I obey Control
From more than one source I've heard that The Macra Terror is reminiscent of The Prisoner and I can see where that would come from. Fortunately it's no where near as surreal as The Prisoner or there would be no hope of following the story as it only exists in telesnap form.
The Doctor, Ben, Polly, and Jamie land on an Earth colony planet and immediately run into a man feeling from authorities. He is believed to be suffering from delusions but the Doctor believes him. The colony appears to be the model of happiness and efficiency with cheerful music playing, recreation facilities, and a cheerful optimistic attitude. They are overseen by the Controller, who is very evocative of Big Brother as he seems to know all of what is going on in the colony but is only seen as a large still picture with a booming voice. Ben is brainwashed while sleeping but the Doctor realizes what is happening and destroys the equipment before it can work on Polly and Jamie. The Doctor, Jamie and Polly are sentenced to work in the gas mines while Ben is dispatched to oversee them. Jamie escapes down an unused shaft while the Doctor figures out how the piping system works. Jamie is confronted by the Macra but the Doctor manages to reroute the mining gas to lull the Macra back to sleep. Jamie reemerges into the colony while the Doctor and Polly discover the control room with the Macra running things. They show it to the Pilot who had been starting to resist Control anyway. They are locked up to be killed but Ben finishes coming back to his senses and destroys the piping per the Doctor's instructions, killing the Macra.
This one was a pretty tight little story. It was a bit less engaging as a recon due to there being more action and less talking that in other stories, but the recon was good enough to keep me engaged. One of the things that struck me most was how a preview clip worked into the end of The Moonbase was used as a key plot development in the first two episodes of this story. Had the Doctor and his companions not seen that clip they might have been less accepting of Medok's story. Of course, the Second Doctor was always suspicious of authority so that was keeping within his nature.
It was nice to see Ben given an interesting arc with him becoming brainwashed by the Macra and the others not. Jamie was given the adventure plotline while Polly assisted the Doctor so that no one felt wasted which is done a lot with three companions. There was nice depth with the supporting cast and it was interesting to see how the fully brainwashed ones could go from so inviting and cheerful to authoritarian when "the rules" were threatened.
I've got two downsides to this story, aside from it being a recon. First is the Macra. Because of the Australian censors decided they were too scary and cut the footage out, the only moving bits of this story are of the Macra attacking in episodes one and two. I'm sure the production team was trying hard and the director did a good job of keeping them in shadow, but even with that the Macra look a bit shoddy. It's part of the ease that one has to give to Sixties Doctor Who sometimes.
My second tick is that the ending felt very rushed. This is a bit of a recurring problem in the classic series where there is a real meandering through the first few episodes, establishing the problem and then there is a slap dash rush to fix things again. More time should have been paid to convincing the Pilot to see the Macra and I would have preferred to see the Doctor a little more involved in the final resolution other than shouting instructions to Ben through the door. I know he had confirmed that Ben was back to normal in a subtle way in the Pilot's office, but it was still a bit of a risk, especially since it was dependant on Control also sending all guards out of the drilling control room, giving Ben the ability to destroy the machinery unencumbered.
The ending aside, this was a good one and I think I might give it a half point more if it was not a recon. Seeing the action would keep me even more engaged, but it was reasonably engaging enough. A good story and one that I could enjoy again. I would certainly jump at the chance to watch it again if the full episodes were recovered.
Overall personal score: 3.5 out of 5
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Face the Raven
You'll find it's a very small universe when I'm angry with you.
Face the Raven was not quite what I expected when I saw the preview for it last week. I thought it might have more of a Poe tie in, especially since the alley looked an awful lot like the Diagon Alley set that was used in the Harry Potter movies. I guess I was expecting something a little more like The Unquiet Dead. But, to a degree, it did have a little of that flavor.
Naturally the big thing to talk about with this episode was the death of Clara. Of course, Clara has already died twice back in Series 7, but this is Clara Prime as we might call her and unlike the previous versions, we've gotten to know her over the course of two and a half series. I think the most interesting thing is that Clara did not die as a true act of sacrifice (although there was a sacrifice made on her part) but died as a result of making an arrogant assumption that she or the Doctor would be in full control of events. I rather liked that.
It was not that I didn't like Clara, I actually did enjoy her as a companion. But there was a certain arrogant recklessness that swirled around her character. Amy had a touch of recklessness but there was also a dash of fear that would draw her back. She also had her love for Rory that tended to draw her back into reality when she stepped outside the breach. Clara acted more like an adrenaline junkie. This was especially notable when the bit of turbulence they hit caused her to nearly fall out of the TARDIS. Instead of being scared, she laughed it off like she was getting a rush.
I think it is also fitting that her death should involve Rigsy. Flatline, where we first met Rigsy, was the first story where Clara fully took on the role of the Doctor and also fully embraced the pleasure thrill of danger. There were flashes of it before in Time Heist, but in Listen, Kill the Moon, and Mummy on the Orient Express there was still this healthy respect for danger with flashes of fear drawing her back. The fear was so strong in Kill the Moon that she had the scared teenager temper tantrum that created the initial schism between her and the Doctor that wasn't fully reconciled until Last Christmas. I do like the fact that her character developed in such a way that an empty death was her ultimate fate.
I also enjoyed the development of Ashildr over her three stories. She was naive but enjoyable in The Girl Who Died and then cold and desperate in The Woman Who Lived. This story had her more mature but willing to compromise for the sake of protecting her people. It gave her purpose so you can understand her desire to keep things safe. I don't really think Ashildr can be faulted for much of what happened. She set a puzzle with the full expectation that once the Doctor had figured it out, Rigsy would be released and no one would die. Even selling out the Doctor probably didn't matter too much to her since she could easily assume that Clara would still be around with control of the TARDIS and that she could assist the Doctor in getting out of whatever trap she had put him in. She hold up her end of the bargain and it's not her fault that whomever she made it with couldn't kill or keep the Doctor contained, whatever their final purpose was.
So overall, I enjoyed it. I thought the middle was both a bit slow and that part of the puzzle was a little too easy to manipulate. Also, while emotional, I didn't get hit quite in the feels as hard about Clara's death and I think I was meant to. Whether that's because I heard the Clara died before I saw the episode or that it was heavily telegraphed at the halfway point, I'm not sure. But there was a brief moment where it was supposed to be touching that I was starting to get the "just die already" feeling. But still, an easy episode to pick up and watch again with full enjoyment.
Overall personal score: 4.5 out of 5
Face the Raven was not quite what I expected when I saw the preview for it last week. I thought it might have more of a Poe tie in, especially since the alley looked an awful lot like the Diagon Alley set that was used in the Harry Potter movies. I guess I was expecting something a little more like The Unquiet Dead. But, to a degree, it did have a little of that flavor.
Naturally the big thing to talk about with this episode was the death of Clara. Of course, Clara has already died twice back in Series 7, but this is Clara Prime as we might call her and unlike the previous versions, we've gotten to know her over the course of two and a half series. I think the most interesting thing is that Clara did not die as a true act of sacrifice (although there was a sacrifice made on her part) but died as a result of making an arrogant assumption that she or the Doctor would be in full control of events. I rather liked that.
It was not that I didn't like Clara, I actually did enjoy her as a companion. But there was a certain arrogant recklessness that swirled around her character. Amy had a touch of recklessness but there was also a dash of fear that would draw her back. She also had her love for Rory that tended to draw her back into reality when she stepped outside the breach. Clara acted more like an adrenaline junkie. This was especially notable when the bit of turbulence they hit caused her to nearly fall out of the TARDIS. Instead of being scared, she laughed it off like she was getting a rush.
I think it is also fitting that her death should involve Rigsy. Flatline, where we first met Rigsy, was the first story where Clara fully took on the role of the Doctor and also fully embraced the pleasure thrill of danger. There were flashes of it before in Time Heist, but in Listen, Kill the Moon, and Mummy on the Orient Express there was still this healthy respect for danger with flashes of fear drawing her back. The fear was so strong in Kill the Moon that she had the scared teenager temper tantrum that created the initial schism between her and the Doctor that wasn't fully reconciled until Last Christmas. I do like the fact that her character developed in such a way that an empty death was her ultimate fate.
I also enjoyed the development of Ashildr over her three stories. She was naive but enjoyable in The Girl Who Died and then cold and desperate in The Woman Who Lived. This story had her more mature but willing to compromise for the sake of protecting her people. It gave her purpose so you can understand her desire to keep things safe. I don't really think Ashildr can be faulted for much of what happened. She set a puzzle with the full expectation that once the Doctor had figured it out, Rigsy would be released and no one would die. Even selling out the Doctor probably didn't matter too much to her since she could easily assume that Clara would still be around with control of the TARDIS and that she could assist the Doctor in getting out of whatever trap she had put him in. She hold up her end of the bargain and it's not her fault that whomever she made it with couldn't kill or keep the Doctor contained, whatever their final purpose was.
So overall, I enjoyed it. I thought the middle was both a bit slow and that part of the puzzle was a little too easy to manipulate. Also, while emotional, I didn't get hit quite in the feels as hard about Clara's death and I think I was meant to. Whether that's because I heard the Clara died before I saw the episode or that it was heavily telegraphed at the halfway point, I'm not sure. But there was a brief moment where it was supposed to be touching that I was starting to get the "just die already" feeling. But still, an easy episode to pick up and watch again with full enjoyment.
Overall personal score: 4.5 out of 5
Monday, November 23, 2015
The Five Doctors
Easy as Pi!
The Five Doctors is a decent twentieth anniversary story. I'm not sure it would stand that well without knowing that it was a large piece of fan service.
The plot line is very simple as the Doctors are taken out of their respective timestreams with one of their previous companions, brought to the Death Zone on Gallifrey and must enter the tower of Rassilon. There, President Barusa uses their work to claim immortality, but instead falls into a trap and is imprisoned.
It really isn't so much of a story as it is a series of vignettes of each Doctor interacting with a paired companion and overcoming the various obstacles put in their way. There is only a little interaction between the Fifth Doctor and the First Doctor in the beginning and then the grand meet up of all the Doctors in the last fifteen minutes. But the vignettes are both well written and well acted. They are enjoyable both for those of us who have seen a lot of the past, and probably even more enjoyable for those who had seen very little of the First and Second, as would have applied to a lot of people when this was first broadcast in 1983.
I have two quibbles about the story overall, neither of which could really be helped at the time. First is the special effects. The production team is trying hard but the story is very ambitious for 1983 capabilities. You can gloss over it by in large, but there are a few moments where you wince a little when you see what actually shows up.
The second is the companion utilization. The story was ambitious in trying to bring back whomever they could but when Tom Baker bowed out, that created a bit of a hurdle. Tegan and Turlough were the companions at the time so they were givens. That Susan would come back with the First Doctor was also obvious. I don't know for certain, but I'm guessing that the original plan had been for the Fourth Doctor to be with Sarah Jane, the Third Doctor with the Brigadier, and then have the Second Doctor with Jamie. But when the Fourth Doctor was unrealized, things got shuffled and because it was so important to keep Sarah Jane and the Brigadier in prominent roles, Jamie got relegated to a bit part with Zoe.
As I said before, the pairings worked well because of the quality of the writing, but the Second Doctor only interacted with the Brigadier in The Web of Fear, The Invasion and The Three Doctors where the Third Doctor spent nearly his entire time in the company of the Brigadier. Likewise, Sarah Jane was the Third Doctor's companion for his final season but then spent an additional two seasons as the Fourth Doctor's companion. It worked, but it would have worked better if the full compliment of the Doctors was there.
Two other small notes on the companions. Swapping out Susan for Tegan in the First Doctor's march to the tower worked very well. Playing up the sexism of the 1960's in the form of the First Doctor's personality and then meshing that with an independently minded Tegan was quite amusing. The downside of that was that Susan was once again relegated to do nothing status, much like her original time on the series. It's my understanding that originally the Fifth Doctor would have been too weak and would have stayed in the TARDIS so Susan and Turlough would have been looking after him and it would have been the Fourth Doctor to head back to the Panopticon with the Master's recall device. But as it was, the Fifth Doctor goes and Turlough and Susan have to babysit the TARDIS while the Cybermen prepare to bomb it. I would have at least like to see Susan talk about engaging the HADS system since she should have been aware of it. It would have given her and Turlough something to do instead of staring at a screen and looking helpless.
All that said, this was a fun story and if I wasn't already fairly well versed in First and Second Doctor stories, I would have appreciated it even more. There are a few warts, but not enough to detract from my overall enjoyment of it. Nor to make me hesitate from pulling it out for another watch.
Overall personal score: 3.5 out of 5
The Five Doctors is a decent twentieth anniversary story. I'm not sure it would stand that well without knowing that it was a large piece of fan service.
The plot line is very simple as the Doctors are taken out of their respective timestreams with one of their previous companions, brought to the Death Zone on Gallifrey and must enter the tower of Rassilon. There, President Barusa uses their work to claim immortality, but instead falls into a trap and is imprisoned.
It really isn't so much of a story as it is a series of vignettes of each Doctor interacting with a paired companion and overcoming the various obstacles put in their way. There is only a little interaction between the Fifth Doctor and the First Doctor in the beginning and then the grand meet up of all the Doctors in the last fifteen minutes. But the vignettes are both well written and well acted. They are enjoyable both for those of us who have seen a lot of the past, and probably even more enjoyable for those who had seen very little of the First and Second, as would have applied to a lot of people when this was first broadcast in 1983.
I have two quibbles about the story overall, neither of which could really be helped at the time. First is the special effects. The production team is trying hard but the story is very ambitious for 1983 capabilities. You can gloss over it by in large, but there are a few moments where you wince a little when you see what actually shows up.
The second is the companion utilization. The story was ambitious in trying to bring back whomever they could but when Tom Baker bowed out, that created a bit of a hurdle. Tegan and Turlough were the companions at the time so they were givens. That Susan would come back with the First Doctor was also obvious. I don't know for certain, but I'm guessing that the original plan had been for the Fourth Doctor to be with Sarah Jane, the Third Doctor with the Brigadier, and then have the Second Doctor with Jamie. But when the Fourth Doctor was unrealized, things got shuffled and because it was so important to keep Sarah Jane and the Brigadier in prominent roles, Jamie got relegated to a bit part with Zoe.
As I said before, the pairings worked well because of the quality of the writing, but the Second Doctor only interacted with the Brigadier in The Web of Fear, The Invasion and The Three Doctors where the Third Doctor spent nearly his entire time in the company of the Brigadier. Likewise, Sarah Jane was the Third Doctor's companion for his final season but then spent an additional two seasons as the Fourth Doctor's companion. It worked, but it would have worked better if the full compliment of the Doctors was there.
Two other small notes on the companions. Swapping out Susan for Tegan in the First Doctor's march to the tower worked very well. Playing up the sexism of the 1960's in the form of the First Doctor's personality and then meshing that with an independently minded Tegan was quite amusing. The downside of that was that Susan was once again relegated to do nothing status, much like her original time on the series. It's my understanding that originally the Fifth Doctor would have been too weak and would have stayed in the TARDIS so Susan and Turlough would have been looking after him and it would have been the Fourth Doctor to head back to the Panopticon with the Master's recall device. But as it was, the Fifth Doctor goes and Turlough and Susan have to babysit the TARDIS while the Cybermen prepare to bomb it. I would have at least like to see Susan talk about engaging the HADS system since she should have been aware of it. It would have given her and Turlough something to do instead of staring at a screen and looking helpless.
All that said, this was a fun story and if I wasn't already fairly well versed in First and Second Doctor stories, I would have appreciated it even more. There are a few warts, but not enough to detract from my overall enjoyment of it. Nor to make me hesitate from pulling it out for another watch.
Overall personal score: 3.5 out of 5
Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead
Donna, stay out of the shadows.
Given all the history between River Song and the Eleventh Doctor, her introduction with the Tenth Doctor can feel a bit out of place on rewatch. But, taken as a story in and of itself, Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead are excellent.
Donna and the Tenth Doctor are summoned via psychic paper to the largest library in the universe by River, except that she sends the message too early the Doctor hasn't met her yet. While there, the team of archaeologists are attacked by the Vashta Nerada, tiny creatures in the air that act like piranhas when in swarms. Most of the team is consumed and Donna is trapped within the computer memory. The Doctor strikes a bargain with the Vashta Nerada to release the trapped people within the core memory, which will also restabilize the computer. River, however, stops the Doctor from hooking himself to the computer and does it instead to save his life. He, in turn, is able to preserve her mind and those of her fallen comrades within the computer memory.
Silence in the Library is a wonderfully scary set up. The Vashta Nerada are a well imagined menace. The bit play with River is witty and unlike many of her subsequent appearances, she gives in to her fear with only traces of the brashness she will sometimes show. The interplay with Donna is also good as Donna had been somewhat sidelined in the Sontarian two-parter and The Doctor's Daughter and then played only for comedy in The Unicorn and the Wasp. Here she was allowed to do drama again and does it very well. Even the mystery with CAL has an interesting hook as you can't quite figure who this girl is that is observing and controlling the library.
The Forest of the Dead fell a little short of the bar set by Silence in the Library. It is still good and the drama, especially with Donna in the computer, is good and tragic. However, the Doctor gets a little cocksure and it feels like a little bit of a let down to have a more or less mindless monster negotiate a cease-fire based solely on the Doctor's reputation. That feels like a cheap trick of the writer to show the Doctor getting out of a situation that they can't actually think of any other way to escape.
Still, it does deliver on the scariness still and the tension stays high. The final scene with the Doctor and River is also touching and it is something that improves once you've seen River's arc through the time of the Eleventh Doctor.
I would be always up to rewatch these two and have already watched them more than once. They make for an excellent story and entertaining television.
Overall personal score: Silence in the Library - 5 out of 5; Forest of the Dead - 4.5 out of 5
Given all the history between River Song and the Eleventh Doctor, her introduction with the Tenth Doctor can feel a bit out of place on rewatch. But, taken as a story in and of itself, Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead are excellent.
