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Post by GC on Jan 2, 2023 6:26:55 GMT
Better late than never I guess...
Doctor Who The Daleks' Master Plan Feast of Steven: A Happy Christmas to all of you at home!
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Post by GC on Feb 13, 2023 14:57:46 GMT
^That chap's done another bit...
Doctor Who The Daleks' Master Plan Feast of Steven: First scene
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Post by Black Orchid on Feb 16, 2023 18:38:54 GMT
From Twitter: "Nicholas Courtney, William Hartnell, Adrienne Hill & Peter Purves on the Spar set in TC3 on Friday 5 November 1965 prior to taping ‘Devil’s Planet’." Colourised by Clayton Hickman
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Post by Cyggy on Mar 17, 2023 12:48:44 GMT
From a 2022 rewatch (of the Missing Episodes only).....
Episode 1: "The Nightmare Begins"
(Using Loose Cannon Recon on Dailymotion)
One of the perils of doing this rewatch in reverse story order is that we have yet to experience the 1 episode trailer for this story in the shape of "Mission to the Unknown" - followed by the disappointment of a pure historical in "The Myth Makers" after that. I imagine it was mighty confusing at the time though. :?
That aside, here we go.
Steven is ill in bed in the Tardis - and I am immediately reminded of the opening of "Planet of the Daleks", with a similarly incapacitated Third Doctor, with outside help no doubt desperately being needed?
Yep. The Doctor says Steven needs "a special drug" and that they will "have to land somewhere". Nation's reuse of his plot beats was worse than I feared.
Katarina is no Leela. Or Jamie. It seems clear from the outset that she is going to ask questions - as all companions do, but the questions she is going to ask are blinkered through the prism of a Trojan handmaiden, interpreting them to fit her religious perception of her experiences.
"Have we reached the place of perception so soon?" is the sort of oddly phrased question that is surely going to get wearing week in, week out. Will we see even a spark of adaption and development in the sort time we will be acquainted with this companion? Will we see even the possibility of her starting to look at things in a different way and beginning to shed her superstitions and starting to grasp and switch to a belief in science instead - as Leela did? I doubt it.
I am sure that Hartnell's speech at 1:15, going on about stopping at a lot of places and ending with "That's a good girl" all sounded a bit random and jumbled - as if he did an approximation of the written speech? Billy got there unaided though, without grinding to a halt. What a trooper!
Great crashing in monster roar sound effect to introduce the planet - as if "Forbidden Planet" had loaned out the sound of it's invisible monster attacking to the BBC.
But it's not an invisible monster we see, but Nick Courtney in his first ever appearance in Doctor Who. Saying the deathly and immortal words "Charlo Charlo Egan" - or however it's spelt. :doc1:
And Brian Cant is suddenly there. There is something unnerving about seeing a "Play Away" presenter losing his marbles. This is not the calm Brian Cant who could be trusted to cut up paper into shapes using a pair of scissors - calmly. He is terrified. It is acting like this that helps sell the Daleks as a threat - unlike New Who, where Bill Potts can joke about "what if they got two plungers in the factory by accident?" - even as the Daleks are firing at her. Actors believing in the threat is when Doctor Who really works I think, rather that showing how embarrassing the monsters might be when you stop and think about it for too long?
Suddenly we have cut to elsewhere, with two smirking bald guys and a man and woman who make me think of Avon and Flower in "The Savages" before the guy has barely opened his mouth. The guy wants to watch the giant telly to see "The Venus-Mars game" and the woman wants to see her "hero", Mavic Chen.
In passing it is mentioned that Nick Courtney and Brian Cant are missing after going looking for the "Mission to the Unknown" crew. Rather like Brent went looking for Taylor in "Beneath the Planet of the Apes" only to suffer the same fate.
So Mavic Chen is being interviewed on a futuristic version of 'Parkinson' on the space telly.
Chen mentions the year as being exactly 4000AD. Strangely I find it a little implausible that it is such a rounded up number for the setting for this tale. a few years either way would be a little more believable somehow. But to take place in exactly 4000AD. I'm not really buying it and it smacks of lazy writing imo.
Who are those two bald idiots grinning askance in the background at Mr. and Mrs info dump? What are they there for. It feels like they are there to tidy the office, but instead of getting on with the tidying just stand and grin.
Back to Kembel and Brian is still in a state.
At least he knows what danger the Varga plants present and is wisely avoiding them. "That could be what happened to Cory, he says, referencing the tale we have yet to watch.
Cant's character has surprised me. He is telling Bret Vyon to leave without him so that their message will have chance to get through - even threatening to kill Bret - who reluctantly leaves. Great acting.
And we are into that surviving clip now. Might as well savour it. Brian Cant gets exterminated by a Dalek. I like how the Dalek is filmed from below, emphasizing it's towering menace. I do think we have a "Han shot first" moment though as Brian Cant pulls the trigger before the Dalek has fired - and nothing seems to happen. No sound effect from the gun. Nothing.
This is no time for Bret to be tripping over and dropping things. Get up man!
He's broken the bloody communicator. It makes me think of Alan Rickman in "Galaxy Quest": "You broke the bloody ship!"
Loose Cannon says that Brett "puts his head in his hands in despair" - as well he might. He had one simple job; getting the space communicator from A to B. And he couldn't even do that one simple thing. He should be drummed out of the Space Service. He may look similar, but there is no way this is a descendant of Lethbridge Stewart. I don't think the Brig could ever be this dumb.
And suddenly the TARDIS is arriving. More fleeting footage of said arrival.
They are certainly cracking on with this adventure. Barely arrived and Bret is already threatening the Doctor, demanding the key to the ship.
On board and Adrienne Hill continues to play Katarina as if she is in a dazed fog. Steven revives just long enough to get frustrated at her not understanding anything, then is out like a light again.
That crafty Bret turns up in the TARDIS doorway - minus the Doctor - and tells Katarina to shut the door. "The old man said you know which switch!". Cunning. Are we going to have a "Caves of Androzani" situation and not meet any nice people in this story. Bret is being a git so far - albeit obviously born out of desperation to complete his mission.
Katarina has indeed memorised which switch shuts and opens the main doors. A sliver of hope that she can learn and adapt. It's not much though, so far - but at least it's something?
