Tag Archives: Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited
Friday, July, 4, 2014
Doctor Who: 50 Years in Space & Time (Part 12)
Here's the final part of my look back at Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary, with the final two of my list of favourite dozen best 50th Anniversary items:
13. Doctor Who: Monsters and Villains Weekend
The three-part Doctor Who: Monsters and Villains Weekend, which aired on BBC3 over three nights from the Friday-Sunday, 15th-17th November, was a celebration of the various monsters and adversaries that the Doctor has met in the new series. It starts in reverse order, from the Judoon in tenth place, down through the Silurians, the Ood, Clockwork Droids, the Ice Warriors, the Cybermen, the Silence, to the final big 3-2-1 of the Master, the Weeping Angels, and the Daleks. Lots of monsters, and LOTS of fun.
14. Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited
The Doctors Revisited originally aired as individual episodes between January and November, and was reshown in omnibus format on Watch on Saturday 16th November. It is an 11-part series featuring each of the previous incarnations of the Doctor from the first to the eleventh. Some classic clips featuring the Doctor and his adversaries, and interviews with creators, cast and behind-the-scenes contributors and crew, make this a worthwhile viewing experience for all Doctor Who fans.
All in all, a great 50th Anniversary. Not a bad item on the list, although the first four or five were undoubtedly, for me at least, the best of the bunch.
Posted in Doctor Who
Tagged Doctor Who: 50th Anniversary, Doctor Who: Clockwork Droids, Doctor Who: Cybermen, Doctor Who: Daleks, Doctor Who: Ice Warriors, Doctor Who: Judoon, Doctor Who: Monsters and Villains Weekend, Doctor Who: New Series, Doctor Who: Silurians, Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited, Doctor Who: The Master, Doctor Who: The Ood, Doctor Who: The Silence, Doctor Who: The Weeping Angels
Thursday, December, 19, 2013
Doctor Who 50th Anniversary – My Personal Favourites
Now that November is over, I can look back upon Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary and state, with some enthusiasm, that it was a very good anniversary indeed, one of the best I can ever remember. There were lots of excellent Doctor Who items on television, on DVD and in the magazines, but these four were by far my favourites:
In first place, it was the sublime An Adventure in Space and Time, which aired from 9-10.30pm on the night of Thursday 21st November. This was simply the best Doctor Who production that I've seen in many years. The performances of all of the actors were exemplary, particularly David Bradley in the role of William Hartnell. Indeed, the ONLY real criticism that I could express is that An Adventure in Space and Time, at under ninety minutes, was too short, hence the need to skip over a number of extremely important details (for example, the vital roles played by Ray Cusick, Terry Nation, David Whitaker and a number of other figures in early Doctor Who history) because of time and space constraints (if you'll pardon the pun). The drama would have profited greatly by being at least half an hour longer, or even forty-five minutes. Many, many thanks to Mark Gatiss for having the dedication and perseverance to stick with this until The Powers That Be at the BBC gave the go ahead to put it into production.
In second place, and, in my opinion, not very far behind An Adventure in Space and Time, was The Day of the Doctor, which aired on BBC1 on the evening of Saturday 23rd November, from 7.50pm-8.05pm. I usually find most modern Doctor Who specials to be a bit hit and miss, a bit of of fluff filler in between seasons or breaks in seasons. But The Day of the Doctor was excellent. Not perfect, but definitely excellent, and I consider it to be, despite a few minor niggles, without a doubt the best Doctor Who special of the modern era.
In third place, it's the November DVD release of The Tenth Planet. I've been waiting to see this one for a long, long time, and it didn't disappoint. I'd only seen a few surviving clips before (on the Lost in Time DVD), so being able to see the whole story at last was really exciting. Episode 4 is still missing, but was expertly recreated here in animated form by the same people who animated the missing episodes on the Second Doctor stories The Ice Warriors and The Invasion. Excellent DVD release.
In fourth place, it's the November 50th Anniversary edition of Doctor Who Magazine, the biggest and one of the best ever editions of the magazine. There was so much good stuff in this one, simply choc a bloc with 50th Anniversary goodness, that it's difficult to know where to start. But if I had my arm twisted up my back and was forced to choose, my two favourites would have to be Ghosts in the Machine, a behind the scenes feature on the excellent An Adventure in Space and Time, and An Unearthly Beginning, which features never-before-seen drafts of An Unearthly Child. Great stuff!
Those are my four favourites, but there were a number of other notables:
The reshowing of all four episodes of An Unearthly Child on BBC4 at 10.30pm on Thursday 21st November, right after An Adventure in Space and Time ended on BBC2, was one of the highlights
The Science of Doctor Who Special, which aired on BBC2 on Thursday 14th November, at 9pm, hosted by Professor Brian Cox (with a guest appearance by the Doctor himself, Matt Smith), another excellent programming choice
Yet another was the two-hour The Ultimate Guide to Doctor Who, which aired on BBC3 from 8pm-10pm, on Monday 18th November, Part 1 of which was reshown on BBC3 last Sunday at 7pm. Part 2 will be reshown on BBC3, on Saturday 4th January 2014, at 7pm.
There were others, notably:
The three-part Doctor Who: Monsters and Villains Weekend, which aired on BBC3 over three nights from the Friday-Suday, 15th-17th November
Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited, which aired on Watch at 2pm on Saturday 16th November
These were all good, but the first four were undoubtedly, for me at least, by far the best of the bunch.
November was, overall, a great 50th Anniversary for Doctor Who. With less than a week left until the Christmas Special The Time of the Doctor, and the departure of Matt Smith and the arrival of Peter Capaldi as the new Doctor, the series now moves into its 51st year.
Here's to the new Doctor and another fifty years of Doctor Who! I hope I live long enough to see it!
Posted in Doctor Who (Classic Series), Doctor Who (New Series)
Tagged An Adventure in Space and Time, An Unearthly Child, David Bradley, David Whitaker, Doctor Who Magazine, Doctor Who: 50th Anniversary, Doctor Who: Monsters and Villains, Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited, Ice Warriors, Lost in Time, Mark Gatiss, Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi, Professor Brian Cox, Ray Cusick, Terry Nation, The Day of the Doctor, The Invasion, The Science of Doctor Who, The Tenth Planet, Ultimate Guide to Doctor Who, William Hartnell