Doctor Who Club of Australia

Theta Sigma · Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 4254

Part 1:
Kenneth Cope (Packard) was Marty Hopkirk in the original Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased). Tom was Wyvern in the remake of that series. That's the connection between the old and new Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased). Now here's a connection between the old and new Doctor Who: the production assistant in Warriors' Gate is Graeme Harper who will later direct Caves of Androzani (1984) and Revelation of the Daleks (1985) and is now a director in the second season of the new Doctor Who.
Adric on Gallifrey, the Doctor ponders, now there's a thought.
Completely forgotten how bored Aldo and Royce looked in this story.
The third in a trilogy I tend to find is the least impressive and indication here are Warriors Gate is no exception.

On a related note borrowed from the library (season 17 script editor) Douglas's Adams Starship Titantic - A Novel by Terry Jones which is the book version of the computer game of the same name by Adams. In fact two days after Warriors' Gate Part 1 was originally broadcast on January 3 1981, the TV Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy made its debut on January 5 1981.

What trailer was shown: The Doctor Dances was shown before Warriors' Gate Part 1.

Linx · Joined: 27 Jun 2005 Posts: 59 Location: Perth

At last, Warrior's Gate - that most underated of all Tom Baker stories.
Looks superb, well scripted and a great (if enigmatic) plot. For me this is right up there in my top four Tom Baker yarns (FYI: the others are Talons, Pyramids & City of Death).
Don't you thinks there's something terribly 80's about minimalistic white voids?
Totally brilliant. Deffinitely gets an "excellent" for my vote.

And in a bizarre postscript have just seen the agenda for this morning's staff meeting. By inexplicable coincidence item 3 is "E-Space"!

Darth Sidious · Joined: 27 Jun 2005 Posts: 105

Only a 'good' rating for me ... Bit too disjointed and surreal for my liking .. A definite let down after the superb Full Circle and State of Decay.

Tom N. · Joined: 07 Jul 2005 Posts: 144 Location: Sydney, NSW

I loved the first episode - even though explanations are a little scant at the moment. Also loved the slow-motion afterimages in the TARDIS, as well as the cobweb-filled dining room. Unless something disastrous happens in the next three episodes, this one'll probably get an Excellent from me.

Ace · Joined: 27 Jun 2005 Posts: 114 Location: Sydney

I've been taping the whole thing, but missed ep two because our tv has a habit of changing channels on me....*sigh*

I love the music in this story...

Ace Smile

Theta Sigma · Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 4254

Part 2:
Nice try of the Doctor in being still so as not to be noticed by the Gundan.
If you look carefully when the two Gundans with the Doctor in the middle eliminated each other the axe of the one on the right falls on the Doctor's head and he's clearly OK.
Packard's instruction to close the doors is quite funny.
Love K-9's probability of error at 87.7948% which proves that even machines are fallible.
Frustrating that just as that Gundan was about to reveal how to get out its head gets chopped off.
Romana's dialogue with the slavers is terrible.
Voiceover says, "Tonight's Doctor as opposed to the other one".

On a related note I saw the Blake's 7 season 2 finale Star One on DVD. Just as Warriors' Gate will be the last regular appearances for Lalla Ward and John Leeson, Star One was the last regular appearances for Gareth Thomas, Sally Knyvette and Brian Croucher. One of the three visual effects designer credited for this episode is Mat Irvine who receives sole credit for the visual effects for Warriors' Gate. In fact I got to see Irvine in one of the special features Saturday Super Store originally shown on 8 January 1983. In another special feature June Hudson's Costume Collection in which Warriors' Gate costume designer June Hudson talks about her work on Blake's 7. She said that she sad to leave Blake's 7 but going on to work on Doctor Who is marvellous.

Guest · Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2005 11:23 am Post subject:

Great story but don't show it to any newbies as they won't get any of it!!

I just listened to The Adventures of Luther Arkwright and the way it was handled reminded me very much of Warriors Gate.

You have been warned......

Theta Sigma · Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 4254

On a related note saw Unbound Doctor David Warner in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret of the Ooze when my uni sci fi club showed the Turtles trilogy last night.