Donna and the Tenth Doctor are summoned via psychic paper to the largest library in the universe by River, except that she sends the message too early the Doctor hasn't met her yet. While there, the team of archaeologists are attacked by the Vashta Nerada, tiny creatures in the air that act like piranhas when in swarms. Most of the team is consumed and Donna is trapped within the computer memory. The Doctor strikes a bargain with the Vashta Nerada to release the trapped people within the core memory, which will also restabilize the computer. River, however, stops the Doctor from hooking himself to the computer and does it instead to save his life. He, in turn, is able to preserve her mind and those of her fallen comrades within the computer memory.
Silence in the Library is a wonderfully scary set up. The Vashta Nerada are a well imagined menace. The bit play with River is witty and unlike many of her subsequent appearances, she gives in to her fear with only traces of the brashness she will sometimes show. The interplay with Donna is also good as Donna had been somewhat sidelined in the Sontarian two-parter and The Doctor's Daughter and then played only for comedy in The Unicorn and the Wasp. Here she was allowed to do drama again and does it very well. Even the mystery with CAL has an interesting hook as you can't quite figure who this girl is that is observing and controlling the library.
The Forest of the Dead fell a little short of the bar set by Silence in the Library. It is still good and the drama, especially with Donna in the computer, is good and tragic. However, the Doctor gets a little cocksure and it feels like a little bit of a let down to have a more or less mindless monster negotiate a cease-fire based solely on the Doctor's reputation. That feels like a cheap trick of the writer to show the Doctor getting out of a situation that they can't actually think of any other way to escape.
Still, it does deliver on the scariness still and the tension stays high. The final scene with the Doctor and River is also touching and it is something that improves once you've seen River's arc through the time of the Eleventh Doctor.
I would be always up to rewatch these two and have already watched them more than once. They make for an excellent story and entertaining television.
Overall personal score: Silence in the Library - 5 out of 5; Forest of the Dead - 4.5 out of 5
Friday, November 20, 2015
Mission to the Unknown
The beginning of the great alliance.
A question. If an episode does not contain the Doctor or his companions, can you officially call it an episode of Doctor Who?
Mission to the Unknown is the prologue story to the saga that is The Dalek's Master Plan. As a stand alone story, it is not bad. On the whole it actually reminded me of an episode of The Twilight Zone, where we have three space travelers from Earth who have crashed on to an alien planet. One is a CIA equivalent who is trying to determine if the Daleks are indeed planning an invasion of Earth. Two of the crew are killed by plants introduced by the Daleks and the agent himself is killed before he can fire the rocket that has the warning message. Meanwhile, the Daleks cement an alliance with six other races to conquer the Earth solar system.
If you treat this the independent story it is, it is quite good. The tension is high and the pacing keeps the story moving. More important, the Daleks are competent and succeed in killing the crew. This is good as it reminds the viewer that the Daleks are to be treated as a credible threat and not as incompetents as they sometimes come off as.
Obviously you wouldn't treat this as a regular Doctor Who episode, but it makes for an interesting space adventure that it wouldn't hurt to watch again.
Overall personal score: 2.5 out of 5
A question. If an episode does not contain the Doctor or his companions, can you officially call it an episode of Doctor Who?
Mission to the Unknown is the prologue story to the saga that is The Dalek's Master Plan. As a stand alone story, it is not bad. On the whole it actually reminded me of an episode of The Twilight Zone, where we have three space travelers from Earth who have crashed on to an alien planet. One is a CIA equivalent who is trying to determine if the Daleks are indeed planning an invasion of Earth. Two of the crew are killed by plants introduced by the Daleks and the agent himself is killed before he can fire the rocket that has the warning message. Meanwhile, the Daleks cement an alliance with six other races to conquer the Earth solar system.
If you treat this the independent story it is, it is quite good. The tension is high and the pacing keeps the story moving. More important, the Daleks are competent and succeed in killing the crew. This is good as it reminds the viewer that the Daleks are to be treated as a credible threat and not as incompetents as they sometimes come off as.
Obviously you wouldn't treat this as a regular Doctor Who episode, but it makes for an interesting space adventure that it wouldn't hurt to watch again.
Overall personal score: 2.5 out of 5
The Girl Who Waited
This isn't fair. You're turning me into you.
The Girl Who Waited is probably my favorite from Series 6. What's also interesting is that it is actually a Doctor-lite story as well.
The Doctor, Amy and Rory land in a hospital facility where normal time is observed but an alternate sped up timeline is also created for the victims of a plague on the planet. The victims are allowed to live what feels like long lives in the span of about a day. Amy is accidentally trapped in a sped up timeline and when the Doctor and Rory go to get her, they overshoot and end up meeting an Amy that has waited thirty-six years for them. She has become angry and bitter. But she agrees to help save young Amy if they will save her too. Young Amy is pulled forward into old Amy's timestream but knocked out in the run back to the TARDIS. Rory brings her in but the Doctor locks old Amy out. He tells Rory that the two Amy's are a paradox and he must choose which one he can save. Old Amy begs him to not let her in and she gives herself over to the sedation robots.
There is so much to enjoy with this episode. It is emotional but not in an overly schmaltzy way. You feel the genuine pain that old Amy has felt in being alone for so long and you sympathize with her in that anger as well as her fear that to rescue her younger self might cause her older self to cease to exist. You also sympathize with Rory who loves Amy no matter what version but must choose to let one die in the end.
Although well structured so that you don't really notice it, it is a good thing that this is a Doctor-lite episode. I enjoy the Eleventh Doctor's whimsy as well as the contrasting seriousness he brings, but in those poignant moments between Amy and Rory, it was important that they be given space and to have the Doctor and his whimsy removed aided in keeping the tone right with it's somber edge.
All the actors did a very good job in this one. Of course, it was a very small cast as besides the main three there was only the central computer (voiced by Imelda Staunton), the robots and the holographic receptionist; none of which had as much screen time and Amy and Rory or even the Doctor. But it was Amy and Rory that carried this episode and they did an excellent job.
I actually did watch this episode again not that long ago and I enjoyed it as much as the first time I watched it. I'd happily go and watch it again at any time.
Overall personal score: 5 out of 5
The Girl Who Waited is probably my favorite from Series 6. What's also interesting is that it is actually a Doctor-lite story as well.
The Doctor, Amy and Rory land in a hospital facility where normal time is observed but an alternate sped up timeline is also created for the victims of a plague on the planet. The victims are allowed to live what feels like long lives in the span of about a day. Amy is accidentally trapped in a sped up timeline and when the Doctor and Rory go to get her, they overshoot and end up meeting an Amy that has waited thirty-six years for them. She has become angry and bitter. But she agrees to help save young Amy if they will save her too. Young Amy is pulled forward into old Amy's timestream but knocked out in the run back to the TARDIS. Rory brings her in but the Doctor locks old Amy out. He tells Rory that the two Amy's are a paradox and he must choose which one he can save. Old Amy begs him to not let her in and she gives herself over to the sedation robots.
There is so much to enjoy with this episode. It is emotional but not in an overly schmaltzy way. You feel the genuine pain that old Amy has felt in being alone for so long and you sympathize with her in that anger as well as her fear that to rescue her younger self might cause her older self to cease to exist. You also sympathize with Rory who loves Amy no matter what version but must choose to let one die in the end.
Although well structured so that you don't really notice it, it is a good thing that this is a Doctor-lite episode. I enjoy the Eleventh Doctor's whimsy as well as the contrasting seriousness he brings, but in those poignant moments between Amy and Rory, it was important that they be given space and to have the Doctor and his whimsy removed aided in keeping the tone right with it's somber edge.
All the actors did a very good job in this one. Of course, it was a very small cast as besides the main three there was only the central computer (voiced by Imelda Staunton), the robots and the holographic receptionist; none of which had as much screen time and Amy and Rory or even the Doctor. But it was Amy and Rory that carried this episode and they did an excellent job.
I actually did watch this episode again not that long ago and I enjoyed it as much as the first time I watched it. I'd happily go and watch it again at any time.
Overall personal score: 5 out of 5
The Mythmakers
It's a bit late to say woe to the horse.
It is very unfortunate that The Mythmakers does not exist, except as recons. This was a very enjoyable story with a nice balance between action and engaging dialogue.
Probably the most enjoyable thing about this story was how real and fleshed out the characters were. Odysseus is a brash and arrogant blowhard who you can't help but enjoy. He would be an entertaining man to have a drink with. Paris is a simpering, upper class prat and provides excellent comic relief without becoming too farcical. Even Cassandra is good. She is shrill and you don't like her, but that is part of the character and it's easy to see how that kind of attitude plays into the legend of her prophecies not being believed.
Even the things I didn't like, I understood. Vicki was being written out of the show so her romance with Troilus is understandable. However, her introduction to Troilus is not shown and the romantic scenes they have afterward seem a little stilted because of that. Maybe it would have been better if it wasn't a recon so that some of the physical acting could be observed, but the romance was not developed as well I would have liked it, certainly to justify leaving Vicki behind.
I would enjoy it greatly if they found this one. I could watch it again although I think I would like to find a better recon if I did. The audio wasn't synced quite right at times. This would also be an excellent candidate for animation treatment. But a good story at the very least.
Overall personal score: 4 out of 5
It is very unfortunate that The Mythmakers does not exist, except as recons. This was a very enjoyable story with a nice balance between action and engaging dialogue.
Probably the most enjoyable thing about this story was how real and fleshed out the characters were. Odysseus is a brash and arrogant blowhard who you can't help but enjoy. He would be an entertaining man to have a drink with. Paris is a simpering, upper class prat and provides excellent comic relief without becoming too farcical. Even Cassandra is good. She is shrill and you don't like her, but that is part of the character and it's easy to see how that kind of attitude plays into the legend of her prophecies not being believed.
Even the things I didn't like, I understood. Vicki was being written out of the show so her romance with Troilus is understandable. However, her introduction to Troilus is not shown and the romantic scenes they have afterward seem a little stilted because of that. Maybe it would have been better if it wasn't a recon so that some of the physical acting could be observed, but the romance was not developed as well I would have liked it, certainly to justify leaving Vicki behind.
I would enjoy it greatly if they found this one. I could watch it again although I think I would like to find a better recon if I did. The audio wasn't synced quite right at times. This would also be an excellent candidate for animation treatment. But a good story at the very least.
Overall personal score: 4 out of 5
The Idiot's Lantern
HUNGRY!
A middling story can become a very good story with good acting. Conversely, that middling story can become downright bad with poor acting. The Idiot's Lantern had some downright painful acting moments.
The villain of the story is called the Wire and is living inside televisions in an electronics shop. It plans to take over the bodies of people as they watch the coronation of Elizabeth II, which historically was a period where the purchase of televisions increased dramatically. However the Wire exposes itself by feeding early and leaving a small number of faceless people, including Rose. The Doctor learns what the Wire is doing and traps it on a videocassette when it tries to attack during the coronation broadcast.
The set up of the story is fine and there are actually some scary moments, especially with the reveal of the grandmother without a face. The Doctor's pseudo-companion Tommy is a refreshing change from Rose, even if he isn't that memorable. So there were some nice elements to work with.
The wheels started to come off with the Wire though. I don't know if it was the direction or the natural tendency of the actress, but the performance was painfully over the top. Every time she would throw her head back and yell "Hungry!" it was like nails on a chalkboard. Whatever enjoyment I had of the story to that point got thrown right out the window. The resolution of the story also seemed a bit contrived as the Doctor had to climb a radio tower to provide some high-wire tension to the end of the story.
I can't say that I've been inclined to watch this one again. It was a middling set up to start and the performance of the Wire only drove it further down. I'd go out of my way to avoid watching this one again.
Overall personal score: 1 out of 5
A middling story can become a very good story with good acting. Conversely, that middling story can become downright bad with poor acting. The Idiot's Lantern had some downright painful acting moments.
The villain of the story is called the Wire and is living inside televisions in an electronics shop. It plans to take over the bodies of people as they watch the coronation of Elizabeth II, which historically was a period where the purchase of televisions increased dramatically. However the Wire exposes itself by feeding early and leaving a small number of faceless people, including Rose. The Doctor learns what the Wire is doing and traps it on a videocassette when it tries to attack during the coronation broadcast.
The set up of the story is fine and there are actually some scary moments, especially with the reveal of the grandmother without a face. The Doctor's pseudo-companion Tommy is a refreshing change from Rose, even if he isn't that memorable. So there were some nice elements to work with.
The wheels started to come off with the Wire though. I don't know if it was the direction or the natural tendency of the actress, but the performance was painfully over the top. Every time she would throw her head back and yell "Hungry!" it was like nails on a chalkboard. Whatever enjoyment I had of the story to that point got thrown right out the window. The resolution of the story also seemed a bit contrived as the Doctor had to climb a radio tower to provide some high-wire tension to the end of the story.
I can't say that I've been inclined to watch this one again. It was a middling set up to start and the performance of the Wire only drove it further down. I'd go out of my way to avoid watching this one again.
Overall personal score: 1 out of 5
The Reign of Terror
Then tomorrow, the 27th of July, 1794 will be a day for history.
The Reign of Terror was a pretty good historical. In fact, setting aside 100,000 BC, I don't think I've seen a historical I didn't like.
As the title implies, the story takes place at the end of July, 1794 when the Reign of Terror came to an end with the arrest and execution of Maximilien Robespierre, leader of France. Despite this, politics doesn't factor in much as it mostly a cloak and dagger drama involving first the escape from prison and then fulfilling the mission of an English spy in the French government. Episodes four and five are missing, but fortunately have been nicely animated so the story doesn't go through too jarring a shift as recons can be.
Overall, I enjoyed this episode. Like most six-parters, it was too long though. This can be blamed principally on the fact that it was William Russell's turn to go on vacation. However, because Ian is the man of action and the de-facto star of the show, he was separated from the group for two episodes and filmed ahead of time for episodes two and three. Had this not been necessary, episodes two and three could have been condensed into one episode with the British spy making himself known to the resistance much sooner than the beginning of episode six.
Actually, I would have liked to have seen more of the machinations that went on in episode six, in which Napoleon is courted by the conspiracy that is overthrowing Robespierre. That was a only a coda which could have been expanded. It is interesting that Barbara makes a note of how amused she is that the people of the time are scrambling to see if they can prevent events that she knows will come to pass and how she learned that lesson in The Aztecs. That might have actually been a more interesting source of conflict if the Doctor and his companions had fallen into the hands of the resistance earlier and were forced to aid them in the attempted prevention of the rise of the three consuls, knowing that this would fail.
Still, there is a good bit of history and drama about this story that is enjoyable. One of the things I couldn't help pick up was the overwhelming use of "citizen" when addressing people. I'm sure there was historical precedent for this but given that this story was made in 1964, it was difficult not to pick up a little Soviet vibe from this; especially given the irony of how everyone was addressed with the same title but clearly still worked in a ranked society.
I would not make this story my first choice of a First Doctor story to watch again, but it was entertaining and flowed fairly well. I could sit down and watch it again without complaint.
Overall personal score: 3 out of 5
The Reign of Terror was a pretty good historical. In fact, setting aside 100,000 BC, I don't think I've seen a historical I didn't like.
As the title implies, the story takes place at the end of July, 1794 when the Reign of Terror came to an end with the arrest and execution of Maximilien Robespierre, leader of France. Despite this, politics doesn't factor in much as it mostly a cloak and dagger drama involving first the escape from prison and then fulfilling the mission of an English spy in the French government. Episodes four and five are missing, but fortunately have been nicely animated so the story doesn't go through too jarring a shift as recons can be.
Overall, I enjoyed this episode. Like most six-parters, it was too long though. This can be blamed principally on the fact that it was William Russell's turn to go on vacation. However, because Ian is the man of action and the de-facto star of the show, he was separated from the group for two episodes and filmed ahead of time for episodes two and three. Had this not been necessary, episodes two and three could have been condensed into one episode with the British spy making himself known to the resistance much sooner than the beginning of episode six.
Actually, I would have liked to have seen more of the machinations that went on in episode six, in which Napoleon is courted by the conspiracy that is overthrowing Robespierre. That was a only a coda which could have been expanded. It is interesting that Barbara makes a note of how amused she is that the people of the time are scrambling to see if they can prevent events that she knows will come to pass and how she learned that lesson in The Aztecs. That might have actually been a more interesting source of conflict if the Doctor and his companions had fallen into the hands of the resistance earlier and were forced to aid them in the attempted prevention of the rise of the three consuls, knowing that this would fail.
Still, there is a good bit of history and drama about this story that is enjoyable. One of the things I couldn't help pick up was the overwhelming use of "citizen" when addressing people. I'm sure there was historical precedent for this but given that this story was made in 1964, it was difficult not to pick up a little Soviet vibe from this; especially given the irony of how everyone was addressed with the same title but clearly still worked in a ranked society.
I would not make this story my first choice of a First Doctor story to watch again, but it was entertaining and flowed fairly well. I could sit down and watch it again without complaint.
Overall personal score: 3 out of 5
The Christmas Invasion
No second chances.
The Christmas Invasion was a bit of a bore to me. It wasn't bad, but when you are relying on Rose and Jackie Tyler to carry the plot for 2/3rds of the story, odds are it just won't go that well.
The Doctor has just regenerated and is unconscious. Meanwhile Earth is invaded by the Sycorax who implement mind control over all people with a certain blood type. PM Harriet Jones as well as the TARDIS (containing the Doctor, Rose and Mickey) are captured and taken aboard the Sycorax ship. The Doctor is revived and he breaks the Sycorax control over the hypnotized humans. He then battles the Sycorax leader where his hand is chopped off but he is able to regrow the hand due to being with 15 hours of the regeneration. The Sycorax leader is killed and the Doctor and all humans escape. As the Sycorax ship attempts to retreat, Harriet Jones orders it destroyed. The Doctor is outraged by this that he starts a whisper campaign that ends with Jones' removal from office.
This story felt padded. Since the Doctor was out of commission for so long, there is a painfully slow build up to the confrontation with the Sycorax. Holding some of humanity hostage provides a certain level of tension but the actions of the companions and the government seem like panicked arm flailing while waiting for some one else to save them.
