Not quite Gallifrey One
Feb. 26th, 2022 12:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shivverLast weekend was Gallifrey One, which, as I wrote sometime earlier this year, we decided not to attend because of the pandemic. We didn't put on our own private con this year like we did last year, but we decided to watch an episode a night, and we also had some nice discussions.
We ended up watching "Battlefield", "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead", "Kinda", and "Snakedance". I had been really sure that I'd never seen either of the Mara episodes, but it turned out that I'd seen the first but not the second. I rather enjoyed both of them - interesting themes and great guest characters. One thing we noted that seemed to happen a lot during the classic show but almost never during the modern show is that guest characters on a side or in a faction don't necessarily get along with each other. In "Kinda", none of the people in the dome liked or trusted each other. Another great example is "The Robots of Death" - all of the people on the mining vehicle had ulterior motives and really didn't know or get along with each other. I supposed it shouldn't be surprising, since the classic show often was as concerned with the guest characters as it was with the monster of the week, while the modern show focuses either on the monster or the Doctor-companion relationship.
When selecting the first episode to watch, we both immediately suggested "Battlefield", not surprising as we both count it as our favorite Seven episode, but that touched off the discussion event of our mini-con, which was "What's your favorite episode for each Doctor?" We sat there for over two hours discussing this, so I'd say it was a success. Here's how it went down.
First Doctor: Neither of us are particularly familiar with the First Doctor's episodes. He's seen all of the existing full stories, but that probably over 30 years ago. I know I've seen about six of the stories. We decided to pass on this.
Second Doctor: He chose "The War Games" - we were both amazed at how engrossing that five-hour story was over the entire length. It had the first appearance of the Time Lords as well as a renegade Time Lord and fantastic characters. I chose "The Web of Fear", which I just adore.
Third Doctor: No question for him: "The Claws of Axos". He loves the relationship between the Doctor and the Master in that one. I'm not sure myself. I loved all of the Master stories, but I also loved "The Green Death". I don't think I made a definitive choice there.
Fourth Doctor: This was the one where he didn't make a definitive choice. For me, "Shada" followed closely by "City of Death" and "The Ark in Space". He rattled off a huge list - those three, "Genesis of the Daleks", "The Deadly Assassin", "The Horror of Fang Rock", more Leela eps (his favorite companion), "The Sun Makers".... It's interesting that neither of would choose Four as among our top three Doctors, yet his stories are some of the best.
Fifth Doctor: "Caves of Androzani" for me, no question. Complex plot, great characters (Sharaz Jek still haunts my dreams), and just a great story for the Doctor. "Enlightenment" is a not-quite-close second. He had to have me read him the list of episodes and really didn't find any favorites. Either "Mawdryn Undead" or "Enlightenment", he decided, though honorable mention for "Earthshock" for killing off Adric.
Sixth Doctor: This was hard, because nothing really stands out. Six shines in the audios, but his TV eps really don't make much of an impression. We settled on "Vengeance on Varos" because "Some say it's a classic!" (FDR reference)
Seventh Doctor: As stated above, "Battlefield" is the both our choices. We also very much loved "Remembrance of the Daleks", "Silver Nemesis", and "Paradise Towers", and we both said we need to watch "The Curse of Fenric" again because we know it's supposed to be good, but neither of us really got it. "Ghost Light", too.
Eighth Doctor: We didn't discuss Eight because neither of us like the movie and he doesn't listen to audios (he has an unreasonable dislike of Charley, and even he admits he has no idea why). It's not like I've listened to all that many audios either, but I'd absolutely recommend "The Chimes of Midnight" to anyone. "Dark Eyes" was also excellent.
Ninth Doctor: "Father's Day". I probably would have chosen "Dalek" years ago, but I've come to really appreciate "Father's Day" a lot more. Honorable mention to "Boom Town".
Tenth Doctor: It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that I chose "Human Nature"/"Family of Blood" - I am sure that over 50% of my fanfics either deal directly with that episode or have a chameleon arch at their heart. His favorite is "School Reunion" - not only was Sarah Jane's return stunning, but Brother Lasser is probably his favorite villain, with his complex morality.
