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Doctor Who: The Horns of Nimon (Story 108)

Doctor Who Merchandise — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:26:13 +0000

In "The Horns of Nimon," the declining Skonnon Empire's quest for the technology to launch a second galactic empire rests upon tributes from the people of the planet Aneth. The fourth doctor (Tom Baker) and Romana (Lalla Ward), encounter a starship full of such young people, including Janet (Blue Peter) Ellis, on their way to be sacrificed to the bull-like alien Nimon. While Romana becomes trapped in the Nimon's ever-changing labyrinth, the doctor struggles to repair the Tardis and finds that someone, or something, is engineering an artificial black hole. Doctor Who had previously explored the Cretan legend of the Minotaur in "The Time Monster" (1972), and here pays homage to the story without attempting to incorporate it into the Who mythos. Tom Baker is in good form and script editor Douglas Adams keeps the story tight without allowing the humor to take over. The best performance comes from Lalla Ward, fully at home as Romana and a commanding presence in her own right. The set and costume design are notable except for the Nimon itself, which is rather laughable. This story is an entertaining if ultimately unexceptional adventure for the good Doctor. --Gary S. Dalkin

Doctor Who: The Time Monster (Story 64)

Doctor Who Merchandise — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 05:33:04 +0000

The six-episode "Time Monster" was the final story of the ninth season of Doctor Who, a strong run that also saw Jon Pertwee's Third Doctor in "The Day of the Daleks" and "The Sea Devils." The Master, Roger Delgado, is at the Newton Institute, experimenting with a fragment of crystal, which can summon Kronos, a time-eating entity from beyond space-time. The Doctor, Jo Grant (Katy Manning), and UNIT become involved in a sequence of strange temporal dislocations, eventually leading to ancient Atlantis itself. There Jo faces the Minotaur, played by Dave Prowse in a bull mask five years before he found fame as Darth Vader. "The Time Monster" is classic Doctor Who at its most surreal, the effects ranging from mediocre to functional, the Atlantis sets surprisingly lavish. The Doctor may escape from eternity by playing the scriptwriting equivalent of a get-out-of-jail-free card, but the sequence, in which his TARDIS is inside the Master's TARDIS, while the Master's TARDIS is simultaneously inside the Doctor's TARDIS, is a mind-bending highlight. --Gary S. Dalkin

Doctor Who: Planet of Fire (Story 135)

Doctor Who Merchandise — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 09:26:06 +0000

"A strange signal from Earth draws the TARDIS to the island of Lanzarote, where Turlough rescues a young American girl, Peri, from drowning. Among her possessions is an artifact bearing an alien symbol â�� the same triangular mark that Turlough has branded into his arm. The mystery deepens when Kamelion falls under the control of a powerful mind, and the TARDIS travels to the volcanic world of Sarn. As Turlough is forced to face his past, the Doctor must stop his oldest enemy from harnessing the revitalizing powers of Numismaton gas."

Doctor Who: The Creature from the Pit (Story 106)

Doctor Who Merchandise — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 16:22:27 +0000

The 1979 Doctor Who adventure "The Creature from the Pit" finds Tom Baker's fourth Doctor in decidedly tongue-in-cheek mode on the planet Cloris, a world where metal is in such short supply its possession means power, and where a very large green alien is annoyed at being kept prisoner in a pit. As so often happens, the Doctor gets caught between two feuding parties, here the power-crazed Lady Adrasta (Myra Frances) and her court, and a bunch of Pythonesque bandits led by John Bryans. This motley crew reveal the influence of script editor Douglas Adams, while more fun is to be had from Baker's interaction with the astrologer Organon, played by Geoffrey "Catweazle" Bayldon in a role that recalls Adams' Slartibartfast from The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. At four episodes a thin story is over-stretched, the finale seems tacked on, and the shoddy creature effects are more remarkably phallic than anything in the same year's theatrical release, Alien. On the plus side, Lalla Ward in her third story grows nicely into her role as Romana, David Brierley takes over from John Leeson as the voice of robot dog K-9, and the set design and costumes are well up to the show's late-'70s high standards. Not a patch on the immediately preceding "City of Death," but an entertaining Whovian pantomime nonetheless. --Gary S. Dalkin

Doctor Who: Revenge of the Cybermen (Story 79)

