I don’t think the Skarasen is even that bad. It’s better than the dinosaurs in Invasion of the Dinosaurs. I wonder how close we came to it being a puppet or a man in suit in front of a blue screen?
Yeah, I agree. The early series' didn't need to take itself as seriously. It was ok to laugh at some of the crappy effects. They didn't detract from what was going on in the stories. I watched The Time Warrior on DVD a while back and noticed you had an option of watching it with 'updated' effects. I didn't bother with any of that and enjoyed the story as it was originally broadcast.
Growing up in the McCoy era, Terror of the Zygons was the first VHS of earlier Doctors I ever watched and yes, I fell in love. It was the short lived time they edited out the episode endings and beginnings to essentially make a movie.
Here in America, we first got the episodes (edited for time with Howard DaSilva narrated intros & coming attractions at the end), then movie versions, then UNCUT episodes, but only up to about halfway thru Peter Davison's era. The rest (at least in my area) were all movie versions. Some of the edits where the cliffhangers had been were done so bad, I could never be sure-- were they dont by the BBC, the distributor Lionheart, or the local Philadelphia PBS station, Channel 12 ?
I do think Day of the Daleks is one of the better "improved" versions. I wouldn't mind Invasion of the Dinosaurs getting some treatment too. The Skarsen doesn't detract from the brilliance of this story so can be left if necessary. Douglas Camfields penultimate story which wasn't mentioned- the best classic Who director (Graeme Harper a close second who funnily enough worked under Cam in the early years).
This was definitely one of my top favorite early Tom Baker stories. I'd gotten to like Baker almost instantly from his 1st episode. Sarah-Jane (England's answer to Lois Lane) took a bit longer, as I didn't see her first season until 4 or 5 years after-the-fact. But this had The Brigadier and UNIT in it, and HE had been my favorite regular on the show for quite a few years before I saw this. His disappearing after this left me rather frustrated. Although I like "gothic horror", I think it was a huge mistake to do virtually 4 solid seasons of nothing but "gothic horror". This one was a bit more light-hearted than some others. John Woodnutt was also quite a "character". Every time I see him on some other show, I remember him from this one. Something I noticed a few years back... the Jon Pertwee era was oddly similar to my favorite show from the 70s, McCLOUD. Both had a hero who played by his own rules and didn't follow orders, frustrated at being stuck in a locale against his choice. He was teamed with a no-nonsense authority figure, a likeable Sergeant, and a classy lady he hit it off with. Later, he sometimes worked with a ditzy blonde. Both series tended to do around 6 long stories per year. Checking recently, Pertwee's & Dennis Weaver's characters debuted on TV a COUPLE WEEKS apart. Spooky, hmm? The Doctor / Deputy Marshal Sam McCloud (Dennis Weaver) The Brigadier / Chief of Detectives Peter B. Clifford (J.D. Cannon) Sgt. Benton / Sgt. Joe Broadhurst (Terry Carter) Elizabeth Shaw / Chris Caughlin (Diana Muldaur) Jo Grant / Sgt. Phyllis Norton (Teri Garr)
Def agree about titting about with originals. I only have “Dalek Invasion of Earth” on dvd, so will never again see the van in the background of Trafalgar Square. It’s been painted out. Gone.
you got that right about the daleks reboot. could not watch it the music did it no favours.got twenty mins in and had to turn it off. horrible in a bad way
