BBCA Fourth Doctor special

[dbskyler]

The "Doctors Revisited" Fourth Doctor special is on my TV right now, so here we go with a liveblog!

-- TOM BAKER!!!! They interviewed Tom Baker! HOORAY!!!!!!!!
-- Steven Moffat is obviously a huge fan of the Fourth Doctor. He has good taste. : )
-- And look what's coming up after the commercial break -- Sarah Jane!
-- And, it's over. Not much time spent on her, but some very nice things were said. And apparently David Tennant tweaked the script for "School Reunion" so the Doctor would call her "Sarah," and not "Sarah Jane." The benefits of having a real fanboy play the Doctor!
-- Look now, it's Louise Jamison! Awww. And John Leeson! Double awww.
-- Okay, now they're into clips and "famous foes," etc. Zygons and Davros so far. The more I watch, the more I find myself smiling. The Fourth Doctor really is MY Doctor. He just looks so right on the screen.
-- And ahhhhhh, it's over? IT'S OVER??? BUT . . . ROMANA! THEY DIDN'T COVER ROMANA! AT ALL!!!!!!!!! NOT EVEN ONE LITTLE CLIP!!!! WTH?????????????????

And yes, the Fourth Doctor episode is now on my TV, but I can't get too excited by that, because I own it. And have watched it many, many times. (No, it's not "Genesis of the Daleks," hooray! And yes, it is a Sarah Jane episode. "Pyramids of Mars," my prediction was correct! Although much as I love this one, I still would have chosen "City of Death" instead.)

Comments

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

The lack of Douglas Adams doesn't surprise me, because the specials never go into things like script editors or producers, or notable episodes -- they're much shallower than that. In fairness, there's not really time for more than shallow coverage of an era, as they only get around 40 minutes, including commercials. But even without that, the format is geared towards fluff rather than serious content, and they don't go into production topics or behind-the-scenes stuff, but instead focus on actors and characters (the Doctor, the companions, the foes). Even that stuff seems pretty random; for example, for Four, the Zygons got a huge mention, but there was nothing on the Black Guardian.

There was a clip or two from "City of Death" that accompanied some quote from Steven or David about the Fourth Doctor's character, so Romana did briefly appear on-screen during the special, but it's a shame that she wasn't explicitly mentioned and celebrated.