Yes, I think Hill is playing the character much the same way Janet Fielding played Tegan under hypnosis in "Snakedance" when the Doctor was questioning her about her dream. Not quite with it, dazed and seemingly confused-sounding. Not a dynamic approach to playing the companion.
I love the way Bill plays his finding of the key in the door at 15:00. Absolutely delightful - even with the Billy-fluff about "brain versus brawn". :lol:
Steven knocks Brett out with a spanner, but collapses himself, just as the Doctor is about to enter the TARDIS. But suddenly a spaceship is arriving ahead before the Doctor can go through the door. The noise of the over head ship reminds me of the Dalek ship noise in the Cushing movie of Invasion Earth - although it probably sounds nothing like it.
We cut to a Dalek control room and they talk about the arrival of the spaceship that went overhead. "All is ready!" apparently.
Back in the TARDIS and Bret wakes in a chair. An invention of the Doctor's that he has cleverly named "The Magnetic Chair". Wonder what happened to it - since it's never seen again - although Big Finish will no doubt cameo it somewhere in future - if they haven't already.
I think it's a bit silly of the Doctor to leave Katarina in charge of Bret in the chair. Especially when he has told her how to free him also. Wonder if the cunning Bret heard him mention that little detail?
The Doctor is wandering back through the jungle again and I just realised that this is clearly leading up to that opening in the surviving episode 2 when he is sat watching Daleks around the TARDIS.
"He narrowly misses a Varga plant". That would have been a terrible way to lead up to his first regeneration. Struggling not to become a plant throughout his last few stories. :doc1: :death:
Mavic Chen's Spar spaceship is arriving at a nicely done spaceport on Kembel now. Nice to see that footage in context also.
Steven is having his brow mopped on the TARDIS and Bret is asking Katarina to get "two tablets" from his pouch on his belt to give to Steven. I would have expected it to be a cunning ploy, but Bret really is immobile in the chair and it seems he was truthful about the tablets. I guess it's part of a longer cunning plan to gain Katarina's confidence though. But it does mean that Steven should revive soon. If this is an escape plan of Bret's it is a bit of a gamble.
Mavic Chen arrives from the newly landed ship and announces how happy he is to aid the Daleks in conquering Earth "and all the planets of the solar system".
The Doctor has been watching this arrival - or at least Loose Cannon thinks he was - and we now abruptly cut to the Doctor returning through the jungle on foot - although maybe the transition was smoother on the actual episode. Just seemed a bit of a clumsy switch/jump in the reconstruction.
And so we get to our cliffhanger leading into episode 2. Daleks around the TARDIS in the jungle.
A good opening, setting the scene nicely. Brian Cant gave it everything, so it's nice we have his death scene. Katarina needs to emerge from her dazed fog though - and she is running out of time to impress us that she had any real potential as an actress or character. Nick Courtney is shaping up to be an untrustworthy ally - and Mavic Chen shows what a dependable actor Kevin Stoney was, although Chen is sketched out a bit simplistically at best so far in this opening instalment. The charming peacemaker of the universe is actually a deadly threat.
If they found this I wouldn't complain. It's not the rousing conclusion of "Destruction of Time" but it is the nicely scene-setting opening, which would be an important part of the Daleks' Master Plan jigsaw to recover.
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Post by Cyggy on Mar 17, 2023 13:01:51 GMT
Episode 3: "Devil's Planet":(Using Loose Cannon Recon on Dailymotion) I too gave the second episode a quick watch the other night - and it was nice to see it in context. Also grateful that we have any existent episodes at all - let alone three of the things! So on to episode 3 - and it begins (in the LC recon) with telesnaps rather than footage from episode 2. Either this is an old recon before 2's recovery or the opening scene was reshot, so the surviving footage didn't quite match the onscreen action. I suspect it's an out of date recon actually. We are missing witnessing the Doctor entering Chen's spaceship in the nick of time. Wonder how that looked. Was Steven fighting to hold the already closing airlock doors open as the Doctor squeezed through - or did the Doctor dash in fully - and then they closed? Little mysteries like this are the intriguing confetti of the missing episodes I reckon. The scene is played with such intense urgency by all: "Get us off!" shouts the Doctor once onboard. Well, everyone except Katarina who is still in her own mental dreamland of finding perfection. I was so busy writing the above line that I mentally returned to listening to the tale at 2:22 - whereupon I could have sworn the Dalek said "Crackers operating!" - which conjured up visions of the Daleks eating nuts while pursuing the core-thieves! Upon restarting the scene I realised it was actually the automatic "trackers" which had been switched on. I did realise that I didn't really care about the content of the Daleks' dialogue. It is clear that they are in pursuit, just as Daleks would be. The words that they are barking out about it seem a bit laboured and a little bit pointless? So the Daleks and their mates plan to "take over the universe" according to the Doctor (starting with Earth and then the Solar System). That's wildly ambitious to put it mildly. I am guessing Nation meant galaxy instead of universe, but seems to muddle one up with the other. Billy-fluff at 4:15: "Fifty years to be suffice.... to be precise!" Bless him. :doc1: To be honest while watching episode 2, I had been labouring under the uncertainty that Brian Cant might have been playing Zephon as I thought they were vocally similar, but it was actually an actor called Julian Sherrier..... IMDB... Talking of Zephon, he's really not in the Daleks' good books for the core screw up. Oh, they just executed him! I thought the powerplay and intrigue between Zephon and Chen would - and perhaps should - have played out over a few more episodes at least. Maybe they missed the chance of an interesting subplot there, much as the War Chief and the Security Chief were exchanging catty remarks throughout much of "The War Games". Maybe it's best he's gone though. Am on the fence about whether there was storytelling life left in Zephon or not? The Doctor's advice to Steven (when he is being inquisitive about the core) is to be more like Katarina - just stand there and look and learn. I don't think so Doctor. The last thing we need is Steven also being obtuse about everything while staring into space as if he's just smoked space-weed! I love how Hartnell finds the spaceship "primitive but very fascinating!" in the midst of their escape and peril. Lovely. Magnetic tape in the year 4000. Double bless! A different recording from the one we heard in "Mission to the Unknown" apparently. Though there's no way the original TV audience would have been able to tell on broadcast - unless they had audio taped 'Mission" - which thankfully someone did! Surviving footage from 10:40 as we approach