Ramblings from a Twisted Mind

 I started watching "Warriors' Gate" last night, which means I've very nearly finished my project of watching all the Tom Baker episodes in order.  Now I'm starting to wonder: where do I go from here?  Forward to the Peter Davison era?  Back to an earlier Doctor?  Abandon my Doctor Who watching for another series entirely?

(I have been contemplating watching the Patrick Troughton episodes in order.  The Powers That Be have been animating the lost episodes, which gives me a chance to see them, albeit not in their original format!)

Of course everything is not Doctor Who.  I've also been watching The Rockford Files on DVD.  Now that's 1970s - well, I won't say bubblegum TV, because it's intelligently written and acted.  But it's pure entertainment: it's not darker and edgier, nor does it have a message.  And I've decided  each episode must contain at least two of the following:

• A very dodgy client, who is holding something back from Rockford
• Rockford arrested/threatened with arrest (it's a frameup of course!)
• A car chase
• Mobsters
• Rockford talking himself into a place with a plausible but completely mendacious story
• Rockford held at gunpoint
• A fist fight
• At least one of these supporting characters - Angel, Beth, Sargent Becker and (of course) Rocky.

It's how it's put together that makes the difference!

 ... Well not literally, but there is time travel involved.  In other words, I watched "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" last night.  I can't say it's the best episode, ever, but since it was clearly setting us up for something bigger, I'll give it a pass.

I'll give Adrianne Palicki much more than a pass - a high commendation at least! - for her acting in this one.  She managed to convey the differences between Old!Kelly and Young!Kelly so convincingly yet so subtly that I could easily believe they were the same person at different stages of their life.

Bonus points for a couple of scenes: firstly, the nightclub.  I loved seeing Bortus and Yaphit rocking out on the floor, while Ed and Gordon sit it out on the sidelines.  Secondly, the scene where the Orville hides from the Kaylon ships in the ice field.  It was enjoyably menacing (reminding me of certain scenes from WWII movies where submarines have to hid from passing destroyers).  It was also a reminder that the Kaylon are still out there, and being turned back at Earth hasn't stopped their quest to eradicate all biological life.

Now for Doctor Who.  Old Who first - I finished watching "Full Circle" on Saturday.  A surprisingly enjoyable serial, though I did see the "twist" ending (that the Alzarians were descended from the swamp people rather than the original starship crew) coming.  I think it was implied, if not outright stated, that the original starship crew genetically engineered the Alzarians, otherwise I can't see how they evolved from being scaly amphibians to humanoid mammals in the space of a mere 40,000 years!   In addition, the starship crew must have taught the first Alzarians how to read and write.  I liked the way the episode managed to portray a really hidebound society with a secret at its heart, and it was  refreshing to see (Tom Baker's) Doctor actually get angry in this one!

(On a less positive note, I think whoever decided to film the "swamp creatures" in full light was mistaken: rising from the mists in the swam they were suitably alien and eerie, but in a brightly lit corridor the rubber suits were all too evident!)

New Who: I watched "The Haunting of Villa Diodati" last night.  Suffice it to say it was suitable scary, building from a sense of "something is wrong" to a proper climax.  We got to see the "lone cyberman" we were warned about, and we saw the Doctor on the horns of a timey-wimey dilemma.  A+ to all concerned.

My main problem at the moment is how are they going to resolve all the plot threads they have left dangling from earlier in the season?  We have the Master, the Timeless Child and the Other!Doctor still lurking in the wings, and I'm not sure we've got enough episodes left in order to sort everything out.

 For nearly a year I've been watching all the classic Tom Baker serials, one episode at a time.  I'm in the home stretch right now: last night I started watching "Full Circle".  It has been such a long time since I last watched the E-Space Trilogy that I can't remember much of it (except, Space Vampires!) so it's almost like watching something new.  

I haven't much to say about "Full Circle" at the point except: Adric!  Poor nerdy boy-genius with a star for mathematical excellence who became the most hated Doctor Who companion, ever.  Though personally I think  Perpugilliam Brown gave him a run for his money.

 Well!  That was another good episode.   I''m really enjoying this season of Doctor Who.   The main threat was scary but simple,  and caused by good old human greed and carelessness.   In that respect the spiders reminded me of the giant maggots in "The Green Death".

(Our real antagonist, of course,  was Robertson.   No spoilers,  but given his ambitions,  I wouldn't mind seeing Team Tardis going forward a couple of years one episode and learning what becomes of him.)