Worse, because of how much time had been spent on the Doctor being out of the action, his actions against the Sycorax made them look like a very weak threat, which is always disappointing. The Doctor shuts them down with ease and his battle with the Sycorax leader, while good, does not pay off the time spent building up.
The fight with the Sycorax leader does give one of my favorite scenes with the Tenth Doctor though. After the Doctor has disarmed the leader, he tells him to honor the fight and leave Earth. He then walks away with Rose. The Sycorax leader instead rises and rushes at him from behind. The Doctor throws an orange, which had been his bathrobe pocket to a button which causes the wing on which they had been fighting to bend and the leader falls to his death. The Doctor doesn't even look at him as he falls, his face goes dark with anger as he mutters, "No second chances." This is glimpse that we are given of the dark side of the Doctor. The Tenth Doctor was the one that let it closest to the surface and it was my favorite aspect of the Tenth Doctor.
A good finish can help a story, but it doesn't make it any more enjoyable to sit through the dull opening bits. You would be just as well served to start 30 minutes into the story. You'd miss very little and would skip the dull parts. That's what I would probably do if I were to pull this up again.
Overall personal score: 2 out of 5
The Christmas Invasion was a bit of a bore to me. It wasn't bad, but when you are relying on Rose and Jackie Tyler to carry the plot for 2/3rds of the story, odds are it just won't go that well.
The Doctor has just regenerated and is unconscious. Meanwhile Earth is invaded by the Sycorax who implement mind control over all people with a certain blood type. PM Harriet Jones as well as the TARDIS (containing the Doctor, Rose and Mickey) are captured and taken aboard the Sycorax ship. The Doctor is revived and he breaks the Sycorax control over the hypnotized humans. He then battles the Sycorax leader where his hand is chopped off but he is able to regrow the hand due to being with 15 hours of the regeneration. The Sycorax leader is killed and the Doctor and all humans escape. As the Sycorax ship attempts to retreat, Harriet Jones orders it destroyed. The Doctor is outraged by this that he starts a whisper campaign that ends with Jones' removal from office.
This story felt padded. Since the Doctor was out of commission for so long, there is a painfully slow build up to the confrontation with the Sycorax. Holding some of humanity hostage provides a certain level of tension but the actions of the companions and the government seem like panicked arm flailing while waiting for some one else to save them.
Worse, because of how much time had been spent on the Doctor being out of the action, his actions against the Sycorax made them look like a very weak threat, which is always disappointing. The Doctor shuts them down with ease and his battle with the Sycorax leader, while good, does not pay off the time spent building up.
The fight with the Sycorax leader does give one of my favorite scenes with the Tenth Doctor though. After the Doctor has disarmed the leader, he tells him to honor the fight and leave Earth. He then walks away with Rose. The Sycorax leader instead rises and rushes at him from behind. The Doctor throws an orange, which had been his bathrobe pocket to a button which causes the wing on which they had been fighting to bend and the leader falls to his death. The Doctor doesn't even look at him as he falls, his face goes dark with anger as he mutters, "No second chances." This is glimpse that we are given of the dark side of the Doctor. The Tenth Doctor was the one that let it closest to the surface and it was my favorite aspect of the Tenth Doctor.
A good finish can help a story, but it doesn't make it any more enjoyable to sit through the dull opening bits. You would be just as well served to start 30 minutes into the story. You'd miss very little and would skip the dull parts. That's what I would probably do if I were to pull this up again.
Overall personal score: 2 out of 5
Thursday, November 19, 2015
The Dominators
Quarks! Attack!
I'm not entirely sure why The Dominators is regarded with such low regard. There are flaws of course, but the overall story is not worth the slag it gets in my opinion.
The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe arrive on the planet Dulkis where another group of aliens called the Dominators have arrived. The Dominators use robots called Quarks to destroy a watch base and a pleasure tour party, although some survive. The Dominators plan to destroy the planet and convert the minerals into fuel for their own fleet. There is some adventuring where the Doctor and Jamie are captured but manage to trick the Dominators to let them go. They also travel to the capital city but the government refuses to help due to their pacifist nature. The Doctor and Jamie return to the island and organize the survivors into a resistance such that they are able to steal the bomb the Dominators are planning to use. The Doctor plants the bomb on the Dominator's ship where it blows up and he and his companions leave in the TARDIS as the island is buried in a volcanic eruption.
This story does have it's slow moments. It is easily an episode too long and some of the capture and recapture scenes between the Dulkans are a bit too repetitive. I would also argue that nearly all the scenes with the ruling council are unnecessary and are more for a cynical poke at the pacifist culture.
That being said, the Doctor himself is quite good and the bickering between the two Dominators is somewhat (and probably unintentionally) funny. There is an air of two people who have been together for too long, especially since one is a hot head interested only in filling blood lust while the other is trying to actually fulfill his mission.
The Quarks are also a bit undervalued. This might be due to a backlash as the BBC was convinced they would be a new craze like the Daleks were and were pushed a bit too hard. But the Quarks are a reasonable enemy as tools of the Dominators. They worked well in the action scenes, which also were an enjoyable part of the story.
Is this a classic story? No. It's entertaining in a bit of a silly way that just seems to work for me. I would take a number of Second Doctor stories over this one, but I think it works well enough and would watch it over again if in the right mood.
Overall personal score: 2 out of 5
I'm not entirely sure why The Dominators is regarded with such low regard. There are flaws of course, but the overall story is not worth the slag it gets in my opinion.
The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe arrive on the planet Dulkis where another group of aliens called the Dominators have arrived. The Dominators use robots called Quarks to destroy a watch base and a pleasure tour party, although some survive. The Dominators plan to destroy the planet and convert the minerals into fuel for their own fleet. There is some adventuring where the Doctor and Jamie are captured but manage to trick the Dominators to let them go. They also travel to the capital city but the government refuses to help due to their pacifist nature. The Doctor and Jamie return to the island and organize the survivors into a resistance such that they are able to steal the bomb the Dominators are planning to use. The Doctor plants the bomb on the Dominator's ship where it blows up and he and his companions leave in the TARDIS as the island is buried in a volcanic eruption.
This story does have it's slow moments. It is easily an episode too long and some of the capture and recapture scenes between the Dulkans are a bit too repetitive. I would also argue that nearly all the scenes with the ruling council are unnecessary and are more for a cynical poke at the pacifist culture.
That being said, the Doctor himself is quite good and the bickering between the two Dominators is somewhat (and probably unintentionally) funny. There is an air of two people who have been together for too long, especially since one is a hot head interested only in filling blood lust while the other is trying to actually fulfill his mission.
The Quarks are also a bit undervalued. This might be due to a backlash as the BBC was convinced they would be a new craze like the Daleks were and were pushed a bit too hard. But the Quarks are a reasonable enemy as tools of the Dominators. They worked well in the action scenes, which also were an enjoyable part of the story.
Is this a classic story? No. It's entertaining in a bit of a silly way that just seems to work for me. I would take a number of Second Doctor stories over this one, but I think it works well enough and would watch it over again if in the right mood.
Overall personal score: 2 out of 5
Aliens of London/World War Three
Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North.
On one hand, you want to be somewhat easy on Series 1 of the revived Doctor Who. After all, they were just getting to their feet and some missteps were bound to happen. But on the other hand, if something lets a story down you should note that because you might be less likely to watch it later. The first two-parter, Aliens of London and World War Three is like that.
The unfortunate thing about this story is that it had a nice set up as it revived elements from the classic series. An alien ship crash lands in London but this is a misdirection as a group of aliens called the Slitheen have already infiltrated the British government and use the crisis to seize control. Refreshingly, they are not interested in conquest but intend to destroy the planet, harvesting the radioactive slag for profit. This is actually a clever idea. Of course, they are all thwarted by the Doctor and his companions and all but one are killed when 10 Downing Street is hit by a missile.
This story has good elements to it. The plot of the Slitheen is interesting and the idea of creating a fake alien landing to cover a real alien plot is also good. The pacing in Aliens of London is pretty good and the acting isn't bad either. We also get the introduction of Harriet Jones who is a fun recurring character.
However, there is also the not so good. First and probably most prominent on the list of annoyances is the farting. I understand that some method needed to be given that this heavy person was a Slitheen in disguise but the use of farting as the giveaway was just bad. It's taking a somewhat interesting story with some darker overtones and jamming it with stupid juvenile humor. This is the kind of thing that appeals to eight-year old boys and just about no one else. I understand wanting to spread the demographic appeal of the show, but this is just annoying.
The second thing on my list is more of a trial and error thing for the show and that is the design of the Slitheen. The big green rubbery monster with a baby face just didn't do it for me. It smacked too much of what done in the classic series because technology and budget limitations forced them to just put a stunt man in a suit and chase everyone. The End of the World and The Unquiet Dead demonstrated that the show was capable of so much more than had been done in the past and to revert to this silly looking monster was just disappointing.
Third is the pacing of the resolution in World War Three. Since this was the first story to have a cliffhanger, the production team through everything against the wall and put all three groups of protagonists in some sort of peril at the end of Aliens of London. It was a bit much and it had the unfortunate effect of leaving things at a stand still only a few minutes in to World War Three. There is a lot of back and forth banter which is OK to listen to but it is all filler with just a big lull in the drama.
The only source of drama comes from Mickey hacking into the government database and a Royal Navy submarine to destroy the Slitheen before they launch the nuclear missiles that will start World War Three. Even this is rather silly as Mickey isn't shown to be a brilliant hacker but instead finds a simple backdoor password that allows him access to the whole system. I get that this was designed to give the kids the feeling that anyone could be the hero the Doctor needs, but come on.
This story is probably the most childish of the whole first series. I get that they were finding their way but when you sandwich this between the creepy The Unquiet Dead and the PTSD moments of Dalek, it just feels even more out of place. It's watchable, but I'd need a good reason to go back watch these two again.
Overall personal score: Aliens of London - 2 out of 5; World War Three - 1.5 out of 5
On one hand, you want to be somewhat easy on Series 1 of the revived Doctor Who. After all, they were just getting to their feet and some missteps were bound to happen. But on the other hand, if something lets a story down you should note that because you might be less likely to watch it later. The first two-parter, Aliens of London and World War Three is like that.
The unfortunate thing about this story is that it had a nice set up as it revived elements from the classic series. An alien ship crash lands in London but this is a misdirection as a group of aliens called the Slitheen have already infiltrated the British government and use the crisis to seize control. Refreshingly, they are not interested in conquest but intend to destroy the planet, harvesting the radioactive slag for profit. This is actually a clever idea. Of course, they are all thwarted by the Doctor and his companions and all but one are killed when 10 Downing Street is hit by a missile.
This story has good elements to it. The plot of the Slitheen is interesting and the idea of creating a fake alien landing to cover a real alien plot is also good. The pacing in Aliens of London is pretty good and the acting isn't bad either. We also get the introduction of Harriet Jones who is a fun recurring character.
However, there is also the not so good. First and probably most prominent on the list of annoyances is the farting. I understand that some method needed to be given that this heavy person was a Slitheen in disguise but the use of farting as the giveaway was just bad. It's taking a somewhat interesting story with some darker overtones and jamming it with stupid juvenile humor. This is the kind of thing that appeals to eight-year old boys and just about no one else. I understand wanting to spread the demographic appeal of the show, but this is just annoying.
The second thing on my list is more of a trial and error thing for the show and that is the design of the Slitheen. The big green rubbery monster with a baby face just didn't do it for me. It smacked too much of what done in the classic series because technology and budget limitations forced them to just put a stunt man in a suit and chase everyone. The End of the World and The Unquiet Dead demonstrated that the show was capable of so much more than had been done in the past and to revert to this silly looking monster was just disappointing.
Third is the pacing of the resolution in World War Three. Since this was the first story to have a cliffhanger, the production team through everything against the wall and put all three groups of protagonists in some sort of peril at the end of Aliens of London. It was a bit much and it had the unfortunate effect of leaving things at a stand still only a few minutes in to World War Three. There is a lot of back and forth banter which is OK to listen to but it is all filler with just a big lull in the drama.
The only source of drama comes from Mickey hacking into the government database and a Royal Navy submarine to destroy the Slitheen before they launch the nuclear missiles that will start World War Three. Even this is rather silly as Mickey isn't shown to be a brilliant hacker but instead finds a simple backdoor password that allows him access to the whole system. I get that this was designed to give the kids the feeling that anyone could be the hero the Doctor needs, but come on.
This story is probably the most childish of the whole first series. I get that they were finding their way but when you sandwich this between the creepy The Unquiet Dead and the PTSD moments of Dalek, it just feels even more out of place. It's watchable, but I'd need a good reason to go back watch these two again.
Overall personal score: Aliens of London - 2 out of 5; World War Three - 1.5 out of 5
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Seeds of Doom
-What do you do for an encore?
-I win!
If you conducted a poll of the favorite classic Doctor, favorite companion, favorite producer era, favorite writer, and favorite director, you would probably get: the Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith, Philip Hinchcliff, Robert Holmes, and Douglas Camfield. The first four elements combined for several good stories, but the fifth element only meshed with the other four in one story: Seeds of Doom. An argument could be made that Seeds of Doom represents the apex of classic era Doctor Who. Most fans will probably have a different story that is their personal favorite, but Seeds of Doom will end up being in just about everyone's top five.
Following the traditional Robert Holmes model for six-part stories, Seeds of Doom is split into a two episode mini-adventure set in Antarctica and then followed by the four episode main adventure on Harrison Chase's estate in England. You might think that this would cause one side to be a let down in comparison to the other, but that is not the case.
The adventure opens with the discovery of two Krynoid pods by an Antarctic expedition. One of the pods sprouts and infects one of the crew. This is more or less taken from the 1951 movie, The Thing from Another World. Following information sent by the base, the Doctor is sent to investigate the pods along with Sarah Jane. Unknown to the Doctor, the photos are shown to millionaire eccentric Harrison Chase who sends his agent Scorby to capture the pod. Episode one doesn't waste time on the set up other than finding the pod and getting all characters to the Antarctic base. Once there, you have the dual adventure of defeating the grown Krynoid and trying to not get killed by Scorby.
The Doctor is on from the start of this episode. There is wit and humor but he also has an intense anger sprouting from fear underlying his performance. Because this portion of the story is contained to two episodes, there is no padding and the action flows quickly. The sent even looks good as the production team actually painted the quarry where they were filming white to look like snow.
Scorby escapes with the remaining pod while the Doctor destroys the Krynoid. The pod is delivered to Chase (who believes that plants should dominate Earth and animal kind wiped out) while the Doctor and Sarah track him down. The pod eventually infects Chase's chief scientist, Keeler, and the Doctor then moves to stop the second Krynoid. Chase continues to thwart the Doctor, resulting in a confrontation where Chase is pulled in to his composting machine. The Doctor and Sarah escape while the RAF fly in and destroy the Krynoid from the air.
There is obviously a lot more detail but it's more fun to enjoy the ride. The four episodes contain some padding but the thrill of the chase and the quality of the acting are such that you barely notice. Chase himself is one of the best villains in Doctor Who and could easily pass for a James Bond villain. Scorby is also excellent as Chase's right hand thug, although his exit is a little weak after a strong first four episodes. Even the secondary characters are enjoyable with Amelia Ducat being the most entertaining.
If you had to look for nits to pick, I'd note the Krynoid costumes (as they are the Axion costumes spray painted green) and the effects of the super-sized Krynoid towards the end of the story. No matter how hard they tried, you can't escape the limitation of 1970's TV technology and the CSO does jump out at you. But the large shots are well done and the episode does not linger on them so it is easy to put that out of your mind quickly as the drama sweeps you along.
I would very happily watch Seeds of Doom again and would recommend it to anyone who wanted to sample a quality classic story.
Overall personal score 5 out of 5
-I win!
If you conducted a poll of the favorite classic Doctor, favorite companion, favorite producer era, favorite writer, and favorite director, you would probably get: the Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith, Philip Hinchcliff, Robert Holmes, and Douglas Camfield. The first four elements combined for several good stories, but the fifth element only meshed with the other four in one story: Seeds of Doom. An argument could be made that Seeds of Doom represents the apex of classic era Doctor Who. Most fans will probably have a different story that is their personal favorite, but Seeds of Doom will end up being in just about everyone's top five.
Following the traditional Robert Holmes model for six-part stories, Seeds of Doom is split into a two episode mini-adventure set in Antarctica and then followed by the four episode main adventure on Harrison Chase's estate in England. You might think that this would cause one side to be a let down in comparison to the other, but that is not the case.
The adventure opens with the discovery of two Krynoid pods by an Antarctic expedition. One of the pods sprouts and infects one of the crew. This is more or less taken from the 1951 movie, The Thing from Another World. Following information sent by the base, the Doctor is sent to investigate the pods along with Sarah Jane. Unknown to the Doctor, the photos are shown to millionaire eccentric Harrison Chase who sends his agent Scorby to capture the pod. Episode one doesn't waste time on the set up other than finding the pod and getting all characters to the Antarctic base. Once there, you have the dual adventure of defeating the grown Krynoid and trying to not get killed by Scorby.
The Doctor is on from the start of this episode. There is wit and humor but he also has an intense anger sprouting from fear underlying his performance. Because this portion of the story is contained to two episodes, there is no padding and the action flows quickly. The sent even looks good as the production team actually painted the quarry where they were filming white to look like snow.
Scorby escapes with the remaining pod while the Doctor destroys the Krynoid. The pod is delivered to Chase (who believes that plants should dominate Earth and animal kind wiped out) while the Doctor and Sarah track him down. The pod eventually infects Chase's chief scientist, Keeler, and the Doctor then moves to stop the second Krynoid. Chase continues to thwart the Doctor, resulting in a confrontation where Chase is pulled in to his composting machine. The Doctor and Sarah escape while the RAF fly in and destroy the Krynoid from the air.
There is obviously a lot more detail but it's more fun to enjoy the ride. The four episodes contain some padding but the thrill of the chase and the quality of the acting are such that you barely notice. Chase himself is one of the best villains in Doctor Who and could easily pass for a James Bond villain. Scorby is also excellent as Chase's right hand thug, although his exit is a little weak after a strong first four episodes. Even the secondary characters are enjoyable with Amelia Ducat being the most entertaining.
