Scardis's Classic Who Journey.
Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2009 6:01 pm
Hello everyone, as you are all aware I'm someone who up to now decided to keep to the Doctor Who story from when Nine grabs Rose's hand and says 'Run'. Deciding that I really can't afford to dive into the classic era. (Despite buying loads of Torchwood Sarah Jane and Doctor Who audiobooks and books. Which I stand by)
Now I was saddened to hear that the Borders branch in Blanchardstown Dublin, the only one in Ireland, was closing down and were knocking 50% off everything that was already price tagged reduced on the shelves. I have shopped in Borders before getting a few Torchwood books there in the past, but I decided to give it one last hurrah and see what Classic Who DVD's they had.
They had 4 stories left. William Hartnell's 'The War Machines', Tom Baker's 'Image of the Fendahl' and 'The Sontaran Experiment' and Peter Davison's 'Four to Doomsday'. Decided 'What the hey' and bought them all. So these are my first divulges into the 20th Century Doctor Who.
I have been watching 'The War Machines' and quite liked it. Not a million miles away from Doctor Who that I know, I could see the current Doctor tinkering with the Sonic Screwdriver on the captured War Machine to make it attack Wotan and destroy the threat.
It was nice to meet Dodo Chaplet, in a Tenth Doctor novel 'The Last Dodo' The Doctor names a Dodo he acquires 'Dorothea' so it's nice to put a face to the name so to speak.
This got me thinking of how best to tackle the Classic Who, it'd be nice to get them all but being realistic where should I concentrate on? Ask that in any Who forum and you get loads of suggestions of fave classic episodes here there and everywhere but the set up of The War Machines has given me an idea. In it we get to see the introduction of the First Doctor's last companions Ben and Polly and the departure of Dodo. Well my priority is to get the classic episodes which start and finish a Doctor's or a companions journey first. Then perhaps in the future I can fill in some gaps that I'd be more interested in.
I start by paying a visit to this wikipedia page on Doctor Who companions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Companion_(Doctor_Who)
In it each companion is listed as well a their first and last adventure with their particular Doctor (if they are the companion for a regeneration then the regeneration story is listed as their last story and a new start finish is done for the next Doctor) So all these stories are on my list to get. Obviously the first and second Doctor's are bit patchy thanks to the decimation of the early 70s but all the relevant stories are at least on audio. I will choose DVD over audio tracks where available of course but there are some welcome revelations in hunting the early companions start and finish points.
My starting point is obviously going to be 'The Beginning' boxset. Getting in 'An Unearthly Child', 'The Daleks' and 'The Edge of Destruction' is a must do for anyone starting out. This is of course the start of the journey for Ian, Barbara and Susan.
Susan's last story, 'The Dalek invasion of Earth' is also available on DVD and will be my next purchase.
Sadly it appears that 'The Chase' has not appeared on DVD or audio soundtrack as yet so Ian and Barbara's story will not have it's end in my collection yet.
Next to join was Vicki in 'The Rescue', which I believe was released on DVD in a set with 'The Romans' well where a story I want is in a boxset, provided the price of set isn't too restrictive (€50+) I'll go with the boxset everytime.
Her last story was 'The Myth Makers' which sadly isn't retrievable for DVD at the minute however I did spot a great audio set called 'Adventures in History' which contains the soundtracks for The Myth Makers,The Massacre (of St Bartholomew's Eve) and 'The Highlanders' which all three fall under my category of Starts and finishes.
Steven Taylor made his debut in 'The Chase' but as I mentioned above it's not available in any format yet, he then bows out in 'The Savages' which is on soundtrack, with pictures to follow on the BBC's classic website. There's one for me to pick up. Maybe I'll get a surviving TV story of his sometime in the future
Next Katarina makes her debut in 'The Myth Makers' which is already in my list thanks to Vicki, she then makes it to 'The Daleks' Master Plan'. which is an audio only story (I oughta mention I'm taking out a membership with audible.co.uk to help me get these and my usual new series audios) and also gives us our 1st one off companion Sara Kingdom. Again perhaps a DVD of Vicki and/or Katarina in action if one exists may be considered later down the line.
