Part 3:
First Aired: 8 February 1969
H = Historian
K = Ketina
R = Ronelyn
Sp = Spoo
MS = Minispoo
P = Photobug
A = Altair
E = Ezio
Cz = Cz
–
MS: When I see something and I poke it, and like it’s in a doorway like that, and I see it expanding, I would usually jump out of that and close the door. Not just stand in front of it and go “it’s alive” and keep the door open and just be staring at it.
P: The thing about common sense is that it ain’t.
E: Good sir, you must understand. The people of this universe are not genre savy at all. And they will not be for a very long time.
P: Okay, just saying, gravity. Sort of a flaw. Period.
K: Didn’t we establish the whole gravity thing last time?
Cz: How many weeks has it been?
K: Three. But I’m pretty sure we talked about the gravity thing last time.
Sp: I liked the corners cut on set design. It made me nostalgic for a rousing game of laser tag, actually.
K: What was up with the mirror thing?
E: This looks cool. Let’s just slip it in for no reason.
R: Scooby Scooby Who, where are you?
A: It was very Scooby Doo.
H: It hadn’t actually premiered in the states yet at this point, and certainly not in the U.K.
Sp: Well, the fun house mirror thing was obviously a touch of “budget cuts” because it is a cheap way to make the space seem bigger, and unless you’re watching the show…oh, I don’t know, 45 years later with a higher definition television that what was available at the time, you won’t notice things. Like, the back of the wall of part of the set reflected in the fun house mirror. Or, the Ice Warrior extra…standing there. Right around the corner!
H: Yes. She opened the door and you could see the Ice Warrior standing there.
R: Like “Hello.”
P: “It’s my cue. Wait.”
Sp: <Ice Warrior voice – whispers> “Line? Line?” We also go to see part of the wall wave back and forth…
H: Several times.
Sp: As actors unwisely bounced off of it as they ran down the hallway.
H: And those loosely hung doors.
R: Hey, they’re air tight. For uranium gas.
<bad uranium jokes>
H: <sarcastically> No, there was no padding in this week’s episode at all.
Sp: Padding? <runs across the room, into the kitchen, back in the room around the room, down the hall, back in the room again, runs in circles…>
P: I was waiting for the sound of slapstick.
H: That wasn’t the only padding, but that was padding for sure.
Sp: Padding?
H: Very fun, but padding.
Sp: That was more exercise than I’ve gotten in weeks!
Cz: Can we talk about the music?
K: Yes.
Sp: Padding?
P: Stop padding this conversation.
Cz: When the Doctor was looking for the hiding guy.. he was hiding behind something and the music was very investigative. But the moment he popped up it was dead. It was very strange.
R: Yeah, there’s this thing called a fade slider.
Cz: No, there isn’t.
H: The thing that I liked about the library music that they used for this story is that they’re using the same basic music that they used in the earlier Ice Warriors story. There’s nice continuity there. But, as far as sound editing, it was basically done live. It was being played as things were going on, instead of edited in later, like they do these days.
P: Which would explain the quick transition.
R: Speaking of library footage…
P: Yeah!
R: That landing shot – that was actually really clever.
P: It was the reverse use of the stage 2 separation of, I think, the Saturn rockets.
H: I was really impressed with the model work in this episode, with the view of the rocket making its way in order to go around the moon. For us, we can see its model work, but at the time that was pretty amazing.
Sp: See, that’s how you do padding. Gimme a space ship! I can stare at a spaceship for a couple of minutes. A corridor with an uneven metal floor for a couple of minutes? No so much.
K: But running down corridors is what Doctor Who is all about! The number of corridors they will run up and down in future – it’s almost uncountable! Although I’m sure somebody counted in one of those Doctor Who guide book things.
Sp: So let’s sum up what happened in this episode.
H: They go to the moon.
R: But they almost didn’t.
H: Padding.
Sp: They got to the main named characters.
