Timelash and More

[meddow]

Poor Timelash. You’ve just got to feel sorry for it since the making of documentary on the DVD sole function seems to be answering the question of why is Timelash crap? I didn't think it that bad. If I was a Doctor Who fan during the 1980s, I'd probably be mortified by it. But watching it know knowing that the DVD practically comes with a warning that it's bad, and there's not chance of non-Who fans watching it, it's not the worst thing in the world. I can even point out some good things: Herbert was adorkable, and the unexpected reference to Three and Jo was lovely (although it seemed random at times and not random-in-a-good-way).

However, the serial does suffer from Six and Peri interaction that comes off more as bullying than banter, but that's not a problem limited to just Timelash, and I cannot like Six while I feel he is being so horrible to Peri, or the show when the Doctor-Companion relationship makes me uncomfortable.

It also suffers from being a serial from the 1980s. I adore Nyssa and Five and I like Ace and what I've seen so far of series 26, but generally I prefer watching 60s and 70s serials since majority of the 80s companions are either bland or unappealing, the music is so awful at times it makes me want to hide behind the sofa and it's at this point that the special effects become truly cringe-worthy. It was interesting on the making of doco that someone pointed out that JN-T wanted the companions to be 'girly', hence why Peri spends most of the serial tied up and screaming. I didn't realise it was official policy before. Anyway, all that is also not restricted to just Timelash.

Also I recently listened to The Boy that Time Forgot. Which is good but I'm not regarding it as canon. It was a retcon too far, one of those things - like River Song knowing the Doctor's name - that just didn't sit right with me. I do have to give Big Finish much credit the giant spider freaking me out. It was the most effective giant spider this arachnophobe has ever come across (probably because and sound effects and imagination are usually far more effective than CGI, model and prosthetics).

And Here There Be Monsters reminded me why Barbara is so just incredibly fantastic. She doesn't do all that much, but what she does do is just so very Barbara: awesome and understated. At the head of my personal pantheon of companion worship stands Barbara (and Sarah and Donna).

Comments

[ragdoll.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen Timelash in forever, but yes, it's absolute crap. I remember watching it and wondering what kind of drugs the writers had been on. It also bizarrely makes reference to the Third Doctor without any real explanation iirc, and of course, it stars Paul Darrow who just chews up the scenery as he's want to do. It's just...bad.

I am not a big Peri fan. She falls just short of Mel in terms of Worst Companion Ever, which is a big point of contention between me and my best friend, who worshipped her at the time. (Nicola Bryant's a bitch in her own right which only makes my dislike of Peri stronger. I will admit I haven't listened to any of the Peri-centric audios, but I've heard she's less annoying there)

[meddow.livejournal.com]

Those Third Doctor references are a bit odd. I wondered at first if there was some Third Doctor serial set on the same planet - but no. But, I'm used to the New Who's 'Nine did not exist' attitude, so a reference to a past Doctor was a nice surprise.

I'm not a huge fan of Peri either, I find her boring though, rather than irritating. And me and my best friend have been known to get into Rose vs. Martha fights ;)

[lefaym.livejournal.com]

My theory is that by the time the 80s came around, they were so many people who had an idea of what a companion "should" be, that the role was narrowed down significantly, so that their relationship with the Doctor had to be explicitly asexual, they had to play up the screaming and girliness, and the Doctor's role as "authority figure" etc. As a result you get companions who are wooden and unlikeable until Ace, where they seem to have realised that the role of companion needs to evolve, rather than be set in stone.

[meddow.livejournal.com]

I think you're right. There is this stereotype of the companion as the girl who asked the Doctor questions and screams. Anyone who watches enough of the classic series can list off Companions that are nothing at all like this from the 60s and 70s. But in the 1980s, it becomes true.