Thanks to that audio set 'Adventures in History' I'll already have Dodo's first story 'The Massacre' and right now I have her last story 'The War Machines' which also starts the story of Ben and Polly.
The next major cast change is of course The Doctor himself and his first regeneration. The Tenth Planet is of course only on audio at the minute and it will be purchased as it's all that remains of that important milestone.
The Second Doctor's first adventure 'the Power of the Daleks' survives on audio and is on my to get list as well.
Polly and Ben bow out in 'The Faceless Ones' an audio survivor so that's another one for my audible membership.
Harking back to that 'Adventures in History' audio set, you may remember I mentioned that it had 'The Highlanders' on it, well that story happens to be the debut of one Jamie McCrimmon and therefore is already ticked off my list.
Along the way we pick up Victoria Waterfield in 'The Evil of The Daleks' and she carries on until 'Fury from The Deep', these are only on audio and there for will be picked up on audible.
Finally for the Second Doctor we pick up Zoe Heriot in 'The Wheel in Space' which sadly I cannot see on audible download and is still missing on video. (and I'm not going to the bother of hunting old CDs, tapes etc for them, if their not on general sale, they stay off my radar.)
Zoe and Jamie make it right up to the last Second Doctor story 'The War Games' which is actually a recent enough DVD addition, so it looks like by then if it was a physical DVD store I was visiting (would more likely be play.com though) the store might have forgotton what I look like as I've been doing a lot of audio book walking.
I'll leave it at that for now, obviously I will be continuing into the Third Doctor's era with Liz, Jo and of course Sarah Jane Smith. I'm aware that the patch work of what's left is available in a 'Lost in Time' boxset but for now I'll leave it be. I'm interested in the full stories of companion and Doctors beginnings and ends and if they exist on audio only then that how I'll get them. Perhaps down the line I may get one of the complete stories on DVD like I've done with 'The War Machines' but for now I'll concentrate on this path I've set for myself. At least I'l know where every companion comes from and where they're going at the very least.
Wish me luck.
All the best,
Scardis
Now I was saddened to hear that the Borders branch in Blanchardstown Dublin, the only one in Ireland, was closing down and were knocking 50% off everything that was already price tagged reduced on the shelves. I have shopped in Borders before getting a few Torchwood books there in the past, but I decided to give it one last hurrah and see what Classic Who DVD's they had.
They had 4 stories left. William Hartnell's 'The War Machines', Tom Baker's 'Image of the Fendahl' and 'The Sontaran Experiment' and Peter Davison's 'Four to Doomsday'. Decided 'What the hey' and bought them all. So these are my first divulges into the 20th Century Doctor Who.
I have been watching 'The War Machines' and quite liked it. Not a million miles away from Doctor Who that I know, I could see the current Doctor tinkering with the Sonic Screwdriver on the captured War Machine to make it attack Wotan and destroy the threat.
It was nice to meet Dodo Chaplet, in a Tenth Doctor novel 'The Last Dodo' The Doctor names a Dodo he acquires 'Dorothea' so it's nice to put a face to the name so to speak.
This got me thinking of how best to tackle the Classic Who, it'd be nice to get them all but being realistic where should I concentrate on? Ask that in any Who forum and you get loads of suggestions of fave classic episodes here there and everywhere but the set up of The War Machines has given me an idea. In it we get to see the introduction of the First Doctor's last companions Ben and Polly and the departure of Dodo. Well my priority is to get the classic episodes which start and finish a Doctor's or a companions journey first. Then perhaps in the future I can fill in some gaps that I'd be more interested in.
I start by paying a visit to this wikipedia page on Doctor Who companions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Companion_(Doctor_Who)
In it each companion is listed as well a their first and last adventure with their particular Doctor (if they are the companion for a regeneration then the regeneration story is listed as their last story and a new start finish is done for the next Doctor) So all these stories are on my list to get. Obviously the first and second Doctor's are bit patchy thanks to the decimation of the early 70s but all the relevant stories are at least on audio. I will choose DVD over audio tracks where available of course but there are some welcome revelations in hunting the early companions start and finish points.
