I'm With Geek
  • Home
  • Geekery
    • TGH
    • Creative
    • IWGCast
  • Film
    • The Essentials
    • Hit Play/Hit Stop
    • Trailer Parks
  • TV
  • Games
  • Comics
  • Books
  • About
  • Our Team
  • Contact
  • Editors Blog

Doctor Who: Top 3 Sixth Doctor Stories

3/27/2013

 
Picture
By William John

Brash, loud (both vocally and visually), with a heart full of gold, Colin Baker’s tenure as the Doctor was short lived but loved by many. A far darker character than most of his predecessors, the 6th Doctor began his reign by trying to kill his companion (the woman he’d just sacrificed his previous life to save) and imposing exile upon himself for his actions. Craziness aside (mostly), the Doctor went on to save the Earth from the Cybermen, avert an intergalactic war, came face to face with his second incarnation and be put on trial by his own people… again. These are my personal top 3 6th Doctor adventures.

“I shall beat it into submission... with my charm.”
Picture
Attack of the Cybermen

Whilst performing maintenance on the TARDIS Chameleon Circuit, the Doctor and Peri follow a distress signal to 1985 Earth, stumbling across a whole Cybermen strike force in the London Sewers, not to mention Commander Lytton and his Dalek replica policemen from Resurrection of the Daleks. The TARDIS is captured by the Cybermen and taken to Telos, their adopted planet, where the Doctor realises the Cybermen plan to change the course of history by travelling back in time and diverting Halley’s comet towards Earth.

Ok, so the plot may be slightly convoluted, but the episode has some great highlights and makes a load of reference to the shows rich history. For a start the TARDIS lands in the same junkyard where it all began, bringing the Doctor back to the shows humble beginnings. Furthermore, the plot centres around the Cybermen trying to change their own history. In the first Cybermen story, The Tenth Planet, the rudimentary Cybermen turn their home planet, Mondas, into a ship in an attempt to move it closer to the sun after it drifts out of orbit. Mondas drifts too close to Earth and is destroyed in the process, with a little help from the Doctor. Attack of the Cybermen deals with the consequences of what happened to Mondas, showing the lengths the parasitic cyborgs go to to survive; taking over a planet and all but wiping out the indigenous species for their giant fridges for hibernation, as we later see in Tomb of the Cybermen.

Picture
Lytton’s return was a great surprise and a high point of 80’s who, showing that even the Doctor gets it wrong sometimes. Lytton’s uncertain allegiances and the eventual revelation that he’s working for the Cryon resistance against the Cybermen was a fantastic twist, adding so much impact to his unnerving fate and heroic sacrifice at the episodes climax.

Attack of the Cybermen was slated by the media of the day as being too violent, one of the factors leading to the shows hiatus, which I think is absolute bullshit. Attack shows a far more realistic interpretation of what life with the Doctor would be. It’s dangerous, violent and the threat is reflected in the characters. The Doctor stabs a Cyberman in the chest and shoots the Controller several times, not to mention Lytton’s torture and partial Cyber-conversion, which was terrifying to watch, and his final act of sacrifice, detaching himself from the machines and stabbing the Cyber-controller to save the Doctor is something that will stay with me for my whole life. Attack of the Cybermen gave me nightmares and cemented my fear and morbid adoration of the Cybermen!

Picture
Vengeance on Varos

The Doctor and Peri travel to Varos to find components for the TARDIS, but accidently find themselves caught in a colony run by an oppressive. Mistaken for rebels, they’re forced to take part in the colony’s sole form of entertainment; televised live, sadistic torture and executions.

Vengeance on Varos is dark and twisted, taking an already violent concept and magnifying it. Though not the best story of the era, Varos deserves a place on this list for being bold enough to actually do what it does. We see acid baths, psychological and physical torture, and more that anything else, we see citizens of the colony watching and enjoying it! Like with Attack if the Cybermen, this episode was a huge contributing factor to the shows cancelation and I agree that it does cross the line, however crossing the line is exactly what was needed. 

