From the start he was given a companion who looked good but could only ever argue with him. Light moments of companionship between the two of them would have helped.
@@purefoldnz3070Jodie's seasons are awful (not her fault; Chibnall is to blame) but it's a bit remiss to not acknowledge that the show's ratings were already in the toilet by Moffat's final season.
I love Colin Baker as The Doctor. It was appalling that he was treated rather like a statue on a migratory flight path and consistently shat on from a great height! Despite this, his conduct throughout the whole Doctor Who debacle was more than the show's decision makers at the time deserved. Conduct that seems to exemplify the man in everything I have seen him do since. I will be eternally grateful to him stepping in for Jon Pertwee when I went to see "The Ultimate Adventure". Glad he got his moment in the last series of New Who.
The strangest thing about this wraparound story was the question of precisely where Mel came from. We never do see the story of how the Doctor met her, and though I don't think it's strictly true in canon, if you don't watch carefully you might think that the Doctor meeting her at the trial *is* the beginning of their adventures together, making her oddly time-looped so that she actually came from nowhere.
Basically they messed up the timeline.... It would have made more sense if Mindwarp had happened BEFORE The Mysterious Planet and The Doctor had originally got to Peri in time. After The Doctor found out about The Mysterious Planet The Timelords went back and took him out of his timeline during Mindwarp leaving Peri high and dry. - The Doctor shouldn't have known anything of The Mysterious Planet during his trial. - I like Terror of the Vervoids but The Doctor choosing those events to prove he shouldn't be convicted seems foolish and destined to lead to the charge of genocide. Saving Terror of the Vervoids for the next season and picking a different story {perhaps Graham Williams "Nightmare Fair" with Mel instead of Peri} for the third story of ToaTL would have made more sense. - Paradise Towers, Delta and the Bannermen, and even Dragonfire would have worked perfectly well with Colin Baker - Dragonfire could have seen him regenerate into McCoy at the end of episode 1 beginning of episode 2. Time and the Rani is an atrocity.....Terror of the Vervoids would have been a much better season opener.
The cliffhanger at the end of Terror of the Vervoids, where an infected crew member is shown with a pulsating root across her face, was the last time Dr Who scared me. 🥺
If violence was an issue, the people hating Colin's era must loathe a lot of the modern series' scare tactics, visuals and metaphors. Especislly Mary Whitehouse.
Reminiscent of the scene I always remember from "Ark in Space" (Tom Baker's second story) where the actor really sold the terror at seeing his infected hand - despite the fact that it was clearly just covered with green bubble wrap!
Brilliant. It really makes my day when you upload another classic who review. Another unfairly maligned series. Granted, it’s not top tier Who, but still eminently watchable and enjoyable.
I recently bought season 23 for Christmas and I have to say....I really enjoyed it! I especially love The Ultimate Foe although I wish it was at least a 3-parter. Thanx again Stam Fine! Cheers from Quebec!
Well Done! I will admit the stories I like from The Trial of a Timelord were Mindwarp and The Ultimate Foe and the twist of finding out who the Valeyard is was great. Colin Baker didn't get the best treatment from the BBC, but he was a good actor.
Exactly. I really can't imagine anyone with enough gumption to tell a larger than life character like Brian Blessed, what to do -- or how to behave -- under any circumstances ! 😄😁😝🤣👍🏽👍🏽
I can't believe you left out the anecdote about Brian Blessed spoiling an elaborate special effects shot by forgetting his line at the end and going 'RIGHT, LET'S FIND THE FUCKERONS!' Great video though!
When I watched this season I felt like it started really strong but once Peri left the cracks began to show. By the end it... didn't get bad, so much as it felt like it had given up trying to find a resolution that would make sense. The trial and villain are a strong premise -- one that was maybe even unintentionally foreshadowed in the previous season -- but it lacks follow-through. One of the reasons I'd like to see the Valeyard return in the modern series. Also my favourite version of the theme tune. It's understated, a little bit creepier than usual, and it's got hints of something like electro-industrial in the sound design.
I think it's more than fair to say that your Doctor Who reviews/retrospectives are undoubtedly the most unique and entertaining Who-related content on this platform. Everybody else making Doctor Who videos either comes off as very straight and informative or awkward and off-putting, you are genuinely the only creator I have watched to offer legitimately funny material that provides one with just the right amount of information as well as enough of your own personality and opinions to make these videos uniquely yours. This is exactly what the Doctor Who UA-cam collective of massive virgins has needed for so, **so** long: an Aussie.
I do like Stam's voice. But even more than an Aussie, what Doctor Who UA-cam needs is more singing Daleks. Personally, I'm a fan of Council of Geeks' Doctor Who takes too.
Perfect timing I've just finished work. Not a massive fan of Dr Who but always interested in the Jonathan Nathan Turner years at it coincides with my long lost youth! Great work and thanks!
I hate to admit it but when thus season hit PBS over here in the US... I kinda loved this season. Yeah it was disjointed and kinda wonky but I actively enjoyed it.
Great stuff:) I'm off to sup carrot juice on my Peloton while listening to the brilliant Trial of the Valeyard from Big Finish. Only thing missing? Mels scream - it's delicious
I've always loved The Trial of a Time Lord, Colin Baker is awesome and unforgettable, while Michael Jayston is brilliant and my favourite evil Doctor. 😘😘😘
Given the deliberate decision on his part to undermine the series following the selection of Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor, Eric Saward is just as much to blame for the decline in quality as the men who controlled the budget and schedule, Grade and Powell. Yet he rarely gets called out for his treachery. It wasn't just the costume that sabotaged Colin Baker's era.
