Subj : Re: Dcotor Who DVDs To : alt.tv.farscape From : John Iwaniszek Date : Sat Sep 17 2005 04:44:48 From Newsgroup: alt.tv.farscape "RR" wrote in news:jRGWe.13140$h02.7845@tornado.texas.rr.com: > Two new Doctor Who R1 DVDs came out last week: "The Mind Robber" w/ > Troughton & "The Horror of Fang Rock" w/ Tom Baker. > > "The Mind Robber" has long been one of my favorite stories. The > premise is that the Doc must take the TARDIS out of time & space > altogether due to a bunch of lava (from the previous story). Upon > doing so, the crew end up in a place called The Land of Fiction where > they encounter all manner of low-budget 60's trippy weirdness like > Gulliver, Medusa, a unicorn, a bunch of life-size toy soldiers and > bunches more. The story has huge amounts of imagination that more > often than not the budget is unable to realise. I'd always been > forgiving of this, but oddly this time around, I found the serial much > harder to appreciate. Even the writing seemed dodgier than I recalled. > The memory cheated. I was bummed. > But it seems to britishised your spelling and idioms. > But the memory can cheat in good ways as well. > > Case in point: "Fang Rock". Despite many a Who fan's assertion that > it's one of the very best - a "classic" - I'd never really warmed to > it and had always found it to be a bit of a snooze-fest. Not so this > time around. I really got into the whole thing and saw it in a > completely different light. The entire thing takes place in and around > a lighthouse right around the time electricity came into fashion. It's > basically a group of people and the Doctor & Leela hanging out and one > by one folks start getting picked off. It's barely any more complex > than that. Gothic, well-written dialogue, diverse supporting cast - > the whole thing sails. Best of all, perhaps, there really aren't any > seriously dodgy effects. The monster/alien menace is simplistic enough > in design that it's pretty easy to accept and the rest is mostly > period stuff. It pretty much rocks all the way around. > > Some Dude: Are you in charge here? > The Doctor: No, but I'm full of ideas. > > Leela (with her knife at some dude's chest): You will do as the Doctor > instructs or I will cut out your heart! > .