Starts with an interesting premise, where the Doctor and company seem to have slipped into a sidestream of time, when they land in a Space Museum, but cannot be seen or heard, but can observe.  They find themselves and the Tardis as exhibits. Eventually, the time sidestream joins back and they become part of a more conventional adventure and become in a power struggle between the ruling Moroks and the enslaved Xerons.  The entire series ends with an interesting conclusion – the daleks are hunting them through time.
Rating: Good 5/10

Eh not bad, one of the better ‘historical’ Doctor Whos of the early days. Set in 12th century Palestine, we have intrigues and fights involving King Richard and his knights, Saladin and his moors, with the Doctor and his companions in the middle. There’s some interesting plot strands (Barbara tells Saladin of her time with Nero, teh future invasion by the daleks, and the insect planet, and he thinks she could be the new Scheherazade). I liked this one.

Rating: Good 5/10

Regeneration 1 Series 014 The Crusade

Eh not bad, one of the better ‘historical’ Doctor Whos of the early days.  Set in 12th century Palestine, we have intrigues and fights involving King Richard and his knights, Saladin and his moors, with the Doctor and his companions in the middle.  There’s some interesting plot strands (Barbara tells Saladin of her time with Nero, teh future invasion by the daleks, and the insect planet, and he thinks she could be the new Scheherazade). I liked this one.
Rating: Good 5/10

True Grit by Charles Portis

Written in 1968 but feeling like it comes from us from a writer maybe 80 years earlier, this is a fine first-person account from the perspective of a 14 year old girl, Mattie Ross, about how she avenged the cold-blooded murder of her father by paying for the services of a US Marshall, Rooster Cogburn. 

The language used is vivid and authentic, full of nuance and detail that feels genuine and appropriate for this particular girl (who is intelligent, wise, aloof and the former of strong opinions), with a powerful narrative drive propelling the action and story along.  It has laughs, good characterisation in all the main characters (including the head bad guy, Lucky Ned Pepper),  and is a real page turner.

I’d also add the recent movie of this gets exactly the mood of the novel and gets the character of Mattie pitch-perfect, and has very little divergence from this simple, driving story.

Thoroughly recommended.

Rating: Good 8.5/10

This one was not good.  There were actors dressed up as giant ants, weird woodlouse-type creatures and giant butterflies. The actors were trying to do weird actions and intonations, I guess to appear otherworldly, but it came across as pretty terrible amateur dramatics, and the story went all over the place, but it was basically at first a war between the butterflies and the ants, but then morphed into the ants being controlled by a larger entity called the Animus.  6 episodes was far too many episodes to cover this story.

We get a proper encounter with the Animus by the end (in the last episode), and this really lifted things.  The voice acting and decisions made on how to present this weird, large entity (Vicki describes it as a giant spider, but it’s got legs, tentacles and suchlike, and you feel you’re only seeing part of it) were good choices – this section was rather good.  It’s definitely got something Lovecraftian about it and reminds you of the ‘ancient ones’ in Lovecraft lore – and this point is raised in the Wikipedia pages on this episode.  This end section raised the score a point and a half.

Rating: Bad 2/10

A fun one, with the Doctor and companions up to shenanigans in Ancient Rome, and managing to fit in slave auctions, galley slaves rowing in a storm, gladiatorial fights, and the Emperor Nero deciding to burn down Rome.  The Doctor even has a fight with an assassin, who he easily dispatches, obviously relishing the fight.  Rather fun overall.

Rating: Not Bad 5/10

Rather poor two-parter involving an alien holding some humans in fear, but turns into a routine murder-mystery.  Only really notable for the introduction of a new companion, Vicki,

Rating: Bad 2/10

The Tardis makes it to Earth, but a future earth – the year 2164AD.  They land in a deserted, damaged London, and find evidence of strange happenings (there is a sign prohibiting the dumping of bodies in the Thames).  It turns out that the Daleks have invaded, and have killed or enslaved the survivors to work on a giant mine in Bedfordshire, to remove the Earth’s molten core and make it a giant spaceship that can travel anywhere.

An interesting episode.  It has some great stuff in the first few episodes concerning this post-apocalypse London, humans converted into mental slaves called ‘Robomen’ by the daleks, and a generally dark tone.  The setup is a little wasted as the to-ing and fro-ing gets a little soap-opera, but overall this has a great premise and scenes, and it’s clear why the Daleks continued to be such a part of popular culture generally, as well as such significant baddies in Dr Who lore.

Rating: Good 6.5/10

The Tardis has a malfunction whilst trying to get the travellers back to their own time and country, and the travellers find themselves in contemporary times, but shrunken to the size of an inch.  They do not realize their location, and think they are on an alien planet with giant ants and earthworms.  Eventually, the plot turns into a dull drama about a plot around murder to cover up the strength of persistence of a newly-developed pesticide.  An interesting premise that isn’t a very engaging story.

Rating: not good, 4/10

The Tardis appears to land in the English countryside, as the Doctor is mad at Ian and Barbara, and wants to return them to their own time.  It turns out they are in the France of Robespierre, and indeed we meet both Robespierre and Napoleon during this adventure, and the drama focuses on intrigue and escape (usually from prison cells, but also from the guillotine).  Not bad, with some diverse acting and characters.

Rating: not bad, 5.5/10