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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

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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

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Blackadder Specials

Blackadder’s Christmas Carol

BlackadderOn Christmas Eve, Ebenezer Blackadder is visited by the Spirit of Christmas. Seeing that Ebenezer is such a good person (no, really!), the Spirit decides to show him scenes of his ancestors’ shameful behavior. A view of how horrid his predecessors were leads Ebenezer to wonder what the future holds for him…

Order the DVDswritten by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton
based on “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens
directed by Richard Boden
music by Howard Goodall

Cast: Rowan Atkinson (Ebenezer Blackadder / Lord Edmund Blackadder / Mr. Edmund Blackadder / Grand Admiral Blackadder), Tony Robinson (Mr. Baldrick / Baldrick / S. Baldrick / Commander Baldrick), Stephen Fry (Lord Melchett / Lord Frondo), Hugh Laurie (The Prince Regent / Prince Pigmont), Miranda Richardson (Queen Elizabeth I / Queen Asphyxia XIX), Robbie Coltrane (The Spirit of Christmas), Jim Broadbent (Prince Albert), Miriam Margolyes (Queen Victoria), Patsy Byrne (Nursie / Bernard), Denis Lill (Beadle), Pauline Melville (Mrs. Scratchit), Philip Pope (Lord Horatio Nelson), Nicola Bryant (Millicent), Ramsay Gilderdale (Ralph), David Barber (Orphan), Erkan Mustafa (Orphan), David Nunn (Orphan), Martino Lazzeri (Boy)

Notes: The principals from the casts of Blackadder II (minus Tim McInnerny) and Blackadder the Third (minus Helen Atkinson-Wood) reprise their roles for the flashback sequences.

Nicola Bryant is best known to sci-fi fans (especially guys who hit puberty around 1985) for her portrayal of Perpugilliam “Peri” Brown on Doctor Who.

Robbie Coltrane returns in a kindly role, following his menacing portrayal of Dr. Samuel Johnson in the Blackadder The Third episode Ink and Incapability.

Jim Broadbent and Miriam Margolyes appear together, re-uniting the duo from The Queen of Spain’s Beard episode of The Black Adder. Margolyes also appeared in Blackadder II (Beer).

This is the only full Blackadder series or special not to feature Tim McInnerny.

LogBook entry by Philip R. Frey

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Classic Season 26 Doctor Who

Battlefield

Doctor WhoThe Doctor and Ace arrive in Britain in the late 90s, near a stranded convoy carrying a nuclear missile. Strange weather and power outages seem to be taking place all of a sudden, and the Doctor himself is mystified at the coincidences – especially since all of this is happening on the shores of the lake where, according to legend, the dying King Arthur returned Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake. The legend turns out to have a solid foundation in reality – but a different reality where one of the Doctor’s future selves was trapped for a time, assuming the identity of Merlin. Now that warriors on both sides of the ancient battle are entering Earth’s dimension, the Doctor must take on a role he doesn’t even know how to play.

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Ben Aaronovitch
directed by Michael Kerrigan
music by Keff McCulloch

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred, Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart), Jean Marsh (Morgaine), Christopher Bowen (Mordred), Angela Bruce (Brigadier Winifred Bambera), Marcus Gilbert (Ancelyn), Ling Tai (Shou Yuing), Angela Douglas (Doris), June Bland (Elizabeth Rowlinson), Noel Collins (Pat Rowlinson), James Ellis (Peter Warmsly), Marek Anton (The Destroyer), Dorota Rae (Flight Lieutenant Lavel), Robert Jezek (Sergeant Zbrigniev), Paul Tomany (Major Husak), Stefan Schwartz (Knight Commander)

Broadcast from September 6 through 27, 1989

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Blackadder Season 4

Captain Cook

BlackadderCaptain Edmund Blackadder, serving on the front lines of World War I, suspects that he and his men, Lieutenant George and Private Baldrick, are about to be sent on a suicide mission. When a call comes from General Melchett looking for an artist to inspire the troops for the big push, Edmund sees it as an opportunity to get out of the trenches. But once he gets the assignment, Edmund realizes there’s more to it than he was led to believe…

Season 4 Regular Cast: Rowan Atkinson (Captain Edmund Blackadder), Tony Robinson (Private S Baldrick), Stephen Fry (General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett), Hugh Laurie (Lieutenant The Honourable George Colthurst St. Barleigh), Tim McInnerny (Captain Kevin Darling)

Order the DVDswritten by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton
directed by Richard Boden
music by Howard Goodall

Guest Cast: none

Notes: No explanation is given as to how the Blackadder line has fallen again despite the previous series ending with Edmund assuming the identity of the Prince Regent, and so presumably ruling England as King George IV. This Edmund may simply be descended from a different line than the lead character of Blackadder the Third.

