nlt@duke.UUCP (10/11/83)
I hate to be picky, but I can't let Carole Zeichick's article pass
without comment. First, it is stated that
"The Doctor's [TARDIS] never 'jammed' into the shape of a police
box, but was designed to be like that."
No, the Doctor's TARDIS, like the Master's, is supposed to be able to change
shape. Or so the Doctor tells Adric in "Logopolis", if I remember correctly.
And didn't they go to Logopolis in order to have the "chameleon circuit"
repaired?
Second, it is stated that
"the Doctor is 900 years old, not 750!"
The only number I've heard given for the Doctor's age is 749. I think that
number is given in two separate episodes, but the only definite reference
I can give at the moment is from "The Brain of Morbius": As the members of
the Sisterhood are threatening the Doctor's death, he protests, "But I'm
only seven hundred and forty-nine! Life doesn't begin until seven hundred
and ..." I suppose he's aged since then, but 150 years is a little much.
And last, to end on a little more constructive note, I have finally
seen the episode (are there others?) in which Colin Baker makes his
appearance as a "bad guy". It's "Arc of Infinity"; watch for him in the
role of Commander Maxil. I have trouble imagining him as the Doctor,
but then Maxil is hardly a challenging character to play, and I doubt
that I've seen the full range of Baker's skill at this point. I find it
eerie, by the way, to watch Baker and Davison playing opposite one another.
It's like watching the Doctor's own spectre come to haunt him...
N. Tinkham