Ben Saunders

[Ben Saunders]

this stance is crazy

[Ben Saunders]

The backwards audience laugh at the things the Sensational Reverse Brothers do after they do them which is wrong. They should laugh beforehand.

I thought about this some more and now my head hurts.

[Ben Saunders]

The backwards audience laugh at the things the Sensational Reverse Brothers do after they do them which is wrong. They should laugh beforehand.

[Ben Saunders]

Attack of the Cybermen is quite good, at least episode one is. They’ve yet to get into the attempted continuity porn outside of landing in Totters Lane, a spaceship on the dark side of the moon, Telos, “moon base” and the Cyber Fat Controller, which is all pretty incidental, tertiary stuff really. The Cybermen are pretty easily dispatched by conventional firearms, though, and the cliffhanger is a little dodgily staged. Temporal grace fails once again, even though they addressed it previously in the Davison era and so are now aware of the discontinuity. Still, “nobody’s perfect”.

[Ben Saunders]

I can’t find a solid source on it but it does say so on his IMDB trivia page, that he was considered for 1996 and 2005. Google AI says he was considered before Tennant as well but there’s no source for that.

[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 10/07/2026 

17

[Ben Saunders]

Are you lot not thinking of the “Gallifrey? Must be in Ireland” joke, first seen in Hand of Fear?

Maybe, maybe. I have heard the “Gallifrey sounds like Welsh” thing before, though, definitely.

[Ben Saunders]

When I was a kid I thought Gallifrey sounded like it must be somewhere in Wales or Cornwall?

I was sure there’s some sort of joke to this effect in the early Davison era, but it might be in reference to Traken. Somebody says something along the lines of “Gallifrey/Traken, where’s that, Wales?” and the Doctor replies “something like that.” Struggling to find it though.

[Ben Saunders]

watching The Twin Dilemma.

[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 09/07/2026 

Timeslides, Backwards

16

[Ben Saunders]

Yes, yes. But Robert Holmes didn’t write Phantom of the Opera seven years before Caves of Androzani. Both are aping Phantom.

[Ben Saunders]

A yellow followed by two blacks, you love to see it

[Ben Saunders]

I also research the cup size of the actresses in the stuff I watch

[Ben Saunders]

In the end, Jek has nothing left but his android. Despite his general ineffectualness, Davison goes out a hero. The doomerism of Saward works for a season finale, bolstered by the supreme talent of Robert Holmes. Such a desperate final episode, I like the slight tragedy to Jek and his attempts to help save Peri, they eek out just a little bit of pity for him towards the end. You almost feel bad for him despite him being an utterly horrendous piece of shit. Was he like that before or was it really Morgus, another despicable rat, who made him that way? Here, everybody dying by the end helps add to the desperation and tragedy of the situation much more than in Resurrection of the Daleks where it all feels needlessly gratuitous. It has a sense of purpose here, even if it does still feel incredibly bleak. Again, this isn’t what Doctor Who should do all the time, but it’s a fitting end for the Fifth Doctor after Earthshock, Warriors of the Deep, Resurrection of the Daleks and Planet of Fire. Robert Holmes does re-use the masked, disfigured villain trope from Talons of Weng-Chiang, though.

[Ben Saunders]

Doctor Who Frames That Describe Themselves

[Ben Saunders]

Just finished Caves of Androzani part 3 and got accepted for a new flat within 10 minutes of each event, so I’m currently riding an unbelievable high. Androzani is so good that I feel like giving it a round of applause as the credits roll.

[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 08/07/2026 

XI in order

15

[Ben Saunders]

This is NOT what he says, come on BBC. Anyone know what the DVD/Blu-Ray subtitle is? He obviously says “slut”. I’ve noticed a lot of errant subtitles on iPlayer, sometimes they say shit like “he mumbles incoherently” when they could have easily transcribed what he actually said, too.