Eleventh Doctor: My immediate answer was "The Doctor's Wife", but then I had to also say "The Eleventh Hour", and then we talked about how the Christmas specials were all excellent. He really likes "The Curse of the Black Spot", but I'm not exactly sure if it's because he likes the story or because it has a glowing, singing siren.
Twelfth Doctor: This was really hard for me because we've seen so few of them more than once, so it's hard to remember. The ones that stand out for me are "Mummy on the Orient Express", "Flatline", and "Heaven Sent", but I have to qualify all of them with "except for all the Clara bits". The other one that I remember enjoying was "Extremis". His choice was "The Return of Doctor Mysterio", because one, it was fun and it was a superhero story, and two, it was one of the very few episodes during which he didn't either stop the streaming to vent or ragequit.
Thirteenth Doctor: This was also difficult to choose because we haven't rewatched the episodes (though we want to). For me, probably "Fugitive of the Judoon", but also "Village of the Angels", "War of the Sontarans", "Demons of the Punjab" (hm, I'm seeing a trend here as I type), "The Witchfinders", and "It Takes You Away" (except for that dodgy frog; DW needs to admit to itself that its special effects really aren't up to par and stop trying to realize cosmic entities using it). I don't think he actually made a choice. I did point out that he loved "The Battle of Ranskoor av Kolos" when we saw it.
And that's it. Hopefully next year, we'll get to use the convention tickets that will buy when they come up for sale, but we're not holding our breaths (but we are wearing masks).
We ended up watching "Battlefield", "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead", "Kinda", and "Snakedance". I had been really sure that I'd never seen either of the Mara episodes, but it turned out that I'd seen the first but not the second. I rather enjoyed both of them - interesting themes and great guest characters. One thing we noted that seemed to happen a lot during the classic show but almost never during the modern show is that guest characters on a side or in a faction don't necessarily get along with each other. In "Kinda", none of the people in the dome liked or trusted each other. Another great example is "The Robots of Death" - all of the people on the mining vehicle had ulterior motives and really didn't know or get along with each other. I supposed it shouldn't be surprising, since the classic show often was as concerned with the guest characters as it was with the monster of the week, while the modern show focuses either on the monster or the Doctor-companion relationship.
When selecting the first episode to watch, we both immediately suggested "Battlefield", not surprising as we both count it as our favorite Seven episode, but that touched off the discussion event of our mini-con, which was "What's your favorite episode for each Doctor?" We sat there for over two hours discussing this, so I'd say it was a success. Here's how it went down.
First Doctor: Neither of us are particularly familiar with the First Doctor's episodes. He's seen all of the existing full stories, but that probably over 30 years ago. I know I've seen about six of the stories. We decided to pass on this.
Second Doctor: He chose "The War Games" - we were both amazed at how engrossing that five-hour story was over the entire length. It had the first appearance of the Time Lords as well as a renegade Time Lord and fantastic characters. I chose "The Web of Fear", which I just adore.
Third Doctor: No question for him: "The Claws of Axos". He loves the relationship between the Doctor and the Master in that one. I'm not sure myself. I loved all of the Master stories, but I also loved "The Green Death". I don't think I made a definitive choice there.
Fourth Doctor: This was the one where he didn't make a definitive choice. For me, "Shada" followed closely by "City of Death" and "The Ark in Space". He rattled off a huge list - those three, "Genesis of the Daleks", "The Deadly Assassin", "The Horror of Fang Rock", more Leela eps (his favorite companion), "The Sun Makers".... It's interesting that neither of would choose Four as among our top three Doctors, yet his stories are some of the best.
Fifth Doctor: "Caves of Androzani" for me, no question. Complex plot, great characters (Sharaz Jek still haunts my dreams), and just a great story for the Doctor. "Enlightenment" is a not-quite-close second. He had to have me read him the list of episodes and really didn't find any favorites. Either "Mawdryn Undead" or "Enlightenment", he decided, though honorable mention for "Earthshock" for killing off Adric.
Sixth Doctor: This was hard, because nothing really stands out. Six shines in the audios, but his TV eps really don't make much of an impression. We settled on "Vengeance on Varos" because "Some say it's a classic!" (FDR reference)
Seventh Doctor: As stated above, "Battlefield" is the both our choices. We also very much loved "Remembrance of the Daleks", "Silver Nemesis", and "Paradise Towers", and we both said we need to watch "The Curse of Fenric" again because we know it's supposed to be good, but neither of us really got it. "Ghost Light", too.
