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dbskylerIn case you don't recognize the quote, that was the Brigadier introducing the Doctor to a UNIT soldier in "Battlefield." And that means yes, it's time for another reaction post!
Believe it or not, I hadn't seen "Battlefield" all the way through before, because in the olden days I stopped regularly watching "Doctor Who" sometime during Six's tenure (due to a combination of change in my personal life and a general dislike for Six -- or Six's scripts if you prefer but the result was the same). So I'm not too familiar with Seven's era and am still picking up episodes I either never saw or, as was the case with "Battlefield," only saw a few pieces of here and there.
For some reason I have a hard time with Seven's stories in general -- I find them overly complicated, not just in the plot but also in the way they are presented (scenes tend to feel scattershot to me rather than building into a coherent narrative). So even though I like Sylvester McCoy's Doctor, and I like Ace, Seven's era is not my favorite. I had the same story structure issues with "Battlefield," but it didn't matter a bit because I wasn't there for the story, I was there for one thing and one thing only: Brigadier Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart. And in that respect, the story delivered, and it delivered in spades.
The Brigadier was so good in this. There were tons of scenes where he got to be all Brigadier-y (yes, that's an adjective, I declare it so). Tons of scenes where his relationship with the Doctor was shown off to full effect -- how well they both know each other, and respect each other, and don't always agree with each other, and just, well, like each other. They acted just as two people who've been friends for decades (or centuries) should act, and I love that stuff and could watch it all day.
Best moments:
--The meeting between the Brigadier and the Doctor (and it's so awesome that the Brigadier this time just knows it's the Doctor, and we don't have to go through all that are-you-really-the-Doctor stuff). "You recognize me then?" "Yes. Who else would it be?" LOL.
-- The Brigadier's litany of all the new spiffy types of armament UNIT has been stockpiling to deal with Daleks, robots, and yeti, including gold-tipped bullets for "you-know-what" (hee hee, that was great, and I still am sad that modern Cybermen don't seem to be affected by gold).
-- Bessie! Who would've thought I'd smile so much to see a little yellow car again? But I did. I was just as pleased as the Doctor was, I swear.
-- The Brigadier immediately firing upon the Destroyer thing as soon as he sees it, with absolutely no effect (as usual). Then the Doctor gently chiding him, and the Brigadier's rejoinder: "Well, nothing ventured, Doctor."
-- The Brigadier's final heroic stand against the Destroyer, one person alone defending the Earth. It was glorious, and it would have been a fitting way to kill the character off (but I am really glad they didn't).
Big surprise of the episode -- how much I really loved Bambera. Like, a lot. Why are they giving us these new UNIT people instead of letting us see her again? I mean, Magambo is fine, I have nothing against Magambo, but she hasn't had an alternate universe medieval knight call her "magnificent" as she's shooting her way through an ambush. Just sayin'. And as for Colonel Mace, she would kick his ass. : )
Believe it or not, I hadn't seen "Battlefield" all the way through before, because in the olden days I stopped regularly watching "Doctor Who" sometime during Six's tenure (due to a combination of change in my personal life and a general dislike for Six -- or Six's scripts if you prefer but the result was the same). So I'm not too familiar with Seven's era and am still picking up episodes I either never saw or, as was the case with "Battlefield," only saw a few pieces of here and there.
For some reason I have a hard time with Seven's stories in general -- I find them overly complicated, not just in the plot but also in the way they are presented (scenes tend to feel scattershot to me rather than building into a coherent narrative). So even though I like Sylvester McCoy's Doctor, and I like Ace, Seven's era is not my favorite. I had the same story structure issues with "Battlefield," but it didn't matter a bit because I wasn't there for the story, I was there for one thing and one thing only: Brigadier Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart. And in that respect, the story delivered, and it delivered in spades.
The Brigadier was so good in this. There were tons of scenes where he got to be all Brigadier-y (yes, that's an adjective, I declare it so). Tons of scenes where his relationship with the Doctor was shown off to full effect -- how well they both know each other, and respect each other, and don't always agree with each other, and just, well, like each other. They acted just as two people who've been friends for decades (or centuries) should act, and I love that stuff and could watch it all day.
Best moments:
--The meeting between the Brigadier and the Doctor (and it's so awesome that the Brigadier this time just knows it's the Doctor, and we don't have to go through all that are-you-really-the-Doctor stuff). "You recognize me then?" "Yes. Who else would it be?" LOL.
-- The Brigadier's litany of all the new spiffy types of armament UNIT has been stockpiling to deal with Daleks, robots, and yeti, including gold-tipped bullets for "you-know-what" (hee hee, that was great, and I still am sad that modern Cybermen don't seem to be affected by gold).
-- Bessie! Who would've thought I'd smile so much to see a little yellow car again? But I did. I was just as pleased as the Doctor was, I swear.
-- The Brigadier immediately firing upon the Destroyer thing as soon as he sees it, with absolutely no effect (as usual). Then the Doctor gently chiding him, and the Brigadier's rejoinder: "Well, nothing ventured, Doctor."
-- The Brigadier's final heroic stand against the Destroyer, one person alone defending the Earth. It was glorious, and it would have been a fitting way to kill the character off (but I am really glad they didn't).
Big surprise of the episode -- how much I really loved Bambera. Like, a lot. Why are they giving us these new UNIT people instead of letting us see her again? I mean, Magambo is fine, I have nothing against Magambo, but she hasn't had an alternate universe medieval knight call her "magnificent" as she's shooting her way through an ambush. Just sayin'. And as for Colonel Mace, she would kick his ass. : )
