side project: classic who

Invasion of the Dinosaurs
A fun, interesting story that was only slightly damaged by the dinosaurs of the title. The
effects were awful. Classic Who usually does better, or at least, so much worse that it's
amusing, but these were just bad. The sea monster the Sea Devils brought up when the
show was still in black and white was better. And I think they were just convenient. Like the
script writers decided that a plot about a secret society of people who wanted to hand-
chose the people who would survive their attempt to roll back time and reset the world in a
time free of pollution and crime and overcrowding wasn't cool enough and needed more
monsters.

I disagree.

All that stuff was well-written, complex, and pretty riveting. You have no idea while watching
just what's going on, and the dinosaurs are distracting to a plot that's already convoluted
enough, and happens to hold together without them. Any plot device could have been in
their place-- as the purpose was to clear out all the people they didn't want to save,
anyway.

Sarah Jane continues to be feisty and able to solve her own problems, which is great,
especially since the men, including the Brig and the Doctor keep acting like she's helpless
as Jo. But Benton can't tell her no and helps her when they want to leave her behind, even
though it ends with her getting knocked out and rescued.

And then there's Yeats. Oh Yeats. He gets involved with the baddies and tries to help them,
thinking that rolling back time is a good idea and making it so most of the population of the
earth never happens is an acceptable risk. Gone is our charming, sweet, spunky Yeats,
and here is a new one that's sad and tense and has beliefs that have led him astray, but he
still tries to do what he thinks is right. And in the end, he's sent away and asked to resign,
so I guess he's no longer there. Which makes me sad. But all I kept thinking was that he
missed Jo and was broken up when she went off and married someone else, whether that's
what was intended or not, and that it left him sort of lost and easily swayed by someone
with a strong will and a bold plan. Old Yeats never would have gotten involved in this.
Over all, a very good episode, even if three or four of the six parts did end on the same shot
of the t-rex...