Doctor Who #52, 62 & 131: Beneath the Surface

Title: Doctor Who: Beneath the Surface (”Doctor Who and the Silurians” / “The Sea Devils” / “Warriors of the Deep“)
Year: 1970 / 1972 / 1984
Network: BBC
Creators: Sydney Newman, C.E. Webber, Donald Wilson
Directors: Timothy Combe / Michael E. Briant / Pennant Roberts
Writers: Malcolm Hulke / Malcolm Hulke / Johnny Byrne
Starring: Jon Pertwee, Caroline John, Nicholas Courtney / Jon Pertwee, Katy Manning / Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Mark Strickson
Music: Ron Grainer (theme); Carey Blyton / Malcolm Clarke / Jonathan Gibbs
Episodes: 17, at 25 minutes; 1 story of 7 episodes (the 2nd of 4 stories from season 7), 1 story of 6 episodes (the 3rd of 5 stories from season 9), and 1 story of 4 episodes (the 1st of 6 stories from season 21)
Synopsis: creatures who inhabited Earth before humans want their planet back
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), June 2008
Subjective Rating: 6/10
Objective Rating: 4/10 (gets points for concept, pacing, acting and subjective rating)

The 80’s story strongly pulls down the average of the three. “The Silurians” isn’t a great episode, but it’s good. Surprisingly fast-paced for seven episodes. The music is particularly horrible; the DVD includes an entire documentary about how horrible the music is. “The Sea Devils” is nothing special, but it’s got some good solid Doctoring. It’s basically the same story as “The Silurians,” with a subplot around The Master (who has some great cornball lines) added. “Warriors of the Deep” is completely terrible. Possibly the worst special effects of the entire series. And awful writing; I am shocked at the quality of writing the BBC was willing to film and broadcast in the 80’s.

Doctor Who #51: Spearhead from Space

Title: Doctor Who: “Spearhead from Space“
Year: 1970
Network: BBC
Creators: Sydney Newman, C.E. Webber, Donald Wilson
Director: Derek Martinus
Writer: Robert Holmes
Starring: Jon Pertwee, Caroline John, Nicholas Courtney
Music: Ron Grainer (theme), Dudley Simpson
Episodes: 4, at 25 minutes; the 1st story (of 4) from season 7
Synopsis: aliens plan to invade earth with the help of a plastics company
How I saw it: on video a couple times (rented from Netflix), most recently a few months ago
Subjective Rating: 8/10
Objective Rating: 8/10 (points off for cinematography and special effects/design)

If you want to get started watching Doctor Who, I’d say after the new series, this episode is the best place to jump in. There was some major retooling done for the seventh season, and this is like the start of a new show, with a new Doctor introduced gradually from the perspective of the other characters. It’s also probably the highest quality of all the classic stories, with writing, acting and production values on par with (low budget) feature films of the time. The plot is almost identical to “The Invasion,” but it’s a good plot to steal, so I don’t mind.

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.

Patton

Title: Patton
Year: 1970
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner
Writer: Francis Ford Coppola & Edmund H. North, based on books by Ladislas Farago and Omar N. Bradley
Starring: George C. Scott, Karl Malden
Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Distinctions: Oscars for best picture, director, screenplay (non-original), actor (Scott), art direction/set decoration, editing and sound; currently #224 on IMDb’s Top 250
Synopsis: I like Netflix’s blurb: “a character study masquerading as a World War II film.”
Length: 170 minutes
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), October 2008
Subjective Rating: 6/10
Objective Rating: 9/10 (1 point off for music)

Everything I can think to judge about it (except for the music, which is terrible and obnoxious) seems good, but for whatever reason I just never got into it. I do have trouble taking George C. Scott seriously in a role so similar to his Doctor Strangelove character, but if anything that should make the movie more entertaining.

Monty Python’s Flying Circus

Title: Monty Python’s Flying Circus
Year: 1969-1970, 1972-1974
Creators: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin
Director: Ian MacNaughton
Writers: Chapman, Cleese, Gilliam, Idle, Jones, Palin
Starring: Chapman, Cleese, Gilliam, Idle, Jones, Palin
Synopsis: absurd sketch comedy
Episodes: 45; three series of 13, one of 6
Network: BBC
How I saw it: most recently, on PBS, 2006 (with missed episodes rented from Netflix); also various episodes on video or online a number of times
Subjective Rating: 9/10
Objective Rating: 6/10 (points off for story, cinematography, special effects/design and music)

The third series probably only gets a 7 or 6 out of 10, and a 5 or 4 for the terrible fourth series. But the first two series are good enough to pull the average up higher than should be mathematically possible.