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british science fiction Some twenty years ago I really liked watching Doctor Who and in many ways it was a Sunday night ritual for me. If I remember correctly it would start shortly after the local news was over and then would end somewhere around midnight. By that time my parents had gone to bed and I was left alone in the living room staring at the opening swirl that started every episode. All by myself I could get lost in this strange world of British science fiction. At the time I saw it as time well spent and quite honestly there weren't that many other options from that genre on television. Since I live in the United States, Tom Baker was the doctor for me and I was shocked to learn that he wasn't the first nor was he the last actor to play the role. Naturally this has since become part of the charm of the show, but it isn't obvious when one starts watching. Eventually my local PBS station acquired the Peter Davison era episodes and I continued to watch. Colin Baker came next and by the time that Sylvester McCoy started, I was beginning to lose interest. Erratic scheduling done by my PBS station didn't help maintain my interest either. I think that the Sunday night time slot was lost and it was aired at varying times throughout the month. Moving forward to today, Netflix has most if not all of the Doctor Who episodes that have been released on DVD. Sadly this total is somewhere near two to three dozen, because the BBC is woefully slow in making them available. From what I can see they only do about six episodes per year from a catalog of nearly two decades and from my perspective they need to go faster. Perhaps when they start to air new episodes again starting next year, they might release more episodes. About once a month I feel the need to see another Doctor Who episode even though I've seen almost all of them. I see them as a nice contrast to all of the foreign films that I watch. This month I chose the Caves of Androzani, the regeneration episode that saw Peter become Colin. Most of the reviews that I've read speak highly of this one, but I personally prefer other Davison episodes. Terminus would be my first choice for best episode from his era with Enlightenment as my second choice. Now I have nothing against Peri, but seeing her sick though most of the episode did not impress me. Nor was I that sad to see Peter go in the end. Usually what makes renting a Doctor Who episode worthwhile is listening to the actors' commentary, but Peter and Nicola disappointed me. Between the director and them, there were long moments of silence where they didn't say anything about what was happening on the screen. I was hoping for more stories from either of them, but most of what they said wasn't that entertaining. Hopefully when they do get around to releasing Terminus on DVD, the commentary will be more impressive. |