Battlefield was my mom's favorite 7th Doctor show. Whenever we would talk about watching one, she would always say, How about Battlefield? I would always be like No! I'm tired of that story. lol She died a lil over 4 years ago, so now every year on her birthday, I always watch Battlefield.
Remember in Planet of the Spiders the Doctor was testing that professor's psychic abilities. The Brigadier gave him a watch and the guy said it was from a woman called Doris.... Well there ya go, we finally get to see Doris
Nicholas Courtney, The Brig's actor, had been fighting for years to get Doris on screen, even before she had a name. There's a scene during the Third Doctor's tenure where the Brigadier gets a call at home from his nightstand phone, and he wanted Doris to be in bed beside him. I don't know why he didn't get his way back then.
3 years... my goodness. And thank you massively for your reactions and your time - your videos were important comfort viewing for many of us during the misery of lockdown. Hope you enjoy the final stretch! Season 26 is a cracker.
the console room was damaged after making Greatest Show and as this was the only episode to involve the TARDIS interior this season, they saw no reason to build a whole new set
@@joecrammond6221 I thought there were plans to make new TARDIS walls, so the old ones were scrapped... and then - oh, don't have the budget for new ones...
Medusa, it's been a real pleasure watching your reactions through the seasons, and now you're on the final stretch! I like how (on the whole) you've gone in blind without knowing anything beforehand, and you always find interesting elements to enjoy in all the stories.
One of my favourite seasons of the 80s doctors plus Ace is one of my favourite companions too can't believe you only have 4 stories till the end please do the Sarah Jane adventures after you finish classic who love your reactions to this. Yes the brig and Doris married proud parents to Kate
I always have. It struck me at the time that Sara and Bret being half brother and sister. And if you squint sideways, traditionally you could say the Doctor acted as Merlin to the Brig's Arthur. And who was Arthur's half sister? It's a stretch but my younger self was always taken with the parallel, and I still am.
Yes, it IS that Doris...lol LOVED your expression when Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart rocked up. Priceless! Also, the guy who played Peter Warmsley was James Ellis who played Bert Lynch, a long serving character in the BBC police series Z Cars, back in the day.😊
Aaronovitch: The idea was sound, Remembrance was the Doctor executing a plan set up by a past self, Battlefield was supposed to be the Doctor executing a plan set up by an unspecified future self but I don't think it worked out. Cartmel: But its was genius, it was pioneering. Moffat does this kinda stuff all the time now. Aaronovitch: Yes I know... that's the fucking problem.
@@andykey78 Oh god. I forgot about dapol. I had a TARDIS (but never the console). I had a few characters. I never understood why Davros had 2 working arms and K9 was green.
Medusa LOVES it and what is truly FANTASTIC is ...the whole season is like this ..leading into new who...watch Sylvester go dark...watch his companion develop...TRANSFORMATION..reaction VERY much appreciated
One of my favourite Seasons; great writing and Sylvester McCoy & Sophie Aldred were brilliant in all of these stories. If you want something to possibly follow on from Doctor Who, perhaps Blake's 7?
Starcops would be interesting. It's only 1 season, 9 episodes, but the Doctor Who alumni behind the scenes is something to note. And for it's day, it looked good.
As I begin watching season 26, I want to take a moment to thank you for all the time and effort that went into this Classic Who marathon. Your excitement is contagious, and your attention to detail and your insight into these stories is impressive. Well done, Medusa. I've thoroughly enjoyed taking this journey with you. Sylvester's final season is the highest rated season since Tom's season 14. If Who had to be cancelled, at least it went out strong. Seven and Ace are just so, so good together.
In the early 90's there was a tv show featuring Angela Bruce - so of course I had to watch, purely because of the WHO connection. It was called "Takin' over the Asylum". It co-starred a young actor, by the name of David Tennant... :)
I thought the appearance of a certain Brigadier would have you buzzing with excitement about this story (and I don't mean Winifred) 😄. The novelization of this story includes a brief account of how the Brig met Doris, the sweetheart of his youth again and married her. In the continuity of the expanded Doctor Who media, Doris is his second wife and thus not Kate's mum. Welcome to Season 26! It's a good one!
I love this story. Its not without its flaws but its got a lot going for it. Especially the return of Jean Marsh and Nick Courtney. I'm nut sure if anyone mentioned it but Nick was actually in Silver Nemesis but as an extra because it wad the 25th anniversary. He was wearing an eye patch as an in joke.
That the knight from another universe speaks of the doctor as Merlin is a suggestion of parallel universe doctors. I've always wondered where the parallel doctor was in the Inferno story.
