Tag Archives: Brigadier

The Flanderized Brigadier

Posted on November 13, 2019 by Roger Pocock

Companion Tropes 40 I’m not a huge fan of The Simpsons, but I could probably have a good stab at naming most of the characters and listing their defining traits. When it comes to Homer’s neighbour Ned Flanders, I would … Continue reading →

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The Dr Who Annual 1977

Posted on October 19, 2018 by Roger Pocock

So here we have it, the infamous 1977 annual, the low point of the annual range.  It puts you in a bad mood before you have even opened it up, towering over the other annuals and poking out from the … Continue reading →

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The Dr Who Annual 1975

Posted on September 21, 2018 by Roger Pocock

The Doctor Who annuals continued their slow decline in terms of the artwork, but the quality of the stories actually improved with the 1975 annual.  They are not quite so derivative of the television episodes, but more importantly the end … Continue reading →

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Cliffhangers: Third Doctor 1

Posted on September 19, 2018 by Roger Pocock

I have watched every Doctor Who episode in order a couple of times, and on both occasions the big slog to get through has been the Third Doctor era.  Somehow it always seems like an awful lot of the same … Continue reading →

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The Five Doctors

Posted on September 11, 2018 by Roger Pocock

Ext. The Death Zone.  IAN and BARBARA CHESTERTON are walking across a barren, rocky landscape.  BARBARA looks frightened. BARBARA: Ian, what was that strange pyramid? IAN: Presumably some kind of travel device.  We seem to have been transported somewhere. BARBARA: … Continue reading →

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The Three Doctors

Posted on September 10, 2018 by Roger Pocock

There have been a handful of multi-Doctor stories over the years, so it is difficult to imagine how amazing it must have seemed the first time it happened.  More importantly, although it might seem like the most natural idea in … Continue reading →

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The Invasion

Posted on August 23, 2018 by Roger Pocock

Make the most of The Invasion, because it will be nearly 50 years before anyone comes close to recapturing the magic and scariness of the 1960s Cybermen stories.  They have very little screen time in The Invasion, but that is … Continue reading →

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The Dr Who Annual 1974

Posted on August 19, 2018 by Roger Pocock

The Doctor Who annuals continue their slow decline with this offering, featuring endless boring lucky dips from the children’s encyclopedia.  There are six short stories and two comic strips.  The annuals always did feel out of step with the television … Continue reading →

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Planet of the Spiders

Posted on July 18, 2018 by Roger Pocock

It’s the end, but the moment has been prepared for, when the Doctor stole the blue crystal from Metebelis III at the start of The Green Death, and then gave it to Jo in an attempt to think of a … Continue reading →

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Downtime

Posted on July 3, 2018 by Roger Pocock

It was a funny old world being a Doctor Who fan in the 90s.  I had watched quite a bit of 80s Doctor Who but wouldn’t really have described myself as a fan, but from 1992 onwards I was a … Continue reading →

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The Time Warrior

Posted on June 25, 2018 by Roger Pocock

Oh, I could murder a cup of tea. …and at that moment the British viewing public fell in love with Sarah Jane Smith.  It was no thanks to Robert Holmes though.  Just look what Elisabeth Sladen has to contend with … Continue reading →

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The Dr Who Annual 1973

Posted on June 24, 2018 by Roger Pocock

Observant readers will notice that the last annual we looked at was dated 1971 and this one is 1973, but we haven’t actually missed one out.  Doctor Who was not deemed a successful enough series to warrant an annual for … Continue reading →

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Invasion of the Dinosaurs

Posted on June 14, 2018 by Roger Pocock

Many years ago I wrote a review of Invasion of the Dinosaurs, and commented on the silliness of the idea of tricking people into believing they are on a spaceship.  People would never be fooled by that, surely?  I am … Continue reading →

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The Green Death

Posted on June 13, 2018 by Roger Pocock

It wasn’t just coal that came out of the ground.  It was death.  A death coloured green.  A Green Death. For the third year in a row we have our big Season finale by the Robert Sloman and Barry Letts … Continue reading →

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The Dr Who Annual 1971

Posted on June 10, 2018 by Roger Pocock

The five Doctor Who annuals published during the 60s were all written along similar lines, a kind of mashup between The Web Planet and the Cushing movies.  By the time we got to the Troughton era, this was already feeling … Continue reading →

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Inferno

Posted on May 2, 2018 by Roger Pocock

One of the working titles for Inferno which always stuck in my mind was The Mo-Hole Project, because it sounded so odd.  It is actually a reference to Don Houghton’s inspiration for this story, Project Mohole, a US drilling project … Continue reading →

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The Ambassadors of Death

Posted on May 1, 2018 by Roger Pocock

The Ambassadors….. OF DEATH!!!  Despite being seven episodes long (and unlike The Silurians never quite justifying its length) this feels incredibly modern.  It is one of only a handful of Classic Series stories to get a proper trailer, it has … Continue reading →

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The Silurians

Posted on April 30, 2018 by Roger Pocock

Doctor Who and the Silurians, to give it it’s full and very Target-esque title, is superficially a Second Doctor story.  There is a base that is under attack, being run by a blinkered fanatic who puts his work above any … Continue reading →

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Mawdryn Undead

Posted on April 17, 2018 by Roger Pocock

Sometimes things just don’t go according to plan.  There are some Doctor Who stories that are so overshadowed by what might have been that it becomes difficult not to watch them without a sense of disappointment.  In the 20th anniversary … Continue reading →

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Day of the Daleks

Posted on March 30, 2018 by Roger Pocock

Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey.  For a time travel series Doctor Who is actually about time travel very rarely, especially during its original run.  Day of the Daleks feels remarkably fresh and ahead of the game, with people travelling back from … Continue reading →

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