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MAG.E 4
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MAG.E 4 (Disk 1 of 2).adf
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1977-12-31
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93 lines
@2REGENATION EPISODES
===================
@1
William Hartnell: THE TENTH PLANET. Not a bad story, and when Hartnell is
good, he's good (ESPECIALLY when he's giving hell to the Cybermen...the old
Doctor was NOT afraid of these guys in the least), but Hartnell spends a lot
of the episode being doubled by Edmund Warwick, or in bed. In any event, it
was a GREAT story (from the three episodes I've seen) in which to send him
off, but I think we're all agreed that we want to see the fourth part so as
to see the circumstances leading up the regeneration. Joe Siegler has
indicated that he badly wants to see the first few minutes of...
Patrick Troughton: THE POWER OF THE DALEKS. Troughton gets up off the
floor, a bit shaky, for his new companions, and stumbles into trouble with
his old enemies. Although I -may- have seen this years ago, as my
recollections of Pat are with Daleks and that ridiculous hat of his, I
don't honestly remember enough to say "I've seen this episode." The
novelization is quite good, but it doesn't make a valid substitute for
having seen the episode. I'll abstain here.
THE WAR GAMES: I never thought of this as a regeneration story, as Pat
really doesn't turn into Jon Pertwee within the story. Instead, he's spun
around on a monitor screen, leaving the show's future open. In any event,
from what I've read, I'd say that THE EVIL OF THE DALEKS was Pat's best,
but considering that I abstained on POWER, I'll go with what I've seen:
My vote goes to THE MIND ROBBER, with TOMB OF THE CYBERMEN running close
behind. THE SEEDS OF DEATH is also a favourite.
Jon Pertwee: SPEARHEAD FROM SPACE. Not one of his best, but IMHO a classic,
as it introduces the Autons and establishes UNIT as the basis for new
series. Plus, Jon Pertwee is allowed to exercise his comedic talents.
PLANET OF THE SPIDERS. Admittedly, this one's a bit long for me, but Pertwee
turns in a fantastic performance as the Doctor as he learns that his
arrogance and pride has finally caught up with him. My favourites from
the Pertwee era are FRONTIER IN SPACE and THE THREE DOCTORS, but I'd have to
cast my vote for THE MIND OF EVIL as "best of the era" (I find in Jon
Pertwee's case that there is VAST disagreement over favourite or best
stories...I'll be interested to see what this generates. :).
Tom Baker: ROBOT. Baker is -good- in this one, and I can just imagine
what was going through the viewers's minds as "Jon Pertwee" (the Doctor
they had seen for five years) started skipping rope. Otherwise, I like
the story, but it isn't a favourite.
LOGOPOLIS. This one tends to top a LOT of people's "favourites" list, and
I can see why. After being a goof for several seasons, Baker finally gets a
bit serious to battle his newly-returned "best enemy". I consider GENESIS
OF THE DALEKS to be Baker's best (great story about genocide), but won't
argue LOGOPOLIS at all.
Peter Davison: CASTROVALVA. Like ROBOT, this one doesn't thrill me to
death, but seeing Davison bring back William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton,
and even Jon Pertwee (with a "polarity of the neutron flow" line) is worth
the watch.
CAVES OF ANDROZANI: IMHO, his best, but should be considered in anybody's
"best" list. I always think about a nice guy pushed a little too far when I
see this one. Robert Holmes is brilliant again.
Colin Baker: THE TWIN DILEMMA. Other than Baker the Second's performance
early on (except that grinding engines of the universe bit), this one is
hopeless for me. Yecch.
THE ULTIMATE FOE: Similar to THE WAR GAMES, I don't consider this one to be
a regeneration story, although at least in the case of Troughton's story
you knew what they were doing at the end. At the time this one was made,
of course, they didn't know that Baker was history, so it was 'business as
usual'. As I mentioned previously, I prefer Robert Holmes's ending to that
of Pip and Jane Baker. Best story from Colin Baker? I'd have to say that
my favourite is ATTACK OF THE CYBERMEN, being a sequel of sorts to the
classics THE TENTH PLANET and TOMB OF THE CYBERMEN (although they do the
tombs a bit differently), but VENGEANCE ON VAROS is perhaps the best. Given
that I'm notorious for disliking the production of this era, it's hard to
say. Good Doctor working with stone knives and bearskins.
Sylvester McCoy: TIME AND THE RANI. You're joking, right?
SURVIVAL: And baby makes three. Like THE WAR GAMES and THE ULTIMATE FOE,
this one is as much a regeneration story as AN UNEARTHLY CHILD, and finishes
on a "business as usual" note. A rather weak story, and I agree with Joe
Siegler that the Master is superfluous (and the story might have been better
if they focused on the Cheetah people alone), but I did like Anthony Ainley
in this one (Threw me for a complete loop when those eyes turned out to
belong to the Master at the end of the first episode...loved it. :). For me,
McCoy's best is probably THE CURSE OF FENRIC. Although I don't care for the
idea of the Doctor as a "God" type who does nothing but repay old debts,
that's the feel that was a trademark of the McCoy era, and IMHO this one is
a quintessential McCoy episode (If they hadn't had such a silly ending to
THE GREATEST SHOW IN THE GALAXY, that one would top my list.).
Steve Quarella