Episode Five
"Why do human beings kill human beings?"
The Daleks have revealed their plans, and we know them to be duplicating: you'd expect this to be a water-treading fifth episode. And yet, in spite of the Doctor spending the episode in a cell, and Michael Craze being off for a week, a hell of a lot happens in David Whittaker's intelligent and gripping script.
For a start, the only person to have see the Daleks duplicating is Lesterson, the one character whom no one will believe. The scene where Janley subtly gaslights him in front of Bragen is chillingly effective, his plans to wipe out the Daleks doomed. He's hoist by his own hubris. But he won't be alone. Hubris is everywhere on Vulcan.
Well, perhaps not in production terms. Animation can show us hordes of Daleks, none of them cardboard. But a Daleks reminder that no more than three of them ought to be seen at one time sort of gives away how many props there were. But Janley? She oozes hubris, believing the Daleks can be controlled. Bragen is even worse, riding the revolution to power and then seeking to massacre those who helped him. And then the unexpectedly returned Governor, couped and murdered by Dalek gun in a tense and superb scene which ends with a positively megalomaniacal Bragen in firm control.
Polly only half-convinces Valmar of the plot, but all this plotting ends up being supremely relevant, as we end with the famously surviving scene of revived
Episode Six
"Daleks conquer and destroy!"
Everything looks bleak at the start, as it seems that everybody is going to be exterminating. And, well, things just carry on being bleak as the Daleks happily massacre away, all the human skulduggery being for nothing and utterly exploited by the Daleks.
It’s a bit of a fudge that Bragen, the Doctor, Polly and Quinn aren’t just killed by the Dalek at the time, mine. Letting them past and then weakly announcing that “they will be exterminated” doesn’t quite fulfill the Daleks’ promise. But apart from this it’s an episode of slaughter.
Even at this late stage there’s still a bit of plotting- Valmar overhears Bragen telling a reluctant Janley that he and his friends are all to be killed, now expendable after assisting his coup. But it’s all suddenly meaningless, and Bragen is now king of nothing. And the Daleks just keep on killing- it's just that some killings, like that of Lesterson, are laced with more irony than most.
The Doctor finally defeats the Daleks by destroying the (ahem) power of the Daleks- but, interestingly, it's very much lampshaded that the Doctor could have done this in a far less anarchistic way than to destroy the entire colony's electricity supply. Does he intend to help them unite through adversity? Whatever, it's a surprising manipulative act. Then there's the shockingly deliberate decision to use Bragen's arriving guards as bait. This Doctor may be charming, he may on the whole be a goodie, but he certainly has his dark side. That's brave.
And so, as a whole, being able to fully follow what's going on, the story stands revealed as a triumph, and a far better script than I'd even suspected. It also helps that we don't get those bloody carboard cut-out Daleks...
Showing posts with label David Whitaker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label David Whitaker. Show all posts
Wednesday, 27 November 2019
Wednesday, 13 November 2019
Doctor Who: The Power of the Daleks (Revisited), Episodes Three and Four
Episode Three
"A Dalek is bett... is not the same as a human."
Again, moving pictures make such a difference and mean, for once, that I can fully follow the plot both in ways I knew I wasn’t following before and in getting extra nuances. Who cares if the animation is a bit rubbish?
Anyway, the colony certainly starts the episode enthused about the potential of the Daleks to do labour tasks in mines and so forth that, er, would surely require much better mobility and actual hands, but never mind.
Quinn is clearly innocent, and telling the truth when saying he sent for the examiner, but is locked up anyway. Bragen is the new Deputy Governor- and is immediately revealed to be colluding with Janley and the rebels in a plot to exploit their grievances to launch a coup d’etat. Blimey.
Meanwhile, Lesterson is puzzlingly impressed by what he thinks of as the Dalek’s robotic “positronic brain (so Whitaker read Asimov?) as it recites chemical formulas by rote, and is easily manipulated into getting it materials to build a machine which will absolutely predict meteor impacts as the Dalek claims and in no way manufacture an army of Dalek casings so the Daleks can massacre everybody.
Two more Daleks emerge but, hey, Lesterson is in control, while the Doctor flits about learning things- and we get our first “When I say run, run”. And Bragen knows the Doctor is an impostor- but the Doctor knows he killed the real Examiner. Stalemate?
This is a much better episode, with all the skulduggery, when you can easily follow the plot.
Episode Four
"We understand the human mind."
Lesterson begins by asserting his authority in temporarily switching off the Daleks’, er, power to show his dominance, probably the last chance he will have. This is his last big moment before his nervous breakdown, a good bit of characterisation.
But, not forgetting the new Doctor, we get our first “I would like a hat like that”, Troughton’s early catchphrase. He’s alarmed to see Daleks everywhere as servants... and then there were somehow four Daleks, not three. This concern about the mysterious extra Dalek is a superb way of building tension. One odd thing, though, is that the Daleks suddenly operate by static electricity again, for the first and only time since The Daleks. Meanwhile Polly, kidnapped by Janley last episode, is absent so Anneke can have a week off.
Lesterson is now easily manipulated both by the Daleks and the calmly fanatical Janley, a superbly nuanced female character. The rebels want to use the Daleks, and it’s Janley who persuades then that it will be fine and in no way will the Daleks just massacre them all. Meanwhile Bragen, temporarily in charge, exposes and imprisons the Doctor, giving him a chance to compare notes with Quinn.
The ending is superb, and so much better than the frustration of watching these highly visual scenes via telesnaps, as an agog Lesterson sees a Dalek army being manufactured. I particularly love how the bubbling little lumps of hate are removed from water and placed into casings. The whole sequence is amazing, all the more so for the fact that animation doesn’t do cardboard cut out Daleks.
This story, which I already rated very highly, is rising rapidly in my estimation.
"A Dalek is bett... is not the same as a human."
Again, moving pictures make such a difference and mean, for once, that I can fully follow the plot both in ways I knew I wasn’t following before and in getting extra nuances. Who cares if the animation is a bit rubbish?
Anyway, the colony certainly starts the episode enthused about the potential of the Daleks to do labour tasks in mines and so forth that, er, would surely require much better mobility and actual hands, but never mind.
Quinn is clearly innocent, and telling the truth when saying he sent for the examiner, but is locked up anyway. Bragen is the new Deputy Governor- and is immediately revealed to be colluding with Janley and the rebels in a plot to exploit their grievances to launch a coup d’etat. Blimey.
Meanwhile, Lesterson is puzzlingly impressed by what he thinks of as the Dalek’s robotic “positronic brain (so Whitaker read Asimov?) as it recites chemical formulas by rote, and is easily manipulated into getting it materials to build a machine which will absolutely predict meteor impacts as the Dalek claims and in no way manufacture an army of Dalek casings so the Daleks can massacre everybody.
Two more Daleks emerge but, hey, Lesterson is in control, while the Doctor flits about learning things- and we get our first “When I say run, run”. And Bragen knows the Doctor is an impostor- but the Doctor knows he killed the real Examiner. Stalemate?
This is a much better episode, with all the skulduggery, when you can easily follow the plot.
Episode Four
"We understand the human mind."
Lesterson begins by asserting his authority in temporarily switching off the Daleks’, er, power to show his dominance, probably the last chance he will have. This is his last big moment before his nervous breakdown, a good bit of characterisation.
But, not forgetting the new Doctor, we get our first “I would like a hat like that”, Troughton’s early catchphrase. He’s alarmed to see Daleks everywhere as servants... and then there were somehow four Daleks, not three. This concern about the mysterious extra Dalek is a superb way of building tension. One odd thing, though, is that the Daleks suddenly operate by static electricity again, for the first and only time since The Daleks. Meanwhile Polly, kidnapped by Janley last episode, is absent so Anneke can have a week off.
Lesterson is now easily manipulated both by the Daleks and the calmly fanatical Janley, a superbly nuanced female character. The rebels want to use the Daleks, and it’s Janley who persuades then that it will be fine and in no way will the Daleks just massacre them all. Meanwhile Bragen, temporarily in charge, exposes and imprisons the Doctor, giving him a chance to compare notes with Quinn.
The ending is superb, and so much better than the frustration of watching these highly visual scenes via telesnaps, as an agog Lesterson sees a Dalek army being manufactured. I particularly love how the bubbling little lumps of hate are removed from water and placed into casings. The whole sequence is amazing, all the more so for the fact that animation doesn’t do cardboard cut out Daleks.
This story, which I already rated very highly, is rising rapidly in my estimation.
Sunday, 10 November 2019
Doctor Who: The Power of the Daleks (Revisited), Episodes One and Two
Episode One
"Life depends on change and renewal."
Been a while since I blogged any non-current Doctor Who, hasn't it? I blogged the actual The Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear when Philip Morris found them, but otherwise I just blogged them all at the very beginning of this blog- which, indeed, didn't start as a blog at all but as a series of reviews, alongside a bunch of others, for The Great Nap Year Marathon of 2008 to 2010 on Outpost Gallifrey. This blog only existed at first so I could keep my own copies of the reviews... and then we all somehow finished marathoning all of Doctor Who, from 1963 to 2010. Only then did I start to turn this into a wider TV and film blog, having caught the habit- keeping up with current Doctor Who along the way, of course.
But I'm drawn back to The Power of the Daleks. My original review was of the Loose Cannon recon, and there are no episodes so frustrating as this one, where the Doctor is recast (I shouldn't yet say "regenerated") for the first time, and we see Patrick Troughton first attempting the role- or, that is, we don't.
So what of this animated version? Well, the animation itself is crude and basic, but it gives us something we lacked: moving pictures. It also helps enormously that we get a) much clearer sound and b) subtitles. It's such a relief to be able to watch one of the most pivotal episodes ever and be able to understand the narrative. Well, almost. It's pretty clear that the Doctor's movements as he wakes up, stands and has his dizzy little trippy experience are pretty much extrapolated from the telesnaps. Much of the movement we see see here is guesswork, inevitably.
It's good to have the brief recap at the start for context, reminding us of just how little the narrative was holding our hands- and in this first episode mercurial old David Whitaker reminds us of the necessity of change and renewal, throwing us a great big mercurial metaphor in the forms of those great big pools of..,. well yes, remember who's writing this. One could even stretch a point and say that Polly and Ben being poisoned a bit by mercury fumes reflect difficulties in adapting to change. But it's a brave episode that doesn't patronise, lets Troughton be sinister and weird, and allows us to work out for ourselves whether we accept him as the Doctor. As Ben says of Polly and himself, where do they stand now? And where, indeed, do the viewers stand?
The plot of what's happening on Vulcan starts pretty sharpish, although not really foregrounded yet, but the Doctor havng the documents of the Examiner fall literally into his hand is a nice narrative shortcut tantamount to Psychic Paper, and the fiction between Quinn and Bragen shows us immediately that the colony may not be a happy place, Interesting, though, that they claim to have seen the TARDIS "overshoot" like any old spaceship.
It isn't long, though, until we briefly meet Lesterson and Janley, who is established sketchily as A Bit Political, and then our heroes are sneaking into the capsule. There we find THAT door opening sound, lots of incidental music which is not so much by Tristram Carey but simply reused from The Daleks and, well, Daleks...
Episode Two
"One Dalek?"
"Yes. All that is needed to wipe out this entire colony."
This episode foregrounds the Vulcan politics and the many mysteries (Who shot the real examiner? What's going on with the Examiner? Who really cut the communication cables to Earth as Quinn is an obvious red herring?) as we flesh out this colony where we hear of political discontent and, sinisterly "secret newspapers" suggesting this isn't exactly a free society. Everyone is brittle, suspicious and guarded around everyone else, whether the open mutual loathing of Quinn and Brazen or the political incompatibility of Lesterson's two assistants- Janley coming across as a proper Momentum cultist while Resno is your typical working class Tory. It feels as though a storm is about to start, ad establishing that mood is a brilliant piece of writing- and much clearer with moving pictures.
We also, this time no longer in the foreground, examine this new Doctor and how he operates- acting the eccentric to seem harmless but always thinking, examining, trying to understand. And yes, when the Dalek recognises him at the end we can finally accept that this is the Doctor.
The cliffhanger is so very, very good anyway, with the Doctor's protestations of how dangerous the Daleks are constantly undercut by "I-AM-YOUR-SER-VANT". But the constant shots from the Dalek's POV make this so much more unnerving. So far this is televsion of the very first rank.
"Life depends on change and renewal."
Been a while since I blogged any non-current Doctor Who, hasn't it? I blogged the actual The Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear when Philip Morris found them, but otherwise I just blogged them all at the very beginning of this blog- which, indeed, didn't start as a blog at all but as a series of reviews, alongside a bunch of others, for The Great Nap Year Marathon of 2008 to 2010 on Outpost Gallifrey. This blog only existed at first so I could keep my own copies of the reviews... and then we all somehow finished marathoning all of Doctor Who, from 1963 to 2010. Only then did I start to turn this into a wider TV and film blog, having caught the habit- keeping up with current Doctor Who along the way, of course.
But I'm drawn back to The Power of the Daleks. My original review was of the Loose Cannon recon, and there are no episodes so frustrating as this one, where the Doctor is recast (I shouldn't yet say "regenerated") for the first time, and we see Patrick Troughton first attempting the role- or, that is, we don't.
So what of this animated version? Well, the animation itself is crude and basic, but it gives us something we lacked: moving pictures. It also helps enormously that we get a) much clearer sound and b) subtitles. It's such a relief to be able to watch one of the most pivotal episodes ever and be able to understand the narrative. Well, almost. It's pretty clear that the Doctor's movements as he wakes up, stands and has his dizzy little trippy experience are pretty much extrapolated from the telesnaps. Much of the movement we see see here is guesswork, inevitably.
