Dr. Who - Talk Up!

[Misfits923]

"The Idiot's Lantern" has aired in the UK, whilst the states will receive the season finale of the 2005 series next week

Actually, here in the US, "Bad Wolf" is this week, and the series finale is the week after.

 

[Mikazuki]

Actually, here in the US, "Bad Wolf" is this week, and the series 9 finale is the week after.

Bad Wolf didn't air this week but should next week. Yesterday (Friday) it was Snakehead Terror. But dammit, I missed the Godzilla marathon!

 

[Misfits923]

What was "Trail of a Time Lord" about?

 

[Mikazuki]

What was "Trail of a Time Lord" about?

Trail of a Time Lord? Do you mean Trial of a Time Lord?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/trialtimelord1/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/trialtimelord2/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/trialtimelord3/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/trialtimelord4/

 

[Skyknight]

What was "Trail of a Time Lord" about?

Probably one of the most contraversial and most damming serials of the serie's existence.

"Trial" was conceived by producer John Nathan Turner as a full length fourteen-part serial spanning the entire season hoping it would rell in viewers, the concept took the form of four serials based around The Doctor's past, present, and future, with the fourth story wrapping things up completly.

The Doctor is placed on trial, again, for interfering in the developments of other races, his prosecuter is a mysterious and throughly ruthless individual known as The Valeyard, if The Doctor is found guilty, he forfeits his regenerations and will be condemmed to death. Choosing to be his own defense, The Doctor allows the Valeyard to present his evidence of intervention first, and over the course of the next two serials we see the "death" of the Sixth Doctor's companion Peri and The Doctor becoming suspicious of the Valeyard's motives

After The Doctor presents his evidence (which introduces his future companion Mel)), The Valeyard accuses him of genocide (he wipes out the alien Vervoids at the conclusion of the future storyline), The Doctor is saved only by the intervention of The Master, who summons witnesses from two of the serials in the storyline, Mel and Sabalom Glitz, to the trial.

Now here is where things get a little...odd.

[hide]The Master reveals that the Valeyard is The Doctor's darker side...what he will become upon his twelth incarnation, and that the High Council have been employing him to tamper with The Doctor's evidence as well as his own to eliminate him before he could reveal a secret (they throw the Earth several light years away sometime in the future to keep documents secret from enemies) The Doctor pursues The Valeyard into the Matrix and discover he plots to murder all of the Time Lords. The Valeyard is apparantly killed in the ensuing conflict and The Doctor departs with Mel, but the Valeyars reemerges at the conclusion. He never appears again in the series, though his story was followed up in some of the novels[/hide]

Despite being pretty difficult to follow, the last two parts are pretty solid.

 

[Misfits923]

So, this was part of the Colin Baker series then?

 

[sandman54301]

Exactly. I believe this was only the second time in Who history that they made one story arc last a whole season. The other was, of course, the classic Key to Time saga. Some of Tom Baker's best(Ribos Operation) and worst (Power of Kroll) were in this saga.

Back to the Trial, this is the same thing that caused the Doctor to regenerate into his third form, Jon Pertwee. The Time Lords found him guilty, sabotaged the Tardis, made him regenerate, and exiled him to 20th century Earth. The fact that the Time Lords had punished the Doctor before kinda seems redundant, but this was still a great story arc.


Colin Baker is way under-rated too, IMO.

 

[Misfits923]

I apologize for my mispelling...I was in bit of a rush to type it.

 

[Misfits923]

Well, I've just won the following VHS tapes:

Robot
Logopolis
Destiny of the Daleks
Ressurection of the Daleks

 

[Skyknight]

Well, I've just won the following VHS tapes:

Robot
Logopolis
Destiny of the Daleks
Ressurection of the Daleks

Oh hell yeah

Logopolis first, last Baker story, pretty complicated but includes some good back and fourth games played between The Doctor and The Master, culminating in an unexpected error and a really duplticious double-cross.

Ressurection of the Daleks is a wonderfully classic suburban massacre story, miles better than "Destiny", tons of deaths, The Doctor brought to the brink, Davros played by his most definitive actor etc...