Science Fiction & Fantasy > Baker, Tom Science Fiction & Fantasy

What an evil little puppet.

Advantages: Story, characters, setting, absolutely brilliant.
Disadvantages: Giant rats, look shoddy.

...in 18th Century London, the Doctor and Leela arrive with the purpose of showing where her ancestors came from, but soon catch a group of Chinese men killing a cab driver. All but one escape and he is taken to a Police Station with the Doctor and Leela. At the station, Li H'sen Chang a stage magician acting at the nearby theatre, is called upon to act as an interpreter, but he gives the prisoner a suicide phial, containing scorpion venom. A Professor ...
...murders taking place. The Doctor finds Chang's secret lair underneath the theatre, but Chang escapes and is attacked by the giant rats put there as security guards. The Doctor and Leela trace Chang to an opium den, where he is badly hurt. He tells the Doctor, Greel is at the House of Dragons, but dies before he can reveal further information. The Doctor with Leela in tow, go back to the Professor'. He and Leela are captured by Greel, with Leela ...

MEISTER123 13.09.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Doctor Who - The Talons Of Weng Chiang (DVD)

The Ark In Space

Advantages: Tom Baker as The Doctor
Disadvantages: None

...was the military group The Doctor sometimes worked with during the period of the show's production). The plot has The Doctor, Sarah and Harry materialise in the TARDIS on a space station orbiting the Earth in the future, where they find the last remaining members of the human race and have to fight an alien life form, known as the Wirrn. This is a scary story with an effective and terrifying monster, which is particularly interesting considering ...
...11th January 2008. ------------------------------------------------ DOCTOR WHO - THE ARK IN SPACE (1975) Starring Tom Baker as The Doctor, Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith, Ian Marter as Harry Sullivan Written by Robert Holmes (from an idea by John Lucarotti, although he was not credited on screen) Produced by Philip Hinchcliffe Directed by Rodney Bennett ------------------------------------------------ ...

phurren2006 17.03.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Doctor Who - The Ark In Space (DVD)

The Robots Of Death

Advantages: Tom Baker as The Doctor
Disadvantages: None

...The plot has The Doctor and Leela treated as suspects when they arrive on a craft called Storm Mine 4, which is crossing a desert planet. The crew of the planet do not do the day-to-day running of the craft, leaving this instead to a group of robots, who are programmed to not be able to harm humans. When a crew member is killed, suspicion is placed on the newcomers. One of my favourite aspects of this story is the design of the robots. They have ...
...Baker's Doctor faced in his first story, 'Robot', in 1974/75. I also am a great fan of Leela as I find her an interesting companion, with her savage tendencies being unlike those of many other companions. It is also worth noting that the wooden control room in the TARDIS, which I mentioned in a previous review I really liked, makes its final appearance in this story, which is a shame. The DVD features a commentary by Chris Boucher (the writer of ...

phurren2006 17.03.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Doctor Who - The Robots Of Death (DVD)

Pyramids of Mars

Advantages: Tom Baker as The Doctor
Disadvantages: None

...The plot has The Doctor and Sarah Jane materialising in the TARDIS in 1911 where they find an Egyptologist known as Marcus Scarman, who has been possessed by the last survivor of the Osirans, Sutekh. Sutekh has been imprisoned inside a pyramid in Egypt and has got Scarman to construct robots, who in turn are to create a missile to destroy the pyramid. The Doctor has to try to stop this, but this is only the start of his problems. One of the most ...
...the BBC for releasing these Doctor Who stories in their original, episodic, version. In the days of VHS video they tended to turn the stories into 'omnibus' editions, effectively making them one long story with no interruptions for credits. This did a real disservice to the programme as when done right, as with this story, the cliffhangers can be really good. Of course in the 'omnibus' format the cliffhanger is done away with as the next shot follows ...

phurren2006 17.03.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Doctor Who - Pyramids Of Mars (DVD)

It's the Jagaroth who need all the chickens?

Advantages: Exquisite... simply exquisite.
Disadvantages: Too good to be true

...was the script editor on Doctor Who during its most successful period until - well, until now, I guess - and wrote some remarkable scripts for the series, although not always under his own name... City of Death is not just another Doctor Who story, it is THE Doctor Who story. It pastiches and celebrates so many things. The show's own history, most obviously, but also the whole gangster movie tradition. With a large amount of location filming in ...
...the Romantic figures of the Doctor and Romana represent hugely Godardian hero figures, particularly in the contrast with the practical oafish Duggan). Hammer Horror is also parodied in basement laboratory scenes. By mining such a deep cultural vein, and then throwing in a crazy time-travel sub-plot, the result is ninety minutes of the greatest television ever produced. The plot in a sentence: The Doctor and Romana loaf around Paris before eventually ...

Olly_Plimsoll 04.06.2007 · Read full review
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Review of Doctor Who - City Of Death (DVD)