He wasn't a good supporter of new writers, he'd leave them to it and work on his own things instead of editing their scripts which you'd think would be in his job description. He was also overly enamored with Bob Holmes, who was passed his best days and a tiny bit old fashioned with the racial theories. Regards to your wife.
Best Dr Who review yet, and I love Six's era even more than Davison's. 9:57 😅🤣😂🤣😅🤣😂 17:20 😳🤯😅🤣😂🤣😅😅🤣😂 your wit and creativity never ceases to amaze, thanks for the laughs! 😍 I liked Mel, but I'm not British or have any type typecast preconceptions. She devolves in season 24, unfortunately. Unless you need a cheap way to break lots of glass and mirrors, then her screaming comes much in handy. 😁 Don't tell anyone, but I also loved Pip and Jane's style. Your research is top notch and your handling of all these seasons is unbiased and professional, topped with that wit I adore. Thank you much!
Terrible. He was very insecure. I felt bad for him. None of his suggestions were being taken. He looked nervous. He was very concerned about his performance.
Coming to think of it, I think Mindwarp is a story which makes more sense post series 12... if you think Crozier was, without realizing it, coming a little too close to discovering the secret of regeneration -- which the judge all-but stated herself -- and that if he had realized that that was within his reach, he might have also realized he had access to the same original specimen the Time Lords used to develop the ability. When you put it in that context it's no wonder they wanted to force the Doctor out of there by any means necessary. And if you want you can add onto that the idea that the Division wants to use this opportunity to regain control of the Doctor even if that means obliterating the younger version and ending up with just the Valeyard. Certainly makes a little more sense out of the stakes.
I do kinda like that The Timeless Child can pretty much add context to many bizarre Classic Who moments. It's part of why I actually like the idea itself, despite its mixed execution, over the whole Hybrid arc in series 9.
@@AroAceGamer Yeah I think I came around after I started to figure out how much extra context it adds to some of my favourite parts of the classic run.
I love your reviews. you acknowledge the stuff that didn't work with humor but not spite, and remind us of was fun and enjoyable anyway. And you provide insightw into the bts shenanigans to explain not excuse when things weren't working due to production, budget, and studio constraints. Poor Colin. He worked so damn hard. I'm so glad the audios gave him a second chance to bring his Doctor to life as the great character he is. it's a credit to how Big Finish audios has respected him and Six and Peri with their scripts all these years that he finally consented to record The Last Adventure, Six's regeneration story. He now has some epic last words... and even though it was just audio, and Colin's voice is a little scratchy, I teared up during his Doctor's end. (It does manage to link up with Time and the Rani; Six had to knock himself out and reboot because Plot,)
As someone who pretty much new nothing of Doctor Who as kid (other than one semi-interesting Marvel Comics ad) and nearly nothing more until only about 8 or 9 years ago, this Doctor was the one whose image kept the show in my memory. And since that faint memory is what made me give it a try (though not his seasons) after which I have been a fan ever since, that's gotta count for something.
I'm a Who-for-Lifer (up until 2015), and my favourite from this series will ALWAYS be Terror of the Vervoids...and it's amazing that the Blu-Ray contains a court-room free version of the story!
It's the one I watch the most and the blu-ray also has a special edit that removes the trial bits and adds footage trims from the original. It's first rate
5:00 ...and I personally went to that exibit sposored by Lionheart, the distriutors of DW in the US at that time. It was touring with Sylvester McCoy promoting the next Doctor. I saw him and the semi in Scanton, Pa. in 1986...or 87?. There is a pic of me somewhere sticking my head out of the mockup Tardis they had outside. Fun.
Take it from someone who has worked at BBC..... the "other" reason the show was cancelled was (apparently) that Michael Grade had an affair with Colin's wife.... how true this is I am not 100% sure, but I have heard this rumour several times from different people.
What a well researched and interesting video - thanks. I remember Grade gave an interview when DW came back saying he finally got the appeal of the show when he watched it with his grandchildren which is an irksome comment as it was his job to cultivate and support good TV for the BBC and the viewers. He is like some awful sociopathic vet who didnt realize pets were important until his children got a dog. He comes off as a far cry from his Dad Lew who knew how to push popular shows and make money as well as being oddly tone deaf to the viewers who, as part of the BBC, he was supposed to be responsible too.
If you really want to lose ALL respect for Grade, watch his interview on the Season 22 box set. Although he knew that the point of the interview was to provide insight and background regarding his decision to cancel Doctor Who, instead he puts on a pompous air and trolls the interviewer by feigning almost complete ignorance on the timeline and specific details of the cancellation
Lew Grade was actually his Uncle by the way, not his Dad, although of course they were all part of the same family really so then too. Thank you there though too.
If I recall correctly, in America, we got the entire run of "Trial of a Timelord" in a single marathon and I hated Melanie Bush from her very first scene to her very last. It's interesting that my least favorite companion would be followed by one of my favorites... Ace.
I think it was even worse for us here in Britain because we were already overexposed to Bonnie Langford before she even started in Dr Who, and she was exactly as bad as we expected her to be.
I saw Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul mcgann, and Sofie Aldridge a week ago at a convention. One of the most striking things was how deferential they were to other doctors and eras. Baker praised the Second Doctor as if the first regeneration failed the series would have likely also failed. McGann chose Peter Cushing as his favourite. They all praised the emotional story telling of The Doctors Dances. I actually didn't watch the franchise until the revival, but I am very impressed by how the original cast is such a class act.
All of the Doctors, with the exception of Tom Baker, were like a band of brothers. Not to say that Tom is a bad guy, very far from it. He is a shy and gentle soul.
