#also had way too much fun doing the dalek one 😂

[tinie-alien]

ABCs of Doctor Who - An agere board collection

D is for... Daleks

AND D is for "The Doctor Dances" (S1 E10)

Keep an eye out for my poll posts to help pick the next word(s)!

⭐ ABCs of DW • My Masterpost • Request Info ⭐

[being-of-rain]

Random thoughts from my Classic Who watch, the second half of season 4. I fell behind on writing my thoughts down, so I have a few of these to catch up on. And some of these stories are ones that I watched quite a while ago 😅 So these thoughts are a bit more random than usual.

I had to quickly skim through The Moonbase on my laptop to remember what happens it past the simple plot, but I think at the time I thought it was pretty simple and repetitive. My brother and I laughed at the Cyberman more than once sneaking into the medbay when Polly was the only witness, then running out when it got spotted. It felt like someone playing a stealth game they weren’t very good at. Also, late ‘60s Who’s portrayal of international collaboration in space is quite sweet.

I love physical comedy for the 2nd Doctor, like the bit in The Macra Terror where he goes into a machine that tidies his clothes and hair, then immediately goes into a second machine to ruffle them up again, much to his companions’ dismay. I found it interesting that these days the Macra are only referred to as giant crabs, but in their story they’re supposed to be a bit more ambiguous. They’re referred to as looking like insects more times than they are as crabs, and once as “some monstrous form of bacteria.”

The Faceless Ones is such a weird departure story; I had no idea going in that Ben and Polly were only in the first two episodes, before one final scene to say goodbye in episode 6. I guess the BBC just stopped their regular contract early or something? It was strange. Oh well, at least before they went we got that moment in episode 2 where the Doctor, Ben, and Jamie hide in a photo booth to talk privately, then quickly pretend to be smiling and posing for a photo when someone opens the curtain to see if it’s occupied 😂 The so-called Chameleons themselves were pretty spooky, and I enjoyed that. Early Doctor Who can do really good horror sometimes. Their backstory was summed up in a single line, which is “We had a catastrophe on our planet. A gigantic explosion. As you've seen, we have lost our identities. My people are dying out.” Which is at the same time one of the most scientifically ridiculous and conceptually fascinating backstories on the show. Tardis wiki tells me that the Chameleons only reappeared once, in a short story where the Sixth Doctor encounters the same group of them doing the same plan, which sounds boring as heck. Where is the prequel/sequel that actually explains how a gigantic explosion destroyed a species’ identities, and what that means for them going forward?? Big Finish be bringing in the Daleks for the 1,587th time when this is on the table.

Speaking of. The plot of The Evil of the Daleks is pretty fun, I think all the 60s Dalek stories are pretty tense and enjoyable. I’m glad they decided to retire them for a while after that instead of immediately running them into the ground. The way Kemel and Jamie strike up a friendship is quite sweet. It’s a shame about the racism. The Doctor becoming Victoria’s new father figure is sweet, it’s a shame all he does is take her round the universe and putting her in danger jsdklfj. Oh and I was surprised that the Doctor and Jamie’s relationship got so heated in this story, to the point that Jamie announces that he and the Doctor are finished, and it’s probably just Victoria joining the TARDIS team that makes him stay. The conflict doesn’t really ever get revisited in Victoria’s run, but the argument that the Doctor can seem too callous in his adventuring is something that a lot of authors reused in the future.