It’s been awhile, but the marathon continued at 1:05 PM PST with The Sunmakers (episodic version.) One my all time favorite stories (well, I am the son of an accountant…) Man is now on Pluto, thanks to “the Company”, and their lives consist of working, paying taxes, and never knowing darkness. A sad future for mankind, except for the economists, but you can always rely on the human need for independence and the Doctor (of course.) 5/5
3:05 PM PST Underworld (episodic version.) Jason and the Argonauts in the world of CSO! The last of the Minyans have been searching the universe for the ship containing the race banks of their people, but the ship is the center of a planet where the descendants of the crew are slaves to the ship’s computer. This much maligned story is actually enjoyable, and is only brought down by the special (d)effects – the world of CSO! 3/5.
4:40 PM PST Invasion of Time (episodic version.) The 15th series of Doctor Who concludes with a return trip to Gallifrey, this time the Doctor is helping an alien force to invade – or is he… While there is obvious padding in this 6 parter, it is paced nicely into a 4 part segment with the Vardan invasion and a 2 part segment with the Sontarans. Provides a very silly departure for Leela, but I guess you can’t really control who you fall in love with… 4/5.
7:30 PM PST The Key to Time, part one – The Ribos Operation (episodic version.) This first installment of the Key to Time series sees the Doctor and his new companion Fred, um, Romana heading of to the planet Ribos. While there, they take in the usual touristy things like the relic room and the massive catacombs beneath the city. Oh, and they get mixed up in a scheme to sell a planet… 4/5.
9:30 PM PST The Key to Time, part two – The Pirate Planet (commercial episodic version.) Ford and Trillian land on the planet Callufrax… I mean the Doctor and Romana try to land on the planet Callufrax, but end up an Xanax – a planet the jumps around the universe crushing smaller planets and stripping them of their mineral wealth (this is, of course, impossible.) This is Douglas Adams’ first script for the program, and it shows a lot of the same humor that was used in Hitchhiker’s Guide (“I’ll never be cruel to a neutron in a particle accelerator again” sounds very familiar, doesn’t it?) The story good, but not great (and Adams can do better.) 3.5/5.
That’s enough for today…