Sunday 13 July 2014

The Ribos Operation





Meet the new K9, same as the old K9... 


The new K9 gets excited at the prospect of a holiday... 

...then the TARDIS has a power cut. Well it is the 70s. 

The light and music heralding the Guardian is impressive; this is really something different. 

Then he walks out onto a cheap tatty set, where the man from Del Monte gives him the info dump. 


It's economical, I'll give you that; that's a 26 episode story arc set up in just 2 or 3 lines. 


"Nothing at all... ever." Love the way he just lets that sink in. The Guardian of Light, Harmony and Passive Aggressive threats. 

Much to the Doctor's annoyance, the Guardian gives him a new companion - Romanadvoretrelundarexpialadocius. 




Great introduction for Romana. "I'm so sorry, is there anything we do about that?" 


She's vandalised the TARDIS already. 


Okay, hands up everyone else that pronounced it "R-eye-bos" before seeing this?

The set design and costumes on Ribos are pretty lavish. Shame about the Shrivenzale. 



What a lovely rambunctious pair of rogues Garron and Unstoffe are. 


Romana's let her hair down & wastes no time in putting the Doctor in his place with some age discrimination.

Garron & Unstoffe are one of those classic Robert Holmes double acts and the Graff one of his bloodcurdling patter-spouting villains. 

Deta @Detaleader · Holmes was the best Author DW ever had. 

"Fresh!"

"Bitter!" 

Bek Hobbes @Greebobek ·  I like fresh but I also like bitter, but what is best? Only one way to find out. FIIIIGHHT! 


Should have gone with Fred.  


The Doctor lays down the law, then hangs around in an animal trap to illustrate his point. 

The futuristic and medieval are blended together so well here. 


Bek Hobbes @Greebobek · Something which the show did really well. Especially given that they could raid the BBC's prop and clothes departments.

Garron's trying to flog the whole planet to the Graff. That won't be cheap. 


The Space Pirate @Space_Pirate_73 ·  He sold the Sydney harbour bridge, you know.

10 million Opeks? Bargain.

MAW Holmes @MAW_H ·  How many Opeks to the Pu...?

Just to be original I'm going to guess 42! 


Lovely little details of the Graff's back story; seems he's been deposed & needs a base for his army. 


The Space Pirate @Space_Pirate_73 ·  Holmes saves the BBC a fortune with a few economical lines of dialogue!


Romana's knowledge all comes from books. 

We're a story too early for her to quote the Hitch-Hiker's Guide...  



Unstoffe gets the guards literally blind drunk. Or drunk, then blind, then unconscious. 


The Doctor & Fred try to sneak through, but the roaring, slobbering Shrivenzale is on their trail! 


Oh dear, the shrivenzale. 


(The Doctor makes a mental note to say "I told you so" next time he sees the White Guardian.)

Prentiss Hancock there as the guard captain. Immune to the Shrivenzale, who doesn't feed on wood. 

"Sorry old thing, we're just helping ourselves to your crown jewels!" 



"They'd have our heads off before you could say Rassilon's Rod!" 

The organ music really raises this above some of Dudley's more (by this stage) generic sounding scores. 

Tom tells Fred not to jump to conclusions, and worries about the competition. 


Garron's posh voice and Unstoffe's bumpkin voice both hilarious. "You won't never suffer from the scringes." 

Garron starts to work his magic, laying out the scam for the Graff. 

Bek Hobbes @Greebobek ·  Minder in Space.

Right people, right time; just the wrong location. 

Tom's at the height of his powers here, less emphasis on the brooding, more on the idiot savant buffoonery. 


The organ music really raises this above some of Dudley's more (by this stage) generic sounding scores. 


The Graff's been thinking about that guard. Whatever floats your boat, mate. 


Something's bugging the Graff... 


Garron and Unstoffe's plan progresses; next: recover the planted Jethryk. 


The Doctor & Fred have the same a similar plan - they need to get into the reliquary to recover the first segment of the key to time...

The guard plans to call the watch with his whistle. One blow for friend, two for foe, three for white walkers, four for Shrivenzale. 

Unstoffe's got there first; he removes the Jethryk and traps the Doctor, forcing him to pop back up the way he came - much to Garron's surprise! 


Luckily, Garron thinks they're there to arrest him... 


Unluckily, they bump into the aggrieved Graff! 


"We've been at this for about 25 minutes; Execute them!" 



Glove slap! Shut your big yap! 


Bek Hobbes @Greebobek ·  Less Simpsons for you, little kitty lol. 


Unstoffe suffers from that same "Open Face" condition that afflicted the 5th Doctor in the Target novels. 

The Doctor whistles for his dog. 

Unstoffe flees & finds refuge with an old man living on the streets of the concourse, Binro the Heretic. 


Mystic Meg's on the case. 



Totally normal antler head-dress there, guess this means she's a True Detective? (That's some up to the minute pop culture referencing for you, there.)  


I fancy Garron could "keep the economy in balance" better than George Osborne. 

The Doctor & Fred team up with Garron to get to Unstoffe and the Segment Jethryk before the Graff. 

Sholakh prepares the troops to hunt down Unstoffe: "No survivors! No tongue waggers!" 


Binro the Heretic: Disproving the received wisdom of no emotional scenes in Classic Who since 1978. 


MAW Holmes @MAW_H · "Binro was right!" qualifying as one of the "best scenes ever" in my opinion... 


Definitely. Rightly lauded as genuinely touching. People credit Holmes with the gothic horror & the savage black humour, but forget this little gem of a scene.

He'll be out for hours, K9's used stun mark 7! Is that like gas mark 7?  
Tim @parks8472 ·  Yep; stuns your enemies and bakes a mean coconut cake :)

MAW Holmes @MAW_H ·  Kake-9

With the Doctor & co. freed, Garron is able to tip his accomplice the wink that he needs to exit the concourse post haste.  


Binro the un-heretic tags along with renewed purpose. 


Nice crypt. 


Garron & Fred cuddle in the catacombs as the Graff prepares to bring the house down...! 


End of part 3 with the Graff closing in and Iain Cuthbertson doing unspeakable things to Mary's furry collar.  


The Space Pirate @Space_Pirate_73 · Never have the words Fred and cuddle been used in a sentence so enticingly...! 

You've clearly been hanging round with the wrong Freds! ;-P


"I was talking to myself!"

"That procedure is not logical!" 

Garron's had off with the tracer, realizing it'll lead him to Unstoffe... and the Jethryk. 





"Money isn't everything!"

"Who wants everything, I'll settle for 90%!"
Genius. 

"All but one of us is doomed to die!" Here we go with the portentous prophecies...  

Aw, poor old Binro! He dies saving Unstoffe, who's wounded himself when he rages for revenge.  


"I was going to make a touching speech, but my throat's too dry." 




Paul Seed plays this like it's Shakespeare. Slightly out of place but gives the character a certain fanaticism 


The Seeker's prophecy is starting to come true; Sholakh is dead & the Graff kills the Seeker... 


Leaving only the Graff and the last of his Levithian Invincibles, who sounds a bit like that Jon Culshaw. 



Hallucinating past battles, the Graff roars off into the tunnels and blows himself up. 

So the only survivor is... the Doctor! All's well that ends well. 



Garron asks to handle the Doctor's Jethryk. Cheeky. 


"Come along K9! Stop just before the door, but only after the camera's moved upwards!" 

"That's a queer take off!"


The double switcheroo between Garron and the Doctor in this last scene is lovely. 


Romana converts the segment. 


One down, five to go! 


TTFN! K.

Coming Soon... Resurrection of the Daleks

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