If you had to look for nits to pick, I'd note the Krynoid costumes (as they are the Axion costumes spray painted green) and the effects of the super-sized Krynoid towards the end of the story. No matter how hard they tried, you can't escape the limitation of 1970's TV technology and the CSO does jump out at you. But the large shots are well done and the episode does not linger on them so it is easy to put that out of your mind quickly as the drama sweeps you along.
I would very happily watch Seeds of Doom again and would recommend it to anyone who wanted to sample a quality classic story.
Overall personal score 5 out of 5
Sleep No More
Mr. Sandman. Bring me a dream...
I had made a bit of a mental note not to offer my opinion of episodes from the current season of Doctor Who; just to give them time to marinate a little bit. Sleep No More is not a normal episode though and I thought it would be best to commit my thoughts before they get too fuzzy.
Obviously this one is going to stand out since it is using the "found footage" formula. I've never seen all of any of the Paranormal Activity movies, but based on the snippets I've seen, this episode is borrowing heavily from that, especially with the so-called "twist" at the end.
Found footage has positives and negatives. It offers interesting camera work and it can also offer unique ways of providing character description and plot developments. On the other hand, you are not given much time to absorb aspects of character development and, as such, it is difficult to care about any characters that you are not concerned with.
I think that was my problem with this story. The Doctor and Clara drop in with a group of squaddies, are set upon by the monster, who then picks them off until the Doctor, Clara and the one surviving squaddie escape. It's very fast paced and action oriented, but I don't find myself caring about those that are picked off. Indeed, I had trouble fully determining who was being picked off at first, but that was also due to the dark lighting.
There were some good moments. The Doctor cracked off some funny lines and there were other moments of levity, which helped both break the tension and add to it as it rebuilt. I thought the acting was very well done and the atmosphere was very spooky and added well to the tension. Even the monster wasn't bad. It was a strange idea and somewhat oddly realized, but it was creepy in the moment and that's what counts.
I think the part that I and most other people are having a hard time with is the end. In the end, the Doctor and his companions escape with the station descending towards Neptune. But, we then cut back to Rassmussen who notes that a large percentage of what was just seen was fictionalized, complimenting the Doctor's final line of how none of this makes any sense. That line undercut my enjoyment of the episode greatly. While it was designed to be a great twist in why we were watching a found footage movie, it felt like a great dismissal of the previous forty minutes. It was like the story was admitting that it had just wasted our time and that if there were any plot holes or other things that just "didn't make sense", it could be chalked up to Rassmussen's storytelling, not the fault of the show itself.
I'm torn here. If I'm in an action or thriller mood, I could see myself watching this one again and enjoying it to a degree. But I would have to be in the right mood. I also think I would probably cut it off after the Doctor leaves just to avoid the bit of an insult at the end. Not great, but not overly terrible either.
Overall personal score: 2.5 out of 5
I had made a bit of a mental note not to offer my opinion of episodes from the current season of Doctor Who; just to give them time to marinate a little bit. Sleep No More is not a normal episode though and I thought it would be best to commit my thoughts before they get too fuzzy.
Obviously this one is going to stand out since it is using the "found footage" formula. I've never seen all of any of the Paranormal Activity movies, but based on the snippets I've seen, this episode is borrowing heavily from that, especially with the so-called "twist" at the end.
Found footage has positives and negatives. It offers interesting camera work and it can also offer unique ways of providing character description and plot developments. On the other hand, you are not given much time to absorb aspects of character development and, as such, it is difficult to care about any characters that you are not concerned with.
I think that was my problem with this story. The Doctor and Clara drop in with a group of squaddies, are set upon by the monster, who then picks them off until the Doctor, Clara and the one surviving squaddie escape. It's very fast paced and action oriented, but I don't find myself caring about those that are picked off. Indeed, I had trouble fully determining who was being picked off at first, but that was also due to the dark lighting.
There were some good moments. The Doctor cracked off some funny lines and there were other moments of levity, which helped both break the tension and add to it as it rebuilt. I thought the acting was very well done and the atmosphere was very spooky and added well to the tension. Even the monster wasn't bad. It was a strange idea and somewhat oddly realized, but it was creepy in the moment and that's what counts.
I think the part that I and most other people are having a hard time with is the end. In the end, the Doctor and his companions escape with the station descending towards Neptune. But, we then cut back to Rassmussen who notes that a large percentage of what was just seen was fictionalized, complimenting the Doctor's final line of how none of this makes any sense. That line undercut my enjoyment of the episode greatly. While it was designed to be a great twist in why we were watching a found footage movie, it felt like a great dismissal of the previous forty minutes. It was like the story was admitting that it had just wasted our time and that if there were any plot holes or other things that just "didn't make sense", it could be chalked up to Rassmussen's storytelling, not the fault of the show itself.
I'm torn here. If I'm in an action or thriller mood, I could see myself watching this one again and enjoying it to a degree. But I would have to be in the right mood. I also think I would probably cut it off after the Doctor leaves just to avoid the bit of an insult at the end. Not great, but not overly terrible either.
Overall personal score: 2.5 out of 5
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
City of Death
What a wonderful butler. He's so violent.
One of the most important things about being late to the Doctor Who party is that you can go into a story with preconceived notions. That can be a help when you hear a story is terrible and you find it not that bad. But it can be a hindrance when you have a story that everyone loves and it doesn't quite meet your expectations. City of Death was like that for me.
First and foremost, I understand why people love this story. The hidden camera shots of the Doctor and Romana walking through Paris are very nice and with a lovely score. The Doctor is very funny, especially in the initial scene with Count Scarlioni. There is also an excellent use of time travel that has become quite the norm in the new series but which must have been quite novel at the time. It led to an excellent cliffhanger at the end of episode two when one of Scaroth's alternate selves shows up.
That being said, there were elements that didn't jive for me. I did not care for the character of Duggan. He seemed too much of the Clouseau vein which would have been fine in a different story, but seemed out of place to me with the gravity being applied elsewhere, especially with Scaroth.
I also did not care for the slap-dash ending. Scaroth didn't seem to have much of a plan besides getting back to the past with his ship, but he seemed late even then. The Doctor and Duggan beat him there and knocked him out just before the ship exploded. But, Scaroth's plan should have had him arrive and warn himself about firing the engines before he even got back on the ship. It's one of those instances that makes you wonder if his plan would have worked even if the Doctor had not moved to stop him.
Despite all of that, the quality of the overall story is excellent. Most importantly, there are very few points where it drags or feels padded. The jokes land fairly well, especially when they are underplayed. Only when things are overacted (such as with Duggan) that they fall a bit short.
Still, these are more nits to pick that significant flaws. I wouldn't hesitate to watch this story again and I think in a vacuum I would have liked this one even more. But such are the risks of listening to fan wisdom.
Overall personal score: 4.5 out of 5
One of the most important things about being late to the Doctor Who party is that you can go into a story with preconceived notions. That can be a help when you hear a story is terrible and you find it not that bad. But it can be a hindrance when you have a story that everyone loves and it doesn't quite meet your expectations. City of Death was like that for me.
First and foremost, I understand why people love this story. The hidden camera shots of the Doctor and Romana walking through Paris are very nice and with a lovely score. The Doctor is very funny, especially in the initial scene with Count Scarlioni. There is also an excellent use of time travel that has become quite the norm in the new series but which must have been quite novel at the time. It led to an excellent cliffhanger at the end of episode two when one of Scaroth's alternate selves shows up.
That being said, there were elements that didn't jive for me. I did not care for the character of Duggan. He seemed too much of the Clouseau vein which would have been fine in a different story, but seemed out of place to me with the gravity being applied elsewhere, especially with Scaroth.
I also did not care for the slap-dash ending. Scaroth didn't seem to have much of a plan besides getting back to the past with his ship, but he seemed late even then. The Doctor and Duggan beat him there and knocked him out just before the ship exploded. But, Scaroth's plan should have had him arrive and warn himself about firing the engines before he even got back on the ship. It's one of those instances that makes you wonder if his plan would have worked even if the Doctor had not moved to stop him.
Despite all of that, the quality of the overall story is excellent. Most importantly, there are very few points where it drags or feels padded. The jokes land fairly well, especially when they are underplayed. Only when things are overacted (such as with Duggan) that they fall a bit short.
Still, these are more nits to pick that significant flaws. I wouldn't hesitate to watch this story again and I think in a vacuum I would have liked this one even more. But such are the risks of listening to fan wisdom.
Overall personal score: 4.5 out of 5
The End of Time
I don't want to go.
The End of Time was the swan song of the Tenth Doctor and producer Russell T. Davies and boy does it show. There is a bit of a history with Doctor Who that when a producer leaves there is a bit of a self-indulgence, whether that's in story flourish or overspending on budget. Couple that with the spectacle that accompanies a Doctor leaving and you can either have a brilliant show or a hot mess. This one swings wildly between the two extremes.
Fan reaction to this story is generally middling to negative. Time has helped it a bit. After the long wait between the poorly received Planet of the Dead, expectations were kicked into high gear with the fabulous The Waters of Mars. People were expecting a dramatic crisis with dark wrestling between forces which would require the sacrifice of the Doctor. Instead, this is a piece of whimsy with melancholy touches that then wallows in it's own importance for the last ten minutes.
Things get off on the wrong foot almost immediately with the resurrection of the Master. There have been rumors that the Master was not in the first draft of this episode and he was inserted later. Some more time needed to be taken in this because his resurrection is done more or less though magic which is very, very out of place in Doctor Who. It didn't help that the acting in the resurrection scene was rather poor as well.
This in turn led to a number of over-the-top scenes between the Master and the Doctor. There was some action but it lacked authenticity. Interspersed in these scenes there are cuts to Gallifrey just before the last day of the Time War where President Rassilon (played by Timothy Dalton) is looking for a way to escape the destruction that the Doctor is bringing and the time lock that prevents its change. It was probably this point that confused me the most. If a section of space-time is locked, how can anything escape it (i.e. the diamond from Rassilon's sceptre)? That was lazy writing in my opinion.
Eventually the Master converts all of humanity to look and think like him, except for Wilfred, who is with the Doctor, and Donna, who is protected due to her conditioning to protect her mind from the events of Journey's End. This was probably the lowest point of the episode. John Simm's Master was over-the-top to begin with. This was just silliness and whatever dangerous cliffhanger they were going for was completely lost in the farcical nature of the whole thing.
Things got a bit better in part two as the story then turned into a big chase with guns and missiles firing. There is a big confrontation at the end and the Master gets so angry at being used by Rassilon that he beats back the Time Lords and closes the breach in the time-lock. With the Master gone, humanity reverts back to normal. Then comes the self indulgence.
Wilf is trapped and the Doctor can only get him out if he bathes himself in radiation. He rants at the injustice of it all and then saves Wilf. He then goes on a grand tour of past companions. We only see those that were pertinent to the RTD era, but it is implied that he saw some old ones (such as Jo Grant) as well. After ten minutes of this indulgence, the Tenth Doctor finally regenerates into the Eleventh Doctor.
The greatest crime of this story is it's silliness. Aside from the resurrection of the Master scene and the "Master Race" scene, it is well acted and there is an attempt by the characters to take things as seriously as they can. In fact, there are two great scenes with the Doctor and Wilf that are thoughtful and poignant. In both, there is a discussion regarding mortality and it's touching to see a 900+ Time Lord getting fatherly advice from Wilf. But the quality of these scenes unfortunately reinforces the poorer quality of the rest.
They also stand in odd contrast to the Doctor's nasty hissy fit when he realizes that despite winning, he must now die to save one man. If he had just looked sad and spelled things out simply with Wilf begging him not to do it as he was an old man (as it was in the second part of the scene), it would have been so much more powerful. But instead, the Doctor lets the angry, bitter man out; blaming Wilf for what is going to happen before softening and getting in to the booth. The two scenes do not juxtapose with each other and it is probably one of the worst moments the Tenth Doctor has ever shown.
The visitation scenes with the companions are somewhat touching, but they go on too long. Rather than seeing every companion in the RTD era, it would have been more touching to holding it to two or three: Sarah Jane, Donna's wedding and the last scene with Rose. I could have done without the last scene with Rose, but I understand Rose's relationship with the fans and the Tenth Doctor to grouse too much about it. When the regeneration finally comes, some of the sadness is lost with a "just get on with it" vibe replacing it.
Despite most of my comments having a negative tone, I did not despise this one as much as others did. It's more of lost opportunity. With all the good that RTD did in bringing back the show and with as many good stories that the Tenth Doctor was in, it is just a shame that the final adventure was so weak, especially in contrast to the strength that had come just one story earlier. I could watch this one again and enjoy it to some degree, but it's not going to be high on the list.
Overall personal score: 2 out of 5
The End of Time was the swan song of the Tenth Doctor and producer Russell T. Davies and boy does it show. There is a bit of a history with Doctor Who that when a producer leaves there is a bit of a self-indulgence, whether that's in story flourish or overspending on budget. Couple that with the spectacle that accompanies a Doctor leaving and you can either have a brilliant show or a hot mess. This one swings wildly between the two extremes.
Fan reaction to this story is generally middling to negative. Time has helped it a bit. After the long wait between the poorly received Planet of the Dead, expectations were kicked into high gear with the fabulous The Waters of Mars. People were expecting a dramatic crisis with dark wrestling between forces which would require the sacrifice of the Doctor. Instead, this is a piece of whimsy with melancholy touches that then wallows in it's own importance for the last ten minutes.
Things get off on the wrong foot almost immediately with the resurrection of the Master. There have been rumors that the Master was not in the first draft of this episode and he was inserted later. Some more time needed to be taken in this because his resurrection is done more or less though magic which is very, very out of place in Doctor Who. It didn't help that the acting in the resurrection scene was rather poor as well.
This in turn led to a number of over-the-top scenes between the Master and the Doctor. There was some action but it lacked authenticity. Interspersed in these scenes there are cuts to Gallifrey just before the last day of the Time War where President Rassilon (played by Timothy Dalton) is looking for a way to escape the destruction that the Doctor is bringing and the time lock that prevents its change. It was probably this point that confused me the most. If a section of space-time is locked, how can anything escape it (i.e. the diamond from Rassilon's sceptre)? That was lazy writing in my opinion.
Eventually the Master converts all of humanity to look and think like him, except for Wilfred, who is with the Doctor, and Donna, who is protected due to her conditioning to protect her mind from the events of Journey's End. This was probably the lowest point of the episode. John Simm's Master was over-the-top to begin with. This was just silliness and whatever dangerous cliffhanger they were going for was completely lost in the farcical nature of the whole thing.
Things got a bit better in part two as the story then turned into a big chase with guns and missiles firing. There is a big confrontation at the end and the Master gets so angry at being used by Rassilon that he beats back the Time Lords and closes the breach in the time-lock. With the Master gone, humanity reverts back to normal. Then comes the self indulgence.
Wilf is trapped and the Doctor can only get him out if he bathes himself in radiation. He rants at the injustice of it all and then saves Wilf. He then goes on a grand tour of past companions. We only see those that were pertinent to the RTD era, but it is implied that he saw some old ones (such as Jo Grant) as well. After ten minutes of this indulgence, the Tenth Doctor finally regenerates into the Eleventh Doctor.
The greatest crime of this story is it's silliness. Aside from the resurrection of the Master scene and the "Master Race" scene, it is well acted and there is an attempt by the characters to take things as seriously as they can. In fact, there are two great scenes with the Doctor and Wilf that are thoughtful and poignant. In both, there is a discussion regarding mortality and it's touching to see a 900+ Time Lord getting fatherly advice from Wilf. But the quality of these scenes unfortunately reinforces the poorer quality of the rest.
They also stand in odd contrast to the Doctor's nasty hissy fit when he realizes that despite winning, he must now die to save one man. If he had just looked sad and spelled things out simply with Wilf begging him not to do it as he was an old man (as it was in the second part of the scene), it would have been so much more powerful. But instead, the Doctor lets the angry, bitter man out; blaming Wilf for what is going to happen before softening and getting in to the booth. The two scenes do not juxtapose with each other and it is probably one of the worst moments the Tenth Doctor has ever shown.
The visitation scenes with the companions are somewhat touching, but they go on too long. Rather than seeing every companion in the RTD era, it would have been more touching to holding it to two or three: Sarah Jane, Donna's wedding and the last scene with Rose. I could have done without the last scene with Rose, but I understand Rose's relationship with the fans and the Tenth Doctor to grouse too much about it. When the regeneration finally comes, some of the sadness is lost with a "just get on with it" vibe replacing it.
Despite most of my comments having a negative tone, I did not despise this one as much as others did. It's more of lost opportunity. With all the good that RTD did in bringing back the show and with as many good stories that the Tenth Doctor was in, it is just a shame that the final adventure was so weak, especially in contrast to the strength that had come just one story earlier. I could watch this one again and enjoy it to some degree, but it's not going to be high on the list.
Overall personal score: 2 out of 5
Monday, November 16, 2015
The Trial of a Time Lord: The Mysterious Planet
The crime was in being there, Doctor!
When I look with a critical eye, there should be a lot of reasons why I should not like The Mysterious Planet. However, this is a story that just works for me for some reason.
The Trial of a Time Lord kicks off with the first four episodes written by Robert Holmes and it shows. Right from the beginning, the dialogue is snappy and witty. The Doctor is sufficiently outraged during the trial and his back and forth with Peri is still in the disagreeing vein but it's more like playful banter. Two people who enjoy each other's company but still like to poke each other in the ribs a bit.
The backside of this being written by Robert Holmes is that he was falling into poor health at this time and opted to rip off two previous stories for the majority of the plot. A robot taking people in to be trained to follow his commands as well as controlling their society is a straight rip off Holmes' story in The Krotons while a civilization staying underground because they have been tricked into believing that the surface world has been destroyed by nuclear war is taken from The Enemy of the World, although that was written by David Whitaker.
