The Twin Dilemma - The Sixth Doctor

[sleekituk]

Okay, I bought this today, was in forbidden planet and picked it up for a laugh, saying, this is meant to be shite, I wonder if it's been reduced - and it had to £7.99 so I bought it   Thoughts so far - excellent extra features, it's not as bad as I had heard and I really like Colin as a person and I think he could have been a great Doctor without the stupid costume.  Yes he tried to strangle Peri, but haven't we all wanted to do that at one point or another? Must buy some Colin Baker audios soon.  What do you lot think? 

[Peri-Peri]

I can't condone the strangling of Peri because of her sheer awesomeness, but I think this story is given a far worse rep than it deserves. I dont particularly like it, but there are parts to it that could work so well. The Twins were awful and probably the worst part of it for me. Surely there were a pair of twins out there who could actually act that they could have employed. Also, more than any other story of the 80's I think this is the one that comes off the most hideously 80's. More synths and bad graphics than most others of the era, which at the time I remember were very cool, but in retrospect look awful. It does have its good points, but it really is weighted down by the rubbish. I also think this story ruined the Colin Baker era. Having him in his first story being so angry and agressive I know put lots of people off because he was so different from what came before. It also didnt help having him in the last story of the season which meant that all people had to think about until the new series was The Twin Dilemma, which wasnt exactly a serial that left you wanting more.

[Vampyros Adric]

For the first time in the history of the board I am forced to disagree with Peri-Peri (but have the happy advantage of agreeing with Sue). I LOVED the Twin Dilemma. Peter Davison was an extremely popular Doctor and had just had arguably the best regeneration story of all time. Colin Baker came in and laid down a marker that things were gonna be different. It was a perfectly acceptable story premise (even if the physics of it didn't quite tally i.e. was complete nonsense) and Baker captured the madness and upheaval of a regeneration perfectly. Peri was wonderful and Kevin McNally did his usual stirling job. It was uncomfortable viewing at times but a good supporting cast more than made up for it. The Twins were a couple of gimps - but that was the nature of their characters (my favourite ever Doctor Who quote is "I am Womulus. I am Weemus"

I think Peri has hit the nail on the head as to the main problem with the story. Unusually, the first story of the new Doctor was pinned on the end of a season and this caused a problem which I think spanned the whole of the CB era. Essentially when PD took over from Tom Baker, the first story he shot was Four to Doomsday, Castrovalva was not shot until some time afterwards therefore PD had plenty of time to find his 'voice' as the Doctor and develop a relationship with the companions. Colin Baker was not afforded this luxury. His first story was Twin Dilemma and he had to nail it straight away - there was no time to ease him and let him discover his style. You watch CB in The Two Doctors or Trial of a Timelord and he has a brusque but comfortable style. The fact that CB was not allowed time to establish a working style caused him problems throughout his tenure on the show.

Sue, I completely agree with your assessment of Colin Baker; he is a fine fella (i've had the privilege of meeting him) and he truly honours his place in the shows folklore. Given a proper costume (Baker said he wanted a Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones type of costume) and some decent writing, Baker would have been given a much better reception. If you are looking for a great Colin Baker audio can I point you in the direction of Jubilee - it is amazing and formed the basis of the Nu-Who episode 'Dalek'.

[Peri-Peri]

But, but, but you cant disgree with me. Whole universes could collapse!!!

I personally love Colin Baker and I think he received far more negativity than was deserved. More than anything I think he was disliked simply because he wasnt Tom or Peter. Given the right material he could have proved so many people wrong, but during his tenure JNT was having his crazy period and it reflected badly on CB. You only have to listen to his audios to know how brilliant he is as the Doctor.

[Vampyros Adric]

But, but, but you cant disgree with me. Whole universes could collapse!!!

I personally love Colin Baker and I think he received far more negativity than was deserved. More than anything I think he was disliked simply because he wasnt Tom or Peter. Given the right material he could have proved so many people wrong, but during his tenure JNT was having his crazy period and it reflected badly on CB. You only have to listen to his audios to know how brilliant he is as the Doctor.

