Heartland

timsinister wrote: You cheeky git!

Sylv is my favourite Doctor, the first I saw. I'd blame his poor reputation on the conspiracy to kill DW in '89 - so in this case John Powell, Controller of BBC 1 pulled a 'Von' and axed the show from behind the scenes.

Case closed!

Pfft. Colin Baker. Listen to the audio dramas, the man would have been fantastic if given a fair shot.

I think "Delta and The Bannermen" might have contributed a bit more to Sylv's poor reputation. The sight of Ken Dodd being murdered was the first time I burst out laughing watching Who! Oh, and evil Richard Briers in "Paradise Towers".That and the annoying Mockney girl companion who made me want to throw things at the screen whenever she appeared. I honestly preferred Bonnie Langford..

WHODAMAN? Matt Smith
A mashup video what I done...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3vgW2DqfhE

orchoid wrote:WHODAMAN? Matt Smith
A mashup video what I done...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3vgW2DqfhE

Prefer this one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6zVTqoNE_A

Matt Smith and Craig Ferguson reveal why all Daleks are male

Funny as fook

timsinister wrote:Sylv is my favourite Doctor, the first I saw. I'd blame his poor reputation on the conspiracy to kill DW in '89

Well, his inability to act might have had something to do with it too

metal on metal wrote:

timsinister wrote:Sylv is my favourite Doctor, the first I saw. I'd blame his poor reputation on the conspiracy to kill DW in '89

Well, his inability to act might have had something to do with it too

A bit harsh I think. He was definitely shafted on some of the stories, but on stories like Curse of Fenric, his Dalek one (forgotten the name) and a few others he was a star. He always played a bit darker than the other doctors and was all the better for it.

Also, the Big Finish audio plays are great (thank you internet!) - both Sylv and Colin have really added to their characters and are both vastly better than on screen. Not as good as Peter though, never as good as Peter (guess who was MY Doctor when I was growing up?! )

Oh and today is the Doctor's 47th birthday! Happy Birthday!!

metal on metal wrote:

timsinister wrote:Sylv is my favourite Doctor, the first I saw. I'd blame his poor reputation on the conspiracy to kill DW in '89

Well, his inability to act might have had something to do with it too

Up to and including "Dragonfire" he was terrible( although the scene in Dragonfire where Kane dies gave me nightmares, as I recall!), but after that he gets much better.
"Survival" was a very good story, although I'm not too sure about the Cheetah People prosthetics. And Anthony Ainley actually got to play the Master subtly rather than as a panto villain.

I also found that episode of Dead Ringers with him in very endearing. "Tom..have you been round the pub..?"

I think if we're discussing "worst" Who's, I'd have to give my vote to Eccleston, playing his usual role as a Northern misery-guts. Being in a programme that people actually enjoyed watching must have been torture for him. Those times he smiled in Who made me wonder if his skin would snap and fall around his ankles. I was amazed he even knew how to do a cheerful grin, rather than his trademark world-weary sneer, or scornful smirk.

Anyway, before anyone says I'm being purely negative, Youtube has a lot of old Who videos up, and I thoroughly recommend "Timelash". Colin's great, and Paul Darrow's high-camp acting is a joy to behold. Plus he's dressed as "Bohemian Rhapsody" era Mercury!

<- Likes Chris Eccleston

You're doing this on purpose now aren't you?

tv needs more manc misery guts. there's far too many cheery folk on the box at the moment

markfiend wrote:<- Likes Chris Eccleston

You're doing this on purpose now aren't you?

I don't seem to have to even try, do I?

Don't get me wrong, he's not a bad actor at all! But lets face it, you wouldn't hire him to be the wacky neighbour in a flat-share sitcom, would you?
On the other hand if what you're producing can be decribed as either bleak, realistic, gritty,hard-hitting, or just plain "Northern", you can guarantee Eccleton will be in it!
For me he's a bit like Sean Connery in that he only ever plays himself and everyone says how well he plays it!

I saw him at the West Yorkshire Playhouse years ago as Hamlet. A damn sight better than David Tennant was on the TV adaptation the other Christmas...

But yeah, Hamlet pretty much is the definition of bleak now you mention it..

Saw Tom Baker in the Hand of Fear recently. It wasn't terribly good. Maybe time (ahem) hasn't been kind to the Baker Doctor. Runs and Hides!

Exactly! If you want to amuse yourself, try to picture Chris Eccleston telling a knock-knock joke. It's something about his eyes I reckon, he looks about a minute away from glassing you with a bottle of Newcastle Brown.

As for Tom Baker, he's pretty much the image of the Doctor for anyone over about thirty. He was the Doctor for so long and was such a larger than life individual too. I hope they can persuade him to come back for one more episode, maybe the 50th anniversary celebrations. "Talons of Weng Chiang" poops over any episode of the new series from one hell of a great height!
(Even with the "giant rat". Oh dear, oh dear..)

streamline wrote:

metal on metal wrote:

timsinister wrote:Sylv is my favourite Doctor, the first I saw. I'd blame his poor reputation on the conspiracy to kill DW in '89

Well, his inability to act might have had something to do with it too

A bit harsh I think. He was definitely shafted on some of the stories, but on stories like Curse of Fenric, his Dalek one (forgotten the name) and a few others he was a star. He always played a bit darker than the other doctors and was all the better for it.