I like and respect Colin a lot. I’m just glad that his Doctor had chance of a second life on Big Finish. Jubilee, for example, is magnificent and easily one of my favourite Doctor Who stories. His interplay with Evelyn Smythe is brilliant and helps to ground the pomp of his Doctor.
Just another thought after rewatching this… I know it’s said in a light-hearted way, but Stan Fine hit the nail on the head with Grade & Powell’s reason for trying to junk the show. It was out of pure spite, simply because Grade had a personal dislike of Colin Baker (taking Colin’s ex-wife’s side after an acrimonious split) and Powell despised JNT, viewing him as an embarrassing old queen. Both Grade and Powell were archetypical aspirational, 80’s grasping yuppies, so they didn’t care much for the old-school, showbiz luvvies crowd. That said, they were responsible for bringing ‘The Singing Detective’ on screen. Nobody’s all bad I suppose? I mean even Hitler loved his Alsatian dog…
Also, I believe at that time the BBC (no doubt inspired by Thatcher) started outsourcing most of their production and stopped having the old in-house producers system anymore. I think JNT was one of the last and they wanted to make him so miserable he would just quit.
Anyone upset the bbc did nothing with the 13th doctor aka The Valeyard , waiting for ever for the show to get to that point only for them to forget it ever did happen. They could have done like ds9 tos ep , edit them into trail of the time lord for a short bit.
Grade once in controll of the BBC was happy to break the BBCs main charter of making TV for everyone....that is how much the BBC was a old boy network back in the day.
HA! I actually went to that traveling trailer expedition when I was a kid. They actually had a mock-up of the Console. At whatever age I was at the time, that was a fun thing.
I can never decide which period was the biggest missed opportunity. Colin, Paul McGann and Peter Capaldi all clearly loved the role and could've been great, if they had been given better material.
For me neither Davison nor Colin Baker were given challenging material. As for Capaldi, his stuff was so rough emotionally I don’t know how he didn’t start drinking.
It probably would have made more sense to put the Ravalox story last of the three, so both Glitz and the redacted information was more clear in the audience's mind. Also, we still don't know the real story in the season's episodes due to the Valeyard's edits. Peri's fate is still confusing. I think the novelization had her back on Earth working as Yrcanos' manager in pro wrestling. I remember that I forgot to set the VCR and then had to wait over two years for PBS to get back around to this for me to see the final parts.
Don't have that problem now of course, unless you want to watch an episode of a show cancelled or bowdlerized by the BBC (the deleted episode of The IT crowd, for example)
It cracks me up when people refer to Peri as an "American Woman." She doesn't sound remotely American! (Maybe Canadian?) I grew up watching Doctor Who, and only recently even became aware that she was *trying* to sound American. Accents are hard. :)
Michael Grade mocked Doctor Who for the 'cardboard sets' and appalling make up and prosthetics. I would reply by asking why, if he objected to the low effects standard, did he not give the show more money to do it properly, like Star Trek or Battlestar Galactica in the States? Bet he was fuming when RTD brought it back and it became the Beeb's biggest earner!
I love the Daleks singing living on a prayer, kinda sums up poor Colin bakers chances in the end. The bbc really s*** on him and although when I was younger I hated his doctor, over the years I really warmed to him, given the chance he could have been one of the best.
Something very weird is happening - I think I am mellowing toward the 6th Doctor. I feel like any aversion I had towards him back in the 80s is dissipating, and I see more of his virtues. Send help.
Yeah, cheap filming while the other shows got the upgrade? No wonder it was so very different by the time of Eccleston. Such a trip how metaphoric with the trial thing and the show itself. Nice to hear he did some audio shows, too.
Wasn't there offers from America for a co production of the show around this time? If so, I dont understand why it wasn't taken up by the head of BBC? It would have benefited both sides. For one, make it look 10 times better than it. With a chance of improving the stories. Secondly, it would have gotton more casual viewers around the world and lastly it not to be seen as an embarrassment to Michael Grade. Would of been a win for him.
Lets not forget Colin Baker's era and McCoys first season had pretty poor scripts that no amount of budget increase could have saved. JNT has a fair share of the blame
Sure those sets looked tatty and cheap but they still looked more expensive than they actually were! I saw an interview with a Davison era set designer (name escapes me) who said it's hard hearing people describe his sets as "cheap looking" when he found innovative ways to stretch the meagre budget to make sets that looked far better than they deserved considering the pitiful budget.
On paper this storyline is really creative and a great idea at this point in the show's history but man the execution is so bad. Baker's performance aside this season just falls so flat after starting off so promising. Would've been cooler if they shook up the format more and had 2-3 part plots play out amongst the 14 episode arc rather than stretching out half-assed stories like Mysterious Planet into 4 parts when it could've been 1-2. Mindwarp is fairly decent and Terror of the Vervoids is also serviceable but man they needed some stronger individual episodes in this arc.
I have been a Doctor Who fan since Tom Baker, and I remember the Hiatus. And this is the video I learn that Mel was a computer programmer. (As in if they mentioned it in the show it never stuck.)
I’d also heard that grade saw the slick SFX of US Sci fi shows like Buck Rogers in the 25th century and battlestar galactica with their Star Wars like quality and thought Dr Who visually couldn’t compete, and they sought a partnership with a US production company for Dr Who, which didn’t materialise, well not for some time
We don’t take exposition of the hero FROM the villain. The bad guy lies. Also, the Valeyard, if he’s the Doctot, is smart enough to know that he can’t exist if the Doctor is murdered before regenerating into him. I don’t understand how the Valeyard being the Doctor has just been accepted as cannon.
