Captain Mainwaring - Man Of Action?

Captain Mainwaring - Man Of Action?

With the sad loss of Jimmy Beck from the cast, one of the functions of the script for 'Dad's Army : A Man Of Action' is to fill the gap with the return of Talfryn Thomas as Mr Cheeseman, first seen in 'My British Buddy' and who we assume is no relation to Charlie Cheeseman (The Cheerful Chump) from 'Shooting Pains'.

But Talf doesn't really get much to do in this one as it ends up more as a reminder that when the chips are down, Captain Mainwaring is actually a force to be reckoned with.

We open with Jones enjoying a lovely-looking pear (as this is not 'Carry On Doctor', we do not explore the saucier connotations of this), causing Pike to lament the fact that he's not got his hands on a banana for ages.

A discussion about chocolate leads to Pike recalling the time he stuck his head through the railings of the park gate in protest when his mum wouldn't buy him a bar. But his recreates this a little too well when he finds that he can't get his head out, as it's grown a bit larger than when he was twelve...

Meanwhile, Mainwaring and Wilson are discussing whether allowing Mr Cheeseamn of the Eastern Gazette to report on their activities is a good idea or not. Wilson thinks it's a big mistake as it'll make it difficult to cover up any mistakes, but Mainwaring pretends he hasn't heard that...

Mr Cheeseman enters with his camera, which surely boasts one of the biggest flash-bulbs ever seen on television, and prepares to take a photo of Mainwaring working at his desk. Wilson tries to get in on it, but only his gold fountain pen is allowed to make an appearance.

Jones is on the phone, reporting about Pike's predicament, which Mainwaring obviously doesn't want to be reported in the paper. With Cheeseman being left behind, the rescue party sets out to attend to their exposed Private.

By the time help arrives, Jones has camouflaged Pike with some branches from a handy bush and generous amounts of Vaseline are applied to Pike's head in the hope that it can be eased out.

Much tugging doesn't get them anywhere and a huge explosion interrupts their efforts. It is not Pike's head exploding, thankfully, but what later transpires to be a land mine dropping on the railway line..

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Pike plus the gate are marched back to the church hall, where the office has been taken for an emergency meeting. The Vicar and Verger are there, along with Hodges, Inspector Baker and Fire Officer Dale. The town's gas and water supplies have been cut off by the explosion as have the telephone lines. Mr Gordon the Town Clerk rushes in, panicking that they are marooned, in a sly nod at Frazer's recurring claims of being doomed.

The meeting seems to be producing little in the way of decisive action, so Captain Mainwaring assumes control. For once, Wilson is right behind him and evens manages to bark out orders to the platoon in such a manner than Mainwaring can hardly believe it.

With the power of the press backing him up, Mainwaring sends his men out into the town to relay orders. Jones is in charge of water permits, so when Mr Bluett hears that he cannot take a bath without permission, he turns up at the church hall to obey the letter of the law.

Pike is still stuck in the gate and is starting to feel increaingly uncomfortable, gaining much sympathy from Godfrey.

Mainwaring has marched on the Town Hall, but it is shut until the morning, though Mr Cheeseman did manage to take a photo of the Captain knocking on the door, which also captured the town clerk's opinion of the situation.

Wilson objects that Mainwaring is behaving like some sort of dictator, but Mainwaring denies this, saying that he is simply asking people to do as they are told.

But the boot is suddenly on the other foot when a Captain Swan arrives from GHQ to take over control. Mainwaring protests that this is undemocratic and unconstitutional, but Wilson is of the opinion that it's for his own good. Captain Mainwaring attempts to get back into his office, without success...

(By Andrew Trowbridge)

LONDON 1965!!!

LONDON 1965!!!

Every generation of 'Doctor Who' fans seem to evolve their own set of catchphrases and I think we've just seen Ian's excited cry of "London, 1965!" from 'The Planet Of Decision' being adopted by Twitch viewers in the last few hours.

As I write this, it's the morning of Wednesday 30th May 2018, and the first three Hartnell serials have been streaming in pretty decent quality, with only a few annoying adverts getting in the way.

There's something ridiculously exciting about this experiment which illustrates the shared nature of television. Yes, we've all got everything on DVD, but a live transmission can still call to us, because we know that other people will be watching at the same time.

The chatroom was going so fast last night it was almost impossible to follow, but it's either calmed down a bit now or my reading speed has dramatically improved. And it's amusing to see what people pick up on, viewing these episodes for the first time.

"He died beside the toilet rolls!" and "First Doctor needs some exercise!" are just some of the comments that jumped out, but it's not so much the content, just the fact that so many people are joining in with the experience.

We did a tiny bit of live-tweeting for Serial A last night and at about 7.38pm there were some 13955 viewers on the Twitch stream. Some were long-in-the-tooth fans such as ourselves, of course, but never forget that for a fair proportion, this was their first ever experience of 20th century 'Doctor Who'. And the magic still works, judging by some excited comments this morning!

