Mr Mockery

I have not long been up after an uneasy nights sleep. Imagine my joy to sit down and discover this thread. Almost as good as a cup of strong coffee.

What little I have seen of The Underwater Menace looks bonkers and had a direct influence on this comedy sketch for Doctor Who night on BBC 2 many moons ago.

Diamonds Are Forever has always struck me as a Rodger Moore Bond film that has Sean Connery in it. A lot of the things that become staples of the Moore era first put in an appearance here. The gadgets become slightly sillier, the chases start to have a comedy element to them (Connery even has to deal with a dumb American sheriff as a prelude to the legendary J.W. Pepper). M seems to have less respect for Bond and acts more like a despairing parent which carries on into the Moore films. Overall the tone is much lighter than the films that proceed it and set a lot of the trend for the films that would follow.

I remember the one spot of Buttons and Mindy where Buttons is trying to protect Mindy on a building site and you see Tom and Jerry and Popeye chasing babies on the same site. I remember that it really tickled me that they were suggesting that all the cartoons of babies surviving on building sites were happening in the same place.

I thought that Chicken Boo was hilarious because it was so very stupid. It was quite a surreal running gag for a kids show. I also enjoyed Mime Time which involved a mime demonstrating something lame like being trapped in an invisible box and then having something heavy dropped on him like a piano or a safe. This may just be because I don't like mimes very much.

Well I wasn't expecting you to have an epiphany and renounce it. I know a lot of people hold it in high regard, I'm just not one of them. I'll say this for it, it does have a very good theme and I love the Propellerheads version.

OK, why I don't like OHMSS. Well this is coming as someone who has only ever been exposed to the films rather than the books so while I appreciate that it is arguably the most faithful adaptation of Flemming's work as someone only familiar with the films it didn't sit right with me. Up to this point on screen Bond has been portrayed as a womanising killer. Someone who can kill in cold blood because that is his job and has a certain outlook on women because he spends much of his life close to the edge that he could be dead tomorrow. The man is a badass. Then OHMSS comes along and turns this badass into a love sick puppy who spends a fair chunk of the film going on horse rides and holding hands in the park. He then goes to Piz Gloria and acts like his usual womanising self which is not only stupid because it gives him away to Blofeld immediately (Even thought as you mentioned he should recognise Bond anyway) but isn't the behaviour of a man in love as he proclaims later to Tracy. I think Lazenby is both unconvincing and uncharismatic as Bond. I don't think he does nothing memorable with part. I think that Telly Savals is a bland Blofeld who plays him as a glorified thug and more like the people working under him in previous films than the scheming leader of SPECTRE in the past. I prefer Pleasence in the role as he is more sinister and someone you could believe is the evil mastermind behind SPECTRE. As much as I love Dinah Rigg I don't think she is used very well in the film. This was the actress who played the ultimate 60s emancipated woman as Emma Peel and it felt to me like a waste of that charisma and charm she has playing someone who, even though she gets to stand up for herself a bit, is ultimately in need of a man to sort her life out. Overall I think it took the franchise up a cald-de-sac as by the end there wasn't many places you could go with the next film. Diamonds Are Forever proved this I think as even though it begins with Bond out for revenge in order for the films to work he invariably has to revert to type and his reasons for hunting Blofeld are downplayed. There is only so far you can go with an angst ridden avenging Bond. I think the current films will run into the same problem eventually. Right, rant over hope that covers it. As for the Living Daylights there are parts of this film that feel a bit like they were written for Roger Moore and Dalton looks less than comfortable delivering them, such as the quips where he is downplaying what the Aston Martin can do. He puts in a strong performance as Bond which as time has told was very ahead of it's time but there are those moments that detract from what he is trying to do with the character and that is why he seems uncomfortable performing them. Oh and he TOTALLY has sex.

I think that part of the reason that Jack has left Torchwood at the end was to set up meeting the Doctor for the Tennant's swansong.

Right, I have finally finished listening to this. Great episode and on a side note in order to get caught up I have listened to the majority of the run in about a month. It has been a strange journey involving having my eardrums perforated by a certain Mr. A Fisher, the impotent rage generated by Sheriff J W Pepper, furiously debated shag and kill counts where I found that Adham was wrong in every important respect and trying to come to terms with the glowing review given to OHMSS which I can't stand. It's been a wild ride fellas and I thank you for it. Bring on Licence To Kill.

Of course Bond shagged the woman at the start Adham you are living in a fantasy world of your own imagining. I think Bond kills the Russian. Yes the explosive was already on fire but it was Bond who steered the truck off the cliff and that would have killed the Russian even without the explosion. I don't see any reason why both tanks wouldn't have been destroyed.