If you listen carefully there's an implication the valeyard is some kind of shadow or temporal doppelganger of the Doctor, so maybe he can survive the Doctor's demise. Which just makes the whole thing more muddled and nonsensical.
@@cygil1 i disagree. The master claims that The Valeyard is “an amalgamation of everything that is bad about the Doctor”. It’s a real stretch to “listen closely” to that. You make it sound like The Master said it was bigeneration, or something.
For the 5th Doctor it was noted that when most of his companions left they were wearing less clothes than when they first came in: Nyssa, velvet outfit to sun dress/shift thingy; Tegan stewardess outfit to sleeveless blouse and miniskirt; Turlough schoolboy outfit to beach attire. So when Peri came in wearing a bikini, there were understandable doubts that the trend would continue. And yet they managed: she went out with less hair than she came in with.
I thought season 22 was good. Not the greatest season but underrated. Colin needed the originally planned season 23, and JNT to disappear. Trial of a timelord was a disaster.
In some ways an improvement over the previous season -- the Doctor and Peri having those friendly moments instead of bickering constantly being a big one -- but there's a general sense of everyone involved having given up. Season 24 may not have been great but it was a more substantive clearing of the decks.
My fave bt is where the Doctor Denounces the Time lord when he find s out about their crime and calling them corrupt considering what we we see and hear of them in the Time War and the new series its good thing the Doctor made them extinct at first and the master saving the doctor and spilling the beans about the Valyard
The only good thing about the “Trial of The Timelord” was the packaging for the VHS release which was a nice looking tin TARDIS. When I bought it from HMV all those years ago, I recall the guys at the till calling me back and telling me I’d walked off with it without the videos inside, to which I replied “No problem, I just want the TARDIS mate !” Once home, I put in some of my Australia bootleg episodes.
As an American, I have to say that Mel was an incredible breath of fresh air after the unbearably whiny Peri. Americans used to wonder why they had hired a British actress to do a really bad fake "American" accent. Nicola's interviews on the box set explained it; she had misled the BBC into thinking she was actually from the US and no one at the BBC recognized how fake her accent actually was! The saddest part is that Nicola's fake accent is what caused her to always sound painfully whiny and her real British voice isn't whiny at all.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Some laugh-out-loud moments in this video. Fantastic 😂
"Ow...ow...ow my balls" 😂
In the rare moments he was given good material to work with, Colin Baker was a great Doctor, full of charisma and purpose. All too infrequent though.
Listen to the Big Finish audio dramas. Old Sixie (as the actor calls him) is a fan favourite in those.
From the start he was given a companion who looked good but could only ever argue with him. Light moments of companionship between the two of them would have helped.
This era of Doctor Who was not bad. Stop thinking it was because Michael Grade told you.
@@DemetriusSorvo Michael Grade later ate sh** when Dr Who returned to be one of the biggest and most popular BBC shows. *ahem until Jodie.
@@purefoldnz3070Jodie's seasons are awful (not her fault; Chibnall is to blame) but it's a bit remiss to not acknowledge that the show's ratings were already in the toilet by Moffat's final season.
Probably the best S23 review I have ever watched! Thanks for all the hard work you put into this!
I love Colin Baker as The Doctor. It was appalling that he was treated rather like a statue on a migratory flight path and consistently shat on from a great height!
Despite this, his conduct throughout the whole Doctor Who debacle was more than the show's decision makers at the time deserved. Conduct that seems to exemplify the man in everything I have seen him do since.
I will be eternally grateful to him stepping in for Jon Pertwee when I went to see "The Ultimate Adventure". Glad he got his moment in the last series of New Who.
Have you even seen Doctor in Distress...?
@@stephenderry9488 about forty years ago.
I had the pleasure of seeing him as Sherlock Holmes recently. A great performance, very charismatic; with perfect comic timing where appropriate.
@@stephenderry9488 It's still better than K9 and Company theme!
Couldn't act....out of a wet paper bag.....😂
The strangest thing about this wraparound story was the question of precisely where Mel came from. We never do see the story of how the Doctor met her, and though I don't think it's strictly true in canon, if you don't watch carefully you might think that the Doctor meeting her at the trial *is* the beginning of their adventures together, making her oddly time-looped so that she actually came from nowhere.
Basically they messed up the timeline....
It would have made more sense if Mindwarp had happened BEFORE The Mysterious Planet and The Doctor had originally got to Peri in time.
After The Doctor found out about The Mysterious Planet The Timelords went back and took him out of his timeline during Mindwarp leaving Peri high and dry.
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The Doctor shouldn't have known anything of The Mysterious Planet during his trial.
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I like Terror of the Vervoids but The Doctor choosing those events to prove he shouldn't be convicted seems foolish and destined to lead to the charge of genocide.
Saving Terror of the Vervoids for the next season and picking a different story {perhaps Graham Williams "Nightmare Fair" with Mel instead of Peri} for the third story of ToaTL would have made more sense.
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Paradise Towers, Delta and the Bannermen, and even Dragonfire would have worked perfectly well with Colin Baker - Dragonfire could have seen him regenerate into McCoy at the end of episode 1 beginning of episode 2.
Time and the Rani is an atrocity.....Terror of the Vervoids would have been a much better season opener.
I really like the "Brohm-Brohm. Sssssssss. Savaluna." for some reason.
More excellent work from Stam Fine. Research and review in perfect balance. Thanks for all your hard work and effort.
I think that Ainley's charisma as the Master was underestimated. When he finally emerged in this story, the whole thing lit up.
