5 parts through The Web Planet.
I went into this with an open mind, but I am sorry to say that this story is not good.
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Rewatching Kerblam! because I was curious to see if my opinion on it has changed.
Unfortunately, it has not; I still really can’t get behind how deformed the optics are on this. Killer bubble wrap (not as a cheap practical effect, but actual bubble wrap) is still a neat idea, but the story around it and the justification for it… no thanks.
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And I was looking forward to this serial, now I’m dreading it
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Yes, welcome to the Web Planet Disappreciation Society—no membership fees, no commitments! Just the joy of disappreciating The Web Planet together!
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Yeah, the way they handle Tommy’s character arc in it isn’t very good, but I enjoy Tommy as a supporting character. One if the better parts of that serial (along with the unnecessarily lengthy but cool James Bond vehicle chase sequence).
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Rewatching The Eleventh Hour, yeah yeah best fresh regeneration episode, we’ve all heard it, but what I want to yap about is the music. Murray Gold really knocked it out of the park, the ominous swell as it zooms in on the mysterious crack in the wall, the sombre tune of little Amelia as she waits for her raggedy Doctor to return, and how could I not mention I am the Doctor. Music can add so much to the emotion of a scene, a good speech can be powerful, but it’s not complete without an epic backing track.
Although while great music can be amazing, it’s just as important to understand restraint. At the end of the episode, when the Doctor reunites with Amy, there is no music, just two people talking and the occasional chirping of birds. This restraint is paid off when the Doctor clicks his fingers, and we get the briefest glimpse of the brand new TARDIS console room, and this magical theme starts playing, a song from a fairy tale (probably Amy’s theme, don’t quote me on that), little Amelia’s fairy tale has finally arrived.
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Finished watching survivors of the flux (I had to stop halfway through yesterday)
Flux has been amazing so far! I still need to write up my thoughts on once, upon, village of the angels and this 
I have many things to say
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With Three’s era over, it’s a shame to say goodbye to the UNIT Family, especially since I’m skipping Season 12 (and thus Robot) because I’m slowly going through it with my dad
Anyway, onto Terror of the Zygons… oh, huh, neat!
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Currently on The Android Invasion in my Classic Who watch and am watching the 13th Doctor’s era with my sister. We finished Ghost Monument last night.
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I love your analysis of the music! And I totally agree that the restraint is so important here.
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Demons Of The Punjab!
One of my favorite stories in this series, the second of three that manage to effectively convey a modern twist on Hartnell-ish historicals, the second very good script from a new writer this series, the second non-white writer for the TV show this series and ever, this is a genuinely great piece of sci-fi inflected drama about a fascinating, tragic moment in history that more people need to understand. It’s a fair criticism to say that the creatures are a bit immaterial, but it’s also a silly criticism because they are explicitly observers, that’s the story of the Thijarians, they have become reformed in their defeat and now seek merely to bear witness to lonely souls who die uncelebrated, which is quite a nice idea.
This episode exists to cleanly dramatize the feeling of the Partition through this small family dynamic, and I really love the whole guest cast. It’s a little bit of a riff on Father’s Day, but only superficially, this absolutely has its own story to tell in its own way, and as with Rosa (or more to the point The Aztecs or The Reign Of Terror) we have to again confront the idea that some tragic, horrifying moments in history can’t be prevented or changed, sometimes they have to be preserved just as they are, because beautiful things will eventually grow out of that pain and change the world. Sometimes all our heroes can do is bear witness.
Guest cast is really great, and our main cast are all given some great scenes, Yaz is really the focus here and she’s top notch. The Doctor’s wedding speech, knowing what’s going to happen but trying to make this brief moment as beautiful as it can be, how can you watch that performance unmoved? Not me! An iconic, definitive 13 scene for me, along with building her Sonic and explaining the particle collider in Tsuranga. The location shooting in Spain pays huge dividends, the big scenic landscapes they grab here lend this a lot of believability. The music is FAB, one of Segun Akinola’s best scores so far. Special effects are absolutely fantastic, the quick burst teleport zapping them in and out of reality is so good.
