Classic Who "Remembrance of the Daleks" Parts 1&2 Full Reaction!

"This is BBC television. The time is a quarter past five and Saturday viewing continues with an adventure in the new science fiction series, Doc ...", BBC Announcer, "Remembrance of the Daleks" Happy birthday gap ... thing ... you know. We're back in November 1963 - what happened that month? Yes, welcome to the 25th anniversary season of Doctor Who! We get the announcement of a new SF series on TV, a return to the Coal Hill School and the Totters Lane's scrapyard, and we work with a pre-UNIT British Army group - what could be better? Well, spotting a variety of actors who have had earlier roles in Classic Who. "Small human female sighted on level three.", "Who are you calling small?", Dalek and Ace, "Remembrance of the Daleks" Ace gets straight into the role of an attack companion with her baseball bat - go Ace! This was apparently Sophie's favourite scene in Classic Who. "She doesn't talk to strangers. Very wise.", The Doctor just after tasting the asphalt, "Remembrance of the Daleks" I wondered a while ago with a reactor about Classic Doctors tasting things (ala 10). Here's a good example. "Well, he knows what he's talking about, and considerably more than he's telling us. I think we should go along with him for now.", "And later?", "We could ask him for an explanation.", Rachel and Gilmore, "Remembrance of the Daleks" Rachel was played by Pamela Salem. We last saw her as Toos in "The Robots of Death". "What am I dealing with? Little green men?", "No, Little green blobs in bonded-polycarbite armour.", Gilmore and the Doctor, "Remembrance of the Daleks" And Group Captain Gilmore is played by Simon Williams. He had been in the original "Upstairs, Downstairs" - p.s. Sophie had had a crush on him in that show. "You can always judge a man by the quality of his enemies.", The Doctor, "Remembrance of the Daleks" Ace picks up a book on the French Revolution - this would be the one that Barbara would lending to Susan!!! However, the book cover has the wrong color - they used the color from the original pilot filming. "You are here for the job of school caretaker?", The Headmaster, "Remembrance of the Daleks" The job of caretaker at Coal Hill School? Er ... 12's "The Caretaker" episode, anyone? The headmaster is played by long-time Who actor Michael Sheard (and his character gets killed). We last saw him as Mergrave in "Castrovalva" (and that ended oddly), but he was in "The Invisible Enemy" (killed by K9), "Pyramids of Mars" (killed by Marcus being controlled by Sutekh), "The Mind of Evil" (held hostage along with Jo), and "The Ark" (who helped the Doctor find the cure). So, every Doctor except 2 and 6. And Michael Sheard would have been very recognisable from his role as a teacher in the long-running "Grange Hill" series. "Look, I'm doing the best I can. If you don't like it, you drive.", Ace, "Remembrance of the Daleks" And then suddenly the Doctor and Ace have switched seats! "You are the Doctor. You are the enemy of the Daleks! You will be exterminated! Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!", Dalek, "Remembrance of the Daleks" A flying Dalek!? - well, we've actually seen Davros do it before in the previous Dalek story but it generally goes unnoticed. "Every great decision creates ripples, like a huge boulder dropped in a lake. The ripples merge, rebound off the banks in unforeseeable ways. The heavier the decision, the larger the waves, the more uncertain the consequences.", The Doctor, "Remembrance of the Daleks" This line was quoted by Sylvester in "The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot" "Every great decision creates ripples. ... Like a big boulder dropping into a lake.", "Oh Sylvester, if you don't stop quoting yourself I'll put you back on the plane myself.", Sylvester and Colin, "The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot" Which is a wonderful callback to this very story. "Somebody's come to collect that big casket. ... Yes. Yes, the Doctor. Just one thing, governor. I thought you said he was an old geezer with white hair.", Martin, "Remembrance of the Daleks" Don't we just love it when we get a some new backstory for the 1st Doctor? BTW: Martin, here, is played by William Thomas who was in "Boom Town" (which I think makes him the earliest Classic+New Who actor). He also played Gwen's father in "Torchwood"'s "Something Borrowed" at the wedding, returning in the "Miracle Day" mini-series. "Forgive me for saying this, but it seems to me that your voice has changed somewhat since we last met.", Vicar, "Remembrance of the Daleks" The blind vicar is played by Peter Halliday - Packer in "The Invasion", Pletrac in "Carnival of Monsters", and the 16th centure soldier in "City of Death". "What's the matter with him?", "Stomach ache.", The Doctor and Ace, "Remembrance of the Daleks"

Andrew Vignaux