Some Old School Dr. Who Reviewed
Apr. 22nd, 2006 08:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakAs mentioned in an earlier entry, I aquired some of the First Doctor's adventures, to wit, An Unearthly Child and The Daleks, i.e. the very first Dr. Who tales told to the universe.
Random impressions:
One is definitely less Doctor-ish than any of the other incarnations I've watched; mostly, he makes me wonder whether Terry Prattchet watched as a child, because if he reminds me of anyone with his attitude and his relationship with his granddaughter Susan, it's of DEATH. Though Susan herself couldn't be less like DEATH's granddaughter Susan if she tried. Oh my. TV has certainly gotten better at depicting a) teenagers and b) girls/women.
However: because I'm twisted that way, the following occured to me: Susan isn't that much younger than Rose when Nine meets her, right? I mean, fifteen at the start of the series which means eighteen when One becomes Two, unless I got my theoretical Who knowledge wrong. So, why do I suddenly want fanfic in which Nine (or Ten) is reminded by something Rose says or does of Susan?
The Daleks are also a work in progress. Their sentences are far more elaborate and for want of a better word human than later on, and there is no EXTERMINATE screamed (just extermination talked about). Plus I see what![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
londonkds meant when he said the H.G. Wells origins are even more clearly visible earlier on. Am very very greatful for Genesis of the Daleks because the Thal as blond and perfect supermen in a story which is meant to depict Nazism in an analogy (via the Daleks) is just counterproductive, not to mention involuntarily ridiculous. However, since I know Genesis of the Daleks will reveal the Thal as being as morally questionable as the Kaled and as ruthless, I didn't mind that much.
Ian and Barbara: you know, here's an interesting thing. In the adventures of Four, Seven and Six I've seen, the Doctor's primary attachment (as far as people were concerned) was to his companion. Whereas here while One starts to tolerate and like Ian and Barbara, he doesn't love them; he loves Susan, and Susan is family, not a friend. Meanwhile, Ian and Barbara got more or less TARDIS-jacked for the ride and their primary motivation for being there in the first place and then sticking it out seems to be Susan - towards whom they behave paternally - not the Doctor. Very different dynamic.
Re: Susan and Barbara and how they're depicted in general: ah, early 60s sexism, how wert thou undisguised.
Re: Ian - apparantly meant to do the hero stuff later stories give to the Doctor(s).
I find it endearing that Ian and Barbara are teachers, though, and chemistry and history teachers at that. Not sports. Hooray for positive depiction of academics in sci-fi! (As opposed to crazy scientists.)
Also: Terry Nation is a better writer than Anthony what-was-his-name who wrote the first adventure, but this early specimen of his craft seems to indicate the sharp dialogue on Blake's 7 was the result of Chris Boucher's script-editing. Had the same thought about Genesis of the Daleks as well. And Great Maker, does he like his mutations and post-nuclear war worlds. Very understandable in the 60s, of course (or later). Though, if you think of Deliverance - he never kicks the Ugly Mutants = BAD, beautiful survivors = GOOD (if ineffectual without outsiders helping them) kink. Yep, too much H.G. Wells, my friend.
Random impressions:
One is definitely less Doctor-ish than any of the other incarnations I've watched; mostly, he makes me wonder whether Terry Prattchet watched as a child, because if he reminds me of anyone with his attitude and his relationship with his granddaughter Susan, it's of DEATH. Though Susan herself couldn't be less like DEATH's granddaughter Susan if she tried. Oh my. TV has certainly gotten better at depicting a) teenagers and b) girls/women.
However: because I'm twisted that way, the following occured to me: Susan isn't that much younger than Rose when Nine meets her, right? I mean, fifteen at the start of the series which means eighteen when One becomes Two, unless I got my theoretical Who knowledge wrong. So, why do I suddenly want fanfic in which Nine (or Ten) is reminded by something Rose says or does of Susan?
The Daleks are also a work in progress. Their sentences are far more elaborate and for want of a better word human than later on, and there is no EXTERMINATE screamed (just extermination talked about). Plus I see what
londonkds meant when he said the H.G. Wells origins are even more clearly visible earlier on. Am very very greatful for Genesis of the Daleks because the Thal as blond and perfect supermen in a story which is meant to depict Nazism in an analogy (via the Daleks) is just counterproductive, not to mention involuntarily ridiculous. However, since I know Genesis of the Daleks will reveal the Thal as being as morally questionable as the Kaled and as ruthless, I didn't mind that much. Ian and Barbara: you know, here's an interesting thing. In the adventures of Four, Seven and Six I've seen, the Doctor's primary attachment (as far as people were concerned) was to his companion. Whereas here while One starts to tolerate and like Ian and Barbara, he doesn't love them; he loves Susan, and Susan is family, not a friend. Meanwhile, Ian and Barbara got more or less TARDIS-jacked for the ride and their primary motivation for being there in the first place and then sticking it out seems to be Susan - towards whom they behave paternally - not the Doctor. Very different dynamic.