It's good to have the brief recap at the start for context, reminding us of just how little the narrative was holding our hands- and in this first episode mercurial old David Whitaker reminds us of the necessity of change and renewal, throwing us a great big mercurial metaphor in the forms of those great big pools of..,. well yes, remember who's writing this. One could even stretch a point and say that Polly and Ben being poisoned a bit by mercury fumes reflect difficulties in adapting to change. But it's a brave episode that doesn't patronise, lets Troughton be sinister and weird, and allows us to work out for ourselves whether we accept him as the Doctor. As Ben says of Polly and himself, where do they stand now? And where, indeed, do the viewers stand?
The plot of what's happening on Vulcan starts pretty sharpish, although not really foregrounded yet, but the Doctor havng the documents of the Examiner fall literally into his hand is a nice narrative shortcut tantamount to Psychic Paper, and the fiction between Quinn and Bragen shows us immediately that the colony may not be a happy place, Interesting, though, that they claim to have seen the TARDIS "overshoot" like any old spaceship.
It isn't long, though, until we briefly meet Lesterson and Janley, who is established sketchily as A Bit Political, and then our heroes are sneaking into the capsule. There we find THAT door opening sound, lots of incidental music which is not so much by Tristram Carey but simply reused from The Daleks and, well, Daleks...
Episode Two
"One Dalek?"
"Yes. All that is needed to wipe out this entire colony."
This episode foregrounds the Vulcan politics and the many mysteries (Who shot the real examiner? What's going on with the Examiner? Who really cut the communication cables to Earth as Quinn is an obvious red herring?) as we flesh out this colony where we hear of political discontent and, sinisterly "secret newspapers" suggesting this isn't exactly a free society. Everyone is brittle, suspicious and guarded around everyone else, whether the open mutual loathing of Quinn and Brazen or the political incompatibility of Lesterson's two assistants- Janley coming across as a proper Momentum cultist while Resno is your typical working class Tory. It feels as though a storm is about to start, ad establishing that mood is a brilliant piece of writing- and much clearer with moving pictures.
We also, this time no longer in the foreground, examine this new Doctor and how he operates- acting the eccentric to seem harmless but always thinking, examining, trying to understand. And yes, when the Dalek recognises him at the end we can finally accept that this is the Doctor.
The cliffhanger is so very, very good anyway, with the Doctor's protestations of how dangerous the Daleks are constantly undercut by "I-AM-YOUR-SER-VANT". But the constant shots from the Dalek's POV make this so much more unnerving. So far this is televsion of the very first rank.
Sunday, 26 January 2014
Doctor Who: The Enemy of the World (Revisited)
Many of my lovely readers may be unaware how this blog first started way back in June 2009, a long time ago when I was clean-shaven, single and free of grey hairs. a couple of lovely people on Outpost Gallifrey proposed that, as Doctor Who would be off our screens, barring the odd special, from mid-2008 until Spring 2010, it would be rather a good idea to fill the gap by "marathoning" the whole series from 1963 to 2010. A bunch of us agreed to do it together, writing our reviews of each story, watching them in order, and discussing our impressions. It was a fantastic experience in so many ways, from the new appreciation I gained of the series by watching it chronologically to the fantastic sense of camaraderie with my fellow Marathoneers.
In mid-2009, Outpost Gallifrey closed down, to be replaced by Gallifrey Base. In the event, the Marathon threads were transferred across very smoothly and the forum owner, Steve W. Hill, and his team of moderators were rather lovely about accommodating us. Nevertheless, this period made me worry about preserving my already considerably lengthty writings for posterity. Thus began the blog, in June 2009, firstly to archive all of my Doctor Who reviews going back to November 2008, and then to be updated with my reviews alongside the threads on Gallifrey Base. When the Marathon ended, in June 2010, I carried on with the blog, reviewing anything I fancied, and the blog soon became the beast that it is today.
Why am I telling you all this? Well, a lot of the 1960s Doctor Who stories, sadly, no longer existed in the BBC archive, and so my reviews were based on fan reconstructions which took the original soundtracks (all of which, thankfully, existed), spliced in any existing clips, and reconstructed the rest by means of still photographs, captions to explain what should be happening on screen, and various creative and innovative ways of making the end result more visually arresting. The third, fourth and fifth seasons were comprised mainly of such reconstructed missing stories, and it was hard going at times. The Enemy of the World was one such story.
The Marathon ended. Years passed. And then a man called Philip Morris came along. It seems that, although nothing is likely to happen quickly, it is set to be revealed that he and a few others have discovered many, most or all of these missing episodes by methodically scouring the globe. The only episodes to be announced and released are The Web of Fear (barring episode three, at least for now) and The Enemy of the World. I would suggest, should you wish to look into the background of the missing episodes "omnirumour", the best place to do so is at the Planet Mondas Forum, of which I am, er, a moderator. Small world, eh?
So I have two stories to revisit for now, with a lot more to come. So here is my revisitation of The Enemy of the World for your edification and delight. I have reproduced unedited my original review of the recon from 2008, in italics, and I shall reply after each episode with my 2014 comments on the episodes themselves.
So, without further ado...
Part One
"They're human beings, if that's what you mean. Indulging in their favourite pastime- trying to destroy each other!"
David Whitaker's back. Yay! And this one's directed by some bloke called Barry Letts. I wonder whether we'll ever hear from him again?
In contrast to the previous story we immediately start with the TARDISeers. And for the first time since, I believe, The Keys of Marinus, the TARDIS materialises silently. This is a very unusual setting for Doctor Who- for all that this is supposedly set in the future we're not exactly being bombarded with futuristic things. In fact, hovercrafts and helicopters give us a very contemporary feel, and signify that we're going to see six episodes of Doctor Who's take on the '60s spy craze.
There's a most enjoyable exchange between the Doctor and Astrid after he insists he's a Doctor "not of medical significance". On being asked whether he's a Doctor of law or philosophy he replies "Which law? Whose philosophy?". There's also a running gag becoming established in which the Doctor, asked to explain where he came from, makes an oblique reference to the previous story for the second time in a row. Witty dialogue is pretty much a hallmark of this story's first three parts and, although a very unusual type of story indeed, it's been great fun so far. Better still, we get Bill Kerr of off of of Hancock, and an unusually intriguing cliffhanger.
There's been an awful lot of weather control in Doctor Who lately, mind!
Footage. Actual footage. Oh my God. and footage of Troughton, no less, something which is always priceless. It's a joy to see him splashing about in the water with such abandon. Incidentally, Mrs Llamastrangler, for whom this is her first "classic" story, instantly recognised the similarities in terms of performance between Troughton and Matt Smith.
This episode looks expensive, pacey and exciting. Barry Letts directs this far more dynamically than one would expect from such later attempts as The Android Invasion. I was amused, seeing how Astrid's helicopter licence tells us the date (2018, fifty years in the future from their perspective, and the point at which my fixed rate mortgage ends from mine...) at how fandom used to debate when this story is set. One is left to wonder at how many other fan arguments could be solved by the intervention of actual footage. I was also amused at how very reminiscent of the late 1960s is Astrid's interior decor.
The most electrifying thing of all is, of course, our first glimpse of Troughton as Salamander in a physical performance so different to his portrayal of the Doctor.
Part Two
"Which side is good? Which side is bad? And why should I interfere?"
More amusing references to recent escapades as the Doctor thinks he's being told about a "disused Yeti". But the plot thickens a lot during this episode. There's a lot of plotting and counter-plotting going on but it doesn't seem over-complicated, a testament to the excellence of Whitaker's script. Fariah's instantly an intriguing character who has an interesting job. But as she's characterised too well to be a simple food taster we begin to suspect there are things she's not telling us. And finally we get to see the real Salamander- a superb performance from Troughton. Although the accent... er, yes.
Jamie is once again magnificent, carrying out the dangerous plan to get into Salamander's confidence. Once again he's shown to be far from the simpleton of myth- particularly, it must be said, in David Whitaker stories!
There's something sweetly naive about predictions made in the 1960s into how we would be living around now. A unified world government, no mobile phones, weather control, travel by rocket between Australia and Hungary within two hours, state control of certain industries... it's as though neo-liberalism never happened. Whom would I rather suffer, I ask myself- Salamander or Thatcher?
Troughton manages to exude an extraordinary amount of menace towards Fedorin as Salamander, showing without a doubt what a wide-ranging and brilliant actor he was. This is another gripping episode, although I was amused to find that even recovered episodes feature stock footage, in this case of volcanoes erupting.
Part Three
"People spend all their time making nice things and then other people come along and break them."
An episode with actual footage and, sadly we can now see that this story just isn't very visually arresting, great though the script may be. We get a confession early on that this story is the season cheapie: "Why is Mr Denes being kept in the corridor here?" "It's easier to guard him here."
Still, the dialogue continues to sparkle. Griff, the chef, gets most of the best lines, of course (I'm going out for a walk. It'll probably rain.") but the standard of wit is good all round.
All the same, whilst all this exciting stuff is going on, and Jamie is showing an impressive understanding of the low arts of political skulduggery, the Doctor, almost Hartnell-like, is doing sod all except watching everything on a television much like the viewers were watching back home. In the first clear bit of foot dragging, this normally uber-interventionist Doctor is refusing to do anything at all before he has absolute proof.
The poisoning of Fedorin is great ("Suicide, of course..."). Oh, and Fariah clearly does have a secret...
This still feels very strange for Doctor Who, but it's actually quite refreshing to have a bit of a breather from the standard formula the show seems to have adopted of late. And this is damn good stuff so far, however visually dull it may occasionally be.
I suppose, up to a point, that we were right to suspect that this episode, back when it was all that existed, was not exactly the most visually arresting of the six, but watching the episodes in context it's far less noticeable that this episode is the cheap one.
Still, Griff remains one of my favourite character. And the Doctor's uncharacteristic refusal to get involves is no less grating; indeed, it is if anything more obvious that this is down to the limited number of costume changes for Troughton per episode.
Part Four
"Proof, proof, proof!"
Fariah seems to get from Hungary to Australia awfully quickly! And from this point on we get quite a lot of this. It's often hard to guess which "zone" a scene is supposed to be happening in, especially as the rooms and corridors (or, to be fair, the photographs of them) tend to look rather similar.
Benik's line "These people are terrorists!" has a rather arrestingly contemporary ring, one of the things which tend to mark the fact that in this episode the mood changes sharply and everything becomes very serious. This is nowhere more apparent than with Fariah's tragic yet noble death, but rather unsatisfyingly we are told nothing of her story beyond the vague fact she was being blackmailed.
The seriousness fades briefly as Salamander makes his very Thunderbirds exit to his secret underground base. This scene is most peculiar with sound only, with the sound effects making me imagine the most bizarre Gerry Anderson style contraption imaginable! There's a big new revelation; Salamander is persuading loads of people to live underground in the belief a radioactive war rages overhead so that they'll help him cause natural disasters. And nobody questions any of this except one bloke called Colin. Er, right. This is, to put it mildly, less than entirely convincing and the story never quite recovers from it.
Oh, and it's just occurred to me that the Doctor's relative inactivity is obviously because Troughton's playing two characters and can't have too big a workload. Duh! And Jamie and Victoria weren't in this episode at all, were they? This is the first blatant cast holiday of the Troughton era, more than a year in.
Fariah's death is much more effective with actual footage, if I may risk a truism. And it is now entirely clear which "zone" the action is happening in, obviously. But the big difference footage makes to this episode is, of course, the long and dialogue-free stretch in which Salamander gets into Thunderbird 2 and reveals to us his secret lair, replete with some very 1960s computers.
And then there's the cigar. I didn't expect that.
Part Five
"You must be either a complete fool or very clever."
Just a couple of minutes in it's quite clear Bruce is wavering in his support for Salamander, otherwise why is this scene happening at all? This scene doesn't quite work for me, although the part where the Doctor hands over his gun is great. Since last episode the story's tone has become very grim, which sits oddly with the intrinsic jolly japery of the central storyline and plot structure. A bit more lightness of touch, as with the first three episodes, and I'd happily accept scenes like this. But as things are it doesn't quite ring true. The confrontation scene between Swann and Salamander doesn't quite work either.
The scene where the Doctor pretends to be Salamander in front of Jamie and Victoria is very well done but also odd- why does he need to pretend? It's not for Kent's sake- he's (still) trying to convince the Doctor, not the other way around!
I don't know if it's because we now have footage or not, but this time round I felt that the scene in which Bruce is persuaded that Salamander may not in fact be a great benefactor after all was entirely convincing. I had absolutely none of the qualms I had when watching the recon. Perhaps this is because I now have the actors' performances to go on. Perhaps it's for no particular reason.
Far more surprising, even shocking, is to read my original review of this episode and realise that I had entirely misunderstood what was happening at the end of the episode; it is obviously Bruce, and not Kent, whom the Doctor is trying to convince. If I can misunderstand something as obvious as this while experiencing a story as a recon then this gives rise to the question of how much else I may have misunderstood while experiencing a story as a recon. Perhaps I had overestimated how possible it is to experience a story without any footage and I haven't "seen" as much of 1960s Doctor Who as I thought I had.
Part Six
"And so you're going to kill me. How petty."
I admit this story has been dragging for me over the last couple of episodes, but I'm genuinely flabbergasted that Kent turns out to have been a baddie all along. just goes to prove the most effective whodunnits are the ones where you don't realise it's a whodunnit in the first place. And the scene where Salamander shoots him is actually quite violent in a very realistic way- I'm a lot more uncomfortable about the idea of kids watching it than I would be about something much more violent but with more of the fantasy element to it.
This feels a bit uneven- extraordinarily, the Doctor sends Jamie and Victoria off to the TARDIS early on, which highlights just how little they've been in the second half of this story. And the final scene with the Doctor and Salamander in the TARDIS is fundamentally a good idea but it all seems to be over very quickly. And surely Salamander should register at least some surprise that the TARDIS is bigger on the inside?
The plot holes are far more obvious this time around with a visual context. Astrid and Swann meeting as they do is an awfully big coincidence; Astrid forgets that a tunnel exists to the underground lair when the plot necessitates it; and there's no way that the Doctor could have got into Salamander's locked room. Still, in spite of all this, the episode is far more coherent and far more satisfactory to view than it was as a recon. Perhaps it's the simple fact that it is much easier to follow and it looks so good. And Troughton's performance is magnetic, as always.
It's a real shock to see the split screen at the end as we see both the Doctor and Salamander. The ending is still abrupt but, without the frustration of not being able to follow the story easily, this doesn't seem to matter as much.
Overall, a story of two halves- the first three episodes seem to be a fun and witty spoof on the action-packed spy genre that was all over 60s film and television from James Bond to The Avengers. But halfway through the witty dialogue disappears and the tone becomes very serious, which just feels wrong in a story which still seems plotted like a spoof. 3/5.
This time around I didn't notice the change of tone at all although, perhaps, the second half of the story is far more visual and thus easy to follow without frustration when one has the luxury of footage, which makes all the difference. Overall, the sets, the direction and the performances elevate the story, with added footage, to a 4/5. The two stand-out performances, without a doubt, come from Patrick Troughton and Patrick Troughton.
"Proof, proof, proof!"
Fariah seems to get from Hungary to Australia awfully quickly! And from this point on we get quite a lot of this. It's often hard to guess which "zone" a scene is supposed to be happening in, especially as the rooms and corridors (or, to be fair, the photographs of them) tend to look rather similar.
Benik's line "These people are terrorists!" has a rather arrestingly contemporary ring, one of the things which tend to mark the fact that in this episode the mood changes sharply and everything becomes very serious. This is nowhere more apparent than with Fariah's tragic yet noble death, but rather unsatisfyingly we are told nothing of her story beyond the vague fact she was being blackmailed.
The seriousness fades briefly as Salamander makes his very Thunderbirds exit to his secret underground base. This scene is most peculiar with sound only, with the sound effects making me imagine the most bizarre Gerry Anderson style contraption imaginable! There's a big new revelation; Salamander is persuading loads of people to live underground in the belief a radioactive war rages overhead so that they'll help him cause natural disasters. And nobody questions any of this except one bloke called Colin. Er, right. This is, to put it mildly, less than entirely convincing and the story never quite recovers from it.
Oh, and it's just occurred to me that the Doctor's relative inactivity is obviously because Troughton's playing two characters and can't have too big a workload. Duh! And Jamie and Victoria weren't in this episode at all, were they? This is the first blatant cast holiday of the Troughton era, more than a year in.
Fariah's death is much more effective with actual footage, if I may risk a truism. And it is now entirely clear which "zone" the action is happening in, obviously. But the big difference footage makes to this episode is, of course, the long and dialogue-free stretch in which Salamander gets into Thunderbird 2 and reveals to us his secret lair, replete with some very 1960s computers.
And then there's the cigar. I didn't expect that.
Part Five
"You must be either a complete fool or very clever."
Just a couple of minutes in it's quite clear Bruce is wavering in his support for Salamander, otherwise why is this scene happening at all? This scene doesn't quite work for me, although the part where the Doctor hands over his gun is great. Since last episode the story's tone has become very grim, which sits oddly with the intrinsic jolly japery of the central storyline and plot structure. A bit more lightness of touch, as with the first three episodes, and I'd happily accept scenes like this. But as things are it doesn't quite ring true. The confrontation scene between Swann and Salamander doesn't quite work either.
The scene where the Doctor pretends to be Salamander in front of Jamie and Victoria is very well done but also odd- why does he need to pretend? It's not for Kent's sake- he's (still) trying to convince the Doctor, not the other way around!
I don't know if it's because we now have footage or not, but this time round I felt that the scene in which Bruce is persuaded that Salamander may not in fact be a great benefactor after all was entirely convincing. I had absolutely none of the qualms I had when watching the recon. Perhaps this is because I now have the actors' performances to go on. Perhaps it's for no particular reason.
Far more surprising, even shocking, is to read my original review of this episode and realise that I had entirely misunderstood what was happening at the end of the episode; it is obviously Bruce, and not Kent, whom the Doctor is trying to convince. If I can misunderstand something as obvious as this while experiencing a story as a recon then this gives rise to the question of how much else I may have misunderstood while experiencing a story as a recon. Perhaps I had overestimated how possible it is to experience a story without any footage and I haven't "seen" as much of 1960s Doctor Who as I thought I had.
Part Six
"And so you're going to kill me. How petty."
I admit this story has been dragging for me over the last couple of episodes, but I'm genuinely flabbergasted that Kent turns out to have been a baddie all along. just goes to prove the most effective whodunnits are the ones where you don't realise it's a whodunnit in the first place. And the scene where Salamander shoots him is actually quite violent in a very realistic way- I'm a lot more uncomfortable about the idea of kids watching it than I would be about something much more violent but with more of the fantasy element to it.
This feels a bit uneven- extraordinarily, the Doctor sends Jamie and Victoria off to the TARDIS early on, which highlights just how little they've been in the second half of this story. And the final scene with the Doctor and Salamander in the TARDIS is fundamentally a good idea but it all seems to be over very quickly. And surely Salamander should register at least some surprise that the TARDIS is bigger on the inside?
The plot holes are far more obvious this time around with a visual context. Astrid and Swann meeting as they do is an awfully big coincidence; Astrid forgets that a tunnel exists to the underground lair when the plot necessitates it; and there's no way that the Doctor could have got into Salamander's locked room. Still, in spite of all this, the episode is far more coherent and far more satisfactory to view than it was as a recon. Perhaps it's the simple fact that it is much easier to follow and it looks so good. And Troughton's performance is magnetic, as always.
It's a real shock to see the split screen at the end as we see both the Doctor and Salamander. The ending is still abrupt but, without the frustration of not being able to follow the story easily, this doesn't seem to matter as much.
Overall, a story of two halves- the first three episodes seem to be a fun and witty spoof on the action-packed spy genre that was all over 60s film and television from James Bond to The Avengers. But halfway through the witty dialogue disappears and the tone becomes very serious, which just feels wrong in a story which still seems plotted like a spoof. 3/5.
This time around I didn't notice the change of tone at all although, perhaps, the second half of the story is far more visual and thus easy to follow without frustration when one has the luxury of footage, which makes all the difference. Overall, the sets, the direction and the performances elevate the story, with added footage, to a 4/5. The two stand-out performances, without a doubt, come from Patrick Troughton and Patrick Troughton.
Sunday, 7 June 2009
Doctor Who: The Ambassadors... OF DEATH!
Part One
"My dear fellow, I simply don't happen to have a pass."
"..."
"Because I don't believe in them, that's why."
Interesting device with the story titles, and as we'll see a very successful way of extracting maximum drama from the cliffhanger resolutions. An intriguing start, too- a British Houston during a British space mission. Possibly the most fantastical concept to appear in Doctor Who so far.
This is very promising- David Whitaker's back (yes, I'm aware of the behind-the-scenes script chaos, but still..)and Michael Wisher makes his first appearance. The first episode is very Apollo 13- how very 1970! The establishing scenes with the Doctor and Liz are nice, too, if a little out of keeping with the general serious tone. It's nice to see the TARDIS console again, though (in colour!) and also nice to have the ending of the previous story referenced- it's not overdone but, importantly, establishes the Doctor's lasting outrage.
The link-up of the capsules to music is very 1968- this story is very much of the Space Age. Great modelwork, incidentally.
Pertwee continues to be magnificent as the Doctor- there's some magnificent rudeness directed against Cornish. But, significantly, the Doctor is not (so far!) unlikeable, partly because he's right and partly because of his obvious frustration at his exile.
It's a bit of a coincidence that the warehouse from which the reply to the alien signal is being sent is only seven miles away. But we get the debut appearance for John Abineri, and a strangely gritty and realistic gunfight which is both very cool and seemingly from another genre entirely. This is something new for Doctor Who, with the sci-fi elements being left in the background and the human reaction being strongly foregrounded.
Part Two
"How many beans make five?"
I love the (clearly magical) sleight of hand by which the Doctor confounds Taltalian. There's an interesting technological footnote too- an "analogue-digital converter" sounds very modern for 1970! There's a bit of a throwback to Troughton, though: the Doctor says of computers that he "never did trust those stupid things"!
All this focus on the capsule returning is all a bit Quatermass Experiment. now, I've not read the rest of the thread so I'm going to guess- am I the, er, seventh person to mention this?
There's a very expensive-looking fight scene around the just-landed Recovery 7, no less impressive for the shift into monochrome. We get another shift in tone shortly though- Bessie's "anti-theft device" is very Batman!
Ah, computer paper. Brings back memories of my '80s primary school days, that does...
Some more top drawer Pertwee rudeness towards Sir James Quinlan towards the end. I'm loving this so far!
Part Three
"I don't know what came down in Recovery 7. But it certainly wasn't human."
More great stuff here. It's great to see Cyril Shaps again. And General Carrington is most interesting- Columbo-style we've known he's behind it all from the start but we don't know how or why. Plus Liz continues to be great, in her choice of hats as well as her general fabness. I love the car chase, and that's a very well edited cliffhanger.
Part Four
"If that rocket goes up, it means disaster for the entire world"
The bit where Liz flags down a car and it turns out to be Taltalian is an obvious example of whole sequences which are obviously just filler to pad out the time- a real criticism. But although it's often blatant it doesn't annoy me as much as it did in the previous story. I'm not sure why not.
So the Doctor's going to pilot the rocket- or "primitive contraption", as he call it with delightful rudeness. This harks back to The Seeds of Death, of course, and is one of the signs that this season is closer to its predecessor than often assumed. It'll take a while though, as the Brig has to get some parts in fromJapan
Another great cliffhanger here, well edited again. Cliffhangers have never been better handled than in this story, and the title sequence has a lot to do with it.
Part Five
""Stop the countdown!"
Colour again! And also the return of Sergeant Benton for the first time since The Invasion. More good stuff here-Lennox 's death scene is great, as is every scene with Liz, who gets the best line of the episode as she's being threatened: "It's all right, I won't hurt you."
Another scene in which a rocket leaving orbit too quickly will automatically plunge into the Sun. The tone may be very different, but this story has an alarming number of parallels with The Seeds of Death!
Part Six
"Your Doctor friend's as dead as a doornail."
I couldn't resist using that quote as I remember Terrance Dicks using it as a chapter title in his novelisation of this story. Anyway...
Finally the Doctor gets some answers from the aliens and we begin to understand what's going on- ie exactly what we suspected. Crikey, this story really is very slow indeed! Still, for some reason I don't seem to mind. Oh, and we also get a bit of bad CSO to simulate the weightlessness.
I love the way the Doctor maintains radio silence until he's landed out of pure ego. Oh, and of course to further stretch things out to seven episodes, of course.
We get our one and only glimpse of an alien face, in an oddly underplayed moment. The aliens are much more menacing under those blank visors, moving slowly, with that music heralding their zombie-like advance.
Strangely late on, Carrington says "It's our moral duty" for the first time. It's certainly not the first time a cliffhanger has revolved around someone pulling a gun, though!
Part Seven
"I had to do what I did. It was my moral duty."
Mere moments after he was about to shoot the Doctor, Carrington explains his plans to him. Interestingly, he genuinely craves the approval of this man he was just trying to kill. Realising he's insane, the Doctor "understands". This is very good writing, and foreshadows the end of the episode.
I appreciate the way the brigadier is shown as both capable and heroic here, arguably saving the day. It makes a nice and necessary contrast from his role in the previous story.
Overall, I loved this. I can't in good conscience give it a 5/5 after the way I criticised Doctor Who and the Silurians for being over-long, as there were some obvious and very cheeky bits of filler. But I loved this. It's not necessarily something I'd like to see repeated, but I appreciated the foregrounding of the non-sci-fi elements for once. A reluctant 4/5, with the feeling that perhaps I'm being a bit stingy.
"My dear fellow, I simply don't happen to have a pass."
"..."
"Because I don't believe in them, that's why."
Interesting device with the story titles, and as we'll see a very successful way of extracting maximum drama from the cliffhanger resolutions. An intriguing start, too- a British Houston during a British space mission. Possibly the most fantastical concept to appear in Doctor Who so far.
This is very promising- David Whitaker's back (yes, I'm aware of the behind-the-scenes script chaos, but still..)and Michael Wisher makes his first appearance. The first episode is very Apollo 13- how very 1970! The establishing scenes with the Doctor and Liz are nice, too, if a little out of keeping with the general serious tone. It's nice to see the TARDIS console again, though (in colour!) and also nice to have the ending of the previous story referenced- it's not overdone but, importantly, establishes the Doctor's lasting outrage.
The link-up of the capsules to music is very 1968- this story is very much of the Space Age. Great modelwork, incidentally.
Pertwee continues to be magnificent as the Doctor- there's some magnificent rudeness directed against Cornish. But, significantly, the Doctor is not (so far!) unlikeable, partly because he's right and partly because of his obvious frustration at his exile.
It's a bit of a coincidence that the warehouse from which the reply to the alien signal is being sent is only seven miles away. But we get the debut appearance for John Abineri, and a strangely gritty and realistic gunfight which is both very cool and seemingly from another genre entirely. This is something new for Doctor Who, with the sci-fi elements being left in the background and the human reaction being strongly foregrounded.
Part Two
"How many beans make five?"
I love the (clearly magical) sleight of hand by which the Doctor confounds Taltalian. There's an interesting technological footnote too- an "analogue-digital converter" sounds very modern for 1970! There's a bit of a throwback to Troughton, though: the Doctor says of computers that he "never did trust those stupid things"!
All this focus on the capsule returning is all a bit Quatermass Experiment. now, I've not read the rest of the thread so I'm going to guess- am I the, er, seventh person to mention this?
There's a very expensive-looking fight scene around the just-landed Recovery 7, no less impressive for the shift into monochrome. We get another shift in tone shortly though- Bessie's "anti-theft device" is very Batman!
Ah, computer paper. Brings back memories of my '80s primary school days, that does...
Some more top drawer Pertwee rudeness towards Sir James Quinlan towards the end. I'm loving this so far!
Part Three
"I don't know what came down in Recovery 7. But it certainly wasn't human."
More great stuff here. It's great to see Cyril Shaps again. And General Carrington is most interesting- Columbo-style we've known he's behind it all from the start but we don't know how or why. Plus Liz continues to be great, in her choice of hats as well as her general fabness. I love the car chase, and that's a very well edited cliffhanger.
Part Four
"If that rocket goes up, it means disaster for the entire world"
The bit where Liz flags down a car and it turns out to be Taltalian is an obvious example of whole sequences which are obviously just filler to pad out the time- a real criticism. But although it's often blatant it doesn't annoy me as much as it did in the previous story. I'm not sure why not.
So the Doctor's going to pilot the rocket- or "primitive contraption", as he call it with delightful rudeness. This harks back to The Seeds of Death, of course, and is one of the signs that this season is closer to its predecessor than often assumed. It'll take a while though, as the Brig has to get some parts in from
Another great cliffhanger here, well edited again. Cliffhangers have never been better handled than in this story, and the title sequence has a lot to do with it.
Part Five
""Stop the countdown!"
Colour again! And also the return of Sergeant Benton for the first time since The Invasion. More good stuff here-
Another scene in which a rocket leaving orbit too quickly will automatically plunge into the Sun. The tone may be very different, but this story has an alarming number of parallels with The Seeds of Death!
Part Six
"Your Doctor friend's as dead as a doornail."
I couldn't resist using that quote as I remember Terrance Dicks using it as a chapter title in his novelisation of this story. Anyway...
Finally the Doctor gets some answers from the aliens and we begin to understand what's going on- ie exactly what we suspected. Crikey, this story really is very slow indeed! Still, for some reason I don't seem to mind. Oh, and we also get a bit of bad CSO to simulate the weightlessness.
I love the way the Doctor maintains radio silence until he's landed out of pure ego. Oh, and of course to further stretch things out to seven episodes, of course.
We get our one and only glimpse of an alien face, in an oddly underplayed moment. The aliens are much more menacing under those blank visors, moving slowly, with that music heralding their zombie-like advance.
Strangely late on, Carrington says "It's our moral duty" for the first time. It's certainly not the first time a cliffhanger has revolved around someone pulling a gun, though!
Part Seven
"I had to do what I did. It was my moral duty."
Mere moments after he was about to shoot the Doctor, Carrington explains his plans to him. Interestingly, he genuinely craves the approval of this man he was just trying to kill. Realising he's insane, the Doctor "understands". This is very good writing, and foreshadows the end of the episode.
I appreciate the way the brigadier is shown as both capable and heroic here, arguably saving the day. It makes a nice and necessary contrast from his role in the previous story.
Overall, I loved this. I can't in good conscience give it a 5/5 after the way I criticised Doctor Who and the Silurians for being over-long, as there were some obvious and very cheeky bits of filler. But I loved this. It's not necessarily something I'd like to see repeated, but I appreciated the foregrounding of the non-sci-fi elements for once. A reluctant 4/5, with the feeling that perhaps I'm being a bit stingy.
Doctor Who: The Wheel in Space
Part One
"Well, all right. Stick your rod..."
Another Joint Venture recon, so of course we start with another BBC globe. I'm starting to enjoy these! And an interesting combination of writers- David Whitaker (yay!) "from an idea by Kit Pedler".
We start with a reprise from the end of Fury from the Deep withVictoria
Fittingly from a story involving both Whitaker and Pedler, we get a food machine scene to help pad out this extraordinarily uneventful episode. There's a nice brief chat aboutVictoria
Part Two
"Just you watch your lip or I'll put you across my knee and larrup you."
"Oh, this is going to be fun!"
The story is not looking promising at the start of this episode. Firstly, this is clearly going to be yet another Base Under Siege story, and this is just one too many. Secondly, nothing is happening. it takes ages until the Doctor and Jamie even arrive on the wheel, and Patrick Troughton isn't even in this episode- these absences, which didn't used to happen, are a clear sign that Troughton is starting to get knackered with the pace of production. The clock starts ticking on his era about now.
It's a little jarring to see Jamie who, however much of a TARDIS veteran he may be, is from 1746, operating the Silver carrier's airlock with no problem. But his scene with Gemma where he desperately and unsuccessfully tries to explain his and the Doctor's presence is quite funny- and gives us our first "Doctor John Smith". And then we meet the lovely Zoe!
Oh goody, the TARDISeers are suspected of sabotage again. How original. There's a bit of a twist this time- Jamie really does want to sabotage the big gun so the Silver Carrier isn't destroyed and the TARDIS with it- but it's always just tiresome to see our heroes fall under suspicion from the latest base commander. Can't we just gloss over this bit and start the plot please?
On the plus side, though, I like the new Cybermen design.
Part Three
"Logic, my dear Zoe, merely enables one to be wrong with authority."
Er, why is everyone on the wheel suddenly worried about a star going nova? What harm can it possibly do them. But it becomes horribly apparent that this astronomical nonsense is in fact central to the plot. Oh dear.
I'm not sure about the new Cyber-voices- on the plus side they're much clearer, something that had to change, but they're rather characterless. Peculiarly, the Cyber Planner still has the old voice. Oh, and the Cybermats are back!
The Doctor gets a medical, and interestingly there's no mention of a second heart. Gemma would have mentioned it, surely? It's good to have the Doctor back, and very quickly bonding with Zoe.
At last, halfway through part three, the plot starts! Hooray. Apparently the Cybermen are going to get the Cybermats to eat up all the Bernalium rods, so the Wheel's crew need to get some more from the rocket, where they're hiding. So, er, what would have happened if Jamie hadn't stopped it from being blown up? Plus, there are only two Cybermen plus the Planner, and all they seem to do is spout "as you know, Bob" style exposition at each other.
Jarvis is showing himself to be the biggest tit to command a base under siege yet. how long do we have to wait until the Cybermen kill him? Or do anything at all, come to think of it?
Part Four
"The Cybermen are here!"
Just as things seemed about to happen, the plot goes into hibernation again- the Cybermen's plan involves hiding in crates which are destined for the Wheel, thus entailing them doing sod all for ages. How exciting.
So, Jamie, who earlier in the story, operated an airlock with no problem, now turns out not to understand the concept of recorded sound? I can understand a little inconsistency over how much technology would be familiar to someone from 1746 who'd spent a year or so mainly in various time periods in his own future, but surely this is just plain sloppy?
I've been harsh on this story, I know- maybe it's my developing allergy to base under sieges, held in check by the undeniable excellence of the last couple of stories. But this is very slow, and consists mainly of dull characters doing dull things in dull corridors, with very little sense of threat from the extremely lethargic Cybermen and a threat from some meteors which never seems to actually materialise and which is scientifically a load of cobblers anyway.
Still, there are a couple of interesting points. The portrayal of working in space as actually rather dull sort of anticipates Alien. And I like the thematic contrast between Zoe and the Cybermen- Zoe's logical and emotionally repressed, and is coming to realise she'd rather feel things more and be less narrow in her thinking. Her desires are the exact opposite of the Cybermen.
Part Five
""I was trained to believe logic and calculation would provide me with all the answers."
So, Gemma wants to give Jarvis some electro-shock therapy?
At last, the meteors arrive! And, er, it's all very dull. Just lots of people shouting out numbers. And the Doctor sends Jamie and Zoe on a highly dangerous mission to get his Time Vector Generator back! This Doctor's still a manipulative, callous old sod at times.
Part Six
"I imagine you have orders to destroy me."
Some actual footage, on DVD no less, and it's immediately apparent that Jamie and Zoe are on wires! And, er, how exactly are they propelling themselves across space?
If I had a dirty mind, which of course I don't, I would have sniggered a bit at the Doctor's apparent mention of the "sexual air supply". And the Cybermen saying that "Effective penetration should be immediate." Still, such distractions are not actually needed to be able to watch this episode, as things are actually happening at last. We even get a wonderful Troughton scene in his confrontation with the two Cybermen. Unfortunately we also get Cybermen walking through space and flapping their arms for some reason, but at last we get an episode which at least manages to entertain.
How bizarre- the Doctor introduces Zoe to the Ship by showing her some clips from The Evil of the Daleks...
Overall... well, I didn't like that very much. Could you tell? I was surprised to see after I voted about half an hour ago that most people seemed to like it, but I just found it incredibly slow and dull, with the plot not even starting until halfway through. I was close to giving this a 1/5, but some good dialogue and the lovely Zoe just about raise it to a low 2/5.
Awful as this story was, though, it still doesn't prevent this otherwise excellent season from proving my favourite so far, with an average score of a highly impressive 4/5.
"Well, all right. Stick your rod..."
Another Joint Venture recon, so of course we start with another BBC globe. I'm starting to enjoy these! And an interesting combination of writers- David Whitaker (yay!) "from an idea by Kit Pedler".
We start with a reprise from the end of Fury from the Deep with
Fittingly from a story involving both Whitaker and Pedler, we get a food machine scene to help pad out this extraordinarily uneventful episode. There's a nice brief chat about
Part Two
"Just you watch your lip or I'll put you across my knee and larrup you."
"Oh, this is going to be fun!"
The story is not looking promising at the start of this episode. Firstly, this is clearly going to be yet another Base Under Siege story, and this is just one too many. Secondly, nothing is happening. it takes ages until the Doctor and Jamie even arrive on the wheel, and Patrick Troughton isn't even in this episode- these absences, which didn't used to happen, are a clear sign that Troughton is starting to get knackered with the pace of production. The clock starts ticking on his era about now.
It's a little jarring to see Jamie who, however much of a TARDIS veteran he may be, is from 1746, operating the Silver carrier's airlock with no problem. But his scene with Gemma where he desperately and unsuccessfully tries to explain his and the Doctor's presence is quite funny- and gives us our first "Doctor John Smith". And then we meet the lovely Zoe!
Oh goody, the TARDISeers are suspected of sabotage again. How original. There's a bit of a twist this time- Jamie really does want to sabotage the big gun so the Silver Carrier isn't destroyed and the TARDIS with it- but it's always just tiresome to see our heroes fall under suspicion from the latest base commander. Can't we just gloss over this bit and start the plot please?
On the plus side, though, I like the new Cybermen design.
Part Three
"Logic, my dear Zoe, merely enables one to be wrong with authority."
Er, why is everyone on the wheel suddenly worried about a star going nova? What harm can it possibly do them. But it becomes horribly apparent that this astronomical nonsense is in fact central to the plot. Oh dear.
I'm not sure about the new Cyber-voices- on the plus side they're much clearer, something that had to change, but they're rather characterless. Peculiarly, the Cyber Planner still has the old voice. Oh, and the Cybermats are back!
The Doctor gets a medical, and interestingly there's no mention of a second heart. Gemma would have mentioned it, surely? It's good to have the Doctor back, and very quickly bonding with Zoe.
At last, halfway through part three, the plot starts! Hooray. Apparently the Cybermen are going to get the Cybermats to eat up all the Bernalium rods, so the Wheel's crew need to get some more from the rocket, where they're hiding. So, er, what would have happened if Jamie hadn't stopped it from being blown up? Plus, there are only two Cybermen plus the Planner, and all they seem to do is spout "as you know, Bob" style exposition at each other.
Jarvis is showing himself to be the biggest tit to command a base under siege yet. how long do we have to wait until the Cybermen kill him? Or do anything at all, come to think of it?
Part Four
"The Cybermen are here!"
Just as things seemed about to happen, the plot goes into hibernation again- the Cybermen's plan involves hiding in crates which are destined for the Wheel, thus entailing them doing sod all for ages. How exciting.
So, Jamie, who earlier in the story, operated an airlock with no problem, now turns out not to understand the concept of recorded sound? I can understand a little inconsistency over how much technology would be familiar to someone from 1746 who'd spent a year or so mainly in various time periods in his own future, but surely this is just plain sloppy?
I've been harsh on this story, I know- maybe it's my developing allergy to base under sieges, held in check by the undeniable excellence of the last couple of stories. But this is very slow, and consists mainly of dull characters doing dull things in dull corridors, with very little sense of threat from the extremely lethargic Cybermen and a threat from some meteors which never seems to actually materialise and which is scientifically a load of cobblers anyway.
Still, there are a couple of interesting points. The portrayal of working in space as actually rather dull sort of anticipates Alien. And I like the thematic contrast between Zoe and the Cybermen- Zoe's logical and emotionally repressed, and is coming to realise she'd rather feel things more and be less narrow in her thinking. Her desires are the exact opposite of the Cybermen.
Part Five
""I was trained to believe logic and calculation would provide me with all the answers."
So, Gemma wants to give Jarvis some electro-shock therapy?
At last, the meteors arrive! And, er, it's all very dull. Just lots of people shouting out numbers. And the Doctor sends Jamie and Zoe on a highly dangerous mission to get his Time Vector Generator back! This Doctor's still a manipulative, callous old sod at times.
Part Six
"I imagine you have orders to destroy me."
Some actual footage, on DVD no less, and it's immediately apparent that Jamie and Zoe are on wires! And, er, how exactly are they propelling themselves across space?
If I had a dirty mind, which of course I don't, I would have sniggered a bit at the Doctor's apparent mention of the "sexual air supply". And the Cybermen saying that "Effective penetration should be immediate." Still, such distractions are not actually needed to be able to watch this episode, as things are actually happening at last. We even get a wonderful Troughton scene in his confrontation with the two Cybermen. Unfortunately we also get Cybermen walking through space and flapping their arms for some reason, but at last we get an episode which at least manages to entertain.
How bizarre- the Doctor introduces Zoe to the Ship by showing her some clips from The Evil of the Daleks...
Overall... well, I didn't like that very much. Could you tell? I was surprised to see after I voted about half an hour ago that most people seemed to like it, but I just found it incredibly slow and dull, with the plot not even starting until halfway through. I was close to giving this a 1/5, but some good dialogue and the lovely Zoe just about raise it to a low 2/5.
Awful as this story was, though, it still doesn't prevent this otherwise excellent season from proving my favourite so far, with an average score of a highly impressive 4/5.
Doctor Who: The Enemy of the World
Part One
"They're human beings, if that's what you mean. Indulging in their favourite pastime- trying to destroy each other!"
David Whitaker's back. Yay! And this one's directed by some bloke called Barry Letts. I wonder whether we'll ever hear from him again?
In contrast to the previous story we immediately start with the TARDISeers. And for the first time since, I believe, The Keys of Marinus, the TARDIS materialises silently. This is a very unusual setting for Doctor Who- for all that this is supposedly set in the future we're not exactly being bombarded with futuristic things. In fact, hovercrafts and helicopters give us a very contemporary feel, and signify that we're going to see six episodes of Doctor Who's take on the '60s spy craze.
There's a most enjoyable exchange between the Doctor and Astrid after he insists he's a Doctor "not of medical significance". On being asked whether he's a Doctor of law or philosophy he replies "Which law? Whose philosophy?". There's also a running gag becoming established in which the Doctor, asked to explain where he came from, makes an oblique reference to the previous story for the second time in a row. Witty dialogue is pretty much a hallmark of this story's first three parts and, although a very unusual type of story indeed, it's been great fun so far. Better still, we get Bill Kerr of off of of Hancock, and an unusually intriguing cliffhanger.
There's been an awful lot of weather control in Doctor Who lately, mind!
Part Two
"Which side is good? Which side is bad? And why should I interfere?"
More amusing references to recent escapades as the Doctor thinks he's being told about a "disused Yeti". But the plot thickens a lot during this episode. There's a lot of plotting and counter-plotting going on but it doesn't seem over-complicated, a testament to the excellence of Whitaker's script. Fariah's instantly an intriguing character who has an interesting job. But as she's characterised too well to be a simple food taster we begin to suspect there are things she's not telling us. And finally we get to see the real Salamander- a superb performance from Troughton. Although the accent... er, yes.
Jamie is once again magnificent, carrying out the dangerous plan to get into Salamander's confidence. Once again he's shown to be far from the simpleton of myth- particularly, it must be said, in David Whitaker stories!
Part Three
"People spend all their time making nice things and then other people come along and break them."
An episode with actual footage and, sadly we can now see that this story just isn't very visually arresting, great though the script may be. We get a confession early on that this story is the season cheapie: "Why is Mr Denes being kept in the corridor here?" "It's easier to guard him here."
Still, the dialogue continues to sparkle. Griff, the chef, gets most of the best lines, of course (I'm going out for a walk. It'll probably rain.") but the standard of wit is good all round.
All the same, whilst all this exciting stuff is going on, and Jamie is showing an impressive understanding of the low arts of political skulduggery, the Doctor, almost Hartnell-like, is doing sod all except watching everything on a television much like the viewers were watching back home. In the first clear bit of foot dragging, this normally uber-interventionist Doctor is refusing to do anything at all before he has absolute proof.
The poisoning of Fedorin is great ("Suicide, of course..."). Oh, and Fariah clearly does have a secret...
This still feels very strange for Doctor Who, but it's actually quite refreshing to have a bit of a breather from the standard formula the show seems to have adopted of late. And this is damn good stuff so far, however visually dull it may occasionally be.
"They're human beings, if that's what you mean. Indulging in their favourite pastime- trying to destroy each other!"
David Whitaker's back. Yay! And this one's directed by some bloke called Barry Letts. I wonder whether we'll ever hear from him again?
In contrast to the previous story we immediately start with the TARDISeers. And for the first time since, I believe, The Keys of Marinus, the TARDIS materialises silently. This is a very unusual setting for Doctor Who- for all that this is supposedly set in the future we're not exactly being bombarded with futuristic things. In fact, hovercrafts and helicopters give us a very contemporary feel, and signify that we're going to see six episodes of Doctor Who's take on the '60s spy craze.
There's a most enjoyable exchange between the Doctor and Astrid after he insists he's a Doctor "not of medical significance". On being asked whether he's a Doctor of law or philosophy he replies "Which law? Whose philosophy?". There's also a running gag becoming established in which the Doctor, asked to explain where he came from, makes an oblique reference to the previous story for the second time in a row. Witty dialogue is pretty much a hallmark of this story's first three parts and, although a very unusual type of story indeed, it's been great fun so far. Better still, we get Bill Kerr of off of of Hancock, and an unusually intriguing cliffhanger.
There's been an awful lot of weather control in Doctor Who lately, mind!
Part Two
"Which side is good? Which side is bad? And why should I interfere?"
More amusing references to recent escapades as the Doctor thinks he's being told about a "disused Yeti". But the plot thickens a lot during this episode. There's a lot of plotting and counter-plotting going on but it doesn't seem over-complicated, a testament to the excellence of Whitaker's script. Fariah's instantly an intriguing character who has an interesting job. But as she's characterised too well to be a simple food taster we begin to suspect there are things she's not telling us. And finally we get to see the real Salamander- a superb performance from Troughton. Although the accent... er, yes.
Jamie is once again magnificent, carrying out the dangerous plan to get into Salamander's confidence. Once again he's shown to be far from the simpleton of myth- particularly, it must be said, in David Whitaker stories!
Part Three
"People spend all their time making nice things and then other people come along and break them."
An episode with actual footage and, sadly we can now see that this story just isn't very visually arresting, great though the script may be. We get a confession early on that this story is the season cheapie: "Why is Mr Denes being kept in the corridor here?" "It's easier to guard him here."
Still, the dialogue continues to sparkle. Griff, the chef, gets most of the best lines, of course (I'm going out for a walk. It'll probably rain.") but the standard of wit is good all round.
All the same, whilst all this exciting stuff is going on, and Jamie is showing an impressive understanding of the low arts of political skulduggery, the Doctor, almost Hartnell-like, is doing sod all except watching everything on a television much like the viewers were watching back home. In the first clear bit of foot dragging, this normally uber-interventionist Doctor is refusing to do anything at all before he has absolute proof.
The poisoning of Fedorin is great ("Suicide, of course..."). Oh, and Fariah clearly does have a secret...
This still feels very strange for Doctor Who, but it's actually quite refreshing to have a bit of a breather from the standard formula the show seems to have adopted of late. And this is damn good stuff so far, however visually dull it may occasionally be.
Part Four
"Proof, proof, proof!"
Fariah seems to get fromHungary to Australia
Benik's line "These people are terrorists!" has a rather arrestingly contemporary ring, one of the things which tend to mark the fact that in this episode the mood changes sharply and everything becomes very serious. This is nowhere more apparent than with Fariah's tragic yet noble death, but rather unsatisfyingly we are told nothing of her story beyond the vague fact she was being blackmailed.
The seriousness fades briefly as Salamander makes his very Thunderbirds exit to his secret underground base. This scene is most peculiar with sound only, with the sound effects making me imagine the most bizarre Gerry Anderson style contraption imaginable! There's a big new revelation; Salamander is persuading loads of people to live underground in the belief a radioactive war rages overhead so that they'll help him cause natural disasters. And nobody questions any of this except one bloke called Colin. Er, right. This is, to put it mildly, less than entirely convincing and the story never quite recovers from it.
Oh, and it's just occurred to me that the Doctor's relative inactivity is obviously because Troughton's playing two characters and can't have too big a workload. Duh! And Jamie and Victoria weren't in this episode at all, were they? This is the first blatant cast holiday of the Troughton era, more than a year in.
Part Five
"You must be either a complete fool or very clever."
Just a couple of minutes in it's quite clear Bruce is wavering in his support for Salamander, otherwise why is this scene happening at all? This scene doesn't quite work for me, although the part where the Doctor hands over his gun is great. Since last episode the story's tone has become very grim, which sits oddly with the intrinsic jolly japery of the central storyline and plot structure. A bit more lightness of touch, as with the first three episodes, and I'd happily accept scenes like this. But as things are it doesn't quite ring true. The confrontation scene between Swann and Salamander doesn't quite work either.
The scene where the Doctor pretends to be Salamander in front of Jamie and Victoria is very well done but also odd- why does he need to pretend? It's not forKent
Part Six
"And so you're going to kill me. How petty."
I admit this story has been dragging for me over the last couple of episodes, but I'm genuinely flabbergasted thatKent
This feels a bit uneven- extraordinarily, the Doctor sends Jamie and Victoria off to the TARDIS early on, which highlights just how little they've been in the second half of this story. And the final scene with the Doctor and Salamander in the TARDIS is fundamentally a good idea but it all seems to be over very quickly. And surely Salamander should register at least some surprise that the TARDIS is bigger on the inside?
Overall, a story of two halves- the first three episodes seem to be a fun and witty spoof on the action-packed spy genre that was all over 60s film and television from James Bond to The Avengers. But halfway through the witty dialogue disappears and the tone becomes very serious, which just feels wrong in a story which still seems plotted like a spoof. 3/5.
"Proof, proof, proof!"
Fariah seems to get from
Benik's line "These people are terrorists!" has a rather arrestingly contemporary ring, one of the things which tend to mark the fact that in this episode the mood changes sharply and everything becomes very serious. This is nowhere more apparent than with Fariah's tragic yet noble death, but rather unsatisfyingly we are told nothing of her story beyond the vague fact she was being blackmailed.
The seriousness fades briefly as Salamander makes his very Thunderbirds exit to his secret underground base. This scene is most peculiar with sound only, with the sound effects making me imagine the most bizarre Gerry Anderson style contraption imaginable! There's a big new revelation; Salamander is persuading loads of people to live underground in the belief a radioactive war rages overhead so that they'll help him cause natural disasters. And nobody questions any of this except one bloke called Colin. Er, right. This is, to put it mildly, less than entirely convincing and the story never quite recovers from it.
Oh, and it's just occurred to me that the Doctor's relative inactivity is obviously because Troughton's playing two characters and can't have too big a workload. Duh! And Jamie and Victoria weren't in this episode at all, were they? This is the first blatant cast holiday of the Troughton era, more than a year in.
Part Five
"You must be either a complete fool or very clever."
Just a couple of minutes in it's quite clear Bruce is wavering in his support for Salamander, otherwise why is this scene happening at all? This scene doesn't quite work for me, although the part where the Doctor hands over his gun is great. Since last episode the story's tone has become very grim, which sits oddly with the intrinsic jolly japery of the central storyline and plot structure. A bit more lightness of touch, as with the first three episodes, and I'd happily accept scenes like this. But as things are it doesn't quite ring true. The confrontation scene between Swann and Salamander doesn't quite work either.
The scene where the Doctor pretends to be Salamander in front of Jamie and Victoria is very well done but also odd- why does he need to pretend? It's not for
Part Six
"And so you're going to kill me. How petty."
I admit this story has been dragging for me over the last couple of episodes, but I'm genuinely flabbergasted that
This feels a bit uneven- extraordinarily, the Doctor sends Jamie and Victoria off to the TARDIS early on, which highlights just how little they've been in the second half of this story. And the final scene with the Doctor and Salamander in the TARDIS is fundamentally a good idea but it all seems to be over very quickly. And surely Salamander should register at least some surprise that the TARDIS is bigger on the inside?
Overall, a story of two halves- the first three episodes seem to be a fun and witty spoof on the action-packed spy genre that was all over 60s film and television from James Bond to The Avengers. But halfway through the witty dialogue disappears and the tone becomes very serious, which just feels wrong in a story which still seems plotted like a spoof. 3/5.
Doctor Who: The Evil of the Daleks
Part One
"Follow that car!"
Alas, I haven't been able to get my hands on the Loose Canon recon in time, and I'm not prepared to wait and get even further behind! So for the first time in the marathon I'm experiencing this story by means of a Joint Venture recon- and it's not bad at all. Clearly it's not a patch on most of the Loose Cannon stuff but it's a fine effort nonetheless, and I was relieved to find it better than the Loose Cannon version of The Faceless Ones. All this, of course, is on the evidence of but a single episode, but early signs are encouraging. And the continuity announcement at the start is a nice touch.
We start with an intriguing mystery which feels like a different programme entirely, as the Doctor and Jamie piece together clues and lounge about in a 60s coffee bar to the sounds of Paperback Writer and some decor straight out of Austin Powers. Groovy! it's a nice touch that Jamie knows little of trains, although he seems to speak of the Victorian era with a little too much familiarity. It's an intriguing set-up though- a Victorian gent who's somehow in 1966. And the cliffhanger is chilling. A superb episode.
Part Two
"You will not feed the flying pests outside!"
An episode away from the recons, and the luxury of actual footage, on DVD no less. Something most definitely to savour. It's immediately apparent that the scenes are well shot. And also that the pictures of the Doctor and Jamie are publicity shots from The Highlanders! Perhaps a Dalek photographer travelled back to 1746?
The plot continues to grip; this episode is every bit as excellent as the previous one. We get to properly examine two well-characterised individuals; the arrogant and hubristic Maxtible and the guilt-plagued Waterfield- both of whom possess personality traits which mean, as this is Doctor Who, neither will survive the story. And we get to meetVictoria
I love Maxtible's Bride of Frankenstein-esque lab, with all those phials filled with bubbling liquids! And also, as this is great, I shall overlook the, er, interesting science spouted by Maxtible!
"Follow that car!"
Alas, I haven't been able to get my hands on the Loose Canon recon in time, and I'm not prepared to wait and get even further behind! So for the first time in the marathon I'm experiencing this story by means of a Joint Venture recon- and it's not bad at all. Clearly it's not a patch on most of the Loose Cannon stuff but it's a fine effort nonetheless, and I was relieved to find it better than the Loose Cannon version of The Faceless Ones. All this, of course, is on the evidence of but a single episode, but early signs are encouraging. And the continuity announcement at the start is a nice touch.
We start with an intriguing mystery which feels like a different programme entirely, as the Doctor and Jamie piece together clues and lounge about in a 60s coffee bar to the sounds of Paperback Writer and some decor straight out of Austin Powers. Groovy! it's a nice touch that Jamie knows little of trains, although he seems to speak of the Victorian era with a little too much familiarity. It's an intriguing set-up though- a Victorian gent who's somehow in 1966. And the cliffhanger is chilling. A superb episode.
Part Two
"You will not feed the flying pests outside!"
An episode away from the recons, and the luxury of actual footage, on DVD no less. Something most definitely to savour. It's immediately apparent that the scenes are well shot. And also that the pictures of the Doctor and Jamie are publicity shots from The Highlanders! Perhaps a Dalek photographer travelled back to 1746?
The plot continues to grip; this episode is every bit as excellent as the previous one. We get to properly examine two well-characterised individuals; the arrogant and hubristic Maxtible and the guilt-plagued Waterfield- both of whom possess personality traits which mean, as this is Doctor Who, neither will survive the story. And we get to meet
I love Maxtible's Bride of Frankenstein-esque lab, with all those phials filled with bubbling liquids! And also, as this is great, I shall overlook the, er, interesting science spouted by Maxtible!
Part Three
"Do not be afraid. You are not to be exterminated."
This is still gripping drama but, well, where exactly is the plot going? I know it serves to introduce Terrall and his plot strand but the brief kidnapping of Jamie seems oddly purposeless. It's also very notable that the Daleks don't seem very active at all, and only ever seem to appear in ones and twos. still, this is gripping stuff which shows us (however justified he may be) a dark and manipulative side to the Doctor, overheard by Jamie. For the first time in ages, both the Doctor and his companion are getting some serious character development- that'll be a David Whittaker script then.
This is the first appearance of sci-fi elements in an historical setting for ages, since the Egyptian segments of The Daleks' Master Plan, in fact. but this feels a very different kind of epic, on a more human scale. A couple of things are odd, though- is the Daleks' desire for the "human factor" really consistent with their racial supremacism? And it's notable that they say of the Doctor: "You have travelled too much through time. You are more than human." Once again, it's made clear that the series does not yet consider the Doctor anything other than physiologically human. Well, the small matter of his "renewal" aside, obviously. And for all we know, that was just "part of the TARDIS".
It has to be said, some basic elements of the plot make no sense at all. Is the explanation for the Daleks' desire for the "human factor" really convincing? Why do they need to go to all the trouble of kidnapping the Doctor and Jamie rather than any old human? How does the test work? And yet this is gripping drama, and on course for a 4/5 at this point in spite of everything. The confrontation scene between the Doctor and Jamie is electrifying- great writing and acting.
Part Four
"The Daleks know many secrets. You will learn the most important."
We start with a long fight scene with no dialogue for a very long time. An unfortunate episode to be missing, then! The gradual widening of the rift between Waterfield and Maxtible in their scene is well developed, and although not that much actually happens in this episode the time is more than adequately filled by good character stuff. On the evidence of this episode Maxtible seems to be becoming more like Mavic Chen with each passing minute...
"Do not be afraid. You are not to be exterminated."
This is still gripping drama but, well, where exactly is the plot going? I know it serves to introduce Terrall and his plot strand but the brief kidnapping of Jamie seems oddly purposeless. It's also very notable that the Daleks don't seem very active at all, and only ever seem to appear in ones and twos. still, this is gripping stuff which shows us (however justified he may be) a dark and manipulative side to the Doctor, overheard by Jamie. For the first time in ages, both the Doctor and his companion are getting some serious character development- that'll be a David Whittaker script then.
This is the first appearance of sci-fi elements in an historical setting for ages, since the Egyptian segments of The Daleks' Master Plan, in fact. but this feels a very different kind of epic, on a more human scale. A couple of things are odd, though- is the Daleks' desire for the "human factor" really consistent with their racial supremacism? And it's notable that they say of the Doctor: "You have travelled too much through time. You are more than human." Once again, it's made clear that the series does not yet consider the Doctor anything other than physiologically human. Well, the small matter of his "renewal" aside, obviously. And for all we know, that was just "part of the TARDIS".
It has to be said, some basic elements of the plot make no sense at all. Is the explanation for the Daleks' desire for the "human factor" really convincing? Why do they need to go to all the trouble of kidnapping the Doctor and Jamie rather than any old human? How does the test work? And yet this is gripping drama, and on course for a 4/5 at this point in spite of everything. The confrontation scene between the Doctor and Jamie is electrifying- great writing and acting.
Part Four
"The Daleks know many secrets. You will learn the most important."
We start with a long fight scene with no dialogue for a very long time. An unfortunate episode to be missing, then! The gradual widening of the rift between Waterfield and Maxtible in their scene is well developed, and although not that much actually happens in this episode the time is more than adequately filled by good character stuff. On the evidence of this episode Maxtible seems to be becoming more like Mavic Chen with each passing minute...
Part Five
"No, Mr Terrall. I am not a student of human nature. I am a professor of a far wider academy, of which human nature is merely a part."
So this new generation of Daleks will have "positronic brains", will they?
There's a real sense of high stakes and foreboding being stoked throughout this episode; Molly, Ruth and Terrall all leave before the real bad stuff starts, which gives the impression that none of the other guest characters are going to survive. And when Waterfield speaks of the destruction of an entire race, the Doctor's reply ("Yes. I don't think you quite realise what you're saying, but yes. It may come to that. It may very well come to that.") is interestingly ambiguous as to the race concerned!
There's a fantastic scene between the Doctor and Jamie as the consequences of the Doctor's betrayal of his friend are made clear; "You and me- we're finished! You're just too callous for me." The episode ends with Jamie still not fully trusting the Doctor. I can't help noticing, though- whenever it's just the Doctor and one male companion travelling in the TARDIS there always seems to be a huge row!
Part Six
"I've beaten you, and I don't care what you do to me now."
Daleks playing trains? Er... ok. Fine in the context of the story, but it certainly diminishes the Daleks. It's interesting to hear the differences in the tones of their voices, mind.
The Daleks betray Maxtible? Well, blow me down! And then it's suddenly a double whammy of Dalek tropes as we get a countdown. And then everyone's off to Skaro and things start happening thick and fast. Before they do, though, we get a sweet little scene in which
At last we get to see the surface of Skaro again. Or rather we don't, as the episode is missing. In fact, the scenes in which the Doctor, Jamie and Waterfield travel towards the Dalek city are extremely reminiscent of the first Dalek story. Even better, once again we hear the music from the Dalek city and best of all, in Maxtible's cell, that throbbing sound!
The Emperor is awesome to behold, or at least his photograph is. I love the Doctor's line: "We meet at last. I wondered if we ever would." In fact, Troughton is particularly brilliant in this scene, but this is a story in which the Doctor has been better played and written than ever before. The moment when the Doctor realised he's been manipulated all along is awesomely effective.
Part Seven
"Dizzy! Dizzy! Dizzy Daleks!"
The Doctor's recorder is back! Yay! I do believe we haven't seen it since The Moonbase. It's nice that there's room in this final episode for the Doctor to finally get a chance to bond with
The Daleks' plan seems to make sense now, certainly more than it did, but I'm not convinced that Daleks imbuing other races with the "Dalek factor" is consistent with their obsessive belief in their own racial superiority. Maxtible gets what he deserves, though.
I notice even at this stage, and admittedly after he's supposedly been given the "Dalek factor", Jamie still isn't sure of whether to trust the Doctor, and after what has happened this has resonance.
So, the Doctor is not impregnated with the Dalek factor because he's not from Earth! He is physically different from humans, then, contradicting everything I said a couple of episodes ago!
Overall, this is breathtakingly, Earth-shatteringly awesome telly, and it's a shame so little of it exists. Yes, there are plot problems in the way the early episodes hang together and yes, the Daleks are not exactly treated with dignity here. But this is just quality stuff, an easy 5/5, second only to The Massacre.
And overall Season Four gets 3.889/5, close behind Three.
Saturday, 6 June 2009
Doctor Who: The Power of the Daleks
Part One
"It's not only his face that's changed- he doesn't even act like him!"
Surely back in 1966 there had never been so much anticipation before the first episode of a new story. I'm certainly feeling it.
Of course, we start with a reprise of Hartnell changing into Troughton, all in glorious footage. Interesting that his clothes, although not his cloak or ring, change as well. Also adding to the tension is that Ben and Polly only enter the TARDIS asfterwards and are unsure of this stranger- and I like the way the captions on the Loose Cannon recon refer to him as such!
Point of continuity: why is it no longer cold inside the TARDIS as it was at the end of The Smugglers? We haven't dematerialised yet.
The early scenes with the new Doctor are most frustrating- if only we could see Troughton's performance- these are visually perhaps the most important few minutes ever of Doctor Who! still, the mirror's a nice touch, as is the Doctor's ring falling off.
The Doctor's been "renewed" ( I must be careful not to use a certain other word whose time has not yet come!), and apparently it's "part of the TARDIS". The post-regeneration stuff is fascinating, but interestingly in doesn't outstay its welcome- during all this the Doctor's set the TARDIS in flight.
Once more we miss what was no doubt a great visual gag as the Doctor avoids the deadly mercury swamps without looking up from his 500 year diary. And given the extra job this episode has to do the story's actual plot gets started commendably quickly, and the Doctor being able to pose as the Examiner means there's no need for any tiresome scenes of suspicion.
We finish with Daleks, and that door sound. The first six-parter for ages is off to a great start...
Part Two
"Of course, the real Doctor was always going on about the Daleks."
Nice way of establishing the Dalek threat- one Dalek is "all that is needed to wipe out this whole colony". And early impressions of this Doctor, in spite of the recorder playing, are of an easy-going yet manipulative and Machiavellian character who keeps things to his chest. It's fascinating the way the characterisation of this new Doctor is being slowly fed to us.
Up to this point it's been hard to tell the guest characters apart without footage but in this episode things become clear- there are two political factions with the "apolitical" Lesterson in the middle.
Marco Polo gets a reference! And Ben still doesn't quite believe this stranger is the Doctor. It's clever the way Ben's being used as the audience identification figure here- much of the audience would have felt real resentment for this newcomer.
The Dalek recognises the Doctor! And very cleverly drowns out his warnings by creepily repeating "I am your servant...". Top stuff so far.
"It's not only his face that's changed- he doesn't even act like him!"
Of course, we start with a reprise of Hartnell changing into Troughton, all in glorious footage. Interesting that his clothes, although not his cloak or ring, change as well. Also adding to the tension is that Ben and Polly only enter the TARDIS asfterwards and are unsure of this stranger- and I like the way the captions on the Loose Cannon recon refer to him as such!
Point of continuity: why is it no longer cold inside the TARDIS as it was at the end of The Smugglers? We haven't dematerialised yet.
The early scenes with the new Doctor are most frustrating- if only we could see Troughton's performance- these are visually perhaps the most important few minutes ever of Doctor Who! still, the mirror's a nice touch, as is the Doctor's ring falling off.
The Doctor's been "renewed" ( I must be careful not to use a certain other word whose time has not yet come!), and apparently it's "part of the TARDIS". The post-regeneration stuff is fascinating, but interestingly in doesn't outstay its welcome- during all this the Doctor's set the TARDIS in flight.
Once more we miss what was no doubt a great visual gag as the Doctor avoids the deadly mercury swamps without looking up from his 500 year diary. And given the extra job this episode has to do the story's actual plot gets started commendably quickly, and the Doctor being able to pose as the Examiner means there's no need for any tiresome scenes of suspicion.
We finish with Daleks, and that door sound. The first six-parter for ages is off to a great start...
Part Two
"Of course, the real Doctor was always going on about the Daleks."
Nice way of establishing the Dalek threat- one Dalek is "all that is needed to wipe out this whole colony". And early impressions of this Doctor, in spite of the recorder playing, are of an easy-going yet manipulative and Machiavellian character who keeps things to his chest. It's fascinating the way the characterisation of this new Doctor is being slowly fed to us.
Up to this point it's been hard to tell the guest characters apart without footage but in this episode things become clear- there are two political factions with the "apolitical" Lesterson in the middle.
Marco Polo gets a reference! And Ben still doesn't quite believe this stranger is the Doctor. It's clever the way Ben's being used as the audience identification figure here- much of the audience would have felt real resentment for this newcomer.
The Dalek recognises the Doctor! And very cleverly drowns out his warnings by creepily repeating "I am your servant...". Top stuff so far.
Part Three
"A Dalek is bet... is not the same as a human."
The Doctor is powerless to argue that the Daleks are dangerous, in a scene which uses the knowledge the audience has of the Daleks to great effect. But by this point Troughton is undoubtedly the Doctor- quite an achievement in such a short time and after such a magnificent predecessor.
So, Quinn sent for the Examiner. And Bragen becomes deputy governor with Quinn out of the way- in no way a suspect then!
It's quite chilling to see, or rather hear, how the Daleks manipulate Lesterson. It's this story, far more than The Daleks' Master Plan, which justifies the reputation of the Sixties Daleks for cunning.
The New Doctor's character continues to develop; his anarchistic streak shows itself in an extraordinary series of vandalisms, and we get our first "When I say run, run". And the conclusion works well; both the Doctor and Bragen have found each other out, and there's a position of stalemate. By this point it's clear how extremely clever the plotting is.
Part Four
"We understand the human mind."
"We will get our power" chant the Daleks- the title of this story is clearly more relevant than those of most "Of the Daleks" stories! Lesterson is by now uneasy around the Daleks and starting to have second thoughts, a stage in the character's gradual evolution which is brilliantly acted right through the story.
I wouldn't have paid any particular notice to the Doctor saying "I would like a hat like that" to Bragen, but I've already seen the first two parts of The Highlanders- it's a phrase 'll be listening out for in future!
The Dalek hovering around as a servant is extremely sinister; the tension is beginning to be ratcheted up. Interesting how they're still powered by static electricity.
Polly's not in this episode- it's been a while since a companion last had a week's holiday!
This story's about manipulation and power, not only in terms of the Daleks manipulating the humans and needing power to fulfil their aims, but also the power game played out between the humans, who are constantly manipulating and double crossing each other. The plot's actually really complicated, but not too hard to follow- the sign of a good script.
This is the most chilling cliffhanger yet, as Lesterson watches the Dalek assembly line with blobs being put into cases- oh, for more than a couple of seconds of footage here!
Part Five
"We are not yet ready to teach the human beings the law of the Daleks!"
Surely the longest reprise so far, and finally Lesterson cracks up- this is a fine piece of acting. Meanwhile, the imprisoned Doctor is seemingly arsing about with a glass of water, to Quinn's obvious frustration. But interestingly, so far the Doctor's apparent eccentricities come across either as devices to give him time to think (the recorder) or ways of deliberately hiding the fact that he's in control of the situation. The new Doctor is every bit as sharp as his predecessor, if not more, and not really the cosmic hobo figure of myth.
Lesterson is ignored and treated as though he's mad, the Daleks are in control, and the Doctor's facade is gone. The sense of doom and foreboding is building nicely. An interesting line from the Dalek who kills the Governor as Bragen's order (the story's first death); "Why do human beings kill human beings?"
The cliffhanger is brilliant, possibly the best yet, so good in fact that we're treated to some actual footage, and arguably good enough even to make us overlook the blatantly obvious use of cardboard cutout Daleks"
Part Six
"Exterminate all humans!"
"Exterminate all humans!"
"Exterminate! Annihilate! Destroy! Daleks conquer and destroy! Daleks conquer and destroy! Daleks conquer and destroy! Daleks conquer and destroy! Daleks conquer and destroy! Daleks conquer and destroy!"
(Sorry, don't know what came over me.)
So, if there hasn't been enough skulduggery already, Bragen double crosses his fellow rebels. Blimey, this story ain't half complicated! And while this is happening hordes of Daleks are unleashed, and the killing starts. Lesterson's completelt lost it by now, insisting that the Daleks are going to replace the human race.
The Doctor's plan involves sacrificing the lives of Bragen's guards, so he's not only manipulative but ruthless with it when he has to be.
Lesterson's death scene is brilliant. From the spot-on intonation of "I am your servant" to the callous attitude of the Dalek. As soon as Lesterson says "But you wouldn't kill me- I gave you life" we know he's going to be shot, for such are the rules.
it's a little unclear whether the final moments of the Doctor's plan work partly by accident or in fact are planned all along- I suspect the latter. This new Doctor is actually quite a layered and interesting character.
Overall, a gripping and very clever script, easily a 5/5, and a great introduction to the new Doctor. The balance between introducing Pat Troughton and getting on with the story was perfectly judged.
Doctor Who: The Crusade
The Lion
"I have a hopeful heart and, which is better, a lucky king."
I'm watching this on a combo of the video release and Loose Cannon, so the first thing I see is the nice little intro by William Russell. He looks very young and sprightly for his age.
This is the paciest start yet; no TARDIs intro scene. The TARDISeers step right into a forest (once again the pokiness of Lime Grove is cleverly obscured) and straight into trouble. Ian, and even more excellently the Doctor, are thrust into swordfights while Barbara is kidnapped within seconds- is this a record? The greatness of the dialogue is established very early: "A king at liberty may give commands. A captured one obeys them."
The Doctor's very naughty in this episode, what with the blatant thieving. Still, I love the way Hartnell plays it.
This is a very strong first episode, and the dialogue appeals hugely to a Shakespeare obsessive like myself. Nice referencing of Arabian Nights by Barbara- the show's still fulfilling its educational remit.
"I have a hopeful heart and, which is better, a lucky king."
I'm watching this on a combo of the video release and Loose Cannon, so the first thing I see is the nice little intro by William Russell. He looks very young and sprightly for his age.
This is the paciest start yet; no TARDIs intro scene. The TARDISeers step right into a forest (once again the pokiness of Lime Grove is cleverly obscured) and straight into trouble. Ian, and even more excellently the Doctor, are thrust into swordfights while Barbara is kidnapped within seconds- is this a record? The greatness of the dialogue is established very early: "A king at liberty may give commands. A captured one obeys them."
The Doctor's very naughty in this episode, what with the blatant thieving. Still, I love the way Hartnell plays it.
This is a very strong first episode, and the dialogue appeals hugely to a Shakespeare obsessive like myself. Nice referencing of Arabian Nights by Barbara- the show's still fulfilling its educational remit.
The Knight of Jaffa
"By my father's name, you have wit, old man."
"Your heart calls forEngland
Nice to see Bernard Kay again, playing Saladin. And also nice to see that the Saracens are as blessed with exalted dialogue as theEnglish Normans. Also interesting to see that Walter Randall, who was frankly rubbish in The Aztecs, seems to be doing a much better job as El Akir.
The Doctor's managing to get out of stealing the clothes last episode is most amusing, and once again most excellently played by Hartnell.
Once again, Barbara's in dire peril, and of an unusually dark and adult kind, to boot. But once again she's irrepressible, and tries to escape. Yay!
"By my father's name, you have wit, old man."
"Your heart calls for
Nice to see Bernard Kay again, playing Saladin. And also nice to see that the Saracens are as blessed with exalted dialogue as the
The Doctor's managing to get out of stealing the clothes last episode is most amusing, and once again most excellently played by Hartnell.
Once again, Barbara's in dire peril, and of an unusually dark and adult kind, to boot. But once again she's irrepressible, and tries to escape. Yay!
The Wheel of Fortune
"There's something new in you, yet something older than the sky itself."
Vicki doesn't exactly look like a boy here, but of course, along with the style of the dialogue, this merely signals that, just as The Romans was a farce, this story is in the style of Elizabethan theatre.
Interestingly, we get our first bit of characterisation for Vicki since The Rescue; she says to the Doctor "You wouldn't go off and leave me, would you?". We're reminded of how rootless and vulnerable she is, perhaps even over-dependent. Still, there's no denying by this point that Vicki has a much more superficial characterisation than even Susan did, great as Maureen O'Brien's performance is.
Barbara gets a horrible dilemma as Haroun gives her a knife to kill Saliya and herself if necessary- this is a horrible dilemma, but fantastic drama, and once again Jacqueline Hill shows us what an excellent actress she is.
The debate at court over Richard's plan to marry Joanna to Saphadin is another dramatic, well-written, well-acted and, as we shall see, pivotal scene. The dialogue between the Doctor and the Earl of Leicester sparkles, although the Doctor is a bit gratuitously insulting: "You stupid butcher! Can you think of nothing else but killing, hmm?"Leicester replies with a wonderful line; "When you men of eloquence have stunned each other with your words, we, the soldiers, have to face it out." The Doctor's in an awkward position, though: he's sworn to tell Joanna of her brother's plans for her, and has now found out, but he's damned if he tells her and damned if he doesn't. And, it must be said, from a contemporary perspective it's unsettling to see the Doctor supporting what is in effect a forced marriage, even set against the potential cost to countless lives. Cue excellence from Jean Marsh.
We only see Sir Ian in a single film sequence. By now, I've become a seasoned veteran at spotting cast holidays.
In the event it's Leicester, not the Doctor, who tells Joanna of Richard's plans, but it doesn't matter- through his rash promise to Joanna he ends up alienating both parties.
The ending is quite disturbingly dark: "The only pleasure left for you is death. And death is very far away".
"There's something new in you, yet something older than the sky itself."
Vicki doesn't exactly look like a boy here, but of course, along with the style of the dialogue, this merely signals that, just as The Romans was a farce, this story is in the style of Elizabethan theatre.
Interestingly, we get our first bit of characterisation for Vicki since The Rescue; she says to the Doctor "You wouldn't go off and leave me, would you?". We're reminded of how rootless and vulnerable she is, perhaps even over-dependent. Still, there's no denying by this point that Vicki has a much more superficial characterisation than even Susan did, great as Maureen O'Brien's performance is.
Barbara gets a horrible dilemma as Haroun gives her a knife to kill Saliya and herself if necessary- this is a horrible dilemma, but fantastic drama, and once again Jacqueline Hill shows us what an excellent actress she is.
The debate at court over Richard's plan to marry Joanna to Saphadin is another dramatic, well-written, well-acted and, as we shall see, pivotal scene. The dialogue between the Doctor and the Earl of Leicester sparkles, although the Doctor is a bit gratuitously insulting: "You stupid butcher! Can you think of nothing else but killing, hmm?"
We only see Sir Ian in a single film sequence. By now, I've become a seasoned veteran at spotting cast holidays.
In the event it's Leicester, not the Doctor, who tells Joanna of Richard's plans, but it doesn't matter- through his rash promise to Joanna he ends up alienating both parties.
The ending is quite disturbingly dark: "The only pleasure left for you is death. And death is very far away".
The Warlords
"I must seeJerusalem
El Akir is extremely sadistic, disturbing, and, surprisingly, reasonably well acted by Walter Randall of all people. Ibrahim, meanwhile, is merely an annoying stereotype, and this is the fault of actor Tutte Lemkow rather than the script. Still, Sir Ian faces a gruesome fate, being slowly eaten by ants.
King Richard, in conversation with the Doctor and Vicki, turns out to be cleverer than we might have supposed; he knows ofLeicester 's duplicity but needs him for the upcoming war. This conversation has an interesting postscript as the Doctor states that "history must take its course". It seems this story sides with The Aztecs and The Reign of Terror in The Great Changing History Debate, and they're all going to team up to give The Romans a good kicking.
Nice that Haroun's daughter Maimuna turns out to be one of the women who saves Barbara in the harem- the plot threads are all very neatly tied up.
The way the story ends, with Sir Ian's quick thinking allowing our heroes to return to the Ship, is most amusing. Nice little Billy-fluff at the end; "Oh, my good woman! Why don't you go and have a cup of... tea or something?"
Ooh, we end with another cliffhanger!
Overall, it was quite fitting that the... challenge... that was The Web Planet should be followed by the best story so far not to have been written by John Lucarotti. Quite sublime, its main fault being that, almost uniquely, for a four part story it seemed too short.
"I must see
El Akir is extremely sadistic, disturbing, and, surprisingly, reasonably well acted by Walter Randall of all people. Ibrahim, meanwhile, is merely an annoying stereotype, and this is the fault of actor Tutte Lemkow rather than the script. Still, Sir Ian faces a gruesome fate, being slowly eaten by ants.
King Richard, in conversation with the Doctor and Vicki, turns out to be cleverer than we might have supposed; he knows of
Nice that Haroun's daughter Maimuna turns out to be one of the women who saves Barbara in the harem- the plot threads are all very neatly tied up.
The way the story ends, with Sir Ian's quick thinking allowing our heroes to return to the Ship, is most amusing. Nice little Billy-fluff at the end; "Oh, my good woman! Why don't you go and have a cup of... tea or something?"
Ooh, we end with another cliffhanger!
Overall, it was quite fitting that the... challenge... that was The Web Planet should be followed by the best story so far not to have been written by John Lucarotti. Quite sublime, its main fault being that, almost uniquely, for a four part story it seemed too short.
Doctor Who: The Rescue
The Powerful Enemy
"But Doctor, the trembling's stopped!"
Oh, my dear, I'm so glad you're feeling better."
At last we hear the TARDIS dematerialisation sound from outside as the TARDIS lands. It's fitting that this should happen for the first time in this story, which seems to signal that the series has come to a few definite conclusions about its format.
It's very noticeable that the aesthetics of spacecraft in this story are very Gerry Anderson- a nice bit of Sixtiesness. The first person we meet inside it is Vicki, and she's immediately likeable.
This story is so much more comfortable with the basic tropes of futuristic science fiction than, say, The Sensorites. The basic situation surrounding the ship and its situation is dealt with so much more casually, with an absence of clumsy phrasings.
The Doctor states that "We haven't had much luck with these caves during our travels" as he heads back into the TARDIS for a nap. Surely the most postmodern and self-referential line so far. The early scenes between the Doctor and Ian and Barbara are as well written and performed as we've come to expect for such scenes by now. It's a nice touch when the Doctor half asks Susan to open the doors and Barbara gently offers to take her place. Hartnell plays the Doctor's grieving for Susan brilliantly.
Koquillion looks either fantastic or risible. I can't quite decide which.
So, the Doctor's been on this world before: "It'll be rather nice to meet these people again after all these years". "Years"? He's been travelling for quite a while then. With Susan? How old was she when they started? There's another interesting comment he makes to Ian in relation to medicine: It's a pity I didn't get that degree".
Koquillion is quite horrible to poor Vicki. I like her a lot; bolshie yet vulnerable, and looking very sixties with a hint of Scouse to match.
Everything about this story- the confident writing, acting and design, the Stockhausenesque incidental music-evokes freshness and confidence, the sense of a new start. There's not even a single mispronunciation of "Chesterton" throughout, but then again throughout all the stories so far there have been far fewer than received wisdom might suggest.
This Bennett seems a bit of a dodgy chap, and doesn't seem too pleased to see Barbara. I wonder why that should be?
It's most amusing how the Doctor refers to a "great chasm" which is just out of shot. The cliffhanger- the most obvious man in a costume yet- is less than great, but so far this story has been very good indeed.
Desperate Measures
"You destroyed a whole planet to save your own skin. You're insane."
Ian grabs a blade tightly with his hand before telling the Doctor they're "razor sharp"!
Barbara continues to be great, hardly having been around five minutes before she suggests overpowering Koquillion. Bennett's not keen, oddly...
Maureen O'Brien does a good job with theSandy
The reactions to Vicki's line "1963? but that means you're about 500 years old!" are priceless. Ian cracks up, and Barbara's face is a sight to behold. It's often said that characterisation was dwelled upon less in the old series than the new, but scenes like this show that in the early stories that wasn't the case at all.
As the Doctor discovers the clues to Bennett's villainy we hear the music from the Daleks' city. Bennett's plan is full of plot holes but they don't matter; this is pacey and entertaining enough to mean they only reveal themselves on multiple viewings. it's sleight of hand, but the plot holes are glossed over successfully enough.
The confrontation scene at the end, with Bennett facing the Doctor alone, shows the Doctor unmistakably cast as hero, a statement of intent from the pen of the script editor. Once again there's a sense that some thought has been given to the programme's format after the experiments of the first year, and certain things are being more firmly defined. This is the fully-formed First Doctor; a kindly, sometimes irascible old scientist who roams the cosmos righting wrongs.
Grr! BBC video have edited out the cliffhanger and the "next episode" caption. It's enough to make me go all nostalgic for the DWM letters pages of the early 90s.
Overall, a very nice little character piece which I enjoyed a lot. An awful lot, in fact. It may not be the biggest or most epic story, but it's been one of my favourites so far, and so it gets a full 5/5. I notice I'm the only one to rank it so highly at the moment though- anybody care to join me?
"But Doctor, the trembling's stopped!"
Oh, my dear, I'm so glad you're feeling better."
At last we hear the TARDIS dematerialisation sound from outside as the TARDIS lands. It's fitting that this should happen for the first time in this story, which seems to signal that the series has come to a few definite conclusions about its format.
It's very noticeable that the aesthetics of spacecraft in this story are very Gerry Anderson- a nice bit of Sixtiesness. The first person we meet inside it is Vicki, and she's immediately likeable.
This story is so much more comfortable with the basic tropes of futuristic science fiction than, say, The Sensorites. The basic situation surrounding the ship and its situation is dealt with so much more casually, with an absence of clumsy phrasings.
The Doctor states that "We haven't had much luck with these caves during our travels" as he heads back into the TARDIS for a nap. Surely the most postmodern and self-referential line so far. The early scenes between the Doctor and Ian and Barbara are as well written and performed as we've come to expect for such scenes by now. It's a nice touch when the Doctor half asks Susan to open the doors and Barbara gently offers to take her place. Hartnell plays the Doctor's grieving for Susan brilliantly.
Koquillion looks either fantastic or risible. I can't quite decide which.
So, the Doctor's been on this world before: "It'll be rather nice to meet these people again after all these years". "Years"? He's been travelling for quite a while then. With Susan? How old was she when they started? There's another interesting comment he makes to Ian in relation to medicine: It's a pity I didn't get that degree".
Koquillion is quite horrible to poor Vicki. I like her a lot; bolshie yet vulnerable, and looking very sixties with a hint of Scouse to match.
Everything about this story- the confident writing, acting and design, the Stockhausenesque incidental music-evokes freshness and confidence, the sense of a new start. There's not even a single mispronunciation of "Chesterton" throughout, but then again throughout all the stories so far there have been far fewer than received wisdom might suggest.
This Bennett seems a bit of a dodgy chap, and doesn't seem too pleased to see Barbara. I wonder why that should be?
It's most amusing how the Doctor refers to a "great chasm" which is just out of shot. The cliffhanger- the most obvious man in a costume yet- is less than great, but so far this story has been very good indeed.
Desperate Measures
"You destroyed a whole planet to save your own skin. You're insane."
Ian grabs a blade tightly with his hand before telling the Doctor they're "razor sharp"!
Barbara continues to be great, hardly having been around five minutes before she suggests overpowering Koquillion. Bennett's not keen, oddly...
Maureen O'Brien does a good job with the
The reactions to Vicki's line "1963? but that means you're about 500 years old!" are priceless. Ian cracks up, and Barbara's face is a sight to behold. It's often said that characterisation was dwelled upon less in the old series than the new, but scenes like this show that in the early stories that wasn't the case at all.
As the Doctor discovers the clues to Bennett's villainy we hear the music from the Daleks' city. Bennett's plan is full of plot holes but they don't matter; this is pacey and entertaining enough to mean they only reveal themselves on multiple viewings. it's sleight of hand, but the plot holes are glossed over successfully enough.
The confrontation scene at the end, with Bennett facing the Doctor alone, shows the Doctor unmistakably cast as hero, a statement of intent from the pen of the script editor. Once again there's a sense that some thought has been given to the programme's format after the experiments of the first year, and certain things are being more firmly defined. This is the fully-formed First Doctor; a kindly, sometimes irascible old scientist who roams the cosmos righting wrongs.
Grr! BBC video have edited out the cliffhanger and the "next episode" caption. It's enough to make me go all nostalgic for the DWM letters pages of the early 90s.
Overall, a very nice little character piece which I enjoyed a lot. An awful lot, in fact. It may not be the biggest or most epic story, but it's been one of my favourites so far, and so it gets a full 5/5. I notice I'm the only one to rank it so highly at the moment though- anybody care to join me?
Doctor Who: The Edge of Destruction. Or Inside the Spaceship. Or Beyond the Sun.
The Edge of Destruction
"Don't you realise, you stupid old man, that you'd have died in theCave of Skulls
Once again, it's very apparent that one of the TARDIS walls is made of cardboard- the roundels look very odd. One of the other walls seems to be a series of 60s computers behind a glass wall... very odd.
These amnesia scenes are quite tiresome, and Susan's just so wet! Interesting line from Ian whilst examining the Doctor, though: "His heart seems all right". That's "heart", singular...
The TARDIS food machine again- did someone say David Whitaker wrote this one?
Seems it's supposed to be completely white outside the TARDIS, but you can clearly see the join between the wall and the floor. My God, Susan's really annoying in this scene! The thing is, though, it's not Carole Ann Ford's fault- how else could she have played the character as written? She actually puts in a quite sinister performance here as Possessed-But-Is-She Susan. The scenes with the scissors work really well, until she starts screaming hysterically. My, David Whitaker's really writing the female characters well.
Ooh! Liked the mention of "the planet Quinnis, in the fourth universe".
Barbara's speech to the Doctor after he accuses her and Ian of sabotage is fantastic. She is now officially great. Pity the script requires her to start crying hysterically immediately afterwards...
There's an original cliffhanger... the Doctor gurning...
The Brink of Disaster
"It means that the Ship is on the brink of destruction".
All this business of the Doctor suspecting Ian and Barbara is really quite tiresome, even if we do get some top lapel-clutching action from Hartnell.
So, the Doctor doesn't want the two women to know they have only five minutes to live, as it might worry their pretty little heads. Although it was fine for them to hear they had only ten minutes to live a few moments earlier. My God, Susan really is so wet in this story!
The Doctor's speech is great- I love the way it's framed as well, with Hartnell alone in front of the console with darkness behind. Mind you, it mushttps://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4793325718119868630#editor/target=post;postID=5202402346681803092;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=780;src=linkt be said he goes a bit Soldeed at the end...
I actually find the ending quite satisfying- it undercuts things nicely that the guilty party is a faulty spring in the Fast Return Switch. We know it's the Fast Return Switch because it has "Fast Return Switch" written on it in felt pen.
Hmmm, so Barbara pits her "instinct" and "intuition" against the Doctor's "logic"... was David Whitaker a pioneer of the early 60s feminist movement, by any chance?
Ooh, Gilbert and Sullivan- the Doctor's first ever celebrity namedrop! I might keep note of these. Great line by Ian: "I thought it was made for two". Come to think of it, after being taken over in the last story by "action hero" Ian, "raised eyebrow" Ian is now back.
So, overall? The plot was a mess, the clues didn't make sense, Susan's odd behaviour was never explained, and the Doctor's character seems to have regressed. This comes across as just two episodes of filler- made, as Terrance Dicks is wont to say, to stop the test card going out. Still, David Whitaker, rushed though he apparently is, is too much of a good writer for this to be a total disaster. The characters ring true, and in the case of Ian and Barbara have noticeably acquired more depth than Terry Nation was able to give them. 2/5 then.
"Don't you realise, you stupid old man, that you'd have died in the
Once again, it's very apparent that one of the TARDIS walls is made of cardboard- the roundels look very odd. One of the other walls seems to be a series of 60s computers behind a glass wall... very odd.
These amnesia scenes are quite tiresome, and Susan's just so wet! Interesting line from Ian whilst examining the Doctor, though: "His heart seems all right". That's "heart", singular...
The TARDIS food machine again- did someone say David Whitaker wrote this one?
Seems it's supposed to be completely white outside the TARDIS, but you can clearly see the join between the wall and the floor. My God, Susan's really annoying in this scene! The thing is, though, it's not Carole Ann Ford's fault- how else could she have played the character as written? She actually puts in a quite sinister performance here as Possessed-But-Is-She Susan. The scenes with the scissors work really well, until she starts screaming hysterically. My, David Whitaker's really writing the female characters well.
Ooh! Liked the mention of "the planet Quinnis, in the fourth universe".
Barbara's speech to the Doctor after he accuses her and Ian of sabotage is fantastic. She is now officially great. Pity the script requires her to start crying hysterically immediately afterwards...
There's an original cliffhanger... the Doctor gurning...
The Brink of Disaster
"It means that the Ship is on the brink of destruction".
All this business of the Doctor suspecting Ian and Barbara is really quite tiresome, even if we do get some top lapel-clutching action from Hartnell.
So, the Doctor doesn't want the two women to know they have only five minutes to live, as it might worry their pretty little heads. Although it was fine for them to hear they had only ten minutes to live a few moments earlier. My God, Susan really is so wet in this story!
The Doctor's speech is great- I love the way it's framed as well, with Hartnell alone in front of the console with darkness behind. Mind you, it mushttps://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4793325718119868630#editor/target=post;postID=5202402346681803092;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=780;src=linkt be said he goes a bit Soldeed at the end...
I actually find the ending quite satisfying- it undercuts things nicely that the guilty party is a faulty spring in the Fast Return Switch. We know it's the Fast Return Switch because it has "Fast Return Switch" written on it in felt pen.
Hmmm, so Barbara pits her "instinct" and "intuition" against the Doctor's "logic"... was David Whitaker a pioneer of the early 60s feminist movement, by any chance?
Ooh, Gilbert and Sullivan- the Doctor's first ever celebrity namedrop! I might keep note of these. Great line by Ian: "I thought it was made for two". Come to think of it, after being taken over in the last story by "action hero" Ian, "raised eyebrow" Ian is now back.
So, overall? The plot was a mess, the clues didn't make sense, Susan's odd behaviour was never explained, and the Doctor's character seems to have regressed. This comes across as just two episodes of filler- made, as Terrance Dicks is wont to say, to stop the test card going out. Still, David Whitaker, rushed though he apparently is, is too much of a good writer for this to be a total disaster. The characters ring true, and in the case of Ian and Barbara have noticeably acquired more depth than Terry Nation was able to give them. 2/5 then.
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