Riffing on the TARDIS: A Review of Rifftrax Live The Five Doctors

For many it was a weekly ritual. You grab a bag of cheese popcorn, some generic version of Dr. Pepper, dim all the lights in your house, and watch Mystery Science Theatre 3000. If you were a super-fan of the show you called it MST3K. Then you allowed hosts Joel or Mike with their robot sidekicks to take you on a cinematic journey. Mocking some of the worst films ever made, the gang would point out plot holes, continuity errors, and bad acting all the while making you laugh.

Currently MST3K has returned for a new season on Netflix. While this series has garnered some very high praise in its revival, the reboot doesn’t have any of the original cast. For many, that can be a major bummer. Not having Netflix is another a huge downer, but that’s a discussion for another article. Thankfully, for those fans devoted to the original series there’s Rifftrax.

What's a Rifftrax?

Rifftrax takes what MST3K did best- finding cheesy movies, the worse you can find (La lala), and tearing them to bits. Second MST3K host, Mike Nelson started Rifftrax in 2006. But it wasn’t until 2012 when Bill Corbett ("Crow" MST3K seasons 8-10) and Kevin Murphy ("Tom Servo" MST3K seasons 2-10) became partners in the company that Rifftrax really took off.
On its website, Rifftrax has an impressive selection of films that they mock. There’s classic B-movies such as Samurai Cop and the Brian Bosworth bomb, Stone Cold. Thanks to Kickstarter, Rifftrax has even been able to obtain rights to films like 1998’s version of Godzilla. Along with the a large portion of the original MST3K shows, Rifftrax’s also provides commentaries you can listen to in conjunction with watching blockbusters such as Rogue One and even the original Mothra. But let’s get back to their Kickstarter projects.

Kickstart those Laughs

Earlier this year, Rifftrax held a mystery Kickstarter project. Due to terms of the licensing agreement, Nelson and company were forbidden to reveal what the film they were going to be skewering unless they obtained complete funding for their project. Well, the Rifftrax guys destroyed their goal and the project was revealed- the guys would be putting their comedic spin on a classic episode of Doctor Who! The BBC apparently did not want to get any hopes up until they knew that the Rifftrax folks could obtain funding for the licensing rights. As a result, Rifftrax put on a special show live last week from Nashville TN where the episode was aired in theaters around the country. Last night was an encore performance of that classic Doctor Who event.

The episode in question was "The Five Doctors"- the 20th anniversary episode of the long-running BBC series. That episode has a slew of classic Doctors and companions joining forces against a rogue Timelord who is stealing all of the Doctor’s past regenerations from the time stream. The 1983 episode stars Peter Davison, Jon Pertwee, and Patrick Thornton as the Fifth, Third, and Second Doctors. 

Blake’s 7 actor Richard Hurndall assumed the role on the First Doctor for the late William Hartnell. Meanwhile, Tom Baker decided to forgo his chance to reprise the role of the Fourth Doctor. So never before used footage from the abandoned episode "Shada" was used instead.

The Rifftrax guys did a fantastic job allowing the fans to laugh at the episode and follow along more of what was happening at the same time. Occasionally, the screen would cut in half allowing viewers to see the episode while watching the shenanigans of Mike Nelson and company. Thankfully, these cuts all happen during lulls in the action. Every once in a while, you hear the commentators giggling at their own jokes but for the most part, it ran rather smoothly.

Technical Difficulties

That wasn’t the case with the opening act. On some episodes of MST3K, they would start off the show by viewing a classic educational film and mock it. Being that Doctor Who is British, the Rifftrax folks went across the pond to bring us Play Safe. According to Kevin Murphy, in the early 70s there was a big problem with kids playing near power lines and inside of substations. So the British government created this film as a way of warning kids of the dangers of high voltage. While there were plenty of laughs made at dumb kids playing with electricity for the first 2-3 minutes, the Rifftrax guys had trouble seeing the monitors and kept asking the tech crew for help. But once it was cleared, it was smooth sailing the rest of the night. Needless to say, the electrocution of little Timmy was a running joke for the duration of the event.

It was great getting to laugh without being reminded of all the crap going on in the world. Only a few jokes were topical.  There was one joke about the next Doctor being cast as a woman. Several jokes about the quality of 2017 summer blockbusters came at the expense of features like The Dark Tower. But the Trump/ Clinton jokes were kept to just one! The Five Doctors was a great event to just escape everything for a little bit. Even my wife said that for 2 solid hours she forgot about work.