Honestly, a favorite, this is a show taking itself and its subject seriously while still making room for plenty of lightness and humanity. And not feeling the need to make the monsters any more monstrous than a human with a dangerous idea. 4.5/5
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I absolutely love this story - it’s now, after a recent rewatch, easily in my top 10 of all time.
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I watched Parts 1-4 of The Faceless Ones today. Tried the B&W animation together with the existing episodes this time around. It works quite well. I still enjoy the setting and general vibes, even if this suffers a bit from being 6 episodes. Jamie gets some good stuff, and Pauline Collins is companion material!
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“She’s turned the weans against us!”
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About to watch The Vanquishers. I feel sad that my 13th Doctor rewatch is almost over, only 3 episodes left after this one 
I miss her
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Don’t know if this is the right thread, but for my b-day, my friends will come by next friday. As usual for b-day meetups we’re gonna watch something and I convinced them to see a classic Who serial. Only one of them is into Doctor Who already (it’s the one I watch the modern series with semi-regularly, they have not seen any classic).
I’ve come down to two stories in terms of what I’d like to watch. First is Remembrance of the Daleks and the other is The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, but I don’t know what to choose. I asked some others on a Discord server but that just lead to them saying these two were bad picks and that Greatest Show isn’t good (you can imagine how I reacted to that), so I’m checking for some advice here. I may still end up just choosing for myself but yeah.
Remembrance pros: It’s ■■■■■■■ Remembrance of the Daleks, it has the most iconic DW enemy, it’s Ace’s first “true” story, it’s got “WHO ARE YOU CALLING SMALL? whack” and some other great moments like the discovery of the “No Coloureds” sign and the Special Weapons Dalek.
Remembrance cons: It’s a bit lore-heavy with references to Totter’s Lane, the show itself, the Dalek civil war, Omega and Gallifrey stuff, and the Davros twist will only really work on the friend who has seen DW with me, the others won’t know who he is.
Greatest Show pros: It’s my favourite Seven story, it’s surreal and whimsical and creepy, it has fun side characters, it shows the TARDIS interior in the beginning, it’s just a really fun story overall and of course the circus collapsing and exploding is such a great ending scene.
Greatest Show cons: Part 1 is a bit plodding I will admit even as someone who adores this story, the cliffhangers are a little weak, it doesn’t feature one of the big iconic villains, the meta-commentary on the show itself might go above their heads and it’s not as “alien” (all the characters are very human-like with one exception in Mags, sort of), which might seem less interesting than the Daleks.
Provide feedback on what might be more fun for newbies to watch, if you’d like! 
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Finished “License to Kill” with spittle-y Rassilon.
Now I’m rewatching “Thin Ice”. I like it, but I miss Nardole… and come on Missy, show up faster! 
(Series 10 after Missy shows up is so much better)
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Great q! (Firstly, let me just say I am giving extensive side-eye to anybody who would claim Greatest Show isn’t top notch, these Discord people need to get their heads in the game haha)
Remembrance is a really solid one to try! It’s very exciting and has just a little bit of the modern show’s emotion and relationships, such a great guest cast, Ace at her very best. You do raise a good point about the lore stuff, but hopefully that would come off as intriguing (they want to learn more) rather than insular? You’d kind of have to do one of the ones that is totally standalone to need no previous background whatsoever, like City Of Death or Greatest Show.
Showing new people Doctor Who is so stressful haha. This is why I almost always start somebody at The Eleventh Hour, it explains everything afresh and it’s so fast and funny and the three leads are just so instantly likable. When I’ve shown friends a classic, I often start them at The Leisure Hive because S18 has a vague arc to it not unlike the modern show, but I’ve definitely started people at Remembrance before!
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I’ve watched both with mum (who isn’t new to Who, she’s a casual Classic and Big Finish fan as well as New Who — and loves Gallifrey), and she loved Remembrance but didn’t really enjoy Greatest Show. Specifically she thought the pacing and editing were really off.
I love it of course — I love every Seven TV story — but I think it’s much more of a difficult beast to newcomers than Remembrance. But everyone is different of course!
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