Downtime

 "I thought I was in Cromer..."

I know: still suffering Doctor Who withdrawal.

This is another one of those curious oddities from, ahem, "the Wilderness Years", as we Doctor Who fans call the '90s. I saw Shakedown not long ago, I enjoyed it despite its endearing flaws, so I thought I'd watch this. Any good?

Well... no. I mean, on paper, it seems good. Filmed on location, a sequel to The Abominable Snowmen and The Web of Fear, loads of old actors and characters. And yet...

The direction is flat. Marc Platt's script has it's character moments and lots of nice metatextual lines, but it's a mess. There's a heavy focus on Victoria, with Deborah Watling being very good, and a welcome appearance from her real life father Jack Watling as Professor Travers. Nick Courtney is superb, as ever, as the Brig, and has a nice little family subplot. And, yeah, this is totally why UNIT today is led by Kate Lethbridge-Stewart.

Yet Elisabeth Sladen, despite being very good, is woefully underused as Sarah Jane Smith, and there's a little too much going on. And, despite some good character stuff, the plot is very muddled and oddly paced. And yes... inevitably, the whole thing looks very cheap.

This is an interesting curiosity, perhaps, and far from terrible, with very real good points. But it's not exactly great, sadly.

The Way Ahead (1944)

"I wonder what we'll look like in 1970, ."

I write this on the seventy-fifth anniversary of VE Day, in 2020. It's a weird anniversary, during the Great Plague and in the midst of lockdown. But oddly enough spirits seem to be raised. I took Little Miss Llamastrangler out on her scooter this afternoon and lots of people have decorated their front gardens and are socialising from a distance. A decent amount of alcohol, I hope, has been consumed. I'm doing my bit. The anniversary of Nazi rule being crushed is well worth celebrating, and can perhaps give us hope.

So what better to blog than a wartime propaganda film from 1944, when things were looking up but victory was uncertain? Prpaganda this may be, but crude it isn't. Eric Ambler and Peter Ustinov (also appearing as a pied-noir cafe owner in occupied Algeria) have given us a very human script full of individuals who ring true today, let alone in 1944. Lloyd (I recognise the actor from The Great Escape) is an unscrupulous landlord turned courageous soldier, while Parsons is a victim of such types. There's mention of the Beveridge Report. For much of the class consciousness and difference which is the main thing which ages social mores in this film, there's a real solidarity that demands a Welfare State along with victory.

There may be better way films than this, but it does a fine job of showing ordinary blokes slowly being turned into soldiers, with lots of action at the very end. David Niven is excellent and charismatic, Stanley Holloway is brilliantly comedic, but a young William Hartnell perhaps gives the best performance as the sergeant. It’s also clear that this was a huge influence on Carry On Sergeant in terms of plot, and not just Hartnell. Then again, a young John Laurie may as well be playing a younger Private Fraser from Dad’s Army, and the Chelsea Pensioners acting as Greek Chorus probably contain the seeds of a certain other character who was wont to mention fuzzy wuzzies. Very much worth seeing. And happy VE Day. Stay safe.

Doctor Who: The Web of Fear (Revisited)

 So, here we are; I revisited Enemy of the World after Philip Morris unveiled its fiver previously missing episodes last October; now it's time for the obvious next step. Should Episode Three turn up soon then this blog could get very confusing...

Part One


"Is it safe?"

"Oh, I shouldn't think so for a moment..."


A direct continuation from The Enemy of the World, so we do get to see the aftermath after all. The Doctor and Victoria clearly aren't hanging on, and some of the roundels are clearly cardboard cutouts, but never mind!

I'm glad at least this episode survives so we can see Camfield's direction in all its glory- the scene with the Yeti transforming is great. And it's fun to see an older Travers with a beard and great, cantankerous dialogue- Jack Watling seems to be having a lot more fun this time around! I'm not sure about the character Silverstein here though- we seem to be getting a little too close for comfort to some rather dodgy stereotypes.

Actually watching the stories in order brings home just how soon it is for a sequel to The Abominable Snowmen to turn up. And it's rather odd that, if the Yeti are considered good enough to bring back, they then have to be completely redesigned!

This is great stuff, in large part a typical "exploring" part one, but also structured rather cleverly. We get the scene with Travers in the museum to establish the Yeti threat, but the next time we see him some time has passed, the army is involved and the threat is already underway with the minimum of exposition. In between these scenes, the web around the TARDIS in space adds tension and reminds us of the larger threat of the Great Intelligence- although why it lets go isn't made quite clear. All this, and the most postmodern line since a prisoner was kept in a corridor in the last story: "Funny, isn't it? How we keep landing on your Earth?"

