tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5386390949828958591.post1950253025313278722..comments2024-03-14T05:07:57.110-07:00Comments on Doc Oho Reviews...: The Masque of Mandragora written by Louis Marks and directed by Rodney BennettDoc Ohohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01819922630249965949noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5386390949828958591.post-40852453029543865052020-12-21T23:41:06.979-08:002020-12-21T23:41:06.979-08:00Watching all in order. How polished is Doctor Who ...Watching all in order. How polished is Doctor Who now compared to Robot and Revenge of the Cybermen. This is so classy. The setting so believable. End of part 3 of one of the shows best, great Simpson music. He had a clear run through to 1980 from here. Love the new TARDIS room, the titles, the Hinchcliffe stamp is well and truly there. It builds up massively in part 3 and yet part 4 is just a little bit flat. Then it leaves the end very rushed with almost no explanation or reflection. He did say what he was going to do, but why did the Helix go away? There was a little too much for the viewer to guess, a poor ending for this era. This fits into the middle group with Sontaran Experiment. Not a classic classic but certainly better than much of the previous Doctors. Decent acting, great Hieronymous mask. Sarah is by far the best companion to date, she was born to play her, so much better than any other. Decent start to s14.Linx D Oderanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06587578831858117637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5386390949828958591.post-79327389230919790552018-01-15T17:41:33.917-08:002018-01-15T17:41:33.917-08:00The performances were great, the location work was...The performances were great, the location work was terrific, and the costumes were lovely, but the threat seemed nebulous, the villains one-dimensional, and the resolution exceedingly flat. The former almost makes up for the latter, but not quite. It's also really odd, in my opinion, to see the Doctor so gleefully hamming it up right after the Masque massacre. <br /><br />I'd probably still give it an 8, though. David Pirtlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00636601389899125100noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5386390949828958591.post-27296389600683016262015-08-15T04:15:38.226-07:002015-08-15T04:15:38.226-07:00On the one hand I absolutely agree with your comm...On the one hand I absolutely agree with your comments on the Doctor and Sarah here. I've said before number four isn't a favourite doctor of mine, however it's seeing antics like this that makes me understand why he's had the popularity he has, his "What, I, Want! is a salami sandwich!" at the end was a hilarious one liner to a villain defeat, and the moment he popped out a rattle to avoid execution I literally laughed out loud. <br /><br />My problem is an odd one. I honestly felt there was too much. The noble young duek has an evil uncle who wants the throne because he is eeeeevil! and he is being advised by an evil magician who is also eeeevil! and said magician is the head of an evil cult that guess what, is also eeeeeevil! <br /><br />I usually find with stories like Androids of Tara and even the Three Doctors I can love the ranting villains and genuinely be happy at seeing them get their just deserts at the hands of the Doctor's clever tricks, however there was something in the plot of Masque and the execution that just felt a little too far. <br />Maybe it was the amount of speeches, maybe it was seeing Sarah for all her great chemistry with the doctor reduced to be the most damselly damsel imaginable, (was this really the same Sarah who snuck aboard the Tardis in Time Warrior and faced down Irongron?). <br />Maybe it was just that even though I was seeing it for the first time, this story really felt like I'd seen it many times before. <br /><br />Were the performances good? yes. was it a fascinating location? Also yes. however this one just didn't particularly surprise or tantalize me sinse the bad guys were just so bad their defeat was inevitable, heck I could've guessed Frederico would've found his tame magician to be less tame than expected from the beginning.<br /><br />It's odd, even though part of this was supposed to be 15th century Italy, I sort of eel this story could've played out nearly anywhere in time and space, so the historical end really didn't hold up, indeed from seeing the slaughter of peasants at the beginning this shaped up to quite a different story to what I was expecting.<br /><br />I would say maybe it's just me having a Doctor Who overdose (if such is possible), accept that my dad and I also watched deadly assassin, which I also completely enjoyed, so goodness knows. <br />darkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15526681809763999806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5386390949828958591.post-74929059691359382072013-09-11T13:49:27.483-07:002013-09-11T13:49:27.483-07:00Hi there (you didn't leave a name so I can'...Hi there (you didn't leave a name so I can't address you in person), <br /><br />Many thanks for your lovely words. I have been asked by several people lately to finish off the book blog with the early NAs/EDAs and to get on wthe MAs and finish off the NSAs. I haven't reviewed in books for a while now and I think I might be a little out of the habit but now the winter is approaching I think it might time to dust some of those old paperbacks down and crack on with it. I have already written the early EDA/NA reviews, they were done years ago and need polishing up because I am not happy with them as they stand. Thanks for the prompt, I promise they will be done sooner or later (hopefully sooner). <br /><br />Joey xDoc Ohohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01819922630249965949noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5386390949828958591.post-55815337408670960742013-09-10T08:51:38.890-07:002013-09-10T08:51:38.890-07:00Hello Joe
as always, your reviews are spot on!
So...Hello Joe<br />as always, your reviews are spot on!<br /><br />Sorry for the off-topic, but I have recently been reading your reviews of the BBC books, specially the EDAs in pagefillers.com (yep, I don't have better things to do than go through 8 or 10 years ago reviews, sigh). I love the fact that yoiu defended the EDAs, Me too I'm fan of them, more than the NAs. I would love to see your remaining critics to the first half of the EDAS on your blog<br /><br />keep the good workAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com