Kinda

The Doctor and his companions arrive on the planet Deva Loka, home of the Kinda people. While investigating the area, Tegan falls asleep under some mysterious wind chimes and her mind gets trapped in a shadowy realm where she gets antagonized by the Mara. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Adric get imprisoned by some colonists who have clearly started to go a little nuts. And, if you're wondering what Nyssa go up to, the answer is nothing. After a fainting spell at the beginning of the story, Nyssa is put to bed and is not seen again until everyone is ready to leave at the end of the final episode. Kinda isn't great. It seems like the writers couldn't come up with enough for the main cast to do, hence writing out Nyssa and sidelining Tegan for most of the story. That said, the giant snake puppet (yes, there's a giant snake puppet) is pretty cool, even if it looks a little rough. 

Rating: Intentions unknown. Hypothesis unfriendly, as K-9 would say%

The Power of Kroll

Tensions are already running high when the Doctor and Romana arrive on the third moon of Delta Magna. The local tribe, referred to as the Swampies, are at war with the crew of a large scale methane refinery. Things are further complicated when the Swampies deity, Kroll, emerges from the depths and begins to consume anything that moves. The Power of Kroll is a decent serial with fairly decent effects. However, the look of the Swampies, actors painted green wearing "tribal" garb and painted cornrow wigs, is ridiculous. There's no real denying it. As far as the plot goes, it isn't anything particularly groundbreaking. We've seen similar, and slightly better, versions of this story in serials like Doctor Who and the Silurians and Terror of the Zygons.

Rating: Oh look, it's coming this way%

I Walked with a Zombie

Betsy, a young Canadian nurse, takes a job at a sugar plantation in the Caribbean. Her patient, Jessica Holland, is in a trance-like state. Jessica breathes and walks but is otherwise comatose. After conventional medicine fails to improve Jessica's condition, Betsy seeks aid from a voodoo priest. Betsy's gambit lights a fuse that ultimately blows up a family and puts her face to face with the living dead. I Walked with a Zombie plays like a melodrama, with Betsy uncovering love triangles and deception everywhere she goes. It's incredibly stylish, which is no surprise since it was put together by the same folks that made Cat People. If you're interested in the pre-George Romero era of zombie films, it's worth a watch. Maybe even on a double bill with 1932's White Zombie. Otherwise, it's more of a slow but striking curiosity.

Rating: 64%

(Image from Wikipedia)

The Mutants

The Mutants was inspired, at least in part, by the conditions in South Africa under apartheid. The serial definitely puts across an anti-colonial, anti-racist message. Which is a little ironic given that there were definitely people involved in the production who thought that colonialism was just fine and that things were so much better when the British Empire was running the world. Having said all that, you might be under the impression that The Mutants is a dry, serious slog. Far from it. While it's not as good as the other stories from this season, it has its charms. The titular mutants are well designed and the contrasting locations (an orbital space station and a primitive planet) keep things interesting. 

Rating: I'm just the messenger boy%

Colony in Space

It was a bold idea to exile the Doctor to Earth, it could have easily ended the series. Instead, audiences embraced the changes and the show flourished. However, it wasn't long before Doctor Who's writers and producers realized that the Doctor's exile left them with a much smaller range of story lines to pick from. For what is the Doctor without the TARDIS? And so, for Jon Pertwee's eighth adventure we got the serial Colony in Space. It was the first serial from the Third Doctor era that felt like it could have easily slotted into the show's black and white years. In the story, the Time Lords covertly send the Doctor and Jo to a dusty little planet seemingly to help settle a dispute between some struggling colonists and an intergalactic mining concern. Around the half way point, the Master shows up, further complicating matters as he is wont to do. And then there's also the matter of the telepathic "primitives" and their doomsday weapon. Watching Colony in Space I was reminded of the Second Doctor serial The Space Pirates, except for the fact that Colony made for a much more entertaining story.

Rating: I'm every kind of scientist%

The Witch

Some puritans in the olden days deal with a witch and witchy feelings. It's real slow and atmospheric, and the kid actors are great. It's the scariest witch movie for sure (second place is um Practical Magic?).

RATING: 83%

My Didgeridoo

My didgeridoo is pretty cool, I guess. It only plays one note (C#) so "Puff the Magic Dragon" sounds an awful lot like "Old McDonald." It's made out of eucalyptus hollowed out by termites, but it doesn't smell eucalyptusy fresh and there aren't any termites in it now. I don't call it a "didge" or show it off down to the local watering hole, but my mom bought it from a white guy so I guess I'm still an asshole.

RATING: 80%, but it'd be higher if I was better at playing it.

(Image from pastemagazine.com. This isn't a picture of my didgeridoo, which doesn't glow or float unassisted in midair.)

Symphony No. 8 by Gustav Mahler

I'm not that familiar with the works of Mahler, but his 8th symphony is pretty great. It's very pre-Schoenberg early 20th century, with not so much of a melody as a repeating cycle of chord motifs played for emotional impact. I suppose you could call it the classical music equivalent to the impressionist painters - Debussy's work also fits into this category. The popular nickname for this symphony is the "Symphony of a Thousand," because in its original instrumentation it takes 850 choral singers and around 200 symphony members to perform. Damn, Gina! Talk about excess. It's pretty great like I mentioned so if you've got an hour and a half to spare why don't you get some culture in you said the post colonial westerner.

RATING: 78%

Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols by The Sex Pistols

For a glorified boy band put together by a producer like the Backstreet Boys to cash in on an American trend, The Sex Pistols are pretty catchy and excellent. This album is great if you like very polished punk rock and sort of angry songs but not really when you think about it. Sure, they sing about anarchy and abortions, but do they really care about them? And their abortion song is actually pretty pro-life, so that seems not punk rock. Whatevs. I once got in an argument with somebody who was obsessed with everything British, and she swore up and down this was the first punk rock band and then Americans copied it. Sorry sister. There hasn't been an original idea out of the British Isles since colonialism. See how it all ties back to July 4?

RATING: 82%