[Ben Saunders]

Just started Caves of Androzani, which I’ve seen at least twice before. That monster is so shit, it’s like a conscious parody of “oh, you say my script needs a monster, eh, well here one fucking is then.” It’s so starkly noticeable when Who gets a director who actually strives to do more than just point cameras at the actors, a la Warriors Gate, Leisure Hive and Caves. Everything other than the monster is directed with such style, it’s almost distracting. “Look, I’m directing” direction. The whole thing has a funerial vibe to it, and Nicola Bryant does a great job selling everything other than her accent. Script editing a bleak, cynical, death-filled Robert Holmes script must have been a wet dream for Eric Saward.

[Ben Saunders]

Do people in these parts prefer John Lenahan or David Ross as the Toaster? 

Basically two different characters really. Lenehan was a generic machine for them to interact with that just happened to be primarily toast-related while Ross is a specific character who serves a specific function in a specific episode. They don’t even look the same and I don’t think I ever considered them the same character in my head, though I guess they are supposed to be.

[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 07/07/2026 

Me2, The Inq

14

[Ben Saunders]

Planet of Fire is quite good. Davison’s final two scripts are a bit of a kick up the arse in terms of quality and makes you wish for an alternate timeline where he didn’t get boring incomprehensible shash for most of his run. Tiny Master is very funny. Kamelion’s death is sad. Anthony Ainley’s performance is a little phoned in.

[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 06/07/2026 

13

[Ben Saunders]

The opening/closing credits on Planet of Fire are noticeably low quality, the end credits to Part One even have some pitch bending going on, but the rest of the episode looks absolutely fine. What the fuck?

[Ben Saunders]

I love Peri, but man oh man is that accent diabolical. It’s worse than I remember!

[Ben Saunders]

An excellent choice of thumbnail for Planet of Fire:

[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 05/07/2026 

Krysis, Cured

12

[Ben Saunders]

Resurrection of the Daleks… a “good” story, maybe. One of the Classic Who’s I’ve watched the most, on account of it having the Daleks in it. It has its moments of tight, intelligent, engaging action, but it’s also bloated and gratuitous and has its share of plot holes. I like the Doctor going to kill Davros, I like the stuttering Dalek agent, I like Tegan’s final scene. Some of the action, like a large chunk of it since JNT took over, is pretty pony. People/Daleks stand in line waiting to get shot at.

It really isn’t what Doctor Who is about. Earthshock was a good one-off, trying to recreate it twice in one year was a mistake. Saward’s writing is genuinely effective in places but completely off the rails in others. Lytton murdering the last remaining Dalek agent in cold blood is especially unnecessary. Davros being killed by the Dalek virus is great stuff, though. He has become so much like his creations that even the virus can’t tell them apart. I like the intercontinuity of the Movellan stuff being the impetus for this story, they don’t really do that a lot on Doctor Who. But then they go on to make Attack of the Cybermen where the continuity eats itself and the whole thing is a mess. I like dropping “destiny of the Daleks” into dialogue, that’s fun. All the stuff with the duplicates and the Time Lords is nonsense. When did they find time to make duplicates of Tegan and Turlough?

The Dalek civil war stuff is pretty fun.

Please enjoy this other iconic role from Rodney Bewes that I now can’t stop thinking about while watching Resurrection (homophobic slur warning):

[Ben Saunders]

[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 04/07/2026 

BitR I, Holoship, Epideme, Nanarchy, Duct Soup

Didn’t really clock anything until the final guess, was only putting Epideme and Nanarchy because I didn’t recognise it

11

[Ben Saunders]

it’s happened to both Superman and Batman in classic stores (one by Alan Moore), Star Trek Generations, Neuromancer…Game of Thrones …

Mild spoilers for the Persona franchise I guess but Persona 5 Royal did the “characters have to break free from their personalised fantasy” thing pretty well also, as a more recent example.

[Ben Saunders]

Exasparated Mark Kermode voice: That’s Daleks: Invasion Earth!!

The Davison era is littered with extremely unconvincing actors, including that guy ↑

I like this shot.