Coming Attractions

The next big Rifftrax event is in the fall. On October 25th, theatres nationwide will be airing the Rifftrax Halloween Special showing of the original Night of the Living Dead. Until then, if you need some laughs, you can view a number of features and shorts in the Rifftrax library at prices ranging from $1.99 to $9.99 per episode. Just don’t forget your cheese popcorn and Dr. Pepper knock-off sodas.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Countdown to New Who: Advent 2016: Day 18

   David Tennant, the Tenth Doctor, is arguably the best modern version of the Doctor (my wife would argue for Tennant's replacement, Matt Smith, which is her Doctor.) Tennant's version is also said to surpass that of Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker, whose classic series portrayal has often been the benchmark to which all previous Doctor's aspire to achieve.
    My Doctor has always been Peter Davison: the Fifth Doctor. I starting watching Doctor Who at age 3 or 4 right as Tom Baker left. The first episodes I watched were the multi-parters of Logopolis, which said goodbye to Baker and hello to Davison.  I ended up watching his entire run. So, for me, Peter Davison is my first Doctor, though I was briefly exposed to Tom Baker for a couple of days. At that time, PBS would sow 2 episodes back-to-back and by Day 2, Peter Davison had regenerated into the role...
    Anyways, Tennant is very similar to the Davison Doctor. It was the actor's favorite Doctor when he was young. Plus, Tennant ended up marrying Davison's daughter- who played the daughter of Tennant's Doctor in series 4. 
   I wonder how confused they all are during the holidays...

    So, my gift for today's Advent is a double dose of the Doctor. It's a mini-episode called Time Crash in which Tennant's Doctor meets Davison's Doctor for a 2007 BBC Children in Need special.  Then, scroll down for another treat, a rarely seen Christmas commercial starring the Tenth Doctor.

  

Enjoy...

Doctor Who: The Companions by John Nathan-Turner

    The Companion. A staple of the series Doctor Who. It's the crew member of the TARDIS that anchors the Doctor, completes him, and makes Whovians dream that one day we'll hear the melodic whine of the time ship's grinding brakes in hopes that it will be our turn to travel through time and space.

   This 1986 book covers every companion to grace the interior of the TARDIS. Written by (at the time) showrunner John Nathan-Turner, it's filled with lots of insider information about the creation of the characters and the process in casting the talent to portray them on the small screen. However, if the companion isn't from Nathan-Turner’s era, you'll get very little information on your favorite companions. But that wasn't a problem for me as my Doctor, the Fifth played by Peter Davison, features heavily in this book. But it does make for an incomplete compendium on the companions of the first six Doctors. Especially those who traveled with the Hartnell, Troughton, and Pertwee Timelords...

   The book also boasts several painted covers of some past companions. Several were quite good renderings of the actors. A couple were okay but did feature some awesome monsters. And then there is the black and white painting of Elizabeth Sladen’s Sarah Jane Smith… if not for a listing of subjects in the front of the book, I would not have a clue who the artist was going for.

    Doctor Who: The Companions was printed in the UK. I'm sure over there this isn't a hard book to find. But anything classic Who is rare here in the States and I was thrilled to find this at the Doll Book Exchange last month.

  A must for classic Who fans- especially of the Fourth, Fifth. And Sixth Doctors!

  Worth Consuming!

  Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Doctor Who: Prisoners of Time, Volume 3

Well it took upwards of a year, but I finally have completed the epic Doctor Who: Prisoners of Time 50^th Anniversary miniseries by IDW. It was so very much worth the wait. In this volume, the identity of who was kidnapping the Doctor’s companions from the time stream is finally revealed. I wouldn’t in a million years have guessed who it was. I won’t reveal who, but I’ll give you a hint: this modern era companion is one that Whovians often refused to talk about. (Need more clues, go to the Doctor Who Hub on Facebook and looks for the companion we “don’t talk about.”)

Anyway, the art was fantastic and I was glad to finally read issue 12 after getting some top secret hints from that issue’s artist, Kelly Yates. Plus, in that issue, all 11 Doctors converge with just about every companion imaginable to defeat this top secret villain and his even more super-secret partner. Sorry, John Hurt fans, there’s no War Doctor in this book!

This was a fantastic finish to a wonderful series that had a marvelous mystery to unravel. It’s truly a love letter to the world’s longest running science fiction television program and proof that IDW should be allowed to renew their licensing agreement with the BBC and continue producing more classic Who stories for generations to come!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars!

 

Doctor Who: Prisoners of Time: Volume 2 (Doctor Who Month)

 

In this volume of IDW’s tribute to 50 years of Doctor Who, we focus on some of my all-time favorite Time Lords. It doesn’t hurt that these are the guys I grew up with. But I also love that my Doctor- the fifth played by Peter Davison is covered here.

Someone with connections to the Doctor in the future is still kidnapping his companions. But, unlike the last volume where he was caught off guard by this occurrence, the Doctor is starting to catch on.

I liked the IDW used the original artist for the Colin Baker era comics. It was also need to see a character used only in those comic adventures be used for that Doctor’s adventure. Very smart. I loved it.

