Why the Female Doctor Who is a flop.

I liked it, you must have been a bit sneaky to watch it the same time as us.

I do not want to give away spoilers but suffice it to say there's more questions than answers.

I've just got a DVD of Frontier in Space, last story to feature Roger Delgado's master. Not seen it since I was a kid, but I did read the target book.

Only story other than Day of the Daleks to feature Ogrons. I don't know why they didn't keep them, a useful slave race for the daleks.

Episode 5: The Fugitive Judoon

A very good episode; well written and fun to watch. My trollish heart was warmed, at least for one evening. This is by far the best episode of the season... if they keep this up they might just win back their disaffected fans.

Stop here if you don't want spoilers.

My hippie father used to tell this joke in the 1960s. An Astronaut had gone to space and had met God (yes, the real God). When he returned, the networks, the government and NASA all wanted to know what God was like. He replied "some of you are not going to like this.... but She is Black! (Ba ba boom).

It is one of the oldest "woke" cliches there is... the First Doctor was a Black woman... and yet it worked. Why did it work? Because the writing was great. The story was clean, the characters acted as characters without random exposition. They pulled it off with a skill that even a old misogynist could appreciate. There was no sermon needed. She was just The Doctor (and a badass Doctor at that).

The plot in a nutshell. The Judoon (a police race from the Matt Smith years) come to earth to find a "fugitive". The fugitive turns out to be a woman of Jamaican descent living what she thinks is a normal life. When the Judoon show up, her partner as his last act gets her to "break the glass" (literally) to turn off a "chameleon arch" which blocks her memory. (Again... big Spoilers below.)

Surprise.... she is another incarnation of the Doctor. It seems that she is from before William Hartnell (who we know as the first Doctor).

Meanwhile, Grant and later the rest of the family get teleported by (surprise) Jack Harkness (from the Christopher Eccleston era). Jack first mistakes Grant for the Doctor (with a deep kiss) who tell him (to his delight) that the Doctor is now a woman. Jack gives them an ominous message ("beware the lone cyberman") to tell the Doctor and then sends them back to Whittaker.

The old Doctor (or is that the new Doctor... the one that isn't Jody Whittaker) turns out to be a badass. After some banter between the two Doctors, they sand the Judoon packing.

Some thoughts (on what turned out to be a very good episode)

Things I liked....

1. Everyone loved seeing Jack Harkness again. The kiss with Graham (who Jack mistook for the Doctor) was perfect.

2. The "first" Doctor was great. The banter between the two doctors was very fun to watch (and fit right in with earlier Doctor Who material).

3. The Judoon were great. Both silly and menacing. I enjoyed the CGI effects which included expressive faces. When chastened, the Judoon commander made this great expression that communicated guilt and determination... it was well done.

4. They finally started moving the story forward. This episode meant something

5. Jody Whittaker showed her acting talents in this episode. The Doctor is feeling stress and is having trouble letting the "fam" in to support her.

Things that I think might be problems.

1. I don't see the "fam" really gelling. At the end they expressed support for the Doctor. This scene didn't work for me... it didn't ring true.

2. I am worried about how they are changing Doctor Who Cannon. I already said that I will be upset if they erase Missy (the incarnation of the Master brilliantly played by Michelle Gomez).

3. Inserting a Doctor to the beginning of the timeline may cause problems. This is a big change to Doctor Who story, from where she fits in, to the messing up the number of regenerations. I get why the had a Black Woman as the first Doctor. I already said they pulled it off in a way that made me say "well done" in spite of myself. But I will reserve judgement on the whole change to the Doctor's story until we see if they can really fit this into the existing canon.

4. They are really pulling at strings at the core of the Doctor Who Universe. It is not clear that they can really pull this off.

Final Thought

I have griping about the writing all season... this week they really pulled through. This was a fun episode and a impactful episode. Let's see where it goes from here. They have a great deal of latitude for a 21st century woke nonsense if they just give us good writing.

This was a very good episode.

I laughed out loud at the "Judoon platoon is on the ...... lagoon" line. A bit of an inside joke for David Tennant fans.

The writers wrote the line "the Judoon platoon is on the moon" for David Tenant to say as a jab at his Scottish accent. Lagoon? Brilliant!

It's canon, not cannon.

