and both AU Stahlman and AU Lethbridge-Stewart, which was fun to see, although I do wish he'd been in slightly more actual danger from AU Lethbridge-Stewart and his underlings than he was, since it would've sold the conceit of the AU Earth a little bit better.

Since starting Classic Who, I've pretty heavily adopted the philosophy that the quality of something isn't dependent on or determined by the visual depiction of said thing, and so I really thought the Primords were a fun, if not entirely seamlessly integrated, element of the story even with how ridiculous the practical realization of them looked, and I feel like they made for a compelling mystery in the early part of the story prior to the introduction of the AU Earth.

If I were going to rate Inferno numerically, it would get a solid 3 out of 5 cracked containers of Primord goop, because while I didn't enjoy it as much as I enjoyed The Ambassadors o f Death, it's still very deserving of the praise it gets and was quite fun to watch on the whole.

[Summer Falls]

Amazing review I almost thought you said Jo had her own sonic screwdriver

[DigificWriter]

Since I gave Inferno a numerical rating, I should do the same for Spearhead, Silurians, and Ambassadors, so here we go:
* Spearhead- 3.5 out of 5 eyebrow conversations
* Silurians- 3 out of 5 cave explosions
* Ambassadors- 5 out of 5 injections of sabotaged rocket fuel

[Summer Falls]

Thanks for that

[DigificWriter]

I've just watched Terror of the Autons, and I have some feelings about it:
* Unless it's done exceptionally well, trying to 'reset' the feel of a show or go in a different direction from what came before tends not to work, and this story is proof of that because replacing the competent Liz with the somewhat more inept Jo and making the Third Doctor more impatient with the Brigadier killed some of the momentum that Season 7 had given the show, at least initially

* The Master's introduction here was nice and I can see what other versions of the character owe to Roger Delgado and his portrayal, but the ultimate resolution of the story pulled some of the wind out of the character's sails because it neutered pretty much his entire plot for the story

* Three is a lot gruffer here, but I think Pertwee earns it for the most part, and I can see echoes of the Sixth Doctor and David Bradley's interpretation of the First Doctor (from Twice Upon a Time) in his portrayal, so even though he loses a little bit of momentum due to the changes made between seasons that, as noted, didn't quite work, I still really liked him here

* I don't find the Autons to be scary, but I did like that this story did things with them that the first two stories I saw that featured them - Rose and Spearhead from Space - didn't

* Although I don't think the reasoning behind introducing Jo was sound, and even though I hated the character's first line ("I'm your new assistant " is just cringingly bad), Katie Manning managed to make Jo fairly likeable through sheer force of performance and the character had grown on me by the end of the story, in part because I couldn't help but be charmed by her disarmingly acquiescening to people trying to sideline her and then ignoring said people and getting herself involved in the proceedings

* Mike Yates was a nice addition to UNIT, despite the incongruity of his using Three's lab equipment to try and make cocoa (it really didn't make a lot of sense to me), and while his inclusion doesn't mitigate the momentum that was lost by the show changing the nature of Three's relationship with the Brigadier, I do think having him as part of "Team UNIT" will be fun

Terror of the Autons suffers a bit from having to introduce format changes that don't really work, but I did ultimately enjoy it and am therefore ranking it as a 3 out of 5 deadly plastic armchairs.

[Summer Falls]

Do you like Jo as a companion now?

[Waldfrau]

I've only watched "Carnival of Monsters" so far, but liked that. Three is much more likeable than the first Doctor and I also like Jo.

[DigificWriter]

Originally Posted by Summer Falls (View Post) Do you like Jo as a companion now?

Yeah, and I tried to note that in my review.

The character's introductory line ("I'm your new assistant") is cringeworthingly bad and having her be so different from Liz is a bit momentum-killing, but Katie Manning ultimately takes what she was given and makes it work through sheer force of performance.

She probably won't ever surpass Liz, but I came out of Terror of the Autons with a much more positive impression of her than I started with.

[Summer Falls]

Originally Posted by DigificWriter (View Post) Yeah, and I tried to note that in my review. The character's introductory line ("I'm your new assistant") is cringeworthingly bad and having her be so different from Liz is a bit momentum-killing, but Katie Manning ultimately takes what she was given and makes it work through sheer force of performance. She probably won't ever surpass Liz, but I came out of Terror of the Autons with a much more positive impression of her than I started with.

fair enough , i havent seen all the classic series the one person i didnt like was peri

[DigificWriter]

This week I watched two Third Doctor stories - The Mind of Evil and The Claws of Axos - instead of just one and I really enjoyed them both. Some thoughts:
* I don't know why cast listings don't seem to reflect this, but its pretty clear that Roger Delgado is a Series Regular for at least Season 2 (Season 8 of DW overall) of the Pertwee era, which, as a modern TV viewer, I find to be rather cool

* After a misstep or two in Terror of the Autons, we've gotten back to a comfortable - albeit different - status quo with Team UNIT, and I like it a lot (see below for more)

* Three's relationship with the Brigadier is more 'prickly' than it was in Season 7, but just like with Six and Peri's relationship, there's clear affection hidden under the outward tension. His relationship with Jo has also solidified into one where he clearly values her even if he's not outwardly saying it, which is again reminiscent of Six and Peri's relationship

* I was initially negative towards the conclusion of Terror of the Autons and the Master underestimating the level of threat that he himself was under, but now that we've seen the same thing happen in The Mind of Evil and The Claws of Axos, it's not as jarring because it's clearly a feature of his characterization and demonstrates the extent of his own hubris, which I like

* I'm really liking the way the writing has leaned into Jo being a character who acts all demure and submissive in front of her superiors, but then turns around and does what she wants, and Katy Manning plays those kinds of scenes perfectly. I also love that she stopped a prison takeover - short-lived though it ultimately was - in The Mind of Evil

* Speaking of The Mind of Evil, I really liked the way that we started out with two seemingly disparate stories that were ultimately one single story centered on the Master wanting to sow war by getting his hands on a WMD. I also really liked the idea of the 'Keller Machine' being alive - even though that wasn't the original intent but was an idea concocted by Script Editor Terrance Dicks due to issues with the editing of the picture - because it creates a neat and unique tangible foe for Three to combat

* The Claws of Axos was also a lot of fun and is the kind of story I can easily see being told with the Thirteenth Doctor. In fact, I'd really like the modern iteration of the show to find a way of bringing back Axis/the Axons

* Three tricking both the Master and Axos in order to A) get his TARDIS repaired and B) save the Earth was clever and ingenious, and I'm fully convinced that he lied to the Brigadier and Jo when he said that the Time Lords tampered with the TARDIS so that it will always bring him back to Earth

* Speaking of the Master, I didn't buy for one second that he was initially being held hostage by Axos, especially after the reveal that he was giving them the Earth, but I did like the way Axos turned on him after discovering that the Doctor was also a Time Lord

* The Ambassadors of Death is still Three's best story and the best Classic Who story I've seen so far, but The Mind of Evil and The Claws of Axos are close behind it as they both get really strong ratings. The Mind of Evil gets 4.5 out of 5 group-hallucinated dragons, and The Claws of Axos gets 4 out of 5 timeloop traps