My starting point is obviously going to be 'The Beginning' boxset. Getting in 'An Unearthly Child', 'The Daleks' and 'The Edge of Destruction' is a must do for anyone starting out. This is of course the start of the journey for Ian, Barbara and Susan.
Susan's last story, 'The Dalek invasion of Earth' is also available on DVD and will be my next purchase.
Sadly it appears that 'The Chase' has not appeared on DVD or audio soundtrack as yet so Ian and Barbara's story will not have it's end in my collection yet.
Next to join was Vicki in 'The Rescue', which I believe was released on DVD in a set with 'The Romans' well where a story I want is in a boxset, provided the price of set isn't too restrictive (€50+) I'll go with the boxset everytime.
Her last story was 'The Myth Makers' which sadly isn't retrievable for DVD at the minute however I did spot a great audio set called 'Adventures in History' which contains the soundtracks for The Myth Makers,The Massacre (of St Bartholomew's Eve) and 'The Highlanders' which all three fall under my category of Starts and finishes.
Steven Taylor made his debut in 'The Chase' but as I mentioned above it's not available in any format yet, he then bows out in 'The Savages' which is on soundtrack, with pictures to follow on the BBC's classic website. There's one for me to pick up. Maybe I'll get a surviving TV story of his sometime in the future
Next Katarina makes her debut in 'The Myth Makers' which is already in my list thanks to Vicki, she then makes it to 'The Daleks' Master Plan'. which is an audio only story (I oughta mention I'm taking out a membership with audible.co.uk to help me get these and my usual new series audios) and also gives us our 1st one off companion Sara Kingdom. Again perhaps a DVD of Vicki and/or Katarina in action if one exists may be considered later down the line.
Thanks to that audio set 'Adventures in History' I'll already have Dodo's first story 'The Massacre' and right now I have her last story 'The War Machines' which also starts the story of Ben and Polly.
The next major cast change is of course The Doctor himself and his first regeneration. The Tenth Planet is of course only on audio at the minute and it will be purchased as it's all that remains of that important milestone.
The Second Doctor's first adventure 'the Power of the Daleks' survives on audio and is on my to get list as well.
Polly and Ben bow out in 'The Faceless Ones' an audio survivor so that's another one for my audible membership.
Harking back to that 'Adventures in History' audio set, you may remember I mentioned that it had 'The Highlanders' on it, well that story happens to be the debut of one Jamie McCrimmon and therefore is already ticked off my list.
Along the way we pick up Victoria Waterfield in 'The Evil of The Daleks' and she carries on until 'Fury from The Deep', these are only on audio and there for will be picked up on audible.
Finally for the Second Doctor we pick up Zoe Heriot in 'The Wheel in Space' which sadly I cannot see on audible download and is still missing on video. (and I'm not going to the bother of hunting old CDs, tapes etc for them, if their not on general sale, they stay off my radar.)
Zoe and Jamie make it right up to the last Second Doctor story 'The War Games' which is actually a recent enough DVD addition, so it looks like by then if it was a physical DVD store I was visiting (would more likely be play.com though) the store might have forgotton what I look like as I've been doing a lot of audio book walking.
I'll leave it at that for now, obviously I will be continuing into the Third Doctor's era with Liz, Jo and of course Sarah Jane Smith. I'm aware that the patch work of what's left is available in a 'Lost in Time' boxset but for now I'll leave it be. I'm interested in the full stories of companion and Doctors beginnings and ends and if they exist on audio only then that how I'll get them. Perhaps down the line I may get one of the complete stories on DVD like I've done with 'The War Machines' but for now I'll concentrate on this path I've set for myself. At least I'l know where every companion comes from and where they're going at the very least.
Wish me luck.
All the best,
Scardis