Red Kangs, Red Kangs, Red Kangs are best!
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The Mind of Evil: Parts 5 and 6
So it comes to a close. What to say this time? Well, how about commenting on the Third Doctor again? One thing I love about this incarnation is that he’s brilliant (of course) but doesn’t just have all the answers. He has to work things out, resulting in lovely scenes with Pertwee muttering to himself, jotting down notes, drawing electrical diagrams and, best of all, actually wearing a lab coat! I know that Jon Pertwee liked to maintain elements of verisimilitude, insisting on Caroline John being allowed to wear caving equipment like everyone else during “Doctor Who and the Silurians”, so I wonder if this was his idea or a production team decision? Either way, it really works. Seeing the Doctor wearing a lab coat and, briefly, a protective visor, really sells the Doctor as scientist. I’ve always enjoyed Pertwee as the Doctor, but this story really stands out as a highlight. He’s so good in it, from silly business waving his hands around and generally being childish, through his portrayal of the Doctor as scientist and thinker, and finally his his petulance, rudeness and crotchety moments (poor old Brig is torn off a strip for saving the Doctor’s life… but only in the nick of time!).
Back to the Mind Parasite. I LOVE the effect when the Mind Parasite kills its victims in the latter episodes. You really get a sense of a burst of pure energy. Moreover, the scene where the creature breaks free of the Doctor’s electrical coil sells the power of the thing so well. It’s a frighteningly powerful creature that both Doctor and Master are genuinely scared of. When we finally get a glimpse inside the canister, it’s suitably grotesque and organic. Genuinely one of my favourite creatures from Doctor Who. It’s just so damned weird.
Last time, I commented on the lack of diversity in cliffhangers. No such worries this time. The cliffhanger for episode 5 is a corker. OK, so it’s a fake-out but it’s so well done. The thing is, Mailer’s such a genuinely violent and nasty piece of work that it’s easy to believe he really would shoot the Doctor in cold blood. Everything has been set up perfectly though, so it makes perfect sense that the gun seen firing at the close of episode 5 is actually the Brigadier’s. Like I say, nicely done.
Whilst I’m at it, that cliffhanger comes at the culmination of a huge set piece as UNIT storms Stangmoor Prison. It’s an extremely effective scene, with all sorts of action that makes excellent use of both the visually striking Dover Castle location AND the skill set of the HAVOC team. Thrilling stuff!
All in all, I still love this story. I could just keep writing but will leave it there.
Next week, one of Doctor Who’s boldest and most vibrant episodes, technically experimental for its time and featuring one of the greatest one-off creatures ever - the mighty Axons! All that and, of course, a certain American UNIT agent with a curiously familiar name. Bring it on!
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Hell Bent is an absolute mess with decisions I 100% cannot agree with, e.g. 12 breaking his code of honour so bad he kills a guy, the resolution of The Hybrid, and Rassilon being defeated too easily but the character drama is SO rich and I respect everything it was going for even if I didn’t necessarily love it all. The ending rules so much. It’s no Heaven Sent but it’s a good time for sure.
Performance wise everyone but one is nailing it. But Rassilon’s actor is phoning it in SO bad. And I don’t like the interpretation either. Why’s he just a pathetic shouty old man with no sense of power or menace?
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Watched The Collection version of The Happiness Patrol at the BFI with my dad
Thank you so much to @monkeyshaver for the tickets, it was an amazing experience!
There were also a few panels about the sound and updating, and a last big one with Sofie Aldred, Sylvester McCoy, Andrew Cartmel, an actress who was one of the members of the happiness patrol (I can’t for the life of me remember which it was), Chris Clough (the director of the episode), and John Asbridge (production designer, who mentioned that he’d worked on four stories: Dragonfire, The Happiness Patrol, Silver Nemesis, and “Delta and the someone or other”)
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Ooh, he’s been interviewed in the last couple of DWMs,
The Happiness Patroller - was it Rachel Bell (Priscilla P) or Lesley Dunlop (Susan Q)? (Georgina Hale - Daisy K - has sadly passed).
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He mentioned the interviews and that he’d not seen any of his stories since making them, so rewatched recently for that and then saw this again which was (in his own words) incredible
Looking at pictures of them it was Rachel Bell (I did a quick look on the wiki but didn’t have photos… and I forgot to just google the names)
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Awesome. So glad you enjoyed it. 
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Forgot to say but my dad also passes on his thanks!
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I’d never thought of that before. But a lot of libraries are under used now, that could get more extreme in the future. I wonder how many of them were just coming in out of the cold.
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Or to use the WiFi.
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Watching Planet of Giants, wife put it in.
Always impressed with the what the production crew managed to do on a tiny budget.
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Whilst it’s frustrating being off work, sick; it does mean I can continue with Paradise Towers.
Pt 2: love 1. the idea of a scared hero; 2. even though they were on a tough budget, they still added panels with alternating lights to the kitchen; and 3. being captured by a shawl is ice hot!
However, my adult brain IS struggling to see the kangs as younger than they clearly are IRL.
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I love The Happiness Patrol anyway but I really thought the special edition was an improvement in terms of pacing. Things just felt much more rounded out and it really enhanced the story.
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Watched World Enough and Time for the first time, and have started The Doctor Falls.
I LOVED World Enough and Time.
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Finished Paradise Towers and wrote a review. Found it interesting that when the DVD 
was fast played backwards, it made the sound of a VHS 
Enjoyed it far more than the last time I watched it.
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Just watched The Husbands of River Song on this 12 rewatch. Not every joke lands, the music is overbearing, some of the direction is messy as hell…
And yet. When the jokes land they REALLY land. Capaldi and Kingston are having the time of their lives. And have outstanding chemistry! This is my favourite River characterisation in the actual show itself since her debut. And also one of my fave 12 interpretations, where there’s a love and tenderness here but he still reads very ace to me.
Every dramatic scene with these two is absolutely beautiful, and more than makes up for the jokes that fall flat. Amazing stuff overall.
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DOCTOR: (sotto) Hello, sweetie.
RIVER: You are so doing those roots.
DOCTOR: What, the roots of the sunset?
RIVER: Don’t you dare.
DOCTOR: I’ll have to check with the stars themselves.
Their chemistry is just perfect
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Really looking forward to this boxset!
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