Doctor Who: Twenty-Sixth Series Summary The classic series finishes strong. I have really loved watching the adventures of the Seventh Doctor and Ace, especially since this season seemed to be (Battlefield aside) about the companion and her development, as well as tying off the loose ends from the last
Doctor Who: Survival (3 episodes, s26e12-e14, 1989) As the classic era sails into the sunset, Ace comes home. We open on a modern suburban street as a man washing his car is terrorized by an animatronic cat. The Doctor and Ace arrive shortly afterward and wander the streets of
Doctor Who: The Curse of Fenric (4 episodes, s26e08-e11, 1989) Barkeep, a round of your deepest franchise mythology, if you please. Two inflatable dinghies are rowed to shore by a detachment of soldiers. By their uniforms, they look like Soviet soldiers. Between them and the talk of Germans, we
Doctor Who: Ghost Light (3 episodes, s26e05-e07, 1989) Welcome to Gabriel Chase. In the depths of a gothic manor’s basement, a mysterious figure in a solid cage is fed dinner and the Times. The Reverend Ernest Matthews arrives, as does the TARDIS. Ace emerges from the bad parking job
Doctor Who: Battlefield (4 episodes, s26e01-e04, 1989) The final classic season begins with an old trope and an old friend. We begin with retired Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart shopping for trees with his wife, reminiscing on his days with UNIT. Elsewhere, a familiar-looking sword glows with unearthly light as Brigadier Winifred
Doctor Who: Twenty-Fifth Series Summary A stunning jump as we race toward the classic finish. The Seventh Doctor’s second outing was a major step up, which was an important move for the show’s silver anniversary. It has also made me really love Sylvester McCoy’s wit and humor. Remembrance of the
Doctor Who: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy (4 episodes, s25e11-e14, 1988-1989) It’s an awfully meta moment in the late 1980s: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy gets rhythm, and we “ain’t seen nothing yet.” On the TARDIS, the Doctor is trying to learn how to juggle while Ace
Doctor Who: Silver Nemesis (3 episodes, s25e08-e10, 1988) We open in South America, 22 November 1988, on a scene of Nazis trying to kill parrots with arrows. A similar scene plays out in 1638 Windsor, England – though without the Nazis, naturally – as a woman tries to kill
Doctor Who: The Happiness Patrol (3 episodes, s25e05-e07, 1988) “Happiness is nothing unless it exists side by side with sadness.” A woman walks down a melancholy corridor and is approached by a man who offers to help with her suffering. He invites her to a secret place where people
Doctor Who: Remembrance of the Daleks (4 episodes, s25e01-e04, 1988) Returning to where it all began. The opening teaser reveals a large and foreboding spacecraft approaches Earth. Meanwhile, on the planet’s surface, students arrive for classes at Coal Hill School while the Doctor and Ace discuss the anachronisms in
Doctor Who: Twenty-Fourth Series Summary The numbers say average but the emotion says confidence. The Seventh Doctor’s opening frame was on par with the Sixth Doctor’s closing set. On the five-point scale, it was square in the middle and tied for second-to-last with the Trail of a Time Lord. But there’s some added
Doctor Who: Dragonfire (3 episodes, s24e12-e14, 1987) Iceworld: A vacation spot where cliffhangers are literal but dragons are not. We get our introduction to this planetary freezer section through fog machines, plastic icicles, and frost burns. A group of conscripted men is being processed as foot soldiers for the