You missed out the most important reference, that of Human Nature.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Nature_(Doctor_Who)

This itself was inspired by a non canonical novel based on Sylvester McCoy's doctor.

This is how it feeds into itself.

I don't believe you either, you just realised that complaining about two female doctor whos when one of them is black and then pretending that's not the reason you're complaining, is just too difficult.

You're also jumping to conclusions about the other doctor automatically assuming she's from the past.

I don't know if anyone is interested in this. I saw it advertised in the Doctor Who magazine. It's audio only. The Diary of River Song.


https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/The_Diary_of_River_Song_(audio_series)

The Journal of Impossible Things | Human Nature | Doctor Who | BBC

The Master Returns | Utopia | Doctor Who





Doctor Who - Utopia - I am The Master





The Master Regenerates | Utopia | Doctor Who

Doctor Who Human Nature Scene 9





Doctor Who - The Family of Blood - The Blue Box

Some lovely bits of banter between the second doctor and Jamie. Patrick Troughton is the reason Doctor Who is still going today. His regeneration was successful in that he did not try to be Hartnell, he made it his own and set the template.

Matt Smith's Doctor was highly influenced by Troughton.

It didn't take long for this to come out.

Your second clip features a picture of Wilson Wilson from Utopia. This Utopia has nothing to do with Doctor Who but is very good indeed. I would recommend it, especially if you like lots of twists.

I thought I'd post something about seasons. Season 5 had widely been touted as one of the most exciting seasons of Doctor Who. It's also the first full season to feature Patrick Troughton, as the regeneration appeared part way through season 4. I may be wrong but the only other time I believed it happened is when Peter Davison regenerated into Colin Baker.

Anyway Season 4 sees the Doctor saying goodbye to Hartnell era Ben and Polly and new companion Victoria emerging in the season finale The Evil of the Daleks.

That turned out to be the last appearance of the daleks until Pertwee became doctor. The feeling was they'd been overused and needed a break with different monsters.

That's what season 5 delivered.

Tomb of the Cybermen.

The third encounter with the cybermen following Hartnell in 10th Planet, which was his last adventure, and the Moonbase which was Troughton's 4th adventure. This is really good with a sense of lurking menace as the cybermen slowly start coming back to life. There's also a good comic scene where Jamie and the Doctor inadvertently hold hands. And all episodes are available.

The Abominable Snowmen

The first encounter with the yeti, controlled by The Great Intelligence, played much later on by Richard E Grant in a Christmas special which turns out to be a prequel to this episode.
It's set in a Tibetan monastery the Doctor has visited before, but things aren't right. The normally friendly monks are quite hostile and the usually quiet and timid yeti have become very violent.

Episodes are lost, but it has been novelised and audio versions are available.

The Ice Warriors

First encounter with these chaps in the frozen future. It's another ice age with scientists using a massive heat ray to keep the ice in check. The someone discovers a frozen body which turns out to be an ice warrior. The leader looks the same as the rest, making him stand out came later.

All episodes are available but two have been animated.

The Enemy of The World

The only non monster one but an enjoyable romp set in 2018 where the Doctors double the evil Salamander is set to take over the World. Interesting to see what they got right, not much. No internet but you can travel around the world by rocket in less than an hour.
All episodes available.

The Web of Fear

The yeti again, this time in London. Noted for first appearance of Lethbridge Stewart. The Great Intelligence wants the Doctor's brain.

One episode missing played with full dialogue and still from production. All the rest are fine and it's really good.

Fury from the Deep

Last episode with Victoria, something nasty is lurking under the North Sea interfering with the gas lines.

Currently unavailable.

The Wheel in Space

Cybermen again, first appearance of Zoe. This is set on a space station where crew keep disappearing, a favourite tactic of the cybermen, prior to invasion of Earth.

This is currently unavailable but is the next story due to be animated. It was supposed to come out in November and it can be pre ordered on Amazon US, but no dates yet.

Link to more detailed episode guide.

https://www.thedoctorwhosite.co.uk/doctorwho/episodes/season-five/

The last season was affectionately known as the monsters season. Another season which is fully available is Season 10. This is the 10th anniversary and the producers decided to pull out the stops. It was also going to be Pertwee's last season but Katy Manning was leaving so he stayed on for another season to get the new companion bedded in.