 This is a bold experiment and it seems to be working. Fandom is growing in new and interesting ways because of it.

In between the episodes is a general First Doctor trailer, which is the source of the joyful "LONDON 1965!!" quotes and a couple of quiz questions which don't serve much purpose apart from suggesting that Susan's last name might have been Finn.

Maybe that too will be fondly recalled in years to come, though...

We'll be dipping in and out as the schedule progresses just to see what's going on.

But the fact that television made nearly 55 years ago can still find an audience that is prepared to engage with it is a wonderful thing.

But watching 'The Firemaker' followed by 'The Dead Planet' did get us thinking about where the Doctor goes for his bath in the unshown scene...

Sorry about planting that image! :-)

(By Andrew Trowbridge)

'DWB' Issue 69

'DWB' Issue 69

Andrew Cartmel is leaving 'Doctor Who' to work on 'Casualty', Sophie Aldred will be in eight episodes of Season 27 and at least one episode of 'The Curse Of Fenric' will be 30 minutes long.

Well, this sounds like September 1989 to me and everyone is getting mildly excited that Sylvester McCoy has got a new darker jacket in all the publicity photos for 'Battlefield'...

Issue 69 of 'DWB' (as it's stopped calling itself 'Doctor Who Bulletin' by this point) runs to an impressive 44 pages for £2.95 and dips its toes into the wider waters of telefantasy with features on 'Batman', 'The Twilight Zone' and various incarnations of 'Star Trek' plus an interview with Gerald Harper about 'Adam Adamant Lives!'.

In some ways, the things that didn't happen make just as interesting reading. The production team calling themselves 'Coast To Coast' (nothing to do with the early evening news show from TVS as far as I can tell) are still planning to do a 'Doctor Who' movie and the BFI may or may not have a missing episode from Season 3. One wonders whether that was meant to be 'Day Of Armageddon' or 'Air Lock'..?

Jon Pertwee, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy are all appearing in pantomime over the Christmas period, with Sylvester's appearance in 'Aladdin' at Manchester also boasting Paul Nicholas, Paul Shane, Eartha Kitt amongst its cast, a Special Appearance by Garfield (it is not clear how this worked on the day as surely not every Appearance would be Special?) and sponsorship by Cadbury's Crunchie, according to the rather busy poster.

There's an analysis of the viewing figures for 'Blake's 7' with the episode in which Blakes and Travis fought an 'Oval' (sic) being one of the more popular ones, clocking up an impressive 10 million viewers.

'Doctor Who' Magazine is celebrating its tenth birthday and is being joined in the market by two new titles in the form of 'Fantasy Zone' from Marvel and 'TV Zone' from Visual Imagination.

A fair chunk of this edition is taken up with the results of the Series Survey which places 'The Talons Of Weng-Chiang' at the top of the pile, but has little good to say about 'The Twin Dilemma'. The style adopted in this list is to credit the stories in the format (Writer / Director) which leads us to the odd situation whereby Colin Baker's debut is apparently the work of Steven / Moffat.

This survey shows just how popular Robert Holmes was with the readership at the time, gaining 74% of the vote for Favourite Writer, with Terrance Dicks trailing in second place at 4%.

If you want a closer look at this issue, it just happens to be the subject of today's video, which may be watched here.

But boo to everyone for voting 'The Gunfighters' into sixth position in the 'All-Time Clangers' list. Besides, that's a badly-chosen phrase in the first place, as surely everybody with an ounce of sense loves the 'Clangers'?

(By Andrew Trowbridge)

Pyramids Of Mars - Part Three

Pyramids Of Mars - Part Three

Hmm, it's been a while since I've studied probability theory, but it's a little suspicious that both of the 20th century episodes of 'Doctor Who' selected by the random number generator have featured Michael Sheard. We can only think that he's looking down on us, tutting that we're still "living in sin!"...

But Part Three of 'Pyramids Of Mars' it is and we took a keen interest in the deco of his living-room which is decked out with china dogs, a grandfather clock that's stopped at five-to-six and a picture of an old cow.

No explanation is ever given for this odd design choice, so we leave it to your imagination.

'Pyramids' sees a confident production team taking the usual script emergency situation and making a little bit of magic. As a kid, this was just what I wanted from the programme. In fact, I remember being impatient when the 'Basil Brush' show's closing story would continually be interrupted by the vulpine star.

"Get a move on, Basil! You're delaying the start of 'Doctor Who'..." I'd think to myself, not appreciating the finer points of pre-recording and editing.

According to BBC Genome, by the way, Basil was joined that week by Demis Roussos, but even though we think we've tracked down a clip, I can't say that I remember it from the original broadcast. But then I can't remember our Fireworks Party from that year, either!

