I have sort of been intrigued with how they introduced the mythology of Darla into Angel during Season Two and there was a mention in one of those episodes (I don’t recall exactly where, maybe in The Trial or before) of Holtz chasing after Darla and Angel, so another shout-out to upcoming events in Season Three. It’s become a touchstone in several shows in recent years, such as Doctor Who or Lost, that they would mention or remark upon future key developments as arc words or teasers, like Mr. Saxon, Bad Wolf, and the Medusa Cascade. Something that attentive fans might pick up on and be eager to speculate about at the time the show was airing, or a way for fans rewatching the show, maybe years later, to reminisce on those glorious or glorificuous moments. And Bob Barker is the Key.
As for the Doctor Who stories I’ve watched since I last posted…well. I mentioned being stuck in the middle of Doctor Who and The Silurians? Maybe even that I had been watching The Two Doctors around that same time? Well, since then, I’ve seen Warriors of The Deep (Okay, pantomine horse, but they tried their best. Could it have been worse? Maybe, if they had not even tried at all. Not the best Doctor Who story by any stretch of the imagination, I agree with the opinion that the Silurians should have gotten the more flexible costumes while the Sea Devils should have been stiffer. Why couldn’t they just do makeup instead of rubber costumes? Was makeup more expensive than rubber costumes? What about face pieces instead of full body pieces?
You know, from what I’ve seen, the Silurians may be ‘advanced’, but they are just as bad as humans at starting wars between the inhabitants of this planet. In Doctor Who and the Silurians, one of them unleashed a plague/epidemic that could have destroyed humanity, for goodness sake! Not to mention the mutually assured destruction ploy of Warriors of the Deep. Okay, not all Silurians are like that, although their leaders certainly have not set a good example in all of their encounters.)
I’ve also seen Timelash. (Cough, again, not exactly the best story, but not the worst story, H.G. Wells is okay, though the Sixth Doctor can be a bit difficult to love. And that triangle Timelash tinsel tunnel [tongue twister] is not the best effect.) I’ve also seen the Awakening, which I pretty much liked, Revelation of the Daleks, an interesting setup/premise, I grant you that, especially after it had time to settle with me and I read/heard some more about it. By coincidence, I had actually seen The Loved One movie just before I saw this story, and it really did remind me somewhat of that movie/story, although the character changes with the funeral director/cosmetician…not exactly sure I liked Doctor Who’s take on that relationship, but there was promise there with those characters.
Besides the first two stories of Trial of a Time Lord, I’ve also seen Frontios (An excellent adventure/premise betrayed by terrible monster costumes. “The Tractators!” as Turlough kept screaming weren’t as scary as he made them out to be. And I still have no idea what they did to him, or should I say, his planet Trion. Ah, well, with Turlough, it seems that we’re glad to get any kind of backstory at all. I thought there would have been more in Frontios, and what was in Planet of Fire…a little too late, I suppose I should say. Like Philip Sandifer said in his own blog about Planet of Fire, there was so much promise in this season/era of Doctor Who that was never delivered upon, just a spark amidst the mess, really.) I tried to watch Resurrection of the Daleks, but the disc was cracked, and so I had to get a new one. In the meantime, I went ahead and saw Planet of Fire. So that’s where I am now with Doctor Who.
I’m going to finish watching Trial of A Time Lord, Discs 3 and 4 are coming soon, then I’m going to go back to watching Doctors 3 and 4 while also finally seeing some of Doctor 7’s first serials, and rewatching some of his that I have already seen. And maybe I really will get into Farscape as well. I tried watching the first two discs of the first season (apparently this was two years ago, surprise, I thought it was a year ago) and never got fully invested in it, or was thrown off, so I will try again to watch Farscape. Wish me luck there.
Coe Baba: Life and Love 