Hello everyone, the Historian here. Thanks for bearing with us during the technical difficulties encountered last week. We’re all here this week and ready to watch the third episode of this still fairly mysterious (to most of the Project) story! Let’s get to the episode! This episode first aired 28 September, 1968.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
H = Historian
\nK = Ketina
\nR = Ronelyn (at the end)
\nSc = Schmallturn (briefly)
\nSp = Spoo
\nEG = ElfGrrl
\nSG = SpookyGrrly
\nP = Photobug
\nA = Altair
\nE = Ezio<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
P: Is it me or is it every episode where our kilted friend has to climb.<\/p>\n
K: But it\u2019s not as fun if no one is climbing up after him.<\/p>\n
P: Yeah. I was a little worried about that spear.<\/p>\n
H: Bayonet<\/p>\n
EG: Why was there medusa in the first place. And why was there like myths. Like the buffalo man and medusa?<\/p>\n
Sc: You failed as a parent!<\/p>\n
<He speaks! He\u2019s always here, he just never speaks.>
\n<laughter><\/p>\n
SG: There\u2019s a lot to teach as a parent!<\/p>\n
H: Well, Elfgrrl, they\u2019re myths because they\u2019re stories. And they\u2019re in the land of stories.<\/p>\n
EG: Oh! What about the men?<\/p>\n
H: You mean the guy that they were talking to?<\/p>\n
EG: No. The clip clop clip clop..<\/p>\n
H: Those are toys. Giant toy soldiers.<\/p>\n
EG: Weeeeeeeird!<\/p>\n
K: So how long did it take everyone else to figure out he was Gulliver?<\/p>\n
Sp: About the same time as the Doctor.<\/p>\n
E: Same.<\/p>\n
H: I have to ask, how many of us here have actually read Gulliver\u2019s Travels.<\/p>\n
SG & Sc: <hands go up><\/p>\n
Sp: It\u2019s been years and years.<\/p>\n
EG: Raise your hand if you have not read Gulliver\u2019s travels. <raises hand><\/p>\n
E, A, & P: <also raises hand><\/p>\n
K: Long time ago for me. Maybe junior high. I just remember the book had a heck of a lot more islands than the movies did. Something about horses.<\/p>\n
<brief discussion of the book><\/p>\n
H: So yeah. The Mind Robber, everyone.<\/p>\n
K: So, did he have horns. Cause I swear, I saw tiny little horns.<\/p>\n
P: I saw shadows of horns.<\/p>\n
H: I\u2019m not going to say anything.<\/p>\n
K: But not racist?<\/p>\n
H: Well. No more than 60\u2019s British television could generally be. But no, no.<\/p>\n
EG: So, the buffalo guy <laughter> kinda looked like\u2026 one of the monsters on \u201cWhere the Wild Things Are.\u201d<\/p>\n
E: I wonder if that was the inspiration?<\/p>\n
K: I think he was just supposed to\u2026 while poorly\u2026 look like a minotaur.<\/p>\n
H: I like that they keep him in shadow most of the time. That was really effective\u2026 until they showed the prop.<\/p>\n
K: That was not the best prop.<\/p>\n
EG: I think where Jamie was, was in a spaceship that outside looked like a castle and it was built in. Kinda like Invader Zim when he made his house.<\/p>\n
<brief discussion of Invader Zim. Is it, truly, a classic? Or will it be some day?><\/p>\n
H: So yeah. The Mind Robber everyone.<\/p>\n
E: So, is what Jamie did considered breaking the fourth wall? Breaking and entering the fourth wall? Climbing the fourth wall?<\/p>\n
H: Yes.<\/p>\n
Sp: Alright. I rather enjoyed this week\u2019s installment of \u201cDoctor Who and the Gnome Illusionist.\u201d It was thrilling to watch the Doctor and Zoe make both of their Will saves\u2026<\/p>\n
H: Actually I think they blew that second one.<\/p>\n
E: Actually we won\u2019t know until next week, will we.<\/p>\n
P: They die.<\/p>\n
E: The Doctor can\u2019t die. He has how many more regenerations to go through.<\/p>\n
P: We don\u2019t know that yet at this point in Doctor Who.<\/p>\n
H: Anyway\u2026<\/p>\n
Sp: Well we can tell that the story is kicking into its next gear, not simply because we know which episode number this is, but because the Doctor has Figured It Out. He\u2019s found a puzzle, and he\u2019s starting to have fun, which means he\u2019ll probably stumble upon the bad guy in about an act and a half. And nice to see Frazer Hines make a full recovery from \u201cthe pox.\u201d<\/p>\n
K: I didn\u2019t even see any scars.<\/p>\n
E: The magic of makeup, everyone.<\/p>\n
H: I\u2019m going to say again what I said last week, I\u2019m still very impressed with the story editor\u2019s ability to roll with it when one his leads suddenly has to be out sick for a week.<\/p>\n
P: Well, regenerating was a little obvious.<\/p>\n
