The Master... reborn!
Utopia is an excellent episode that starts a little off but improves greatly as it progresses. I don't know if I would think of it as the be all and end all that some fans give it, but it's still very, very good.
Plot Summary
The Doctor and Martha land in Cardiff to refuel on the energy rift. Just as they are about to take-off again, Captain Jack throws himself on the TARDIS. In an attempt to throw him off, the TARDIS launches forward 100 Trillion years to the end of the universe. They land on a small planet where the remnants of humanity are gathering in an attempt to find a way to escape the heat death of the universe. Chased by mutants called the Futurekind, the group escapes to the base and are met by the chief scientist called Professor Yana. The Doctor assists the Professor and gets the rocket power source to work. However while preparing for take-off, a Futurekind that had snuck into the base sabotages the power source.
The Doctor and Jack head down to the radiation soaked reaction chamber. Jack, as a result of Rose bringing him back to life in The Parting of the Ways, cannot die and is able to work in the room without being damaged by the radiation. Meanwhile, Professor Yana is affected by all the talk of time travel and pulls out a fob watch to articulate his feelings about time. Martha recognizes it as the same type of fob watch that the Doctor used to become human in Human Nature/The Family of Blood. Martha runs down to tell the Doctor and as the rocket takes off, Professor Yana, illuminated by Martha's interest, opens the watch.
With the essence of the Master restored, Professor Yana shuts down the defenses of the base allowing the Futurekind in. He locks out the Doctor and mortally wounds his assistant Chantho. Before she dies, Chantho shoots the Master. He locks himself in the Doctor's TARDIS and regenerates into a younger form. With the Futurekind attempting to break in through the door, the Master disappears with the TARDIS, abandoning the Doctor and his companions in the far future.
Analysis
The episode begins on a bit of a sour note as the Futurekind look like a cheap Mad Max rip off. The chase of the Doctor and his companions (and one other human) is nothing special and it doesn't draw you in very much. However, once they are in the base and Derek Jacobi is given full sway, the whole tone of the episode changes. The characters become deeper and more interesting and that drives the story far more than the very simple plot.
The two best moments are when Jack and the Doctor are talking while Jack operates in the radiation soaked room and while Professor Yana loses himself in his embedded memories, trying to recall who he really is. Despite the tension being high in trying to get the rocket to launch, the Doctor and Jack have an interesting discussion about what happened to Jack, why the Doctor abandoned him, and how he realized what happened to him as he waited one hundred fifty years for the Doctor to arrive. It's a quiet moment where the Doctor and Jack just talk with no subterfuge or garbage between them. It's just an honest heart to heart talk that draws you in as you enjoy both of these characters.
Professor Yana's scene is just about the power of Derek Jacobi as an actor. Events build throughout the episode as little bits of Time Lord lore and phrasing are dropped but when the concept of traveling through time and space in the TARDIS is revealed, you can see the internal struggle going through Professor Yana. The slow burn of this development, including the reveal of the fob watch are done well and allow Jacobi to express everything through his face and hands. When he does speak, it only emphasizes what he is already expressing visually. The culmination where Professor Yana becomes the Master again is interwoven beautifully with the actions of the Doctor both to finish the launching of the rocket and then fashbacks to the Face of Boe's prediction that the Doctor is not alone. It holds you tightly and keeps you fully engaged the whole time.
The episode does sag a little bit after such a good build up and the Master in both his Professor Yana and Harold Saxon forms go a bit over the top. It's not bad, but it's a stark contrast that it can be a bit jolting and overuse would become grating. But it works well enough in this instance.
Overall, this is a very good episode. If I were more picky I'd dock it for the opening, but I can't justify that given how good the episode is after they are in the base. This is an easy one to go back to and watch again with just as much enjoyment as the first time you saw it.
Overall personal score: 5 out of 5
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Tuesday, January 26, 2016
The Abominable Snowmen
They came to get their ball back.
The introduction of the Great Intelligence, the Yeti and the Second Doctor in probably his most recognizable costume. I actually did this one backwards as I saw The Web of Fear before The Abominable Snowmen. Of course, I actually saw The Snowmen before in The Web of Fear so I'm all kinds of backwards with this adversary.