What a curious little story Frontios is. Funny that Bidmead’s obsession with the TARDIS is shared by the Tractators. I always really liked the Frontios worldbuilding stuff before the Tractators got involved really. Davison finally figures out how to play the part here. Strange that the Doctor never really does the whole “I can’t be seen to interfere” thing in other stories, I assume he does it now because Frontios is a very fragile/important moment in time, but we’ve seen from previous stories (The War Games, The Three/Five Doctors) that the Time Lords already know what he’s up to anyway. 

[Ben Saunders]

My name… is Mmmmaaaaxxxxxxx

[Ben Saunders]

[Ben Saunders]

Whoa, spoilers!

Before I react to those two examples and comment on them having been changed, I’m afraid I first must ask if they are real or not. Queeg one seems like it could be, Back to Reality one not so much

[Ben Saunders]

I hate how the descriptions on iPlayer are more often than not a description of the cliffhanger/end of the episode. I would like to watch the episodes to find out what happens actually

[Ben Saunders]

Now I’m not a teenage girl living in the 60s (or a Mars Bar, but I do live in Scotland), but I think it’s obvious which of those two came out on top in the end.

[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 03/07/2026 

Polymorph

10

[Ben Saunders]

You were twenty and had a curfew?

Spaceworm Jim watching Planet of the Daleks at 20 years old:

[Ben Saunders]

Frontier In Space is a good ‘un, the Pertwee era is a pretty consistently high quality throughout and the man himself is always putting in a strong performance. His friendship with Jo is especially delightful, and Jo is incredible in Frontier, particularly when she fights the Master’s hypnotism. Very good aliens, the Draconians, and some interesting and believable space politics. Spoilers for Planet of the Daleks I guess, but it’s just a shame the insane cliffhanger of the Master teaming up with the Daleks doesn’t go anywhere, and the following Dalek story has nothing to do with it.

[Ben Saunders]

Some asshole in a community I’m in died recently and it really stretched the whole “don’t speak ill of the dead” concept to its limits for me. Guy was a prick but everybody was like ohh what a loss and essentially lying about how great they were. I just didn’t say anything but was very close to being like “are you sure we’re talking about the same person here?”

Obviously this doesn’t apply to the Big Finish writer who apparently just stayed at his post too long or something

[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 02/07/2026 

Backwards, Marooned

9

[Ben Saunders]

I really like Lister using his captain privileges to keep hot food in stasis so he can eat it whenever. That’s exactly what I would do.

[Ben Saunders]

I’ve been reading the TARDIS Eruditorium, and while a few of the posts are undeniably pretentious and I don’t agree with all of them, I see no reason to attack them over anything. Saying Nick Briggs can be an uninspired writer isn’t a controversial opinion, and I don’t feel like doing research into if Janet Fielding is a TERF or not – ignorance is bliss.

[Ben Saunders]

Please enjoy these vertically stretched images from an article on Enlightenment I was reading on my phone

[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 01/07/2026 

8

[Ben Saunders]

I remember liking her a lot more the first time I watched through this era. But I don’t remember Five being as much of a prick either.

Warriors of the Deep really doesn’t build up to the Silurians at all. Just boom, there they are in medium shot two minutes into the episode. They don’t build up to the Sea Devils either because they name them in dialogue almost immediately. They could have at least made their appearance a surprise but they didn’t. This is one of the most obvious scripts I’ve ever watched, which I guess is a change of pace from the more obtuse stuff the show was doing around this time.

“Oh look, a gas that is deadly to marine and reptile life. I wonder if this will come in handy later”.

“Face it, Tegan. He’s drowned!”

[Ben Saunders]

Why does Davison hate his companions? Why is he so snarky? It’s genuinely unpleasant. Is he trying to be funny?

[Ben Saunders]

Warriors of the Deep next, one I’ve seen multiple times for some reason. Davison fans must really love eating shit.

[Ben Saunders]

Victory of the Daleks isn’t so bad. Curse of the Black Spot is fun. Eaters of Light I don’t remember. World War Three is good but “farting aliens bad”. I don’t remember Vampires of Venice either. Robot of Sherwood is fun. Orphan 55 I remember wondering what the hell happened during production to make it so that the monsters never appear in the same frame as any of the characters. Legend of the Sea Devils I remember wondering how this shit made it to television.

[Author]

Replies