Episode #146

[Trev (DWP)]

We have already devoted episodes to our favourite Doctor Who episodes, now its time to explore the seedier side of Doctor Who as the team talks about their least favourites. First up is James and Michele who discuss their least favourite stories from the 1st through to the 5th Doctors. Prepare to be amazed, outraged, surprised and disgusted! DOWNLOAD - The Doctor Who Podcast - episode 146. Subscribe to our feed. Find us on ITunes Follow us on Twitter Find us on Facebook Or just email us

[craigiepick]

When I saw the title of this podcast I became very nervous! 

I listened tentatively becoming tense, as my all time favourite Doctor was mentioned; the brilliant dandy third Doctor. I laughed out loud at James' astonishment that Michelle chose The Silurians as her least favourite third Doctor story.

All the time I listened, I was thinking The Mutants was the poorest story for the third Doctor and James nailed it!!! The cast of The Mutants are just not right (any of them!) And i spend the whole story longing for the Doctor to return to earth and to hook back up with the UNIT gang.

Another spot on episode. I cannot wait for part 2!

[Michele]

craigiepick --

Welcome to the forum! Hooray! You're one of the few people I know of to transition here from Twitter.

I knew my 3rd Doctor pick would be controversial. We'll see if Doctor Who fans still speak to me after DWP#146...

 

[Accord Every Access]

I knew my 3rd Doctor pick would be controversial. We'll see if Doctor Who fans still speak to me after DWP#146...

Although it took me by surprise at first I'm not surprised, a seven part story is quite a drag. A lot of Pertwee's stories are often drawn out and padded I feel. my favourites are the shorter 4 part stories, Claws, Carnival. Death, Day, etc. For me the Time Monster would be my least favourite Pertwee story because its feels so forced, followed up by the Daemons which I feel does nott live up to the hype fans place upon it.

When Leeson picked ~ Carnival as his least favourite that really shocked me, the man has no idea...

[Michele]

I've not yet seen Time Monster or Daemons, so there's certainly some likelihood that Silurians will be displaced as my least favorite.

There is actually a lot that I enjoyed about Silurians, but it would have been even more enjoyable in 4 episodes, I think.

[judgefloyd]

anyone who has seen Greatest Show in the Galaxy and Happiness Patrol and still picks Carnival of Monsters as their least favourite isn't thinking straight.  Probably needs to go for a walk or something.
  It's a cracking topic and bound to attract some controversy, because although we can't tell anyone that they don't least prefer Carnival, we can meaningfully discuss why. 

Michelle, you should see Time Monster at once! It's got everything!  Jon Pertwee!  Bird-like Time Monsters! Ingrid Pitt! Atlantis! The Master! Ingrid Pitt!  well, I liked it.  My preferences might be coloured by having grown up with the Pertwee Doctor.

[Michele]

Haven't seen Happiness Patrol or Carnival of Monsters yet either. So much to look forward to, apparently!

[Henry Gordon Jago]

Not sure if anyone else has pointed this out, but The Mutants was written by Bob Baker and Dave Martin, not Malcolm Hulke, hence a bit clumsier handling of the sociopolitical aspects of the story than one would expect from a Hulke script.

I'm with JudgeFloyd in the Time Monster Appreciation Society.  It's a story that just careens from one ridiculous aspect to another, leaving the viewer almost punch-drunk with absurdity.  The scenes set in Atlantis between Roger Delgado and Ingrid Pitt deserved their own spin-off daytime soap opera.  I find it enormous fun and one of my all-time Who Guilty Pleasures.  Then again, I also like The Chase...

[Accord Every Access]

Not sure if anyone else has pointed this out, but The Mutants was written by Bob Baker and Dave Martin, not Malcolm Hulke, hence a bit clumsier handling of the sociopolitical aspects of the story than one would expect from a Hulke script.

I did not even notice this when James said it, but it seemed ironic at the time listening to it that James was not impressed it with it for one reason because of the political undertone when he is in high praise of Invasion of the Dinosaurs another Malcom Hulke story which has a political undertone about people thinking they know best and getting rid of those who don't agree with them.

[James (DWP)]

Not sure if anyone else has pointed this out, but The Mutants was written by Bob Baker and Dave Martin, not Malcolm Hulke, hence a bit clumsier handling of the sociopolitical aspects of the story than one would expect from a Hulke script.

No, you're not the first!  You need to much quicker off the mark to be the first to correct an error! :-)  The point I was making however, was not compromised by the mistake.  More below.....

I did not even notice this when James said it, but it seemed ironic at the time listening to it that James was not impressed it with it for one reason because of the political undertone when he is in high praise of Invasion of the Dinosaurs another Malcom Hulke story which has a political undertone about people thinking they know best and getting rid of those who don't agree with them.