This is the first series to feature absolutely no new additions to the cast. The entire regular cast had appeared as regulars in one or more previous series.

In keeping with the claustrophobic nature of life in the trenches, Blackadder Goes Forth features fewer guest appearances than any other Blackadder series.

LogBook entry by Philip R. Frey

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Classic Season 26 Doctor Who

Ghost Light

Doctor WhoThe Doctor brings Ace to a house called Gabriel Chase in the year 1883 – a house which a younger Ace firebombed in 1983, long before she joined the Doctor but long after anything had lived in the house. Gabriel Chase’s original owner is a very unusual man named Josiah Samuel Smith, infamous in the 19th century for his controversial theories of evolution, and these theories have brought the Reverend Matthews to Gabriel Chase. But something else has brought the missing explorer Redvers Fenn-Cooper there – a offer of glory in exchange for an assassination. At the heart of all of these events lies a sinister secret of a far less earthly nature, something which could result in the destruction of Earth…but the Doctor’s hands are already full when Ace discovers that he has brought her to her dreaded home town of Perivale a century before her birth.

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Marc Platt
directed by Alan Wareing
music by Mark Ayres

Doctor WhoCast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred, Ian Hogg (Josiah Samuel Smith), Sharon Duce (Control), John Hallam (Light), Carl Forgione (Nimrod), Sylvia Syms (Mrs. Pritchard), Katharine Schlesinger (Gwendoline), Michael Cochrane (Redvers Fenn-Cooper), Frank Windsor (Inspector Mackenzie), John Nettleton (Reverend Matthews), Brenda Kempner (Mrs. Grose)

Broadcast from October 4 through 18, 1989

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Blackadder Season 4

Corporal Punishment

BlackadderEdmund’s various schemes to avoid actually fighting finally come to a head when he kills a pigeon that turns out to be a pet of General Melchett’s. Arrested for defying orders (and the murder of a pigeon), Edmund’s fortunes look grim once George takes on his defense…

Order the DVDswritten by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton
directed by Richard Boden
music by Howard Goodall

Guest Cast: Jeremy Hardy (Corporal Perkins), Stephen Frost (Corporal Jones), Lee Cornes (Private Fraser), Paul Mark Elliot (Private Robinson), Jeremy Gittins (Private Tipplewick)

Notes: Stephen Frost returns to the series, having previously appeared in The Black Adder (Witchsmeller Pursuivant).

Lee Cornes was seen in both Blackadder II (Chains) and Blackadder the Third (Ink and Incapability).

LogBook entry by Philip R. Frey

Categories
Blackadder Season 4

Major Star

BlackadderWith the overthrow of the Czar, Russia has pulled out of the war. In an effort to boost morale, General Melchett decides to put on a show for the troops and Edmund takes the assignment when he learns it could lead to a return to London. George is a fantastic success in drag as “Georgina”. So successful, in fact, that the General falls in love with “her” and his thoughts turn to marriage…

Order the DVDswritten by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton
directed by Richard Boden
music by Howard Goodall

Guest Cast: Gabrielle Glaister (Driver “Bob” Parkhurst)

Notes: Gabrielle Glaister portrayed another cross-dressing “Bob” in the Blackadder II episode Bells and returns as Parkhurst in the next episode, Private Plane.

LogBook entry by Philip R. Frey

Categories
Blackadder Season 4

Private Plane

BlackadderIn yet another attempt to get out of the trenches, Edmund, George and Baldrick join the Air Force, thinking it a safer alternative to the trenches. Once Edmund realizes the true level of danger, he attempts to get out of it, but is shot down while on his first mission and captured. Any number of tortures are possible, for Edmund finds he is in the clutches of the Red Baron, himself: Baron von Richthoven…

Order the DVDswritten by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton
directed by Richard Boden
music by Howard Goodall

Guest Cast: Rik Mayall (Lord Flashheart), Adrian Edmondson (Baron von Richthoven), Hugo E. Blick (Lieutenant von Gerhardt), Gabrielle Glaister (Driver Parkhurst)

Notes: Rik Mayall returns with a new incarnation of Lord Flashheart, first seen in Blackadder II (Bells). He also appears in The Black Adder (The Black Seal) and in Blackadder: Back & Forth.

Gabrielle Glaister plays a much more feminine “Bob” than in her previous appearance (Major Star). “Bob” seems to have given up the pretense of being a man.