The cliffhanger at the end of Terror of the Vervoids, where an infected crew member is shown with a pulsating root across her face, was the last time Dr Who scared me. 🥺
If violence was an issue, the people hating Colin's era must loathe a lot of the modern series' scare tactics, visuals and metaphors. Especislly Mary Whitehouse.
@@ShamrockParticle Mary Whitehouse would have to be hating the new series via a Clairvoyant, having died 20 odd years ago.
Reminiscent of the scene I always remember from "Ark in Space" (Tom Baker's second story) where the actor really sold the terror at seeing his infected hand - despite the fact that it was clearly just covered with green bubble wrap!
@@johnpotts8308 DW was sold to me by the actors, not the special effects. If they believed what was going on, so did I.
@@diverguy3556 *EXACTLY!*
Brilliant. It really makes my day when you upload another classic who review.
Another unfairly maligned series. Granted, it’s not top tier Who, but still eminently watchable and enjoyable.
I recently bought season 23 for Christmas and I have to say....I really enjoyed it! I especially love The Ultimate Foe although I wish it was at least a 3-parter. Thanx again Stam Fine! Cheers from Quebec!
Man, I just love content from people who appreciate Doctor Who in all its cheese slendor.
Keeps us going, mate.
Well Done! I will admit the stories I like from The Trial of a Timelord were Mindwarp and The Ultimate Foe and the twist of finding out who the Valeyard is was great. Colin Baker didn't get the best treatment from the BBC, but he was a good actor.
I like to think Brian Blessed turned up with those clothes and makeup to the set, and the crew were like, we ain't gonna tell him no.
Exactly. I really can't imagine anyone with enough gumption to tell a larger than life character like Brian Blessed, what to do -- or how to behave -- under any circumstances ! 😄😁😝🤣👍🏽👍🏽
I can't believe you left out the anecdote about Brian Blessed spoiling an elaborate special effects shot by forgetting his line at the end and going 'RIGHT, LET'S FIND THE FUCKERONS!' Great video though!
I love this season with all my heart.
Me too!!
When I watched this season I felt like it started really strong but once Peri left the cracks began to show. By the end it... didn't get bad, so much as it felt like it had given up trying to find a resolution that would make sense.
The trial and villain are a strong premise -- one that was maybe even unintentionally foreshadowed in the previous season -- but it lacks follow-through. One of the reasons I'd like to see the Valeyard return in the modern series.
Also my favourite version of the theme tune. It's understated, a little bit creepier than usual, and it's got hints of something like electro-industrial in the sound design.
I think it's more than fair to say that your Doctor Who reviews/retrospectives are undoubtedly the most unique and entertaining Who-related content on this platform. Everybody else making Doctor Who videos either comes off as very straight and informative or awkward and off-putting, you are genuinely the only creator I have watched to offer legitimately funny material that provides one with just the right amount of information as well as enough of your own personality and opinions to make these videos uniquely yours.
This is exactly what the Doctor Who UA-cam collective of massive virgins has needed for so, **so** long: an Aussie.
I do like Stam's voice. But even more than an Aussie, what Doctor Who UA-cam needs is more singing Daleks. Personally, I'm a fan of Council of Geeks' Doctor Who takes too.
I remember the traveling Doctor Who truck. I had way too much fun playing with the cybergun prop they had on hand.
Great vid. I had tuned out of Who by now as a kid, but have all the classics on dvd and appreciate Colins work now.
Perfect timing I've just finished work. Not a massive fan of Dr Who but always interested in the Jonathan Nathan Turner years at it coincides with my long lost youth! Great work and thanks!
I like each and every doctor. The people behind the scenes can make things pretty bad, but each doctor (old and new) has been superb.
All the actors have given 110%. They all deserve praise for the efforts.
I hate to admit it but when thus season hit PBS over here in the US... I kinda loved this season. Yeah it was disjointed and kinda wonky but I actively enjoyed it.
So why apologise? This season is fantastic and only a simpleton would think otherwise.
Great stuff:) I'm off to sup carrot juice on my Peloton while listening to the brilliant Trial of the Valeyard from Big Finish. Only thing missing? Mels scream - it's delicious
I've always loved The Trial of a Time Lord, Colin Baker is awesome and unforgettable, while Michael Jayston is brilliant and my favourite evil Doctor. 😘😘😘
Given the deliberate decision on his part to undermine the series following the selection of Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor, Eric Saward is just as much to blame for the decline in quality as the men who controlled the budget and schedule, Grade and Powell. Yet he rarely gets called out for his treachery. It wasn't just the costume that sabotaged Colin Baker's era.
He wasn't a good supporter of new writers, he'd leave them to it and work on his own things instead of editing their scripts which you'd think would be in his job description. He was also overly enamored with Bob Holmes, who was passed his best days and a tiny bit old fashioned with the racial theories. Regards to your wife.
I never saw a single episode of Doctor Who. But still found this review very entertaining.
Best Dr Who review yet, and I love Six's era even more than Davison's.
9:57 😅🤣😂🤣😅🤣😂
17:20 😳🤯😅🤣😂🤣😅😅🤣😂 your wit and creativity never ceases to amaze, thanks for the laughs! 😍
I liked Mel, but I'm not British or have any type typecast preconceptions. She devolves in season 24, unfortunately. Unless you need a cheap way to break lots of glass and mirrors, then her screaming comes much in handy. 😁
Don't tell anyone, but I also loved Pip and Jane's style.
Your research is top notch and your handling of all these seasons is unbiased and professional, topped with that wit I adore.
Thank you much!
Don’t care what any one says but Terror of the Vervoids is a great story . Love it . 👌
I think it's underrated and Pip and Jay's best. Have you seen the version without the Trial scenes?