E: Granted, they had pretty much the perfect environment to get away with it. Any other story and it probably would have been really hard.<\/p>\n
H: Any other story and they probably would have written the character out for a week, which is why this is so impressively inventive.<\/p>\n
E: As a writer myself, tip of the hat to them. Also, was anyone else reminded of movie \u201cStranger than Fiction?\u201d<\/p>\n
H: I haven\u2019t seen it.<\/p>\n
SG: It was actually pretty good, but it doesn\u2019t really remind me of it. Other than it was people in books.<\/p>\n
E: It wasn\u2019t a strong reminder. Just tiny.<\/p>\n
H: So, so far we\u2019ve seen toys, we\u2019ve seen fairy tales, we\u2019ve seen myths, and we\u2019ve seen children and adult literature. All of which we\u2019ve kind of recognized.<\/p>\n
P: Unless you\u2019re nine.<\/p>\n
K: So what? The Mind Robber has a library? Well, we kind of saw what he has. I think what\u2019s in common is that everything is fiction. But I\u2019m trying to say that without being spoiler-y.<\/p>\n
H: Sure. The Doctor has already surmised that it\u2019s a land of fiction.<\/p>\n
Sp: And we saw the ticker tape that was spitting out the events of the episode, real time.<\/p>\n
H: Which poses an interesting question.<\/p>\n
K: Which we will leave off asking until the end of the last episode.<\/p>\n
H: Damn right.<\/p>\n
Sp: But it\u2019s presence there worked as a nice little dramatic device to move both sub plots along and link together Jamie with the Doctor and Zoe.<\/p>\n
EG: A few\u2026 aka a lot talks earlier\u2026 my Dad\u2019s been watching Supernatural, and I\u2019ve seen one episode kind of. And the writer\u2026 he\u2019s drunk and he makes stories, and the stories actually come to life.<\/p>\n
K: Yeah. Likely being the only one in the room who has seen Supernatural\u2026<\/p>\n
H: Besides ElfGrrl.<\/p>\n
K: Besides ElfGrrl, and Ronelyn and Cz, neither of whom are here tonight\u2026 but the one likely to have seen that entire episode currently here\u2026 I would say that it really doesn\u2019t have much to do with the Mind Robber.<\/p>\n
EG: Yeah. It definitely doesn\u2019t have enough to do with the Mind Robber. I\u2019ll try not to talk about things other than Doctor Who on a Doctor Who night.<\/p>\n
H: I think we\u2019re at final thoughts.<\/p>\n
E: This was an interesting episode. I could so many fourth wall jokes out of this.<\/p>\n
K: You already did.<\/p>\n
E: Oh yeah. But I have more. But I\u2019ll spare you the agony and won\u2019t tell you any of them.<\/p>\n
H: Okay.<\/p>\n
A: When Jamie was reading the story on the ticker tape, I think just that would have made an awesome cliff hanger.<\/p>\n
H: I did like the animation. I thought that was pretty surprisingly good.<\/p>\n
K: Medusa? It got very Harryhausen.<\/p>\n
<general agreement><\/p>\n
P: I like the overacting that the Doctor and Zoe did together when they were scared. Even though I thought it was over the top, it went really well.<\/p>\n
E: Hey man. If I had a medusa coming for me, I\u2019d be scared too.<\/p>\n
P: It was nice to be scared of statues again. I didn\u2019t know Gulliver\u2019s Travels well enough to see the character be recognized in advance. But I still appreciated it.<\/p>\n
K: I think even not recognizing the specific book, it was pretty apparent that he was always quoting from a book. Which is the more important point, I think.<\/p>\n
P: I thought the toy soldier looks very good in its costume design. I though the story really moved the plot along pretty well during the whole installment. I can see that we\u2019ve made progress even though it\u2019s not leading us directly to the end. I was slightly underwhelmed by our \u201cgnome.\u201d I really enjoyed Jamie ending up in what was then the electronic library. I thought they did a good job imagining it.<\/p>\n
A: He\u2019s found Project Gutenberg.<\/p>\n
P: That\u2019s impressive Altair. I\u2019m looking forward to next week.<\/p>\n
H: Okay.<\/p>\n
<Ronelyn walks in><\/p>\n
H: Final thought, Ronelyn?<\/p>\n
R: IT STINKS!<\/p>\n
<general laughter><\/p>\n
EG: <giggles> I wish Jamie knew how to use that future thing. Typing thing.<\/p>\n
Sp: The ticker tape that was telling the story?<\/p>\n
EG: Yeah. I wish he could do it because they he could tell the story. And then he could make himself handsome and rich! And have ladies! <giggles again><\/p>\n
R: <Scottish accent> \u201cThis story doesn\u2019t have enough haggis!\u201d<\/p>\n
EG: And he\u2019s a super hero!<\/p>\n
H: So, did you like it?<\/p>\n
