The Wheel in Space
Previous: Fury From the Deep
The Wheel in Space
Okay, only two more recons left. Let's do this: THE WHEEL IN SPACE!
Technically I watched this over a year ago, but it was just the two surviving episodes (they were on Netflix Instant for some reason.)
Now, time to do this properly. Or at least as close to "properly" as you can get with orphaned Who.
Oh no, don't put us through Victoria's departure again. I'm reading Push right now, I don't need another sad D:
Say, is that Wendy Padbury doing the linking narration? Usually it's Frazer (except for that one time it was Colin Baker for some reason.)
Wait...the TARDIS scanner is showing them "temptations?" I thought this was Doctor Who, not ancient mythology.
Oh, those wacky fluid links, always causing a ruckus.
I'm assuming that that mercury gas is the TARDIS's way of saying "GTFO, I need to do repairs."
Hey. Hey Jamie. Nice ascot. And cow vest.
After watching 2001: A Who Odyssey, I can't picture that robot as anything other than a squat, walking version of HAL 9000.
(BTW, if you've never seen A Who Odyssey, do right now. It's AMAZING.)
And Jamie tells Two to "stick his rod back in and" no. I'm stopping this joke right here.
This scenario of landing on a supposed ghost ship floating in space is starting to remind me of Girl in the Fireplace a bit.
"Well, right now I'd like a nice plate of roast beef with all the trimmings." AHFKAHDFKLSHFKLDHSKLFDSHFKLDS #in-jokes
Ah yes, this is Jamie's first exposure to space food, isn't it? So, was he just not eating from the food dispenser on the TARDIS? #confuse
Unless the Doctor replaced the TARDIS food machine with an actual kitchen or something...
Two, you might have to clarify what you mean by the late 20th century having "very few wars."
Okay, so I know they never really specified the date in Fury, but I was always under the assumption that that's when it took place.
Is Two using his recorder as a telescope? But more importantly, awwwwwwww, sleeping!Jamie.
("The Doctor covers him with a metallic blanket.") #AAAWWWWW
Yup, this thing is HAL.
fjkalfjhlkashfdkls I keep expecting that static to clear and show a Weeping Angel. Dammit, Moff.
JAMIE MCCRIMMON YOU ARE WEARING A COW.
Ooooo, fly away, pretty balls!
HAL 9000: 0. Jamie McCrimmon: 1.
Oh yay, they actually do us the courtesy of introducing the local characters by name this time!
Agh, I'd forgotten we weren't actually on the Wheel yet.
*desperately tries to avoid making a comment about eggs and sperm*
X-rays always sound cool until they're about to blow up the main characters.
Oh wow. Tanya's accent is so wonderfully Russian, but the things she's saying with it...aren't.
So I wonder if Two has taught Jamie Morse code or if he's just going "A SHINY THING WILL SAVE US!"
OH WAIT NEVER MIND IT'S MAKING THINGS WORSE OH GOD JAMIE PLEASE DON'T EXPLODE THEIR HEADS.
Ah, they're figuring it out now. Whew. (Okay, so maybe it's not Morse code, but it's some sort of pattern.)
Safe! Except for the Mystery of the Floating Space Eggs.
Is is just me, or is the wall patterned with pictures of corn cobs? #hannahnoticesweirdthings
"Well, I'll tell you what, eh? If you get scared I'll...I'll let you hold my hand, okay?"
"I'm serious."
"So am I."
"Violating the outer skin" of the Wheel? Please stop making the sexual analogies even easier to make than they already are.
Speaking of outer skin, HELLO JAMIE'S CHEST.
Also, the sound of him breathing deeply is doing some strange things to me that I don't completely understand.
I've probably missed it if it's happened before, but is this the first time we hear Jamie's full name?
"And your friend?"
"Uhh...the Doctor."
"I can't put that down."
"Uhh...John Smith."
Jamie, I don't think you know the legacy you've started.
Ahhhhh, that answers my question from nearly a year ago about where the name John Smith came from.
I'd wondered if Susan had got it from that band she was listening to in An Unearthly Child, but it was Jamie looking at a medical box label.
MYSTERY SOLVED. #mythBUSTED
"I'll tell Zoe to show you around." Zoe? ZOE!!!
Awww, Zoe's such a little technobabbler, isn't she?