Desparus. Nice Star Trek ship-shake acting by all concerned as Chen's ship changes course. Desperus always reminds me a little of Fury 161/Fiorina 161 from "Alien 3 - although this one is home to both male and female prisoners - at least according to Loose Cannon. When Chen says "I congratulate you!" to the head Dalek, I expected it to say "DALEKS DO NOT NEED CONGRATULATING!". One of the perils of watching Chibnall's recent "Eve of the Daleks" where they lazily said that kind of thing in response to anything anyone said to them in order to get a cheap laugh. But it doesn't happen here, thankfully. A mad part of me did wonder if the "cave" used that the prisoners are living in was the same cave from "An Unearthly Child" - if they even kept it - and whether it saw re-use in the later "The Savages". Mind you, how difficult is it to randomly knock up a cave set if you are a designer worth your salt? Desperus sounds very jungle-y when Katarina is looking out at it through the airlock door. Bang goes my Fury 161 under a different name theory. Nice scene at 16:45 that it's a pity we have lost. Just chatting between the Doctor and Bret where the Doctor calls it a pimple of a planet, derides the primitive technology of the ship and berates Bret for continuing to "footle with that fusebox!" - and a lovely moment where Steven dares to suggest that the TARDIS is hardly perfect, much to Hartnell's delightful outrage. A missed trick at the end of this scene though at 17:44 , imo - as the Doctor goes to stand with Katarina looking out at this alien world. They could easily have given Katarina her defining moment here, much as happened between the Doctor and Victoria in "Tomb". Just a quiet moment for him to actually talk to her properly for the first time and listen to her thoughts on what had happened to her and perhaps what she hoped for from here on in, with some lovely warm advice from the Doctor. But nothing. Just the Doctor observing that prisoners are approaching the craft from a distance. Nothing. What a waste of a scene that could have enhanced the forthcoming tragedy? The prisoners just mentioned things called "The Screamers" - so I went and looked them up..... "Screamers"I guess someone must have designed a "Screamer"? Wonder what they actually looked like when they attack at 19:35? A lazy copy of a bat? Or something more alien and exotic? Slight Billy Fluff mix up of "Captive power - or rather outlet" near the end of this episode, but a subtle one. Katarina told to look at a switch and press it when told. And "don't ask questions - or you'll become like the other two!". If only. Perhaps Katarina's defining line of dialogue at 22:40: "You understand many mysteries. With you I know I am safe!" A bit of tragic irony, but at this stage will take any scraps whatsoever. 23:45 - and the moment that the Doctor inadvertently sends Katarina to her death. "Now Katarina - check on that door and see that it's secure!" If only he had gone to check it himself, or sent Steven or Bret who might at least have given the prisoner a hefty punch. Oh well, hindsight is a wonderful thing, but I do think it remiss of the Doctor to send Katarina to deal with a futuristic door when she is still acclimatising herself to .... well, everything. Maybe he wanted her to feel useful. But a tragic mistake, nonetheless. A Katarina scream and the episode is over. This would be a nice one to find. Some nice interplay between Bret, the Doctor and Steven. We would see Desperus and also find out what the Screamers looked like. Yes, I wouldn't complain if this one turned up.
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Post by Cyggy on Mar 17, 2023 13:15:04 GMT
Episode 4: "The Traitors"(Using Loose Cannon Recon on Dailymotion)How desperate is Kirksen in that he would rather go to Kembel which is a desolate jungle containing Daleks than go back to Earth and end up being sent back to Desperus? It all adds to how horrible Desperus must be and I did have visions of one of the "Alien 3" prisoners acting pretty much the same way in order to get off Fury 161 if they ever had a chance like this. Similarly to how you said, regarding the Brian Cant acting in episode 1, Yartek, the new show has never done such intense acting like this, to my memory. What a horrific stand-off. Nowadays Katarina would throw a glib quip over her shoulder before punching him in the nuts, I expect. Here she remains the hapless hand-maiden she is, thrown into an entirely different environment that she has barely begun to get to grips with and she is either about to knowingly commit suicide or take a gamble on pushing the button, not knowing what will happen for sure? I suspect it's the latter? I just realised that I sat through the entire Daleks talking about pursuit course scene and didn''t care what they were saying. I just knew that they were pursuing our heroes. Verbally they are maybe a bit ungripping without a Davros around to vocalise their single minded determination for them? I do like the Daleks as monsters, but I don't think they necessarily grip the viewers much with their dialogue. I do think their Ray Cusick design is always fascinating to look at on screen though, regardless of whatever they are barking out? Have never noticed before that Bret "pushes a button that makes the ship lurch violently", leading to Kirksen pulling Katarina into the airlock. Ergo Bret is indirectly responsible for her death. I don't know whether to be angry at his character or understand his thinking in that it was worth a try? So the Doctor was at fault for sending her to check the door and Bret has sealed her fate. Only Steven is blameless. And praise for Purves here, he throws himself into the desperation of this scene and perhaps sells Katarina's peril to the viewer more than anyone, although they are all in there pitching. The whole point of this scene existing seems to be merely to correct a mistake in casting a character from too far back in history, but we got a good dramatic scene out of it played by four absolutely professional actors. Even Hill's Katarina is about to die well - without speaking another word from the moment she is grabbed - despite having arguable played the character up to now as if being slightly doped up on medication? Am not sure I am convinced - when Steven says "She must have pressed the wrong button, Doctor!" - by the Doctor saying "She may have wanted to, dear boy. She wanted to save our lives." So Katarina deduced that she and her captor were going to be hurled into space and die? It feels almost like the Doctor is copping out on his partial responsibility for her horrifying death and perhaps making excuses? The impression I got was that Katarina had absolutely no idea what would happen but figured out that anything was better than just going along with her captivity and Kirksen reacting badly to her reaching for the button made her even more determined. I think she took a gamble rather than willingly sacrificed her life? The Doctor just added "She didn't understand. She couldn't understand." Which I think muddies it up even further. :? What appears to be a final shot of Katarina floating in space - with the usual eerie radiophonic background wail - is pretty strong stuff for teatime viewing? An interview with Adrienne Hill about her death scene..... Adrienne Hill (1986)Quick scene with the