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The first time that an Oxonian crowd has sat down in front of a six-parter for a long time; and we stayed and watched it all despite the late start caused by the faulty winding system on the VCR we use. Back to 1972 it was, and The Sea Devils.
A few thoughts: Clive Morton's portrayal of the pompous, unimaginative, personally frustrated (including sexually from the way he holds on to Jo at every opportunity) but decent (if only given the opportunity) Trenchard is very, very good, and he dies almost as well as can be expected for a Malcolm Hulke script where conflict, destruction and death are presented as the consequences of fear, insularity (appropriate considering Trenchard guards the Master on an island prison, and before that he was governor of a British island colony) and selfishness.
The Doctor and Jo both resort to bribery to make their way to the naval base in episode one. Corruption, or defiance of authority?
This is one of Jo's strongest stories, following on from her assertive behaviour in The Curse of Peladon; here she does a fair amount of Doctor-rescuing, including outwit a guard very easily, and proves that she can share some of the Doctor's ability in martial arts too.
The Master was a successful character in part because Roger Delgado played him as the ideal dinner party guest, a man of entertaining conversation and ingenuity who would probably help with the washing up and could also speak to the children on their level - whether those of his notional host, or the audience at home (which are of course the same thing given that in many households in the 1970s Doctor Who must have been watched while the children were having their tea, as David Tennant has related). He and Jon Pertwee's Doctor compete with each other over their credentials as renaissance men as much as over the essence of right and wrong.
The Sea Devils themselves are strangely expressive given that of their heads only one - that worn by Peter Forbes-Robertson as the Chief Sea Devil - has a moving mouth. The rapid changes of camera angle help. The assistance of the Royal Navy makes this perhaps the most expensive-seeming Doctor Who of the 1970s... and Donald Sumpter (with full head of hair and beard, no less) and David Griffin lead the 'B' plot with stolid devotion to submarine duty.
A few thoughts: Clive Morton's portrayal of the pompous, unimaginative, personally frustrated (including sexually from the way he holds on to Jo at every opportunity) but decent (if only given the opportunity) Trenchard is very, very good, and he dies almost as well as can be expected for a Malcolm Hulke script where conflict, destruction and death are presented as the consequences of fear, insularity (appropriate considering Trenchard guards the Master on an island prison, and before that he was governor of a British island colony) and selfishness.
The Doctor and Jo both resort to bribery to make their way to the naval base in episode one. Corruption, or defiance of authority?
This is one of Jo's strongest stories, following on from her assertive behaviour in The Curse of Peladon; here she does a fair amount of Doctor-rescuing, including outwit a guard very easily, and proves that she can share some of the Doctor's ability in martial arts too.
The Master was a successful character in part because Roger Delgado played him as the ideal dinner party guest, a man of entertaining conversation and ingenuity who would probably help with the washing up and could also speak to the children on their level - whether those of his notional host, or the audience at home (which are of course the same thing given that in many households in the 1970s Doctor Who must have been watched while the children were having their tea, as David Tennant has related). He and Jon Pertwee's Doctor compete with each other over their credentials as renaissance men as much as over the essence of right and wrong.
The Sea Devils themselves are strangely expressive given that of their heads only one - that worn by Peter Forbes-Robertson as the Chief Sea Devil - has a moving mouth. The rapid changes of camera angle help. The assistance of the Royal Navy makes this perhaps the most expensive-seeming Doctor Who of the 1970s... and Donald Sumpter (with full head of hair and beard, no less) and David Griffin lead the 'B' plot with stolid devotion to submarine duty.
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