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Vintage Doctor Who

I'm an American. I enjoy a great many things, but noticeably not among those things is my ability to enjoy the fine programming on the BBC at the same time as the people across the pond. Doctor Who is one of those shows I wait anxiously for and so to keep myself occupied I am enjoying some of the older episodes. I recall having seen some of the 4th Doctor's adventures as a child and I remember gobbling them up so I thought the greatest place for me to start would be in familiar territory. I finally jumped on that growing Netflix bandwagon and to my delight they have plenty of it in the Watch Instantly section so I found some Tom Baker, sat down with some tea and biscuits (scotch and pretzels), and started the fun. 

 My first choice was The Armageddon Factor. The story revolves around two warring planets (Atrion and Zeos), and I am immediately reminded of that Star Trek episode where the two planets are conducting the virtual war...only these people are actually dropping bombs. I didn't say it was a logical connection. Anyway we are also introduced to the princess of the planet, Princess Astra. While she technically has control over the planet the Marshal is in charge of all the fighting. Princess Astra is also in love with Merak, a surgeon who is opposed to the war just as Astra is. The Marshal doesn't like the relationship or Astra. He kills her bodyguard and traps her in a chamber to die (of radiation poisoning i think) and this is pretty much where The Doctor, Romana, and K9 show up. This is also about where I realize that I like the idea of K9 a lot more that I like it in practice. Anyway after some to do the Marshal finds our heroes and pins the death of the bodyguard and disappearance on them and Merak. After trading witty remarks The Doctor Makes a daring escape back to the TARDIS...but it's GONE! *end credits*
 
Overall the episode was entertaining but I was left with the feeling that not much actually happened. I give it a 6/10 and I look forward to seeing what is in store for me in the next installment. 

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Omega Ray Jay

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Edited By Omega Ray Jay

Not seen The Armageddon Factor myself though i had heard it was good. If your looking for vintage Doctor Who i Would recommend The Pertwee era of The Third Doctor (My personal favorite of Classic Who) some of the best writing was done my Robert Holmes right the way though to the Sixth Doctor. inferiorego is also an enthusiast of classic who.

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RandomAtom

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Thanks a lot I will find some for my next review.

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Review: The Armageddon Factor Part 2 of 6
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 This installment opens with a pretty cool scene actually, it gives us a little information from the final scene in the last installment. We see that just before The Doctor got back to where the TARDIS was a cloaked figure removed the body of the guard using some sort of teleport pad, is he the one who moved the TARDIS? We don't know yet.  Love Interest, I mean Merak, arrives and tells our intrepid travelers that just beyond that door there is an irradiated zone, The Doctor mentions he had seen someone behind them via a small hole. They put two and two together and realize that it must have been the Princess! They tell K9 to open the doors and they find nothing, well not nothing, they find a headband that was proof that she was there at some point. They all leave except for K9 who The Doctor whispers something to. We then cut to a scene where the Marshal tells his assistant to find K9 and scrap him. Then he holds court The Doctor, hailing as a hero from a forgotten prophecy and hails him as the "architect of their victory" of course it is also here where we learn that Atrion os on the losing side of this war and they are doing very well at losing. TheDoctor's only solution is to isolate the planet but he needs K9 to run calculations, "It's really no problem at all I'll just go get-HE"S BEING SCRAPPED?!" The Doctor then risks life and limb to save K9. There is also a fairly  important scene in here where Romana hears the Marshal say that The Doctor can't die yet. The yet gives her enough suspicion to start snooping around. After this The Doctor strikes a deal that he will help them with the war as long as they help him find the princess. So I guess the Marshal is now more like Toad. After a little bit The Doctor reveals that the calculations say that if they were to isolate their planet it would destroy them, he is then interrupted by a broadcast from the princess...or should i say the Zeons. That's right, they captured her. The Marshal reveals that there is a secret way to Zeon, the hidden teleporter. The Doctor rushes odd and  Romana hears this, she also hears what's next, the Marshal begins talking to a mirror, on the other side of this mirror is a skull and, unbeknownst to the Marshal, Romana and Merak. He addresses the skull revealing that it's a trap! Romana rushes to tell The Doctor but it's too late, he is captured by two shrouded men who we must assume are Zeons.*end credits*
 
This installment, in my opinion, was far better than the last. There were some plot thickening, and there were some revelations. It was a lot of fun so I'm giving it an 8/10.