Picture
Everything about the story is sick. The torture is sick, the villains are disgusting, particularly Sil (Jabba the Hutt’s dwarf cousin) the slimy, lecherous turd in control of the minion and trading operations. Even the Doctor becomes a little twisted, cracking a joke as two guards fall into an acid pit and die in excruciating agony.

In many ways, the story has influenced parts of NuWho, particularly Platform1/The Games Station. In Vengeance on Varos, public execution was a form of entertainment, much like the Games Station from Bad Wolf, however this story finishes with the people being freed and the games ending. They’re wondering what to do next, in a similar manner to humanity at the end of The Long Game, though they then descend into sadism. To be honest though, who can blame them. Reality TV is just a small step away from torture in real life. If The X-Factor was this sick, we’d probably enjoy it a lot more!

Picture
Revelation of the Daleks

What’s not to love about Revelation of the Daleks? It continues the theme of darkness, violence and boundary pushing stories that were rife in Colin Bakers era, yet still manages to make you a giddy fanboy at the same time.

Necros, the planet of the dead, where, if you’re rich, you can have your body cryogenically frozen until science can extend your life. The Doctor and Perry visit so the Doctor can pay last respects to a friend, however he falls victim to a trap set by ‘The Great Healer’, revealed to be none other than Davros (as if the title didn’t give it away…) who is mutating the frozen bodies into a new species of Dalek, liquidating the remains and sending them across the galaxy as food to fund his schemes.

Davros isn’t as safe as he thinks however, with the remnants of his original army closing in to arrest him and a mercenary hired to assassinate him, Darvos must use his cunning to survive. 

Picture
The most iconic part of the adventure has to be the glass Dalek. We see as a rebel desperately tries to save her father, finding him nothing more than a dismembered head inside a see-through Dalek. She watches in horror as the Dalek conditioning begins to take hold, his face hideously mutated. Unable to take anymore, she shoots her Father before he makes the final change.

Ok, so we have mutated, dismembered heads, a galaxy unwittingly surviving on cannibalism and a new army of Daleks growing, ready to conquer the universe… sounds like the perfect recipe for a Doctor Who story to me. Still, it wasn’t all disgusting, the episode featured some genuinely comical and surreal moments, such as the DJ entertaining the almost deceased with his best Elvis impression, or the haplessly in love Tasambeker who we can’t help but feel sorry for, even if she is a little Fatal Attraction.

Picture
Revelation of the Daleks ended the only full series Colin Baker served as the Doctor. The show was put on hiatus for apparently losing its way with violence and returned with the slightly lacklustre and massively toned down Trial of a Timelord arc. It’s a damn shame as Colin Baker had so much more to give in his role and was tragically let down by the BBC, just as the series was finally starting to graduate into something special. 

Picture
Buy Classic Doctor Who DVDs from Forbidden Planet!

Comments are closed.


    TV Editor: Graham Osborne
    Picture

    TV 

    Reviews on the best TV has to offer, as well as retrospective looks at the shows of yesteryear we miss so much. 

    Regular features include: 

    Have you seen...? - We take a look at TV shows you may not have seen, but should really check out?
    Retrospectives - We look back the shows that have ended.
    From the Trenches - Matthew Howe shares his hilarious experiences from the Trenches of the Media Industry.
    Catch it on Catch-Up - A run down of some quality TV that you may have missed first time around.
    Turn Off - The very worst that television has to offer.
    Doctor Who - The latest News, Reviews and features on the 50 year sci-fi giant!

