Category: Classic Season 25

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Classic Season 25 Doctor Who

Remembrance Of The Daleks

Doctor WhoDaleks have converged on a junkyard in 1963 London, hot on the trail of a renegade Time Lord who possesses an amazingly powerful weapon from ancient Gallifrey. The Daleks’ quarry has left Earth after being discovered by a pair of curious humans, but unknown to the aliens, that same Time Lord has returned to conclude his business, six lives hence. The Doctor and Ace quickly throw their lot in with Group Captain Gilmore and his team of soldiers and scientists, who have discovered the Daleks and are trying to flush them out of hiding. Gilmore begins accepting the Doctor’s strategic advice, which is devised largely to keep the human race out of trouble – but the Daleks have already found like-minded allies on Earth, in the form of a group of fascist sympathizers led by Mr. Ratcliffe. The Daleks themselves are divided along a line of loyalty or disloyalty to the Emperor Daleks – who, as the Doctor discovers, has changed a little bit over the years too. The Doctor is actually playing a dangerous game, trying to ensure that the Hand of Omega does fall into the wrong hands – but which faction of the Daleks is actually worthy of this kind of power?

Order the DVDwritten by Ben Aaronovitch
directed by Andrew Morgan
music by Keff McCulloch

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Simon Williams (Gilmore), George Sewell (Ratcliffe), Dursley McLinden (Mike), Pamela Salem (Rachel), Karen Gledhill (Allison), Michael Sheard (Headmaster), Harry Fowler (Harry), Joseph Marcell (John), William Thomas (Martin), Jasmine Breaks (The Girl), Peter Hamilton Dyer (Embery), Peter Halliday (Vicar), Derek Keller (Kaufman), Terry Molloy (Emperor Dalek/Davros), John Scott Martin, Cy Town, Tony Starr, Hugh Spright, David Harrison, Norman Bacon, Nigel Wild (Daleks), Royce Mills, Roy Skelton, Brian Miller, John Leeson (Dalek voices), Kathleen Bidmead (Mrs. Smith), John Evans (Undertaker), Richie Kennedy (Mailman), Ron Berry (Gravedigger)

Broadcast from October 5 through 26, 1988

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Classic Season 25 Doctor Who

The Happiness Patrol

Doctor WhoThe Doctor brings Ace to the planet Terra Alpha, a planet whose dark secrets are barely concealed by a thin coat of bright, playful colors. The megalomaniacal Helen A keeps her subjects happy by enforcing happiness itself – any public display of grief, doubt or disapproval are punishable by summary execution. Ace, with her almost permanent scowl, is quickly arrested by the Happiness Patrol, while the Doctor meets a fellow alien named Earl Sigma and has a near-fatal encounter with the robotic, psychotic Kandyman. A census representative from Earth has uncovered evidence that Helen A’s regime has caused the unspecified “disappearance” of thousands of people. The Doctor has one night to stir a revolution in the streets of Terra Alpha…but Helen A’s downfall may be caused by someone closer to her than she expects.

Order the DVDwritten by Graeme Curry
directed by Chris Clough
music by Dominic Glynn

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Sheila Hancock (Helen A), Ronald Fraser (Joseph C), David John Pope (Kandy Man), Harold Innocent (Gilbert M), Lesley Dunlop (Susan Q), Georgina Hale (Daisy K), Rachel Bell (Priscilla P), Richard D. Sharp (Earl Sigma), John Normington (Trevor Sigma), Tim Barker (Harold V), Jonathan Burn (Silas P), Philip Neve (Wences), Ryan Freedman (Wulfric), Mary Healey (Killjoy), Steve Swinscoe, Mark Carroll (Snipers), Tim Scott (Forum Doorman), Annie Hulley (Newscaster)

Broadcast from November 2 through 16, 1988

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Classic Season 25 Doctor Who

Silver Nemesis

Doctor WhoThe Doctor is horrified when Nemesis, a statue carved from a living metal from the world of the Time Lords, arrives on Earth in 1988, falling from an orbit into which the Doctor launched it 350 years ago. At the same time, a creepy neo-Nazi group led by De Flores (Anton Diffring) plans to take control of the Nemesis, as does Lady Peinforte, a 17th century would-be sorceress which concocts a potion for time travel. he spearhead of a Cyberman invasion fleet also arrives, also looking for the statue. Its destructive power will be granted to whoever returns the Nemesis’ bow and arrow, and it seems unlikely that the Doctor himself would have any use for that kind of power – unless, as Lady Peinforte claims, the Doctor has his own dark agenda.

Order the DVDwritten by Kevin Clarke
directed by Chris Clough
music by Kevin Clarke

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Fiona Walker (Lady Peinforte), Gerard Murphy (Richard), Anton Diffring (De Flores), Metin Yenal (Karl), Leslie French (Mathematician), Martyn Read (Security Man), David Banks (CyberLeader), Mark Hardy (Cyber Lieutenant), Chris Cherin (First Skinhead), Symond Lawes (Second Skinhead), Dolores Gray (American Tourist), Courtney Pine, Adrian Reid, Ernest Mothie, Frank Tontoh (Jazz Quartet), Brian Orrell, Danny Boyd, Scott Mitchell, Bill Malin, Tony Carlton, Paul Barrass (Cybermen), Dave Ould, John Ould (Walkmen), Mary Reynolds (Her Majesty the Queen), Vere Lorrimer (Tour Guide)

Broadcast from November 23 through December 7, 1988

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 25 Doctor Who

The Greatest Show In The Galaxy

Doctor WhoThe TARDIS is invaded – not by Daleks, Sontarans or Cybermen, but by a satellite delivering junk mail to any passing vessels. This particular satellite brings good tidings from Segonax, home of the Psychic Circus, and the Doctor is intrigued – while Ace is repulsed, primarily by the thought of circus clowns. The Doctor decides to go anyway, and finds Segonax less inviting than its sales pitch promised. From the curious variety of other circusgoers, to the abandoned bus manned by a homicidal robot tram conductor, to the mysterious explorer known only as the Captain and his exotic sidekick Mags, the Doctor immediately senses that something is wrong. Upon arriving at the Psychic Circus at last, the Doctor discovers the truth: those coming to visit the circus are not there as spectators, but as the entertainment – and the penalty for failing to entertain the unusual audience, a seemingly bland family of three, is death.

Order the DVDwritten by Stephen Wyatt
directed by Alan Wareing
music by Mark Ayres

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), T.P. McKenna (The Captain), Jessica Martin (Mags), Christopher Guard (Bellboy), Dee Sadler (Flowerchild), Ian Reddington (Chief Clown), Deborah Manship (Morgana), Ricco Ross (Ringmaster), Chris Jury (Deadbeat), Daniel Peacock (Nord), Gian Sammarco (Whizzkid), David Ashford (Dad), Janet Hargreaves (Mum), Kathryn Ludlow (Little Girl), Peggy Mount (Stallholder), Dean Hollingsworth (Bus Conductor)

Broadcast from December 14, 1988 through January 4, 1989

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green