Today, the prospect of the aged Brigadier, the 7th Doctor, Arthur and Merlin, all together in one story (provisionally titled by Ben Aaronovitch as 'Storm over Avallion' - until it made way for his Dalek script the previous season) would probably create a mild fangasm. And so it's terribly sad how the prevailing winds of the age - when the show was now officially 'tired' in the view of its audience - buried it in the popular culture of the age. Even before the season began the death knell was being heavily rang, even in the pages of the show's official magazine, where confirmation of Season 27 was conspicuously lacking. But it's a good fun opener and one of three things I'll happily watch Angela Bruce in over and over...
Yes its the same Doris mentioned in the Pertwee era. On a side note there was going to be a scene in the Daemons where the Brig received call in bed and a womens arm was to have past him the phone but it was thought to be a bit too suggestive for a "kids" show but I like to think if it had happened it would have been Doris's first appearance.
Rudeness was part of a cool teen image, in the long nihilist cynical era that followed the hippie era's failure, that ran from firstly 70s punk then on through the 80s fashion for excessively emotionally savage alternative comedy.
I just realised, 5:56 do young people think those are mobile phones? That would explain why I keep seeing them putting mobile phones in shows set in the 80s when no one had one. That's a cordless handset for the house telephone.
Only scene in this series with the tardis interior, and it wasnt even the proper one. ‘Cross the boundaries that divide one universe from another’ line is from that scene. Judging the state the tardis console room was in the greatest show in the galaxy no wonder they chucked it
How loyal is the Brigadier? The Doctor returns… and he’s there! Also, until Legend of the Sea Devils, under Jodie Whittaker, this was the episode with the lowest viewing figures - on the night - ever, of 3.1 million.
The final episode of the classic era to see the TARDIS interior (especially in it's 1980's design). The TARDIS interior was never shown for the rest of Season 26 until Doctor Who: The Movie (1996) seven years later.. BTW, It is not sci-fi, really, but, when you have your spare time soon, can you review What We Do In The Shadows?
Battlefield had the awful distinction of being the least watched of all classic stories, and the only time a story averaged below 4 million viewers. It scored a miserable 3.65 million viewers and remained the lowest rated until Legend of the Sea Devils sank to the bottom with only 3.34 million viewers.
Did you watch this before or after the B5 episode A Late Delivery From Avalon? Also, on the Doctor being referred to as Merlin - "I hate wizards in old stories, they usually turn out to be *him*" - River Song.
There is a certain thoroughly unpleasant part of modern fandom who like to complain about 'diversity' in the casting of modern 'woke' Doctor Who. So here we have a black female Brigadier leading a multi-national UNIT force, a Chinese actress and a blind character (though admittedly not a blind actress). This feels very much like DW was moving into the modern age just as it was cancelled. By the way June Bland (Elizabeth Rawlinson, the blind lady) was Beryl Reid's first officer in Earthshock, Ling Tai (Shou Yuing) had been an extra in Warriors of the Deep and The Leisure Hive. Angela Douglas (Doris) was a beautiful addition to many a historical Carry On movie (particularly Khyber and Screaming). I have been told Marc Warren (Elton in Love and Monsters) was an extra in this, but I've never spotted him - maybe he's under armour. And, of course, Bret Vyon and Sara Kingdom together again....
Ok in my defense, I mentioned the whole Doris /Spiders thing right at the start of the video. Then you were mentioning it towards the end, and I was like, oopps, oh well lol
For me Battlefield is an odd one, its one of the lowest for McCoys 2-3 season in my lists. Its still really good, but just dont really find it all that good, in comparison to the ones prior and to whats to come.
It's not perfect by any means (and the fight scenes are so choreographed as to take the fun out), but the scale of what it implies and tries to do are fantastic. Sylv's final season was brilliant; I really wish they'd carried on for longer with Ace and him.
Ace's rudeness feels very forced and is jarring to watch. Whole scenes are ruined by her crass and uncouth outbursts. It seemed radical at the time but just looks unpleasant now.
For decades a lot of fandom has attacked Sophie / Ace as being too forced, etc etc. Maybe it was a bit of both - the acting and the writing - but I still think she's one of the best companions from the original run.
Ace’s rudeness tends to consist of her snarling cornball insults unworthy of a five year old. Granted the more natural sounding “You think he’d be asking if he knew d***head” likely wouldn’t make it past the censor. Still rather cringe.
