The old Dr Who:
“Colin Baker’s Doctor is a vain and self-absorbed bully, although he does manage to wrest some charm from the character. His assistant Peri is written as a squawking American, forced by an apparently xenophobic wardrobe department into a range of candy-coloured, cleavage-enhancing T-shirts, vast bermuda shorts and high heels, but she too grows on you.”
The new Dr Who discussed here.
On Tuesday’s 6 o clock news they had an article about Christmas toys and the way they were selling out, especially the last Doctor Who Toy was leaving the shelf right behind the reporter at that exact moment! Funny though, because when I went Christmas shopping yesterday they were falling off the shelves there were so many left!
The Sixth Doctor’s first season was frankly a disaster – maybe the worst ever intro of any Doctor. But things did pick up in his second season ‘Trial of a Time Lord’ in which we once again see why it is a mistake for the Doctor to go home, (makes you wonder why he’s so upset about the destruction of Gallifrey). For one thing we get rid of Peri – though Mel isn’t much of an improvement!
The Beeb got a real Australian to play the Aussie companion, next time let’s hope they get a real American to play the American! What kind of accent was that supposed to be anyway??
Peri grew on me in her very first scene 🙂
What kind of accent was that supposed to be anyway??
That’s what I thought in her first scene. She sounded like she had a head cold. I seem to remember they were wandering around some barren landscape, and the Doctor said, “Hello! What’s this?” And Peri replied, “It’s a piece of gloss.”
Gloss? Glass, the poor thing was trying to say.
As a fan of the Pertwee/Baker eras of Dr Who, it is worth pointing out that this is certainly not the first time that Dr Who has been used as a vehicle for political/social commentary. (Although whether this was a case of the BBC top-brass leaning on the production team, or merely the whim of the writer in question, I have no idea).
“The Silurians” (and its sequel “The Sea Devils”): The Doctor is angry at the military decision to wipe out the bad guys, even after the latter prove willing to negotiate peacefully.
“The Claws of Axos” contains a very telling pro-multiculturalist outburst from Pertwee, at one point in the script. (To be fair, it might also be construed as simply anti-racist, which is fair enough – however I’ve always questioned whether the line was appropriate for a children’s programme ).
“The Mutants” hints at the evils of colonialism.
“The Curse of Peladon” could be seen as a pro-EU (and possibly anti-monarchy) allegory?
“The Green Death” – Big corporations are evil, and must be fought by pro-environmentalist hippies.
“Planet of the Spiders” – the wonders of Buddhism, and how nasty Westeners abuse it for their own materialist ends.
Food for thought.
“Peri grew on me in her very first scene.”
I’ll bet she did. Wearing a bikini wasn’t she?
Personally I’ve always remembered a line she uttered while being held hostage by the Master: ‘He’s going to do a bunk.’
I’m sure the other transatlantic posters will support me when I say no American girl would use that particular phrase. I only know what it means because I read a lot of Agatha Christie!
Now if they’d had an American actress she could have given them pointers on American English.
“candy-coloured, cleavage-enhancing T-shirts”
Ah yes, great wasnt she chaps!
Having enough room to possess company stay the evening is a nice
thing, but keeping a complete spare bedroom handy for that cause might not
be a very practical idea. Make a note of what you need to buy.