From: xoanon@vesta.unm.edu (timothy k istian soholt)
Subject: Re: Colin Baker poll
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 92 17:01:22 GMT
Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

jasstev@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (stevens jason) writes:

> (2) attack of the Cybermen. MMmm. On the one hand we have a good premise here
> and the return of Lytton, which are good points, lovely Cyber violence.
> But the Cybermen just die too easily, and the body count is a little sicken-
  ing.

KNME, bless their hearts (actually, bless Stephen R. Donaldson, whose
books I have no intention of ever reading, but at least he knows good
SF and is willing to sponsor it), has recently started showing _Who_
again, and they appear to have gotten Lionheart's "Cyberstories" block.
Seeing "Attack" again last week, it wasn't nearly as badly executed as
I remember it. The Cybermen were far more true to their original con-
cept than in any other serial I've seen (and no, I haven't seen "Tomb"
yet); they actually seemed concerned about preserving their race,
with mass destruction being a means to an end, rather than an end in
and of itself. And they didn't gloat. And as for Cybermen dying too
easily, the "easiest" kills were the undercover policeman shooting a
Cyberman three times in the face at point blank and Griffiths pumping
several rounds from a submachinegun into a Cyberman's chest unit. 

> (3) Vengeance on Varos.  A highly intelligent script, gloomy, moody, and well
> performed. This is excellent, but a little violent for some people.

A _little_ violent? Personally, I loved it, but "Vengeance on Varos"
makes "The Deadly Assassin" look like _Sesame Street_!

> (6) The Two Doctors. Great to see Troughton again, lots of gore and violence
> which is great. I like it.

It's been a while, but I don't remember there being a whole lot of
"gore and violence" in this one. Lots of gruesome things were hinted
at, but none of them were ever shown except for the Sontaran leader
losing his leg.

Spoilers for "Trial of a Time Lord" follow (remember that spoiler 
protection, folks!)

Oh, and, before I forget, keep it under seventy characters per line;
not everyone has automatic wraparound.



> (8) Trial of a Time Lord
> some good ideas in here but it all fell very flat in episodes 4 to 8 and 11 
  and 12. The plot is confusing as it unwinds but there are some classic 
  moments
> -episode 3 cliffhanger

What would that be? (I saw the thing as four movies)

> -Peris death (BUT not subsequent ressurection)

(This is a _BIG_ spoiler, friend. And there _are_ still people out
there who haven't seen "ToaTL.")

I've always thought that Peri's death was the second cheapest plot
point in _Doctor Who_ history. The cheapest was Peri's non-death. I
admit that the Doctor's reaction to Peri's death was wonderful.

> -terror of the Vervoids, nice premise.

Horrid, horrid execution, though.

> -Sabalom Glitz

Hear, hear!

> -the Master appearing on the Matrix screen

Rather cheesy, I thought. Why didn't he just show up like Mel and
Glitz did? Unnecessary plot device, IMHO.

> As a season of dr Who though its naff. But we see colin in these 14 episodes
> as a much different person, his character is toned down somewhat. The 
> original idea tyo have the DR and the Valeyard stuck in the Matrix as a 
  season
> cliffhanger was good, but JNT fear of Grades axe stopped him..it could have
> been seen as a good way to end the series.

I hadn't heard about this. It would've been interesting, but they 
probably would've been forced into some lame cop-out to save the Doc-
tor.

-- Tim Soholt (xoanon@carina.unm.edu)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.drwho