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"Dr. Who" is so well known and so legendary, it's a stress trying to write something new about it. For many, including myself, it represents a world of incredible wonders and many memorable relationships with a handful of Doctors and three times as many "assistants". Of course, the Daleks ARE "Dr. Who", there's no getting around that, but the Cybermen ran a fair race with them, too.
For me, however, "Dr. Who" is Linx, the helmeted Sontaran who appeared in the episode "The Time Warrior". At the end of the first ep, he removes his cover to reveal pure alien ugliness, and there the ep ended. I have always loved those cliffhangers where a putrid looking alien is revealed. Cue the transporting, sonically rich theme music and wait for the next installment as the ugly alien image you just saw remains at the front of your cerebellum.
"Dr. Who" is a series of amazing ideas, wonderful pseudo-science, exciting adventures and, yes, sexy women. I will always have a very special place in my heart (and elsewhere) for Jo (Katy Manning) after I spotted her pink panties in one episode. I adored Sarah-Jane (Elisabeth Sladen), too, and felt short-changed when Tom Baker, my favorite Doctor, married the second Leila (Lala Ward), an actress I'd lusted after since Hammer's "Vampire Circus". The primitive Leila (Louise Jamieson) was a great addition to the cast, too, with her barely-there costume and impatient, naive personality.
I recall vividly "The Robots of Death" because their voices were so comforting yet disturbing. They looked amazing, too, with their pseudo-human-like faces of metal. The "Zygons" ("Terror of the Zygons"), who resided under Loch Ness, and had greasy, flesh-like control instruments in their spaceship, resembled giant, rotten carrots were also my favorites. After Linx screwed up his mission, The Sontarans regrouped and sent Field Major Steyr to Earth in a two-parter known as "The Sontaran Experiment". The images of the grumpy Steyr talking to his bosses on a TV embedded in a rock were priceless, as was Sarah-Jane's first reaction to seeing Steyr's face: "Linx!?". I still hold much fondness for John Pertwee, the third Doctor, who brought great gravity and sophistication to the role. Patrick Traughton's finest hour for me was when he was battling "The Sea Devils", wet, misshapen creatures who sabotaged oil rigs on their road to world conquest. As a lover of plastic creatures, the Nestenes got my vote every time. Their appearance in "Terror of the Autons" chilled my tiny bones when I first encountered them, and I would never see a mannequin in the same way again.
As mighty villains go, Davros (from "Genesis of the Daleks") was hard to beat. Once again, he was one of Who's Ugly Aliens, and what a frightful fellow he was. Unable to walk and saddled with a mechanical, sickly voice, he exuded evil and made his Dalek accomplices pale in comparison. The Master was always good fun, too, as was the lovable Brigadier.
The new "Dr. Who" episodes have impressed me, but there's no point in writing about them here because, well, they're from a different world and deserve their own review.
I am sorry to all the monsters and potential world dominators I have not discussed here. You, my dear friends, are just as wanted as those I've singled out with a word or two.
Long Live The Doctor and his Enemies!
score /10
fertilecelluloid 30 December 2005
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1251109/ |
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28-9-2020 02:34:07
