mrv3000 | Two kind of 'meh' episodes and Shada.

The Seeds of Death

This was another one of those episodes where I'd put it firmly in the "made for kids" category. Just kind of silly most the time. (Yes, Doctor Who is silly most the time, but I've come to recognize the varying levels of camp.)
The Doctor getting all geeky with the museum owner was amusing. *pats*
I am renaming Zoe to Gidget. Just 'cause.
Poor TARDIS - constantly got ragged on by Jamie and Gidget. *sniff*
Between the Gidge, Vicki and Victoria, really seems like they were trying to replicate Susan. I swear they all look the same.
Oh, and the foam baths everyone kept getting from the seeds of death were funny. :D
I just noticed the title of the episode after this one - "The Space Pirates." How cool is that?

The Android Invasion

For some reason I've listed Harry as a companion in this episode on my Old Who list. Not sure why though, since, while he is around, he's really hanging out at UNIT.
The concept of the story was interesting - setting up duplicates on another planet to plan an invasion - but I kept saying "yes, but...?" so many times at the plot holes, that my brain finally just shut down.
The Kraal have rhino noses. Wonder if we'll be seeing them again.
And even though the Doctor and Sarah Jane go tooling around to other planets, she still goes home at night. This has gotta be unique to Sarah Jane. Only other person I can think of who went back home was Rose, but that was for visits rather than permanently dwelling there.
So, stick the key into the TARDIS door and it will eventually take off? This was another "yes, but...?" moment. But speaking of the key - Sarah Jane doesn't have her own key? Maybe because it's not her home?

Shada

Great reconstruction with Tom Baker storytelling the gaps. I was surprised just how much of it *was* there. You'd think they could have just finished it up when the production strike was over. Seems a waste. But K-9's voice wasn't processed, right? That's why it sounds weird? Oh...it was a different actor that season. (Thanks, wiki.) But anyway, really liked this one in spite of the gaps.
The Doctor and Romana punting down the river - so cute! Liked Romana II much better than in other episodes - bit more snarky again like Romana I. And the scene where the Doctor pins a medal on her and they salute each other? BWAH! Loved it!
It cracked me up that the absent-minded professor just kept pouring tea into anyone that would walk in the door. *door opens when he's in the other room* "How many of there are you? I've only got seven cups!" The Professor and Romana consumed roughly a gallon of tea. :D
Great lines in this Douglas Adams episode:

- "More tea, my dear?" "Lovely. Two lumps, no sugar."

- "Think of me as a paradox in an anomaly and get on with your tea." (Such a *great* line for a plot hole. :D)

- "Doctor, you will give to me everything you have in your mind." "I'm not mad about your tailor."

- "Do you understand Einstein?" "Yes." "And quantum theory?" "Yes." "And Planck?" "Yes." "And Newton?" "Yes." "And Schoenberg?" "Of course." "You've got a lot to unlearn."

- "I'm thinking. And it depresses me."
Awww. British youth stand around on uni campuses and sing for the hell of it, don't they? *pinches cheeks*
So Time Lords just disappear when they die on their last incarnation, eh?
Chris was the likable version of Adam. :D
I saw on wiki that Shada was made into an audio play with Eight. But it's got Romana in it. Is it just Paul McGann playing "the Doctor" regardless of incarnation? Because Eight and Romana in the same story is giving me a headache.

Because Eight and Romana in the same story is giving me a headache

Eight and Romana is cute! =D It's really good, actually.

^__^

Is it *supposed* to be Eight? Like, is the story that they met up again in a few hundred years?

Exactly. There's also a Flash animation version of it on the Beeb website. They finagled it pretty neatly, with Eight showing up on Gallifrey (where Romana is President) to say "Hey, somebody's messed with our memories of this thing that happened back when I was Four and you were tooling around with me!" And she's all, "Um, WTF??" I've never actually watched/listened to the whole thing, but did think that was a clever way to set it up.

I'm confused - so is it they said it all happened before but they did it all again because their memories were erased of the event? *starts to cry*

And what exactly is the timeline of Romana being President? Is that something that only happened in the audios? Or was that on TV as well?

(For some reason I'm getting more and more twitchy about audios lately. *wonders if I'm becoming a TV canon snob*)

I don't remember exactly -- I just watched the beginning of it once. But I recall the conceit being rather clever, like it somehow made a nod to the story being "lost." I think they do sort of do the events over again (but not exactly the same) because someone is messing with history or something.

Heh. Okay, that is kinda cool.

I think Romana is President in books as well as audios, but I'm fuzzy on it.

Huh. For some reason I had been thinking that the Doctor was still President by the time the Time War rolled around. Oh, an absent President, but still. Kinda made me give him an additional layer of guilt since not only was he the only one to survive (that we yet know of) but he was in charge, so to speak.

The audios I've heard have ranged from quite good to chew-your-own-leg-off dreadful, with the former mostly being later ones. I think they took a bit to get the formula down. So far I haven't run into too much that's terribly WTFish in them; that seems much more likely in the books, on balance.

I have to admit that the one audio I've listened to was really good - The Chimes of Midnight. I think I have to stop lumping books and audios in the same category. Have run across my share of "the hell?" in regards to books lately, including one reference where it's apparently Very Bad to have a pregnant woman be a time traveler as it will rapidly age the child after its born. *ponders my very basic knowledge of organic development and WTFs*

Huh. For some reason I had been thinking that the Doctor was still President by the time the Time War rolled around. Oh, an absent President, but still.

It's not established one way or the other, but it's not out the realm of possibility. Romana could be acting president, like Borusa and Flavia. "Acting" becomes a long-term gig when you're acting in the Doctor's stead, after all...

"Acting" becomes a long-term gig when you're acting in the Doctor's stead, after all...

*snickers*

I'd love to see him fast-talking someone into standing in for him. "Just think of the robe! You love robes, don't you? Sure you do! And if you're into music, the Harp of Rassilon! Plus all of the constant ass-kissing. You'll love it! BYE!!"

(But actually, I'd been toying with the idea of the Doctor throwing out being President during the Time War in fic, but I may just skip it. It's not really that critical, just would add a bit more guilt.)

NOT THAT I WAS PLANNING D/R BABYFIC.

But now you'll have to, just to do your bit to cancel the high level of WTF in the example you cited. I mean, just, no.

You can't even really lump all the books together. You really have to take the BBC imprint ones and the Virgin "New Adventures" separately, even though some of them are written by the same people.

But now you'll have to, just to do your bit to cancel the high level of WTF in the example you cited. I mean, just, no.

HA! Spite pregnancy! :D

But the discovery came about when someone was pondering why a couple of fics have had the Doctor and Rose camping out with Jackie while Rose was pregnant. I think in one case, they wound up staying for like 18 years! However, I'm thinking the Doctor would go postal in a matter of *days*.

But anyway, it just doesn't make sense. If it's bad before the kid was born, it'd be bad after as well. And really, bad for anyone in the development stage (like 95% of the Doctor's companions.) Not sure if this was a TARDIS situation in the book, but my understanding is that a TARDIS protects its occupants from stuff like that.

You can't even really lump all the books together. You really have to take the BBC imprint ones and the Virgin "New Adventures" separately, even though some of them are written by the same people.

Which are the good ones and which are the crazy ones?

Overall, the NAs tend to get more out there, from what little I know. I've only read a fraction of either, but that's my impression.

Two kind of 'meh' episodes and Shada.

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