Also, the Big Finish audio plays are great (thank you internet!) - both Sylv and Colin have really added to their characters and are both vastly better than on screen. Not as good as Peter though, never as good as Peter (guess who was MY Doctor when I was growing up?! )

Oh and today is the Doctor's 47th birthday! Happy Birthday!!

Well said! Remembrance of the Daleks is what you're thinking of, by Ben Aaronovitch, and one of the all-time great Dalek episodes - Special Weapons Dalek, anyone?

I like to think that the Seventh Doctor was breaking new territory with his darker persona (which I agree took some time to manifest, Time and the Rani is a goddamned parody of itself), but then I'm biased.

Mentioning the darker side of the Doctor, Eccleston's Ninth Doctor was supposed to be the survivor of the Last Great Time War, which had massacred the Time Lords and the Daleks, so he was understandably miffed - I guess that's how RTD told Eccleston to play it.

timsinister wrote: I like to think that the Seventh Doctor was breaking new territory with his darker persona (which I agree took some time to manifest, Time and the Rani is a goddamned parody of itself), but then I'm biased.

Awww, bless 'im!! That is adorable! Did you buy the outfit or make it?[/i]

DeWinter wrote:Up to and including "Dragonfire" he was terrible( although the scene in Dragonfire where Kane dies gave me nightmares, as I recall!), but after that he gets much better.

To be fair, it was the stories and the circumstances that were terrible. He was thrown into Time and the Rani at very short notice with a script written for Colin Baker and was given no idea of how they wanted him to play it. In his next story, Paradise Towers, he was fantastic and his last season is one of the best in the shopw's history.

DeWinter wrote:I think if we're discussing "worst" Who's, I'd have to give my vote to Eccleston, playing his usual role as a Northern misery-guts. Being in a programme that people actually enjoyed watching must have been torture for him. Those times he smiled in Who made me wonder if his skin would snap and fall around his ankles. I was amazed he even knew how to do a cheerful grin, rather than his trademark world-weary sneer, or scornful smirk.

Couldn't agree more. Horribly miscast and he clearly knew it from the blatant discomfort with which he played almost every scene. He didn't grin as much as gurn and was impossible to like in the role. RTD said more than once that the Doctor should be the man everyone would want to travel the universe with. Would anyone want to travel with that miserable git calling them a stupid ape and always relying on someone else to save the universe for him?

Well, you can't blame Colin for not wanting to film the regeneration scene after he'd just been fired!:lol: The dialogue does sound more Colin than Sylv for most of the episode. I have no idea why it was such an awful story though, "Mark of the Rani" was pretty good, although perhaps the Master was somewhat superfluous..
Apparantly the idea behind Colin Baker's unhinged and arrogant version of the Doctor was that over the years he would gradually mellow, and by the time the whole "Trial" serial came around he was much more likable (and about five stone heavier..!). Maybe they planned something similar with Eccleston's version before he got an attack of the ac-torr's and flounced off?

What think you all of McGann's version? Granted the film was bad (and very clearly tailored purely for an American audience), he was himself pretty decent in it. I wouldn't have objected to him getting at least a few episodes, or some kind of story as to what actually happened to his version.
I also admit to enjoying Eric Roberts in that movie. I haven't seen such gleefully OTT acting since Alan Rickman in "Robin Hood; Prince of Thieves"! I particularly loved him striking a pose on top of a stairwell in full ceremonial regalia and announcing how he does so enjoying dressing for the occassion..

No-one does gleefully OTT like Alan Rickman. He's quite often slated for it but I think he's hilarious.

McGann was great. Roberts was awful. Rickman is a national treasure.

McGann was good at it, and doing the best he could with a limp script. Eric was...forgettable.

DeWinter wrote: Awww, bless 'im!! That is adorable! Did you buy the outfit or make it?

All purchased, I could no more make a pullover than I could a time rotor.



Busy weekend.

Will no one speak up for dear old Peter?





Would've been great, if not for the scripts.

Shameless cash in. Next!

Erudite wrote:Will no one speak up for dear old Peter?





Would've been great, if not for the scripts.

Imagine him up against a Christopher Lee "Master"!! Would've been ace.
He's outside the continuity really, bit like Rowan Atkinson in the Comic Relief episode. Wouldn't have minded seeing Rowan as the Doctor, thinking on it.
I suppose Tim Curry and John Cleese are far too old now to have any chance in the role, and Stephen Fry is too busy throwing girly strops on Twitter and talking bollocks in "Attitude"to do anything else.
Been re-watching the last series, and have changed my mind about Amy Pond. Still not sure I think some of the early episodes were age-appropriate, but she has at least a bit of a personality. Anyone who can watch Billy Piper or Freema Agyeman when they open their mouths without cringing is a better man than I. She reminds me a bit of Tegan and Peri with the constant snottiness. Think I prefer Smith to Tennant, Smith is actually a bit weird, whereas Tennant playing the role all Mockney geezer didn't sit well.

Karen Gillan in Crumpet Companion magazine article.

Scottish lasses. Ye cannae gae wrung.