Daleks telling Trantis how determined they are to conquer the universe - so don't get in the way pal! :Dalek: The scene from 8:05, set in a comfy room, where Chen, Lizan and Carlton are discussing Bret while he is displayed on a large screen in front of them reminds me of the scene in episode 1 of 'Blake's 7', 'The Way Back', where similar dubious figures of authority discuss poor Roj. So safe to say Terry scripted this scene, or at least the outline of it. When they are preparing to come in to land, the Doctor says "Don't concern yourselves with me, I can look after myself!" I believe it. The actor is still in there determined to lead this show that is changing around him. Hartnell really was a trooper. The lengthy, dialogue free moment from 11:55, where Chen is brooding in his office raises the question of what Chen is doing. My first thought is that he is either doing that bizarre thing with a pen again or just sat stock still staring into space. For all we know he is sketching a portrait though and that's the sound of either the pen or pencil being slammed down at 12:30. I reckon he's doing nothing, but you never know. :? Just to backtrack slightly and the Blake's 7 parallels continue. It just occurred to me that the prison planet Desperus is of course an earlier version of Cygnus Alpha too (but it will always be more closely associated with Fiorani 161 to me). And the entrance of Sara Kingdom at 15:15 is imo the forerunner of Travis making his entrance in the "Seek, Locate, Destroy" episode of Blake. What's the guessing that the (missing) shot started from the feet up as Sara approached, leading to the reveal that it is, in fact a woman, to the assumed gasp of 1960's viewers? Just went back and checked and until now Sara has only been referred to as "Kingdom". Probably my dirty imagination, but did Kevin Stoney ad lib a sexual subtext to when he says (at 13:50) "Kingdom! Ruthless, hard, efficient - and uhhhhh.... does exactly as ordered" - leading to a somewhat knowing "Quite!" from the bald guy. :Cyberman: Does Bret count as a companion? Probably not imo judging by the little time we've been with him. And he's never left his time or century unlike Katarina. I think that's why she gets a pass and he doesn't. Back to Sara having just walked in. Chen says "Before you do that, there is something you have to know." Is he about to tell her that Bret Vyon is her brother? That seems remarkably thoughtful of him to warn her of that if so? He's never come across as the thoughtful type. Returning to Kingdom and Chen after a scene of Steven Bret and the Doctor waiting around for Daxter, I think all he mentioned to her was that the "Emm of Taranium" needs retrieving. I think. :? He's lied to her about something anyway and she has believed it. So Roger Avon is Daxter. I always think of him first and foremost as the pub landlord who Sid took to see Tony Hancock when Hancock was having a horrifying complex about his nose and said he had had plastic surgery. No mention of hooters in this scene though - although Avon's nose might be growing as he lies to our heroes. But the Doctor is having none of it and catches him out. Good scene, summing up where the adventure has got to so far. Hartnell's loving it, I think and Roger Avon goes for broke in over-reacting and making himself look even more guilty. They can't take on Bret as a companion. He is indeed a cold blooded killer - as poor Daxter finds out. At least Turlough had the good grace to be rubbish at killing people. :death: I just had a thought that Leela killed a fair few though before mending her ways? I doubt Bret was ever going to stop shooting first and asking questions later, no matter how many lectures the First Doctor gave him? Bret commits a selfless act at 23:05, pushing Sara off-balance and shouting "Run for it!" to his two allies letting them go first and allowing them to escape. So at least he died a hero of sorts. "Aim for the head!" says Sara in the familiar footage from the existing episode 5, as she begins her journey of replacing Bret in the narrative as an untrustworthy potential companion. Of course, Terry Nation was all out keen to exploit Sara as the potential star of a new US produced Dalek TV show and she was even bunged into an annual.... LinkAnd there was that audio adaption of the failed Dalek TV pilot of course..... As for episode 4, I would have said it was essential for seeing Katarina's death scene, but since we have most of that it doesn't really feel all that essential. It's a good enough episode, but I think finding 1 and 3 takes priority over it imo to be honest.
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Post by Cyggy on Mar 17, 2023 13:19:46 GMT
Episode 6: "Coronas of the Sun"
(Using Loose Cannon Recon on Dailymotion)
Easy to forget that we often have a clip from a missing episode, such as the Daleks closing in on the travellers at the beginning and the Doctor saying "I'm afraid, my friends, that the Daleks have won!". Don't think it's a reshoot anyway, looking at the recon?
I'm not sure what's going to happen in this episode. I am very familiar with episode 5 and I know that the next one is "The Feast of Steven", but I wonder how the plot will progress with this segment - if at all?
A Mexican stand off in the jungle with the Taranium core. Wonder how they will get out of that? I like that the lead Dalek cuts off any further discussion, demanding that the core be handed over. No negotiation.
Oh, the invisible creatures are breaking the stalemate. I forgot about them.
Tried desperately not to lose interest in what the Daleks back on the ship/base were saying. Think I failed though. They want the Taranium. That's all I know.
So the Doctor, Steven and Sara are planning to nick the Dalek ship. Sara is doubtful though that their plan will succeed. Steven tells Sara to trust the Doctor. Maybe they could have expanded on that and had a moment of reflection between Steven and Sara on how her world was changing, but there's no time I guess. There's a ship to steal!
The Doctor has approached the one Dalek guard outside the ship, offering to give himself up. I am glad that he did not try talking to it about the semiotic thickness of a performed text, as McCoy did in "Dragonfire" or try flirting with it badly, talking about "faster than the second hand on a watch" as Ace did in "Fenric", so thank Heaven for that.
The Doctor just called the guard "my tin friend" in passing. I love that!
Wow! The old mud on the eye stalk trick, straight out of the first Hartnell Dalek story.
Where's Bret when they need to take off in a stolen ship? Oh, yes, right. Of course.....
The second stolen spaceship of this story. This tale is repeating itself now.
Mavic Chen is calmly putting spin on his complete failure. Gotta agree with the Dalek when it says to him "You make your incompetence sound like an achievement!"
The Daleks left on the planet are reported as being "under constant attack from invisible creatures". The head Dalek wants to send a rescue ship to save these Daleks - who "will be dealt with" when they return. Seems a waste of energy and time rescuing them if they are gonna be most likely exterminated once back? If you are gonna be a ruthless Dalek, just leave them to their fate on Mira, surely?
Chen goes into smug mode at their failure after being picked on for his failure.
