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Some thoughts from last night, when a few hardy souls watched all fourteen episodes of season 23 of Doctor Who, one after the other.
Tat Wood is right: "Melanie, known as Mel" is delivered in such a way by the miscast, misdirected Ms Langford that one is drawn towards the conclusion that Melanie Knownasmel is her name.
'I am known as - the Doctor' is used as an introduction too many times, and is too portentous, suggesting a series which is far, far too pleased with itself than it ought to be.
Additionally, it's only from part nine, and the start of the Vervoid story, that the programme seems very interested in the Doctor, at least as far as the 'evidence' sections of the story go. The Mysterious Planet (a friend who went to the local DWAS LG at the time said that a fan with production team contacts had told them that the title switched to The Robot of Ravalox before the Trial title was imposed across all four stories, IIRC) seems primarily interested in Glitz, and Mindwarp in Yrcanos. Both in their way are variants on the bounty hunter/mercenary type beloved of Eric Saward, probably best epitomised in Lytton in Resurrection of the Daleks and Attack of the Cybermen. Saward thought that 1980s Doctor Who should borrow its tone from Minder, he has said, and it shows now and then, but is utterly at odds with so much else.
The looks on the faces of certain people - and the contortions their bodies made - as a certain revelation in part thirteen confirmed that Doctor Who was perhaps always its own crackfic...
...and the Doctor's observation that he's bored, which amounts to admitting that the entire premise and structure of the season is flawed, fifteen minutes in to the first episode. It's as if the production team expected only 60% of the audience from season 22 to return after the eighteen-month suspension. If so, they were right.
Tat Wood is right: "Melanie, known as Mel" is delivered in such a way by the miscast, misdirected Ms Langford that one is drawn towards the conclusion that Melanie Knownasmel is her name.
'I am known as - the Doctor' is used as an introduction too many times, and is too portentous, suggesting a series which is far, far too pleased with itself than it ought to be.
Additionally, it's only from part nine, and the start of the Vervoid story, that the programme seems very interested in the Doctor, at least as far as the 'evidence' sections of the story go. The Mysterious Planet (a friend who went to the local DWAS LG at the time said that a fan with production team contacts had told them that the title switched to The Robot of Ravalox before the Trial title was imposed across all four stories, IIRC) seems primarily interested in Glitz, and Mindwarp in Yrcanos. Both in their way are variants on the bounty hunter/mercenary type beloved of Eric Saward, probably best epitomised in Lytton in Resurrection of the Daleks and Attack of the Cybermen. Saward thought that 1980s Doctor Who should borrow its tone from Minder, he has said, and it shows now and then, but is utterly at odds with so much else.
The looks on the faces of certain people - and the contortions their bodies made - as a certain revelation in part thirteen confirmed that Doctor Who was perhaps always its own crackfic...
...and the Doctor's observation that he's bored, which amounts to admitting that the entire premise and structure of the season is flawed, fifteen minutes in to the first episode. It's as if the production team expected only 60% of the audience from season 22 to return after the eighteen-month suspension. If so, they were right.
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