Well written and moves at a decent pace. Interesting ideas that are well realised. The acting is top-notch, with Patrick Troughton giving a master class. The costumes are great in the episode, with some neat variety and ideas.
The Web of Fear (live action/animated) 4/5
A fine little sequel. The story moves along at a decent pace, and there was enough going on to keep me engaged. The set design was on point, even if the same sets did get used a lot. The acting, especially of the extras, was very good.
The animation is terrible BTW. Looks like bad pre-vis motion capture footage.
Fury from the Deep (animated) 3/5
While I somewhat enjoy it, I think that Inferno is a better version of this idea. It does have a rather slow pace. While the threat is ever present, it does take a long while for anything to happen.
The animation is solid, on par with The Macra Terror.
The Wheel in Space (live action/recon) 4/5
While it is rather slow to get started, once it does, it moves along at a decent pace. While not the most complex or action packed serial, there was enough here to keep me engaged the entire time. The whole cast of characters is interesting and has a part to play in the overall story.
While the Cybermen voices are still in the bad era, their presence in this story is welcome and rather well done. Zoe also fits right in with the regular cast.
The recon was rather well done. As much as I appreciate Loose Cannon, they can’t compete with the official releases.
My rating system
5.0 Perfect/Fav
4.5 Excellent/Fav
4.0 Very Good
3.5 Good
3.0 Fine
2.5 Meh
2.0 Bad
1.0 Very Bad
Right? How did this get the okay to release? I get throwing out a quick recon in order to get the original 2013 DVD out as soon as possible when the missing episode didn’t arrive with the rest. But you should at least make something watchable.
Over the last few days I finished the Sarah Jane Adventures, watched Torchwood: Children of Earth, and Finished K9.
Today I rewatched the episodes of the sixtieth anniversary special and the Church on Ruby Road.
He’s great, isn’t he? I also think special note to be given to Whitaker for the script and, especially, for the dark places it goes at times (e.g. Carmen Munroe’s storyline as Fariah). A very unusual and daring story.
Watching an underrated histoical adventre, The Crusade. I usually watch the Loose Cannon reconstructions for the two missing episodes, but decided to try out the official BBC ones this time. Also planning on listening to the audio version at some point, just to compare it to the visual reconstruction.
This one has some of the very best acting of the Hartnell era, and arguably the entire Classic era. Julian Glover and Jean Marsh in one story gives you that.
Julian Glover and Jean Marsh arguing in the Crusade isn’t simply some of the best acting in the Hartnell era - it’s some of the best acting in the history of television!
I just love, love, love their interactions in The Crusade
Oh, I found it to be tremendous fun. It’s bonkers, but absolutely nails the characterisation of the Tenth/Fourteenth Doctor for the off (which is rather lovely). It also does some genuinely fun and inventive things with the Daleks. It’s a playful comic book romp that definitely fits in to the televised chronology and style. I hope you enjoy!
The Crusade is so underrated. I think having the only missing episodes in Season Two does give people cause to overlook it but it’s absolutely fantastic.
Barbara given the knife and contemplating actually using it… Gives me chills.
I agree. It’s a pretty extraordinary story. David Whitaker is one of my all time favourite writers for the series. He’s the equivalent (quality wise and impact wise) of Malcolm Hulke, Robert Holmes, RTD and Steven Moffat.
Seeing this makes me happy. I’ve always believed I’m in the minority when I say that I truly enjoy The Crusade and find it to be one of the better 1st Doctor serials, despite its missing episode! Glad to see that I’m not the only one!
My last 18 are:
The Reign of Terror
The Crusade
Galaxy 4
The Myth Makers
The Daleks’ Master Plan
The Massacre
The Celestial Toymaker
The Savages
The Smugglers
The Highlanders
The Underwater Menace
The Moonbase
The Macra Terror
The Faceless Ones
The Evil of the Daleks
The Abominable Snowmen
The Wheel In Space
The Space Pirates
(And it’s worth noting that I started to watch The Macra Terror & The Faceless Ones at one point. I’d just watched several other serials, though, started watching the first episode of one, then the other, then decided I was just Doctor Who’d out for the day…)
Yeah, it’s mostly just that when jumping around the first two doctors, I tended to watch complete serials over incomplete ones, and of the incomplete ones, ones that were mostly complete and/or had something about them that made me want to watch them.
(Though with the Web Planet, this may have been that I was curious if it was as bad as people said or not…)
I expect I’ve still got some good serials ahead of me. And honestly, the Crusade is probably now on the top of my list.
(And yes, when I watched Invasion and the Web Planet, that was me taking them off this list. Marco Polo, the Dominators, The Romans, and the Aztecs were before that, IIRC?)
Celestial Toymaker isn’t well loved but it really is one of my favorites of 1’s era and definitely my favorite on this list (except maybe the last 2 which I haven’t seen yet either). Especially with the new animation that’s really one of the only animations that I think is enjoyable to watch rather than just kinda good enough.