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

Most of it was John Nathan-Turner's fault: he put it on record that when he came in he thought the Four-Romana-K9 regular cast were too powerful for villains to be threatening to them, and too intellectual for the average audience person to relate to. He thought for a long time that companions had to be msotly useless or they drew attention away from the Doctor.

[airie-fairy.livejournal.com]

I have not seen Timelash yet, but what I've seen of Six and Seven's eras can range, sometimes in the same story, from awesome to painfully eighties. And Six and Peri from awesome to painful (Mark of the Rani made me a bit sad after I liked them in Vengeance on Varos and Attack of the Cybermen). What is the Three and Jo reference it makes? Is it just the locket picture thing?

But Five's era, I really love. It doesn't seem like its camp is quite as glaring as it gets in later eras, and I just love the arc and the way he plays the Doctor and a lot of the storylines, really and truly. It's one of my favorite Who eras. It's okay, I know I'm alone. As to the companions...Adric is okay, sometimes a bit funny; Tegan I am, erm, not so fond of; Nyssa I'm in love with and I think her backstory is brilliant and the way she carries herself is brilliant and her departure is brilliant (if lacklustre in execution, oh Terminus...), and Turlough I think is really interesting and well-unpacked a personality, if an ass sometimes. Peri I love, but I make no bones about her fragilities. I've seen too little Ace and still only know Mel from audios. *shrug*

The Boy That Time Forgot...I keep changing my mind whether or not its canon. Sometimes I do mental backflips and decide that "the society ceasing to exist when Adric leaves it" means him surviving and arriving there is undone, despite the consequences it spawned (an adventure, that poor guy dying) still happened because it was before (sort of...) it got undone, so that I don't have to accept that Adric really actually grew old and vicious and bitter but I can still accept the audio, which I quite liked.

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

The Sixth Doctor smashes the Third Doctor's face in!

[airie-fairy.livejournal.com]

...? I NEED ELABORATION!

[meddow.livejournal.com]

Tis true. The Sixth Doctor smashes a portrait of the Third Doctor to reveal a mirror, which saves the day.

[meddow.livejournal.com]

Mark of the Rani is actually my favourite Six and Peri serial. Although I haven't seen Varos or Attack yet to compare.

Besides the portrait that the Doctor smashes, Peri saves her life by naming Jo from a picture to a bunch of revolutionaries. You'd like that bit :)

I've actually run into a few people who rate Five's era quite highly, so you're not alone. If Five's era was like Big Finish's Five and Nyssa audios, it'd probably be my favourite or at least top three. I just love Nyssa, she's always been my favourite thing about 80s Who.

I think mental backflip may be the right way to treat The Boy that Time Forgot, because it was good, I just didn't like the new canon it presented us with.

[airie-fairy.livejournal.com]

Oh, there are parts of Mark of the Rani where Six/Peri are absolutely adorable. And then bits where it goes over the line.

YES. YES, I WOULD. <33333

My favorite Who eras rank Letts/Hinchcliffe first and Five second. Now, if I'm including the Five/Nyssa audios ("season 19B"), then Five's era might go third. But yes, I love it.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Timelash was my first Six serial, and it took me eons to get back to the poor guy, because Timelash... yeah. However, the audios really give Colin Baker a chance to shine - fabulous scripts, and both a great new companion - the one and only Dr. Evelyn Smythe, 55 years old historian - and adventures with the old companions where the writing for them is way better as well (which is nice for Nicola Bryant and Bonnie Langford, as it allows them to show what they're made of as well. So now I love Six as much, if not more, than many another version of the Doctor, but it really needed the audios to accomplish that. andrastewhite wrote a great Six defense here:

http://andrastewhite.livejournal.com/283950.html

[meddow.livejournal.com]

I love Big Finish so very much for giving Six some decent stories. I can see the Doctor Colin Baker's going for during his era, but the writing really lets him down and the dynamic with Peri should have been given much more thought. Thanks for pointing me to that defense. Many of andrastewhite's recs I haven't check out yet and I'll be sure to do so.