She thinks that Sophia Myles isn't very good, she doesn't like the whole reversal of the mind reading thing, she thought that the kings speech at the end was weak, I'm sure she will elaborate in more detail as she intends to sign up to the forums herself. She did like the clockwork robots and the horse though.

It is indeed as the whole show can be. My infinitely better half as much as I adore her hates The Girl In The Fireplace with the kind of fiery passion usually reserved for stuff like Warriors Of The Deep.

Have to say that I don't mind Love and Monsters either, It isn't the best story but it isn't the travesty a lot of people make it out to be.

Another great podcast. A couple of brief points, Ben and Polly's knowledge of the Daleks is explained when Ben says something like "The real Doctor was always going on about the Daleks." implying that the First Doctor had spoken of them to Ben and Polly. Also by the time the story begins the Dalek ship has been in the mercury swamp for hundreds of years. It's conceivable that, as such, the second Doctor had defeated them in the past and so they could recognise him. With regards to the round sign on the door of the new TARDIS this is the emblem of the St John's Ambulance which is a British first aid charity that provides first aiders for large events such as football matches and music festivals. It was on the TARDIS in the very first episode but was lost somewhere along the way. Presumably the sign would have been on police boxes as an indication that they contained first aid equipment. The whole look of the new TARDIS is very reminiscent of the design used in the Peter Cushing Dalek films. P.S. My girlfriend was thrilled to hear you read out my e-mail for which you have my thanks. EDIT: I see from the Doctor Who thread that you have already covered the St Johns ambulance so just pretend I haven't said anything.

Oh no, Definitely don't do that. I would be most upset if my fortnightly column about geek issues gets any kind of mention at all. As I'm sure you would be if I were to mention your column "Standing At The Edge" which can also be found on geekplanetonline.com. As such I won't be mentioning it. No siree bob.

Well seeing as Chris is pimping his stuff I'll take the opportunity to mention my own column on Geekplanet entitled I, Probert which can be found Here!

Wow, we have a thread here too? That's pretty sweet. You shameless self promoter Chris

I like a lot of the TV Movie despite it having a plot that makes almost no sense. However for some fans it was getting everything wrong. The main complaints seem to be that the Doctor kisses a girl, the chameleon circuit which disguises the TARDIS is referred to as a "Cloaking Device" and the eye of harmony is suddenly in the TARDIS when it had been established that it was on Galifrey. To me that's mostly nitpicking as I find for the most part it is a lot of fun but there are some Doctor Who fans who are scary in their foaming at the mouth crazy support of the show and the venom they will spit at anything they deem unworthy. I guess that's the internet for you.

I never said it made sense. I think it's just that some fans don't like the idea of the Doctor having had a family because that means he must have an interest in women and to their minds he shouldn't. Their was nearly anarchy in some areas of the fan community when the U.S. TV movie came out and the Doctor actually kisses a woman. It tends to be those fans who hate the more romantic aspects of the current series as well. There are some wacky people out there.

Well at the very least Susan has been to Galifrey. In The Five Doctors she recognises Rassilon's tomb and states that they are on Galifrey so she has the local knowledge. As to whether she is a timelord or not fan opinion seems to be divided on the subject. Much like it is on everything else.

Oh dear sweet lord, That banner's now loose on another forum? Remind me to kill the hell out of Matt. I have very fond memories of Batman Forever. The summer of 1995 was a very good year to be a 17 year old. The weather was good, I had a job that ended up giving me lots of free time to enjoy it and the Brit pop revolution was in full swing with the great Blur Vs Oasis feud. Batman Forever was THE movie to see that summer so whenever I watch it now it has very positive associations for me. Yes they get Two-Face completely wrong, Nicole Kidman is almost completely superfluous, the vehicles suck and everything glows in the dark but dammit it still makes me happy to watch it.

Nice podcast again. It's a pity that Hartnell's last few stories are so underwhelming. The idea of a Doctor's last story being an epic event didn't really kick in until Troughton's last story. Really looking forward to your thoughts on Power Of The Daleks. It is one of my favourite stories.

Well the ring is properly written out with a reason why it's not being worn anymore but I won't spoil the where and when for you.

Adric piloted the TARDIS for a short journey in The Visitation and in general was pretty familiar with how it all worked.

Just rewatched The Time Meddler yesterday and I noticed that the Monk is wearing a similar ring to the Doctor. I'm assuming this was a deliberate nod to them both coming form the same place.