My Whovian Adventure Part 8

I'm back!! After my vacation to Calgary, my return and attempt to get back in the swing of things, my birthday, and a trip to PEI this past weekend, I have been horribly neglectful of my blog. But I promise to get a few posts done over the next couple of days and get caught up as soon as I can. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed right now with all the posts I have to write, but I'll get them done. And then I can start on my new list!

Ok, so, after a rather disastrous turn with the Sixth Doctor, they came back strong with the Seventh. Played by Sylvester McCoy, the Seventh Doctor was quirky, funny, caring and smart. Not the know-it-all kind of smart displayed by the Sixth Doctor, but something that harkened back to the Fourth Doctor. Not too nice, but not overly snarky either. The story lines were a lot more interesting, the characters gelled well together, the technology was finally starting to catch up with the creatures so they looked less phoney....and then they cancelled the show. Assholes. After surviving for 26 years (except for a brief hiatus during the Sixth Doctor), the Doctor just couldn't find a place on TV. Sadly, because these were some of my favourite episodes.

 

The regeneration scene from the Sixth to the Seventh Doctor is...different. Apparently, Colin Baker (the Sixth Doctor) was upset about the fact that his Doctor was being phased out and refused to appear in the regeneration scene...so instead, they slapped a curly blond wig on Sylvester McCoy, had him lay on the floor of the TARDIS, shook it around a bit and put some squiggly lines over his face. And boom goes the dynamite, the Seventh Doctor arrives. He hangs onto Mel for a few more episodes (unfortunately), before getting a new one and then just disappearing for 7 years.

The Seventh Doctor only had two companions. One I kind of liked, one I kind of hated. Like, she was right up there with Adric on my list of most hated companions. 

Mel was there for the horrible regeneration and stuck around for a little bit. She's supposed to be some kind of scientific genius, so when a scientific crisis comes up on an alien planet she stays behind to help out. To be quite honest, most of the time she seems to be more concerned with fitness than science most of the time. I was glad to see her and her annoying voice go.

Ace joined the Doctor right before Mel left. She's a feisty teenager who actually plays well off the Doctor. Although she doesn't take any crap from anyone, she's respectful of the Doctor. Plus, she's an explosives expert, which is awesome. Ace actually gets a back story, which we learn about bit by bit, unlike a lot of companions who just show up (ahem, MEL), or just float through life with the Doctor and then are shuffled off in one way or another. At the end of the Seventh Doctor's run he returns  Ace to her home so she can deal with her past and move on with her future. And then he sets off alone. Ah, the lonely life of a Time Lord.



Here are the top 5 things about the Seventh Doctor;


1. Clothes; The Seventh Doctor is a much better dresser than his predecessor. Although he keeps the question marks all over his clothes (for some reason the producer felt it was a good idea, although the sliding ratings since his takeover should have overruled his costume choices), he gets a nice hat, jacket, trousers and a sweater vest, which go well with his ever present umbrella. Which comes in handy from time to time.

2. The Greatest Show in the Galaxy; So, the premise of this episode was that there were aliens who set up a circus for their own entertainment. They found people wandering the desert and forced them to perform in the ring. If they weren't entertaining enough, they were vaporized. Obviously, the only person to succeed was the Doctor, so he defeated the aliens. The cool part about this episode was the girl in this picture. She turned into quite a believable werewolf. Pretty good visuals.



3. The Candyman; This was another of my favourite episodes, 'The Happiness Patrol'. This guy you see in the picture here is the Candyman, a bad guy who is made of, apparently, licorice allsorts. And how, does the Doctor defeat him? By spraying him with lemonade so he sticks to the floor. Twice. Eventually he gets sucked into a tube and destroyed. But before that, he is candy-coated awesomeness.

Stigorax

Rahzar

 4. Stigorax; This is a Stigorax named Fifi, and her master Helen A, the Architect of Happiness in 'The Happiness Patrol'. I'm pretty sure it was just a puppet, but it looked cool, and it reminded me a lot of Rahzar from the Ninja Turtles.





 

5. Awesome Cameo; I have always loved cameos, and I have seen surprisingly few in my watching of 30 odd years of the Doctor. Maybe I'd see more if I watched more British TV (I've already noticed several in my viewing of the Tenth Doctor, but more on that later), but I definitely noticed this one. I even IMDBd it to make sure I was right. And I was. Behold! I give you....Geoffrey Butler from 'Fresh Prince' playing a bartender to the Seventh Doctor!!

And so that's the Seventh Doctor. Although the show was cancelled during his run, he is in my opinion one of the best Doctors. When they made the TV movie in the mid nineties in hopes of resurrecting the series, he was great enough to come back and reprise his role. He's definitely worth a watch!