Seasons 8-11: Too Cozy?

Season 7 is one of the most bold and well regarded seasons of the original series with its sudden move away from the lighthearted, zany science fiction of the Troughton era and into a darker, grittier, Quatermass inspired series.

However, beginning with Season 8, a more lighthearted, cozy, safe tone was quickly established and to this day, these seasons cause quite a discussion over whether they were the golden age of Who or a complete let down colored by  nostalgia goggles.

I'd say it was another four letter word starting with c.

Nah, I actually like the almost comic-book superhero nature of Seasons 8-11. Season 7 is phenomenal, in fact it's tied with Season 26 as my favourite. However, I'm also kind of glad that the Pertwee era went in a different direction. The Quatermass style was a huge departure from the 60s, the tone is the darkest that TV Who had ever gotten, and I just kinda think that the Pertwee era would have gone a bit repetitive if they kept it up for the last 4 Seasons. At the very least, it gives Season 7 its own unique feel, and there's stories that still have a Quatermass style such as Mind of Evil, Sea Devils and Invasion of the Dinosaurs.

A bit.

I really like it overall. The season 8-11 period isn’t as good as season 7, and the era’s main flaw is it’s occasional venturing into detrimental coziness, but considering how highly I regard season 7, that’s far from an indictment. As Giraffe points out, there is a rather unique quality to seasons 8-11 as to prevent a single fixed style dominating the era, and there are quite a few stories that still adhere to the gritty style of season 7 as also acknowledged by Giraffe. Besides that, I don’t prefer to let the styles dictate my assessment of individual stories as it is. Yes, there are some shit stories (noticeably The Mutants and The Time Monster, which are amongst the worst of the Classic series, and when the coziness becomes properly intrusive), but besides the occasional mediocre story elsewhere, (Colony, Curse of Peladon, Planet, Death To, Monster of Peladon) it’s still a thoroughly consistent era that I often go back to. The likes of The Mind of Evil, The Daemons, Day of the Daleks, Sea Devils, Carnival, Time Warrior, Invasion of the Dinosaurs are all genuine favourites, whilst many others remain thoroughly enjoyable in their own right.

Yeah it's a bit more cosy, but not massively so. And I think stories like Terror of the Autons and Mind of Evil in particular, aren't that far off the feel of S7.

SomeCallMeEnglishGiraffe wrote:Nah, I actually like the almost comic-book superhero nature of Seasons 8-11. Season 7 is phenomenal, in fact it's tied with Season 26 as my favourite. However, I'm also kind of glad that the Pertwee era went in a different direction. The Quatermass style was a huge departure from the 60s, the tone is the darkest that TV Who had ever gotten, and I just kinda think that the Pertwee era would have gone a bit repetitive if they kept it up for the last 4 Seasons. At the very least, it gives Season 7 its own unique feel, and there's stories that still have a Quatermass style such as Mind of Evil, Sea Devils and Invasion of the Dinosaurs.

I've always said that the Pertwee era is more like DC comics than anything else.

Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks were both big comic book fans and openly admitted that the DC comics they grew up with were big influences, yet everybody still insists on saying Pertwee was like Bond? He's not really at all.

Sarah Jane Smith was inspired by Lois Lane. She has the same occupation, the same fiesty attitude, she even has the same bob cut Lois had, and her name is also similar.

The Master meanwhile is a mix mash of the Joker and Luthor.

Like the Joker, the Delgado Master is a theatrical, flamboyant villain with a mysterious past, who loves disguises and who kills people in a very particular (over the top) way which serves as a calling card (in the Jokers case its a form of poison called Smilex which causes people to laugh themselves to death, in the Masters it's his shrinking ray.)

In terms of motives and origins however the Master is more like Lex Luthor. Lex was a suave, charming villain who sought to take over the world and from there the galaxy, as he believed that under his rule he could save the galaxy. He believed that he would fix all of its problems with his advanced intellect. Deep down however Lex was just a megalomaniac who wanted power for his own glory, but he believed his own bullshit about it being for a greater good.

Lex was also prone to making alliances with other supervillains and alien races for is own ends that would usually end with him being betrayed. Finally Lex Luthor was also Superman's best friend when they were kids, and felt it was a shame Superman wasted his potential.

Pertwee's Doctor also has shades of Batman too. He is an eccentric hero in a big long flowing cape, who works with a figure of authority, the Brig and Commisioner Gordon and helps them deal with weird threats.

The Brig and Gordon are not incompetent, but both are ill equipped to deal with the larger than life threats they encounter, though in both cases there are also people who blame the Doctor and Batman for attracting trouble.

The Doctor even leaves the Brig with a special device he can summon him with, like the Bat Signal. Then there is Pertwee's love of gadgets, and his cars, one of which was called the Whomobile!

Doctor Who IMO was always like a comic book. With its serialised stories, large rogues gallery, and larger than life hero. It just drew from different comics throughout its history. The Hartnell and Troughton era is Dan Dare, Flash Gordon, the 70s is mostly DC comics, whilst the McCoy era is 2000 AD.

Ironically comic books would lose their way for the same reasons as DW. Self loathing fanboys, but that's a different convo.

The earth setting is limiting, but overall I like the set up. UNIT serve as a good way of getting round the Doctor always landing in the right place, right time, the Brig is a brilliant foil for the Doctor. Its a shame that the darker qualities of his character that we saw in Inferno and the Silurians are toned down, but Courtney does the comedy just as well. Jo Grant is also a really good companion and has a brilliant chemisty with Pertwee, who is my fave Doctor.

It definitely couldn't have gone on like that, but as a temporary story arc I thought the exile to earth was interesting. It brought out the Doctors rebellious side like never before, and also helped to develop his relationship with his own people, without overusing the Time Lords like the Trial season.

Although I can be critical of the period I like it on the whole. The unit stories were especially good with great characters (the Brig, Benton and Yates).
One thing I am especially ambivalent on is Jo Grant - largely because I thought Katy was a rather poor actress who seemed to play the part as a precocious child constantly in aware of the Doctor.

Jo Grant made a great companion for Pertwee's Doctor - Liz Shaw and Sarah were also very good too I thought but somehow didn't have quite the same chemistry with him that she clearly had. I know it's all subjective of course but I reckon she was rather sexy too at the time

Mixed.