@@JeremiahEcks777 It works just as good with or with out the trial. I like the whole trial story with all its cringe /cheese .
Man, Colin deserved so much better.
He gets so much better served as a Doctor in both the novels and audios. He even gets two separate regeneration stories. One for each medium.
That robot costume was pretty good. Dathro was it?
Michael Grade was a philistine that began that decline of the BBC
Another great review. I rewatched it when the box set came out. It wasn't as bad as advertised. I think that comes from watching NuWho of late.
I was hoping for an analysis of all the crash zoom cliffhangers
This Doctor has the same perm as The Greatest American Hero.
The perm was JNT’s idea, like the jacket.
His outfit is coordinated chaos, and I love it!
One of my favourite doctors now. Big finish have done a wonderful job with the stories. Absolutely awful how CB was treated back then
Terrible. He was very insecure. I felt bad for him. None of his suggestions were being taken. He looked nervous. He was very concerned about his performance.
Coming to think of it, I think Mindwarp is a story which makes more sense post series 12... if you think Crozier was, without realizing it, coming a little too close to discovering the secret of regeneration -- which the judge all-but stated herself -- and that if he had realized that that was within his reach, he might have also realized he had access to the same original specimen the Time Lords used to develop the ability.
When you put it in that context it's no wonder they wanted to force the Doctor out of there by any means necessary.
And if you want you can add onto that the idea that the Division wants to use this opportunity to regain control of the Doctor even if that means obliterating the younger version and ending up with just the Valeyard. Certainly makes a little more sense out of the stakes.
I do kinda like that The Timeless Child can pretty much add context to many bizarre Classic Who moments. It's part of why I actually like the idea itself, despite its mixed execution, over the whole Hybrid arc in series 9.
@@AroAceGamer Yeah I think I came around after I started to figure out how much extra context it adds to some of my favourite parts of the classic run.
Gosh. Something that makes the whole Timeless Child thing less FUBARed.
I love your reviews. you acknowledge the stuff that didn't work with humor but not spite, and remind us of was fun and enjoyable anyway. And you provide insightw into the bts shenanigans to explain not excuse when things weren't working due to production, budget, and studio constraints.
Poor Colin. He worked so damn hard. I'm so glad the audios gave him a second chance to bring his Doctor to life as the great character he is. it's a credit to how Big Finish audios has respected him and Six and Peri with their scripts all these years that he finally consented to record The Last Adventure, Six's regeneration story. He now has some epic last words... and even though it was just audio, and Colin's voice is a little scratchy, I teared up during his Doctor's end. (It does manage to link up with Time and the Rani; Six had to knock himself out and reboot because Plot,)
As someone who pretty much new nothing of Doctor Who as kid (other than one semi-interesting Marvel Comics ad) and nearly nothing more until only about 8 or 9 years ago, this Doctor was the one whose image kept the show in my memory. And since that faint memory is what made me give it a try (though not his seasons) after which I have been a fan ever since, that's gotta count for something.
I'm a Who-for-Lifer (up until 2015), and my favourite from this series will ALWAYS be Terror of the Vervoids...and it's amazing that the Blu-Ray contains a court-room free version of the story!
I wondered what happened as couldn’t find any new stuff after the last one. Turned out for the first time ever, I’m keeping up!
I really enjoyed this, you where a lot kinder than I would have been but you were fare, nice one.
Great reviewof season 23. I have only seen Vervoids and foe. Im looking forward review of season 24 its one of my favourite classic seasons.
Great to hear nice things about Colin Baker. He wasn't the best, but he did some lifting on these stories.
Six has got the best Big Finish and the best comics but after this screw over he deserves it.
Nice one thanks Stam (I think Terror of the Vervoids is the best story this season, but that not saying much)
It's the one I watch the most and the blu-ray also has a special edit that removes the trial bits and adds footage trims from the original. It's first rate
5:00 ...and I personally went to that exibit sposored by Lionheart, the distriutors of DW in the US at that time. It was touring with Sylvester McCoy promoting the next Doctor. I saw him and the semi in Scanton, Pa. in 1986...or 87?. There is a pic of me somewhere sticking my head out of the mockup Tardis they had outside. Fun.
It's a real shame we never got a return of the Valeyard. Michael Jayston was suitably sinister in the role.
One of my thoughts in trying make sense of the first part of series 12 was that's who the Fugitive Doctor was!
Jayston is a class act
Take it from someone who has worked at BBC..... the "other" reason the show was cancelled was (apparently) that Michael Grade had an affair with Colin's wife.... how true this is I am not 100% sure, but I have heard this rumour several times from different people.
What a well researched and interesting video - thanks. I remember Grade gave an interview when DW came back saying he finally got the appeal of the show when he watched it with his grandchildren which is an irksome comment as it was his job to cultivate and support good TV for the BBC and the viewers. He is like some awful sociopathic vet who didnt realize pets were important until his children got a dog. He comes off as a far cry from his Dad Lew who knew how to push popular shows and make money as well as being oddly tone deaf to the viewers who, as part of the BBC, he was supposed to be responsible too.
If you really want to lose ALL respect for Grade, watch his interview on the Season 22 box set. Although he knew that the point of the interview was to provide insight and background regarding his decision to cancel Doctor Who, instead he puts on a pompous air and trolls the interviewer by feigning almost complete ignorance on the timeline and specific details of the cancellation
@@froggacuda1605 So he was incompetent at his job, conniving as a boss and petulant in retirement - what a complete smeg head.
@@froggacuda1605 A sharp contrast to the way Lew Grade handled "The Prisoner".
Lew Grade was actually his Uncle by the way, not his Dad, although of course they were all part of the same family really so then too. Thank you there though too.
