Day of the Daleks

"Who knows? I may have helped to exterminate you."

Day of the Daleks isn't a bad story. The biggest problem with it is the Daleks themselves. After being in hibernation for about over five years you expect it to be a triumphant return (and in colour no less!). But what we get is three rather tatty Dalek props. And as for the voices the less said the better. The special edition does go someway to address this, but it does sound strange having Nick Briggs voice on 1970s Daleks. But aside from that it's one of the better Pertwee stories.

Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular, Part II

Has it really been a month since that wonderful night in Melbourne? As I said in a previous post, there's amateur footage of it up on YouTube. Here's two of the best videos I've found so far.

First, This is Gallifey and Vale Decem (a piece of music always guaranteed to make me cry!)

And the conclusion - what else but Ron Grainer's epic theme music.

Hey, BBC! Any chance we can have something like this next year at the Opera House for the 50th?

The Sensorites

Why is is no one ever talks about the Sensorites? After all, there have been worse (hello The Twin Dilemma and Timelash). I guess it's just not that particularly memorable, aside from the design of the aliens themselves. I guess it just has an indifferent reputation. Which is a shame because it's not that bad; a little slow in parts and maybe two episodes too long though. Stephen Dartnell's performance as the deranged John is particularly good. And the cliffhanger to episode one is rather creepy (which goes to show that even in space you're not safe from someone wanting to wash your windows!).

But it's in the documentary we discover something really special. The writer of The Sensorites, Peter R. Newman, has always been something of an enigma; indeed The Sensorites was one of only two credits to his name. So in Looking for Peter, Toby Hadoke sets out to solve the riddle in an interesting and touching documentary. While Newman may have not had many produced works to his name, through his connection to Doctor Who he achieved a sort of immortality.