EG: Um? I hate the \u201cto be continued.\u201d For that I have to say \u201cIt stinks!\u201d<\/p>\n
R: You stole my line!<\/p>\n
EG: I did not steal your line. I liked your line, so I used it.<\/p>\n
H: So did you like it?<\/p>\n
EG: I always like \u201cto be continued\u201d <silly arm wavy gesture><\/p>\n
H: Okay… moving on to Spoo.<\/p>\n
Sp: This week reminded me that Doctor Who is for kids.<\/p>\n
<laughter><\/p>\n
Sp: And I mean that in a very, very good way.<\/p>\n
EG: No wonder I liked it!<\/p>\n
Sp: Not only because ElfGrrl enjoyed it so obviously, but because the pace and the content and the\u2026 delivery by Patrick Troughton, and the delight that the Doctor was taking in fighting this kind of fight on this kind of turf… you put it all together and that\u2019s a rousing children\u2019s story.<\/p>\n
P: Like the Phantom Tollbooth.<\/p>\n
Sp: Yup. Exactly.<\/p>\n
K: Me?<\/p>\n
Sp: Yes. It\u2019s your turn.<\/p>\n
H: That\u2019s my job. You stole my line!<\/p>\n
Sp: No, no, no. I disbelieve you.<\/p>\n
K: Did I make my Will save? Anyway\u2026 I really like this story. I agree with Spoo that it has a delightful whimsical feel to it, aiming really well at the kid audience. It\u2019s fun, with a lot of unexpected turns. I like the puzzle solving. Although I kind of wish we got \u201cfake Jamie\u201d a little longer, because his impersonation was so well done\u2026 despite the bad wig.<\/p>\n
Sp: What do you think about the Master?<\/p>\n
K: Well, it isn\u2019t \u201cThe Master\u201d the Master. I can say that much.<\/p>\n
Sp: Well, yeah. I\u2019m reasonably sure that the Delgado Master could\u2026 I don\u2019t know\u2026 work security cameras.<\/p>\n
K: Your turn, boss.<\/p>\n
H: Don\u2019t call me boss.<\/p>\n
Sp: Take us home, Historian.<\/p>\n
H: The thing about it is, I agree with you that this is more of a childlike friendly story. But it doesn\u2019t talk down, so it\u2019s easy for adults to be entertained as well. And that\u2019s what Doctor Who is, it\u2019s a family program. I can only say \u201cI like this story.\u201d I can\u2019t say anything else that doesn\u2019t give things away.<\/p>\n
P: Like what?<\/p>\n
H: Watch it, you!<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
Ketina often makes fun of these little bits, since I generally say basically the same thing–sometimes that’s because I write them for her ahead of time, to assist in getting posts up quickly. (Which is what I’m doing now!) So, instead of pretending I know how the Project viewed this episode (though I will predict that they enjoyed it!), this week I’ll once again ask, nay, beg<\/em>\u00a0for your comments. I’m sure there are a few of you out there, somewhere, and we would really like to hear from you to let us know how we’re doing. The Project has existed in a vacuum for a very long time, and it’d be nice to know what you thought! We promise to answer any questions as best we can and reply to (real, non-spam) comments.<\/p>\n Well, now that’s done, it only remains for me to say that we will be back next week with the penultimate episode of this very interesting story. Until then, I remain<\/p>\n THE HISTORIAN<\/p>\n NEXT WEEK: THE MIND ROBBER EPISODE 4<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hello everyone, the Historian here. Thanks for bearing with us during the technical difficulties encountered last week. We’re all here this week and ready to watch the third episode of this still fairly mysterious (to most of the Project) story! Let’s get to the episode! This episode first aired 28 September, 1968.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mindrobber"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.morelikethisindustries.com\/tardisproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.morelikethisindustries.com\/tardisproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.morelikethisindustries.com\/tardisproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.morelikethisindustries.com\/tardisproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.morelikethisindustries.com\/tardisproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.morelikethisindustries.com\/tardisproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1242\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.morelikethisindustries.com\/tardisproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.morelikethisindustries.com\/tardisproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.morelikethisindustries.com\/tardisproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}