We have a deserted London and lots of soldiers... this all feels very Quatermass.

Yes, we've seen Part One before, but this is the copy recovered by Philip Morris, and it's a notably superior copy. It's still obvious, sadly, that Silverstein is portrayed as the grasping Jew, but the episode is as gripping and as addictive as ever. The prospect of five more episodes of Douglas Camfield's direction is utterly gripping.

It must be said, though: the better copy makes it even more obvious that the TARDIS roundels are just blown-up photographs.




Part Two


"A right old Fred Karno's army".


Back to the recons, Joint Venture this time. It's fun to see, or rather hear, Travers' reaction to seeing Jamie and Victoria looking just as they did forty years ago- and The Abominable Snowmen is retrospectively dated back to 1935. Interesting, as I don't recall anything particularly in the story to suggest it wasn't contemporary. Well, aside from occupying Chinese people, obviously...

The Doctor's not in this much, is he? this is the first obvious time Troughton gets a holiday. Still, he had an awful lot to do in the last story.

We get a very odd line from one of the soldiers: "He reckons they're abominable snowmen." So how come everyone is calling them Yeti?

Our first "new" footage, then. It's fantastic to see footage of the soldiers vs. the Yeti and their web guns. The characters are all distinct individuals and the performances make them seem very real in this high stress situation, the web looks fantastic too in all its foamy-bubblewrappiness. It's quite arresting how quickly it moves through the ground. The cliffhanger is interesting: oh, look, foam!

The Doctor's absence is really felt, so it is left to the other characters to carry the story. It is amusing to see the 1960's attempt at depicting a professional woman; Anne may be a brilliant scientist, but it is she who makes the tea.

Part Three


"Good to see you don't take things at face value."

A small glass pyramid! There's a blast from the past. As is the Doctor, who it seems we haven't seen for ages. he seems to be accompanied by some mysterious, moustachioed soldier type called Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart. we don't know where he came from, so he's probably a baddie.

Our heroes are by now entirely surrounded by fungus. at this point it becomes clear that we are indeed watching another base under siege.

Crikey, one of our heroes is a traitor, using the model Yeti- I bet it's that sinister Lethbridge-Stewart. But really, aside from the Doctor, Anne Travers and Victoria, it could be anyone. This is feeling even more Quatermass by the minute, and Pat Troughton makes a splendid Bernard. Good stuff.

This episode is not only still a recon, but a considerably worse recon than the version I watched above. It was clearly made in a hurry; there are NO captions- except one right at the very end! Things are very hard to follow,which is generally not the case for recons made my amateurs. Professionals, eh? Most revealingly, the reprises at both ends are not included, a sign of rushing.

It is of course frustrating that we are introduced to Lethbridge- Stewart in recon form. The character shines from the beginning, and is, from the start, a little more vulnerable than he would later become.


Part Four


"I have a craft that travels in time and space."


The Doctor's description of the great Intelligence to the Colonel (and us) is creepy, well-delivered stuff. Even more chilling is the realisation that the Yeti just came, took what it wanted (Travers) and went- it just doesn't see the army as a threat.

We get an extraordinary scene here in which the Doctor tells the Colonel about the TARDIS- and Lethbridge-Stewart believes him, showing not only an extraordinary amount of faith in the Doctor but also good judgement. But conversely, having sent a squad of troops to look for the Doctor's police box (!), he's entirely deflated and defeated once the others are all killed. This is a well-rounded and well played character, but not quite the one he would become.

I'm sure the long battle scene between the soldiers and the Yeti looked great, but I couldn't see it! but it was very long. And used the Cybermens' signature tune for some reason...

The cliffhanger is fantastic here. Unlike in The Abominable Snowmen, in this story the Yeti most certainly do pose a threat.

 At last we get to see Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart, complete with his Scottish regimental headgear. It's great to see him, and moving pictures. Everything looks amazing, from the bits of web on the camera (Camfield was a genius) to the sheer awesomeness of the Battle of Covent Garden. Best of all, though, is Troughton's performance; his little monologue about the Great Intelligence is truly awesome.