Battlefield was my mom's favorite 7th Doctor show. Whenever we would talk about watching one, she would always say, How about Battlefield? I would always be like No! I'm tired of that story. lol She died a lil over 4 years ago, so now every year on her birthday, I always watch Battlefield.
Thanks for sharing that, I *really* needed it today.
Love and light to your mum 🌟
that's really sweet. I like that. RIP Mum ❤
Remember in Planet of the Spiders the Doctor was testing that professor's psychic abilities. The Brigadier gave him a watch and the guy said it was from a woman called Doris.... Well there ya go, we finally get to see Doris
Nicholas Courtney, The Brig's actor, had been fighting for years to get Doris on screen, even before she had a name. There's a scene during the Third Doctor's tenure where the Brigadier gets a call at home from his nightstand phone, and he wanted Doris to be in bed beside him. I don't know why he didn't get his way back then.
3 years... my goodness. And thank you massively for your reactions and your time - your videos were important comfort viewing for many of us during the misery of lockdown. Hope you enjoy the final stretch! Season 26 is a cracker.
they'd lost the Tardis walls for some reason so that early scene in the Tardis, the walls were made of dark cloth with circles cut out.
the console room was damaged after making Greatest Show and as this was the only episode to involve the TARDIS interior this season, they saw no reason to build a whole new set
@@joecrammond6221 it still looks great
@@joecrammond6221 they may have already been informed by the 5th floor they would not been needing any again for some considerable time...
@@joecrammond6221 I thought there were plans to make new TARDIS walls, so the old ones were scrapped... and then - oh, don't have the budget for new ones...
making the TARDIS interior dark like that was very atmospheric. this season looked decent for such a low budget. 👏
I love it when the Tardis is dark.
Medusa, it's been a real pleasure watching your reactions through the seasons, and now you're on the final stretch! I like how (on the whole) you've gone in blind without knowing anything beforehand, and you always find interesting elements to enjoy in all the stories.
One of my favourite seasons of the 80s doctors plus Ace is one of my favourite companions too can't believe you only have 4 stories till the end please do the Sarah Jane adventures after you finish classic who love your reactions to this. Yes the brig and Doris married proud parents to Kate
Good to see Sara Kingdom and Bret Vyon in the same story edit: again
Never thought of that. Good one.
I always have. It struck me at the time that Sara and Bret being half brother and sister. And if you squint sideways, traditionally you could say the Doctor acted as Merlin to the Brig's Arthur. And who was Arthur's half sister? It's a stretch but my younger self was always taken with the parallel, and I still am.
Yes, it IS that Doris...lol
LOVED your expression when Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart rocked up. Priceless!
Also, the guy who played Peter Warmsley was James Ellis who played Bert Lynch, a long serving character in the BBC police series Z Cars, back in the day.😊
Sylvester McCoy would later take his Panama hat with the brown band to Vancouver to film his scenes for the TV movie.
Every time I see Angela Bruce as Bambara, I picture Batman and robin running towards her
I see female Lister
Everytime I see her, I see Brigadier Bambara
This series is just a joy to watch from beginning to end.
It's a Daleks' Master Plan reunion for Nicholas Courtney and Jean Marsh!
Aaronovitch: The idea was sound, Remembrance was the Doctor executing a plan set up by a past self, Battlefield was supposed to be the Doctor executing a plan set up by an unspecified future self but I don't think it worked out.
Cartmel: But its was genius, it was pioneering. Moffat does this kinda stuff all the time now.
Aaronovitch: Yes I know... that's the fucking problem.
One of the problems...
Professor, why is it dark in here? Because we can't afford the electricity Ace. We're running on 8x AA batteries.
The good old days when your Dapol Tardis and the actual Tardis had the same power source!
@@andykey78 Oh god. I forgot about dapol. I had a TARDIS (but never the console). I had a few characters. I never understood why Davros had 2 working arms and K9 was green.
@@ihateunicorns867 I only had a Dapol Dalek in white and gold, my cat exterminated it and split the top dome and eye stalk bit.
@@Jasonm25870 I also had a white/gold (imperial) dalek that my cat destroyed. I turned it into an exploded dalek.
Medusa LOVES it and what is truly FANTASTIC is ...the whole season is like this ..leading into new who...watch Sylvester go dark...watch his companion develop...TRANSFORMATION..reaction VERY much appreciated
One of my favourite Seasons; great writing and Sylvester McCoy & Sophie Aldred were brilliant in all of these stories. If you want something to possibly follow on from Doctor Who, perhaps Blake's 7?
Blakes 7 - awesome suggestion. I don't know if Medusa is looking for recommendations, but every time I see B7 suggested I go squee.
