MovieChat Forums > Doctor Who (1963) Discussion > Battlefield

Battlefield

posted 8 years ago by raventhom
8 replies | jump to latest

Well, I liked it.
I always have been a fan of King Arthur, and the way they brought back Jean Marsh, whom we liked as a companion, for the first Doctor. I discovered that years earlier was married to the 3rd Doctor. She does well.
Ace seems to have aged as she now acts and looks her normal 25, make up and all, really very attractive.
Her scenes in the water tank was brilliant! It's lucky case she wasn't seriously injured.
Quite the risk taker is our Ace.
The brigadier returns to find a black female brigadier, the BBC has come of age, only a couple of serials ago, we had 2 men that were homosexuals.
Rather too bad that the show drew such small ratings. Surprised that they were, as the return of Nicholas Courtney and a really top rate cast.
What was happening that this particular play drew such a small audience?
This, so far, is my favorite 7th Doctor
OPh I must say Ace pulling out Excalibur, was great!, Coming up out of the water... Loved it!

[–] NotAmyMerrick 8 years ago

The tank actually shattered on set. Sophie Aldred was almost sucked through the glass by the water pressure, fortunately McCoy noticed what was happening, shouted for her to be pulled out and to stop filming. She was pulled out of the top by stage hands right before it shattered.
Even in the episode you can see the glass start to crack.

[–] frosted_one 8 years ago

"Who's Elizabeth Shaw I don't look anything like her." Always liked that line :)

Raventhom did you take note of the Brigadier's armoury given your comments back during Attack of the Cybermen?

[–] raventhom 8 years ago

To be honest not really, I was extremely happy that the brigadier wasn't killed as was originally planned, or at least as it was told.
I also loved the Elizabeth Shaw comment, and 7 seems to have quite a few things to sat that is reminiscent of his past

[–] mindbait 8 years ago

The brigadier returns to find a black female brigadier, the BBC has come of age, only a couple of serials ago, we had 2 men that were homosexuals.

Did we?

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New song "Breathless Love"

[–] pferreira86 8 years ago

I have a strong nostalgia for Battlefield as I grew up with that story. It's the one I have most vivid memories of. It's not perfect and there's a lot wrong with it but it still entertains to this day.

[–] Chris12955 8 years ago

As NotAmyMerrick said, the tank shattered in the take(also the only take) used in the final cut. If they hadn't removed her, Sophie Aldred most likely would have been electrocuted with all the electrical cables on the studio floor. So Sylvester McCoy did in fact save her life in that short moment. The reason why it shattered, was that they contracted out to a company to make a tank that could hold so much water. They never told them they would be sticking a person in there, and so it didn't have the stress tolerance to withstand that extra pressure when she was put in. They cut corners and only designed it to hold that volume of water, and nothing else.

Once again more mature thematic undercurrents that were a major part of the McCoy era, this time about war and revenge. That bit at the end with the warhead is quite tense. McCoy's speech is very well delivered.

[–] raventhom 8 years ago

Yes, I did know that, and although I am not a fan of "Ace", Sophie has done yeoman work on these serials, certainly deserved a bigger pay check
Seems every episode her character does something that really is dangerous.
the one scene that she does, playing a femme fatale, however.... not really!!

[–] Chris12955 8 years ago

You can be sure she wasn't getting paid enough for that level of stunt work since it was the BBC.

Colin Baker did a fair share of his own stunts too. It might not have seemed that dangerous on screen, but then again, the tank scene doesn't look dangerous either.