Dalek Karaoke, the cherry on top of another well-written and well-researched episode...
"Take my hand".
If I recall correctly, in America, we got the entire run of "Trial of a Timelord" in a single marathon and I hated Melanie Bush from her very first scene to her very last. It's interesting that my least favorite companion would be followed by one of my favorites... Ace.
I think it was even worse for us here in Britain because we were already overexposed to Bonnie Langford before she even started in Dr Who, and she was exactly as bad as we expected her to be.
one of the reasons Grade wanted the show gone is because he wanted the budget put back into tacky soaps like Eastenders.
I saw Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul mcgann, and Sofie Aldridge a week ago at a convention. One of the most striking things was how deferential they were to other doctors and eras. Baker praised the Second Doctor as if the first regeneration failed the series would have likely also failed. McGann chose Peter Cushing as his favourite. They all praised the emotional story telling of The Doctors Dances. I actually didn't watch the franchise until the revival, but I am very impressed by how the original cast is such a class act.
All of the Doctors, with the exception of Tom Baker, were like a band of brothers. Not to say that Tom is a bad guy, very far from it. He is a shy and gentle soul.
@@lakecountynaturalist7617 Their introverted brother/cousin
I'm really enjoying these Doctor Who season reviews, even if we are now into an era of the classic series that I didn't enjoy very much.
I like and respect Colin a lot. I’m just glad that his Doctor had chance of a second life on Big Finish. Jubilee, for example, is magnificent and easily one of my favourite Doctor Who stories. His interplay with Evelyn Smythe is brilliant and helps to ground the pomp of his Doctor.
I met Colin. He’s a really, really nice guy.
Just another thought after rewatching this…
I know it’s said in a light-hearted way, but Stan Fine hit the nail on the head with Grade & Powell’s reason for trying to junk the show.
It was out of pure spite, simply because Grade had a personal dislike of Colin Baker (taking Colin’s ex-wife’s side after an acrimonious split) and Powell despised JNT, viewing him as an embarrassing old queen.
Both Grade and Powell were archetypical aspirational, 80’s grasping yuppies, so they didn’t care much for the old-school, showbiz luvvies crowd.
That said, they were responsible for bringing ‘The Singing Detective’ on screen.
Nobody’s all bad I suppose? I mean even Hitler loved his Alsatian dog…
Also, I believe at that time the BBC (no doubt inspired by Thatcher) started outsourcing most of their production and stopped having the old in-house producers system anymore.
I think JNT was one of the last and they wanted to make him so miserable he would just quit.
Fantastic as always... looking forward to your reviews of the next era, my favourite (Please be nice)
Michael Grade, "the first man to step on the sun." 😁
After 3 series of Chris Chibnall. Season 23 isn’t too shabby!!!
I can and will watch Trial of a Timelord anytime then endure Chibnall’s era.
Perfect Timing.
Anyone upset the bbc did nothing with the 13th doctor aka The Valeyard , waiting for ever for the show to get to that point only for them to forget it ever did happen. They could have done like ds9 tos ep , edit them into trail of the time lord for a short bit.
Grade once in controll of the BBC was happy to break the BBCs main charter of making TV for everyone....that is how much the BBC was a old boy network back in the day.
HA! I actually went to that traveling trailer expedition when I was a kid. They actually had a mock-up of the Console. At whatever age I was at the time, that was a fun thing.
Can't wait for the silvester mcoy episodes 🤞
I can never decide which period was the biggest missed opportunity. Colin, Paul McGann and Peter Capaldi all clearly loved the role and could've been great, if they had been given better material.
The Capaldi Era was great. What was your issue with it?
For me neither Davison nor Colin Baker were given challenging material. As for Capaldi, his stuff was so rough emotionally I don’t know how he didn’t start drinking.
Beautiful clip and sound byte editing.
Now I need a Stam Fine Croissant 🤣
It probably would have made more sense to put the Ravalox story last of the three, so both Glitz and the redacted information was more clear in the audience's mind. Also, we still don't know the real story in the season's episodes due to the Valeyard's edits. Peri's fate is still confusing. I think the novelization had her back on Earth working as Yrcanos' manager in pro wrestling.
I remember that I forgot to set the VCR and then had to wait over two years for PBS to get back around to this for me to see the final parts.
Don't have that problem now of course, unless you want to watch an episode of a show cancelled or bowdlerized by the BBC (the deleted episode of The IT crowd, for example)
Colin Baker wasn't a baker but Sylvester McCoy did make crisps and Peri invented Nandos after Dirk Benedict opened Starbucks
It cracks me up when people refer to Peri as an "American Woman." She doesn't sound remotely American! (Maybe Canadian?) I grew up watching Doctor Who, and only recently even became aware that she was *trying* to sound American. Accents are hard. :)
Michael Grade mocked Doctor Who for the 'cardboard sets' and appalling make up and prosthetics.
I would reply by asking why, if he objected to the low effects standard, did he not give the show more money to do it properly, like Star Trek or Battlestar Galactica in the States?
Bet he was fuming when RTD brought it back and it became the Beeb's biggest earner!
I love the Daleks singing living on a prayer, kinda sums up poor Colin bakers chances in the end.
The bbc really s*** on him and although when I was younger I hated his doctor, over the years I really warmed to him, given the chance he could have been one of the best.
You can’t blame the actor if he’s given poor material. They can only do so much.
Something very weird is happening - I think I am mellowing toward the 6th Doctor. I feel like any aversion I had towards him back in the 80s is dissipating, and I see more of his virtues. Send help.