Oh for Gawd's sake. The stolen ship is now under an outside influence and they are being pulled back to Kembel. Will they ever get away from that ***ing planet!
Oh, they over-rode the control. Good.
The Doctor has cobbled together a copy of the Taranium core.
Oh for crying out loud. The Daleks are using a powerful magnet to pull them back to Kembel now.
That's a heck of a scream Steven lets out at 14:05. A parrot won't voom when you put 4 million volts through it, but Steven does, apparently.
A scene of Chen and the Daleks chattering away that feels very much like padding, discussing what the fate of the travellers will be when captured. Well it killed a bit of time I guess.
Strange scene now, with Steven acting like a post electrocution somnambulant zombie, not speaking, but nodding. Odd.
The ship has now landed back on Kembel with what looks like Chen and one Dalek ready to meet them.
On board ship Steven is still sleepwalking, and the Doctor saying "Steven will lead the way" as they exit the ship. This is just daft. Why is Steven in such a state after a shock? And why let him lead the way? I don't get it.
"I will do all the talking" says the Doctor as they leave. With Peter Purves unable to help him at the moment this will be no time for Billy-Fluffs.
This episode is ending as it started, with a Mexican stand off involving the Taranium.
The Doctor insists on moving proceedings to outside the TARDIS, then gets inside it with Sara, relying on a loudspeaker system to tell Steven to hand the "core" over. I don't see how Steven isn't going to get immediately exterminated once he has handed it over?
Oh right. Steven had some kind of force field around him as a result of the electrocution which protected him from the Daleks' guns' blast. Sounds like hogwash to me.
The TARDIS has landed and "the whole atmosphere outside is entirely poisonous!". No it's not though, because we know that the next episode is "The Feast of Steven" - with London fog the only thing to worry about. This seems to be one writer leaving a dramatic clffhanger for a second writer to pick up from - and the second writer immediately discarding it - badly. A shame. An episode on a planet with an entirely poisonous atmosphere might have been quite a good segment for this tale.
Not too impressed by this episode. Two Mexican stand offs. Padding chatter between Chen and 1 Dalek. That whole load of rubbish about Steven getting electrocuted turning him into a sleepwalking, hypnotised zombie, stealing a ship only to end up on Kembel again.
Just perhaps the weakest episode so far.
Oh well, at least next episode might be better?
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Post by Cyggy on Mar 17, 2023 13:23:59 GMT
Episode 7: "The Feast of Steven".
The first dilemma is whether to watch the fan-animation or the reconstruction.
Utter filth for a start:
SARA: Something's gone wrong!
THE DOCTOR: What's the matter my dear, hmmm?
SARA: It's stopped going up and down!
Disgusting!
So to the police station setting (after the bogus "poisonous atmosphere" cliffhanger.
Hartnell still banging on about the said atmosphere and that he is "used to all sorts of atmospheres".
I love how Hartnell is playing the scene with exuberance. Never phoning it in. Still being waspish. And Purves being steady as ever. Even this daft, silly old script played with (light-hearted) conviction. True professionals all.
3:50 and the poisonous air is suddenly (verbally) discarded as a plot point. I guess such cavalier scripting doesn't matter. It's Christmas day.
Okay, the bit with the bloke at the police station going on about "rebels". I recently rewatched the Brian Donlevy Quatermass Xperiment and this reminds me very much of the scene where a dotty - and I think drunk woman played by Thora Herd is doing a similar talking of nonsense at a police station. Wonder if it was an influence? Mind you, I suspect a lot of tv shows and films have similar scenes. Going on about rebels is a bit bizarre though.
Gotta give this episode credit for giving Hartnell one of his arguably greatest quotes at 5:55, in the "Citizen of the universe - and a gentleman to boot"" line. A pearl in this segment worth treasuring. A pity we can't see him saying it. Just imagine how many clip shows it would have already been used in had it always existed.
Steven nicking a police uniform from the inside front car seat of the police car.
And that bloke still banging on about rebels and his greenhouse.
I notice Peter is affecting an accent as the bogus policeman.
Hartnell still being questioned leading to Sara emerging from the TARDIS now.
A padding scene with Sara talking to one of the policemen.
So Steven extricating the Doctor from the interview room using a bit of subterfuge. I like how Hartnell still grumbles about being referred to as an old man as Steven leads him out.
Immense relief that they have all three got back on the TARDIS and are leaving this (supposed to be Z CARS) set up.
I can't say I disliked that first bit, but this really is - so far - just a daft bit of nonsense, befitting a Christmas Day where the audience are lounging about still digesting their grub.
A reminder on board the TARDIS that the Daleks must never be forgotten about. Even as the episode around it completely forgets them for this week.
A little bit of chatter about potentially destroying the Taranium and that's our lot for the Daleks' Master Plan this week.
So they have landed again and I guess we can forgive both Steven and Sara for maybe not recognising an anitquated film set.
The animation has what looks like the genuine Charlie Chaplin walking through a door and past our travellers.
Just every cliche about silent movie making with the Sheik in a tent, ranting director, blah, blah, blah....
Nine minutes of this thing left... as the episode descends into noisy chaos. Someone banging out a silent movie tune on a piano....
Now Steven has been manhandled and carried off somewhere for some reason. He escapes or something and they are looking for him again to "do that scene again".
More nonsense in the Sheik's tent. Hartnell hauled into proceedings via the director. Leading to Sara's line about being asked to take her clothes off and Hartnell's Arab line. This episode at least can be said to have it's share of memorable lines?
And almost finally an exact Dalek duplicate of Bing Crosby - "Success!! Paramount successs!!!" It is indistinguishable from the original!!!!"
Bing II drones on unfathomably with that completely authentic Crosby voice.
And thank Heaven they have slipped away once again, leaving behind a lot of noise and Professor Webster making a pointless appearance.
And finally that Hartnellian Yuletide toast.
I don't feel like recovery of this is in any way essential - but on the other hand it is such a unique episode that recovering it (which I realise is impossible) would have at least given us a fascinating curio for the archives?