LogBook entry by Philip R. Frey

Categories
Classic Season 26 Doctor Who

The Curse Of Fenric

Doctor WhoThe Doctor and Ace arrive at a soggy British naval camp in 1943, into which the Time Lord confidently strides, not even attempting to conceal his presence. He mingles with the base’s disturbed commander and the brilliant but paranoid Dr. Judson, creator of the Ultima code-breaking device. The Doctor and Ace later encounter a small platoon of Russian commandos who plan to steal Ultima – a move which has been anticipated. In the background lurks a devious alien presence with whom the Doctor has an old score to settle – provided that the humans in the naval camp, merely pawns in a much more complex game, don’t destroy their own world first.

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Ian Briggs
directed by Nicholas Mallett
music by Mark Ayres

Doctor WhoCast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred, Dinsdale Landen (Dr. Judson), Alfred Lynch (Commander Millington), Tomek Bork (Sorin), Joann Kenny (Jean), Joanne Bell (Phyllis), Peter Czajkowski (Sergeant Prozorov), Nicholas Parsons (Reverend Wainwright), Cory Pulman (Kathleen Dudman), Marek Anton (Vershinin), Stevan Rimkus (Captain Bates), Marcus Hutton (Sergeant Leigh), Janet Henfrey (Ms. Hardaker), Anne Reid (Nurse Crane), Mark Conrad (Petrossian), Christien Anholt (Perkins), Aaron Hanley (Baby), Raymond Trickett (Ancient Haemovore), Cy Town (Haemovore)

Broadcast from October 25 through November 15, 1989

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Blackadder Season 4

General Hospital

BlackadderThere is a spy at the Army field hospital sending information to the Germans. Captain Blackadder is sent in to investigate and finds himself romantically involved with a beautiful nurse. True, there is a patient named “Smith” with a German accent, but the evidence points towards someone quite close to Edmund…

Order the DVDswritten by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton
directed by Richard Boden
music by Howard Goodall

Guest Cast: Miranda Richardson (Nurse Mary), Bill Wallis (Brigadier Smith)

Notes: Miranda Richardson swings full circle, giving a mostly dramatic reading as Nurse Mary, in stark contrast to her Queen Elizabeth from Blackadder II and following her schizoid performance in Blackadder the Third (Amy and Amiability). She also appears in Blackadder’s Christmas Carol and Blackadder: Back & Forth.

Bill Wallis returns, having previously appeared in The Black Adder (The Archbishop) and Blackadder II (Head).

LogBook entry by Philip R. Frey

Categories
Blackadder Season 4

Goodbyeee

BlackadderThe time has come at last for the “Big Push” and Edmund tries every trick in the book to get out of it. But General Melchett is wise to Edmund’s plans and there really doesn’t seem to be any way out this time…

Order the DVDswritten by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton
directed by Richard Boden
music by Howard Goodall

Guest Cast: Geoffrey Palmer (Field Marshal Haig)

Notes: Geoffrey Palmer is a mainstay of British comedies, appearing in diverse projects such as The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, Whoops! Apocalypse, and As Time Goes By. He also appeared in the 1997 James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies and with Rowan Atkinson in the Full Throttle episode of Heroes and Villains.

Goodbyeee was named the most popular episode of all Blackadder series by the registered members of the BBCi web site. It was also voted the most popular final episode of any TV series by a 2004 BBCi poll.

LogBook entry by Philip R. Frey

Categories
Classic Season 26 Doctor Who

Survival

Doctor WhoThe Doctor brings Ace to present-day Perivale to visit her friends, but she discovers that most of them have gone missing. Perivale is now a tense place where parents fear for their children’s lives and Sergeant Paterson teaches self-defense classes in hopes that the residents of Perivale can help themselves when the time comes. Unusually vicious black cats stalk the streets, marking their territory in the deadliest ways. When Ace joins the ranks of the other missing teenagers, the Doctor follows her, finding himself on the planet of the feral Cheetah People, a hostile world whose inherent violence infects all who go there. The Master has also somehow become trapped here, enslaved by the Cheetah People’s primitive bloodlust, and hoping to escape by using the new visitors from Perivale. The Doctor is left to face the dilemma: where is the Master more dangerous, on this alien world which will soon destroy itself, or running loose on Earth?

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Rona Munro
directed by Alan Wareing
music by Dominic Glynn

Doctor WhoCast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred, Anthony Ainley (The Master), Julian Holloway (Sergeant Paterson), Lisa Bowerman (Karra), Will Barton (Midge), Sakuntala Ramanee (Shreela), David John (Derek), Sean Oliver (Stuart), Gareth Hale (Harvey), Norman Pace (Len), Kate Eaton (Ange), Adele Silva (Squeak), Michelle Martin (Neighbor), Kathleen Bidmead (Woman)

Broadcast from November 22 through December 6, 1989

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green