Plot Summary
The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe land in the Himalayas in the first half of the twentieth century. The Doctor, recognizing the area, opts to return a holy bell to the local Buddhist monastery that he had gotten possession of three hundred years earlier. Jamie and Victoria also look about, despite the Doctor instructing them to stay in the TARDIS. Upon reaching the monastery, the Doctor is accused of being a newspaper spy by an explorer named Travers. He is accused of also killing Travers' companion. The monks also accuse the Doctor of controlling the Yeti who have attacked the monastery recently. The monks decide to tie the Doctor to the gate to see if the Yeti will attempt to rescue him.
Meanwhile, Jamie and Victoria find a cave with a stack of metal spheres. Jamie takes one and they are attacked by a Yeti. Jamie caves part of the roof in on it and they escape before it can dig itself out. They make their way to the monastery where they convince Travers they are not a rival expedition. A younger monk named Thonmi took the bell from the Doctor and presented it to the Abbot who orders the Doctor released. The Doctor has Jamie set a trap and they capture one of the Yeti, which goes inert when it's program sphere is knocked out. The Doctor examines and realizes the Yeti are robots and are controlled through the spheres. The Yeti retrieve the knocked out sphere before the Doctor can retrieve it and the one Jamie removed from the cave activates and rolls away.
Travers leaves the monastery and follows the Yeti. The Doctor also convinces the monks that if he and Jamie go back to the TARDIS, they can get equipment that will help them track the spheres. Meanwhile, the Abbot sneaks out of the monastery with an electronic prism. He meets the Yeti with the extra sphere and places both on the stack in the cave, observed at a distance by Travers. The Doctor and Jamie get their equipment and after dodging a few Yeti, return to the monastery.
Meanwhile, the sphere Jamie took inserts itself into the inert Yeti and reactivates it. It fights its way out and because Victoria saw it rise, she is accused of reactivating it. She is imprisoned with Thonmi, who stood up for her, but she manages to escape. The returning Abbot orders the monastery to be evacuated and confines the Doctor and Jamie due to Victoria's escape. Victoria sneaks into the sacred place and meets with the holy one, Padmasambhava. There she is hypnotized.
Padmasambhava sends the Yeti to attack, killing one monk, and convincing all that they must leave. Victoria is sent out under the control of Padmasambhava, reassuring the monks that they must leave and take the Doctor, Travers, and the two companions with them. Victoria also implores the Doctor to take her away. The Doctor realizes that she is under the control of some force and suspects that Padmasambhava may also be under the control of something as he appears to be the same man who gave the Doctor the holy bell three hundred years prior. He goes to Padmasambhava who appears to die as he is confessing that something terrible is coming. The Doctor then attends to Victoria, bringing her out of her hypnosis with some of his own.
The Doctor and Travers take another set of readings and learn that the control of the Yeti is coming from the monastery itself and Travers suddenly remembers that he saw the Abbot with the Yeti at the cave. The chief warrior Khrisong goes to confront the Abbot but is killed. The Doctor sees this and the Abbot is subdued. Under hypnosis the Abbot tells the Doctor about the Yeti controls. Travers and one monk head towards the cave to destroy the pyramid while the other monks leave the monastery. The Doctor, Jamie, Victoria and Thonmi head into the inner chamber with Padmasambhava.
Inside the chamber, the Doctor locks wills with the Intelligence controlling Padmasambhava. Jamie and Thomni rush in and smash the controls in a secret room beyond but the Intelligence is unaffected. He summons the Yeti. The Doctor calls for Victoria to destroys the control pieces but she is also neutralized. Jamie destroys the Yeti control sphere which stops them but the Intelligence itself is still in command. Travers enters and attempts to shoot Padmasambhava but he is unaffected and taunts Travers. But his taunt triggers an idea and the Doctor shouts at Jamie to destroy anything that looks like a pyramid. Jamie destroys it and the Intelligence shrieks as its power disappears. Padmasambhava dies and the control unit in the cave also is destroyed. The monks return to the abbey, Travers spies a genuine Yeti and goes to investigate while the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria head back to the TARDIS.
