Here I am again. Pardon the delay, I came the long way round.
I've decided that since I lost my notes for The Chase and The Time Meddler a while back (I watched them in September 2018), I won't write full posts for them, but will instead expand the summaries here, which I'll be including as I did in the Season One roundup. This may disappoint as these are two of the more oft-cited Sixties stories for the show, but I hope you'll all understand.
Season Two was a great journey, and even though the gap between now and when I watched it is so great, and was filled with some rather personally tumultuous times in my young life. Sitting in just such a time as I am now (as are we all I suspect), the time seemed appropriate to finally dedicate myself to resuming my marathon, and starting it by reflecting on a season which I look back on watching quite fondly.
We began zonks ago with Planet of Giants, a quirky sidestep of an adventure that brought our miniaturized heroes to then-modern Britain to solve a mystery surrounding some dodgy Monsanto business. Although not completely remarkable, it is still a quite good story that feels more a part of the last season than this one, and at a mere three episodes is a great way to digest a strange little Hartnell gem on a short time budget.
1964 was closed out with the monumental Dalek Invasion of Earth, which left me feeling very impressed. This is of course the blueprint for every subsequent "monster invades Earth" plot that Doctor Who would enjoy, and as blueprints go, it really is a pretty good one. Though not a top ten story for the classic series per se, I found it a highlight for this particular stretch of episodes and will surely revisit it, in all its epic splendor, in the fullness of time.
The Rescue came and went almost before I knew it was there, but left me smiling. I'm guilty of being more used to the punchy pacing of modern Who, and this serial felt very much up my alley as a result. Vicki gave a good first impression, and the story offered a nice breath of fresh air after so very many Daleks and the departure of Susan.
It's hard to find a bad thing to say about The Romans, which was a remarkably funny pastiche of 20th century Roman dramas with plenty of great moments for the whole cast. The lyre concert in Nero's court still stands out to me to this day as one of the funniest moments in the program's history. This one is, like the season's sophomore serial, due a rewatch someday.
The Web Planet did not leave me as cold as it does some other marathoners and veteran fans, though all the complaints lobbied about it are certainly fair. This story does very little to make the viewer feel at home, which I suppose must be the point, but it certainly comes on a little too strong for many. At parts it even came on too strong for me. Still, I left it with an opinion just this side of positive, and am curious to see how it measures up when I watch it again another time.
The Crusade certainly has its fair share of highlights, but suffers greatly from being mostly lost. The performances of Julian Glover and Jean Marsh do a lot to buoy what might otherwise be a fairly boring historical, and its cultural depictions are hardly in the best of taste, particularly in a post-9/11 climate. Maybe the rest will be dug up from the sands of the Syrian desert someday and will elevate my opinion from merely good, to great.
I really wanted it not to be true before I watched it, but The Space Museum is sadly the lodestone weighing this whole season's average down. Apart from a brilliant first episode, the remainder is, as I said, rather a letdown from its high starting point. I'm still proud of myself for taking the time to sift the gold nuggets from this particular stream and find the best qualities of the serial, which was, at the very least, fun to deride.
The Chase is where I left you all behind, of course, so I'll slow down and expand on a few of my thoughts. While overall a fair story, I think the lack of cohesion in what should have been a full-on farewell for dear Barbara and Ian left me feeling slightly underwhelmed. Not to say I disliked this serial by any means, but I expected just a little bit more. After a funny start (even though Britbox scandalously excluded the Beatles bit!) I found being with the Aridians a bit of a chore, and only started to enjoy myself by the time the crew arrived at Mechanus. (Has groaning at Terry Nation's exceptionally literal names been overdone already?) Though it concluded on a delightful note, I felt this story took just a little bit too long to make it there.
Fortunately, I could depend on The Time Meddler to let me end the season on a high note. From the off, it's packed with action and clever writing which both kept me entertained even while marathoning its segments in one sitting. The exception of course being the Vikings (looking a fair bit more like members of ABBA than Scandinavian warriors), who stop being particularly funny after attacking the Saxon women. Aside from this one bum note acting as a downer on this story, I still had loads of fun, and it was amusing to recall that the reveal of the Monk's TARDIS would have been such a very big deal at the time. I quite enjoyed Steven but have not, I think, had quite the time with him to grow accustomed yet. This story deserves the reputation of a classic, for sure.