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Post by Cyggy on Mar 17, 2023 13:30:33 GMT
Episode 8: "Volcano" (Using Loose Cannon Recon on Dailymotion)Nice opening spin-around by a Dalek in the opening moment of the recon. Wonder if that's what actually happened. Nice touch though. I just remembered that this was the New Year's Day episode at the time, so will have an echo of that Feast of Steven Christmas Day episode - but at least the Daleks are in it this time. But I do wonder how frivolous it might get. "Dennis Spooner - from an idea by Terry Nation". Lazy Terry. The alien delegate wearing a body stocking with dark blobs on it has a lovely way of pronouncing "stolen" at 1:15.... "STOW-LEN". Chen refers to the Doctor as "A creature from another galaxy" in the guise of a humanoid. Nice. A subject has been selected for testing on the Time Destructor. Who could it be? "We must get back to the Planet Kembel" says Sara (in order to "destroy the Dalek invasion fleet"). NO!!!!! Let's stay away from there now - please! At least for a frikkin' while. What's the point of escaping from a place only to escape back to it! Poor old Trantis, bunged into a cell with a glass screen while the destructor is turned on. Love the sound of the time destructor already. Sound effects like this an easily overlooked contribution to the mood and feel of Who sometimes? 5:50. "It came from Uranus" - pronounced the old school way. There is no way that the entire cast didn't fall about at rehearsals when they got to this scene. :lol: Everybody blaming everybody else for being given fake Taranium again. Will none of them step up and take some responsibility. None of these idiots - Daleks included - deserve to run a galaxy, let alone the universe. :death: Poor old Trantis. I don't see why they didn't keep him alive until they recovered the core. I guess they will have to use another of the delegates for any experiment now. The scene from 8:10. I have read various claims over the years that this scene was somehow an inspiration for Douglas Addams to create the Doctor Who tale "The Krikketmen". Let's see how feasible that really is? And the scene is over and done - done and dusted - by 10:05. I just cannot believe that that couple of minutes led to a hardback book written after Addams' passing. No, not convinced. Am surprised that the Daleks are sending that incompetent fool Chen to accompany the time-travelling task force after the hash he has made of retrieving the Taranium so far. Idiots. Nice selection of shots in the recon to represent a volcanic planet. I wonder - but doubt - if any of them are actual footage used which Loose Cannon have sourced through production records, a la the planes flying in "The Faceless Ones" and the Viking boat bits in "The Time Meddler"? I really, really doubt it though. Think it's just random footage. 12:50. Talking of the Meddling Monk and here he is! Nice effect in the recon of a door opening in a rock face, with him emerging. And they have him using the same binoculars as in TTM too. Doubtful, but can't be helped. I think the Doctor has guessed that the Monk is on their trail. "Unlikely - but possible!" as he puts it. The Monk is studying the TARDIS close up now. It is at moments like this that the internal logic of Doctor Who and the reality of production of the show butt heads for me. As the Monk was studying the TARDIS the thought occurred to me, as it often does, that why should it have to be Hartnell's TARDIS? Why not Sylvester McCoy's or Colin Baker's etc? In the same way that the Delgado Master never bumped into the Davison Doctor for example? Reality dictates otherwise of course, but - in a time travelling show - it doesn't make sense how different Doctors seem to be locked in time with other Time Lords. There, got that off me chest. Unless some explanation has been provided within the fiction of the show for why this should be so - beyond real-world considerations? I like how the Monk is trying to break into the TARDIS at 14:55. I guess the device he is using is guesswork on Loose Cannon's part? Also like the echo auditorium effect that has been put onto everyone's voices as the Doctor and the Monk meet and converse too. Adds to the feeling that we are in fact in an open - and very big - location. Hartnell calls the Monk "Young man". Crikey. I think he is the one who needs binoculars. Good moment though. Hartnell feels like he is struggling with his lines, seeming to do approximations of what the line should be throughout the reunion with the Monk? Ah, so we are on the planet Tigus. Not that it matters where it is or what it is called really, I guess. 17:10 and I just love this scene where everyone starts laughing. It's barmy, but wonderful imo. 18:25 - and who needs a sonic screwdriver when you have a magical ring - and it's eerie sound effects? Nice shouting of the Monk saying "You haven't heard the last of me!" to Steven saying the same of him. 20:10 - and Hartnell is handed a speech where he has to explain the magical properties of the ring. He walks the tightrope of a potential Billy-fluff, but doesn't fail or fall, bless him. And the Daleks' time machine is preparing for lift off, so to speak. Am assuming it is the authentic design from DMP. Without checking am not sure if it also the same design as "The Chase" time machine? And so the episode is going to end in New Year's Eve in London. Appropriate I guess - and at least the New Year celebrations haven't turned this episode into a (completely) silly one. I wonder why the cricket bit was thrown in though? Just seemed superfluous and daft in an otherwise regular instalment of this tale? I have no idea what Hartnell said there at 23:15 so had to check out the transcript.... DOCTOR: The Relief of Mafeking. Siege of MafekingA piece of history I must admit I have never heard of. "CONQUEST!!!" chanting ends the episode. I reckon you could lop out the cricket and New Year's Eve celebration bits and this is - unlike "The Feast of Steven" - a legitimate part of the DMP tale. In terms of recovering it though. Nope, it's not high up there as an essential part of the whole, missing episode wise. Would be nice to have the Monk scenes back though - but that's about it?
