Doctor Who Season 9
SPOILERS TOTAL. You've been warned.
060: Day of the Daleks 1972 January 1・8・15・22
(First watched 2024-11-19, -20, -22, -24) We never get a good idea what's really going on in the wider world, except when the Brigadier starts freaking out about impending world war.
These Ogrons seem very budget Klingon, except they predate the post-TOS Klingon look by nearly a decade.
These guerilla fighters from the future... why the standard camo? Did they think that would help them blend in in a 20th century British villa? Do they just wear that everywhere? Anyway, though it hasn't been explained on the show explicitly yet, seems their plan is to kill Sir Reginald Styles and thus change history in such a way that the Daleks don't take over... though I'm not really sure how a world war one way or the other would stop the Daleks, they're way more powerful than 20th or 21st century Earth.
The disintegrator gun effect is very well done and satisfying to watch! But... the Doctor using it to vaporize several people seems pretty out of character!
In the end the Daleks fighting from the future and the guerilla from the future are vaporized by an explosion. That's... a pretty clean way to avoid dealing with "what happens to a person from an erased future".
061: The Curse of Peladon 1972 January 29・February 5・12・19
(First watched 2024-11-26, -27, -29, -12-01) So the Doctor actually got the TARDIS working by his own effort? I mean, he didn't land it where he wanted to, but he wasn't able to do that BEFORE so it's not a new problem to him.
I'm not sure why they jumped out of the TARDIS when it was teetering over the edge? If they were just going to retrieve it and go back in... better to just stay in and not need retrieving? Surely the TARDIS has its own internal gravity and whatnot so falling over a cliff in it wouldn't be a problem?
I like how the Doctor's preconceived notions are turned on their sides a bit. He sees Ice Warriors and thinks about his previous run-ins with him, but unless they're hiding something for the later episodes... they're diplomats of their species.
I'm not sure when this story is supposed to be taking place. The Ice Warriors rule Mars in the distant past. But if it's a time when they were active in the galaxy, it's too early for humans from Earth to be traveling the galaxy? Or it could be a future time when Ice Warriors have reclaimed Mars as their own?
This planet is a bit weird. I mean, sure, the visitors refer to it as a barbarous place a few times, but... surely they're space travelers if they're in negotiations to join a galactic federation? So is a castle of stone lit by torches purely an aesthetic choice? Also the lack of security cameras?
Near the end of episode 3 after the Doctor has mentioned the tunnels running below the citadel, it's thrown back at him "You're just expecting us to waste time searching for these mythical tunnels to postpone your fight to the death!" I don't understand why neither the Doctor nor Jo said "Uhh, no, we've been there several times and can take you there directly this very minute." Instead they just proceeded to the fight to the death.
Traitor Arcturus was a very cool-looking prop, I must say.
So King Peladon was played by David Troughton, son of Patrick Troughton. At this age I would not detect a big resemblance, but in his older age I can see it more.
So in the end the Doctor blames this trip on the Time Lords once again manipulating him. I dunno, maybe that's the case this time, but he's never had trouble dropping into the right place at the wrong time without their interference. BUT it provides a convenient excuse for an occasional off planet trip during this Earth exile.
062: The Sea Devils 1972 February 26・March 4・11・18・25・April 1
(First watched 2024-12-03, -04) I wondered how they'd keep the Master contained given his mind control powers, and as it turns out... they really didn't. He just faked it and took over a whole damn facility, with the Doctor so far none the wiser. I enjoyed seeing him watch some... clankers? Stop-motion 1970s BBC stuff. (Google tells me: Clangers)
The Doctor is lucky he doesn't get shot, barging into military installations as he does.
So the "sea devils" name just came from one scared mumbling guy also saying things like "Monsters!" That's... a pretty poor source for a name we're still using 50 years later. The doctor says they're like the Silurians, but evolved to live underwater. So did the Silurians and "sea devils" cover the surface and underwater during the same period? These sea devils seem fine above water for at least short periods, though, which seems like a pretty big evolutionary advantage over Silurians which probably don't do as well underwater.
An interesting difference from what the Master has done in the past is that at least Trenchard is not hypnotized. He's just... gullible enough to have been convinced the Master will do some good. So were they right about everyone there being mind-control-proof after all?
It seems a bit on the nose that the clothes the sea devils wear is basically... big fish nets.
Over the years it seems there are quite a few groups who want to claim (or reclaim) the Earth, with the Doctor trying to set up a system where they can share with the humans and *looks around* it keeps not happening. Well, except maybe with the Zygons much later on.
On the whole, other than a few nice moments like the Master watching Clangers, this felt like too much of a generic serial. "This is what Doctor Who was like in the early 70s", but nothing outstanding. Retread of the first Silurians serial but less interesting.
063: The Mutants 1972 April 8・15・22・29・May 6・13
(First watched ) They're really starting to trot out the Time Lords as an excuse to get the TARDIS back into action without REALLY changing the status quo. In this case there's a special message box the Doctor is supposed to deliver... which it seems like they could've just sent to the destination right away? Of course they really need the Doctor to intervene in the situation, but do they really think he can improvise through an unknown situation better than any of them can deal with it with much greater knowledge and precise time travel available? As viewers we know this to be true, but the Time Lords aren't supposed to view themselves as so impotent, are they?
60 years into the franchise the history of the future is very inconsistent, but just this far in there's a lot less to get in the way. Last year we saw the Doctor and Jo go 500 years into the future and saw a period of Earth civilization in great expansion, both from colonists living on new planets and corporations mining them for resources. Now we've jumped another 500 years forward and Earth civilization has spread itself too thin with bad decisions. Ruining the livability of Earth and other planets in their influence with too much dirty tech. Too much abusing of other species they "partner" with on colonies. But even here where Earth is trying to disentangle itself from this particular planet, the greed of the colonial administrators is forcing the situation to continue.
064: The Time Monster 1972 May 20・27・June 3・10・17・24