Analysis
Like a lot of six-parters, this was a bit slow to start and it being mostly a recon didn't help. It did flow a bit better in Episode Two (which is the only existing episode) but even then, there was a feel of a long set up. Fortunately, that set up was fairly evenly paced so that although it was slow going until Episode Six, it was a steady build and did not leave you with the feeling that any particular episode should have been cut.
There was a nice balance of characters in this story. No one felt underdeveloped (except maybe the Abbot) and everyone had an understandable role in the story. Khrisong and Travers did a little bit of "the enemy of the Doctor becomes a loyal friend" that is a bit of a trope in 60's Doctor Who but their conversion is done a bit better in this story rather than others.
It would have been nice to have a better view of the final confrontation between the Great Intelligence and the Doctor. Being a recon always has it's drawbacks but the final fight seen would have been very energetic with a lot of facial acting from Patrick Troughton that is a shame that we cannot see it.
Other than that, I can't think of much more to say about the episode. The Yeti are what they are given that this is the season of monsters (or men dressed up as monsters). I give the production team credit for trying a more nebulous concept like the Great Intelligence as an adversary. Of course there were the Yeti to fall back on, but to have an enemy that you cannot see and exists more as an idea is a fairly radical idea and it plays out rather well given that there is little to latch on to.
I would like to see this one again if found to see how that improves engagement. It does well, but at six episodes I feel that it is just too slow for casual enjoyment without the visuals to engage you. Not bad, but not overly compelling either.
Overall personal score: 2.5 out of 5
The introduction of the Great Intelligence, the Yeti and the Second Doctor in probably his most recognizable costume. I actually did this one backwards as I saw The Web of Fear before The Abominable Snowmen. Of course, I actually saw The Snowmen before in The Web of Fear so I'm all kinds of backwards with this adversary.
Plot Summary
The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe land in the Himalayas in the first half of the twentieth century. The Doctor, recognizing the area, opts to return a holy bell to the local Buddhist monastery that he had gotten possession of three hundred years earlier. Jamie and Victoria also look about, despite the Doctor instructing them to stay in the TARDIS. Upon reaching the monastery, the Doctor is accused of being a newspaper spy by an explorer named Travers. He is accused of also killing Travers' companion. The monks also accuse the Doctor of controlling the Yeti who have attacked the monastery recently. The monks decide to tie the Doctor to the gate to see if the Yeti will attempt to rescue him.
Meanwhile, Jamie and Victoria find a cave with a stack of metal spheres. Jamie takes one and they are attacked by a Yeti. Jamie caves part of the roof in on it and they escape before it can dig itself out. They make their way to the monastery where they convince Travers they are not a rival expedition. A younger monk named Thonmi took the bell from the Doctor and presented it to the Abbot who orders the Doctor released. The Doctor has Jamie set a trap and they capture one of the Yeti, which goes inert when it's program sphere is knocked out. The Doctor examines and realizes the Yeti are robots and are controlled through the spheres. The Yeti retrieve the knocked out sphere before the Doctor can retrieve it and the one Jamie removed from the cave activates and rolls away.
Travers leaves the monastery and follows the Yeti. The Doctor also convinces the monks that if he and Jamie go back to the TARDIS, they can get equipment that will help them track the spheres. Meanwhile, the Abbot sneaks out of the monastery with an electronic prism. He meets the Yeti with the extra sphere and places both on the stack in the cave, observed at a distance by Travers. The Doctor and Jamie get their equipment and after dodging a few Yeti, return to the monastery.
Meanwhile, the sphere Jamie took inserts itself into the inert Yeti and reactivates it. It fights its way out and because Victoria saw it rise, she is accused of reactivating it. She is imprisoned with Thonmi, who stood up for her, but she manages to escape. The returning Abbot orders the monastery to be evacuated and confines the Doctor and Jamie due to Victoria's escape. Victoria sneaks into the sacred place and meets with the holy one, Padmasambhava. There she is hypnotized.
Padmasambhava sends the Yeti to attack, killing one monk, and convincing all that they must leave. Victoria is sent out under the control of Padmasambhava, reassuring the monks that they must leave and take the Doctor, Travers, and the two companions with them. Victoria also implores the Doctor to take her away. The Doctor realizes that she is under the control of some force and suspects that Padmasambhava may also be under the control of something as he appears to be the same man who gave the Doctor the holy bell three hundred years prior. He goes to Padmasambhava who appears to die as he is confessing that something terrible is coming. The Doctor then attends to Victoria, bringing her out of her hypnosis with some of his own.