Despite that, the dialogue is not a rip off and it keeps you engaged. The cuts back to the trial sequence are spaced in such a way that they actually draw you further in to the story. In The Hobbit (the book, not the movie), Gandalf gets Beorn further invested in the Dwarfs' story by having them arrive bit by bit with a series of interruptions feeding Beorn's interest in the story. The cuts back to the trial do the same. It probably helps hide the fact that there are a number of recycled elements in this story.
Also aiding this story is the quality of the acting. There are a couple of performances that edge on hamminess, but most of it is well played. Glitz and Dibber are probably the best with their back and forth but no one was was bad. One of the most interesting was the robot Drathro himself. He starts off in the Kroton vein of being a bossy and somewhat shouty villain. But, when meeting the Doctor, he softens and becomes almost elegant. It's interesting to see a villain with a certain aspect of charm; even more so when it isn't accompanied by the sly evil that you get from a Bond-type villain. Drathro accepts the Doctor as his intellectual equal and treats him with the courtesy that role entitles him to. It was enjoyable and refreshing and helped to offset the slight silliness of the robot costume.
On the subjects of sets and costumes, no one will ever be able to deny that this wasn't made in the 80's. It's not overly garish, but the costumes and make-up (especially Peri) all scream mid-80's. Of course, the Fourth Doctor era screams 70's so that is not a significant knock against it. The camera work isn't too bad either with the outside shots being done on OB-video. This helped reduce the shock when switching between location and studio shooting but still gave a nice use of exterior locations for realism.
There are some flaws but overall this was an enjoyable story to watch. I think I would happily sit down to watch this one again. In fact, I think I'd watch this one over The Krotons, despite my preference for the Second Doctor.
Overall personal score: 4 out of 5
When I look with a critical eye, there should be a lot of reasons why I should not like The Mysterious Planet. However, this is a story that just works for me for some reason.
The Trial of a Time Lord kicks off with the first four episodes written by Robert Holmes and it shows. Right from the beginning, the dialogue is snappy and witty. The Doctor is sufficiently outraged during the trial and his back and forth with Peri is still in the disagreeing vein but it's more like playful banter. Two people who enjoy each other's company but still like to poke each other in the ribs a bit.
The backside of this being written by Robert Holmes is that he was falling into poor health at this time and opted to rip off two previous stories for the majority of the plot. A robot taking people in to be trained to follow his commands as well as controlling their society is a straight rip off Holmes' story in The Krotons while a civilization staying underground because they have been tricked into believing that the surface world has been destroyed by nuclear war is taken from The Enemy of the World, although that was written by David Whitaker.
Despite that, the dialogue is not a rip off and it keeps you engaged. The cuts back to the trial sequence are spaced in such a way that they actually draw you further in to the story. In The Hobbit (the book, not the movie), Gandalf gets Beorn further invested in the Dwarfs' story by having them arrive bit by bit with a series of interruptions feeding Beorn's interest in the story. The cuts back to the trial do the same. It probably helps hide the fact that there are a number of recycled elements in this story.
Also aiding this story is the quality of the acting. There are a couple of performances that edge on hamminess, but most of it is well played. Glitz and Dibber are probably the best with their back and forth but no one was was bad. One of the most interesting was the robot Drathro himself. He starts off in the Kroton vein of being a bossy and somewhat shouty villain. But, when meeting the Doctor, he softens and becomes almost elegant. It's interesting to see a villain with a certain aspect of charm; even more so when it isn't accompanied by the sly evil that you get from a Bond-type villain. Drathro accepts the Doctor as his intellectual equal and treats him with the courtesy that role entitles him to. It was enjoyable and refreshing and helped to offset the slight silliness of the robot costume.
On the subjects of sets and costumes, no one will ever be able to deny that this wasn't made in the 80's. It's not overly garish, but the costumes and make-up (especially Peri) all scream mid-80's. Of course, the Fourth Doctor era screams 70's so that is not a significant knock against it. The camera work isn't too bad either with the outside shots being done on OB-video. This helped reduce the shock when switching between location and studio shooting but still gave a nice use of exterior locations for realism.
There are some flaws but overall this was an enjoyable story to watch. I think I would happily sit down to watch this one again. In fact, I think I'd watch this one over The Krotons, despite my preference for the Second Doctor.
Overall personal score: 4 out of 5
Thursday, November 12, 2015
Blink
Don't look away! Don't even blink!
Very few people argue that Blink is not a great story. You can engage fans in whether Blink is actual Doctor Who though.
This episode is probably about the litest of the Doctor-lite episodes ever made. Like Love and Monsters, it follows an outside character: Sally Sparrow. However, unlike Love and Monsters, the Doctor is not the focus of the episode. Instead the focus is on Sally's quest to figure out what is going on with a message from the Doctor hidden on several DVDs and to reunite him with the TARDIS.
I personally have no problem considering this as a Doctor Who episode for several reasons. The whole episode revolves around the dynamics of time travel, a key element of Doctor Who. The Doctor's half of the conversation in the DVD message is an example of The Bootstrap Paradox in the fact that he only knew what to say because of a transcript that Larry copied down as the Doctor was saying it on the DVD. This same message is also the central plot driver as Sally does not know what to do with the TARDIS key or the importance of recovering the TARDIS itself before viewing the message. So even though his time is probably five minutes or less, I consider it a proper Doctor Who story.
And then there are the Weeping Angels. Arguably no Doctor Who villain since the Daleks has garnered more popularity after their initial introduction. The Weeping Angels are a near perfect villain. They are essentially unkillable, operate with blinding speed and lurk quietly in the shadows, hiding in plain sight. They are a near perfect jump-out-of-the-dark villain and their fear factor only increases in The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone.
If I had to find quibbles with this story, I can only think of three. First, there are a couple of points in the house early in the story where the Angels had a chance to get Sally but seemed to move somewhat slowly for them. A similar situation was played with Amy in Flesh and Stone when the Angels should have gotten to her as well.
Second is the nagging question as to how the Angels got the TARDIS key in the first place. Did they rip it off the Doctor or Martha before they sent them back or was it dropped somehow when they were ambushed? Also, if the Angels had the TARDIS key shortly after sending the Doctor and Martha back, why was it just dangling out one of the Angel's hands instead of being kept in a safer manner. Also, if they had the key, why didn't they use it to enter the TARDIS before it was taken by the police? My theory would be that the key was dropped during the chase but that the Angels didn't find it for a while. They may have even gone so far as to try and get into the TARDIS before realizing they needed the key and had only just found it lying in some crack when Sally found it on them.
The third nit is the resolution of the four Angels at the end of the story. Larry suggests that they are trapped because they are all looking at each other and that is true at the moment. But once the lights go out due to either the sun going down or the electric light being turned off, the Angels would be free to move again. Of course, they wouldn't have the TARDIS to focus on but they could still move about to other areas for normal feeding.
But none of these issues will lessen your enjoyment of the story. I'm not sure if I would use Blink to introduce a newbie to Doctor Who given how little of the Doctor and his personality is shown, but it is an episode that can be watched multiple times and enjoyed every time.
Overall personal score: 5 out of 5
Very few people argue that Blink is not a great story. You can engage fans in whether Blink is actual Doctor Who though.
This episode is probably about the litest of the Doctor-lite episodes ever made. Like Love and Monsters, it follows an outside character: Sally Sparrow. However, unlike Love and Monsters, the Doctor is not the focus of the episode. Instead the focus is on Sally's quest to figure out what is going on with a message from the Doctor hidden on several DVDs and to reunite him with the TARDIS.
I personally have no problem considering this as a Doctor Who episode for several reasons. The whole episode revolves around the dynamics of time travel, a key element of Doctor Who. The Doctor's half of the conversation in the DVD message is an example of The Bootstrap Paradox in the fact that he only knew what to say because of a transcript that Larry copied down as the Doctor was saying it on the DVD. This same message is also the central plot driver as Sally does not know what to do with the TARDIS key or the importance of recovering the TARDIS itself before viewing the message. So even though his time is probably five minutes or less, I consider it a proper Doctor Who story.
And then there are the Weeping Angels. Arguably no Doctor Who villain since the Daleks has garnered more popularity after their initial introduction. The Weeping Angels are a near perfect villain. They are essentially unkillable, operate with blinding speed and lurk quietly in the shadows, hiding in plain sight. They are a near perfect jump-out-of-the-dark villain and their fear factor only increases in The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone.
If I had to find quibbles with this story, I can only think of three. First, there are a couple of points in the house early in the story where the Angels had a chance to get Sally but seemed to move somewhat slowly for them. A similar situation was played with Amy in Flesh and Stone when the Angels should have gotten to her as well.
Second is the nagging question as to how the Angels got the TARDIS key in the first place. Did they rip it off the Doctor or Martha before they sent them back or was it dropped somehow when they were ambushed? Also, if the Angels had the TARDIS key shortly after sending the Doctor and Martha back, why was it just dangling out one of the Angel's hands instead of being kept in a safer manner. Also, if they had the key, why didn't they use it to enter the TARDIS before it was taken by the police? My theory would be that the key was dropped during the chase but that the Angels didn't find it for a while. They may have even gone so far as to try and get into the TARDIS before realizing they needed the key and had only just found it lying in some crack when Sally found it on them.
The third nit is the resolution of the four Angels at the end of the story. Larry suggests that they are trapped because they are all looking at each other and that is true at the moment. But once the lights go out due to either the sun going down or the electric light being turned off, the Angels would be free to move again. Of course, they wouldn't have the TARDIS to focus on but they could still move about to other areas for normal feeding.
But none of these issues will lessen your enjoyment of the story. I'm not sure if I would use Blink to introduce a newbie to Doctor Who given how little of the Doctor and his personality is shown, but it is an episode that can be watched multiple times and enjoyed every time.
Overall personal score: 5 out of 5
The Power of the Daleks
I am your servant!
If you took a poll of Doctor Who fans as to which lost story they would like found, Marco Polo would probably win. But their likely second choice (and my first) is Power of the Daleks. This story is the first full appearance of the Second Doctor following the regeneration at the end of The Tenth Planet. Despite there being no recovered episodes, the concept behind this story was good enough that it was pinched for the first half set up in the New Series episode Victory of the Daleks.
The newly regenerated Doctor and his companions appear on a recently colonized planet that is in minor turmoil due to acts of sabotage performed by a band of rebels. Meanwhile, an alien spacecraft has been recovered and the scientists are eager to get inside. The Doctor poses as an inspector from Earth whom he found murdered outside the base. They manage to get the spaceship open and find a group of dormant Daleks. The Doctor urges the people to reseal to ship but some of the Daleks bleed power from the ship to reactive themselves and pose as grateful servants to the colonists for reviving them. The leader of the rebels moves to destroy the leadership while the Daleks quietly reproduce themselves and spread power capability throughout the colony. When the rebels appear to have taken control, the Dalek's strike and destroy much of the colony. The Doctor manages to get to their source of power and sends a surge through that kills all the Daleks. As the colony recovers from the attack and the leadership retakes control, the Doctor and his companions slip back to the TARDIS.
This is an interesting story in that the Second Doctor has just regenerated and is still reorienting himself. It is probably not until The Moonbase that he truly becomes the Doctor that we are familiar with but it is interesting to see the familiar traits exert themselves while mixing in with some oddball things such as his hat fetish.
The other thing that is so good is how the Daleks operate. We are so used to seeing Daleks that are arrogant and direct in their attacks that seeing them take a subtle and deceptive method is fascinating. Even better is how the Daleks start to chafe against this subtlety as the story progresses. The Doctor pushes them and as they get closer to the point where they can strike, their obedience becomes more hesitant and some of their responses become laced with tinges of sarcasm, "I... am your serrr...vant." It's an effective way to add to the tension since we know that the Daleks are planning an attack and it's just a question of when they will strike.
You would also think that as a six part story, it might drag a little, but the build up is steady and the conversations keep you engaged, barely noticing how the episodes pass by. The only truly frustrating thing about this story is the fact that it is all recons, especially in episode six. Most of episode six is taken up with the battle between the colonists and the Daleks and it is so aggravating to see freeze frames of all the action being heard and experience it as intended.
I think that if this story was found I would give it a full score. Heck, I think that even if episode six was found, I might mark it up full. But since it is a full recon, it comes with all the downsides entailed in that. Still, if you had to pull a recon to try, this would be an excellent story to try.
Overall personal score: 4.5 out of 5
If you took a poll of Doctor Who fans as to which lost story they would like found, Marco Polo would probably win. But their likely second choice (and my first) is Power of the Daleks. This story is the first full appearance of the Second Doctor following the regeneration at the end of The Tenth Planet. Despite there being no recovered episodes, the concept behind this story was good enough that it was pinched for the first half set up in the New Series episode Victory of the Daleks.
The newly regenerated Doctor and his companions appear on a recently colonized planet that is in minor turmoil due to acts of sabotage performed by a band of rebels. Meanwhile, an alien spacecraft has been recovered and the scientists are eager to get inside. The Doctor poses as an inspector from Earth whom he found murdered outside the base. They manage to get the spaceship open and find a group of dormant Daleks. The Doctor urges the people to reseal to ship but some of the Daleks bleed power from the ship to reactive themselves and pose as grateful servants to the colonists for reviving them. The leader of the rebels moves to destroy the leadership while the Daleks quietly reproduce themselves and spread power capability throughout the colony. When the rebels appear to have taken control, the Dalek's strike and destroy much of the colony. The Doctor manages to get to their source of power and sends a surge through that kills all the Daleks. As the colony recovers from the attack and the leadership retakes control, the Doctor and his companions slip back to the TARDIS.
This is an interesting story in that the Second Doctor has just regenerated and is still reorienting himself. It is probably not until The Moonbase that he truly becomes the Doctor that we are familiar with but it is interesting to see the familiar traits exert themselves while mixing in with some oddball things such as his hat fetish.
The other thing that is so good is how the Daleks operate. We are so used to seeing Daleks that are arrogant and direct in their attacks that seeing them take a subtle and deceptive method is fascinating. Even better is how the Daleks start to chafe against this subtlety as the story progresses. The Doctor pushes them and as they get closer to the point where they can strike, their obedience becomes more hesitant and some of their responses become laced with tinges of sarcasm, "I... am your serrr...vant." It's an effective way to add to the tension since we know that the Daleks are planning an attack and it's just a question of when they will strike.
You would also think that as a six part story, it might drag a little, but the build up is steady and the conversations keep you engaged, barely noticing how the episodes pass by. The only truly frustrating thing about this story is the fact that it is all recons, especially in episode six. Most of episode six is taken up with the battle between the colonists and the Daleks and it is so aggravating to see freeze frames of all the action being heard and experience it as intended.
I think that if this story was found I would give it a full score. Heck, I think that even if episode six was found, I might mark it up full. But since it is a full recon, it comes with all the downsides entailed in that. Still, if you had to pull a recon to try, this would be an excellent story to try.
Overall personal score: 4.5 out of 5
Last Christmas
You have a horror movie called "Alien"? That's really offensive. No wonder you keep getting invaded.
Last Christmas is not the traditional feel-good Christmas special that has graced British television screens over the last few years. There is some silly and feel-good moments, but this thing is mostly Alien meets Inception.
"What is reality?" stories are always interesting to me and they usually take more than one watch to fully wrap your brain around. Frame of Mind was always one of my favorite ST:TNG episodes and I enjoy the concept of Inception if not necessarily the full execution. However, Last Christmas takes the dial up a notch by adding the "base under siege" motif familiar to most Doctor Who fans.
There was a mixed reaction as I recall towards this one. A lot of people felt that mixing Santa Claus and elves into this story made it a bit silly, but I rather enjoyed it. It makes sense that if there is a rational part of your brain that is trying to send you a danger signal, it would latch on to something fantastic that makes no sense in reality. If something you could rationalize appeared, you would be more likely to dismiss it. Silliness is almost required to make sense as a true defense mechanism.
The actors all do a very good job of conveying a sense of danger in the episode. You also like them so that you almost feel a bit sorry when they wake up to their normal lives, which in two of the three cases, seem a bit drab relative to the scientific explorers they were dreaming themselves as.
The only part of the story that I didn't care for was the false ending with old Clara. I think there has always been a suspicion that this was the original ending planned when Jenna Coleman was rumored to be leaving at the end of series eight. I don't know that I buy that since it would have taken very little time to reshoot a whole ending with young Clara if they wanted to scrap the old Clara leaving. I'm inclined to believe that this a way of introducing some perspective to both the Doctor and Clara about how much they wanted to be travelling with each other again.
What I didn't care for was two-fold. One: that it implied that the Doctor and Clara were one level deeper in dreaming than the other four and that seems a bit odd given how they were operating in tandem before. Two: the scene with old Clara and the Doctor felt off. I know they were trying to go for the sappy regret, but we had already had too much of that in Death in Heaven. The whole tone of the scene felt forced and unnatural as compared to the scene with young Clara which was more natural. It didn't help that I didn't buy Clara's old make-up at all either.
It's definitely worth rewatching and very enjoyable. I would have just preferred an ending scene where the Doctor just finds Clara and they have a simple talk about enjoying each other's company and then running off to the TARDIS. Although I enjoyed the little tangerine twist at the end. Another Inception hat tip.
Overall personal score: 4.5 out of 5
Last Christmas is not the traditional feel-good Christmas special that has graced British television screens over the last few years. There is some silly and feel-good moments, but this thing is mostly Alien meets Inception.
"What is reality?" stories are always interesting to me and they usually take more than one watch to fully wrap your brain around. Frame of Mind was always one of my favorite ST:TNG episodes and I enjoy the concept of Inception if not necessarily the full execution. However, Last Christmas takes the dial up a notch by adding the "base under siege" motif familiar to most Doctor Who fans.
There was a mixed reaction as I recall towards this one. A lot of people felt that mixing Santa Claus and elves into this story made it a bit silly, but I rather enjoyed it. It makes sense that if there is a rational part of your brain that is trying to send you a danger signal, it would latch on to something fantastic that makes no sense in reality. If something you could rationalize appeared, you would be more likely to dismiss it. Silliness is almost required to make sense as a true defense mechanism.
The actors all do a very good job of conveying a sense of danger in the episode. You also like them so that you almost feel a bit sorry when they wake up to their normal lives, which in two of the three cases, seem a bit drab relative to the scientific explorers they were dreaming themselves as.