Re: Susan and Barbara and how they're depicted in general: ah, early 60s sexism, how wert thou undisguised.
Re: Ian - apparantly meant to do the hero stuff later stories give to the Doctor(s).
I find it endearing that Ian and Barbara are teachers, though, and chemistry and history teachers at that. Not sports. Hooray for positive depiction of academics in sci-fi! (As opposed to crazy scientists.)
Also: Terry Nation is a better writer than Anthony what-was-his-name who wrote the first adventure, but this early specimen of his craft seems to indicate the sharp dialogue on Blake's 7 was the result of Chris Boucher's script-editing. Had the same thought about Genesis of the Daleks as well. And Great Maker, does he like his mutations and post-nuclear war worlds. Very understandable in the 60s, of course (or later). Though, if you think of Deliverance - he never kicks the Ugly Mutants = BAD, beautiful survivors = GOOD (if ineffectual without outsiders helping them) kink. Yep, too much H.G. Wells, my friend.
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no subject
Date: 2006-04-22 06:42 pm (UTC)Because it really puts the Doctor/companion relationship into a more complete context than S27 seems to be giving on its own?
(Of course, he did also consider Susan, at eighteen, to be ready to go out into the world on her own, get married, leave her own family behind, and take care of herself. Which may be why he really doesn't get Rose's thing about her mother.)
this early specimen of his craft seems to indicate the sharp dialogue on Blake's 7 was the result of Chris Boucher's script-editing
Yes, I think it's very likely. What I can't figure out is why the character backgrounds for the women on the show also look so much more like Boucher's work than Nation's, when you'd figure that'd be the work of the series creator, not the script editor.
no subject
Date: 2006-04-22 06:50 pm (UTC)That is a kind thought. An unkinder one is that all my Jossverse and Alias watching has left me with an unholy fondness for vaguely incestous relationships. Okay, seriously now: might be both. I'm really looking forward to the episode where Sarah Jane Smith shows up, and how it will affect Rose to see that the Doctor had other companions, and had his own complex relationships with them.
Of course, he did also consider Susan, at eighteen, to be ready to go out into the world on her own, get married, leave her own family behind, and take care of herself. Which may be why he really doesn't get Rose's thing about her mother.
Sounds logical. BTW, was canon ever clear on whether if Susan died, she'd regenerate as well? I'm wondering about Gallifreyan etiquette and whether it's anything like DS9's Trill etiquette regarding reunions or lack of same.
What I can't figure out is why the character backgrounds for the women on the show also look so much more like Boucher's work than Nation's, when you'd figure that'd be the work of the series creator, not the script editor.
Hmmm. Err, beneficial influence during conversations preparing the series?
no subject
Date: 2006-04-22 07:03 pm (UTC)Some people think my Seven/Ace love is sort of incestuous. I don't, though.
You are really, really tempting me to write that, you know. Argh!
Okay, seriously now: might be both. I'm really looking forward to the episode where Sarah Jane Smith shows up, and how it will affect Rose to see that the Doctor had other companions, and had his own complex relationships with them.
So am I. I hope that's done well; some people I know are concerned that it might end up reinforcing Rose's sense of her own importance.
BTW, was canon ever clear on whether if Susan died, she'd regenerate as well? I'm wondering about Gallifreyan etiquette and whether it's anything like DS9's Trill etiquette regarding reunions or lack of same.
Canon was never clear, but I don't see why not. I don't think canon ever established that regeneration was only reserved for some, and Susan did call herself a member of the Doctor's species, IIRC. I don't think they seem to have much etiquette about it, though; Susan certainly got along well enough with the later Doctors in The Five Doctors.
Hmmm. Err, beneficial influence during conversations preparing the series?