R: But they almost didn’t.
H: Padding. The rocket was disabled. That’s actually important. They’re stuck.
P: Yeah, we never saw Jamie turn off the fuel.
Sp: Which just means that the full will return in a future episode!
K: The finished.
H: Yeah, Jamie said they finished fulling. It happened off camera.
R: So the very important explaining to Jamie the fuel gauge scene?
H: Padding.
A: It was meant to be funny.
H: I don’t think padding and meant to be funny are necessarly mutually exclusive.
Sp: Take the Ice Warrior costumes, for example.
<laughter>
Sp: <sings> What you going to do with that Ice Warrior butt, that Ice Warrior butt. Wiggle wiggle wiggle.
<discussion of song>
Sp: So they did a nice job of paring down the number of characters to keep track of. I think we’re down to the essentials down.
P: Yeah, we even got rid of two of the Ice Warriors.
H: Yeah. How many Ice Warriors are there? I mean, at the start it seemed like there were only three and the Ice Lord, but they keep getting killed…
R: Mitosis.
Sp: Fun house mirrors. They keep killing reflections.
K: I think that is a Doctor Who plot. But not in this story.
Sp: And I like…fries Ice Warriors guy…maintenance of the villain booby trap/ communications array, through the same process that I will need to go through this weekend to check for dead bulbs in my Christmas lights. “What’s that? I can’t talk to them? Oh, the circuit’s broken by a 2 dollar light bulb!”
R: “Are you sure you want to land sir? It will mean changing the bulb!”
<While looking up character names our crew get the Seeds of Death and the Seeds of Doom mixed up. Still voices in my head, apparently.>
Everyone: Whoobawhoobabababa
Sp: Speaking of which, those were some stone cold killers in the control room. Dang! Just, bang bang! Two guys gone!
P: Yeah, they had red shirts on. You can’t tell, black and white TV.
H: Ice Warriors do what Ice Warriors do, man.
Sp: <Ice Warrior whisper voice> “Say ‘what’ again!”
R: <Ice Warrior whisper voice> “Do they speak English in what?”
Sp: <Ice Warrior whisper voice> “Do you know what they call Ice Warriors in France? Ice Warrior, stupid.”
<Ice Warriors start quoting from Pulp Fiction for a while. I’m not sure what just happened.>
P: Alright, I have a question. How the hell did the very first rocket land on the moon in this time frame. Because, what the frick? Don’t they have radar?
Sp: Obviously they just followed the radio guidance in.
K: I can explain. While rockets to the moon used to get there the way we’re currently familiar with, by this point in time, during this story, every is automatic. This, why the Doctor and Zoe could fly a rocket without being astronauts and trained for years to do it, and everything. So they were relying on the automatic radar process to land them.
P: So what you’re saying is that no one can drive a stick.
K: Bit more complicated than that, but basically yeah. More like everyone is driving a Google car.
P: Okay, whatever happened to the idea that everyone just…you know, taking the weapon they have plugged in everywhere else.
R: They can’t take the solar supply power system everywhere else.
Sp: Extension cord.
R: Budget cuts.
H: Yeah, that would require more budget than they have here to get a cord that long.
Cz: Are we ready for final thoughts?
K: Sure.
E: Quick! Waddle threateningly!
H: <hisses> Yessssss, Ezzzzzio.
A: Passssssss
P: Well, Seeds of Doom, Death, which one?
H: Death.
P: Well, Seeds of Death…
Cz: Do we know why it’s called that yet?
Sp: Yes, we saw the seed pod.
Cz: I think I slept through that episode.
K: Anyway, Photobug, you were saying.
P: Anyway, they don’t pop unless it’s a nonwaddler holding them.
K: Body heat.
P: Okay.
Sp: No, it’s a human thing. <whisper voice> “Once they pop, they can’t sssstop.” And that’s how they got us, because we’re addicted to snack food.