The only part of the story that I didn't care for was the false ending with old Clara. I think there has always been a suspicion that this was the original ending planned when Jenna Coleman was rumored to be leaving at the end of series eight. I don't know that I buy that since it would have taken very little time to reshoot a whole ending with young Clara if they wanted to scrap the old Clara leaving. I'm inclined to believe that this a way of introducing some perspective to both the Doctor and Clara about how much they wanted to be travelling with each other again.
What I didn't care for was two-fold. One: that it implied that the Doctor and Clara were one level deeper in dreaming than the other four and that seems a bit odd given how they were operating in tandem before. Two: the scene with old Clara and the Doctor felt off. I know they were trying to go for the sappy regret, but we had already had too much of that in Death in Heaven. The whole tone of the scene felt forced and unnatural as compared to the scene with young Clara which was more natural. It didn't help that I didn't buy Clara's old make-up at all either.
It's definitely worth rewatching and very enjoyable. I would have just preferred an ending scene where the Doctor just finds Clara and they have a simple talk about enjoying each other's company and then running off to the TARDIS. Although I enjoyed the little tangerine twist at the end. Another Inception hat tip.
Overall personal score: 4.5 out of 5
The Ribos Operation
And they'll look back and say, "Binro was right."
There are a lot of Doctor Who stories that are fondly remembered by fans when they were children that they go back to as adults and find they aren't as good as they remembered. The Ribos Operation is the inverse of that as it is a story that children would have found a bit boring but as an adult, the story is highly entertaining.
The Ribos Operation is essentially The Sting set on an alien world. The story is set up early in episode one that the Doctor must find the six segments of the Key to Time (as established by the White Guardian) and is given a Time Lord companion (Romana) to complete the task. They then find themselves in the middle of a botched con job and must extricate themselves from it and take the first segment as well, which is disguised as a valuable object being used as bait for the mark.
The script is written by Robert Holmes and it is one of his best. All three factions (the con men, the Graf and General Sholakh, and the Doctor and Romana) work closely in pairs and the dialogue whips tightly between each of them. Even when the con man Unstoffe gets separated from his companion Garron, he pairs up with Binro the Heretic, which is more touching and sentimental than witty, but still very enjoyable to watch.
Because of the dialogue and the tightness of the overall plot, there are no points that feel like they are dragging. In fact as each cliffhanger comes in to focus, there is a pressing desire to start the next episode. Not that you feel any real peril for Doctor, but just because you are drawn in and want to see what happens next.
The acting is also very well done. The Doctor and Romana play well off each other with each softening towards each other's ways as the story unfolds. Garron and Unstoffe are the classic lovable rogues that you would happily lose a bit of money to just to have a chance to sit down and chat with over a drink. Sholakh is also very enjoyable as the noble general devoted to a lost cause, living on the memory of the glory days. There was much about the actor and the performance that actually reminded me of Tywin Lannister, although a bit less independently minded.
Now, there are a couple of nits with this story. The first is the shrivenzale. They do pretty well with it in the first couple of episodes, focusing tightly on it's head and forepaws. But in episode four there a couple of full focusing shots on it and that reveals it's shortcomings as a rubber costume. Worse is the fact that it wasn't necessary. The shrivenzale doesn't actually play any real role in the story and if the shots had stayed tight on the head or a slithering movement in the shadows, it would have played much better.
The second nit is with the Graf Vynda-K. I understand he is supposed to be a bit mad but he puts the dial near 9 in episode one when he gets excited about the supposed mineral wealth of Ribos. He keeps attempting to amp it up as things spin further out of his control but because he started so high to begin with, his performance comes across as shrieky. It's hammy, but it doesn't go so over the top to become painful. Overall, it would have been perfectly acceptable except that since he was already getting shrieky through episodes one through three, much of the impact of his going over the edge with the death of Sholakh is lost because he simply cannot go any higher on the scale.
Some people have felt uncomfortable with how easily and coldly the Doctor kills the Graf at the end of episode four, but I didn't have a problem with it. The bomb had been armed and they had both heard the Seeker say that only one would emerge from the catacombs alive so it was a simple matter of kill or be killed. The fact that the Graf walks off with grief tearing his mind apart so that he is imagining himself in past battles, almost makes the Doctor's actions feel like an act of mercy. I view it in the same way as how a rabid dog must be dealt with. You cannot reason with it or help it recover. Death is the merciful option.
The minor flaws that exist do very little to detract from enjoying this story. I would not hesitate to watch this again and it probably would make for a very good entry into classic Doctor Who for another adult.
Overall personal score: 5 out of 5
There are a lot of Doctor Who stories that are fondly remembered by fans when they were children that they go back to as adults and find they aren't as good as they remembered. The Ribos Operation is the inverse of that as it is a story that children would have found a bit boring but as an adult, the story is highly entertaining.
The Ribos Operation is essentially The Sting set on an alien world. The story is set up early in episode one that the Doctor must find the six segments of the Key to Time (as established by the White Guardian) and is given a Time Lord companion (Romana) to complete the task. They then find themselves in the middle of a botched con job and must extricate themselves from it and take the first segment as well, which is disguised as a valuable object being used as bait for the mark.
The script is written by Robert Holmes and it is one of his best. All three factions (the con men, the Graf and General Sholakh, and the Doctor and Romana) work closely in pairs and the dialogue whips tightly between each of them. Even when the con man Unstoffe gets separated from his companion Garron, he pairs up with Binro the Heretic, which is more touching and sentimental than witty, but still very enjoyable to watch.
Because of the dialogue and the tightness of the overall plot, there are no points that feel like they are dragging. In fact as each cliffhanger comes in to focus, there is a pressing desire to start the next episode. Not that you feel any real peril for Doctor, but just because you are drawn in and want to see what happens next.
The acting is also very well done. The Doctor and Romana play well off each other with each softening towards each other's ways as the story unfolds. Garron and Unstoffe are the classic lovable rogues that you would happily lose a bit of money to just to have a chance to sit down and chat with over a drink. Sholakh is also very enjoyable as the noble general devoted to a lost cause, living on the memory of the glory days. There was much about the actor and the performance that actually reminded me of Tywin Lannister, although a bit less independently minded.
Now, there are a couple of nits with this story. The first is the shrivenzale. They do pretty well with it in the first couple of episodes, focusing tightly on it's head and forepaws. But in episode four there a couple of full focusing shots on it and that reveals it's shortcomings as a rubber costume. Worse is the fact that it wasn't necessary. The shrivenzale doesn't actually play any real role in the story and if the shots had stayed tight on the head or a slithering movement in the shadows, it would have played much better.
The second nit is with the Graf Vynda-K. I understand he is supposed to be a bit mad but he puts the dial near 9 in episode one when he gets excited about the supposed mineral wealth of Ribos. He keeps attempting to amp it up as things spin further out of his control but because he started so high to begin with, his performance comes across as shrieky. It's hammy, but it doesn't go so over the top to become painful. Overall, it would have been perfectly acceptable except that since he was already getting shrieky through episodes one through three, much of the impact of his going over the edge with the death of Sholakh is lost because he simply cannot go any higher on the scale.
Some people have felt uncomfortable with how easily and coldly the Doctor kills the Graf at the end of episode four, but I didn't have a problem with it. The bomb had been armed and they had both heard the Seeker say that only one would emerge from the catacombs alive so it was a simple matter of kill or be killed. The fact that the Graf walks off with grief tearing his mind apart so that he is imagining himself in past battles, almost makes the Doctor's actions feel like an act of mercy. I view it in the same way as how a rabid dog must be dealt with. You cannot reason with it or help it recover. Death is the merciful option.
The minor flaws that exist do very little to detract from enjoying this story. I would not hesitate to watch this again and it probably would make for a very good entry into classic Doctor Who for another adult.
Overall personal score: 5 out of 5
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Vincent and the Doctor
Every life is a pile of good things and bad things.
Vincent and the Doctor is an enjoyable episode but there is an odd passion about it with some fans that make it "the best episode EVAH!" in their minds, which in turn generates an "I hate this episode!" reaction from the other side.
Following Rory's erasure from existence in Cold Blood, the Doctor and Amy go visit an art show where they spy something wrong in one of Vincent Van Gogh's paintings. They travel back in time and meet a man descending into madness and that this madness enables him to see a creature that is hidden from everyone else. They attempt to capture this creature which is blind and has been abandoned by it's fellows. The beast lashes out and is accidentally killed. The Doctor and Amy prepare to leave Van Gogh but take him to the future so that he can see how his work will be appreciated. After taking him back, Amy sees that despite the hope they gave him, the madness still drove him to suicide.
If you view this in a standard Doctor Who adventure light, you probably won't like it. The monster is silly and pretty much secondary to the whole plot. But if you appreciate good acting and character studies, this is an excellent story. I would have had no problem if they had dispensed with the Krayfayis entirely and the Doctor and Amy just dropped in to meet and chat with Vincent Van Gogh.
It is especially interesting in seeing the effects of depression and how sometimes outsiders are powerless to stop the demons that afflict a person's mind. Most people struggle with depression of some kind in their lives, thankfully very few to this degree, and to see how it affects the person both with the disease and two people viewed as friends on the outside is quite powerful. I also appreciate that despite their best efforts, history was unchanged regarding Van Gogh's fate. To have done so would have cheapened the battle that people have had with depression and writing it off as something that can just be wished away.
Outside of the monster, the only other part I didn't care for was the scene in the museum with the curator waxing on about Van Gogh. I realize this is supposed to deepen the tragedy that Van Gogh still killed himself, but it seemed just a bit too schmaltzy for my taste. Walking into the museum and seeing his work viewed and appreciated would have been enough to have an impact. To have Bill Nighy (although he did a good job) give such effusive praise destroyed the deft hand that would have landed an even heavier blow in my opinion.
Still, and excellent episode and one of the three that would offer to show my wife if she ever decided that she wanted to try an episode. I doubt she will, but there is always hope.
Overall personal score: 4.5 out of 5
Vincent and the Doctor is an enjoyable episode but there is an odd passion about it with some fans that make it "the best episode EVAH!" in their minds, which in turn generates an "I hate this episode!" reaction from the other side.
Following Rory's erasure from existence in Cold Blood, the Doctor and Amy go visit an art show where they spy something wrong in one of Vincent Van Gogh's paintings. They travel back in time and meet a man descending into madness and that this madness enables him to see a creature that is hidden from everyone else. They attempt to capture this creature which is blind and has been abandoned by it's fellows. The beast lashes out and is accidentally killed. The Doctor and Amy prepare to leave Van Gogh but take him to the future so that he can see how his work will be appreciated. After taking him back, Amy sees that despite the hope they gave him, the madness still drove him to suicide.
If you view this in a standard Doctor Who adventure light, you probably won't like it. The monster is silly and pretty much secondary to the whole plot. But if you appreciate good acting and character studies, this is an excellent story. I would have had no problem if they had dispensed with the Krayfayis entirely and the Doctor and Amy just dropped in to meet and chat with Vincent Van Gogh.
It is especially interesting in seeing the effects of depression and how sometimes outsiders are powerless to stop the demons that afflict a person's mind. Most people struggle with depression of some kind in their lives, thankfully very few to this degree, and to see how it affects the person both with the disease and two people viewed as friends on the outside is quite powerful. I also appreciate that despite their best efforts, history was unchanged regarding Van Gogh's fate. To have done so would have cheapened the battle that people have had with depression and writing it off as something that can just be wished away.
Outside of the monster, the only other part I didn't care for was the scene in the museum with the curator waxing on about Van Gogh. I realize this is supposed to deepen the tragedy that Van Gogh still killed himself, but it seemed just a bit too schmaltzy for my taste. Walking into the museum and seeing his work viewed and appreciated would have been enough to have an impact. To have Bill Nighy (although he did a good job) give such effusive praise destroyed the deft hand that would have landed an even heavier blow in my opinion.
Still, and excellent episode and one of the three that would offer to show my wife if she ever decided that she wanted to try an episode. I doubt she will, but there is always hope.
Overall personal score: 4.5 out of 5
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Attack of the Cybermen
-You are a Time Lord?
-Yes. And at the moment, a rather angry one!
Attack of the Cybermen is a mixed bag as it is a good story but also a warning not to get too invested in your own mythology.
The story opens with what looks like a bank robbery. If you were familiar with Resurrection of the Daleks, you would recognize one of the robbers as Lytton. If you hadn't (as I hadn't) it would have been lost on you. The robbers are led by Lytton off their route where they are captured by a band of Cybermen. Meanwhile, two prisoners escape from a work detail on the planet of Telos (reference to Tomb of the Cybermen). The Doctor and Peri discover the thieves have activated the Cybermen and flee back to the TARDIS. However, the Cybermen ambush them and take the TARDIS back to Telos.
On Telos, Peri, Lytton and the other thief Griffiths escape the Cybermen. Peri is taken by the Cryons (the natives of Telos), who had hired Lytton to help destroy the Cybermen. Lytton, Griffiths and the two prisoners from before band together to recapture a time ship the Cybermen had taken. Meanwhile the Doctor is imprisoned with the Cryon leader. Lytton is captured in the assault on the time ship and the other three are killed. The Doctor breaks out after setting up a bomb with the Cryon leader. He and Peri escape in the ensuing battle at Cyber Control and mercifully kill Lytton who had been partially converted. The bomb explodes, killing the Cyron leader but also destroying the Cyber-tombs.
This is an extremely complicated story. It calls back to so much of past Doctor Who that it actually suffers for it. If you weren't aware of the history of the Cybermen, going all the way back to the destruction of Mondas in 1986 (The Tenth Planet) the story would have made zero sense as there was no rehash of backstory given except for a very condensed conversation at the start of episode two.
Even knowing the history, the story moves on at a great pace, which is nice for a change but I wouldn't want this in every story. Most of the pacing issues come from involving too many plot threads. The two escaped prisoners, Bates and Stratton, serve no purpose other than a little comic relief. Their expedition to recapture the time ship and subsequent death does nothing in regards to the overall plot other than kill time. If that time had been added to explaining what was going on to the rest of the audience, it might have felt smoother and a little less rushed.
The other thing that is a bit buggy about this story is the Cryons themselves. They are hastily introduced in episode two and their look is a rather bad Eighties level of cheap. They also seem to suffer from wandering hands syndrome which is extremely distracting when trying to listen to their sing-song dialogue. Half the time I thought they were trying to feel Peri up.
Despite all of this, it does draw you in. Once you know of the history, it removes much of the confusion and your interest picks up significantly, especially in episode one. But the Cryons and the rushed feel drag things down in episode two, which leaves it as an middling affair overall.
Overall personal score: 2.5 out of 5
-Yes. And at the moment, a rather angry one!
Attack of the Cybermen is a mixed bag as it is a good story but also a warning not to get too invested in your own mythology.
The story opens with what looks like a bank robbery. If you were familiar with Resurrection of the Daleks, you would recognize one of the robbers as Lytton. If you hadn't (as I hadn't) it would have been lost on you. The robbers are led by Lytton off their route where they are captured by a band of Cybermen. Meanwhile, two prisoners escape from a work detail on the planet of Telos (reference to Tomb of the Cybermen). The Doctor and Peri discover the thieves have activated the Cybermen and flee back to the TARDIS. However, the Cybermen ambush them and take the TARDIS back to Telos.
On Telos, Peri, Lytton and the other thief Griffiths escape the Cybermen. Peri is taken by the Cryons (the natives of Telos), who had hired Lytton to help destroy the Cybermen. Lytton, Griffiths and the two prisoners from before band together to recapture a time ship the Cybermen had taken. Meanwhile the Doctor is imprisoned with the Cryon leader. Lytton is captured in the assault on the time ship and the other three are killed. The Doctor breaks out after setting up a bomb with the Cryon leader. He and Peri escape in the ensuing battle at Cyber Control and mercifully kill Lytton who had been partially converted. The bomb explodes, killing the Cyron leader but also destroying the Cyber-tombs.
This is an extremely complicated story. It calls back to so much of past Doctor Who that it actually suffers for it. If you weren't aware of the history of the Cybermen, going all the way back to the destruction of Mondas in 1986 (The Tenth Planet) the story would have made zero sense as there was no rehash of backstory given except for a very condensed conversation at the start of episode two.
Even knowing the history, the story moves on at a great pace, which is nice for a change but I wouldn't want this in every story. Most of the pacing issues come from involving too many plot threads. The two escaped prisoners, Bates and Stratton, serve no purpose other than a little comic relief. Their expedition to recapture the time ship and subsequent death does nothing in regards to the overall plot other than kill time. If that time had been added to explaining what was going on to the rest of the audience, it might have felt smoother and a little less rushed.
The other thing that is a bit buggy about this story is the Cryons themselves. They are hastily introduced in episode two and their look is a rather bad Eighties level of cheap. They also seem to suffer from wandering hands syndrome which is extremely distracting when trying to listen to their sing-song dialogue. Half the time I thought they were trying to feel Peri up.
Despite all of this, it does draw you in. Once you know of the history, it removes much of the confusion and your interest picks up significantly, especially in episode one. But the Cryons and the rushed feel drag things down in episode two, which leaves it as an middling affair overall.
Overall personal score: 2.5 out of 5
Monday, November 9, 2015
The Curse of the Black Spot
If somethings going to kill you it's nice that it drops you a note to remind you.
The Curse of the Black Spot is generally viewed rather negatively by fandom. While I do not view it as poorly as others do, it is a bit disappointing mostly due to the potential it had.
The story, such as it is, is that the Doctor, Rory and Amy land on the pirate vessel Fancy which is being haunted by a ghost-like siren. When anyone is injured in any fashion, a black spot appears on their hand, the apparition appears and that man disappears. In the course of the hi jinx, the pirate captain (the actual pirate Captain Henry Avery) discovers his son has stowed aboard. Eventually, they discover that the Siren is an alien medical hologram that is transporting wounded crew members to the ship's sick bay. Captain Avery takes command of the alien vessel with his son and crew and flies the galaxy while the Doctor and his companions leave in the TARDIS, which had actually materialized in phase with the alien vessel.