As one of the very first stories to come out on VHS, this was a very good choice and the DVD release boasts a wide range of interesting extra features, including more information on the life of Sutekh in the form of 'Oh Mummy', which has the distinction of achieving rather more laughs-per-minute than 'Oh, Father!'.

Our natter about Part Three may be found here and we'll come back with another random episode at some point fairly soon.

But if it's 'The Invisible Enemy' Part Four, we really WILL think something strange is going on...

(By Andrew Trowbridge)

"These Shoes, They Fit Perfectly!"

"These Shoes, They Fit Perfectly!"

Today (27th May 2018) sees the 22nd Anniversary of the transmission of 'Doctor Who : The TV Movie' (or whatever else you want to call it!) starring Paul McGann.

I can hardly believe that it's almost half a lifetime since I first sat down to watch.

Though, of course, I could have seen it before the 8.30 pm transmission slot as the video came out several days before. And while I will admit to taking a look at the opening I wanted to wait and watch it live so to speak.

Andrew on the other hand tells me that he had watched it at least three times before its BBC One showing...

And I was thrilled with what I saw. Now, looking back, I can see one or two details that don't quite work, but I still really enjoy it and love Paul McGann's characterisation of a young and dashing Doctor. The future seemed very bright at the time.

Sadly it would be a further 9 years before The Doctor would have a regular set of adventures which would also see a change of lead actor.

But in many ways The TV Movie sets some of the groundwork for the 21st century series; the kiss between The Doctor and Grace being only one example.

And I must confess that the new theme music always gives me a shiver down my spine and makes me a little emotional as so much hope was invested in the drama.

I must also apologize to all of the McGann brothers for our complete failure to remember the title of 'The Hanging Gale', their drama set at the time of the potato famine. Which we rather naughtily termed 'The Potatos of Doom', so sorry for that also!

Ironically in this drama Paul McGann wears a costume not unlike that of the 8th Doctor.
Obviously the best thing to come out of The TV Movie is Paul McGann who after the non-appearance of a full series would go on to star in many wonderful Big Finish adventures.

I hope one day he is given the chance to appear in the current version of the show, either opposite Jodie Whittaker's 13th Doctor or maybe in a flashback episode.

Thank you for all of those involved for those (nearly!) 90 minutes of fun, enjoyment and hope.

(By Lisa Parker)

By what name is the planet Xxbrmm now known?

By what name is the planet Xxbrmm now known?

We've already done a video going through a box of assorted Target books, but there's all sorts of stuff in our collection with rather vaguer connections to 'Doctor Who', some of which we haven't even read after owning it for more than 20 years...

Last night's video demonstrated this quite well, with a variety of books that range from a copy of 'The Discontinuity Guide' that has had its innards repaired with Sellotape, to a pristine 'Peter Davison's Book Of Alien Planets' that has seemingly never been held in our hands.

The latter is one of those books you really only picked up thanks to Mr Davison's beaming face featuring on the cover. The one paragraph introduction doesn't offer any insight into the reason for the choice of stories, other than the fact that Peter likes them. But it's as good an excuse as any to introduce kids to the work of people such as Ray Bradbury and Arthur C Clarke, I suppose.

'Doctor Who : The Script Of The FIlm' is at least amusing for that photo of Paul McGann allegedly standing on a box to make him look taller (at least according to Sylvester McCoy) and differs from the final broadcast version here and there, giving the opening lines to the Master instead.

We've got chunky Solo-Play Adventure Game books from America with some equally-chunky Daleks on the cover. There are 'Blake's 7' novelisations (From the publishers of 'Star Wars' crows the blurb that is probably trying a little too hard) for which the artist has clearly never seen a Liberator gun properly. And 'The Companions Of Doctor Who' series seems to launch Turlough's giant face into the firmament, hovering close to a space station that might have wandered off the set of 'Star Trek - The Voyage Home'. Come to think of it, that space ship looks a trifle familiar, too...

And let us not forget what might be termed Activity Books. I was pleased to see I'd at least managed to fill in some of 'The Doctor Who Crossword Book', but cannot condone attempting to full in the blanks whilst caught in a traffic jam, as suggested on the back.

Sometimes, though, it's the real oddities that stick in your mind. 'Doctor Who : Brain Teasers And Mind Benders' is the rather unwieldy name of a 128-page volume of trivia questions and word searches. This book can even provide you with a rating of your 'Doctor Who' knowledge, with a score out of 35. (Woe betide you if you score 15 or under as "you obviously don't know that much about 'Doctor Who' yet". Report immediately to John Nathan-Turner's office where he will give you some lines! )

Some of the answers seem very out-of-date these days : 'The Ambassadors Of Death' is the Odd-One-Out as "all the others have been turned into Target books". This may have been true in 1984, but how times change, eh?

We still haven't covered 'Travel Without The TARDIS', I know, but that one deserves a starring role. Once I can find it again, that is...

PS: It's Argolis.

(By Andrew Trowbridge)