Spoilers Doctor Who 2024 (spoilers)

[Hussar]

22 years is not long?

Nokia 6100 was a top phone 22 years ago.

First XBox was one year old.

No YouTube yet.

Google looked like this: Google in 2002

Oh, and we were still in relatively peaceful period:

List of wars: 1990–2002 - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

As compared to the present:

List of wars: 2003–present - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

In modern times 22 years is a long time.

That’s my point. A lot of what you are saying is truly different. Yes. Absolutely. But it is really hard to show that difference. I mean, sure your cell phone is different but it’s still a cell phone. Sure cars are different but on the outside not hugely different.

Houses haven’t changed all that much. That sort of thing.

Yes you have a new Xbox, but it’s still an Xbox and not an Atari.

The differences are much more subtle than if you do the typical sf thing of hundreds of years in the future. I mean sure I’ve got a Roomba cleaning my floors but we’re still a long way from Jetsons style house robots.

That was my point. Trying to write “twenty years in the future” is a lot harder than fifty or a hundred.

 

[The Myopic Sniper]

There were six 23-minute, three-episode stories - two each in Sylvester McCoy’s 24th, 25th, and 26th seasons.

"Planet of the Giants" (1964) in the Hartnell era was also three parts. It was originally shot as four parts, but parts 3 and 4 were edited together into single Part 3 because the production staff thought it wasn't pacey enough (even for the Hartnell era). That story in the last part actually feels a bit ahead of its time because it hits its story beats faster than almost any story until the Pertwee era. The reduction of the story to 3 parts meant that they had to mount a 1 episode story in Season 3 with no regular cast to cover the production and airing gap.

"The Two Doctors" (1985) is a three parter though with forty minute episodes. That is more of a technicality since they are double length episodes, but it should be mentioned.

I probably should check the rest of the thread before jumping in here wearing my "but actually" cape. I may have arrived too late.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Planet of the Giants was ahead of its time thematically as well, being the first story to address environmental issues (pesticides) and corporate greed.

 

[The Myopic Sniper]

Planet of the Giants was ahead of its time thematically as well, being the first story to address environmental issues (pesticides) and corporate greed.

It is not a particularly well loved story, but I think it is pretty underrated with some surprisingly good effects and visual look throughout as well as being a rare present day Hartnell story. I think his era could have used a few more of those, but it is hard to reconcile that with his inability to pilot the TARDIS at the time and get Ian and Barbara home.

 

[The Myopic Sniper]

I was quite pleased with Dot and Bubble. This is the story I had been dreading all season, but they ended up doing something more interesting with it than I expected. To spend that much time with a character that (intentionally) annoying and it still being an enjoyable episode is a bit of a feat.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

It is not a particularly well loved story, but I think it is pretty underrated with some surprisingly good effects and visual look throughout as well as being a rare present day Hartnell story. I think his era could have used a few more of those, but it is hard to reconcile that with his inability to pilot the TARDIS at the time and get Ian and Barbara home.

Yes, I think it holds up quite well. The idea “bring a murderer to justice whist miniaturised” is narratively strong. It made use of scale props made for other productions, and the pesticides thing gave them an excuse for not being able to animate the insects.

But then, I think The Gunfighters is a lot better with 2020 hindsight too!

I just realised, maybe The Gunfighters is to blame for musical episodes, not Buffy?!

 

[Hussar]

I just realised, maybe The Gunfighters is to blame for musical episodes, not Buffy?!

Hey, I will die on the hill of the Buffy musical episode. That was awesome. Don't you be disrespecting the Buffy.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Hey, I will die on the hill of the Buffy musical episode. That was awesome. Don't you be disrespecting the Buffy.

So long as you don’t die at the OK Corral!