I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of this being my new favorite companion-companion introductory conversation.
"Your clothes! You're wearing female garments!"
"Female? Look, I'll have you know this is a kilt. Have you not seen it before?"
"Kilt? Kilt...a barbaric form of garment as worn by a kiltie! Are you of Scandinavian origin? Danish?"
"No I'm not! I'm a true-bred Scot..."
"Oh, Scot! Scotland, of course. Pre-century history isn't my field, you see."
"Aye, well maybe not but just you watch your lip or I'll put you across my knee and larrup you."
"Oh this IS going to be fun. I shall learn a lot from you! Come on James Robert McCrimmon!"
I can just hear the cogs in Jamie's head working: "och, too much science..."
Looks like Jarvis is going to be the Stubborn Paranoid One of this story...
Tanya, the things you say are weird and they confuse me. We get it, your nose is special.
Awww, hatching babby Cybermans! *pictures little Cyberchild asking its mother where Cyberbabies come from*
And so concludes THIRTEEN STRAIGHT EPISODES OF RECON OH GOD.
*that awkward moment when I remember that I HAVE actually seen this episode before, it's just been over a year*
Umm, Jamie I still don't understand what you were sabotaging the ray gun for.
Meanwhile in Cybermenland, I think this is the first time we've seen them with the teardrop formation on their eyes.
Also, when do they drop those voices? Seriously, I don't know what it is, but something about these voices really bugs me.
N'awwww, cybermat! Wook at dat cute widdle worm of death...
Two, you're awake! Pat, you're back from vacation!
I feel like a dumbass now. Of *course* Jamie didn't want them to blow up the rocket because THE TARDIS WAS STILL ONBOARD.
This is a Two's Trix Cereal Suspenders Appreciation Post.
I think I've said this before, but I have to praise Classic Who for usually getting an international crew for their space station stories.
Awww, big meanie's picking on Zoe for her braininess.
Okay dude, I'm beginning to think that keeping your new pet a secret is a very bad idea.
Especially now that THEY'RE BREEDING.
Seeing a real episode for the first time in a while is rapidly rekindling my appreciation for Patrick Troughton's face.
I can just feel Jamie's fed-up-ness with science radiating off the screen.
"Logic, my dear Zoe, merely enables one to be wrong with authority." #moreclassiclines
Oh right, I forgot: only the Cyberleader-brain-head-thing has the voice that really bugs me for some reason in this story.
I have this weird appreciation for the fact that you can VERY clearly tell that the cybermats' feelers are just jagged sheets of styrofoam.
Ah, I remember this scene! So much overacting from one guy...
"It sounded as if all the devils in Hell were hounding someone..." Huh. Didn't know they could say "Hell" on kid's television back then.
I can also feel Jamie's burning need to out-brain Zoe radiating off the screen.
Aww, so much appreciation for that string of subtle glances between the crew members. (I'm saying "appreciation" a lot this time, aren't I?)
Somehow I get the feeling that those two guys going off to inspect the rocket aren't going to come back alive.
Oh riiiiiight, I forgot this is where the Cybermen have those head-mounted control beam things.
"...but now they're more robot than man." #darthvader
Okay, I can understand a story's need for a disagreeable jerky boss character, but do they always need to be this extreme?
Or maybe I'm just thinking that because Jarvis is basically Robson from the last serial in space.
Well, the cyber-possession might not be evident in the victim's movements, but surely their voices must be giving something away?
Jamie has had enough of this Science. So he's gonna be all up in your face like "WHATCHA DOIN? WHATCHA DOIN? WHATCHA DOIN?"
Ah yes, the good ol' cassette-tapes-in-the-future trope.
You know, I think Two was more frightened than flattered at hearing Gemma calling his head "extraordinary."
"Are there any ordinary circumstances in space?" Why isn't this one of Two's more classic lines? Oh right... #burninatedepisodes
"Someone just used the incinerator in the loading bay." ...Oh. I think we know what happened to that body now.
Okay, so maybe they *are* starting to notice that something's up with their voices.
I forget, have they established yet how long Zoe's been on the Wheel? Or is she just not good at reading people at the start?
"Do you ever feel anything emotional, Zoe?"
"Emotional?"
Well, that answers that question.
"My head's been pumped full of facts and figures which I reel out automatically when needed but...well, I want to FEEL things as well!"
