Toby Atkin-Wright

After Christmas I bought a few of 2009’s Doctor Who DVD releases; I tend to buy them a little while after they are released, once the Amazon discount is larger than 50%. One of them was the Black Guardian trilogy, three Peter Davison stories from 1983. These introduced Turlough as a companion, saw the departure of Nyssa, and welcomed Nicholas Courtney back as Lethbridge-Stewart.

I’m not sure that I’d seen the three stories, “Mawdryn Undead”, “Terminus”, and “Enlightenment”, since they were originally broadcast. I remember particularly liking them, with notable enjoyment of the casting, the production values, and the ongoing story arc. I wondered how they would fare all these years on.

I wasn’t disappointed. There is much to enjoy here. Highlights included Courtney’s performance as Brigadiers six years apart (he achieves a distinct look and behaviour for each), Barron and Baron as ships’ captains, and one of my favourite companions, Turlough. Furtive, sly, cowardly, and laconically intelligent, he is sometimes Gollum-like in his cradling of the Black Guardian’s crystal.

“Mawdryn Undead” and “Terminus” have the option of viewing the modern digital effects replacing some of the original effects; these are mostly decent, and non-intrusive, allowing the story to be appreciated without one being overly aware of the limitations of television special effects in 1983. “Enlightenment” is supplied on two discs; one has the original four-part serial, and the other has a new re-edited version, shorter in length, with enhanced effects, a 5.1 soundtrack, and presented in widescreen. It works surprisingly well; I appreciate the reinvention and improvement of old Who, as long as the original versions are supplied as well.

Beth enjoyed them a lot. Next up is to conquer her aversion to black and white (she complains about it being ‘boring’, but then tends to like B&W Who when she starts watching it). Two of the other DVDs I bought this week are “The Keys of Marinus” and “The War Games”. Maybe next weekend for those.

After Christmas I bought a few of 2009’s Doctor Who DVD releases; I tend to buy them a little while after they are released, once the Amazon discount is larger than 50%. One of them was the Black Guardian trilogy, three Peter Davison stories from 1983. These introduced Turlough as a companion, saw the departure of Nyssa, and welcomed Nicholas Courtney back as Lethbridge-Stewart.

I’m not sure that I’d seen the three stories, “Mawdryn Undead”, “Terminus”, and “Enlightenment”, since they were originally broadcast. I remember particularly liking them, with notable enjoyment of the casting, the production values, and the ongoing story arc. I wondered how they would fare all these years on.

I wasn’t disappointed. There is much to enjoy here. Highlights included Courtney’s performance as Brigadiers six years apart (he achieves a distinct look and behaviour for each), Barron and Baron as ships’ captains, and one of my favourite companions, Turlough. Furtive, sly, cowardly, and laconically intelligent, he is sometimes Gollum-like in his cradling of the Black Guardian’s crystal.

“Mawdryn Undead” and “Terminus” have the option of viewing the modern digital effects replacing some of the original effects; these are mostly decent, and non-intrusive, allowing the story to be appreciated without one being overly aware of the limitations of television special effects in 1983. “Enlightenment” is supplied on two discs; one has the original four-part serial, and the other has a new re-edited version, shorter in length, with enhanced effects, a 5.1 soundtrack, and presented in widescreen. It works surprisingly well; I appreciate the reinvention and improvement of old Who, as long as the original versions are supplied as well.

Beth enjoyed them a lot. Next up is to conquer her aversion to black and white (she complains about it being ‘boring’, but then tends to like B&W Who when she starts watching it). Two of the other DVDs I bought this week are “The Keys of Marinus” and “The War Games”. Maybe next weekend for those.

There was good and bad in the Who. The story made as little sense as any of RTD’s season finales, the ending was ridiculously over long and drawn out, there seemed to be lots of running about but no real action, the villain gave speeches but didn’t actually do much, the reason for the regeneration was a bit incidental, and I spent the whole time wishing it had been directed by Graeme Harper instead of Euros Lyn. And that it had been written by someone else.

But… Bernard Cribbins.

All is forgiven. The scene with the Doctor in the café was television magic, and the screen lit up every time he appeared.

Bernard Cribbins.

There was good and bad in the Who. The story made as little sense as any of RTD’s season finales, the ending was ridiculously over long and drawn out, there seemed to be lots of running about but no real action, the villain gave speeches but didn’t actually do much, the reason for the regeneration was a bit incidental, and I spent the whole time wishing it had been directed by Graeme Harper instead of Euros Lyn. And that it had been written by someone else.

But… Bernard Cribbins.

All is forgiven. The scene with the Doctor in the café was television magic, and the screen lit up every time he appeared.

Bernard Cribbins.

Last weekend I picked up a couple of starter sets (and some booster packs) of the recently released Doctor Who Alien Armies trading card game. I’ve been playing it all week with Beth, and it has been a lot of fun. And a learning experience too — Beth has been reading the attack and defence attributes from the cards, and making a fair stab at many of the character names. We will end up knowing the names of all the characters in new Who, from The Christmas Invasion onwards.

The cards are quite pretty and well made, although they could do with having rounded corners, and the starter packs came with an album to keep the cards in, and checklists of all the cards. (A tin might be a better bet for speedy access to the cards; some shops have a tin set.)

Must buy more booster packs at the weekend.

This entry was originally posted at http://tobyaw.dreamwidth.org/168569.html.

Last weekend I picked up a couple of starter sets (and some booster packs) of the recently released Doctor Who Alien Armies trading card game. I’ve been playing it all week with Beth, and it has been a lot of fun. And a learning experience too — Beth has been reading the attack and defence attributes from the cards, and making a fair stab at many of the character names. We will end up knowing the names of all the characters in new Who, from The Christmas Invasion onwards.

The cards are quite pretty and well made, although they could do with having rounded corners, and the starter packs came with an album to keep the cards in, and checklists of all the cards. (A tin might be a better bet for speedy access to the cards; some shops have a tin set.)

Must buy more booster packs at the weekend.

One advantage of working from home is that I've just had the privilege of scraping out a bowl of cake mixture. My considered opinion is that cake mixture is even nicer than cake.

Beth and kateaw are busy making a Dalek cake for Beth's fifth birthday tomorrow. It will be pink. Beth likes pink Dalek cakes.

Here is a piccie of her cake from a couple of years ago. If all goes well, tomorrow I'll post a photo of this year's creation.



This entry was originally posted at http://tobyaw.dreamwidth.org/157426.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

One advantage of working from home is that I've just had the privilege of scraping out a bowl of cake mixture. My considered opinion is that cake mixture is even nicer than cake.

Beth and kateaw are busy making a Dalek cake for Beth's fifth birthday tomorrow. It will be pink. Beth likes pink Dalek cakes.

Here is a piccie of her cake from a couple of years ago. If all goes well, tomorrow I'll post a photo of this year's creation.