1)It's funny that I never thought about this before, but it's true that Tegan seems to be much more concerned about getting back to do her job than about her murdered aunt. I suppose you could rationalize it as a sort of deep denial - her obsessing on the mundane detail to avoid dealing with the more tragic one.
2)The helmet fulfill the story's goofiness requirement all by themselves.
3)All of the regulars act like jerks in this - even Nyssa gets a little bit snippy, although in her case, it's more in self-defense.
4)It is extremely unlikely that Tegan could speak an Aboriginal dialect from 35,000 years ago. Also, according to Janet Fielding, the dialect the guy is speaking is from Northern Australia, and Tegan is supposed to be from Brisbane. Not impossible, but unlikely.
5)Lin Futu is, of course, Burt Kwouk.
6)And Tegan easily knocks Adric out.
7)Monarch is supposedly obsessed with going faster-than-light like it's some impossible dream of the ancients - but isn't the Doctor Who universe crawling with critters that go faster than light? Has he thought of buying an FTL ship off one of them?
8)I don't understand it, myself, but the general consensus seems to be that the physics of the stunt that the Doctor does with the cricket ball is somewhat suspect.
9)Monarhc is all eager to get into the TARDIS, but then he walks right by the open TARDIS door!
10)Some fun quotes:
- "No, you're only a girl." It's a wonder the Doctor doesn't come back to find that Adric has been beaten to death by the other two."
- "And this is Persuasion." "Friendly, I hope."
- "Come along, children - not in front of our hosts."
- "Could anyone pass the sodium chloride, please?" Oh, come on, who talks like that?
- "We're all going to heaven."
- "I am Lin Futu." "Well, I'd never have guessed it. You look in the best of health to me."
- "Why does the old fool have to chatter?" Because that's what old fools do.
- "I understand bio-engineering, but I'm also an expert in cybernetics." Funny you weren't more use against the Cybermen, then.
- "What a fatuous remark!"
- "'Love'?" "The exchange of two fantasies, Your Majesty." Some truth to that...
- "Why don't you shut up?"
- "So any fool can operate it!"
- "You may keep the pencil."
- "I took five wickets once for New South Wales." Whatever that means. Luke was good enough to explain cricket to me once, but I'm afraid it did not penetrate far through my thick skull.
- "I wouldn't dream of interfering with your monopticons." Uh-huh-huh-huh...
- "Now, listen to me, you young idiot." You know, I wouldn't've put up near as much with Adric's "siding with the baddies" routine as the Doctor has. I'd've dumped him somewhere after this was all over.
- "The Chinese are the most powerful and populous race on Earth."
11)Cliffhangers:
- Part One: Enlightenment and Persuasion are human-looking now!
- Part Two: Bigon's a toaster!
- Part Three: The Doctor's about to be beheaded!
- Part Four: Nyssa passes out!
Overall:
The funny thing is, the story's not all that bad, if only the regulars weren't all so unlikable.
[Part of list of Doctor Who episodes here.]
Replies
Took five wickets=contributed as bowler to getting five batsmen out.
Regarding the cricket ball stunt, I haven't studied physics since high school, but I think the mere act of throwing the ball should have propelled the Doctor in the other direction, albeit slowly (because for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, and the Doctor is a more massive object than a cricket ball). I can't see a reason why the ball couldn't rebound from the ship and add to his speed when he caught it, but it presumably wouldn't speed him up as much as it sets him moving in the episode. If the engines of the craft were operating while he was outside the ship was presumably accelerating or decelerating. In that case he should have become separated from it as soon as he was no longer firmly tethered to it. Possibly conditions in space would negatively affect the springiness of the ball, but I can't evaluate that point.
Throwing the ball might set him spinning as well as moving.
Thanks, Luke. ",,,the Doctor is a more massive object than a cricket ball" is my new choice for one of the coolest phrases ever written.
Burt Kwouk, who played Lin Futu in this story, has, sadly, passed away.
Story
Mr Kwouk was also Cato in the Pink Panther series.