Doctor Who - The Trial Of A Time Lord [1986] [1963]
£37.49
What for a sale and look in the Bargain bin - I have this story/box set on VHS and have recently watched it just to remind myself how dire it is.I will not go into great detail about the story line as others have done that already. People who started watching Dr Who in the 80 s seem to rate this story quite highly, personally I think it was the worst ever season.If you like this story thats great but if it is your first foray into classic Dr Who and you hate it don t be put off buying other stories like the excellent War Machines. I will be buying this at some time to see the extras & the work of the resoration team but will wait until the price drops.
The Best Who Season Ever (And The Most Underated) - This is in my opinion the best Who season ever and definitely the most underated. Colin Baker s period is not liked by fans. His first season s main problem was the endless bickering with Peri- a stupid 80s idea that bogged down great films like Indiana Jones (especially Temple Of Doom) and Star Wars.In this season, Baker is toned down and is at ease with Peri in the first story. This season was actually ahead of it s time- a 14 episode season (albeit 25 minute episodes) with seperate stories leading to a finale- sounds familiar? (I know there was also The Key Of Time season for Tom Baker, but i have sadly never seen that- so i can t comment on that).Here is the breakdown:The Mysterious Planet (10/10)- A perfect story with the introduction of a great character Sabalom Glitz (who returned in the finale and also for a Sylvestor Mccoy story).Mindwarp (8/10)- Messy and problematic, but still quite fascinating. Shame about that annoying character from Vengeance On Varos. Bizarre ending, changed in the finale.Terror Of The Verviods (10/10)- Brilliant Agatha Christie style story. The Ultimate Foe (8/10)- Controversial but fascinating.Overall it s not perfect- no Who season is- but it s a thrilling season and in this season Colin Baker was the ultimate doctor, Tom Baker style.Sadly he was then sacked and replaced by Sylvester Mccoy for the last 3 classic Who seasons which were bad other than a brilliant Dalek story and a surprisingly promising last season, which proved that in any era the concept of Who is just too thrilling.I understand the whole stories will be released from the classic era. Good- the earlier they will be released the better! I think they should be relased as complete seasons.I have to say the prices are rediculously high though!
Belies its reputation, this one! - After an 18-month rest and doubt cast over its future, The Trial of a Time Lord is a wry summing up of Doctor Who at the time. Just as the BBC were scrutinizing the Doctor s adventures, he is brought before his own people who sit him down to watch some stories and highlight what a meddlesome and reckless pain he is...But this is not clips-show - all the stories are brand new productions. The first is amusing but a bit low-key, the second is a clever post-modern affair that deconstructs Doctor Who as a way of prosecuting the Doctor and the third is a traditional monster yarn. It all hurtles to a revelation-packed finale but, to be fair, it was all far too involving for casual viewers and was a bit of a mis-step for the show to improve its standing (why not just good, traditional stories with no confusing continuity references?). Saying this, a DVD copy allows for a better chance to piece this one together and, although it suffers all the Doctor Who flaws (some cheap design and the odd dodgy performance), it is enormous fun. Colin Baker is a riot as the flamboyant show-man-like Sixth Doctor in his bizarre outfit and of the 14-episodes here, the eighth and the thirteenth are a must-see. The extras are dynamite!
It should have been so much better - In 1986 Doctor Who returned to televsion 18 months after it originally been cancelled by Michael Grade. The cancellation being changed to a suspension by Michael Grade. Sadly the proposed season which would have included an adventure set in Blackpool and the return of the Ice Warriors and Sil, in an story entitled Mission to Magnus, was scrapped and instead the production team decided to give the whole season an overall theme in which The Doctor was put on trial by his own race The Timelords. Four seperate stories would make up the season which would be used as evidence in the trial. The new theme was good, as was the excellent opening shot of the Timelord space station. After that things went down hill. The courtroom is bland and uninteresting and the actual theme of the series was likely to alienate the casual viewer. The first story The Mysterious Planet is average.Glitz and Dibber are interesting new characters, but overall the story is not the best. Mindwarp is also something of a mess with a confused storyline. Easily the best story is Terror of the vervoids which is a murder mystery on a spaceliner in 2986.Finally everything is resolved in The Ultimate Foe. Colin Baker s contract was not renewed after this seasom. This was a travesty as he was an excellent Doctor who clearly had much more to give.
Well I m Buying It - I bought this on VHS,in the days when I bought everything, so have seen it a few times. Nowadays I m restricting my purchases of the improved DVD versions to the ones which made an impact, as many stories including most Tom Baker s and nearly all the Peter Davison s would make me want to take up knitting, just to sit in front of the TV, or maybe I could peel potatoes or something. Yawn.I might also hope that no-one else is around. Imagine someone walking into the room when the man is clutching at the green bubblepack on his infected arm, in The Ark in Space, or the voice of the Dalek coming out of the water, end ep1 Dalek Invasion of Earth, or the car driving past the maggots in The Green Death. Cringe.Mindwarp in this set contains, in Peri s final scene, one of the best and most scary scenes in the entire original series, and I m probably buying the set for this story, although the Trial itself is entertaining, and the first story quite good with Joan Sims as the warrior queen.It s going to be expensive and I really prefer to watch the first 2 doctors, a different era of TV, so it s not at the top of my list. But I don t think overall the stories and presentation are any worse than anything else and I quite like the Colin Baker doctor.