Hi have been waiting for this!! And thank you for not jumping on the ‘we hate Mel’ bandwagon. Hilarious and honest! Brilliant review!! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👌🏻👍🏻
BABE WAKE UP NEW STAM FINE VDIEO
Yeah, cheap filming while the other shows got the upgrade? No wonder it was so very different by the time of Eccleston. Such a trip how metaphoric with the trial thing and the show itself. Nice to hear he did some audio shows, too.
Clasdic Who really jumped the shark with this season
Roughest stretch in the show up until the 2005 relaunch IMO.
Wasn't there offers from America for a co production of the show around this time? If so, I dont understand why it wasn't taken up by the head of BBC? It would have benefited both sides. For one, make it look 10 times better than it. With a chance of improving the stories. Secondly, it would have gotton more casual viewers around the world and lastly it not to be seen as an embarrassment to Michael Grade. Would of been a win for him.
It was so jarring that the TARDIS capture scene was so good and much of the rest was so badly done but there was a lot of fun in this series.
Lets not forget Colin Baker's era and McCoys first season had pretty poor scripts that no amount of budget increase could have saved. JNT has a fair share of the blame
JNT is fully responsible. He is the producer and oversees everything.
Sure those sets looked tatty and cheap but they still looked more expensive than they actually were! I saw an interview with a Davison era set designer (name escapes me) who said it's hard hearing people describe his sets as "cheap looking" when he found innovative ways to stretch the meagre budget to make sets that looked far better than they deserved considering the pitiful budget.
Still makes no sense at all why the Doctor leaves with Mel, a companion he hasn't actually met yet.
1:40 Planet Vaporwave
On paper this storyline is really creative and a great idea at this point in the show's history but man the execution is so bad. Baker's performance aside this season just falls so flat after starting off so promising. Would've been cooler if they shook up the format more and had 2-3 part plots play out amongst the 14 episode arc rather than stretching out half-assed stories like Mysterious Planet into 4 parts when it could've been 1-2. Mindwarp is fairly decent and Terror of the Vervoids is also serviceable but man they needed some stronger individual episodes in this arc.
He was not bad just wrong place wrong time.
I have been a Doctor Who fan since Tom Baker, and I remember the Hiatus. And this is the video I learn that Mel was a computer programmer. (As in if they mentioned it in the show it never stuck.)
Fortunately, Big Finish put Mel and computer skills to better use.
I’d also heard that grade saw the slick SFX of US Sci fi shows like Buck Rogers in the 25th century and battlestar galactica with their Star Wars like quality and thought Dr Who visually couldn’t compete, and they sought a partnership with a US production company for Dr Who, which didn’t materialise, well not for some time
We don’t take exposition of the hero FROM the villain. The bad guy lies. Also, the Valeyard, if he’s the Doctot, is smart enough to know that he can’t exist if the Doctor is murdered before regenerating into him. I don’t understand how the Valeyard being the Doctor has just been accepted as cannon.
If you listen carefully there's an implication the valeyard is some kind of shadow or temporal doppelganger of the Doctor, so maybe he can survive the Doctor's demise. Which just makes the whole thing more muddled and nonsensical.
@@cygil1 i disagree. The master claims that The Valeyard is “an amalgamation of everything that is bad about the Doctor”. It’s a real stretch to “listen closely” to that. You make it sound like The Master said it was bigeneration, or something.
For the 5th Doctor it was noted that when most of his companions left they were wearing less clothes than when they first came in: Nyssa, velvet outfit to sun dress/shift thingy; Tegan stewardess outfit to sleeveless blouse and miniskirt; Turlough schoolboy outfit to beach attire. So when Peri came in wearing a bikini, there were understandable doubts that the trend would continue. And yet they managed: she went out with less hair than she came in with.
Chalk it up to Mr. Personality: JNT.
Hahaa so funny!!! Perfect analysis, we all knew it was cheesey and didn't have the budget of other scifi shows, but doctor who is its own institution
I thought season 22 was good. Not the greatest season but underrated.
Colin needed the originally planned season 23, and JNT to disappear.
Trial of a timelord was a disaster.
In some ways an improvement over the previous season -- the Doctor and Peri having those friendly moments instead of bickering constantly being a big one -- but there's a general sense of everyone involved having given up. Season 24 may not have been great but it was a more substantive clearing of the decks.
My fave bt is where the Doctor Denounces the Time lord when he find s out about their crime and calling them corrupt considering what we we see and hear of them in the Time War and the new series its good thing the Doctor made them extinct at first and the master saving the doctor and spilling the beans about the Valyard
I liked Colin Baker as The Doctor - he brought a bit of edginess to the role - I think he's been a very underrated part of the Dr Who universe.
The only good thing about the “Trial of The Timelord” was the packaging for the VHS release which was a nice looking tin TARDIS. When I bought it from HMV all those years ago, I recall the guys at the till calling me back and telling me I’d walked off with it without the videos inside, to which I replied “No problem, I just want the TARDIS mate !” Once home, I put in some of my Australia bootleg episodes.
So, the Valiyard was generated by the 10th Doctor’s explosive unwillingness to regenerate? “I don’t want to go!”
Mel was always terrible, good thing she was replaced by one of the best companions Ace.
As an American, I have to say that Mel was an incredible breath of fresh air after the unbearably whiny Peri. Americans used to wonder why they had hired a British actress to do a really bad fake "American" accent. Nicola's interviews on the box set explained it; she had misled the BBC into thinking she was actually from the US and no one at the BBC recognized how fake her accent actually was! The saddest part is that Nicola's fake accent is what caused her to always sound painfully whiny and her real British voice isn't whiny at all.