You would think that Doctor Who and a pirate story would go well together. Even more so when you get Hugh Bonneville to play Captain Avery so that there is both that British nobility and sad depth that Bonneville is so good at portraying. But from the get go the story suffers from two real problems. The first is the tendency to go for the silly gag. The set up with a siren who appears to be consuming a crew on a stranded vessel would lend itself to some good scares, but any time there his a hint of fear, there is a silly note that is struck that just saps the mood. Without adding real fear to keep the tension up, the siren starts to lose her scariness.
The other problem is the pacing. There are odd cuts made in this story. Some allow scenes to go on too long. Others are too short. What's more, as the silliness ebbs the tension, the scenes on the ship start to feel very long and boredom starts to set in. Then there is a slap-dash end where everyone gets zapped and the mystery is solved. There is almost no time spent on the alien vessel and the story just comes to an abrupt end.
Now, much of the acting is good and seeing a more established actor like Hugh Bonneville was very nice. The set looked good and it never lost the feeling of being a ship stranded at sea. In fact, the sea-going ship looked better than the alien vessel, which was a bit minimalist. But one of the worst crimes a story can commit is to be boring. It's not horrible, but it doesn't really give you much of a reason to go back and watch it.
Overall personal score: 2 out of 5
The Curse of the Black Spot is generally viewed rather negatively by fandom. While I do not view it as poorly as others do, it is a bit disappointing mostly due to the potential it had.
The story, such as it is, is that the Doctor, Rory and Amy land on the pirate vessel Fancy which is being haunted by a ghost-like siren. When anyone is injured in any fashion, a black spot appears on their hand, the apparition appears and that man disappears. In the course of the hi jinx, the pirate captain (the actual pirate Captain Henry Avery) discovers his son has stowed aboard. Eventually, they discover that the Siren is an alien medical hologram that is transporting wounded crew members to the ship's sick bay. Captain Avery takes command of the alien vessel with his son and crew and flies the galaxy while the Doctor and his companions leave in the TARDIS, which had actually materialized in phase with the alien vessel.
You would think that Doctor Who and a pirate story would go well together. Even more so when you get Hugh Bonneville to play Captain Avery so that there is both that British nobility and sad depth that Bonneville is so good at portraying. But from the get go the story suffers from two real problems. The first is the tendency to go for the silly gag. The set up with a siren who appears to be consuming a crew on a stranded vessel would lend itself to some good scares, but any time there his a hint of fear, there is a silly note that is struck that just saps the mood. Without adding real fear to keep the tension up, the siren starts to lose her scariness.
The other problem is the pacing. There are odd cuts made in this story. Some allow scenes to go on too long. Others are too short. What's more, as the silliness ebbs the tension, the scenes on the ship start to feel very long and boredom starts to set in. Then there is a slap-dash end where everyone gets zapped and the mystery is solved. There is almost no time spent on the alien vessel and the story just comes to an abrupt end.
Now, much of the acting is good and seeing a more established actor like Hugh Bonneville was very nice. The set looked good and it never lost the feeling of being a ship stranded at sea. In fact, the sea-going ship looked better than the alien vessel, which was a bit minimalist. But one of the worst crimes a story can commit is to be boring. It's not horrible, but it doesn't really give you much of a reason to go back and watch it.
Overall personal score: 2 out of 5
The Face of Evil
Don't move; or I'll kill him with this deadly jelly baby.
There are three Doctor Who stories that I saw snippets of growing up before I dove head in to watching a few years ago. The first and most memorable was The Masque of Mandragora. The second was a few seconds of what I eventually figured out to be episode six of Invasion of Time due to my memory of Commander Storr and his Hitler-ish dark spot under the nose. But the third was the last five or ten minutes of The Face of Evil when the Doctor defeats Xoanon and then is accompanied, albeit unwillingly, by Leela.
Because of my past experience, I'm not sure whether this story was more interesting or less. It was less in that there was no mystery as to who Xoanon was and what his specific problem was. But on the other hand, knowing who the bad guy was also allowed me to focus on other elements of the story and appreciate them. I would be curious to know just exactly how many generations would have had to pass for a scientific survey team to degenerate into tribe of superstitious primitives, but given that Xoanon seemed to be killing them off with a degree of regularity, perhaps it didn't take as long as it might for an unoppressed technological group.
I think it obvious that the Doctor Who team was trying to recreate the jungle from Planet of Evil, although they didn't quite succeed. I wouldn't say their efforts look bad though. I've certainly seen less convincing jungles in media. I also enjoyed the acting. I can't recall anyone being particularly over the top or with overwhelmingly annoying characteristics. They were perhaps a bit one-dimensional but I wouldn't have expected a deep character study from an episode like this.
I must also say that I genuinely liked the character of Leela in this story. In my memory of the end of this story, I had visions of Leela being a bit dumber (more caveman-like) and not being much more than T&A bait. Instead, as I watched the story, while she was aggressively impulsive, she had a quick mind and did not hesitate to do what the Doctor himself was reluctant to do. I enjoyed her a great deal. Her final scene where she runs to the TARDIS after the Doctor was a bit rushed and I would have appreciated a bit more development as to why she did not want to stay as de-facto ruler, but those are small nits.
As I mentioned earlier, the production values are a bit below what had been done earlier especially as an immediate follow up to The Deadly Assassin. But its not so glaring that it screams out at you as cheap. I would chalk that up to direction or my own tolerance for cheap if they try. Probably a mix of the two.
I think I probably rate this one higher than the average fan does. Some of that might be nostalgia, but there is genuinely good writing and performance in this story. Only the production values let it down and even then it's not really that bad, especially relative to either the early years or the lean years of the Eighties. I wouldn't have any problem popping this one back in and enjoying it.
Overall personal score: 4 out of 5
There are three Doctor Who stories that I saw snippets of growing up before I dove head in to watching a few years ago. The first and most memorable was The Masque of Mandragora. The second was a few seconds of what I eventually figured out to be episode six of Invasion of Time due to my memory of Commander Storr and his Hitler-ish dark spot under the nose. But the third was the last five or ten minutes of The Face of Evil when the Doctor defeats Xoanon and then is accompanied, albeit unwillingly, by Leela.
Because of my past experience, I'm not sure whether this story was more interesting or less. It was less in that there was no mystery as to who Xoanon was and what his specific problem was. But on the other hand, knowing who the bad guy was also allowed me to focus on other elements of the story and appreciate them. I would be curious to know just exactly how many generations would have had to pass for a scientific survey team to degenerate into tribe of superstitious primitives, but given that Xoanon seemed to be killing them off with a degree of regularity, perhaps it didn't take as long as it might for an unoppressed technological group.
I think it obvious that the Doctor Who team was trying to recreate the jungle from Planet of Evil, although they didn't quite succeed. I wouldn't say their efforts look bad though. I've certainly seen less convincing jungles in media. I also enjoyed the acting. I can't recall anyone being particularly over the top or with overwhelmingly annoying characteristics. They were perhaps a bit one-dimensional but I wouldn't have expected a deep character study from an episode like this.
I must also say that I genuinely liked the character of Leela in this story. In my memory of the end of this story, I had visions of Leela being a bit dumber (more caveman-like) and not being much more than T&A bait. Instead, as I watched the story, while she was aggressively impulsive, she had a quick mind and did not hesitate to do what the Doctor himself was reluctant to do. I enjoyed her a great deal. Her final scene where she runs to the TARDIS after the Doctor was a bit rushed and I would have appreciated a bit more development as to why she did not want to stay as de-facto ruler, but those are small nits.
As I mentioned earlier, the production values are a bit below what had been done earlier especially as an immediate follow up to The Deadly Assassin. But its not so glaring that it screams out at you as cheap. I would chalk that up to direction or my own tolerance for cheap if they try. Probably a mix of the two.
I think I probably rate this one higher than the average fan does. Some of that might be nostalgia, but there is genuinely good writing and performance in this story. Only the production values let it down and even then it's not really that bad, especially relative to either the early years or the lean years of the Eighties. I wouldn't have any problem popping this one back in and enjoying it.
Overall personal score: 4 out of 5
Friday, November 6, 2015
In the Forest of the Night
It's that way.
I'm not going to lie, I do not like In the Forest of the Night. It is by far the worst story of Series 8.
The plot of the episode is very thin. The Doctor shows up on Earth to collect Clara and find the entire planet overrun by a forest that has sprung up overnight. There is much running around to keep track of the kids that Clara and Danny are watching on a field trip to the museum until they finally head off into space to watch the flare that they are expecting to destroy civilization. Instead the forest absorbs the energy from the flare and then disappears and everyone goes back to normal.
This feels like an episode where a person had an idea for a neat visual in the form of the forest over London and then tried to write something that would match that visual. Aside from a few good one liners and some nice interplay between Danny and Clara, there is nothing good about this story. The children are uninteresting, either fitting some sort of stereotype of weirdness or just downright rude.
Worse is the mental ineptitude of all our main characters, especially the Doctor. It becomes painfully obvious to the viewer within the first ten minutes that the trees have grown up as a means of protection for the Earth. Yet the Doctor and the rest continue to mope around under the idea that they are all doomed due to the incoming solar flare. It becomes painful as you wait for the characters to come to a conclusion you did over twenty minutes earlier.
Even the tone of the story is off-putting. There is a syrupiness in this story that makes you sick after a while. Everything is good, everything will work out, there is no real danger. The cherry on this treacle-fest is the return of Maebh's sister Annabel at the end. She emerges from a bush like she has been playing a game of hide and seek, except that she has been missing for months. You get the feeling that the creatures Maebh had been communicating with recreated her from whatever it was that took her in the first place. It makes no sense and it's an extra tack on of feel-goodness that the story could do without.
About the only positive I can come away with is that the visuals are impressive. The Doctor himself is also funny when he is not distracting by overlooking the obvious. But those moments are few and far between.
I borrowed the disk that this story was on from the library before it was loaded to Netflix to watch Mummy on the Orient Express and Flatline again. It never passed into my mind to rewatch this story. I might someday, but I doubt I would enjoy it.
Overall personal score: 0.5 out of 5
I'm not going to lie, I do not like In the Forest of the Night. It is by far the worst story of Series 8.
The plot of the episode is very thin. The Doctor shows up on Earth to collect Clara and find the entire planet overrun by a forest that has sprung up overnight. There is much running around to keep track of the kids that Clara and Danny are watching on a field trip to the museum until they finally head off into space to watch the flare that they are expecting to destroy civilization. Instead the forest absorbs the energy from the flare and then disappears and everyone goes back to normal.
This feels like an episode where a person had an idea for a neat visual in the form of the forest over London and then tried to write something that would match that visual. Aside from a few good one liners and some nice interplay between Danny and Clara, there is nothing good about this story. The children are uninteresting, either fitting some sort of stereotype of weirdness or just downright rude.
Worse is the mental ineptitude of all our main characters, especially the Doctor. It becomes painfully obvious to the viewer within the first ten minutes that the trees have grown up as a means of protection for the Earth. Yet the Doctor and the rest continue to mope around under the idea that they are all doomed due to the incoming solar flare. It becomes painful as you wait for the characters to come to a conclusion you did over twenty minutes earlier.
Even the tone of the story is off-putting. There is a syrupiness in this story that makes you sick after a while. Everything is good, everything will work out, there is no real danger. The cherry on this treacle-fest is the return of Maebh's sister Annabel at the end. She emerges from a bush like she has been playing a game of hide and seek, except that she has been missing for months. You get the feeling that the creatures Maebh had been communicating with recreated her from whatever it was that took her in the first place. It makes no sense and it's an extra tack on of feel-goodness that the story could do without.
About the only positive I can come away with is that the visuals are impressive. The Doctor himself is also funny when he is not distracting by overlooking the obvious. But those moments are few and far between.
I borrowed the disk that this story was on from the library before it was loaded to Netflix to watch Mummy on the Orient Express and Flatline again. It never passed into my mind to rewatch this story. I might someday, but I doubt I would enjoy it.
Overall personal score: 0.5 out of 5
Ghost Light
Don't eat the soup.
The Seventh Doctor era is one that divides a lot of people. Some love it, some hate it and some are indifferent. In the whole canon of the Seventh Doctor, it is Ghost Light that seems to be the grand touchstone. In all the reading I've done, I don't know that I've ever seen an opinion where it was just treated as another story. It is either a story that people love or one that they despise.
For me, this story is more of an unfulfilled potential. In many ways, it's a lot like The Curse of Fenric. It is a story where there is a deep and interesting plot, good acting and reasonable production values but time and money forced the show to cut out key pieces of the story. The big difference between Ghost Light and Fenric though was that Ghost Light is edited in such as way that the overall story is still somewhat coherent. You didn't come in on the middle of conversations and nearly everything that wasn't necessary to understanding the overarching plot was removed. There are still holes, but they are smaller relative to the overall story.
However, despite the improvements in editing, this story had a bit of a let down. Episodes one and two had very good build up. They were witty and sharp with just enough confusion to whet the appetite to know how things finished up. The sound was better too so I wasn't losing bits of the conversation like I was in Fenric (although to be safe, I turned on the subtitles). But then came episode three and Light.
Light drew the focus on himself as a secondary villain who was trying to be the main villain. Worse, while Josiah carried himself with an air of menace and relative competence, Light came across as a powerful dimwit. It is one thing to be frustrated by change, but it seemed like the very concept of change was beyond him. His dismembering the maid and reducing the Inspector to his base elements seemed like a gruesome tack on to make him seem more menacing and powerful than he actually was. His dissipation at the end also seemed like a giant temper tantrum rather than an act of malevolence gone wrong. The story would have been better served to have Light be more of a neutral, focused on observation rather than malevolence.
It would have been nice to get a line or two of why Josiah wanted to assassinate Queen Victoria. This goal was hinted at through episodes one and two, but a line about why he desired this would have been nice. One can assume that Josiah was drawing on the power of Light's ship while keeping Light subdued to accomplish his goals. His own use of reverse evolutionary forces was also an interesting use of Light's power, which added to my frustration over Light's confusion on the nature of change. How does Josiah harness the power of Light's ship to accomplish acts which Light himself does not comprehend?
So again, this episode is more about unrealized potential. That being said, I wouldn't mind watching it a second time. There is a real nuance about this episode and a depth of performance that is somewhat lacking in other stories. I think it also helped that I saw this one after Fenric, which was it's intended order rather than broadcast order. Ace's relationship with the Doctor is much improved and there is more trust between the two than we shown in The Curse of Fenric. I'll be curious which end of the spectrum is more apparent when I get to Survival, which while shown last, was supposed to be a bridge between these two.
Overall personal score: 2.5 out of 5
The Seventh Doctor era is one that divides a lot of people. Some love it, some hate it and some are indifferent. In the whole canon of the Seventh Doctor, it is Ghost Light that seems to be the grand touchstone. In all the reading I've done, I don't know that I've ever seen an opinion where it was just treated as another story. It is either a story that people love or one that they despise.
For me, this story is more of an unfulfilled potential. In many ways, it's a lot like The Curse of Fenric. It is a story where there is a deep and interesting plot, good acting and reasonable production values but time and money forced the show to cut out key pieces of the story. The big difference between Ghost Light and Fenric though was that Ghost Light is edited in such as way that the overall story is still somewhat coherent. You didn't come in on the middle of conversations and nearly everything that wasn't necessary to understanding the overarching plot was removed. There are still holes, but they are smaller relative to the overall story.
However, despite the improvements in editing, this story had a bit of a let down. Episodes one and two had very good build up. They were witty and sharp with just enough confusion to whet the appetite to know how things finished up. The sound was better too so I wasn't losing bits of the conversation like I was in Fenric (although to be safe, I turned on the subtitles). But then came episode three and Light.
Light drew the focus on himself as a secondary villain who was trying to be the main villain. Worse, while Josiah carried himself with an air of menace and relative competence, Light came across as a powerful dimwit. It is one thing to be frustrated by change, but it seemed like the very concept of change was beyond him. His dismembering the maid and reducing the Inspector to his base elements seemed like a gruesome tack on to make him seem more menacing and powerful than he actually was. His dissipation at the end also seemed like a giant temper tantrum rather than an act of malevolence gone wrong. The story would have been better served to have Light be more of a neutral, focused on observation rather than malevolence.
It would have been nice to get a line or two of why Josiah wanted to assassinate Queen Victoria. This goal was hinted at through episodes one and two, but a line about why he desired this would have been nice. One can assume that Josiah was drawing on the power of Light's ship while keeping Light subdued to accomplish his goals. His own use of reverse evolutionary forces was also an interesting use of Light's power, which added to my frustration over Light's confusion on the nature of change. How does Josiah harness the power of Light's ship to accomplish acts which Light himself does not comprehend?
So again, this episode is more about unrealized potential. That being said, I wouldn't mind watching it a second time. There is a real nuance about this episode and a depth of performance that is somewhat lacking in other stories. I think it also helped that I saw this one after Fenric, which was it's intended order rather than broadcast order. Ace's relationship with the Doctor is much improved and there is more trust between the two than we shown in The Curse of Fenric. I'll be curious which end of the spectrum is more apparent when I get to Survival, which while shown last, was supposed to be a bridge between these two.
Overall personal score: 2.5 out of 5
Thursday, November 5, 2015
Nightmare in Silver
I'M BORED!
Nightmare in Silver is one of the most disappointing episodes of Doctor Who for me. With other stories that weren't so good, they just existed as lesser stories and you moved on. But Nightmare in Silver has elements that were both good and potentially good and to have them come together in such a hot mess just lets you down.
First the story. The Doctor takes Clara and her two charges, Angie and Artie, to a theme park built on a moon in the future. The park is run down and they run into a band of misfits manning the relics as a form of exile. Unknown to anyone, an army of Cybermen has been slowly building within the park and after partially assimilating the two kids and the park worker, they attempt to turn the Doctor into a new Cyber-controller. The Doctor resists and manages to rescue the kids before the other park worker (who is actually the galactic emperor) calls in a rescue and destroys the planet.
