Robots Of Death is a goodie. I remember enjoying it a lot on DVD. There are better Baker stories for me though.
Doctor Who... Page 744
I enjoyed the two parter very much.
In fact part two was one of the only recent episodes I've fancied watching again straight after.
Of course it wasn't flawless, but for me it was a good un.
*Remembers Griff for a second then turns away & forgets that he was there
Quote: sootyj @ May 29 2011, 9:11 PM BSTGodot on your reccomendation I rewatched most of the Robots of Death.
Truth be told I wasn't going to give up a full 2 hours of my life.
I respect your opinion on many things, but this episode?
Sluggardly, wooden acting and wooden characters. Replete with "what's that Dr dialogue?"
And even the costumes seemed so poor it bordered on the deliberate.
The whole thing lacked cohesion and tension. The sets weren't just wooden, but unimaginative. The scale of the digger gave an idea of ridiculous size with no magnificence.
This was contemporaneous of Battlestar and Buck Rogers and inferior to both.
Sooty you just checked out of the debate. Robots of Death is inferior to Buck Rogers? Are you out of your f**king mind?
The robot design alone is impressive, without all of the of the other things that make the story great. Even the lighthearted scene where the Doctor survives being locked in a filling grain hopper by breathing through a pea shooter is beyond glitzy wank like Buck Rogers and Battlestar.
You seem fixated on production values at the expense of everything else, which really surprises me. Well, the Almost-People had nice costumes but many of the corridors sequences looked decidedly ropey and the handle that turned of the acid was clearly made of painted wood.
And the scene where the crew went into the company building looked like it had been filmed round the back of a branch of Barclays. I expected to see a few people standing around smoking.
Did anyone else look at the words on the door sign to see if there were any anagrams?
No, me neither!
Robots of Death is very good and I'm not sure why I haven't got it on DVD. Poul's breakdown always disturbed me as a kid.
The nadir of Robot's of Death is in the first 10 minutes.
The Dr explaining to Leela how the Tardis is bigger on the inside.
1 Oh God not again! Dr Who's pub bore conversation.
2 Is that all they have to talk about? Emphasising the lack of any interesting character dynamic in Old Who.
3 A prime example of "what's that?" and "how does that work?" compnaion dialogue.
4 It's blatant filler. Any show how ever small the budget doesn't need filler.
I don't care about production values, I care about what they do with resources.
Sorry but Robots of Death is a turgid, obvious grubbing in Asimov's dustbin.
And Leela's accent? Dear God emphasis of how the show couldn't even get the most basic characterisation right.
It improved with Peter Davidson, but it couldn't get much worse.
Until Colin Baker...
I guess everyone's entitled to their opinion, but it doesn't seem fair at times.
What that people have differing opinions?
What are you a communist or something?
No, a ClassicWhoist.
Diss Buck Rogers all you like, but it had Wilma Skintight White Jumpsuit in. And a sexy evil princess.
Funny watching Delta and the Bannermen the other day an apparent stinker, I rather liked it. It was actually fiendishly clever in how it used a limited budget and surprisingly witty.
And looking at some of the old Peter Davidson he's really rather good and about the best example of "thinking Who"
But Tom Baker in his autobiographies pretty much says he was a much loved kids entertainer, who got loads of poontang thanks to his fame (with adult ladies I might add). His contempt for the actual show comes over strongly.
Quote: chipolata @ May 30 2011, 9:09 AM BSTDiss Buck Rogers all you like, but it had Wilma Skintight White Jumpsuit in. And a sexy evil princess.
Wilma.....
Jump suit.....
Gil Gerard,...
She even had a walking, talking, sex aid.
Quote: Ben @ May 30 2011, 8:57 AM BSTI guess everyone's entitled to their opinion, but it doesn't seem fair at times.
Quote: sootyj @ May 30 2011, 9:13 AM BSTFunny watching Delta and the Bannermen the other day an apparent stinker, I rather liked it. It was actually fiendishly clever in how it used a limited budget and surprisingly witty.
As much as I like to stick up for McCoy, Delta is certainly no Robots Of Death!
Quote: sootyj @ May 30 2011, 9:13 AM BSTHis contempt for the actual show comes over strongly.
So? He probably hated the fact it typecast him for so long.
You're just a troglodyte Sooty. Buck Rogers better than Hinchcliffe/Holmes-period Who, Davidson Better than Tom Baker, Delta and the Bannermen better than Robots... these aren't opinions, they're excerpts from a psychiatric report.
For the lucky ones who've never seen it Delta and the Bannermen is eye-raping, cringing dross. It's one of those programmes you can't believe was actually made, even while you're watching it.
It's not an accident that Robots of Death was the very first Who VHS tape that the BBC put out and Delta and the Bannermen is one of the last DVDs to be released.
Quote: Ben @ May 30 2011, 8:28 AM BSTRobots of Death is very good and I'm not sure why I haven't got it on DVD. Poul's breakdown always disturbed me as a kid.
Me too. It's a very unexpected plot development. Especially as (SPOILERS) he's supposed to be one of the investigators.
Quote: Matthew Stott @ May 30 2011, 12:01 PM BSTSo? He probably hated the fact it typecast him for so long.
Baker just says what he thinks at the time in interviews. He's not at all guarded. He had no respect for JNT as a producer and hated most if not all of the changes he brought in. Don't forget that JNT tried to do away with Baker's long scarf. The bloke was an absolute f**king idiot. (JNT).
The thing is Delta is funny and has a lovely Hg2tg feel to it. Buck Rogers was exiting and still is, was full of interesting characters, sex appeal, humour and action.
Years ago the BBC with Quatermass and 1984 and loads of other good stuff solidly proved it could do world class scifi on a tiny, tiny budget.
Dr Who all to often pissed that heritage up the wall.
That episode failed not because it looked cheap or was boringly plotted.
It's for the simple reason that when you stick the 2 main characters in the room with nothing to do. They have nothing to say.
At all.
Try saying that of Dr 11 and Amy/Rory or Kirk and Spock.
Interestingly the first Dr was actually abit of a c**t and his assisstants tried to hijack the Tardis because they were homesick.
By the 1970s such interesting and human characteristics had been long gone.
Quote: sootyj @ May 30 2011, 12:25 PM BSTBy the 1970s such interesting and human characteristics had been long gone.
You're not going to convince any of us that classic Who, that much loved series that ran for thirty years, was actually rubbish!