Nov
10
2017
Dang it, I am really getting tired of checking my news feed and finding out another classic Doctor Who contributor has passed. This evening I learned that actor Scott Fredericks died on Monday following a long illness. He appeared prominently in two classic stories, first as one of the soldiers from the future in Day of the Daleks, and much more recently in my viewing as the very awesomely-named Maximillian Stael in Image of the Fendahl. He also appeared in Blake's 7, but of course virtually every Doctor Who writer, director,and actor from the late 70's wound up on that show as well at some point or another.
But enough dwelling on mortality, let's talk about the second half of the current story.
The Androids of Tara - Parts 3 & 4
(TARDIS Data Core recap)
There were no big surprises in today's viewing. Romana from yesterday's cliffhanger turns out to be an android. The real Romana escapes from the dungeon, but is recaptured at the end of the episode. the evil Grendel forces a wedding between the newly-crowned King (Grendel's prisoner, it was an android replica that got crowned) and Romana pretending to be the Princess Strella, under threat of death to the real princess who is also Grendel's prisoner. There is a fencing duel between the Doctor and Grendel, with much derring-do, and in the end the King and the Princess are freed, Grendel runs off into the night, and K9 is stuck in a boat in the castle moat, presumably rescued shortly after the credits roll.
Altogether a pleasant enough trifle, nothing terrible about it at all, but honestly if you ask me anything about it a month from now I am unlikely to remember much. I can't even come up with any interesting backstage stories about it, it's just a cipher of a story. Ah, well.
Tomorrow promises to be a little more interesting, given that it is written by Robert Holmes and features a giant tentacled sea monster. What's not to love about that? I even mentioned the story in my other blog almost two years ago. Good times.
STATS:
Doctor(s): Fourth
Companion(s): Romana, K9
Episode(s): The Androids of Tara - Parts 3 & 4
Steps Walked: 7,674 today, 1,711,797 total
Distance Walked: 4.40 miles today, 860.49 miles total
Weight: 252.64 lbs (five day moving average), net change -54.66 lbs