    Email: [email protected]

    Categories

    All
    12-monkeys
    Adventure-time
    Agent Carter
    Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.
    AKA Jessica Jones
    Alex Doust
    Almost-human
    Amazon Instant
    Amazon Studios
    American Horror Story
    Arrow
    Atlantis
    Avatar The Last Airbender
    BAFTA
    Banshee
    Bates Motel
    Batman
    BBC
    Ben Mapp
    Beth Rogers
    Better Call Saul
    Big Bang Theory
    Black Mirror
    Boardwalk Empire
    Breaking Bad
    Bring Back...
    Britta Lundin
    Broadchurch
    Callum Armour
    Catch It On Catch Up
    Catfish
    Catherine Wignall
    Chasing Life
    Childhood Tv
    Christian Kern
    Christmas
    Community
    Companion Faceoff
    Constantine
    Cookie N Screen
    Cookie N Screen
    Coupling
    Critics Choice Awards
    Cuckoo
    Cucumberbananatofu
    Daniel-franco
    Daredevil
    David Tennant
    Detestable Tv
    Dexter
    Discworld
    Doctor Who
    Doctor Who
    Downton Abbey
    Dracula
    DVD
    E4
    Elementary
    Emmy Awards
    Essentials
    Family Guy
    Fargo
    Father's Day
    Finale
    Firefly
    Flash
    Friends
    From The Trenches
    From The Trenches
    Galavant
    Game Of Thrones
    Game Of Thrones
    Gemma Williams
    Gemma-williams
    Georgia Thompson
    Girls
    Gloria Danielsmoss
    Gloria Daniels Moss
    Gotham
    Graeme-stirling
    Graham Osborne
    Graham Osborne
    Gravity Falls
    Grimm
    Halloween
    Hannibal
    HAPPYish
    Have You Seen
    Have You Seen...?
    Hayley Charlesworth
    Hayley-charlesworth
    Hbo
    Heather Stromski
    Helen Fulton
    Helen Langdon
    Helen Langdon
    Heroes-reborn
    Hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy
    Homeland
    House
    House Of Cards
    How I Met Your Mother
    ICYMI
    In Memoriam
    Inside-no9
    Interview
    In The Flesh
    I Survived The Zombie Apocalypse
    IZombie
    Jack Edwards
    James Morgans
    Jamie Kennett
    Jane The Virgin
    Jenny Mullinder
    Jo Johnstone
    Josh Crooks
    Julia Lawson
    Kim J Osborne
    Laura Weaver
    Leah Stone
    Leah Stone
    Legends Of Tomorrow
    Liam-bland
    Liam Murphy
    Mad Men
    Mahesh Subramaniam
    Marvel
    Matthew Battles
    Matthew Howe
    Max Bosshart
    Melissa Haggar
    Melissa Haggar
    Michael Wilkinson
    Monty Python
    Movies In Motion
    National Towel Day
    Netflix
    New Tricks
    No Spoilers Please
    Once Upon A Time
    Orange Is The New Black
    Orphan Black
    OUAT
    Outlander
    Paul Costello
    Paul Robert Scott
    Phineas And Ferb
    Quiz
    Red Dwarf
    Retrospective
    Ripper Street
    Robbie Jones
    Robbie Jones
    Scott And Bailey
    Scream
    Sense8
    Shakespeare Day
    Sherlock
    Sherlock Holmes
    Sherlock Week
    Sleepy Hollow
    Sons Of Liberty
    Spin-Out!
    Star Trek
    Star-wars
    Star Wars Rebels
    St Patrick's Day
    Supernatural
    Teen Wolf
    Teen Wolf
    The 100
    The Box Set
    The Flash
    The Following
    The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air
    The Hour
    The Leftovers
    The Musketeers
    The Musketeers
    The Office
    The Originals
    The Originals
    The Simpsons
    The Sopranos
    The Spider
    The Tomorrow People
    The Vampire Diaries
    The-vampire-diaries
    The Walking Dead
    This-week
    Timmy Time
    Tomas Keavney
    Tom Sams
    Trends-in-tv
    True Blood
    True Detective
    Turn-off
    TV Awards
    Tv Intros
    Tv-intros
    TV Teaser
    TV Teasers
    TV Teasers
    Twin Peaks
    Valentine's Day
    Veep
    Verushka-byrow
    Vikings
    William John
    William John
    Witches Of East End
    Wizards Vs Aliens
    Wolfblood
    Xavier Gonne
    You Should Be Watching

    Archives

    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.