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An Entity of Type : dbkwik:resource/KcNVnWOfCI-Oo7mEf-Ol4g==, within Data Space : 134.155.108.49:8890 associated with source dataset(s)

It’s 1985, a year that saw: * the British Telecom announce the phase-out its famous red telephone boxes; Colin Baker announced his intention to continue wearing every color as well as red; * five lionesses at the Singapore Zoo put on birth control after their carnivorous population increased from 2 to 16, leading to some gruesome meals; * Australia's longest running soap opera Neighbours debut - one show actually more cringe-worthy than Doctor Who; * Coca-Cola release “New Coke” which was received about as well as the Sixth Doctor; * the founding of animation studio Studio Ghibli which entertains manchildren better than Doctor Who ever would, could, did or will; * The debut of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes which entertains manchildren better than Doctor Who ever

AttributesValues
rdf:type
rdfs:label
  • The Two Doctors
rdfs:comment
  • It’s 1985, a year that saw: * the British Telecom announce the phase-out its famous red telephone boxes; Colin Baker announced his intention to continue wearing every color as well as red; * five lionesses at the Singapore Zoo put on birth control after their carnivorous population increased from 2 to 16, leading to some gruesome meals; * Australia's longest running soap opera Neighbours debut - one show actually more cringe-worthy than Doctor Who; * Coca-Cola release “New Coke” which was received about as well as the Sixth Doctor; * the founding of animation studio Studio Ghibli which entertains manchildren better than Doctor Who ever would, could, did or will; * The debut of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes which entertains manchildren better than Doctor Who ever
sameAs
Season
  • 22(xsd:integer)
dcterms:subject
dbkwik:doctor-who-...iPageUsesTemplate
Number
  • 4(xsd:integer)
Previous
Airdate
  • --02-16
dbkwik:doctorwhoge...iPageUsesTemplate
imagewidth
  • 220(xsd:integer)
Title
  • The Two Doctors
NEXT
Writer
Director
  • Peter Moffatt
abstract
  • It’s 1985, a year that saw: * the British Telecom announce the phase-out its famous red telephone boxes; Colin Baker announced his intention to continue wearing every color as well as red; * five lionesses at the Singapore Zoo put on birth control after their carnivorous population increased from 2 to 16, leading to some gruesome meals; * Australia's longest running soap opera Neighbours debut - one show actually more cringe-worthy than Doctor Who; * Coca-Cola release “New Coke” which was received about as well as the Sixth Doctor; * the founding of animation studio Studio Ghibli which entertains manchildren better than Doctor Who ever would, could, did or will; * The debut of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes which entertains manchildren better than Doctor Who ever would, could, did or will; * The release of Back to the Future which entertains manchildren better than Doctor Who ever would, could, did or will; * The release of Disney’s The Black Cauldron, another perfect example of a sclerotic entertainment deserving of euthanasia much like Doctor Who did; * DNA first used in a criminal case, because you shouldn’t be going about augmenting an Androgum, it’s simply a dangerous idea; * the broadcast of Doctor Who’s The Two Doctors, between the 16th of February and the Second of March. If I had really wanted to watch some buffoonish BBC violence circa 1985, I could have just done an episode of The Young Ones (finished just a little over seven months previous to this story), but here I am. I’m sad we’ll never see a Rik Mayall Doctor, his annoying twerp of a character type would have been a relief following Fivie’s earnestly dull big brother/St. Bernard of a Doctor, but at least it’s not too late for an Adrian Edmondson Doctor; now that would be one destructive motherfucker of a Doctor, a real oncoming storm! Just please no more Alexei Sayle on Doctor Who, like, ever. Anyway: The Two Doctors was the fourth story of Season twenty-too-late of Doctor Snooze, featuring the first reappearance of some potato-headed creatures after their blissful absence. No, not the Sontarans (although this is true for them as well), I mean “The Second Doctor” played by Patrick Toughknott, and “Jamie McCrimson”, played by Frazer Heinz, both elbowing their way onto the programme one last fucking time after appearing just two seasons previously in The Five Doctors - Jesus Christ, will no one rid me of these troublesome creeps?! Death took Pat thankfully (after a prolonged struggle involving some bloody sneezing fits), but “the Fraze-Shifter” as he’s known to his sci-fi nerd friends yet haunts the programme, sometimes showing up uninvited on the set or at external shoots, staring wistfully at the throng of fans, none of whom even know who he is. Written by the ailing Doctor Who scribbler Robert (“Sherlock”) Holmes who died just about a year later due to BBC budget cuts, this story might be read as a sharp stick in the eye by a man who had come to despise what the programme had become. It’s also not afraid to ignore some solid blocks of continuity laid down lo those many seasons ago, but having written both Genesis of the Daleks and The Deadly Assassin, Holmes was already well-versed in pissing off obsessive fans while giving nought fucks about it. This gave rise to the "" theory amongst the more useless of fans: before Doctor 2 regenerated into 3, he had some extra “secret” adventures between The War Games and Spearhead from Space. This story is one of a very rare few that perhaps actually benefited from JNT’s lackadaisical method of production, allowing something approaching a personal opinion to slip by without undue ruination (Warrior's Gate, which JNT supposedly really disliked, is another), neatly slipping a shiv between the ribs of anyone with cuddly feelings for the show both past and present: Pat’s years were little more than a series of generic monsters besieging yet another cramped base, while the then-current 1985 version of the programme as run by JNT (this is just like time traveling!) had become, well, an empty shell of its former self. Or perhaps not. Much like how this wiki entry started, characters, villains and an entire alien race just sort of pop up along the way without any proper introduction, showcasing the profound lack of respect for storytelling endemic to the JNT era. My guess would be that Holmes did include such but they either got cut (the editor brought us The King’s Demons and this story only) or botched by the director (responsible for The Twin Dilemma, perhaps one of the worst Moffat stories ever not made by Steven Moffat). On the other hand, Holmes could sometimes rise higher than ever before with The Caves of Androzani (hm, Androzani, Androgum…) and then fall so much further with The Power Of Kroll, so who can say for sure exactly whose fault all this was, at least without doing some real research - not me! And to be fair, Doctor Who has always been like a drunken driver wildly slaloming down a narrow lane lined with parked cars, madly careening from one wreck to the next. Sure, its erratic journey may appear to be straightening out, but that’s only because the last crash is in the rear-view mirror while the car lurches towards its next impact. So maybe this story with its compulsorily-assigned Sontarans was Holmes’ chance to condemn both road accidents at once. Maybe he should have called it that, The Two Road Accidents. This story seems to ask you to hate the show as much as it does, which wasn’t a difficult prospect back in 1985 during season 22.
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