Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
Jon Pertwee’s second season of ‘Doctor Who’ is where we see his era going into full swing. It also establishes the U.N.I.T. family that’s prominent in the Third Doctor era for Seasons 8, 9 and 10. We’re introduced to Katy Manning as Jo Grant and Richard Franklin as Captain Mike Yates in the series.
We’re also introduced to Roger Delgado as the evil Master, who is like the Doctor’s Moriarty just as Nicholas Courtney as the Brigadier is the Doctor’s Dr. Watson. Throughout Season 8, the Master is the villain in every story. Whatever strange alien incursion is going on, the Master was behind it all. 🙂
This was something that producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks toned down in later seasons. Here in Season 8, you can see the rival relationship going on between Jon Pertwee’s Doctor and Roger Delgado’s Master, especially when the two are Time Lords and they share similar intelligences.
Whilst ‘Terror of the Autons’, ‘The Mind of Evil’, ‘The Claws of Axos’ and ‘The Dæmons’ are earthbound stories, ‘Colony In Space’ is the only story in Season 8 to have an adventure away from Earth. It’s all part of Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks’ plan to have the Doctor in space and time again.
Seven-part adventures aren’t found in the rest of ‘Doctor Who’ series since Season 7. More variety is given in terms of what stories can be told in the Jon Pertwee era, with ‘Terror of the Autons’ and ‘The Claws of Axos’ being four-parters and ‘The Mind of Evil’ and ‘Colony In Space’ being six-parters.
‘The Dæmons’ is the only five-part adventure in Season 8 of the classic TV series The friendship between Jo and the Third Doctor is pretty evident, as they get on well with each other. Jo is also a character that the audience can relate to when watching the series. She’s also very different compared to Liz Shaw. 🙂
Thanks for reading!
Bye for now!
Tim 🙂
Bradley's Basement 
The Master may seem like a cardboard villain for all his down-to-basics evil deeds. But it’s a good actor in the role that makes us have true appreciation for his mark on Dr. Who and the talent of Roger Delgado wonderfully qualified.
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Hi scifimike,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the Master. I enjoyed him in Season 8 and Roger Delgado makes the role his own, considering he was the first actor to play him and interesting how others like Anthony Ainley, Geoffrey Beevers, Eric Roberts, Derek Jacobi, John Simm, Michelle Gomez and Sacha Dhawan have followed him with their own takes on the character.
Many thanks,
Tim 🙂
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With the expansion of the Master via all the Big Finish Masters like Mark Gatiss, Alex Macqueen and James Dreyfus, it’s good to know that the role can be permitted a good amount of flexibility like that of the Doctor.
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Hi scifimike.
Yes, of course. Thanks for mentioning the Big Finish Masters. I’m sure there’ll be more actors playing the Master in future years to come as well as the Doctor.
Tim 🙂
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There was a fan edit trailer on YouTube by someone who wanted to see Charles Dance play the Master and it was pretty interesting.
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Yeah, I wouldn’t mind Charles Dance as the Master in some form or other. That would be pretty exciting.
Thanks scifimike.
Tim 🙂
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You’re welcome. Those fan edit trailers for Dr. Who can be very impressive. The first one that I remember seeing was done by a fan who wanted to see Natalie Dormer as the next Romana.
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Thanks scifimike,
I’ve seen Natalie Dormer recently in one of the ITV ‘Marple’ episodes with Julia Mackenzie called ‘Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?’ And she briefly appeared alongside Jenna Coleman in ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’. And apparently she was in things like ‘The Hunger Games’ films and ‘Game of Thrones’. 😀
Tim 🙂
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Seeing Natalie take on the role of Moriarty in Elementary was marvelous. She is a very lovely actress.
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I’ve yet to see ‘Elementary’, but if Natalie Dormer is good as Moriarty in that, maybe she’ll make a good Missy in ‘Doctor Who’. 😀
Thanks scifimike,
Tim 🙂
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You’re welcome. But I guess I gave you a spoiler about Natalie being Moriarty. Because it does come as a surprise. Especially for Sherlock Holmes. Sorry about that.
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No worries. I recently saw a female Moriarty in ‘Enola Holmes 2’ on Netflix which was quite a surprise. Tim 🙂
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