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Post by Cyggy on Mar 17, 2023 13:33:53 GMT
Episode 9: "Golden Death" (Using Loose Cannon Recon on Dailymotion)I love that sound of the Daleks' time machine dematerialising at the start of this episode. Easy to overlook the contributions of "special sound" to many a Doctor Who tale? It's "The Chase" all over again now. More natter between a Dalek and Mavic Chen, going over the same old ground. The Monk has quite badly damaged the lock of the TARDIS door and it will take some time to repair. Unusual to see the TARDIS being as damage-able as this. In latter years, of course - particularly in New Who - it seems completely indestructible and even self-rebuilding and repairing. Quite quaint to see it needing more than a bit of WD40 squirting in the lock. During this scene of lock repairing and pyramid admiring from 2:55, Hartnell sounds like he is recovering from a throat infection. I bit raspy and croaky? Nothing serious, but sounds to me like something lingering on his throat. He gets upset when Steven fails to pass him "the diaphragm". Perhaps it is best that this episode is lost? :oops: 6:30 and a bit of chatter between the locals, who are clearly not used to time travellers turning up willy nilly. Nice moment with Steven and Sara discussing how the Monk's TARDIS should have changed to blend in with it's surroundings. Sara still banging on about how she knew they should have tried to get back to Kembel. Let it go Sara! What is it with you and that ****ing planet!!! Wherever the Doctor lands, death follows, and this is a case in point. The Daleks are exterminating the locals who stupidly thought that spears were a match for Skaro's finest, but it's arguably the Doctor's indirect fault. He could have landed somewhere uninhabited, but no, always bringing death to local populations. The man is arguably a universal menace - indirectly? 9:15 and Hartnell has taken to wearing a Peter Davison type hat. I don't think it suits him too much and think he much more suited the wild west type of get up in "The Gunfighters". Ten minutes in and this entire episode has just been padding so far, imo. Part of me hopes that it continues in that vein, as it will add up to not being much of a loss from the archives, if so? Sara and Steven captured now by the locals and trying to escape. Standard Who filler stuff. The Monk wandering around like a sight-seeing holiday maker. 14:00 and at least the Monk has now bumped into Chen and the Daleks. Chen saves the Monk from extermination. I like how the Monk is momentarily grateful at Chen's promise that he will be rewarded with elimination (if he fails) and he says "thank you!" quite sincerely before realising he's just been threatened with death. Peter Butterworth is wonderful in the cowardly but devious role. A shame this story will be his last appearance. Lots of long, lingering silences in this. Pad, pad. The Monk has nipped into his Tardis to get some kind of sniffer-outer for finding the Doctor and co. 17:15. Ah, so this is the famous moment where a TARDIS is turned into a motorbike. I remember reading of this moment in an old Doctor Who Weekly or Monthly and it sounded bizarre even then. How the heck to you get into a TARDIS when it is a motorbike? The song "Ride On Time" springs to mind? Just a bit too silly a moment, methinks. So the Monk's TARDIS has been set as a police box too. This must hopefully pay off a bit later. So it's escape time for Sara and Steven. Only minutes left of this episode and not much has happened to make it count as much of an instalment. Loose Cannon says that "Sara uses her combat skills to chop a guard in the neck". A touch of "The Avengers" thrown in there I suspect. 20:00 and - at last - the Doctor and the Monk meet face to face for a conversation. This had better have been worth the wait. Mostly natter about TARDIS blending-changing, But I do like how, at 21:50 the Doctor suddenly talks about putting the Monk out of the way (while prodding him with his walking stick says LC). Then chuckling as a prelude to overpowering the Monk. 23:05 and one of those missing episode recovered clips that it's easy to forget that we have, simply because it's also the opening of the next episode. Nice to finally properly have "watched" the scene leading up to the Doctor overpowering the Monk though. And, with a Mummy's hand emerging from a sarcophagus that's it for this episode. I think that was easily the most padded and largely pointless episode so far. Just lots of natter, wandering about. A pointless capture and escape. Even the chatter between the Monk and the Doctor wasn't particularly inspired. While it is sad to think of any instalments remaining missing forever, this is one of those ones that pains me less than others. Not an essential recovery. (Which means it will probably turn up now.)
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Post by Cyggy on Mar 17, 2023 13:37:01 GMT
Episode 11: "The Abandoned Planet" (Using Loose Cannon Recon on Dailymotion)So we actually have the existing opening scene of episode 11. So easy to overlook these recapped clips from the previous episode. I love that eerie space music on the opening credits. Very atmospheric and so evocative of the strange landscapes, starscapes and planets that the first Doctor travelled through. And here the Daleks and Chen are - arriving in their time/space machine again. I like the way the Dalek puts a strange spin on the word "final" from about 2:55 in. Nick Briggs, eat your heart out - this is how you vary a Dalek voice! So the TARDIS has got back to Kembel, but the directional unit is now burned out. Hartnell - during this lengthy scene of chatter - almost has a stumble over "impulse.... compass" at 4:15, but somehow carries on, to the point where it can be dismissed as the doddery Doctor? And on he carries, like the professional actor he is. Another meeting of the delegates. Still talk from Chen of conquering "the universe". Why can't they start more realistically with the galaxy for now - then go from there? Poor old Gearon at 7:35. Bang goes a Big Finish spin off of his further adventures. Nearly 10 minutes in and there has been a lot of chatter in this episode so far. Daleks talking to Chen. Tardis crew chatting. Delegates arguing and chatting. Steven and Sara nattering in the jungle. And now more delegate/Chen chatter. This episode needs to up it's game a bit or the word "padding" might spring to mind? 9:25 and the Dalek Supreme has vanished. I wouldn't be surprised if he got fed up with all the chatter too and simply fled the episode? More wandering around the jungle and chatter between Steven and Sara - and now she wants Steven to explain to her how the directional device thingy he is carrying works. So long as he doesn't say "Here's one I made earlier"! The Doctor seems to have vanished from the episode. Perhaps they are giving Bill a rest after that initial lengthy scene of talking at the start? Steven and Sara exploring a city now. This episode seems quite empty so far - as if the plot is on pause, but they still need to give the characters words to say. They are both in the Dalek control room now and Steven has come up with some arbitrary and dumb plan to hide in the Daleks' time machine, while Sara stupidly lets everyone know they are there by announcing it on the city loudspeaker system. Just daft imo. 18:00 and - after a bit of delegate chatting to Steven and Sara on the intercom, Chen does a monologue saying that Sara is still loyal to him. After a lot of shouting and debate Steven lets Chen and the delegates out of their Dalek prison cell. Thank spack for that. Chen's spaceship blows up on take off at 21:40. And now Sara and Steven have found the Daleks' secret entrance into a mountain or something. Chen turns up - and forces them both at gunpoint into the secret Dalek base. And that's it.... I never thought that the penultimate episode of a 12 part Dalek epic would prove non-essential, but this one has imo. There's really very little to this episode. Just lots of talking, speculation, arguing. delegates locked up and then let out. Chen blown up and then alive. Doctor talking a lot for the opening scene and then completely vanishing from the episode. Clearly this episode was created just to fill an episode too far in a Dalek story. If this episode were ever to turn up I would be delighted of course, but disappointed too, for it's already obvious that the next one - the final one - now has to wrap everything up in 25 minutes. Am looking forward to seeing how it does just that. But as for this one. Non-essential imo, sadly - and surprisingly.
