Classic Rewatch: The Daemons

The early seventies were a wild time. The Summer of Love was drawing to a slurred, hazy close. Darker tones and imagery were starting to replace the flowers and neon colors in modern art, and interest in the shadowy fringes of history, science, and culture were becoming not only interesting, but influential. Psychedelic rock was giving way to new sounds, like a group of ragtag blokes from Birmingham who called their group ‘Black Sabbath’. Being the consummate trendsetter and fashion […]

Classic Rewatch: Colony In Space

Do you love adventure? Do you look dashing in black and red shoulder pads? Do you take certain pleasure in running mamby-pamby colonists off their government-appointed lands in the interest of thinly-veiled corporate greed? Do you have a hairstyle that would make both Sonny Bono and Liberace stare slack-jawed? Then you may have a future…in the Interplanetary Mining Corporation! Benefits include your own poorly-sighted rifle; keys to a sweet Daimler Haflinger buggy-type-thing; the most killer looking helmet this side of […]

Classic Rewatch: The Mind of Evil

It doesn’t take much to rattle some people. For those poor souls, their fears and concerns weigh so heavily upon them, the slightest provocation send them reeling into fits of worry and despair. Others are made of sterner stuff — but as we’ve learned from so many stories, everyone has their limits. There have been a number of science fiction series who have toyed with the idea of criminal rehabilitation via some form of mental reconditioning (Star Trek, Fringe, The […]

Classic Rewatch: Terror of the Autons

The deus ex machina trope has been explored and adapted more times in science fiction media that we could count. When Doctor Who writer Robert Holmes developed the Nestene Consciousness for “Spearhead from Space”, he paired the concept of a non-corporeal sentient being with the god-in-the-machine premise in the form of the Autons, and the Whovian world would never be the same. Not left to rest on his laurels, however, Holmes was by no means finished, and in the next appearance […]

Inferno (Classic Rewatch Series)

There are elements of “classic” Doctor Who that make even the most die-hard fans a little uneasy. Low-budget limitations on effects, rushed plot devices, possibly a poorly-cast extra who can’t seem to keep from pulling focus, even as a dead body. But then there are the exemplary stories, the ones where the acting, pacing, story concept, and the precarious balance of action and wit all add up to a pitch-perfect viewing experience. We may gush a bit, like so many […]

Classic Rewatch: The Ambassadors of Death

♬ Just sit right back, and you’ll hear a tale A tale of a trip to Mars You’d better clear some time, we warn It’s told in seven parts. Some astronauts went missing, and When UNIT gets involved They call upon the Doc and Liz And things quickly devolve. ♬ This week, we find the diamonds in the radioactive rough that is the Third Doctor story, “The Ambassadors of Death”. Liz Shaw shines, the Doctor demonstrates his ability to merge science […]

Classic Rewatch: The War Games

Sometimes, the best thing you can do when faced with seemingly insurmountable odds, once you’ve tried reasoning, confronting, and even running, is to align yourself with the most unlikely (if undesirable) cohorts. The safety of the many, in this case, outweighs the freedom of the few. Besides, who doesn’t want to know what those mysterious “Time Lords” are all about, anyway? Closing the Troughton chapter of our Classic Who rewatch, we enjoy the ten-episode marathon that is ‘The War Games’. With more punches […]