All in all, this season was loads of fun, and though it's now retreating into memory, at least it was a very good one.
Here's the score breakdown:
Planet of Giants - 7.67
Planet of Giants - 8.00
Dangerous Journey - 8.00
Crisis - 7.00
The Dalek Invasion of Earth - 8.83
World's End - 10.00
The Daleks - 8.00
Day of Reckoning - 9.00
The End of Tomorrow - 9.00
The Waking Ally - 8.00
Flashpoint - 9.00
The Rescue - 8.00
The Powerful Enemy - 7.00
Desperate Measures - 9.00
The Romans - 8.00
The Slave Traders - 8.00
All Roads Lead to Rome - 8.00
Conspiracy - 7.00
Inferno - 9.00
The Web Planet - 6.17
The Web Planet - 9.00
The Zarbi - 4.00
Escape to Danger - 7.00
Crater of Needles - 6.00
Invasion - 6.00
The Centre - 5.00
The Crusade - 7.50
The Lion - 8.00
The Knight of Jaffa - 7.00
The Wheel of Fortune - 9.00
The Warlords - 6.00
The Space Museum - 3.75
The Space Museum - 9.00
The Dimensions of Time - 2.00
The Search - 2.00
The Final Phase - 2.00
The Chase - 6.00
The Executioners - 7.00
The Death of Time - 6.00
Flight Through Eternity - 5.00
Journey into Terror - 6.00
The Death of Doctor Who - 5.00
The Planet of Decision - 7.00
The Time Meddler - 9.50
The Watcher - 10.00
The Meddling Monk - 9.00
A Battle of Wits - 9.00
Checkmate - 10.00
Best episode: World's End (The Dalek Invasion of Earth, pt. 1) - 10.00
Runner-up: The Watcher (The Time Meddler, pt. 1) - 10.00
Worst episode: The Search (The Space Museum, pt. 3) - 2.00
Season Two average: 7.18
I've decided that since I lost my notes for The Chase and The Time Meddler a while back (I watched them in September 2018), I won't write full posts for them, but will instead expand the summaries here, which I'll be including as I did in the Season One roundup. This may disappoint as these are two of the more oft-cited Sixties stories for the show, but I hope you'll all understand.
Season Two was a great journey, and even though the gap between now and when I watched it is so great, and was filled with some rather personally tumultuous times in my young life. Sitting in just such a time as I am now (as are we all I suspect), the time seemed appropriate to finally dedicate myself to resuming my marathon, and starting it by reflecting on a season which I look back on watching quite fondly.
We began zonks ago with Planet of Giants, a quirky sidestep of an adventure that brought our miniaturized heroes to then-modern Britain to solve a mystery surrounding some dodgy Monsanto business. Although not completely remarkable, it is still a quite good story that feels more a part of the last season than this one, and at a mere three episodes is a great way to digest a strange little Hartnell gem on a short time budget.
1964 was closed out with the monumental Dalek Invasion of Earth, which left me feeling very impressed. This is of course the blueprint for every subsequent "monster invades Earth" plot that Doctor Who would enjoy, and as blueprints go, it really is a pretty good one. Though not a top ten story for the classic series per se, I found it a highlight for this particular stretch of episodes and will surely revisit it, in all its epic splendor, in the fullness of time.
The Rescue came and went almost before I knew it was there, but left me smiling. I'm guilty of being more used to the punchy pacing of modern Who, and this serial felt very much up my alley as a result. Vicki gave a good first impression, and the story offered a nice breath of fresh air after so very many Daleks and the departure of Susan.
It's hard to find a bad thing to say about The Romans, which was a remarkably funny pastiche of 20th century Roman dramas with plenty of great moments for the whole cast. The lyre concert in Nero's court still stands out to me to this day as one of the funniest moments in the program's history. This one is, like the season's sophomore serial, due a rewatch someday.
The Web Planet did not leave me as cold as it does some other marathoners and veteran fans, though all the complaints lobbied about it are certainly fair. This story does very little to make the viewer feel at home, which I suppose must be the point, but it certainly comes on a little too strong for many. At parts it even came on too strong for me. Still, I left it with an opinion just this side of positive, and am curious to see how it measures up when I watch it again another time.