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Post by Cyggy on Mar 17, 2023 13:41:57 GMT
Episode 12: "Destruction of Time"....(Using Loose Cannon Recon on Dailymotion)Going into this it's clear that most people want this back over the 8 other lost episodes of this tale. From the outset the eerie music/ambient sound that is playing in the background while Chen is grandstanding to Steven and Sara at 1:45 adds something to this. I think it helps to put over Chen's instability as he is talking, very subtly. Without that "music" the scene might perhaps run the risk of being an OTT actor hamming it up a bit? But the addition sure works imo. 3:15 - and Dalek chatter about "THE TIME DESTRUCTOR!" and "PRISONERS TAKEN!". I just let them gab at this point, as they always talk, it seems, about things that are about to happen/have just happened, bless them. Nice, cunning stage whisper of one plotting Dalek to another at 5:03. I think they are at their best when they show their truly sly side like this. 5:50 and Kevin Stoney has his biggest scene yet. Absolute madness from a fool. And - again - that noise/music over his ranting. It comes across as a production decision, as if the director saw the dailies and had a word with the musician about putting some musical tomato sauce over a very large, brave performance that - nonetheless - ran the risk of being over the top to an audience? That music helps and protects the actor from potential ridicule enormously, I think. Chen's firing of the gun at the Supreme Dalek at 7:15 has about as much effect as the tragically mislabelled Anti-Dalek fluid guns of the 1960's - otherwise known as water pistols. It must have been very satisfying to audiences of the time to see Chen reduced to a panicking wreck as he runs away. Unless they felt a bit of sympathy for the daft sod? Chen is nowhere around and we instead have a scene between the Doctor, Steven and Sara at 8:00 where he tells Steven to get Sara back to the TARDIS. And that sinister musical heartbeat is still there. Has it grown louder? So my theory about it being to cover Kevin Stoney's performance is probably wrong. But it's getting under my skin already a bit. Maybe this musical heartbeat is key to the acknowledged success of this episode? Chen's death at 8:35. It felt as if he could maybe have survived just a little bit longer, having escaped from the control room, but. thinking on it, his story of hubris has reached it's natural conclusion, I guess. 8:55 and the noise Chen never lived to hear - as the Time Destructor starts to tick. If the music was eerie enough, this is now another added layer of relentlessness that this episode (and the audience) has to contend with. Followed immediately by Hartnell trapped and faced with a roomful of Daleks - and what a glorious stand he makes against them. None of that half-soaked and addled David Bradley ineffective nonsense here. This is a Doctor to be reckoned with. No fear and a hint of smugness as he gives Daleks orders and gets he and his friends out of the room safely. 11:40 and Sara's gone back to help the Doctor. This is equivalent, I guess, to the moment when Adric walks out of the spaceship's airlock door at the last second in "Earthshock"? From this moment her decision has doomed her. Will her going back have any positive impact on the Doctor's getting back to the ship - or has she thrown away her life needlessly? Maybe in the actual episode she is to be seen helping the Doctor carry a fairly heavy Time Destructor, but the Loose Cannon recreation just shows her standing ineffectively at the Doctor's side - or like a ghost behind him. She doesn't seem to be aiding the Doctor in any way and is merely a bystander. I wonder which it was? It adds to the tragedy I think if Sara was of no use in her final moments. 15:25 - and according to Loose Cannon this is the moment when the Doctor lets go of the Time Destructor and it rolls away. What is Sara doing at this point except dying? Surely they were both holding it, or she at least was attempting to help him carry on and share the burden with him? 16:10 - and Sara lets out the cry of someone dying, after we have heard what sounds like her falling to the ground. We then have Steven racing out to do what he can to help, which isn't much at first. Failing to deactivate the Time Destructor and looking on at a dead Sara. I wonder if they added grey to Steven's hair for this scene? 18:20 - and that Hartnell cry of pain and outrage sounds to me like Steven is pulling a resisting Doctor to his feet, though Loose Cannon has it as the Doctor pushing Steven away? Again, I can't believe that Steven obeyed the Doctor and left him behind, while the Doctor followed on. I think it would be in Steven's character to help a failing Doctor every step of the way? 19:50 - Dalek ray guns: 0 Time Destructor: 1 The cries of the Daleks as they die is a nice little touch. And the sudden silence at 20:50 (save for a subtle wind in the background) is most effective. In the final scene it feels perhaps as if the Doctor can barely disguise a sense of triumph - and that it is down to Steven's tortured anguish at the losses they have endured that pulls him back to realising the "terrible waste" of life that said triumph has cost them? And the TARDIS leaves..... This surely has to be the Holy Grail of the Hartnell era? (Okay, with stiff competition from "Tenth Planet" part 4, if only for that episode's historical significance?). This seems to be the "Earthshock" part 4 of it's day, in terms of hurting the audience, but perhaps puts said audience through the mill even more, with that horrible Time Destructor noise and ambient sound throughout? As much as I am tempted to vote for "The Feast of Steven" for it's daft uniqueness, when all jesting is done this is surely the episode of this story that we most need back?
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Post by Black Orchid on Mar 17, 2023 13:51:48 GMT
Episode 11: "The Abandoned Planet"
The Doctor seems to have vanished from the episode. Perhaps they are giving Bill a rest after that initial lengthy scene of talking at the start? "Meanwhile, for unknown reasons, the Doctor was removed from a large portion of the penultimate episode, The Abandoned Planet, shortly before it went before the cameras. Instead, Steven was assigned many of the Doctor's lines, while his own were split between himself and Sara." www.shannonsullivan.com/drwho/serials/v.html
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Post by Black Orchid on Mar 17, 2023 17:37:27 GMT
From a 2022 rewatch (of the Missing Episodes only)..... Episode 1: "The Nightmare Begins"And Brian Cant is suddenly there. There is something unnerving about seeing a "Play Away" presenter losing his marbles. This is not the calm Brian Cant who could be trusted to cut up paper into shapes using a pair of scissors - calmly. He is terrified.
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Post by Black Orchid on Apr 4, 2023 17:19:30 GMT
"Makeup artist Sonia Markham fitting William Hartnell with his wig at BBC TV Centre on Friday 7th January 1966 prior to taping ‘The Abandoned Planet’ in TC3." Colourised by Clayton Hickman
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