I guess it must have been, but you'd wonder then why it's never come out. Boucher doesn't seem like a quiet or modest man, and it has to have come up how much more like Leela and Pal Kenzy are Cally and Jenna, than like, er... has Terry Nation ever written another woman? :)
no subject
Date: 2006-04-22 07:15 pm (UTC)Canon was never clear, but I don't see why not. I don't think canon ever established that regeneration was only reserved for some, and Susan did call herself a member of the Doctor's species, IIRC.
So, in theory, Susan could show up as another actress?
has Terry Nation ever written another woman?
Looking up TN's credits right now, I found these tidbits:
He was Script Editor for the final season of The Avengers, shaping the controversial transition from popular Emma Peale (Diana Riggs) to the less-beloved Tara King (Linda Thorson).
And then there is his show Survivors. The summary of the first episode does include female characters:
As the world's population is decimated by a mysterious pandemic, the crisis is first seen through the eyes of two characters - Jenny Richards, a young working woman in London and Abby Grant, a middle-class corporate wife living a privileged existence in a nearby commuter village. As Abby goes in search of her son Peter, Jenny wanders aimlessly through the countryside. Other major characters introduced in the first few episodes are the resourceful engineer Greg Preston, the shifty Welshman Tom Price and two children, John Millon and Lizzie Willoughby. Abby, Jenny and Greg eventually come together and realise they must start again from scratch now that civilisation as they once knew it has been destroyed. After several adventures on the road, they find a property called the Grange which they can use as a base and joined by other survivors, they form a potted community of disparate individuals all united by a shared purpose - to relearn the old skills of farming and tool-making, and to try to live in this strange new world.
no subject
Date: 2006-04-22 07:23 pm (UTC)They're great. They have such chemistry, that I don't care about whether it's platonic chemistry or not, I'll gladly support any reading of that interaction whatsoever.
So, in theory, Susan could show up as another actress?
Yep. And so, in theory, could Romana. The only thing standing in their way is that they've tried to paint the Doctor as the "last of his kind", and might even have implied that he made Gallifrey not just blow up, but un-happen, since that seems to be what they said he did to the Daleks. But if they don't clarify much, and we're willing to take the "last of his kind" as poetic license, we're good to go.
He was Script Editor for the final season of The Avengers, shaping the controversial transition from popular Emma Peale (Diana Riggs) to the less-beloved Tara King (Linda Thorson).
Yes, Tara King seemed about his speed. (Chris Boucher seems like more of a Cathy Gale man.)
As the world's population is decimated by a mysterious pandemic, the crisis is first seen through the eyes of two characters - Jenny Richards, a young working woman in London and Abby Grant, a middle-class corporate wife living a privileged existence in a nearby commuter village. As Abby goes in search of her son Peter, Jenny wanders aimlessly through the countryside.
Oh, yes, The Survivors! It looked interesting, but I haven't seen it, so I can't say how he portrays women in it. (It also seems to be aiming for a bit more realism than Blake's 7 or The Avengers, so it may be tough to judge.)
no subject
Date: 2006-04-22 11:35 pm (UTC)Tara King was dreadful; I stopped watching! (Did you ever see Purdey? I lost interest when she chased someone through a carwash and came out in a mini-skirt.)
However, Jenna was not just a strong character at the start of B7 S1, she was billed second after Blake and seems to have been intended to his second in command. Cally also started very strong, and Vila was harder too. When did Boucher take over as script editor> Because all three change quite suddenly after a handful of eps, the women becoming sidelined (I know Boucher didn't like the actors) and Vila becoming comic relief, rescued only by the depth and pathos Keating gave him. S I assumed the earlier, stronger characters were Nation's.
no subject
Date: 2006-04-23 04:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-23 03:18 am (UTC)Have you seen "The Five Doctors"?
no subject
Date: 2006-04-23 04:14 am (UTC)Nuclear war.
Date: 2006-04-22 06:45 pm (UTC)Re: Nuclear war.
Date: 2006-04-22 06:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-22 08:48 pm (UTC)Oh, and regarding contact between Time Lords in different regenerations, no taboo whatsoever. Romana (Fourth Doctor companion who is also a Time Lord) regenerates from Mary Tamm to Lalla Ward during her time with the Doctor, and neither of them have any discomfort (and Romana is at that point far less rebellious against Time Lord society than the Doctor is). There are also a couple of other non-villainous Time Lord characters with whom the Doctor socialises (or is implied to have done so off-screen) while both were in different bodies and there's no hint of social taboo.
no subject
Date: 2006-04-23 12:43 am (UTC)The Doctor certainly learns a lot about saving the universe from his first human travelling companions.