h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

*cough* If, hypothetically speaking, someone hypothetically had about 50 quid spare to hypothetically go to amazon or some other internet retailer to hypothetically purchase pre-RTD Doctor Who DVDs for purely hypothetical reasons, would you have any reccomendations?

Hypothetically...

These are both personal favourites of mine and generally well-regarded stories (all in colour with not too embarrassing effects):

Pyramids of Mars
Genesis of the Daleks
City of Death (co-written by Douglas Adams under a pseudonym)
Talons of Weng-Chiang
Inferno
The Caves of Androzani
Horror of Fang Rock
The Ark in Space
Spearhead from Space
The Green Death

Should get 50 quid out of that lot!

I take it you no longer think Dr Who is just about 'a pillock in a scarf being chased by dustbins'?

My opinion may have been revised somewhat! I'll see how many of them I can get for cheap on Amazon, seeing as my final student loan cheque has just cleared

Ok, ordered Genesis of the Daleks for £8, Pyramids of Mars for £6, Horror Of Fang Rock for a shade under 7 quid and Inferno for just over 6. Unfortunately, I've been lumped with a 20 quid fine I didn't want which wrenched some money from my budget. I'll let you know what I think when I've seen them. From the synopsis of The Caves of Androzani I think it was one I've seen when it used to be on at 5am on UK Gold. The joys of a teenage insomniac...

Four very good buys!

I myself am barely hanging in there as I can only get Dr Who over the web (on satellite only over here plus it's in the local tongue!) and the BBC has started cracking down on the episodes people put up on Y**T*b*.

Pyramids of Mars came today. I was going to watch Part One, then go off and do something else, saving Part 2 for tonight and 3&4 for tomorrow. Didn't work out quite like that. It seems my afternoon's been and gone because I've watched every part of that story and all the special features (Including a short cameo by 'TV and Film Historian' Jim Sangster).

As for RTD's Series 3, it's not been that brilliant so far. Freema Angyeman is an infinately better actress than Billie Piper, but I keep getting distracted by the random snippets of homosexuality references that add nothing to the story. I'll say no more as I don't want to spoil any of it for you.

Not going into any detail as to the specifics (the BBC may be listening) but I've managed to keep up to date. Series 3 has rather impressed me so far - a much stronger first episode than the other two, the Shakespeare story was great, and I thought the story destined to be known as 'the one where the Macra come back' was really clever. The 'random homosexuality' (I think it's not at all random myself!) doesn't bother me that much.

I will be really seriously annoyed if I can't keep up with the rest of the series, if all the indications and rumours as to who the main enemy will be turn out to be true...

Guess you liked Pyramids then? It's my favourite of them all.

I enjoyed Pyramids, yeah. My girlfriend managed to stay awake for 3/4 of it too, so I think she may have enjoyed it. Just finished watching Genesis of the Daleks. Not sure which one I prefer yet...

Horror of Fang Rock was last night's post-Tennant viewing by the way. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the other two, although I may have attempted to make a Routon out of clingfilm and a bowl...

Reasonable enough (on both counts).

Engage mode: (blip1)

it's spelt Rutan BTW.

Disengage mode: (chrrh... chrrh...)

Oh dear it's stuck again.

Anyway I thought Daleks Do Manahattan was rather jolly even though I've yet to be won over by Sec's new look...

It's a bit Star Wars cantina extra though isn't it? I have a sneaking suspicion that he'll last around about 90 seconds before the rest of the Cult of Skaro point out that he isn't, in fact, a Dalek and as such is fair game for extermination.

Hopefully I will be able to give my comments at some point on Monday! But generally I agree.

I keep thinking that eventually they will have to get past this 'there are only X many Daleks left in the universe' storyline, cos it's, um, a bit limiting and repetitive... but I'm not sure how! Painted themselves into a corner there.

Ahh, they'll just find some way of ressurecting Davros or have them take over some sort of industrial/cloning complex on planet OhlookRusselTDaviesgivesthingslongnames and churn out a new army of Daleks. In a programme with infinate access to space and time, there's ways out of everything.

Hypothetically I'd say some of the hypothetical black and white ones occassionally hide the hypothetical cheap sets, villains and hypotheses(?). Like the hypothetical Web Planet. Except the hypothetical [insert proper name for ant people].

Luckily I can pretend this is Verc/Terran posting this.

Hypothetical Terran. *cough*

Yeah, but we know it isn't. I place the blame for that post firmly at the door of the hypothetical Mysterious Mike Riggot.

Oh, and I've watched the first 6 episodes of Inferno. I quite like John Pertwee actually. He was my dad's favourite Doctor...

I think Pertwee did a lot of great stories, I just find the characterisation makes me grind my teeth a bit sometimes.

I do like many of the b&w stories (I would say how much I absolutely love Marco Polo and Power of the Daleks, but I'd sound pretentious), I'm just aware a lot of people these days get put off by low production values.

It's traditional(-ish) that your favourite Doctor is the guy who was on when you were younger (for people who first caught it before the interregnum), and it's a depressing possibility that your dad and I may not be too far separated in age...

If it's any consolation, he's only 26 years older than I am...

On a whim (and because it was 3 quid) I ended up with a copy of Revelations of the Daleks.

Possibly the most irritating 90 minutes I've ever experienced. The acting in that's terrible, the dialogue's worse, and the storyline's not too great either.

I get all the R... of the Daleks stories from the 80s mixed up. That's the funeral parlour one isn't it?

The best I can say about it is that it's very well directed and some of the acting isn't *that* bad... but the fact remains that the Doctor does virtually nothing to influence the main storyline!

Trivia: he actually said 'Blackpool' at the end but for various reasons they stopped on the freeze-frame when it was transmitted.

Yeah, it's the funeral one. It involves the world's worst actress having half her hat painted on to her head and then ranging wildly between wooden and teenage angst.

Wasn't too impressed with Colin Baker to be honest. Although that could just have been his coat.