YUS! Blake’s 7 forever!
@@colintate Me too. Loved it as a kid and love it even more as an old fart :)
@@colintate Medusa has seen B7, so it would be a rewatch , not sure Medusa wants that. UFO would be great.
Starcops would be interesting. It's only 1 season, 9 episodes, but the Doctor Who alumni behind the scenes is something to note. And for it's day, it looked good.
I loved this story when I was a kid, and I'm still fond of it. Ace is a somewhat messed up kid, which contributes to her rudeness.
As I begin watching season 26, I want to take a moment to thank you for all the time and effort that went into this Classic Who marathon. Your excitement is contagious, and your attention to detail and your insight into these stories is impressive. Well done, Medusa. I've thoroughly enjoyed taking this journey with you.
Sylvester's final season is the highest rated season since Tom's season 14. If Who had to be cancelled, at least it went out strong. Seven and Ace are just so, so good together.
In the early 90's there was a tv show featuring Angela Bruce - so of course I had to watch, purely because of the WHO connection. It was called "Takin' over the Asylum". It co-starred a young actor, by the name of David Tennant... :)
By far my favorite season of all time
Blind lady actress was in Earthshock🎩
I thought the appearance of a certain Brigadier would have you buzzing with excitement about this story (and I don't mean Winifred) 😄. The novelization of this story includes a brief account of how the Brig met Doris, the sweetheart of his youth again and married her. In the continuity of the expanded Doctor Who media, Doris is his second wife and thus not Kate's mum. Welcome to Season 26! It's a good one!
This was the only Who story in which Nick Courtney's moustache was real!🎩
Funny, knowing now that Angela Douglas was married to Kenneth More, it kind of feels like she was married to The Brigadier in real life...
Priceless retraction to the Brig :)
This story is underused. Every story this season is fantastic and I think this one just gets a little left behind
I’d suggest doing reactions to Red Dwarf and Blakes’ 7.
oh battlefield!! one of my favourites as it mixed arthurian myth with gallifrayan legend.
I love this story. Its not without its flaws but its got a lot going for it.
Especially the return of Jean Marsh and Nick Courtney.
I'm nut sure if anyone mentioned it but Nick was actually in Silver Nemesis but as an extra because it wad the 25th anniversary. He was wearing an eye patch as an in joke.
That the knight from another universe speaks of the doctor as Merlin is a suggestion of parallel universe doctors. I've always wondered where the parallel doctor was in the Inferno story.
Ahh, tears when the Brig shows up, as it should be!
The new Brigadier is the Female Lister from "Red Dwarf"
Knowing you love the Brig as much as me, I was really looking forward to seeing how you’d react to him coming back and I wasn’t disappointed.
Today, the prospect of the aged Brigadier, the 7th Doctor, Arthur and Merlin, all together in one story (provisionally titled by Ben Aaronovitch as 'Storm over Avallion' - until it made way for his Dalek script the previous season) would probably create a mild fangasm. And so it's terribly sad how the prevailing winds of the age - when the show was now officially 'tired' in the view of its audience - buried it in the popular culture of the age. Even before the season began the death knell was being heavily rang, even in the pages of the show's official magazine, where confirmation of Season 27 was conspicuously lacking. But it's a good fun opener and one of three things I'll happily watch Angela Bruce in over and over...
one thing that was slightly overlooked here was that having a black female Brigadier was very ahead of its time in the late 80s.
Yes its the same Doris mentioned in the Pertwee era.
On a side note there was going to be a scene in the Daemons where the Brig received call in bed and a womens arm was to have past him the phone but it was thought to be a bit too suggestive for a "kids" show but I like to think if it had happened it would have been Doris's first appearance.
And here we go the final season
Oh and we finally meet the Brigs wife doris who was mentioned numerous times
Rudeness was part of a cool teen image, in the long nihilist cynical era that followed the hippie era's failure, that ran from firstly 70s punk then on through the 80s fashion for excessively emotionally savage alternative comedy.
Hear we go: the Last Classic Season of Doctor Who.
Yeah. And they had successfully brought back and updated UNIT nicely. It would have been nice to see how often they would have popped up.
I just realised, 5:56 do young people think those are mobile phones? That would explain why I keep seeing them putting mobile phones in shows set in the 80s when no one had one. That's a cordless handset for the house telephone.
Yeah a hotel called murdered bird hotel is out of the question.
This is the one I have been waiting for to react to. Best Brig story
Nice little throw away line, The Brig says he doesn't care if it is the King.