I just realized: Bechdel Test, PASSED.
Ah, good ol' Two catching on to the whole cyber-possession thing before he'd even met the victims.
I'm not sure why I'm only noticing this now, but we're starting to build up quite a body count here, aren't we?
"What's the thing that we need to survive which the Cybermen don't?"
"Food!"
"Always thinking of your stomach, aren't you?"
("The Doctor and Jamie stand close together.") Scary little metal beasties? CLING!
Awww, little cybermats go boom!
Well, unlike Robson, Jarvis didn't explode into mental breakage. He just sort of...stopped.
Ah, so this must be where Jamie inadvertently convinces Zoe to leave the Wheel and go off adventuring with them...
More censored footage! Yeah, a guy putting his hands on another guy's neck like that, I can understand.
...and rather silently banging his head against a door...
Just noticing that one of the guys here has REALLY shiny hair.
OH WAIT. I REMEMBER THAT FOOTAGE OF THE METEORS NOW.
Come to think of it, I might've done commentaries for the two surviving episodes already but didn't save them because it was incomplete.
Because I'm pretty sure I remember remarking about all the action I missed in episodes 4 and 5...
That alarm sounds really familiar. It sounds almost exactly the same as the Yeti's web guns in The Web of Fear, amongst other things.
("The meteorites come rushing through space, tumbling one after the other in all different shapes and sizes.") All shapes being spherical.
So all this buildup about the Cybermen's plans was just coming to "they want to plunder Earth for its minerals?" ...well okay then.
I keep forgetting how worried!Jamie is one of the adorablest things ever.
Jamie and Zoe out for a nice little potentially deadly spacewalk. Fun times!
"This controls the oxygen of the space station." ...Lava lamps? Well, it was the 60's, I guess.
Oh, it's just background stuff. Never mind.
FOOTAGE. AND THOSE ARE DEFINITELY LAVA LAMPS.
WHAT. GEMMA NOOOO! DDDD:
In other news...
HAHAHAHAHA YES I'M FINALLY DONE WITH RECONS UNTIL THE SPACE PIRATES! ...oh wait, I've already watched most of the interrim stuff already...
Awww, Jamie and Zoe's little space dance.
I just realized: it feels rather out of character for the Doctor to be deliberately throwing his companions into danger like this.
Of course, I'm saying this coming off of Matt Smith getting through a whole army to rescue one of his companions...
Oh right, Two's calling "needs of the many over the needs of the few" on this one.
And now back to your regularly scheduled programming of Cybermen Killing People.
When Tanya was saying "turn it off," it almost sounded like "damn it all." Of course, that would've worked too.
ZOE. THAT SPACE SUIT LOOKS GIANT ON YOU. YOU ARE SMALL. YOU ARE NOT A BIG PERSON.
Wow. They somehow got away with a boom mike being very visible at the top of the screen. Didn't notice until they pulled it out of the shot.
I just realized: these Cybermen have had their Wiffle ball joints replaced with something actually resembling technology. #SCIENCE
Probably missed it, but why is the Cyberleader saying "negative" after everyone's name?
Also, it is just me, or does that dark-haired guy next to Leo look like a merger of Two and Adric's brother Varsh? #hannahnoticesweirdthings
Ah. Finally had a good look at the "corncobs" on the walls. Not a weird design, just the shadows.
That might just be the biggest ventilation shaft the Doctor's ever had the pleasure of crawling through.
This is also reminding me that Patrick Troughton was rather a small man, but quite charmingly so.
Oh hey, all the writing's in K-9 font! #imsureithasanactualname #butidontknowwhatitis
Again, is it just me, or do these Cybermen always show that they're talking by rocking back and forth slightly?
"I...I think I've got...company."
"...Company? W-what did he mean...COMPANY?!?"
This is a Jamie McCrimmon Appreciation Post.
Pat. Pat. Your face. You look like a defeated puppy. I can't. How do you exist. Your powers are too great.
Also, Jamie's shifty-eyes. #somanywonderfulfaces
Dancing Cybermen. In Space. What. No, I'm serious. They are dancing in space.
Awww, and the happy couple gets to stay together.
And we have our first little genius stowaway! OH SO THIS IS WHERE THAT IMAGE OF TWO AS SAILOR GALLIFREY COMES FROM.
Next: Season 6: The Dominators