Doctor Who Club of Australia

SharazJek · Joined: 12 Aug 2005 Posts: 898 Location: Hobart, Tasmania

No. Tegan leaves in Ressurection of the Daleks. Peri joins Doctor 5 and Turlough in the following adventure Planet of Fire. Turlough and Kamelion depart in Planet of Fire. Peri is with Doctor 5 for the regeneration story, The Caves of Androzani.

7th Doctor stories are great....well some of them. He does have the honour of being a part of my least favourite story in Doctor Who history......The Crappiness Patrol!

Theta Sigma · Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 4254

Here's a fun parallel note with the Black Guardian trilogy currently showing:
Last Thursday I watched The Godfather at a film lecture on the same day that the final episode of Mawdryn Undead was shown on the ABC. Now they are both first in a trilogy.
Well I finished seeing The Godfather Part II just a few hours before Terminus Part 2 was shown on the ABC and they are both second in a trilogy. This is once again coincidental as The Godfather Part II was one of the few videos that my father who works at OFLC brought home for my visiting cousin to watch. I personally did not ask him to get The Godfather Part II.

Wester · Joined: 04 Aug 2005 Posts: 610 Location: Brisbane

But surely the Garm is not the worst 'monster' on Dr Who??

Couldnt help but think he would be good for a game of fetch. Very Happy

Greg · Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2005 10:43 am Post subject:

SharazJek · Joined: 12 Aug 2005 Posts: 898 Location: Hobart, Tasmania

ahhh yes but is it canon???

Greg · Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2005 11:28 pm Post subject:

Beatly · Joined: 24 Jul 2005 Posts: 375 Location: London

The 6th Doctor spent time on his own, without any companions. Maybe at some point, perhaps pining for Peri and remembering meeting Jamie again, he decided to revisit some of his former human pets and take them for a spin in the TARDIS... easy to explain that one away. Smile

Could even be a Time Lord's midlife crisis - six or seven bodies in, they start panicking and attempt to revisit their youth/earlier selves. That's also a tidy explanation for that coat, too.

Theta Sigma · Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 4254

Upon watching Part 3 I suddenly realised that Peter Benson (Bor) is now a regular on Heartbeat.
Despite Terminus being script edited by Eric Saward, Saward would later contradict the explanation of the Big Bang in Doctor Who in his radio play Slipback.
Just finished watching on the Blake's 7 season 3 DVD the "Introducing Tarrant" montage which included a couple of scenes featuring Terminus guest star Andrew Burt (Valguard) from the episode The Harvest of Kairos.

Wester · Joined: 04 Aug 2005 Posts: 610 Location: Brisbane

Here's a question: We know what Event One was. What was Event Two?

Greg · Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2005 1:57 pm Post subject:

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

Ah, Terminus...
I'd never seen this one before, so I didn't quite know what to expect. It started well with Turlough and Tegan in the TARDIS, but as soon as the bubble-headed pair showed up I knew there wasn't much hope for this one. In fact, part-way through Episode 3 I actually thought 'Hmm, what else is on?' No episode in the 2-year history of this repeat showing has made me do that.
Things picked up a bit in Part 4, but even Nyssa's departure scene couldn't excuse the flat direction and at times woeful performances.
All in all, Terminus has the dubious distinction of having only the second 'Turkey' rating I have awarded on this forum.

And I thought the creation of the universe was sorted out in Castrovavla?

Greg · Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2005 9:16 pm Post subject:

One of the not-too-infrequent problems with the Davison era is the strange need of writers to add companion-like characters to the stories. We have ususally two or three companions already, so did we really need Richard Mace in The Visitation*, Professor Kyle in Earthshock, Kari in Terminus, Jane and Will in The Awakening, Norna in Frontios, and Professor Laird in Resurrection of the Daleks?

* Richard Mace is probably the one who manages to be most use as someone who is a native guide, but seriously - how much does he actually guide the Doctor and friends?

Davros · Joined: 29 Jun 2005 Posts: 139 Location: Skaro

Wester · Joined: 04 Aug 2005 Posts: 610 Location: Brisbane

Nyssa is gone .......... Sad

Theta Sigma · Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 4254

Just like Steve Gallagher's previous story Warriors Gate, Terminus sees the departure of at least one companion in this case Nyssa and it is sad indeed. Upon first seeing it in the early morning reruns a decade ago I was quite shock to see her go since I still was not familiar with the show's history.

As with Warriors' Gate, Steve Gallagher once again finds himself in a trilogy. He had a much easier task with Warriors' Gate since that ended the E-Space trilogy but for Terminus it was a case being the middle story in the trilogy of trying to bridge the gap between Mawdryn Undead & Enlightenment. Overall the Black Guardian/Turlough pact does not get a lot of attention. Terminus could have easily have ended with Nyssa saying goodbye instead of the Black Guardian's warning being tacked on at the end.

Being stuck with each other here, neither Tegan or Turlough realises how they are going to get used to each other's company now that Nyssa is gone.

A post-Terminus Nyssa will eventually meet the Fourth Doctor again in the novel Asylum.

Director Mary Ridge in her only Doctor Who serial had previously directed on Blake's 7 including the similarly titled episode Terminal & the final episode Blake.

On a fun link note just half an hour before Terminus Part 4 started I finished watching the movie Mysterious Island (which I had to record on 7 since I went to a stage spoof called Dr New based on Doctor Who at my university campus) which featured Patrick Stewart. Stewart had recently starred in the mini-series The Eleventh Hour which was written by Terminus writer Steve Gallagher. The Eleventh Hour has been dubbed ITV's answer to Doctor Who although in a recent interview Stewart has denied this label saying that The Eleventh Hour is based on science and not science fiction.

Also this morning I finished watching The Girl In the Cafe which I recorded on the ABC on Sunday and in the closing credits Doctor Who Executive Producer Julie Gardner is credited as Executive Producer BBC Wales.

Darth Sidious · Joined: 27 Jun 2005 Posts: 105

Can someone tell me if there has really been many if any worse classic series stories than Terminus. Another victim of Saward's butchering of a decent author's scripts (and yes Steve Gallagher is a decent writer I've read some of his books) this story is simply dreadfully boring and frankly I prefer anything from seasons 22 - 24 (generally considered the worst seasons in Who history) then this turkey

Greg · Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 6:45 pm Post subject:

While I wouldn't question an assessment that said Terminus is quite some way down the list of story quality, I don't think 'the worst' is true. Off the top of my head, I'd nominate The Space Museum, The Space Pirates, The Time Monster, The Horns of Nimon, Timelash and Delta and the Bannermen (to pick a story from each of the other original Doctors) as being ones I'd be less inclined to watch.

It is, however, possible that Terminus is the worst Davison story. Four to Doomsday and Warriors of the Deep are also contenders.

rundoctoritsthegatherer · Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 11:52 pm Post subject:

I'd go along with worst Davison story, but not worst ever.

Space Museum Greg? I quite like that one. Web Planet far and away worst Hartnell IMHO.

SharazJek · Joined: 12 Aug 2005 Posts: 898 Location: Hobart, Tasmania

Space Museum episode 1 was brilliant! It slid downhill after that.

But I'd rather watch Web Planet than Galaxy (Yawn) Four.

Greg · Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 7:20 am Post subject:

Someone else has commented that Enlightenment had a great first episode and teh rest were bad. The Space Museum is probably the story that best fits the 'episode 1 is great, all the rest are crap' mould. And in The Space Museum 'ther rest are crap' means that the rest are really crap. I'd be hard pressed to come up with any good points in those 3 episodes - and I'm not at all inclined to watch it again to find 'em.