Only scene in this series with the tardis interior, and it wasnt even the proper one. ‘Cross the boundaries that divide one universe from another’ line is from that scene. Judging the state the tardis console room was in the greatest show in the galaxy no wonder they chucked it
How loyal is the Brigadier?
The Doctor returns… and he’s there!
Also, until Legend of the Sea Devils, under Jodie Whittaker, this was the episode with the lowest viewing figures - on the night - ever, of 3.1 million.
Hard to believe, I always considered Battlefield and Resurrection of the Daleks the best of McCoy's Doctor
@@heatsinker_5517 Hard to believe, but true.
The final episode of the classic era to see the TARDIS interior (especially in it's 1980's design). The TARDIS interior was never shown for the rest of Season 26 until Doctor Who: The Movie (1996) seven years later.. BTW, It is not sci-fi, really, but, when you have your spare time soon, can you review What We Do In The Shadows?
Battlefield had the awful distinction of being the least watched of all classic stories, and the only time a story averaged below 4 million viewers. It scored a miserable 3.65 million viewers and remained the lowest rated until Legend of the Sea Devils sank to the bottom with only 3.34 million viewers.
That's a shame. You can do a lot worse than Battlefield.
This episode got the lowest viewing figures of all - just 3.1m.
I love this story ❤️
Did you watch this before or after the B5 episode A Late Delivery From Avalon?
Also, on the Doctor being referred to as Merlin - "I hate wizards in old stories, they usually turn out to be *him*" - River Song.
Winifred is addressed as "sir". A mistake or she preferred it?
It's military protocol, they default to "Sir" unless told otherwise.
Jean March in in this and was married to Jon pertwee and the blind woman was in earthshock with Peter davision
Knew she was familiar (the blind woman, that is)
and of course Jean Marsh played Nicholas Courtney's sister (and killer) in The Dalek's Masterplan.
June Bland - she played Berger
You may not know, but Angela has revisited the role of Brigadier Bambera with Big Finish audio-dramas. Shame? I think not!
There is a certain thoroughly unpleasant part of modern fandom who like to complain about 'diversity' in the casting of modern 'woke' Doctor Who. So here we have a black female Brigadier leading a multi-national UNIT force, a Chinese actress and a blind character (though admittedly not a blind actress). This feels very much like DW was moving into the modern age just as it was cancelled.
By the way June Bland (Elizabeth Rawlinson, the blind lady) was Beryl Reid's first officer in Earthshock, Ling Tai (Shou Yuing) had been an extra in Warriors of the Deep and The Leisure Hive. Angela Douglas (Doris) was a beautiful addition to many a historical Carry On movie (particularly Khyber and Screaming). I have been told Marc Warren (Elton in Love and Monsters) was an extra in this, but I've never spotted him - maybe he's under armour.
And, of course, Bret Vyon and Sara Kingdom together again....
18 today. Yes. I mean the 18th Like. LOVED your Reaction when you saw Lethbridge-Stewart. I really liked this story and I think you will be the same.
Ok in my defense, I mentioned the whole Doris /Spiders thing right at the start of the video. Then you were mentioning it towards the end, and I was like, oopps, oh well lol
Review 80's kid show that would be nice to see The Tripods, Super Gran amongst others
That music is such a pain. Great story otherwise. Love the darker console room.
What are you going to watch when you've finished these..?
Easy. Watch Blakes 7
Why not review the Tripods and supergran
jean marsh= morgan le fey more like...
I will be quite sad when you are done.
For me Battlefield is an odd one, its one of the lowest for McCoys 2-3 season in my lists. Its still really good, but just dont really find it all that good, in comparison to the ones prior and to whats to come.
It's not perfect by any means (and the fight scenes are so choreographed as to take the fun out), but the scale of what it implies and tries to do are fantastic. Sylv's final season was brilliant; I really wish they'd carried on for longer with Ace and him.
Ace's rudeness feels very forced and is jarring to watch. Whole scenes are ruined by her crass and uncouth outbursts. It seemed radical at the time but just looks unpleasant now.
For decades a lot of fandom has attacked Sophie / Ace as being too forced, etc etc. Maybe it was a bit of both - the acting and the writing - but I still think she's one of the best companions from the original run.
Ace’s rudeness tends to consist of her snarling cornball insults unworthy of a five year old. Granted the more natural sounding “You think he’d be asking if he knew d***head” likely wouldn’t make it past the censor. Still rather cringe.
When I first saw this story I thought the doctor called the Brig a dickhead in episode 4.
@@davidbull7210 Much later in 2006’ Tooth and Claw I thought Rose called one of the characters “you lazy s***”.