The Colonel is awesome too, open-minded and pragmatic, although yet again the signs of stress are visible in this story in ways which later stories will not show. This is certainly a better story than The Enemy of the World, in spite of its inferior script, and that is entirely down to Camfield. This episode simply looks amazing.



Part Five


"You'd better stay here. Evans. And don't go taking any chances."


I haven't mentioned Evans yet, but he's a nice character: at the same time comic relief and fulfilling a serious function. He reminds us how scary the situation is, shows us how brave everyone else is in contrast, and is himself quite tragic.

The Intelligence, issuing his ultimatum to the Doctor, is a very powerful adversary indeed, and the situation is about as hopeless as I can ever recall it being. This story is superb.

I'm liking the Colonel more and more. He and Jamie make a particularly good team. Incidentally, in a story broadcast while Syd Barrett was still in Pink Floyd, we get two characters called Arnold and Lane...

This may be black and white, but by Jove it's psychedelic, not something one would have guessed from the recon. It is arresting, too, to see the Intelligence speaking through Jack Watling having recently seen Richard E. Grant in the same role. The Web of Fear is a slightly different experience with Steven Moffat having used the Great Intelligence as the Big Bad for Season 33.

Nick Courtney is truly fabulous here; even my semi-fan wife singled him out for high praise. It's still a pity, though, that we know he's going to become a regular and can't be the mole, as is often pointed out. It's interesting to see Lethbridge-Stewart and Jamie getting on as well here as they will in The Invasion. 



Part Six



"Prepare for a great darkness to cloud your mind."



So Arnold is the traitor? I'd forgotten about him- I'd genuinely though there were no plausible suspects and so there must not have been a traitor after all. Although I'm sure it would have helped if I was genuinely able to suspect the Colonel, as the original viewers must have done!

There seems to be no hope as the Intelligence starts to drain the Doctor's mind. But we get a great ending as Jamie heroically saves the day only for it to be revealed that the Doctor would have drained the Intelligence's mind into his simply by switching the wires.

More visual treats, then, in the middle of the tension as we are treated to rare footage of the Doctor playing his recorder. More to the point, the presence of actual visuals makes this episode much, much easier to follow. Once again I'm left with the strong impressions that watching recons doesn't help you to follow what is actually going on as it seems to at the time.

The final showdown is tense and awesome, and it's equally awesome to see Troughton's facial expressions during his extraordinary performance.


Overall, simply magnificent, full of twists and turns as a six-parter should be, action-packed and generally very Quatermass and the Pit. An easy 5/5.

No arguing with my past self there. A triumph from beginning to end. Douglas Camfield is without a doubt the finest director ever to work on twentieth century Doctor Who. 

Doctor Who: The Web of Fear

Part One


"Is it safe?"

"Oh, I shouldn't think so for a moment..."


A direct continuation from The Enemy of the World, so we do get to see the aftermath after all. The Doctor and Victoria clearly aren't hanging on, and some of the roundels are clearly cardboard cutouts, but never mind!

I'm glad at least this episode survives so we can see Camfield's direction in all its glory- the scene with the Yeti transforming is great. And it's fun to see an older Travers with a beard and great, cantankerous dialogue- Jack Watling seems to be having a lot more fun this time around! I'm not sure about the character Silverstein here though- we seem to be getting a little too close for comfort to some rather dodgy stereotypes.

Actually watching the stories in order brings home just how soon it is for a sequel to The Abominable Snowmen to turn up. And it's rather odd that, if the Yeti are considered good enough to bring back, they then have to be completely redesigned!

This is great stuff, in large part a typical "exploring" part one, but also structured rather cleverly. We get the scene with Travers in the museum to establish the Yeti threat, but the next time we see him some time has passed, the army is involved and the threat is already underway with the minimum of exposition. In between these scenes, the web around the TARDIS in space adds tension and reminds us of the larger threat of the Great Intelligence- although why it lets go isn't made quite clear. All this, and the most postmodern line since a prisoner was kept in a corridor in the last story: "Funny, isn't it? How we keep landing on your Earth?"

We have a deserted London and lots of soldiers... this all feels very Quatermass.



Part Two


"A right old Fred Karno's army".


Back to the recons, Joint Venture this time. It's fun to see, or rather hear, Travers' reaction to seeing Jamie and Victoria looking just as they did forty years ago- and The Abominable Snowmen is retrospectively dated back to 1935. Interesting, as I don't recall anything particularly in the story to suggest it wasn't contemporary. Well, aside from occupying Chinese people, obviously...

