"And will you carry your starship on your back, good toad?"
July 9, 2008
Anyone who says that plots from the old Doctor Who series are slow-moving and stodgy in comparison to the stories featured in the revival of the show should look to THE TIME WARRIOR for correction; the old series could move quickly when it wanted to. Here we have an alien crash-landing in medieval England; the aforementioned alien warrior entering into an agreement with and providing advanced weaponry for the local feudal lord; scientists going missing from the twentieth century; and the Doctor and UNIT getting involved. All in the first nine minutes.
By a complete coincidence I watched this serial not long after the new series tried its hand at a Sontaran episode. The comparison smiled on the original. For just one aspect of this, compare the characters who align themselves with the Sontarans in the respective stories. THE TIME WARRIOR gives us Irongron, one of the series' best villains: a powerful and ruthless feudal lord whose rich and witty dialog is the equal of any fictional bad guy. The new series gives us a whiny, annoying and easily-bamboozled teenager. Old school Who wins this round.
Getting back to THE TIME WARRIOR, this serial never seems to rate very highly with fans, but I've never been quite sure why. This story features two things that writer Robert Holmes was particularly apt at creating: excellent dialog and memorable, fun characters. The plot itself is a really nice blending of the historic setting being touched by the fantastic. And it's an extremely intelligent script. Even with all the different factions and characters, everyone's motivation makes perfect sense. While the story and dialog are often very much over the top, everything still logically fits together.
As for the DVD itself, the first thing I must report is that the picture and sound quality are excellent. This won't come as news to purchasers of earlier cleaned-up Doctor Who DVDs, but the image quality seemed especially good this time. Kudos to the Restoration Team.
The DVD commentary with star Elisabeth Sladen, script editor Terrance Dicks and executive producer Barry Letts is a lot of fun and informative although it (and the production note subtitles) fizzle out towards the end. I, for one, was amused that even though production ended for this serial over thirty-four years ago, Barry Letts is still in charge of the other two participants.
While I was watching, I started jotting down memorable lines of dialog to use for the title of this review. I was forced to stop fairly early on for fear of simply copying the entire script verbatim into my notebook. I have no doubt that if you were to print out this script, pin it to the wall and then throw ten darts at random, you'd end up hitting at least nine excellent quotes. If you want to see how the old series got by with great writing and no money, look no further.
underrated gem
(1 of 1 Found this Helpful)
June 19, 2008
The Sontarans were one of the most visually striking villains in Who, and despite appearing only a few times, they have endured. here we see them(or him to be more precise) in all their glory. The Third Doctor is in excellent form as usual. Perfect Who
An overdue release of a great "Doctor Who" story!
(1 of 1 Found this Helpful)
June 4, 2008
England in the Middle Ages: a spaceship crash lands near the castle of Irongron, a brigand and a thug. The alien, a Sontaran warrior named Lynx, gains use of his facilities to repair his ship in return for supplying him and his men with advanced weaponry. Yet needing more advanced assistance in repairing his vessel, Lynx he uses his machinery to reach into the twentieth century to obtain the technology and personnel he needs - an in doing so, comes to the attention of the Doctor.
This is the premise of "The Time Warrior," the inaugural story of the eleventh season of "Doctor Who." From it, viewers are launched into a great tale providing an excellent blend of adventure and menace, with a little fun added for levity. What makes the story notable in the "Doctor Who", though, is the introduction of Sarah Jane Smith, perhaps the most popular companion in the history of the series. An opinionated journalist who is transported back to medieval times when she unwittingly enters the Doctor's TARDIS, she quickly proves herself resourceful and inventive, launching one of the greatest characters of the series.
Given the importance and overall quality of the story, this "Doctor Who" adventure was overdue for a DVD release. With its release, the BBC came through with a quality disk. The transfer and sound quality is good considering the videotape nature of the source. The disk also includes a number of extras. Most notable is a "making-of" documentary with show producer Barry Letts, script editor Terrance Dicks, Elisabeth Sladen, and some of the other actors from the story, who provide a nice behind-the-scenes account of the episodes' production with some interesting trivia, but it also includes new CGI effects for a couple of scenes (unnecessary to the story, but a nice touch) and some of the promotional bits for the show. Overall this is a worthy edition to the growing catalog of "Doctor Who" episodes on DVD and an essential edition to the collection of any fan of the series.
A good first of the season
(1 of 1 Found this Helpful)
May 27, 2008
The Time Warrier is the first of the 11th season and a good start. It was the beginning of Pertwee's final season with a new title sequence that I like. It was the only season with that sequence. As for the story, it was Sarah Jane's first. The story had a tad bit of comedy mixed in, particulary a sort of stoogish act by the Doctor which added that much more. You'll know when you see it. I don't know if I'd call this the best of Pertwee's era, but it was good. What faults I saw were minor. Let me also state that you can watch this DVD as the episodes were originally made or with some new CGI effects.
The first from Jon Pertwee's final season and the beginning of Sarah Jane Smith
(2 of 2 Found this Helpful)
May 23, 2008
Jon Pertwee's final season has always been one of my favorites and this first story from that season is no exception. This show also marks the first appearence of both Sarah Jane Smith and the Sontarans to the series. Most of this story is set in the past giving us another sci fi/historical adventure complete with castles, horses and missing scientists. As with all BBC historical pieces, this one looks very nice and the location footage is very pleasing to the eye. A Doctor Who story not to be missed.