No irony there at all.  I dislike the Mutants as the sole reason for its exitence is to inflict its ham-fisted social commentary on aparthied on the viewers.  Dinosaurs I enjoy in its own right without having the moral of the story shoved down my throat. It's just a good story that has a underlying moral - same as Silurians and to a less effective degree, The Sea Devils. And of course, it has dinosaurs in it even if they were superimposed, unconvincing pieces of rubber!  The Mutants blended a patronsing political undertone with some of the worst casting and perfomances seen throughout Pertwee's era - not to mention the terrible hole-in-the-side-of-thespacehip acting. I am generally against anything that has a Jerry Springer Moral of the Week shoehorned into a Who plot, perhaps with just a couple of exceptions, the most notable to me being The Happiness Patrol - which without it's (deeply buried) political parody, would have absolutely no reason for existing at all! 

But to stress again, the idea of the podcast was to dicuss our *least favourite* episodes of our *favourite* show on telly.  I'd still rather watch The Mutants on repeat for months on end opposed to having to watch a single episode of EastEnders or Big Brother! :-)

[judgefloyd]

it's so long since I've seen The Mutants, I couldn't say. I just remember Geoffrey Palmer as a snooty colonial administrator, handing over to the local thugs.  I thought the story as written in the book quite good.

The Master does rather smoulder in Time Monster doesn't he?
 

[Ian]

anyone who has seen Greatest Show in the Galaxy and Happiness Patrol and still picks Carnival of Monsters as their least favourite isn't thinking straight.  Probably needs to go for a walk or something.
  It's a cracking topic and bound to attract some controversy, because although we can't tell anyone that they don't least prefer Carnival, we can meaningfully discuss why. 

Well Carnival was Leeson's least favourite third Doctor story, so the comparison with Greatest and Happiness isn't really valid!

I actually recorded a piece for this episode as well, but it was lost for scheduling and editorial reasons (it may turn up in a car boot sale or someone's attic one day). I also picked Carnival as my least favourite third Doctor story. The miniscope set is too small and they are too obviously running back and forth over the same four or five boxes for half the runtime and the 60's dayglow costumes in the spaceport haven't aged well.

I can also see where Michele is coming from with Sillurians. I was a huge fan of the Target novel, but was surprised how slow and overlong it was when I finnaly got to see this classic on DVD.

[Rory Pond]

Great episode. I won't debate the merits of any of the hosts' individual choices because, as DW fans, we all have our personal tastes and they're all equally valid. (Although I will say the only thing in "Image of the Fendahl" that really bothered me was the shortness of Louise Jameson's hair.)

However, I would like to applaud Leeson's decision to abstain from naming a least favorite story from the Troughton era. As the Doctor whose stories were easily the most decimated by the BBC's housekeeping policy at the time, I think it's only right to demur from displaying any negativity toward the surviving episodes. We're fortunate to have any of them at all.

[judgefloyd]

least favourite Third Doctor story.  Oh, that's different.
  Well, I still like Carnival of Monsters.  Good idea, Davros in non-Davros outfit, Harry being a psycho, that Loch Ness Monster, umm, monster, bureaucrats in silly outfits.  Perhaps I'm just more tolerant of small sets.  Then again, I've never tried to think of a least favourite Doctor Three. 
  I was going to say the second Peladon story, but that has Sarah being all cute, feisty and feminist, and nothing with her in it is really bad.  Then I wanted to go for the story where the Third Doctor meets the Sixth and they roam around a Spanish town eating a lot, but I realised I just imagined that.  Then I snapped and looked at wikipedia and chose................Spearhead from Space, mainly out of desperation and because Doc 3 hadn't found himself yet. 

[Henry Gordon Jago]

  I was going to say the second Peladon story, but that has Sarah being all cute, feisty and feminist, and nothing with her in it is really bad.

I'd have to go with Monster of Peladon as my least favourite Pertwee.  The positives you point out are true, but I find this one drags even more than usual for a six-parter.  Lennie Mayne was a pretty pedestrian director at best, I find, and there's little in the direction to elevate a pretty turgid script.  It's nice to see the Ice Warriors return to form after the twist of having them not be the baddies in Curse, Alpha Centauri remains a hoot, and Rex Robinson in a fright wig has a certain entertainment value of its own.  However, Queen Thalira strikes me as a bit simpering and dim, Ortron is just a second generation photocopy of Hepesh from the earlier story, and the politics are heavy going, unleavened by the flashes of humour or big "sci-fi" ideas that characterize other "topical" Pertwee tales.  Still, I love the Pertwee era from stem to stern, so even the least of the stories from that period hold a place in my heart.  I do recommend the Target novelisation of Monster of Peladon--it tightens the pacing of the story up nicely, and the acting performances were uniformly fantastic in my brain.