The Crusade certainly has its fair share of highlights, but suffers greatly from being mostly lost. The performances of Julian Glover and Jean Marsh do a lot to buoy what might otherwise be a fairly boring historical, and its cultural depictions are hardly in the best of taste, particularly in a post-9/11 climate. Maybe the rest will be dug up from the sands of the Syrian desert someday and will elevate my opinion from merely good, to great.
I really wanted it not to be true before I watched it, but The Space Museum is sadly the lodestone weighing this whole season's average down. Apart from a brilliant first episode, the remainder is, as I said, rather a letdown from its high starting point. I'm still proud of myself for taking the time to sift the gold nuggets from this particular stream and find the best qualities of the serial, which was, at the very least, fun to deride.
The Chase is where I left you all behind, of course, so I'll slow down and expand on a few of my thoughts. While overall a fair story, I think the lack of cohesion in what should have been a full-on farewell for dear Barbara and Ian left me feeling slightly underwhelmed. Not to say I disliked this serial by any means, but I expected just a little bit more. After a funny start (even though Britbox scandalously excluded the Beatles bit!) I found being with the Aridians a bit of a chore, and only started to enjoy myself by the time the crew arrived at Mechanus. (Has groaning at Terry Nation's exceptionally literal names been overdone already?) Though it concluded on a delightful note, I felt this story took just a little bit too long to make it there.
Fortunately, I could depend on The Time Meddler to let me end the season on a high note. From the off, it's packed with action and clever writing which both kept me entertained even while marathoning its segments in one sitting. The exception of course being the Vikings (looking a fair bit more like members of ABBA than Scandinavian warriors), who stop being particularly funny after attacking the Saxon women. Aside from this one bum note acting as a downer on this story, I still had loads of fun, and it was amusing to recall that the reveal of the Monk's TARDIS would have been such a very big deal at the time. I quite enjoyed Steven but have not, I think, had quite the time with him to grow accustomed yet. This story deserves the reputation of a classic, for sure.
All in all, this season was loads of fun, and though it's now retreating into memory, at least it was a very good one.
Here's the score breakdown:
Planet of Giants - 7.67
Planet of Giants - 8.00
Dangerous Journey - 8.00
Crisis - 7.00
The Dalek Invasion of Earth - 8.83
World's End - 10.00
The Daleks - 8.00
Day of Reckoning - 9.00
The End of Tomorrow - 9.00
The Waking Ally - 8.00
Flashpoint - 9.00
The Rescue - 8.00
The Powerful Enemy - 7.00
Desperate Measures - 9.00
The Romans - 8.00
The Slave Traders - 8.00
All Roads Lead to Rome - 8.00
Conspiracy - 7.00
Inferno - 9.00
The Web Planet - 6.17
The Web Planet - 9.00
The Zarbi - 4.00
Escape to Danger - 7.00
Crater of Needles - 6.00
Invasion - 6.00
The Centre - 5.00
The Crusade - 7.50
The Lion - 8.00
The Knight of Jaffa - 7.00
The Wheel of Fortune - 9.00
The Warlords - 6.00
The Space Museum - 3.75
The Space Museum - 9.00
The Dimensions of Time - 2.00
The Search - 2.00
The Final Phase - 2.00
The Chase - 6.00
The Executioners - 7.00
The Death of Time - 6.00
Flight Through Eternity - 5.00
Journey into Terror - 6.00
The Death of Doctor Who - 5.00
The Planet of Decision - 7.00
The Time Meddler - 9.50
The Watcher - 10.00
The Meddling Monk - 9.00
A Battle of Wits - 9.00
Checkmate - 10.00
Best episode: World's End (The Dalek Invasion of Earth, pt. 1) - 10.00
Runner-up: The Watcher (The Time Meddler, pt. 1) - 10.00
Worst episode: The Search (The Space Museum, pt. 3) - 2.00
Season Two average: 7.18
Best guest performance: Peter Butterworth as the Meddling Monk (The Time Meddler)
Best special effect: That housefly! (Planet of Giants)
Best musical score: The Chase (Dudley Simpson)
(Modified from the original posted at Gallifrey Base on 25 March 2020.)
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