The Doctor's not in this much, is he? this is the first obvious time Troughton gets a holiday. Still, he had an awful lot to do in the last story.

We get a very odd line from one of the soldiers: "He reckons they're abominable snowmen." So how come everyone is calling them Yeti?

Part Three


"Good to see you don't take things at face value."



A small glass pyramid! There's a blast from the past. As is the Doctor, who it seems we haven't seen for ages. he seems to be accompanied by some mysterious, moustachioed soldier type called Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart. we don't know where he came from, so he's probably a baddie.

Our heroes are by now entirely surrounded by fungus. at this point it becomes clear that we are indeed watching another base under siege.

Crikey, one of our heroes is a traitor, using the model Yeti- I bet it's that sinister Lethbridge-Stewart. But really, aside from the Doctor, Anne Travers and Victoria, it could be anyone. This is feeling even more Quatermass by the minute, and Pat Troughton makes a splendid Bernard. Good stuff.



Part Four


"I have a craft that travels in time and space."


The Doctor's description of the great Intelligence to the Colonel (and us) is creepy, well-delivered stuff. Even more chilling is the realisation that the Yeti just came, took what it wanted (Travers) and went- it just doesn't see the army as a threat.

We get an extraordinary scene here in which the Doctor tells the Colonel about the TARDIS- and Lethbridge-Stewart believes him, showing not only an extraordinary amount of faith in the Doctor but also good judgement. But conversely, having sent a squad of troops to look for the Doctor's police box (!), he's entirely deflated and defeated once the others are all killed. This is a well-rounded and well played character, but not quite the one he would become.

I'm sure the long battle scene between the soldiers and the Yeti looked great, but I couldn't see it! but it was very long. And used the Cybermens' signature tune for some reason...

The cliffhanger is fantastic here. Unlike in The Abominable Snowmen, in this story the Yeti most certainly do pose a threat.



Part Five


"You'd better stay here. Evans. And don't go taking any chances."


I haven't mentioned Evans yet, but he's a nice character: at the same time comic relief and fulfilling a serious function. He reminds us how scary the situation is, shows us how brave everyone else is in contrast, and is himself quite tragic.

The Intelligence, issuing his ultimatum to the Doctor, is a very powerful adversary indeed, and the situation is about as hopeless as I can ever recall it being. This story is superb.

I'm liking the Colonel more and more. He and Jamie make a particularly good team. Incidentally, in a story broadcast while Syd Barrett was still in Pink Floyd, we get two characters called Arnold and Lane...



Part Six



"Prepare for a great darkness to cloud your mind."



So Arnold is the traitor? I'd forgotten about him- I'd genuinely though there were no plausible suspects and so there must not have been a traitor after all. Although I'm sure it would have helped if I was genuinely able to suspect the Colonel, as the original viewers must have done!

There seems to be no hope as the Intelligence starts to drain the Doctor's mind. But we get a great ending as Jamie heroically saves the day only for it to be revealed that the Doctor would have drained the Intelligence's mind into his simply by switching the wires.




Overall, simply magnificent, full of twists and turns as a six-parter should be, action-packed and generally very Quatermass and the Pit. An easy 5/5.

Phew! I admit that review was a bit rushed but I've got some catching up to do...

Doctor Who: The Abominable Snowmen

Part One


"The welcome of a lifetime?!"



So, the first story co-written by Henry Lincoln, he of the... interesting Grail theories! Should be interesting. Also, this is a story I know relatively little about.

It's good to see the BBC continuity announcement on the new Loose Cannon recon, which looks as though it's going to be excellent. The early TARDIS scenes with the chest too, giving Victoria another chance to bond with her new companions.

The Doctor says they're assured of a friendly welcome at the monastery. No need to worry about that then! Oh, and no doubt Jamie and Victoria will remain in the TARDIS just as they're supposed to.

I like the way the episode features only the main cast for most of its duration- reminds me of early Hartnell stories! But here it helps to develop the developing relationship between Jamie and Victoria. And, far from being the terrified screamer of repute, Victoria seems to have quite the sense of adventure.


Part Two


"This wasn't the welcome I expected, you know!"


Actual footage, and suddenly it's very clear that this was filmed in Snowdonia, which unfortunately looks very unlike the Himalayas! It's still very good, though, plus we get the Doctor playing his recorder again.

We settle down to the actual plot, and it's most intriguing- who exactly is Padmasambhava, and what's that evil voice he occasionally switches to? Very creepy.