P: So, right now these monsters, these Ice Warriors, are simply winning because men don’t have the back bone to save the world, but on the other hand, the world can’t go 12 hours without food. I can go three days – uncomfortably, but I’m good.
R: Padding.
H: You know what they say, every civilization is 2 meals away from revolution.
R: No, seriously, padding. In the future they’ve gotten rid of obesity, and so nobody has any reserves of fat.
K: Did you see those outfits? I believe it. Kelly did not have any fat.
P: At some point you’d think the Doctor would have 2-way communication as a norm. It’s going to take him many years to get there, unfortunately. But plot. So, I’m looking forward to us finally finding out what the Seeds of Death, or Balloons of Badness are all about.
Sp: Any final thoughts there, son?
MS: It’s a tradition for me – it was awesome!
H: Did you actually believe that, or are you just saying that? I’m curious.
MS: It’s a tradition, it was awesome. I enjoyed it, and it is also my tradition.
K: Spoo?
Sp: Still me? They were all handsy in the landing, but that’s turned into something of a tradition too.
R: At least they weren’t doing the face grab thing again.
Cz: <grabs her face> I liked the ferse greb thin.
Sp: Well done. <laughter> They have the cast down to the essentials now, as I mentioned, and this really should be the last of the padding.
K: Hahaha! There’s 3 parts left!
Cz: How?
Sp: Well, one part for the seeds to be deathing.
P: One part vermouth.
Sp: And one part for the Doctor to defeat the Ice Warriors on the moons.
Cz: That’s only two.
Sp: No, three. Death, vermouth, Doctor.
H: It werks!
Sp: It also works in the other direction, come to think of it.
R: So what, the episode after this episode is going to be Zoe saying “I am so drunk!” and Jamie saying “Yes, you are. But you know what we are? We’re friends. Because you’re beautiful.”
<Spoo and Ronelyn start acting out Jamie and the Doctor both drunk and flirting with each other… or something. I don’t know what’s going on here.>
Sp: Yes, dear. I’m done.
Cz: Um… the scene in the space ship after the Doctor left…it got very awkward for a second there between Jamie and Zoe. Anyone else notice?
P: Do you think it got awkward for the characters, or the actors?
Cz: The actors. Not sure where to go, or what to say, or how to get to the next scene. I don’t know.
K: Anything else?
Cz: Nah.
H: Ronelyn?
R: And the moral of this week’s story, if you’re going to play with water balloons, don’t fill your balloons with prussic acid.
H: An important lesson for us all.
Sp: <Ice Warrior whisper> “Looks like we’re going to need another Timmy.”
K: Wait, so is the Doctor Dead! Oh no! How Is He Going To Get Out Of This One?!?
<yeah, that was kind of sarcastic. Whatever.>
K: Despite the padding, I did enjoy this episode. It was funny. And I like the Ice Warriors. Although I’m sick of threats and sieges on moon bases. How many of those have had now?
P: Three.
<debate on if it was two or three different stories with a moon base>
K: Anyway, despite it being on the moon or no, still lots of bases under siege. Excessive amount of bases under siege. Historian, take us home.
H: Yeah. You can make fun of this episode for the padding…
Sp: And we did.
P: I don’t know. We could have strung it out some more.
<laughter>
H: But it was a heck of a lot of fun to watch.
Sp: With other people.
H: It just shows how entertaining Patrick Troughton is. “I’m a genius!” I was kind of surprised that Jamie didn’t mention that this was his second time on the moon.
R: Can I just mention that this is my second time on the moon?
H: <Monty Python voice> No. Sorry, there’s no time.
<laugh>
H: Does someone want to give us a last line, so we can end this thing?
Sp: Seriously? Seriously?
P: Rocket sounds?
Sp: After this episode, Historian? You’re asking for more padding.
H: Yes, and thank you for providing it. See you next time, folks.
Sp: You basssstard.
—
Next Week: Part 4