Doctor Who Merchandise — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 07:08:32 +0000

Doctor Who: Silver Nemesis (Story 154)

Doctor Who Merchandise — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 19:10:06 +0000

Doctor Who: The Two Doctors (Story 141)

Doctor Who Merchandise — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 19:02:07 +0000

Doctor Who: The Two Doctors is one of those occasional adventures in which the then-current Doctor joins forces with one of his former incarnations, here Colin Baker's sixth Doctor with Patrick Troughton's second Doctor. In the epic Three Doctors (1972-73) such a team-up faced a suitably overwhelming danger; here the threat is rather less impressive. This adventure starts encouragingly enough, with Troughton and Jamie (Frazer Hines) investigating time-travel experiments on a space station, which endanger the fabric of the universe. Baker's Doctor and Peri (Nichola Bryant) arrive in the aftermath of a massacre and suspect the Timelords; but events lead them to Spain and old enemies the Sontarans. Also involved is alien schemer Chessene (Jacqueline Pearce) in a role not dissimilar to her Servalan from Blake's 7, while John Stratton as Shockeye, a food-obsessed alien "Androgum" chef, is vastly entertaining. Despite location filming in Seville, the three 45-minute episodes eventually stretch the material too thinly, degenerating into some of the most farcical scenes in the history of Who. The story becomes a repetitive series of double-crosses, escapes and pursuits, featuring an unnecessary obsession with cannibalistic comedy-horror. Despite many fine moments along the way The Two Doctors ultimately leaves a bad taste. --Gary S. Dalkin

Doctor Who: The War Machines (Story 27)

Doctor Who Merchandise — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 20:54:48 +0000

London, 1966. The TARDIS materialises in the shadow of the newly-completed Post Office Tower, and the Doctor senses a strange energy in the air. He instinctively knows that evil is at work nearby. Posing as a scientist, the Doctor and his 'secretary' Dodo gain access to a suite at the top of the tower and meet the driven Professor Brett. His life's work, the thinking computer WOTAN, is about to be linked up in a problem-solving network with many other machines around the world. But the Doctor is concerned. How can WOTAN possibly know the meaning of the word 'TARDIS' and about the Doctor's travels through time and space? What is the strange control that WOTAN can exert over humans via a mere telephone call? Andwhat is the computer's link with the deadly robots being assembled in Covent Garden warehouse?

Doctor Who: The Time Warrior (Story 70)

Doctor Who Merchandise — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 16:42:23 +0000

A terrifying clash between the past and future threatens the entire human race and plunges the Doctor and Sarah into a chilling race against time. When top scientists begin to mysteriously vanish, Doctor Who finds himself headed back in time to the middle ages and not-so-merry England. Linx, a war-loving Sontaren fleet commander, has crash-landed near a medieval castle and is supplying the feuding Irongron with advanced weapons that could totally change the course of human evolution. He is also using the kidnapped scientists to repair his ship. Linx is determined to return to his squadron - and nothing will stop him. As Irongron gets ready for battle, the Doctor makes his move. Can he save the doomed scientists, outwit Irongron and stop Linx from completing his catastrophic plan? The future of mankind is in his hands...

Doctor Who: The Caves of Androzani (Story 136)

Doctor Who Merchandise — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 13:59:49 +0000

Peter Davison's final adventure, "The Caves of Androzani," pulls out all stops to give this Doctor an unforgettable farewell. Deep within the titular caves, the disfigured, masked antihero Sharez Jek (Christopher Gable) and his regiment of androids are locked in conflict with an army unit and a group of smugglers for control of the life-extending Spectrox. When the Doctor and Peri (Nicola Bryant) enter this labyrinth, they immediately become victims of deadly Spectrox poisoning. The story's numerous subplots involve espionage, betrayal, and revenge, as well as big-business corruption, political assassination, and silly-looking reptilian monsters. And the first episode has one of the best cliffhangers ever: our heroes are executed by a firing squad armed with submachine guns. Robert Holmes (who wrote the more satirical Doctor Who story "The Sun Makers") here concentrates on delivering a breathlessly paced action thriller, with relentless death and destruction unfolding like in a Sam Peckinpah film, making Davison's heroic pacifism all the more effective. --Gary S. Dalkin