(no subject)
Dec. 20th, 2009 01:29 amInspired by
lost_spook's posts about rewatching the Doctor Who episodes featuring Leela, I've been trailing along behind watching those of the relevant episodes that are available through Quickflix.
Today I reached "The Invasion of Time", Leela's final serial. (Actually, Quickflix sent me disc 1 months ago, but then I had to wait and wait for disc 2. And then it turned out that I needn't have bothered, because disc 2 is only extras, and all the actual episodes are on disc 1. Bah.)
It's popular to talk about "The Invasion of Time"'s flaws, but considering the time and budget pressure it was created under, I'm willing to settle for being glad it wasn't worse. And, honestly, it does have a number of straight-up virtues. John Arnatt's portrayal of Chancellor Borusa is definitive (no small thing considering how many actors have taken a shot at the role). Milton Johns as Castellan Kelner is also good value.
There used to be a rumour that there was a Sontaran wandering around somewhere in the TARDIS after this story, because three Sontarans go into the TARDIS to capture the Doctor and we only learn the fates of two. I paid close attention to that bit, though, and it just isn't true: only two Sontarans go into the TARDIS, and both are accounted for. This is sad news for anyone who's ever written fan fic about what happened to that third Sontaran, but on the other hand it's good to know that even under pressure the BBC's continuity people weren't incapable of counting up to three.
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
Today I reached "The Invasion of Time", Leela's final serial. (Actually, Quickflix sent me disc 1 months ago, but then I had to wait and wait for disc 2. And then it turned out that I needn't have bothered, because disc 2 is only extras, and all the actual episodes are on disc 1. Bah.)
It's popular to talk about "The Invasion of Time"'s flaws, but considering the time and budget pressure it was created under, I'm willing to settle for being glad it wasn't worse. And, honestly, it does have a number of straight-up virtues. John Arnatt's portrayal of Chancellor Borusa is definitive (no small thing considering how many actors have taken a shot at the role). Milton Johns as Castellan Kelner is also good value.
There used to be a rumour that there was a Sontaran wandering around somewhere in the TARDIS after this story, because three Sontarans go into the TARDIS to capture the Doctor and we only learn the fates of two. I paid close attention to that bit, though, and it just isn't true: only two Sontarans go into the TARDIS, and both are accounted for. This is sad news for anyone who's ever written fan fic about what happened to that third Sontaran, but on the other hand it's good to know that even under pressure the BBC's continuity people weren't incapable of counting up to three.