What I was not a fan of was the art. Okay, let me back up. The art of the aliens, the TARDIS, and the supporting characters is very good. But, the fifth, seventh, and eighth Doctor and their companions are not photo-realistic looking. One might say, it’s a comic, it’s not supposed to look real. However, the sixth Doctor, Peri, and the Master look like the actors who played them. So, if that issue could capture the looks of Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant, and Anthony Ainley, why couldn’t the other artists have done as good as job on their mandated Doctors as well. (Plus at least 3 of the last 4 Doctors in volume 1 looked like the actors who portrayed them, so I have a very valid argument.)

Despite the art, the stories were all very good and the writing captured the style and mannerisms of all the characters. I desperately cannot wait for volume 3 and the answer to just who is behind these kidnappings.

Worth Consuming.

Rating 8 out of 10 stars

Wibbly Wobbly Timey Whimey rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Doctor Who: The Key to Time- A Year-by-Year Record (21st Anniversary Special) (Doctor Who Month)

 

How best to learn more about the early, early, early days of Doctor Who than this exhaustive diary of the first 21 years of the classic British sci-fi classic. Covering its inception and first ever airing in November 1963 to April 1984 with the first appearance of the sixth Doctor, just about everything you wanted to know about the original series is covered here.

It’s a little more focused on the technical and behind the scenes aspects of the show. But that’s fine with me. I want to start really collecting Doctor Who episodes on DVD and I’m not sure I want to know everything that happens. I like being surprised, even if it’s a 30 year old episode.

There’s also quite a bit of editorial covered in this book from reviews of TV critics to angry mothers who make Fredric Wertham looked like a proponent for the comic book medium. I like the reviews, but the Mothers Against Doctor Who passages get kinda old, kinda quick.

There’s plenty of Doctor Who photos in this book, most are black and white, but there are some gems in brilliant 4-color spread format. Also, any artwork in this book was commissioned by fans. I thought that was really cool.

I think that for 1984, this was a great offering for American fans of Who, since not much probably was available on this side of the pond. But, I am sure in this day and age, there are much more comprehensive and more professional records of the series. I hope to find them, but for now, this was a great log of the early days of my all-time favorite TV show.

Worth Consuming.

Rating 8 out of 10 stars.

Wibbly Wobbly Timey Whimey rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Doctor Who: Aliens and Enemies (Doctor Who Month)

From the Daleks and their first appearances in 1963 to the reinvention of the Cybermen during the David Tennant years, this guide by BBC Books is not quite a definitive guide to the aliens and baddies of the Doctor Who Universe. But it’s pretty darn close. Every Doctor is covered in this guide, except for the 8^th Doctor. Why they didn’t focus on the Master’s appearance in the Paul McGann TV movie is beyond me, but it wouldn’t made this book all so much more encompassing. There’s no Matt Smith stuff either, but this was published before he came on the scene.

Each entry includes a small plot synopsis of the episode(s) in which the creature appears, description of the being’s race and demeanor and even technical points on how the FX and makeup wizards of Doctor Who created the characters for the long running show.

There is a companion volume called Monster and Villains. I hope to one day get my hands on that one. Maybe I’ll get my wish and McGann’s Doctor will be covered in that guide.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Wibbly Wobbly Timey Whimey rating: 6 out of 10 stars.

Doctor Who #23 (Marvel 1984-86) (Doctor Who Month)

I read this issue as a chance to tribute my Doctor- the fifth Doctor, Peter Davison. Tom Baker was the first Doctor I ever encountered, but Davison was the first regeneration, so I feel like I got to know him from the very beginning. He’s very wise, but it’s no stogy like Baker’s Doctor. The 4^th Doctor, whether he liked it or not was an authoritarian. It was his way or the highway. With Davison, it was like hanging with a big brother or that ultra-cool uncle who liked kids. The fact that one of Davison’s companions was a young people also helped make that special connection with me all these years.

It’s funny that my second favorite Doctor, David Tennant’s 10^th Doctor is not only just like Davison’s Doctor, but he’s married to Davison’s daughter and is now his son-in-law.

In this final issue of Marvel’s Doctor Who, the Doctor takes a vacation on a deserted isle. Thinking it’s 1983, it’s actually 1943 and it’s the middle of the second world war! Captured by a Japanese soldier, the Doctor must keep on his toes in order to survive. The story had a tragic ending, but it was classic fifth Doctor all the way.

Then there is a backup story about the Daemons and their attempt to crash the barrier beyond infinity. Can you say Star Trek V? Anyway, it’s got a trippy Twilight Zone ending that was really cool.

Lastly, there is a rendition of the first ever Doctor Who tale, An Unearthly Child. Only, this story is total parody and not exactly what I was promised on the cover of this final issue. I enjoyed the tale, but I feel like it was false advertising.

Overall, a really good Doctor Who issue. It’s a shame that the comic didn’t last that long, but this did occur during the waning years of Who and very few American markets still showed the show in syndication.

Thankfully, people never gave up hope and love for the Doctor, as he’s an international smash hit again!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Wibbly Wobbly, Timey Wimey Scale: 9 out of 10.