Viewing posts tagged reign of terror
Posted by:
Jack Graham
7 years, 9 months ago
You can probably already guess where this one is going, Constant Reader.
Oh look, there's a guillotine on the cover. It's a story about the French Revolution. Hence, a guillotine. I mean,
of course.The blurb on the back informs me that the French Revolution was "a time of great upheaval, bloodshed and terror". Technically true, of course... if slanted. The inside blurb informs me that the Revolution was "bloodthirsty". Inside the box, we have clearly abandoned all pretence of objectivity. Which is just as well, because any pretence of objectivity would be utterly hypocritical when talking about the
Doctor Who story called 'The Reign of Terror'.
Okay, onto the programme itself. As noted, the story is called 'The Reign of Terror'. Just to hammer the point home, the first episde is called 'A Land of Fear'. Because everyone in France was afraid.
There's some rather charming interaction between the regulars at the start. The Doctor is in a huff and, convinced that he has finally brought Ian and Barbara home, attempts to haul them unceremoniously off his ship. They manage to charm him ...
Posted by:
Jack Graham
10 years, 3 months ago
Gallibase has relaunched 'Timelash' as a story-per-day affair. Along with others, I've managed a review (ranging from a terse comment to a bloated essay) for every story. It goes without saying, I don't have a girlfriend.
Anyway. Today, we got to 'The Tenth Planet' and so I thought I might post my comments here - or the more interesting ones anyway (everything being relative) - and make it a regular thing every time we finish with a Doctor. Basically, I'm very bored.
As you will see, my view of the Hartnell era is much influenced by the work of V. Gordon Childe, Walter Benjamin, historical materialism in general, the wobbly 'permanent arms economy' theory, William Morris, Shakespeare, Marlowe, Edward Said and lots of thinly veiled class hatred. There's also some stuff in here that might remind you of the
About Time books... but, with all due respect to Miles and Wood, I'd already thought of it all before I read them. When I mention something that I got from them, I acknowledge it.
'An Unearthly Child'It's been said before but its true: the first episode is amazing, the other three are disappointing... but only by ...
