LUCID FRENZY JUNIOR: THE MUSEUM OF FORGOTTEN FUTURES

“Nothing dates an era faster than it's vision of the future”

- Clive James

A look at old British TV SF of my youth and before, when the Home Counties seemed particularly prone to alien invasion. Some introductory blurb here. If there's a general theme, it's that if the past is another country, that past's future is the most foreign place of all. The title comes from a Mark Stewart track. (If you're here just for 'Doctor Who', scroll down.)

'QUATERMASS'/ NIGEL KNEALE:

'QUATERMASS' - AN EXPERIMENT IN SF

Quite possibly where it all began… the pioneering 1953 TV series, in which astronaut becomes vegetable with some far-from-hilarious consequences.

'THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT'
The 1955 movie version of the above. (Which okay isn't very TV-ish, so pendants may want to skip this one,)

'QUATERMASS II'
The 1955 sequel, in which not all is well in our green and pleasant land. In fact, its not really even green or pleasant any more.

'QUATERMASS AND THE PIT'
The original trilogy concludes in 1958 where Martians rear their ugly heads to give everyone nightmares, and Quatermass has a bad trip on the Tube before the line's even open.

'QUATERMASS IV' (aka 'THE QUATERMASS CONCLUSION')
My personal favourite from these reviews, when the series returned in 1979 and caught up on all the social currents from the Fifties till then. It didn't make for cheery viewing…

MONSTERS VERSUS ALIENS (THE LEGACY OF 'QUATERMASS')

Looking at the series' influences on its successors, chiefly (of course) 'Doctor Who' - where one mirrored the other and where they varied. As summed up in the difference between monsters and aliens.

'NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR'
Attention, citizens! Kneale and Cartier's follow-up to 'Quatermass Experiment' was an adaptation of Orwell's classic political dystopia. Written partly as a satire of Orwell's stint at the BBC, now dramatised on the BBC itself.

TEAMTIME DYSTOPIAS:

The Seventies was when kids' TV went weird, which was to prove preparation for our future.

'THE CHANGES'

The day everyone in Britain took against technology, and had a smashing time of it.

'SKY'
How every Seventies trope there was became crammed into one vivid (if barely coherent) package. Stonehenge! Blonde aliens! Armageddon a-comin’! All that…

'CHILDREN OF THE STONES'

Folk horror goes rustic, as country life proves hard to leave…

'THE SINISTER INVERSE: ROB YOUNG'S THE MAGIC BOX'

...Or, for a more general look at the sinister screen, my look at Rob Young's magnum opus on "viewing Britain through the rectangular window"

'STAR TREK':

'Star Trek' is part of a series on British SF shows for reasons of... comparison. Yes, that's it, comparison.

THE RISE OF SPOCK

RED ALERT! THE COLD WAR GOES GALACTIC

HOW TO MAKE HISTORY

COUNTERING THE COUNTER-CULTURE

ON RACE IN SPACE

JUST SILLY SEXIST HOKUM SET IN SPACE?

PLANETARY UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS

'DOCTOR WHO':

Reader, please note that this picture is a partial one!

GENERAL:

THAT CHANGING FACE (CONFESSIONS OF A FIFTY-SOMETHING 'DOCTOR WHO' FAN')

THE 'DOCTOR WHO' CREDIT SEQUENCE – A CLASSIC OF IT'S TIME

Which of course it is. An over-view through the years…

NOT A PROPER REVIEW AT ALL OF 'AN ADVENTURE IN SPACE AND TIME'
A rumination on what precisely constitutes the show, poorly disguise as a review of Gatiss' Fiftieth anniversary docu-drama

TIME IT WAS A-CHANGIN'
On conceptions of time in the old Who stories ‘The Aztecs’ and ‘Time Meddler’, against New Who episodes ‘Big Bang’ and ‘Blink’.

A USER'S GUIDE TO CONTINUITY IN 'DOCTOR WHO'

Clue: There isn't one.

DOCTOR WHO IN A STRANGE ADVENTURE WITH UNCANNY FORCES

Rarely is the question asked, who Sigmund Freud have been a fan?

THE FIRST DOCTOR:

Season 1:

'AN UNEARTHLY CHILD'

'THE DALEKS!'

