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Post by Cyggy on Jun 23, 2022 14:45:02 GMT
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Post by heccy on Jun 23, 2022 14:54:19 GMT
He was a great Doctor. The BBC wanted to axe the show and he was the first casualty. The Bastard Broadcasting Corporation, were embarrassed by the show and it's low production values, which were mainly due to the Beeb's un willingness to actually invest money into it. To placate the Doctor Who fanbase, the BBC played lip service to the fans. The next few years was JNT's vain struggle to keep it alive.
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Post by sadako on Jun 23, 2022 15:13:09 GMT
I have a lot of thoughts and feelings on the state of the show in the 1980's. I don't think the BBC were entirely wrong to think it had had its time. It had probably had its time when Tom left.
But I never thought Colin was the reason why or was deserving of the blame. And frankly given the decision was made by Grade & Powell I find their reasons to be genuinely snide, disingenuous and spiteful, even if it was hard for me to feel much love for what the show was by then.
The worst he was guilty of to my mind was performing what was on the page and being a bit too sycophantic to JNT. But as an actor, what else was he going to be?
There were moments in his era, like Revelation of the Daleks and Terror of the Vervoids, where it looked like Doctor Who had finally found its niche again and was maybe worth continuing with Colin. The problem with his era was often down to his untapped potential, and given a chance he could've been a great Doctor (he's certainly proved as much on audio).
Did he have his chance?
Two seasons can be enough for some Doctors. If Jon Pertwee's era had ended on The Daemons, or Tom's had on The Seeds of Doom, they'd both probably be beloved Doctors just on the strength of those two great starting years. Colin had less such luck, and same for Davison. It felt like it was only toward the end we saw how good they could be, and then it was too late. But the writers and producer have as much blame for that as Grade does.
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Post by GC on Jun 23, 2022 19:22:26 GMT
Never really took to Colin's Doctor if I'm honest and had started to drift away from the show during his run, so I was kinda ambivalent to his sacking. Looking back he seems to have been the fall guy but like I say I was done with the show.
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Post by iank on Jun 23, 2022 21:16:04 GMT
It seems positively unpredecented - for the top brass to interfere with the casting of a show, sacking the lead over the objections of the actual producer, but then forcing the guy who didn't want to sack him to tell him he was sacked... The mind boggles as to how people like Grade sleep at night. On top of a pile of money, I'm guessing.
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Post by rapscallion on Jun 23, 2022 21:44:27 GMT
Never really took to Colin's Doctor if I'm honest and had started to drift away from the show during his run, so I was kinda ambivalent to his sacking. Looking back he seems to have been the fall guy but like I say I was done with the show. I had no idea that you'd gone off the show at this point. What's your thoughts on the 6th Doctor and the era now? Is it one that you've liked more in recent years?
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Post by GC on Jun 24, 2022 0:00:34 GMT
Never really took to Colin's Doctor if I'm honest and had started to drift away from the show during his run, so I was kinda ambivalent to his sacking. Looking back he seems to have been the fall guy but like I say I was done with the show. I had no idea that you'd gone off the show at this point. What's your thoughts on the 6th Doctor and the era now? Is it one that you've liked more in recent years? Well I will say I've grown to like Revelation of the Daleks quite a lot.
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Post by GC on Jun 24, 2022 13:39:37 GMT
I had no idea that you'd gone off the show at this point. What's your thoughts on the 6th Doctor and the era now? Is it one that you've liked more in recent years? Well I will say I've grown to like Revelation of the Daleks quite a lot. As for Colin's Doctor, I still find him a too abrasive, bombastic, very unfriendly/unsympathetic type character. His costume obviously doesn't help. I find myself watching and kind of enjoying a few of his stories nowadays but not because of him, it's cos of the Cybermen, Daleks, the Second Doctor and the Master etc. I guess it could also be a bit of really liking Davo's Doctor and being bitterly disappointed and not taking to his replacement. A bit like some folks who loved Pertwee didn't like Tom kind of thing. I dunno. Not keen either way.
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Post by sadako on Jun 24, 2022 14:26:02 GMT
I think even Colin's unpleasantness should've worked, and indeed in fits and starts did.... when it was applied right against equally nasty foes. When the moral anger came out of him, sharp like a diamond.
Too often though it seemed his unpleasantness was directed at poor Peri, and he was more sharp like rusty razors (then again I seem to be in a minority of fans who thinks Eccleston's Doctor was just as nasty, if not moreso).
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Post by dsjr on Jun 24, 2022 19:06:35 GMT
Had he been better written and directed, he's an excellent actor and would have adjusted his skill-set accordingly I feel. Sure, he's a large man and capable of an OTT performance when directed to do so, but he's more than good enough to tone it down into something far darker and i think he came into his own in his Big Finish Audios. My hope is that had he continued, he'd have toned it all down quite a bit and become more agreeable - and maybe a better written Mel would have got him to tone his costume down as well as she wasn't a whinger as Peri was written all too often - in my opinion of course.
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Post by Cyggy on Jul 4, 2022 14:54:02 GMT
Colin Baker talks abut life after being sacked as The Doctor
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Post by Cyggy on Jul 20, 2022 16:09:01 GMT
How STARLOG magazine (issue 118, May 1987) reported it.... Full size
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Post by Cyggy on Jul 20, 2022 16:20:34 GMT
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Post by Cyggy on Jul 20, 2022 16:26:45 GMT
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Post by Cyggy on Jul 20, 2022 17:04:29 GMT
I remember reading an interview with Jon Pertwee where he said something like "the only mistake Colin made was going to the papers". Certainly I don't think Colin did his BBC TV employment prospects any favours for years afterward after sounding off like this... I do remember him eventually turning up in a "Casualty" episode, but that was years after the sacking. In the Richard Marson JNT book Jonathan Powell is quoted as saying to Colin - after Colin has said he was going to say he has been sacked - And Colin's reply: At least he had his theatre work to fall back on.
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