The Three Doctors

The first time all three doctors had been together was really big. The story is all about time lords and an almost mythical figure from their past out for revenge. It takes all three doctors to defeat it and as a reward the Doctor is given his Tardis controls back. Prior to that Pertwee was stranded on Earth working for Unit in season 7 he's exclusively on Earth and didn't get back into space until the end of season 8 and then it was on a mission for the time lords. That was a device they used quite a bit after receiving complaints about him being stuck on Earth.

Carnival of Monsters

Now he controls the tardis the Doctor goes off on a joyride in space. He materialises inside a fairground attraction, hosts of aliens are kept in miniaturised environments living life on a loop. This itself is in a spaceship. The Doctor and Jo escape, and so do some of the monsters. Noted for 1st appearance of Ian Marter later to play Harry Sullivan.

Frontier in Space

This was originally intended as a twelve parter along with the next dalek adventure, in order to echo the old Dalek adventures of Hartnell but constraints made two six parters instead. Jo and the Doctor arrive in the far future where two huge space empires Earth and Draconia are rubbing up against each other. There's friction and war brewing fomented by the Master and his Ogron mercenaries. The special effects are supposed to be state of the(n) art and I've just got the DVD so I'll let you know. One feature of this season is the work that went into designing the Draconians, they're very distinctive and all the more so for never really appearing again. It's the last appearance of Roger Delgado who died in an accident in Turkey shortly afterwards.

Planet of the Daleks

The Daleks were the ones trying to cause the war between Draconia and Earth so the Doctor aided by the time lords goes after them. They're on a frozen planet where the Daleks have enslaved the native population who are invisible. The Daleks are experimenting with invisibility. The Doctor and Jo are helped by a group of Thals whose ship has crashed on the planet.

The Green Death

This is where Jo leaves and she pretty much does so straight away refusing to join the Doctor on a trip to Metebilis 3 and goes off to a commune in Wales. As it's Manning's last episode all the regular Unit cast are there. It's very ecologically based, evil chemical plant dumping toxins in the mines causing mutant maggots to rise up and kill people. One interesting link to the end of the next season and Pertwee's departure is the voice actor who plays the evil computer behind it all. He also plays the villain in Pertwee's last adventure Planet of the Spiders in which the crystal he brings back from Metebilis 3 also takes centre stage.

Click for a more detailed synopsis.

https://www.thedoctorwhosite.co.uk/doctorwho/episodes/season-ten/

I've just seen the first half of Frontier In Space and the special effects are a lot better than what came before, although nothing by today's standards. It's a good story with a strong sense of paranoia. This is the only picture I could find of one of the Earth soldiers along with Jo the Doctor and some Draconians.

When the soldier first sees the Doctor he asks if he's going to a Fancy Dress.

Just got back from Frome Car Boot where I managed to pick up Genesis of the Daleks DVD for a quid.

I think tonight's episode will tell us very little about the lone cyberman, the other Doctor, Captain Jack, or of Gallifrey and Earth's demise until right at the end when we'll get a few clues. We may even get Jack.

Not knowing what it was, I felt a less than compelling urge to look it up. But look it up I did.

Still unsure...
Is it like a flea market?

I did notice they are there 49 Sundays a year (off around Christmas and New Year) and in all sorts of weather.

Congrats on your find.

I don't know if Flea Market is the right term, they tend to be permanent. Car Boot sales are things that happen weekly or in some cases annually. It's where people can sell what they manage to fit in the car boot. Although things have moved on, there tends to be market traders, a meat van and such, also blokes with lorries who do house clearance.

Frome is regular because it's on concrete, a lot are infields and as mercy of the elements. At Frome there's a guy who sells short order food really cheaply. I have a massive slab of pate for £2 that would have been about £20-£30 normally. It's best before Wednesday though so I'm going to have to cut it up and freeze it.

Frome is a cattle market so you have to deal with signs like 'pig unloading bay,' and peculiar passageways designed to send livestock in certain directions. There was also a poster for sheep scab with a helpline number to ring if you're concerned or personally affected. So far so good.

And i thought Joan Collins (80's tv series Dynasty) was the shoulder pads Queen.
Obviously Dr Who got their first.