Ongoing Dr. Who Thread of Doom...

[Volpone]

OK. So Retro does classic who 7 nights a week, but they don't...they do it smart. M-F is an hour a night. Saturday is a 2 hour block that is a different run through the library. Same for Sunday. So the weekday rotation is on #3, Jon Pertwee's final season while Saturdays are late #4 Tom Baker and Sunday JUST reset to the start of #1, William Hartnell. Sadly I missed the first story, "An Unearthly Child." It is a classic. Caught the end of the serial. So tonight I tuned in, expecting to see "The Daleks."

Now "The Daleks" is iconic. It almost certainly launched Dr. Who into what it is today. But it is also looong. And slooooow. And I've seen it a lot of times. So I was almost set to watch Story TV, which was doing "Biography" reruns. But I popped on and apparently they pulled "The Daleks" from rotation, because it was "The Aztecs," which I've only seen once since the 1980s.

Neat story. They keep it to a relatively tight 4 half hour episodes. They land in an Aztec temple. Barbara, a history teacher, specialized in the Aztecs, so she knows about them. Through a mixup, she is taken for a messenger from the gods. The high priest of knowledge embraces her, while the high priest of sacrifice is suspicious. Despite The Doctor's warnings not to interfere, Barbara tries to wean the Aztecs away from human sacrifice. Ian runs afoul of their greatest warrior while The Doctor accidentally gets engaged to an Aztec woman. Susan is sent off to a convent to learn the Aztec ways. The high priest of sacrifice does his best to do away with the interlopers but eventually they win their way back to the TARDIS and escape.

A straight-up historical piece, where there are no science fiction elements and their actions don't alter anything. The actor playing the high priest of sacrifice is great. Reminiscent of "Animal House" era John Belushi. Very good story.

 

[Volpone]

Skipped "Monster of Peladon." I really don't understand that serial. They did "The Curse of Peladon" earlier with Jo as a companion. Then they do a Peladon sequel with Sarah that doesn't really gain any new ground--if anything it goes backwards because the Ice Warriors are traditionally a villain and "...Curse..." flips it so they're Good Guys while "...Monster..." makes them the Baddies. And it is needlessly long. But enough about that. Tonight was "Planet of the Spiders," the final Pertwee story before we get #4, Tom Baker.

Mike Yates, formerly Captain Mike Yates of UNIT, had some bad turns. He got brainwashed during "The Green Death" and it messed him up. The Doctor's blue Metabelis Crystal (apparently) cured him, but the bigger problem of Corporate Greed, Raping the Earth stuck with him so, for "Invasion of the Dinosaurs," he got roped into a scheme to reset the Earth to before humans were there, leaving a picked group of contemporary humans to guide things--and wiping out everyone before that point, Thanos style. Well he winds up at a sort of hippie place run by Tibetans but Weird Things are happening there. Odd rituals in the basement make him get in touch with Intrepid Girl Reporter, Sarah Jane Smith, to bring UNIT onboard.

Turns out The Doctor's Metabelis crystal is important to giant spiders that have established themselves on the planet and they're using people from the llamasary to try to get it back.

Lots going on. The weasely scientist actor from "Tomb of the Cybermen" and "Ambassadors of Death" (and maybe 1 or 2 more I'm forgetting) is an actual psychic. He gets killed when he picks up the crystal while the wicked people at the Tibetan thingie are doing a ritual. There's a bananas Jon Pertwee chase scene, where the Baddie steals the crystal right from literally under the Doctor's (well Sarah's) nose at UNIT HQ. Then he steals the Whomobile so Benton, the Brig, and...Sarah? Sarah, pursue in Bessie whilst The Doc chases in a tiny autogyro. A confused British constable briefly is involved with the chase and while they are all talking next to the abandoned Whomobile, the Baddie steals the autogyro (with help from the giant invisible telepathic spider riding on his back). Little does he know that the Whomobile can actually fly, so The Doctor and Sarah give chase. When the minicopter runs out of gas, the Baddie steals a speedboat. Conveniently there is a hovercraft nearby that The Doc is able to commandeer and give chase. But just as he finally overtakes the boat, the giant invisible backpack spider helps the baddie teleport away to safety.

And that's just the first 2 episodes.