Yey We're back on track I totally agree that JNT didn't help CB - he appointed him and then seemed to lose interest. The Sixth Doctor Audios are real treats and show what a fine actor he is. I am now watching the Twin Dilemma and reaffirm my statement that it is hugely entertaining. Colin Baker has just arrived on Titan 3 and boldly declared it 'Thou Craggy Nob' - this is entertainment in excelsis

[Roranicus]

Ive never watched this serial, but this is the only place on the entire internet where I think I have read anything positive about it. Whenever I have seen it mentioned it always seems to be followed by groans, moans and the occasional whimper

[Peri-Peri]

Yea you will see a lot of that with this story. It gets a lot more nastiness thrown at it than it deserves. Thats not to say it doesnt deserve some, but I think some people just jump on the bandwagon. Its become cool to knock this one

[Roranicus]

Thats the case with lots of things Who related. I will perhaps give episode one a look and see if I can manage episode 2 after that

[Peri-Peri]

I'd say watch it all. Ep 1 isn't the best part to be honest.

[TheDoctorDonna]

I hate being negative about Who stuff, but I honestly cant think of a single redeeming feature that this story has

[Dame Roger]

I watched this shortly after seeing it get voted worst DW story ever made, and I didn't think it was anywhere near as bad as it gets made out to be. A good basic story, some really good moments and a great guest performance by Maurice Denham. Okay, so those twins couldn't act their way out two identical wet paper bags (and who the hell decided to give them both names beginning with a letter they couldn't pronounce?) and a giant slug is hardly the most impressive of villains, but I still enjoyed this more than I expected to based on its reputation.

I agree though that this really wasn't the cleverest of ways to introduce a new Doctor. To show him (at various points) as arrogant, violent, cowardly, treacherous and generally unpleasant, end the story with a line that seemed almost tailor-made to annoy even more the fans who aren't liking this clown-coated new guy (I am the Doctor, whether you like it or not!"), then have the show off the air for nine months so that their resentment had plenty of time to fester, really made it inevitable that a lot of people would never give him a second chance. Which was a great shame, because he deserved one.

[The Doc]

This will always be one that divides fans. The first time I watched it I was appauled but I have learned in the past that rewatching stories can somehow make them awesome. It didnt happen with this one, but it does get better with another watch if you are willing to put yourself through it

[Roranicus]

I have no watched this. It's awful. I want to find things to like, but there just wasnt any for me. It made Dimensions In Time look like a modern classic

[Nyki]

I watched this one fairly recently.  It wasn't as bad as I'd feared, and I agree that Maurice Denham was good, but it's not one of my favourites.  I thought the Doctor being unstable was overdone (not wrong, just overdone) and the Twins clearly went to the same acting school as Matthew Waterhouse.

I'd say CB's probably my least favourite Doctor, but not by a lot, and quite a bit of it's not his fault.

[Saber]

I quite like this story. Ok, perhaps 'like' is a bit of a strong word, but I am fond of it. Womulus and Wemus are possibly the worst actors who ever stepped foot on a DW set, and that is some feat, and as Peri-Peri says above, the whole this is 'hideously 80's', but there is just something endearing about it. I don't go out of my way to watch it often, but I do make sure it gets an airing every couple of months

[Aneurin]

I have seen this only once, and I really didnt enjoy it. The story was silly and those twins were awful. The Sixth Doctor came off really badly also. I don't think it is one I would watch again tbh

[thefifthdoctor]

I have seen this only once, and I really didnt enjoy it. The story was silly and those twins were awful. The Sixth Doctor came off really badly also. I don't think it is one I would watch again tbh

Same here.

[Saber]

You should always give a story a second chance. Sometimes you need to watch things more than once to appreciate the goodness in them. There are a couple of Who stories I wasn't so fond of on first watch but enjoy loads more now. The War Machines for example, I really, really didn't like the first time I watched, but now it's one of my all time favourites. It just took me a while to 'get' it I guess.

[thefifthdoctor]

To quote a good mate, "what exactly is a Twin Dilemma? Which one you'd do first?"
 

[Davros]

I liked this story. It made no impression on me the first time because I didn't understand the classic series at all. But when I finally got up to it, I thought it was great. The production values didn't strike me as bad (because I have no conception of it- it all looks the same to this 21st century mind). The acting of Romulus and Remus I thought was intentionally blank.

And Colin Baker? He cracked me up! Never had I laughed so hard at a Doctor Who episode as with the Twin Dilemma. Baker's bombastic and erratic performance coupled with Peri's sarcasm kept me thoroughly entertained.

I can see why this story would devastate fans who were watching it current day (at the time), but just looking back at it in the whole stretch of the show it was a good one.