Doctor Who #46: The Invasion

Title: Doctor Who: “The Invasion“
Year: 1968
Network: BBC
Creators: Sydney Newman, C.E. Webber, Donald Wilson
Director: Douglas Camfield
Writer: Derrick Sherwin, story by Kit Pedler
Starring: Patrick Troughton, Frazer Hines, Wendy Padbury, Nicholas Courtney
Music: Ron Grainer (theme), Don Harper
Episodes: 8, at 25 minutes; the 3rd story (of 7) from season 6
Synopsis: the Cybermen are preparing to invade Earth
How I saw it: on video a couple times (rented from Netflix), most recently a few months ago
Subjective Rating: 8/10
Objective Rating: 9/10 (1 point off for special effects/design)

Iconic. One of the best classic Doctor Who stories. Great directing, decent writing, excellent use of location filming, and girls climbing ladders in miniskirts. Even though it’s 8 episodes long, when 4 episodes of most stories seem like too much, it never stalls or hits any slow points. Two episodes have been lost, with only the soundtracks remaining; they’ve animated those soundtracks, and the results are quite good. I think it’s the first time that this particular alien invasion formula (later to become a staple) was used on the show.

Doctor Who #45: The Mind Robber

Title: Doctor Who: “The Mind Robber“
Year: 1968
Network: BBC
Creators: Sydney Newman, C.E. Webber, Donald Wilson
Director: David Maloney
Writer: Derrick Sherwin, Peter Ling
Starring: Patrick Troughton, Frazer Hines, Wendy Padbury
Music: Ron Grainer (theme)
Episodes: 5, at 25 minutes; the 2nd story (of 7) from season 6
Synopsis: the 2nd Doctor and his companions are trapped in a world of fiction
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), most recently a few months ago
Subjective Rating: 7/10
Objective Rating: 7/10 (points off for story, cinematography and special effects/design)

It’s the sort of story that’s very obviously made for kids, and it’s not very well executed. But it’s also a fun and imaginative idea. Includes devices such as the Tardis falling to pieces, the Doctor needing to reassemble his companion’s face (resulting in a change of casting when he messes up), and Gulliver from Gulliver’s Travels speaking only in lines from the book. Gets a bonus point for Zoe’s bum.

The French Chef: Volume One

Title: The French Chef: Volume One
Year: 1963-1973
Network: PBS
Starring: Julia Child
Episodes: 18 (selected from throughout the show’s run), at 28 minutes
Synopsis: Child teaches us how to cook for 1960’s/70’s dinner parties
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), over the past few weeks
Subjective Rating: 6/10
Objective Rating: 6/10 (points off for story (n/a), cinematography, special effects/design and acting (n/a))

My wife got a kick out of these, but I don’t really see the fun in cooking shows. And apparently traditional French cooking makes me nauseous (“If you don’t leave the [fish] heads on, you won’t be able to tell what it is!”). Child is charismatic, though (much to my surprise). And the show’s never boring.

Rosemary’s Baby

Title: Rosemary’s Baby
Year: 1968
Director: Roman Polanski
Writer: Roman Polanski, based on the novel by Ira Levin
Starring: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer, Maurice Evans, Ralph Bellamy
Music: Krzysztof Komeda
Distinctions: Oscar for best supporting actress (Gordon); currently #215 on IMDb’s Top 250
Synopsis: a woman believes a Satanic conspiracy is after her unborn baby
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), August 2008
Subjective Rating: 7/10
Objective Rating: 8/10 (points off for cinematography and special effects/design)

Extremely effective. Suspense is constantly building. The ending is a bit of a let down, although I can’t think of any way to improve it.

Planet of the Apes

Title: Planet of the Apes
Year: 1968
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner
Writers: Michael Wilson & Rod Serling, based on the novel by Pierre Boulle
Starring: Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, Linda Harrison
Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Distinctions: currently #246 in IMDb’s Top 250
Synopsis: damn dirty apes
How I saw it: on video, a lot (used to have on VHS), most recently July 2008
Subjective Rating: 8/10 9/10
Objective Rating: 9/10 (1 point off for special effects/design)

I love this stuff. It’s the quintessential science fiction film of an era (for all the right reasons), and a damn good movie besides that. As for the special effects/design point – I don’t care how groundbreaking the make up and costumes were at the time; they look like rubber masks to me.  There really isn’t any way to make a live action movie about talking animals look convincing, even today.  And besides having production values only slightly better than Star Trek, I do not understand why the Ape city is modeled after Bedrock.