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The Masque of Mandragora
chuffnobbler
Posts: 10,772 Forum Member
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Watched the DVD last night. First time I've seen that story for yeeeeears.
Loved it. What a fun, likeable, jolly little story.
The Doctor has some hilarious dialogue; the baddies are proper boo-hiss baddies; Sarah is on good form; the new Tardis interior is likeable; Portmeirion looks gorgeous (I have been on the Portmeirion websiot this morning, and a hoping to visit shortly); Stuart Fell gets to play about three diffrent roles; there's a bit of repressed sexuality going on between Giuliano and Marco; the costumes are great; there's some fun swordfights and horse-chases ... great fun.
The big disappointment is the ending, where it seems very much as if
Despite that, Masque is enormous fun, and I can recommend to all.
Loved it. What a fun, likeable, jolly little story.
The Doctor has some hilarious dialogue; the baddies are proper boo-hiss baddies; Sarah is on good form; the new Tardis interior is likeable; Portmeirion looks gorgeous (I have been on the Portmeirion websiot this morning, and a hoping to visit shortly); Stuart Fell gets to play about three diffrent roles; there's a bit of repressed sexuality going on between Giuliano and Marco; the costumes are great; there's some fun swordfights and horse-chases ... great fun.
The big disappointment is the ending, where it seems very much as if
the Doctor has spent a couple of scenes disguised as Heironymous, during which time the Brethren have zapped loads of dancers and then the Brethren themselves get zapped by the Helix. The Doctor seems to be standing by and watching all of this whilst pretending to be Heironymous. On the documentary, the director states that Tom Baker was determined that the Doctor should not kill anyone during swordfights ... but it seems he was happy for the Doctor to be complicit in the death of at least a dozen other people!
Another problem with the ending, which the producer acknowledges in the documentary, is that
there's no real show-down between the Doctor and Heironymous, and Heironymous's defeat happens offscreen. it's all a bit unclear.
Despite that, Masque is enormous fun, and I can recommend to all.
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Really looking forward to getting it on DVD.
Beautifully filmed in and around Portmeirien too.
Yes! The story is jammed full of really funny dialogue ("I wouldn't say no to a salami sandwich") and little visual jokes (the Doctor is carrying a salami when he leaves!).
My favourite bit is probably when Sarah is zonked out on the sacrificial altar, and the Doctor pulls her off it, feet first. the way she gradually begins to slip offscreen made Mrs Chuff and me laugh out loud.
Same with me.
I remember liking it a great deal but can't recall the actual content all that well.
Try here to refresh your memory!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW9069C1F9A
They didn't have any choice - the set warped in storage between "Robots of Death" and "The Invisible Enemy".
G
I watched some Blake's Seven last night, and Gareth Armstrong was there again. It took me a while to recognise him, even though it's only about 2 days since I saw him in DW, and the DW was recorded at the same kind of time as B7! Maybe it was the lack of wig that confused me.
It was a bit slow looking back but then we're used to all-action now with everything done and explained in under an hour, then you had half an hour or so and had to hold it in your mind for a week before the next one and you remembered the important bits. It really was one of the most visually stunning serials, I've been to Portmeirion since and it's a wonderful place. Besides that the costumes were terrrific.
Wow, thanks for bringing that to my attention. I'll definitely be setting some time aside to watch those!
Obviously Gareth Roberts and Clayton Hickman have a close friendship with teh DVD producers, as I can't think of any other reason why something so self-indulgent and unfunny would be allowed onto a professionally released DVD under any other circumstances.
GR and CH are clearly having the time of their lives, wearing wigs and pretending to be Blue Peter presenters and characters from The Prisoner ... I just wish I was having even half as much fun watching them.
Agreed. As DVD extras go it was just a big pile of fail. Do they turn up on any of the others?
Their "famous fan" status has obviously got them promoted to making their own material, and it was self-indulgent in the extreme. Some of the comedy stuff on the DVDs is really very poor. The City of Death one isn't very good. Green Death and Pyramids of Mars have very funny comedy stuff, but Masque is another one for the rubbish bin.
I suspect CH and GR were commissioned by their DVD producer mates.