Eighth Doctor: We didn't discuss Eight because neither of us like the movie and he doesn't listen to audios (he has an unreasonable dislike of Charley, and even he admits he has no idea why). It's not like I've listened to all that many audios either, but I'd absolutely recommend "The Chimes of Midnight" to anyone. "Dark Eyes" was also excellent.
Ninth Doctor: "Father's Day". I probably would have chosen "Dalek" years ago, but I've come to really appreciate "Father's Day" a lot more. Honorable mention to "Boom Town".
Tenth Doctor: It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that I chose "Human Nature"/"Family of Blood" - I am sure that over 50% of my fanfics either deal directly with that episode or have a chameleon arch at their heart. His favorite is "School Reunion" - not only was Sarah Jane's return stunning, but Brother Lasser is probably his favorite villain, with his complex morality.
Eleventh Doctor: My immediate answer was "The Doctor's Wife", but then I had to also say "The Eleventh Hour", and then we talked about how the Christmas specials were all excellent. He really likes "The Curse of the Black Spot", but I'm not exactly sure if it's because he likes the story or because it has a glowing, singing siren.
Twelfth Doctor: This was really hard for me because we've seen so few of them more than once, so it's hard to remember. The ones that stand out for me are "Mummy on the Orient Express", "Flatline", and "Heaven Sent", but I have to qualify all of them with "except for all the Clara bits". The other one that I remember enjoying was "Extremis". His choice was "The Return of Doctor Mysterio", because one, it was fun and it was a superhero story, and two, it was one of the very few episodes during which he didn't either stop the streaming to vent or ragequit.
Thirteenth Doctor: This was also difficult to choose because we haven't rewatched the episodes (though we want to). For me, probably "Fugitive of the Judoon", but also "Village of the Angels", "War of the Sontarans", "Demons of the Punjab" (hm, I'm seeing a trend here as I type), "The Witchfinders", and "It Takes You Away" (except for that dodgy frog; DW needs to admit to itself that its special effects really aren't up to par and stop trying to realize cosmic entities using it). I don't think he actually made a choice. I did point out that he loved "The Battle of Ranskoor av Kolos" when we saw it.
And that's it. Hopefully next year, we'll get to use the convention tickets that will buy when they come up for sale, but we're not holding our breaths (but we are wearing masks).
no subject
Date: 2022-02-26 03:02 pm (UTC)Good choices. This might be the first time I've seen somebody list Earthshock as their fave (it was my first serial and one I haven't rewatched since outside of clips).
Here's mine.
First Doctor-haven't finished but I love The Time Meddler, the Rescue/The Romans, The Aztecs, The Gunfighters, The Celestial Toymaker, The War Machines
Second Doctor- yes Web of Fear is awesome! Also The Moonbase,The Mind Robber, The Invasion
Third Doctor-The Mind of Evil, Planet of Spiders, The Time Monster
Fourth Doctor- City of Death is fun. The book version of Shada, The Brain of Morbius,Keeper of Traken (obviously), Logopolis
Fifth Doctor- Black Orchid, Arc of Infinity (mostly), Mawdryn Undead, Terminus, Castrovalva, (and these are just TV ones, audios would take a while)
Sixth Doctor- Yeah...his run is something else. Have to agree about Varos. Also The Two Doctors
Seventh Doctor- EVERYTHING!
Eighth Doctor- I...actually enjoy that mess of a movie. But Chimes of Midnight is a must listen especially around Christmas
Nine- Boom Town (maybe Father's Day if I rewatch)
Ten- Partners in Crime, Army of Ghosts/Doomsday, Girl in the Fireplace,Human Nature,the three parter starting with Turn Left, Next Doctor
Eleven- A Christmas Carol, The Lodger, Vincent, and I don't mind most of 7B
Twelve- Same, haven't rewatched. But enjoyed Listen and the Heaven Sent two parter. Also Girl Who Died
Thirteen- I see a pattern! But pretty much all of it. :)