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Elizabeth Sandifer

Elizabeth Sandifer created Eruditorum Press. She’s not really sure why she did that, and she apologizes for the inconvenience. She currently writes Last War in Albion, a history of the magical war between Alan Moore and Grant Morrison. She used to write TARDIS Eruditorum, a history of Britain told through the lens of a ropey sci-fi series. She also wrote Neoreaction a Basilisk, writes comics these days, and has ADHD so will probably just randomly write some other shit sooner or later. Support Elizabeth on Patreon.

15 Comments

  1. talestoenrage
    July 8, 2011 @ 7:43 am

    I'm glad I waited to read the full entry before commenting, because now I can see why you wanted to cover this before "Spearhead from Space." But I have to admit, my first thought was "God, he's just throwing things in there to avoid getting to Pertwee, isn't he? What next, an examination of Doctor Who versus Star Wars?"

    Reply

  2. The Lord of Ábrocen Landmearca
    July 8, 2011 @ 8:30 am

    I've got Do not Adjust Your Set sitting over on my DVD shelf, I really ought to finish watching it. It's very funny – although there's one unwatchable musical number where the house band does it all in blackface. The only performer who ever made blackface come off as not racist was Al Jolson, and the house band, while good, is NO Al Jolson.

    The science fiction sketch was one of my favorites as a kid, long before I'd ever heard of Doctor Who.

    Reply

  3. danrachelcleasby
    July 8, 2011 @ 9:48 am

    At least you talked about the Carry On films before they hit the seventies, when they were full of camp, double entendres and nudity.

    Hopefully Benny Hill never gets mentioned in this blog. 🙂

    Infamy, infamy, they`ve all got it in for me!

    Reply

  4. The Lord of Ábrocen Landmearca
    July 8, 2011 @ 11:13 am

    Speaking of Benny Hill, my friend and i just watched the The Web Planet for Canada Day, and every so often we'd back up and play the Benny Hill theme song (Yakkity Sax)- the man himself isn't funny, but zany Zarbi battle scenes become significantly enhanced by that song.

    Reply

  5. elvwood
    July 8, 2011 @ 1:58 pm

    Hey, you missed one Doctor Who luminary in Carry On Screaming – Ice Warrior Bernard Bresslaw as Socket! It's the only Carry On film I've watched in the last thirty years, though I'd like to see Carry On Sergeant again (starring you-know-who).

    Hm, can't think of a good way to end this post. Oh, yes: What are we going to do now? What are we going to do now? What are we going to do now?

    Reply

  6. Bill Reed
    July 10, 2011 @ 12:24 pm

    Hmm. The Pertwee era is easily my favorite of the classic series (though I haven't seen/heard every episode of every Doctor), and I sense many disagreements coming up. For instance, I think the Pertwee era is totally aware of its camp, which is why it has stories like The Time Monster. But I look forward to reading your take on the material.

    Reply

  7. landru
    July 12, 2011 @ 6:44 am

    Scotsman never win Wimbledon … I told a friend about the "science fiction sketch" during Wimbledon (ie, Andy Murray).

    Pertwee was my hardest challenge to watch, frankly. Well … McCoy is still, but my resistance to Pertwee I overcame.

    Reply

  8. landru
    July 13, 2011 @ 8:10 am

    You got a nice secret army base 'ere, Colonel Stewart. Be a shame if anything was to happen to it.

    Reply

  9. tantalus1970
    January 23, 2012 @ 6:20 am

    I don't know if you're aware of this, but in that Spike Milligan Dalek sketch, the Dalek is a Pakistani Dalek; hence all the 'put him in the curry' jokes.

    Reply

  10. Elizabeth Sandifer
    January 23, 2012 @ 6:22 am

    I am aware, and were I covering the sketch in any detail I'd comment on it more substantively.

    Reply

  11. Gerald Groy
    May 29, 2013 @ 10:47 am

    Carry On and Milligan being the two strains in postwar British comedy? Jesus. Spoken like somebody who hasn't watched much British comedy. Scratch out Carry On and stick GALTON & SIMPSON in there in huge letters, take 2 doses of Hancock and call me in the morning.

    Reply

  12. Josef
    January 1, 2015 @ 9:37 pm

    Or is the joke that the package tour of Spain has the same rote conformity of … qinstantcamera.blogspot.com

    Reply

  13. Paul A.
    August 7, 2015 @ 3:59 am

    A footnote to the Carry On movies: when Jeremy Bentham accused The Gunfighters of having a script that was "pure Talbot Rothwell", he was referring the writer of the Carry On movies.

    (The Carry On series, incidentally, did their own take on the Western the year before Doctor Who did. Like Carry On Screaming, Carry On Cowboy had appearances by Jon Pertwee, Peter Butterworth, and Bernard Bresslaw – and, for the obsessives among us, a starring role for Angela Douglas, who appeared in Doctor Who in 1989 as a character whose origins lie in a joke in the last story of the Pertwee era.)

    Reply

  14. Eve Schmitt
    October 7, 2015 @ 10:19 pm

    And then in “Argument Clinic”, Monty Python attacks its own structure. The result is that, when it attempts to end the sketch, it can’t — the arrest of the characters for ending the sketch via policeman leads to an infinite regress.

    Reply

  15. ladysugarquill
    July 19, 2017 @ 4:57 pm

    I am a 20-something, Nu!Who starting, non-right-wing woman and I absolutley adore the Pertwee era. I adore spy movies, I adore kickass unironic two-fisted tales. I adore UNIT and military Doctor Who in general, from The War Machines to Dark Water.

    And I ADORE Three. (It took a couple of serials, tho). I love his face, his voice, the way he’s so bitter and hurt and then turns into a puppy when Jo is kind to him. He, alongside Eight and Ten, is my Doctor.

    And I adore Jo, and Liz, and Sarah Jane, and the whole UNIT family (Mike Yates had the BEST arc of any Classic companion and I will fight anyone about this), and most of all I LOVE the Brig. He is my favourite companion and one of my favourite fictional characters, period.

    So this will be fun.

    Reply

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