Doctor Who: The Silurians Review

“Unless you Silurians tell us what you want the humans will destroy you!”

With ‘Doctor Who and The Silurians’ (to give it its full and accidental title) Malcolm Hulke takes the alien invasion story and flips it on its head. What could’ve so easily been nothing more than a simple tale of human battling lizard men becomes a morally complex thriller thanks to Hulke’s intelligent storytelling and sharp characterization. It's a masterpiece and one of my personal favourites from Worzel’s tenure.

Doctor Who: Spearheads From Space Review

“We deal with the odd, the unexplained, anything on Earth... or beyond”

After six years of monochrome adventuring through time and space ‘Spearheads from Space’ sees Doctor Who undergo a complete transformation. Now broadcast in glorious colour (assuming, that is, you had a colour television in 1970) the entire format of the show was radically altered in order to keep production costs down as well as make the series grittier and more grown up. Taking inspiration from the likes of Nigel Kneale’s Quatermass serials outgoing producer Derrick Sherwin wanted to get away from ‘wobbly jellies in outer space’ by bringing the show crashing back down to earth.

Doctor Who: The War Games Review

"NO!!!! Stop! You're making me giddy! No, you can't do this to me! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No!"

Epic in both length and content ‘The War Games’ is, in this humble fan’s opinion, the best Patrick Troughton story that still exists in its entirety. Bringing to an end one era of the show while neatly setting the stage for the next, this would be the final story in black and white, the last story of the 1960s and final regular appearance of Second Doctor and his ever faithful companions, Jamie and Zoe.

Doctor Who: The Seeds of Death Review

“Your leader will be angry if you kill me! I’m a genius”

The Patrick Troughton years were the beginning of the monster boom on Doctor Who. The historical episodes, a regular fixture of the previous era, had been phase out and replaced by numerous ‘base under siege’ stories as the Doctor frequently battled Daleks, Cybermen, Yeti, Macra, Quarks, Krotons, Cybermen again and the Ice Warriors.

Doctor Who: The Krotons Review

“The Doctor’s almost as clever as I am”

Robert Holmes isn’t just my favourite Doctor Who writer, he is without a shadow of a doubt the finest writer this show has ever had (past, present or future) and I will gladly fight anyone who says differently.

What was that? Russell T. Davies? Right, you, outside now!

Doctor Who: The Invasion Review

"My body may be cybernetic but my mind stays human!"

Playing out like the world’s longest and cheapest Bond movie, ‘The Invasion’ is probably the most iconic and well-loved Cybermen story. As far as I’m concerned it’s unquestionably their finest hour, made all the better by the fact the cybernetic dullards from Mondas are hardly in it.

Doctor Who: The Mind Robber Review

“Well, we’re nowhere. It’s as simple as that”

When I first saw ‘The Mind Robber’ at the wee age of very small I thought it was absolutely brilliant. A fantastical and atmospheric tale filled with some unforgettable imagery. But I eventually grew up and with age comes cynicism. Now I can’t help seeing ‘The Mind Robber’ for what it really is; a load of surrealist nonsense that could’ve only been produced in the 1960s

Doctor Who: The Dominators Review

“Shall we destroy? Shall we destroy?”

One of the great tragedies of Doctor Who is the loss of numerous episodes from the show’s monochrome days due to the BBC’s insane junking policy during the 1970s (cheap gits wouldn’t fork out for new tapes so they just recorded over all the old ones). Patrick Troughton certainly came off the worst. To date only six of his stories still exist in their entirety. Eleven are incomplete and four are completely lost, unlikely to ever be recovered. Season six (Troughton’s last as the Doctor) is the only Second Doctor season that remains more or less intact with only two incomplete stories. ‘The Dominators’ was the opening story of that season and by Rassillon’s beard is it dull.

Babylon 5: Season 5 DVD Review

The Wheel of Fire

The last minute renewal for Babylon 5 was something of a mixed blessing. On one had it meant that the show would continue and J. Michael Straczynski would now be able to complete his much talked about five-year-plan. But since Straczynski had wrapped up almost every single significant plot thread the previous season he was now stumped about what to do next. Sure, he had a lot of great stuff with Londo planned but that didn’t get going until towards the end of the season. So what the hell was he going to do until then?

Babylon 5: Season 4 DVD Review

No Surrender, No Retreat

So much for best laid plans, eh. When he first conceived of Babylon 5 way back when J. Michael Straczynski had a definitive five year plan for the series. By the fourth season that plan was in serious danger of falling apart. The Prime Time Entertainment Network, the series’ home from day one, was not long for this world and as such the future of the series was uncertain. Fearing that his show would be cancelled before he could conclude the story Straczynski went in to emergency damage control and started wrapping up the all major storylines far earlier than he’d initially planned. As a result season four is the most densely packed season of the show’s entire run as barely a single episode is wasted in Straczynski’s mad rush to bring his story to a what seemed at the time to be a premature end.