It’s Christmas! And in addition to many other fun and busy and at times stressful things, there was some nifty Doctor Who presents! But, since no one in my life really knows what I want as far as Doctor Who is concerned, they are all basically things I picked out (and facilitated the purchase of) myself. Doesn’t make me any less grateful though!
(Daily Doctor Who #33)
First of all are a couple of Doctor Who DVD’s. I’m pretty happy to be turning to digital media when it comes to my Doctor Who viewing, but I don’t have access to the classic series on any streaming service at this point, and not every episode is actually available for purchase on iTunes (or whatever reason). So that means in some cases, DVD’s are the way.
I bought two recently, which along with a bunch of other stuff got sent to my Mom’s house in New York. She wrapped them and sent them to me, and then I opened them up this morning along with the rest of our gifts. The first, as you can see up above, is Inferno, a story featuring the Third Doctor, which is famous for including an “evil alternate universe”, with versions o the regular characters who are not quite the same as our own. And whilst the Star Trek version of this trope famously gave Spoke a beard, this one gives Nicholas Courtney’s Brigadier an eyepatch.
I also picked up another story, The Robots of Death.
This is a classic of the series, from the classic Philip Hinchcliffe / Robert Holmes years of the show, and one of my favorite versions of the cast–Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor alongside Louise Jameson’s Leela. I’ve been waiting to re-watch this one before embarking on a “favorite fictional artificial intelligences” post I’ve had in mind for some time.
Beyond that, I also bought a bunch of stories on iTunes that I’ve been interested in (again, utilizing a Christmas gift to do so).
They are mostly Second Doctor stories featuring Patrick Troughton…
The Ice Warriors
It’s follow-up, The Seeds of Death.
The Krotons
The Mind Robber – a particular favorite that I’ve been looking forward to introducing my kids to. I can hardly wait to show them the bit where the Doctor has to put Jamie’s face back together and gets it wrong, which results in another actor playing Jamie for an episode.
I bought all these stories as part of a couple of iTunes packages which, amusingly, both included The Tomb of the Cybermen…
…a story I already own on DVD! So now, technically, I own it three times!
I also picked up the television version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which isn’t Doctor Who obviously but has lots of connecting points (writer Douglas Adams wrote for Doctor Who, and Fifth Doctor Peter Davison makes an appearance as “The Dish of the Day”, for example).
I still have a bit more iTunes money to spend, so I’m considering a package of Fourth Doctor stories, which would include Genesis of the Daleks, The Hand of Fear and The Deadly Assassin.
In any case, it definitely gives me plenty to view in the days to come.
Finally, my daughter Johanna gave me some money to spend on some Big Finish audios. I’m still trying to decide where that will go, exactly.
Maybe one of these?
In any case, there’s plenty to enjoy in the days to come!
Hope your Christmas was Merry as well!
Blue Towel Productions 