Today as I was looking at more of the special features on Blake's 7 season 2 DVD, Warriors' Gate visual effects designer Mat Irvine either appears or is mentioned in the following:
Mat's Models - Mat talks about making the spaceships on Blake's 7 in an interview recorded in June 1993. It includes a black and white picture of him when he was working on that series at the BBC Visual Effects Department in which he wears a T-Shirt of what appears to be a Sontaran's head. Next to him is the Amazing World of Doctor Who poster with the Fourth Doctor, Sarah and a Dalek in the foreground. Also on this poster is small boxed pictures which includes the Third Doctor, TARDIS and an Axon. There is also a picture of him at the TARDIS set in 1978 as he says that Blake's 7 was the first big science fiction series apart from Doctor Who that he worked on.
Scene Today (24/1/91) - Gareth Thomas and Jackie Pearce appeared on this program on that date and although no Mat presence or presence, Gareth however does mention briefly Doctor Who in regards to cult and science fiction.
Multicoloured Swap Shop (10/3/79) - Gareth and Jackie again with presenter Noel Edmond mentioning that Mat was on the program earlier.
Small World: Model Spacecraft (28/8/80) - Mat appeared on this program as presenter Eric Thompson (Emma's father who also appeared in the First Doctor story the Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve) mentioned that he worked on Doctor Who.

Alex · Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 20 Location: melbourne

i think its okay, sad to be seeing romana go at the end of it though Sad

good cliffhanger for thursday though

- alex

Theta Sigma · Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 4254

Yesterday I watched the season 3 debut of Spooks which I recorded on the ABC which appears to be the last appearance of Megan Dodds as Christine Dale. I think she would make a good Romana II.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/spooks/personnel_md.shtml

Theta Sigma · Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 4254

On a related note been reading the SFX Doctor Who special been reading Who's Not Who which was about who was also considered for the Doctor in each new casting originally published in December 1998. Just as we now heading towards the end of the Tom Baker era on the current ABC rerun before Tom became the Fourth Doctor, those who were considered for it were Fulton McKay who appeared in the Jon Pertwee story The Silurians, Richard Hearne, Graham (Horns of Nimon) Crowden, Michael Bentine, Jim Dale and Valentine Dyall (the Black Guardian) who was also considered for the Second Doctor.

Theta Sigma · Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 4254

Linx · Joined: 27 Jun 2005 Posts: 59 Location: Perth

Theta Sigma · Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 4254

On a related note I just got back my tapes back of City of Death and recording of Rose which I lent to my film tutor (who is a very beautiful woman) as I did an essay on Doctor Who using those two stories. Apparently she tells me I inspired someone to change their thesis to Doctor Who.

Theta Sigma · Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 4254

Part 4:
In the previous episode K-9 gets chucked out of the claver ship; in Kenny The Shark instalment Kenny-napped shown as part of Rollercoaster just before Part 4 a dog gets chucked out of a car.
Love the Doctor's automatic ruse.
Lalla Ward leaves as Romana and John Leeson leaves as voice of K-9. Although I love Lalla I don't particularly like her very much so I am not sorry to see her go.
End of the E-Space trilogy; ending is a bit disappointing as it is not very clear whether the Doctor and Adric made it to N-Space until the nex story The Keeper of Traken.
Writer Steve Gallagher has recently wrote The Eleventh Hour starring Patrick Stewart dubbed as ITV's answer to Doctor Who.
When I bought the E-Space video boxset back in 2000 at an Angus and Robertson store, the person attending me quickly described each of the three stories: "Spiders (Full Circle), vampires (State of Decay) and Romana gets left behind (Warriors' Gate)."
Although the concept of N-Space has clearly been defined as normal space as opposed to exo-space or E-Space, E-Space Executive Producer Barry Letts would contradict this in his Doctor Who radio play The Ghosts of N-Space in which N-Space was defined as null space an area for ghosts to reside in. Perhaps it is true that as Executive Producer he was hardly involved (or not at all) in the day by day production of season 18.
It takes the Doctor 12 episodes to get out of E-Space. For me it took me 12 months to finish E-Space on video as it was busy with other things.

On a related note read in DWM 351 there was an unmade Doctor Who radio serial called Nuclear Kiss which would have featured the Fourth Doctor, Sarah and the Brigadier written by David Rodan (aka David Mansell). The script was developed back in 1993 when Rodan and John Nathan-Turner had listened to the first episode of the Doctor Who radio play Paradise of Death starring Jon Pertwee and been disappointed by it. Since Tom was making a cameo in the 30th anniversary skit Dimensions in Time, Tom was enthusiastic about Doctor Who and therefore a Fourth Doctor radio serial became a possibility. Tom was very keen to do it that he made suggestions to the Nuclear Kiss script. Sadly Tom ultimately dropped out. It was then reworked as a Seventh Doctor, Ace and Brigadier story but was not made because Radio 2 did not find time in their schedules for it.