'THE EDGE OF DESTRUCTION'
'MARCO POLO'
'THE KEYS OF MARINUS'
'THE AZTECS'
'THE SENSORITES'
'THE REIGN OF TERROR'
'PLANET OF GIANTS'
'THE DALEK INVASION OF EARTH'

Season 2:

'THE RESCUE'
'THE ROMANS'
'THE WEB PLANET'
'THE CRUSADES'
'THE SPACE MUSEUM'
'THE CHASE'
'THE TIME MEDDLER'

Season 3:

'GALAXY 4'

'THE MYTH MAKERS'

'THE DALEKS MASTER PLAN' (Part One)

'THE DALEKS MASTER PLAN' (Part Two)

'THE MASSACRE'

'THE ARK'

'THE CELESTIAL TOYMAKER'

'THE SMUGGLERS'

THE SECOND DOCTOR:

Season 4:

THE CHANGED FACE OF DOCTOR WHO

'POWER OF THE DALEKS'

'THE EVIL OF THE DALEKS'

Season 5:

'TOMB OF THE CYBERMEN'

'THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMEN'

'THE ICE WARRIORS'

'THE ENEMY OF THE WORLD'

Season 6:

A PERIOD OF DISRUPTION IN THE SPACE-TIME CONTINUUM:

'SPEARHEAD FROM SPACE'

'THE FACE OF EVIL'

'BATTLEFIELD'

THE NINTH DOCTOR:

THE NEW DOCTOR WHO AND THE STRANGE DEATH OF LIBERAL ENGLAND (Part One)

THE NEW DOCTOR WHO AND THE STRANGE DEATH OF LIBERAL ENGLAND (Part Two)

These are more a thematic overview than an episode-by-episode guide, looking at what the old series was all about, and when the new show did and didn’t need to do to change the record.

THE TENTH DOCTOR:

For no good reason, I seem to skip both series two and three.

SERIES FOUR - Part One

From ‘Partners in Crime’ to the resistibly risible ‘Unicorn and the Wasp’.

SERIES FOUR - Part Two

Picking up from the somewhat better ‘Silence in the Library’ and taking us through to ‘Journey’s End’.

LATE BREAKING NEWS! DOCTOR WHO AND JESUS CHRIST IN SEPARATE PEOPLE SHOCK! (1)

LATE BREAKING NEWS! DOCTOR WHO AND JESUS CHRIST IN SEPARATE PEOPLE SHOCK! (2)
'Last of the Time Lords', 'Midnight' and 'Turn Left' as contrasts in Davies' scripting style.

THE NOT-SO SPECIALS

...aka ’The Next Doctor’, ‘Planet of the Dead’, 'Waters of Mars’ and ’The End of Time.’

THE ELEVENTH DOCTOR:

SERIES 5

LOOK WHO’S BACK!
‘The Eleventh Hour’ and ‘The Beast Below’

‘VICTORY OF THE DALEKS’ (aka NOT THEIR FINEST FORTY FIVE MINUTES)

‘TIME OF THE ANGELS’/ ‘FLESH AND STONE’

ONE LAST WORD ABOUT THAT WEEPING ANGEL BUSINESS, AND THEN WE CAN ALL MOVE ON

A post-script to the above

‘Vampires of Venice’ seemed to pass best unreflected, so next up we have...

‘AMY’S CHOICE’

‘THE HUNGRY EARTH’/ ‘COLD BLOOD’

‘VINCENT AND THE DOCTOR’

I was not commonly described as one of the fans of ‘The Lodger’, so next up we have…

'THE PANDORICA OPENS', 'THE BIG BANG', UNCLE STEVE MOFFAT AND ALL

ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WAS A FAIRY TALE WHICH KNEW ITSELF - LAST THOUGHTS ON STEVEN MOFFAT’S DOCTOR WHO (1)

On fables and fairy stories, and how well they get on with metafiction

CRACKS, LEVELS AND MARMITE - MORE LAST THOUGHTS ON STEVEN MOFFAT’S DOCTOR WHO (2)

On the love/hate reaction this series induced in some

The Christmas special ’A Christmas Carol’ was then skipped, even though it wasn’t actually bad.

SERIES 6:

‘THE IMPOSSIBLE ASTRONAUT’

…PLUS A POSTSCRIPT

‘DAY OF THE MOON’

‘CURSE OF THE BLACK SPOT’

‘THE DOCTOR’S WIFE’

…WITH ANOTHER POSTSCRIPT

‘THE REBEL FLESH'/ 'THE ALMOST PEOPLE’

‘A GOOD MAN GOES TO WAR’

‘LET’S KILL HITLER’

‘NIGHT TERRORS’

‘THE GIRL WHO WAITED’
'THE GOD COMPLEX'

‘Closing Time’ was then unceremonially skipped, taking us to…

‘THE WEDDING OF RIVER SONG’

Rumour has it there may have been some kind of Christmas special at this point. Me, I find it best not to entertain such notions...

SON OF THE RETURN OF ‘DOCTOR WHO AND THE STRANGE DEATH OF LIBERAL ENGLAND’