Tweet
Enter the fourth Doctor. Mind you, both here and in the previous serial, I don't care for the transformation effect from Pertwee to Baker. They just dissolve from the former to a latter. Hartnell to Troughton had a lighting effect. Troughton's regeneration had trick fotography, where they have multiple Troughton head floating around. Baker to Davison had Baker transform into the Watcher, who then transformed into Davison. Davison to Baker had optical effects. "Baker" to McCoy had optical effects. McCoy to McGann had bolts of lightning and CGI-effects morphing Sylvester into Paul. Granted, the last one had 20+ years of effect advancements and a much higher budget. However, even when one compare the third Doctor's regeneration into the fourth, to what came before and the ones following it, the transformation feels weak. It's just a dissolve. No creative camera tricks or anything.
Outside of the regeneration bit, I thought this serial was okay. The titular robot draws inspiration from King Kong (1933), but it's not in your face (like when Jodi's first episode did a Predator knock-off). The writer drew inspiration from something that came before, but developed it into his own thing. If you show K1 or this serial to someone, they don't instantly go "oh, this is just a King Kong copy". I do think that K1 should've been established to have been created, with the usage of some alien tech. Justifying why a robot made in the early 1970s is so advanced.
Like seeing Sarah Jane being proactive as a reporter. The writers have established her job, and made it relevant to the story. Yaz being a cop haven't really impacted the plot, as far as I remember. Maybe a little relevant, in her first appearance (motivating her meeting up with Ryan), but not really after. I kept comparing the two, while watching some scenes.
Outside of the regeneration bit, I thought this serial was okay. The titular robot draws inspiration from King Kong (1933), but it's not in your face (like when Jodi's first episode did a Predator knock-off). The writer drew inspiration from something that came before, but developed it into his own thing. If you show K1 or this serial to someone, they don't instantly go "oh, this is just a King Kong copy". I do think that K1 should've been established to have been created, with the usage of some alien tech. Justifying why a robot made in the early 1970s is so advanced.
Like seeing Sarah Jane being proactive as a reporter. The writers have established her job, and made it relevant to the story. Yaz being a cop haven't really impacted the plot, as far as I remember. Maybe a little relevant, in her first appearance (motivating her meeting up with Ryan), but not really after. I kept comparing the two, while watching some scenes.