The Sea Devils 2025 Mix

 Classic Doctor Who has reached that point where it’s been through so many different formats from the original broadcasts through releases on video, DVD, Blu ray and streaming, individually and in collections. The stories have been novelised, analysed and enjoyed multiple times.  Many have had updated effects and re-edits applied, others have had AI additions made by fans. So you could argue that the only option left is to allow a new generation to tinker with them enabling them to be more relatable for the TikTok generation for whom even ninety minutes is a very long time.

The Sea Devils

 

I remember when a continuity announcer said that the next story would be called `The Sea Devils` and I had no idea if this was some sort of monster or period pirate piece. Since then I’ve always loved `The Sea Devils` and now I can't quite believe its fifty years since I first saw it. Inevitably it can’t thrill me like it did as a child but yet it still has a magic. Many parts of it fizz with energy and even if from this distance it can look ramshackle at times the overall effect is still strong. Part of the reason why its endured is the very experimental incidental music by Malcolm Clarke and the design of the Sea Devils themselves. Even if their eyes don’t move! So forgive if this is less a review and more notes. 

 

The Curse of Peladon

 

Peladon is as rich a planet as was ever created for Doctor Who. Its murky passageways lit by flickering torches seem so far from the studio environment in which they were constructed. Its almost as if the stories were filmed on location on Peladon itself! Its pagan tradition seems rooted down the centuries rather than scribbled out at a script meeting the other week. Perhaps because the series at that time was mostly set on present day Earth, those stories which are not resonate particularly strongly. One of the best aspects of the two Peladon stories is a strong sense of time and place. A feeling- still rare in the series to this day- that these people were here long before the Doctor and will still have lives afterwards. Moreover, writer Brian Hayles invents an entire history, structure and society not just for the planet Peladon but the Galactic Federation as well. It is quite intricate in detail and sounds convincingly believable as well

 

Day of the Daleks

 

In 2011 Doctor Who fandom was divided about the merits of the Special Edition of `Day of the Daleks` but I loved it and over a decade later I still do. Fact is I actually-gasp- prefer it to the original. This is only because it really is the original as the production team and viewers would love to have seen it. I suspect many viewers actually think this is what they saw! The story hasn't been changed in any way simply enhanced visually to better support the narrative. Plus if you don't like it, the original transmitted version is still around of course. This story was an event and a half in 1972. The Daleks back for their first story in seven years, heralded by a stunning Radio Times cover from the pen of Frank Bellamy. Alongside the comic strip cover for the 1971 season the previous year it remains one of the best RT covers ever.

Terror of the Autons

 

“I am usually referred to as The Master”. With just eight words a new classic tv villain made his debut appearance fifty years ago yet nobody could know just how defining a performance Roger Delgado would give and how enduring the character would become. The Master has re-appeared in many guises over the subsequent half century yet the benchmarks are all laid out from the start. Generously afforded the role of (increasingly un-surprising) enemy in each of 1971’s stories enabled both character and actor to develop a popularity to rival that of the Doctor. Yet there was nothing complicated about The Master really. Clad in black and sporting a Mephistophelian trimmed beard the only way he could look more evil would be to sprout a couple of horns. In another actor’s hands it could have been unimpressive but gifted a role he was totally suited to Roger Delgado makes it his own, so much so that every Master since has used it as a template either to copy or develop. As an example of how in thrall the Eighties version of Doctor Who was to its past when they recast the part they made the actor look as similar as possible to Delgado. Nowadays writers like to pry into the psyche of the main characters but this version of the series never went too deep. They didn’t need to. The Doctor versus The Master is clear good versus evil and kids at that time were happy with such escapist adventure.

 

Farewell Sarah Jane review

Sarah Jane Smith, first time round, was my favourite companion. Not only was Doctor Who the greatest tv programme ever, not only did both lead actors come from my home town but Lis Sladen had lived in a road five minutes’ walk from where I lived. My Dad had played piano for some of her dance classes.  Many years later at a convention I found myself sharing a lift with her and even though I am perfectly capable to separating reality from fiction I was half expecting the lift to suddenly halt- there’d be a shower of sparks of course- and the lights would start flickering. As I wasn’t a Time Lord it would be up to her to rescue me with her sonic lipstick. Of course it was just a normal lift. Second time round when she appeared first in Doctor Who and then her own series I was so pleased that this character from my childhood had come back. 

The Doctor Who Holiday Special 1973

During the Seventies a number of one off Doctor Who magazines were released including three Specials which were produced by Polystyle Publications (yes, their logo features a parrot!) who were based in Edgeware Road in London and produced the magazine TV Action. Published in 1973, 1974 and 1977 it is fair to say these are not the best examples of Doctor Who publications in a decade that brought us the Radio Times Special, The Making of Doctor Who and two excellent poster magazines. Nonetheless they are an interesting snapshot of another era.

1973

This is by far the best and the one that would be of most interest to fans, especially in the day.  It cost 10p back then! The first thing that strikes you is the rare photograph on the cover which seems to have been specially shot during the making of `Frontier in Space`. It depicts the Doctor, Jo and The Master all looking at something to which the Doctor is pointing. Perhaps it was Barry Letts dancing a jig? It’s a fairly random picture for the cover except that it does feature the three principal cast members. Eschewing an official logo the bold red words Doctor Who are emblazoned across the top. However much of the rest of the mag uses the shorthand Dr Who.