Let's start with the good elements. First, Porridge (aka the Emperor) as played by Warwick Davis is excellent. He is a very enjoyable character and Davis gets a large degree of depth in how he plays him.
Second, the revamped Cybermen. The Cybermen suffer when they attack en masse at the end as they return to their clompy wave tactics, but before when they are scouting and attacking in solo assaults, these things are impressive. The speed and silent assault remind you more of something from Predator with cunning and guile not really seen before with the cybermen.
Now, the not so good. First, the kids. Artie wasn't bad but that's more because he was a non-element. Angie on the other hand was incredibly annoying. Some of that was due to the age she was playing, but there was a huge emphasis on all her negative qualities and the character was never really shown in any positive light. Even when she was outing the Emperor, it was in a "why are you all so stupid" way. If the kids had been gunned down at any point, there might have been actual cheering in the audience.
Next, the massed Cybermen. The cunning and great ability that the cybermen showed when conducting individual attacks went right out the window when the whole army was activated. Instead, they went back to the old clompy Cybermen that will just overwhelm you by sheer numbers rather than any use of tactics. Worse, as an attempt to justify this reckless behavior, the Cybermen pinched the adaptation technique from the Borg. It was a cheap way to try and keep the Cybermen menacing while still being able to be held off by a band of military cast offs.
Also in the negative column, I'm going to have to put the Doctor. At the beginning of the episode, he seemed a little extra dopey, allowing the Cyber-mites to take control. I also got a bit bored with the back and forth between the Doctor and the Cyber-Control personality. A little might not have been too bad, but the two sides kept going on and it just got tiresome.
I was also disappointed that they opted for the silly gold knock out when there had been such and emphasis on adaptation. Having seen Revenge of the Cybermen, I can understand how gold dust would be used to stop the Cybermen. But to expand that into a piece of gold foil slapped against some electronics is just stupid. I know this is a reference back to Silver Nemesis but given what I've heard about that story (I've not seen it yet), why would you want to?
Some folks would probably bomb this one into oblivion, but there is some good here. I would not pick this to watch again, but I wouldn't be recoiling in horror at the prospect of watching it again. Focusing on the positives.
Overall personal score: 1.5 out of 5
Nightmare in Silver is one of the most disappointing episodes of Doctor Who for me. With other stories that weren't so good, they just existed as lesser stories and you moved on. But Nightmare in Silver has elements that were both good and potentially good and to have them come together in such a hot mess just lets you down.
First the story. The Doctor takes Clara and her two charges, Angie and Artie, to a theme park built on a moon in the future. The park is run down and they run into a band of misfits manning the relics as a form of exile. Unknown to anyone, an army of Cybermen has been slowly building within the park and after partially assimilating the two kids and the park worker, they attempt to turn the Doctor into a new Cyber-controller. The Doctor resists and manages to rescue the kids before the other park worker (who is actually the galactic emperor) calls in a rescue and destroys the planet.
Let's start with the good elements. First, Porridge (aka the Emperor) as played by Warwick Davis is excellent. He is a very enjoyable character and Davis gets a large degree of depth in how he plays him.
Second, the revamped Cybermen. The Cybermen suffer when they attack en masse at the end as they return to their clompy wave tactics, but before when they are scouting and attacking in solo assaults, these things are impressive. The speed and silent assault remind you more of something from Predator with cunning and guile not really seen before with the cybermen.
Now, the not so good. First, the kids. Artie wasn't bad but that's more because he was a non-element. Angie on the other hand was incredibly annoying. Some of that was due to the age she was playing, but there was a huge emphasis on all her negative qualities and the character was never really shown in any positive light. Even when she was outing the Emperor, it was in a "why are you all so stupid" way. If the kids had been gunned down at any point, there might have been actual cheering in the audience.
Next, the massed Cybermen. The cunning and great ability that the cybermen showed when conducting individual attacks went right out the window when the whole army was activated. Instead, they went back to the old clompy Cybermen that will just overwhelm you by sheer numbers rather than any use of tactics. Worse, as an attempt to justify this reckless behavior, the Cybermen pinched the adaptation technique from the Borg. It was a cheap way to try and keep the Cybermen menacing while still being able to be held off by a band of military cast offs.
Also in the negative column, I'm going to have to put the Doctor. At the beginning of the episode, he seemed a little extra dopey, allowing the Cyber-mites to take control. I also got a bit bored with the back and forth between the Doctor and the Cyber-Control personality. A little might not have been too bad, but the two sides kept going on and it just got tiresome.
I was also disappointed that they opted for the silly gold knock out when there had been such and emphasis on adaptation. Having seen Revenge of the Cybermen, I can understand how gold dust would be used to stop the Cybermen. But to expand that into a piece of gold foil slapped against some electronics is just stupid. I know this is a reference back to Silver Nemesis but given what I've heard about that story (I've not seen it yet), why would you want to?
Some folks would probably bomb this one into oblivion, but there is some good here. I would not pick this to watch again, but I wouldn't be recoiling in horror at the prospect of watching it again. Focusing on the positives.
Overall personal score: 1.5 out of 5
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Logopolis
Never guess! Unless you have to. There's too much uncertanty in the universe as it is.
Logopolis is a strange story, probably one of the most unusual of all the regeneration stories. If you look over the history of regeneration stories, they fall into two categories: regular adventures where the Doctor simply receives some wound or affliction which forces regeneration or a story where his time in that regeneration simply runs out. The Sixth to Seventh Doctor is the exception to this, but that was driven by unusual circumstances. Logopolis falls under the first category but with a twist.
What sets Logopolis apart from the rest of the regeneration stories is how blatant the Fourth Doctor's demise is projected. Christopher Bidmead might be able to write a good story, but subtlety is clearly not his forte. In fact, all of Season 18 is a slow march to doom for the Fourth Doctor, but we're going to focus solely on Logopolis.
The story itself is a march against time. The Master, having just stolen the body of Tremas from The Keeper of Traken is setting a trap for the Doctor with the intention of using the mathematical calculations of the Logopolians as a means of controlling the universe. Instead, he sets off a chain reaction that threatens to destroy the universe. The Doctor and the Master team up to rebroadcast the Logopolian calculations and save the universe. They are successful but the Master threatens to destroy the preventative measures again unless the universe bows to his will once more. The Doctor thwarts his ability by disconnecting the power to the radio telescope but in the process, he is knocked off and fatally wounded. He then regenerates into the Fifth Doctor.
Where to begin with this one? This story feels odd in so many ways. It is steeped in melancholy, even down to the music and lighting. There is a greyness about the Fourth Doctor. Death, destruction, and inevitability saturate the story. This is in such contrast to most Doctor Who stories who keep a level of cheerfulness about them, even under dire circumstances.
There is also a feeling of wrongness in who the Doctor is with when he regenerates. Adric was the "old" companion, having arrived four stories earlier in Full Circle and staying after Romana and K-9 departed at the end of Warrior's Gate. Nyssa was introduced in the previous story but not taken on as a companion until she was picked up by "the Watcher" in episode two in this story. Tegan wandered into the TARDIS towards the end of episode one of this story. But the Fourth Doctor was well known for his deep relationships with his companions. Sarah Jane Smith, Leela, and Romana stayed with him for long stretches, cultivating deep friendships. But in the end, he is left without his friends and watched over by three people he barely knows. It has a bit of a wrong feel to it for a Doctor who we've travelled with for so long.
But perhaps all of that is the point. This episode bludgeons us over the head with the idea that change is impossible to stop and that the only way to move on is to accept the change. This would have been an important theme in learning to let go of the man who had been the Doctor longest to us anyway.
Now, all the melancholy aside, there is a lot to like about this story. All the characters treat the story with the appropriate seriousness, even if their acting ability doesn't necessarily rise to the same level (Nyssa). The sets are relatively decent, even if some of the 80's cheapness is starting to poke through. The use of location was very well done as a counterbalance, although that did poke further holes when viewing the sets of Logopolis itself. I also liked the idea that the unformed aspect of the Fifth Doctor helped guide things along to see that a safe conclusion was made, not only for the Doctor, but for his companions as well. It was an interesting idea and played well in one of the few understated aspects of the overall story.
I'm not fully sure of how to grade this story. I can see how it is both loved and hated by fans. I think I miss the true thrust of this story by not being as heavily invested with the Fourth Doctor as folks watching at this time would have been. But that also leaves me somewhat unperturbed by the callousness of his send off. The melancholy and some of the other flaws would put me off from delving in for another watch without a good reason, but I also appreciate the sense of what they were at least trying to do. I'm going to have to split the difference on this one.
Overall personal score: 2.5 out of 5
Logopolis is a strange story, probably one of the most unusual of all the regeneration stories. If you look over the history of regeneration stories, they fall into two categories: regular adventures where the Doctor simply receives some wound or affliction which forces regeneration or a story where his time in that regeneration simply runs out. The Sixth to Seventh Doctor is the exception to this, but that was driven by unusual circumstances. Logopolis falls under the first category but with a twist.
What sets Logopolis apart from the rest of the regeneration stories is how blatant the Fourth Doctor's demise is projected. Christopher Bidmead might be able to write a good story, but subtlety is clearly not his forte. In fact, all of Season 18 is a slow march to doom for the Fourth Doctor, but we're going to focus solely on Logopolis.
The story itself is a march against time. The Master, having just stolen the body of Tremas from The Keeper of Traken is setting a trap for the Doctor with the intention of using the mathematical calculations of the Logopolians as a means of controlling the universe. Instead, he sets off a chain reaction that threatens to destroy the universe. The Doctor and the Master team up to rebroadcast the Logopolian calculations and save the universe. They are successful but the Master threatens to destroy the preventative measures again unless the universe bows to his will once more. The Doctor thwarts his ability by disconnecting the power to the radio telescope but in the process, he is knocked off and fatally wounded. He then regenerates into the Fifth Doctor.
Where to begin with this one? This story feels odd in so many ways. It is steeped in melancholy, even down to the music and lighting. There is a greyness about the Fourth Doctor. Death, destruction, and inevitability saturate the story. This is in such contrast to most Doctor Who stories who keep a level of cheerfulness about them, even under dire circumstances.
There is also a feeling of wrongness in who the Doctor is with when he regenerates. Adric was the "old" companion, having arrived four stories earlier in Full Circle and staying after Romana and K-9 departed at the end of Warrior's Gate. Nyssa was introduced in the previous story but not taken on as a companion until she was picked up by "the Watcher" in episode two in this story. Tegan wandered into the TARDIS towards the end of episode one of this story. But the Fourth Doctor was well known for his deep relationships with his companions. Sarah Jane Smith, Leela, and Romana stayed with him for long stretches, cultivating deep friendships. But in the end, he is left without his friends and watched over by three people he barely knows. It has a bit of a wrong feel to it for a Doctor who we've travelled with for so long.
But perhaps all of that is the point. This episode bludgeons us over the head with the idea that change is impossible to stop and that the only way to move on is to accept the change. This would have been an important theme in learning to let go of the man who had been the Doctor longest to us anyway.
Now, all the melancholy aside, there is a lot to like about this story. All the characters treat the story with the appropriate seriousness, even if their acting ability doesn't necessarily rise to the same level (Nyssa). The sets are relatively decent, even if some of the 80's cheapness is starting to poke through. The use of location was very well done as a counterbalance, although that did poke further holes when viewing the sets of Logopolis itself. I also liked the idea that the unformed aspect of the Fifth Doctor helped guide things along to see that a safe conclusion was made, not only for the Doctor, but for his companions as well. It was an interesting idea and played well in one of the few understated aspects of the overall story.
I'm not fully sure of how to grade this story. I can see how it is both loved and hated by fans. I think I miss the true thrust of this story by not being as heavily invested with the Fourth Doctor as folks watching at this time would have been. But that also leaves me somewhat unperturbed by the callousness of his send off. The melancholy and some of the other flaws would put me off from delving in for another watch without a good reason, but I also appreciate the sense of what they were at least trying to do. I'm going to have to split the difference on this one.
Overall personal score: 2.5 out of 5
Human Nature/The Family of Blood
You shouldn't have let me push all those buttons.
After being a Debbie-downer in my last couple of reviews, I thought I would cover a story I greatly enjoy: Human Nature and The Family of Blood.
The Tenth Doctor is quite possibly the most human Doctor of all his iterations. It is therefore interesting to see him take the extra step and go all in and in fact make himself fully human. In the grand scheme of things, this really isn't much more than Chekhov's Gun for Utopia, but it still works pretty well as a story on it's own.
The story is straightforward. The Doctor transforms himself into a full human (John Smith) to escape a family of aliens who are hunting him. He loses himself in early 20th century England where he takes up a post as a teacher at a boy's school. Martha is disguised as a maid to keep an eye on him. The aliens track him down and things are complicated by the fact that John Smith is falling in love with the school nurse, Joan Redfern. In the end, to thwart the alien attack, he reverts to the Doctor. Having tossed aside his act of mercy in trying to elude them, the Doctor extracts vengeance on them; binding them in eternal prisons.
What I like about this story so much is that we get both aspects of what the Tenth Doctor was so good at. His humanity and sentimentality come strongly through, without the need the throw in the "alien-ness" that sometimes felt a bit forced with the Tenth Doctor. You are also emotionally torn as you know that John Smith will eventually choose to become the Doctor again. But at the same time, you want him to live out this romance with Joan and be happy with her.
But once that is shattered, the vengeful Doctor comes. I know that some didn't care for the angry Tenth Doctor, but I wasn't one of them. It is enjoyable to see the power and fury of the Doctor's wrath unleashed. Too often, especially in the Eleventh Doctor era, enemies would run away because the Doctor simply threatened them. To make that truly work, you need to see instances where someone does not run away and the fury of the angry Time Lord must be meted out. In this case, it is not just the defeat of the Family. No, for what they have done, they must suffer and the Doctor dishes that suffering out, all while hating both them and himself for doing it. It makes for a satisfying conclusion in what could have been a very depressing story.
Following on the revenge, there is a great moment of poignancy. The Doctor attempts to reconnect with Joan, even going so far as to offer her the chance to travel with him. She rejects this as it was John Smith that she cared for. She also points out clearly that the Doctor's attempt at mercy to evil ended up costing the lives of several people, certainly the four individuals that they took the form of as well as any killed in their assault on the village and school. It raises the interesting question as to why it is sometimes seen as necessary for the hero to indulge in mercy towards evil when that ends up costing the lives of innocents. Why does the hero have to go through these motions to supposedly preserve the good in him when swift action against evil would have been the better option? Of course, it's because it makes for a better story that way, but it is still a question that should be raised.
Now there are a couple of sour notes as well. The subplot involving Tim Latimer and his taking of the fob watch and his subsequent escape from death in WWI is a distraction and not something that draws you in. It feels like padding, as though the writers knew this story was going to stretch close to an hour and they needed to pack it with a subplot to get it closer to an hour and a half and the ability to cut it in two parts. Some of the child acting is also a little off, but that is to be expected when dealing with these ages.
Overall though, I have very little problem in sitting down and enjoying these episodes again.
Overall personal score: Human Nature - 4.5 out of 5, The Family of Blood - 5 out of 5
After being a Debbie-downer in my last couple of reviews, I thought I would cover a story I greatly enjoy: Human Nature and The Family of Blood.
The Tenth Doctor is quite possibly the most human Doctor of all his iterations. It is therefore interesting to see him take the extra step and go all in and in fact make himself fully human. In the grand scheme of things, this really isn't much more than Chekhov's Gun for Utopia, but it still works pretty well as a story on it's own.
The story is straightforward. The Doctor transforms himself into a full human (John Smith) to escape a family of aliens who are hunting him. He loses himself in early 20th century England where he takes up a post as a teacher at a boy's school. Martha is disguised as a maid to keep an eye on him. The aliens track him down and things are complicated by the fact that John Smith is falling in love with the school nurse, Joan Redfern. In the end, to thwart the alien attack, he reverts to the Doctor. Having tossed aside his act of mercy in trying to elude them, the Doctor extracts vengeance on them; binding them in eternal prisons.
What I like about this story so much is that we get both aspects of what the Tenth Doctor was so good at. His humanity and sentimentality come strongly through, without the need the throw in the "alien-ness" that sometimes felt a bit forced with the Tenth Doctor. You are also emotionally torn as you know that John Smith will eventually choose to become the Doctor again. But at the same time, you want him to live out this romance with Joan and be happy with her.
But once that is shattered, the vengeful Doctor comes. I know that some didn't care for the angry Tenth Doctor, but I wasn't one of them. It is enjoyable to see the power and fury of the Doctor's wrath unleashed. Too often, especially in the Eleventh Doctor era, enemies would run away because the Doctor simply threatened them. To make that truly work, you need to see instances where someone does not run away and the fury of the angry Time Lord must be meted out. In this case, it is not just the defeat of the Family. No, for what they have done, they must suffer and the Doctor dishes that suffering out, all while hating both them and himself for doing it. It makes for a satisfying conclusion in what could have been a very depressing story.
Following on the revenge, there is a great moment of poignancy. The Doctor attempts to reconnect with Joan, even going so far as to offer her the chance to travel with him. She rejects this as it was John Smith that she cared for. She also points out clearly that the Doctor's attempt at mercy to evil ended up costing the lives of several people, certainly the four individuals that they took the form of as well as any killed in their assault on the village and school. It raises the interesting question as to why it is sometimes seen as necessary for the hero to indulge in mercy towards evil when that ends up costing the lives of innocents. Why does the hero have to go through these motions to supposedly preserve the good in him when swift action against evil would have been the better option? Of course, it's because it makes for a better story that way, but it is still a question that should be raised.
Now there are a couple of sour notes as well. The subplot involving Tim Latimer and his taking of the fob watch and his subsequent escape from death in WWI is a distraction and not something that draws you in. It feels like padding, as though the writers knew this story was going to stretch close to an hour and they needed to pack it with a subplot to get it closer to an hour and a half and the ability to cut it in two parts. Some of the child acting is also a little off, but that is to be expected when dealing with these ages.
Overall though, I have very little problem in sitting down and enjoying these episodes again.
Overall personal score: Human Nature - 4.5 out of 5, The Family of Blood - 5 out of 5
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