It's Jamie's plan that leads to the capture of the Yeti- he may be no intellectual but the last few stories have shown he's far from thick, despite his reputation.

Hmmm... Travers seems to recognise the word "robot". [pedantic smartarse mode] If I recall correctly from general fan osmosis, this story was supposed to be set in 1935 (although we've had no date yet). If so, it should predate the coining of the word by Karel Capek by a full three years [/pedantic smartarse mode].

Part Three


"They came to get their ball back!"


Great as these recons are, I think this is the point at which recon weariness is starting to sink in. Still, not that far to go now! Besides, this recon is quite superb, with lots of moving CGI Yeti.

The plot is thickening- I love the mysterious hand moving the model Yeti about on the board. And we get some interesting revelations about a "great Intelligence" which wants to end its days wandering space to take on physical form.

Khrisong is turning out to be a more interesting character than the simple plot-serving adversary of earlier, as he learns to trust the Doctor. It's nice to see the chatracter developing a bit.

Once again Victoria shows far more of a sense of adventure than her reputation would have us believe, trying to sneak into the inner sanctum


Part Four


"Are you sure it's quite safe?"

"Well, quite frankly, Jamie, no. But there's only one way of finding out."


We're spoiled with a fair few actual clips this episode, and a most amusing scene where the Doctor and Jamie find the TARDIS blocked by a Yeti: "What are you going to do?" "Bung a rock at it."

Interesting stuff with Travers in the cave, the pyramid glowing, and things looking generally scary. Which is good, because there's not much of a sense of threat from the Yeti so far, frankly. Either they're inactive or they just barge straight through without harming anyone. In fact, it's already part four and nobody's dead yet! Is this a record?

There's far less of the Doctor's manipulative side on display in this story, although he notably would rather trace the sphere to its source than deal with the Yeti he knows to be potentially at large in the monastery! We get an interesting moment with Victoria too: "This Doctor- is he your guardian?" "I suppose he is, in a way."

I'm beginning to quite like Khrisong, with his defiance of the Abbot's apparent defeatism- quite a turnaround for such an initially annoying character.


Part Five


"I'm going to see a very old friend."

It's a particular tragedy that the visuals for the scenes with Padmasamhava speaking through Victoria no longer exist- this is chilling enough just on audio but it would be great to see it. It's a shame that so much of Padmasambhava's dialogue is pretty much inaudible, although much of that is probably down to my hearing.

The Doctor's visited the monastery before, of course, so this is the first ever reference to an untelevised adventure. But where does it fit in? Confusingly, Padmasambhava seems to recognise the Doctor by sight ("Good to look upon your face again.") so presumably it happened since his "renewal"?

We get another slice of plot exposition here; the Great Exposition came to Padmasambhava whilst he was meditating?! That's a scary and not uncool concept.

The Doctor seems almost most more interested in Padmasambhava than Victoria's catatonic condition, and has to be gently chided by Jamie! Although this Doctor's a genuinely nice chap, and genuinely cares about his friends, he can be quite shockingly "big picture first" at times.

Everything seems to be coming to a head...


Part Six

"Such a brain as yours is too small to grasp my purpose."


Again the recon gives us a continuity announcer! "And now, Doctor Who, and the final episode of The Abominable Snowmen." Is it just me who finds it impossible not to think of the many Monty Python continuity announcer skits while watching this?

A cool Doctor / Victoria moment before he explains his plan. The Doctor essentially makes a token gesture of sending Victoria away before the dangerous stuff starts, but then cheerfully admits he knew full well she'd refuse to do any such thing!

The situation by the end, in spite of the robotic trappings, essentially feels more supernatural than sci-fi, which is not necessarily a bad thing and certainly gives this story a refreshingly different feel.

The threat is finally defeated in a satisfying way, marred only by the fact we're shown so many close-up photos of Padmasambhava which make it very clear that his aged face is a mask!

Nice last few scenes with the real Yeti and the Doctor playing his recorder again (yay!). And a nice bit of foreshadowing from Jamie: "can you not land us somewhere warmer next time?"



Overall, a nicely done story with a very different feel which, compared to certain other six-parters I could mention (The Faceless Ones, I'm looking at you!), never seemed to flag. Perhaps not quite up there with the best (I suspect because none of the guest characters were ever quite interesting or layered enough), but nevertheless very enjoyable. 4/5.