Blakes7 Discussion

Cockroach Boy · Posted: Wed Nov 29, 2006 5:42 pm Post subject: Best Radio Who

Which was the best Doctor Who radio adventure?
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BLAKESCREWE · Joined: 16 May 2004 Posts: 21196 Location: 1977!

er , none - they were all pretty lousy!

RichardWho · Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 7:52 am Post subject:

What about 'The Pescatons'? Was that ever broadcast on radio? It was released as an LP record. It starred Tom Baker and Lis Sladen and would get my vote.

Cockroach Boy · Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 11:15 am Post subject:

BLAKESCREWE · Joined: 16 May 2004 Posts: 21196 Location: 1977!

THE PARADISE OF DEATH - just!

(it was great to hear Pertwee and co back agian after so many years! )

RichardWho · Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2006 7:31 am Post subject:

Yes, that one gets my vote too.

Picard · Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2006 7:20 pm Post subject:

Paradise of death as its one which I obsessed over for ages a long time ago, recently I realised how slow it is however.
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Cockroach Boy · Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2006 7:25 pm Post subject:

I didn't catch the Pertwee plays at the time of broadcast, but bought them on tape later. Bought Ghosts first, so always tended to favour that one.

On the other hand Paradise does have the wonderfully fruity voiced Harold Innocent

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Picard · Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2006 7:47 pm Post subject:

Who did Innocent play?

I tried that ghosts was a little dull.

Have any of you tried the narrated versions of the target books?
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"No matter where you are... everyone is always connected." Lain Iwakura

Cockroach Boy · Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 12:42 pm Post subject:

Picard · Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 10:31 pm Post subject:

Cockroach Boy · Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2006 6:04 pm Post subject:

Listened to the Radio 4 Pertwee plays again this week. They are quite strange. Neither feels entirely like a 3rd Doctor story but they still seem old fashioned, especially compared to things like the New Adventures that were around at the time.

The first carries on some of the themes from Letts producership. The anti-capitalism of Paradise of Death is reminiscent of Colony In Space and The Green Death. The scenes with Onya talking about her spiritual 're-birth' seem quite indebted to the Doctor talking about the Hermit in The Time Monster. The attempts to satirise violence in the media is new to the Third Doctor - and sadly its hideously inept, especially compared to Vengeance on Varos. It's interesting that Letts apparently disapproved of the violence of the Hinchclife era.

Ghosts of N-Space goes in for the same gothic trappings of The Daemons but seems to come down on the side of magic. There's nothing inherently wrong with this - the supposed science of Doctor Who works like magic anyway and might as well be the same thing half the time - but it feels strange in a 3rd Doctor story in a waythat it wouldn't in one for the 4th or 7th. The philosopy of this one seems more akin to Christianity than the Buddhist ideology of Pertwee's on-screen finale. It's difficult to see how it woul operate in the Who universe - do Daleks and Ogrons 'cross over' too?

The best thing about Ghosts is Pertwee himself, giving a very warm final peformance. In Paradise he was written almost as a paraody of the character from the 70's, but in Ghosts perhaps because of the theme of death, we see a melancholic, thoughtful side that was hinted at in season 11 but not really develloped. A good example is when Sarah protests that Luisa is going to die and the Doctor responds 'Well of course she is. Aren't you?'. There is greater fragility to the character which gives him a new dimension.

The one thing that is really awful about both these plays is Jeremy. It's almost as though Letts saw Brendan in K9 and Company and thought 'Oh right. A posh sidekick for Sarah. That'll do'. But Brendan was a bright kid who's problem was the he lacked practical experience and by the end he's far less arrogant. Jeremy is dumb and posh, without any self awareness whatsoever. He never reacts to anything in a way that isn't a 'golly gosh' carricature and learns nothing from his experiences.

Neither play is a triumph, but Paradise gives us a bit more devellopment on the themes of the third Doctor's era and Ghosts benefits from one of Pertwee's most interesting peformances.
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Everything in life is only for now.

BLAKESCREWE · Joined: 16 May 2004 Posts: 21196 Location: 1977!

I find `Ghosts` to be all wrong - The Doctor isnt quite right , the Brig`s Family history is all wrong , and the Jeremy character is not right whatsoever!

Only Sarah Jane comes out of it with credibility!

Cockroach Boy · Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2006 6:14 pm Post subject: