Quatermass 2 (1957)

"This is the food, and it burns..."

I understand this is the first ever time a sequel was demarcated with the number "2" in the title?

It's interesting seeing this so shortly after its TV predecessor, as I was unable to do with the last film for obvious reasons; it all seems so rushed and fast paced. So many characters don't appear. The ending is more rushed than anything. No one goes into space. And Sid James is playing Roger Delgado. That's weird.

Add to that the fact that Brian Donlevy isn't at all likeable and you have a film that seems to be treading water and is disturbingly lacking in charm. Yes, it's in colour, it's often on location and it's all so much more expensive, but the sense of scale is so much less. There's only a vague sense of where the meteorites come from and the end- just firing a rocket- comes as a sudden deus ex machina. And don't get me started on all those Cockney natives of Cumbria.

Something of a damp squib, then, although I'm left wondering if I'd have liked it more if the TV series hadn't have survived.

Doctor Who: The Twin Dilemma

Part One

“Take care not to blow their hearts or minds.”

So, is this story going to equal its illustrious predecessor? Take a guess…

Right from the start there are reasons to doubt the wisdom of introducing a new Doctor at the end of a season, however good an idea it may seem in theory. Castrovalva, shown after an unusually long gap, made effective use of the regeneration as a pre-titles sequence; here we get nothing of the kind, being thrust straight into the aftermath. And then there’s the lack of a wider change in the programme’s style to go with the new Doctor; most notably there are only minimal changes to the title sequence.

The opening scenes are hardly encouraging. Annoying, badly-acted twins; poor sets and costumes; patronisingly poor dialogue. The whole set-up reeks of “this’ll do, it’s only kids’ TV”. And yet…

The scenes concerning the Doctor’s regeneration and Peri’s reaction feel very different from these scenes, presumably as they were handled by Eric Saward rather than Anthony Stevens. This isn’t to say that this aspect of the programme is without its own serious faults, which I’ll come to in a minute, but the ridiculous stuff with Jaconda, giant slugs and space police feels like something from a different and much poorer programme than the scenes in the TARDIS.

The new Doctor is arrogant and overbearing, very, very different from his previous incarnation, which “had a sort of… feckless charm which simply wasn’t me!” This sort of dialogue feels very fresh and different after the last three seasons, but if toned down would actually be quite in keeping with the broad outlines of the Doctor’s character as portrayed with Hartnell, Pertwee and Tom Baker. I also like the obligatory wardrobe scene. It’s a brave move to give the Doctor mood swings and make him unlikeable but I actually think it works quite well- at this point, that is. There’s a line that hasn’t yet been crossed, and we’re not too far outside the tradition set by Robot and Castrovalva.

The scenes outside the TARDIS continue to be atrocious- from the costumes of the space police to the woman playing the police commander to the dialogue (“and may my bones rot for obeying it!”). But inside the TARDIS that line is crossed with the Doctor trying to strangle Peri. This goes beyond mere unlikeability to actually undermining the viability of the new Doctor in his first episode. The Doctor should be erratic, certainly, and arrogance, even extreme arrogance, has always been there in his character. But, as good old Terrance Dicks is often fond of saying, the Doctor should never be cruel or cowardly. In this episode he is both.

Oh, and the twins' put-upon dad is Gharman from Genesis of the Daleks.

Part Two

“It worked. It actually worked!”

Whatever the huge mistakes in the script’s characterisation of the Doctor, Colin Baker is never less than great, and there are some encouraging signs in this episode, such as the new Doctor’s apparent fondness for literary quotation. Unfortunately he also has to be persuaded to save Hugo’s life, and has another fit of cowardice as he and Peri encounter some Jacondans, trying to blame everything on Peri. This sort of characterisation is just unforgivable, and comes close to actual sabotage of the character.

Back to the plot, the Doctor recognises Edgeworth (a brilliant but utterly wasted Maurice Denham) as his old Time Lord drinking pal Azmael, and there’s some discussion of how crowded this “deserted asteroid” seems to be getting. Which is unfortunate, as it highlights what a huge coincidence it is that the Doctor and Azmael to have arrived there at the same time. Also a ridiculous coincidence is that Hugo, trapped in the hugeness of the TARDIS, somehow manages to track down the power pack to his gun from its hiding place.

Part Three

“The sound of giant slugs!”

To Jaconda, then. Hugo’s temporary addition to the TARDIS crew gives us one amusing line (“Lieutenant!”), but I seem to recall this was ad-libbed, which must be true as it’s far too good to have been scripted. The Doctor has another rant of self-pity, but at least from this point on his erratic behaviour doesn’t stray into cruelty or cowardice.

More silliness occurs: Mestor looks ridiculous and Edwin Richfield is wasted in the role; all the stuff with moving the planets about is deeply silly; the twins get awful lines like “Why do you like to play the man of mystery? It’s a role you play very badly?”- the irony being, of course, that Denham is acting them both off the screen.

 

Part Four

“Our genius has been abused!”

As soon as the Doctor points it out, Azmael immediately realises that the whole guff with the planets is obviously stupid, apparently. Gah! Please make it stop! The Doctor subsequently works out that Mestor intends to cause a supernova courtesy of Jaconda’s sun, which will disperse the slug eggs across the universe. So, er, two small planets falling into a star will cause a supernova how, exactly?

The conclusion with Azmael sacrificing himself to kill Mestor, who’s taken over his mind for some reason, is embarrassingly poor, but at least Colin Baker continues to impress in the confrontation scenes with Mestor. Peter Davison, like Troughton, had been playing the Doctor as a part, while Colin Baker is more in the larger-than-life tradition of Pertwee and Tom Baker, but it feels to be getting this type of Doctor back again. I just hope he settles down.

Well, obviously that was a 1/5. Embarrassingly poor, although the fact it was entertainingly bad means it scores better than certain other stories.

As for Season 21 as a whole- well, it’s the worst yet, as I rather embarrassingly seem too be saying every season at the moment! And at 2.857/5 it’s the first season I’ve ranked below 3/5 on average, in spite of the fact it contains two stories I rated 5/5. That feels a bit awkward, as I’ve never felt any particular dislike for the last two seasons, but that’s how the stories rated!

Doctor Who: The Sea Devils

Part One

“Crimea?”

“Gallipolli? El Alamein? Does it really matter?”

Not what I expected to be the first thing I’d comment on, but a car with no doors! That’s weird. Why?

Good episode though, concentrating on the regulars and giving them a nice bit of character development. And that’s great- let the plot start later. We realise this is going to be a fun episode as soon as the Doctor comments on the Master putting on weight. And the Doctor’s exasperation with the nice-but-dim Trenchard is just the sort of Pertwee rudeness I like- fun, light-hearted, and doesn’t cross a line. The Doctor’s character is consistently being better written this season.

I’m a bit of a Guardian reading wishy-washy liberal, me, but even I reckon the Master’s got himself a cushy little prison regime. The screws even call him "sir"! There’s a nice scene between the Master and the Doctor in which Delgado shines- he injects just enough irony into the Master’s request for the occasional chat with the Doctor. Pertwee nicely plays the Doctor’s inability to shake hands with the man with whom it now seems he was “practically at school together.

Of course, something fishy is going on. Nice that our first inkling of it is when the Master asks Trenchard for a second television set for his bedroom- “Colour, of course.” And one of the best things in this episode, and possibly in all of television, is the Master whistling along to the Clangers. Possibly the only thing better than this moment is the look on Delgado’s face when Trenchard explains that they’re “Only puppets, you know. For children.”

There’s nothing quite so Doctorish, and necessarily absent from the UNIT years, as the Doctor quickly getting himself accepted by the supporting cast, and it’s pleasantly nostalgic to see him do this with the navy here. Better still, we get some top namedropping action: “Captain Hart, Horatio Nelson was a personal friend of mine.”



Part Two

“I always find that violent exercise makes me hungry. Don’t you agree?”


By this point the music (I’m a fan!) is getting really noticeable. But it’s good to have something new and different in a season which brings more stuff back from the past than we’ve ever seen up to this point. This episode, with the Doctor briefly recounting the plot of Doctor Who and the Silurians (sorry, Doctor Who and the Eocenes!) to Jo, makes it clear that this story will be no exception.

There’s plenty of good stuff here though- the Doctor’s radio geekery, and especially the banter between him and Jo. They seem to be settling into a relationship nicely not based on him snapping at her like a total arse, as was the case last season. Thought has been given to sorting out the characterisation problems, which is good.

It seems everybody can resist the Master’s hypnotism these days, even petty officers! The doctor’s got captain Hart under control though- we’ve already reached the point where he can just demand some transport (how very Pertwee!) and not even deign to explain. Most entertaining. I’m finally warming to this doctor. I mean, dammit, that golf shot trick is cool, and the swordfighting is well classy.



Part Three

“How very kind of you.”

(Pause)
“How very unkind of you.”


Crikey, that’s a huge reprise. And that bit with the knife- you wouldn’t be able to show it nowadays. In other news, the soundtrack goes from weird to weirder (good!). It’s so very early seventies, sounding a bit like German prog of the time for some reason although I can’t think of any band in particular. Popol Vuh, perhaps?

Good to see Jo’s escapology skills put to use again, and also to hear what the Master’s actually been telling Trenchard all this time. Oh, and a Sea Devil comes out of the sea!


Part Four

“Well, I presume you’re a trained diver, in addition to your other accomplishments then, Doctor.”

“Naturally.”

Sonic Screwdriver mission creep continues unabated; now it seems it can both detect and explode landmines. It works in context for now, so I’ll let it slide, but perhaps long term this sort of thing is not too good an idea.

Another great Doctor / Jo scene, as he steals all her food: “For heaven’s sake, jo! What do you think this is? A picnic?” And the plot is thickening, with loads of Sea Devils emerging and, unexpectedly, Trenchard biting the dust. Pity- he was a nice bloke, but his Achilles heel was his unthinking patriotism, and in a Malcolm Hulke script a patriot stands no chance of survival. Well, except when they do. But you can sense the authorial disapproval, and here it’s clearly Trenchard’s tragic flaw.



Part Five

“Nothing too elaborate, my dear. Just a little eggs, bacon, toast, coffee…”

The story’s starting to drag a bit now. After all the fun with the Master at the start it’s become clear that we’re getting a rerun of Doctor Who and the Silurians without much of the depth. We’re still getting some good characterisation, acting and dialogue, but this stage of the story has been done before. We even get a stupid politician- not a civil servant mind, none of us are at all stupid, of course. And just how many sugars does this man take in his coffee?

The Sea Devil leader is strangely more reasonable in his discussions with the Doctor than even the Old Silurian ever was, perhaps too reasonable to be believable. And it’s interesting how the Doctor freely admits the Sea Devils would ultimately stand no chance in a war against the humans, thus depriving us viewers of a fair chunk of our sense of threat.

Interestingly, the role played by Walker with the humans directly parallels that played by the Master with the Sea Devils, but with the Doctor elsewhere he gets his wish from the start. The scenes in the naval base and with the Sea Devils thus counterpoint each other, with the humans coming off as morally worse.

The cliffhanger’s great, and iconic for a reason.



Part Six

“”Dear oh dear, Doctor. Will you never learn?”

Things get wrapped up nicely plotwise, and there’s some good character stuff too. It makes sense that Walker would be a coward, and Jo gets not only to use her escapology again but also to pilot a hovercraft- by now it’s starting to look like her character’s getting some proper sustained development, but perhaps I speak too soon!

Hmmm, so guns now work on Sea Devils? I seem to recall they didn’t in the submarine a few episodes ago…

More good stuff for the Doctor, as he offers the Sea Devils a chance before he blows them up, and finally gets the chance to reverse the polarity of the neutron flow! And now that he’s not going to be in every story, it’s a good thing that the Master’s on the loose again.


Overall, by the end it became too much of a retread of Doctor Who and the Silurians without the depth, but still had plenty of good characterisation and humopur to redeem it. I’ll be generous: it just scrapes a 4/5.