The Doctor and Travers take another set of readings and learn that the control of the Yeti is coming from the monastery itself and Travers suddenly remembers that he saw the Abbot with the Yeti at the cave. The chief warrior Khrisong goes to confront the Abbot but is killed. The Doctor sees this and the Abbot is subdued. Under hypnosis the Abbot tells the Doctor about the Yeti controls. Travers and one monk head towards the cave to destroy the pyramid while the other monks leave the monastery. The Doctor, Jamie, Victoria and Thonmi head into the inner chamber with Padmasambhava.
Inside the chamber, the Doctor locks wills with the Intelligence controlling Padmasambhava. Jamie and Thomni rush in and smash the controls in a secret room beyond but the Intelligence is unaffected. He summons the Yeti. The Doctor calls for Victoria to destroys the control pieces but she is also neutralized. Jamie destroys the Yeti control sphere which stops them but the Intelligence itself is still in command. Travers enters and attempts to shoot Padmasambhava but he is unaffected and taunts Travers. But his taunt triggers an idea and the Doctor shouts at Jamie to destroy anything that looks like a pyramid. Jamie destroys it and the Intelligence shrieks as its power disappears. Padmasambhava dies and the control unit in the cave also is destroyed. The monks return to the abbey, Travers spies a genuine Yeti and goes to investigate while the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria head back to the TARDIS.
Analysis
Like a lot of six-parters, this was a bit slow to start and it being mostly a recon didn't help. It did flow a bit better in Episode Two (which is the only existing episode) but even then, there was a feel of a long set up. Fortunately, that set up was fairly evenly paced so that although it was slow going until Episode Six, it was a steady build and did not leave you with the feeling that any particular episode should have been cut.
There was a nice balance of characters in this story. No one felt underdeveloped (except maybe the Abbot) and everyone had an understandable role in the story. Khrisong and Travers did a little bit of "the enemy of the Doctor becomes a loyal friend" that is a bit of a trope in 60's Doctor Who but their conversion is done a bit better in this story rather than others.
It would have been nice to have a better view of the final confrontation between the Great Intelligence and the Doctor. Being a recon always has it's drawbacks but the final fight seen would have been very energetic with a lot of facial acting from Patrick Troughton that is a shame that we cannot see it.
Other than that, I can't think of much more to say about the episode. The Yeti are what they are given that this is the season of monsters (or men dressed up as monsters). I give the production team credit for trying a more nebulous concept like the Great Intelligence as an adversary. Of course there were the Yeti to fall back on, but to have an enemy that you cannot see and exists more as an idea is a fairly radical idea and it plays out rather well given that there is little to latch on to.
I would like to see this one again if found to see how that improves engagement. It does well, but at six episodes I feel that it is just too slow for casual enjoyment without the visuals to engage you. Not bad, but not overly compelling either.
Overall personal score: 2.5 out of 5
Monday, January 25, 2016
42
Burn with me.
When I found out Friday that Chris Chibnall will be taking over as show runner following Series 10 in 2017, I thought I should pull one of his episodes again to refresh myself on his work. This worked out fairly well as I had no memory of 42 the first time I watched it. The net result... eh.
Plot Summary
The Doctor and Martha receive a distress call and land on a ship that is crashing into a star and will impact in forty-two minutes. The room where the TARDIS is becomes flooded with super-heated steam, preventing the evacuation of the ship. What's more, one of the crew has been infected and has sabotaged the main engine controls. Martha and one crew member (Riley) head to the auxiliary engine control room which has been sealed off by a series of doors. The doors are password protected with the password being the answer to trivia questions the crew came up with during a drunken binge.
The Doctor attempts to help repair the engine controls but gets pulled off as the infected crew member attacks and vaporizes other members of the crew. Martha and Riley manage to avoid being killed but are trapped in an escape pod that is launched towards the sun. The infected crewman is neutralized temporarily and the Doctor journeys outside the ship and magnetically pulls the escape pod back to the ship. However, he is infected by the star and learns that the captain had mined the outer layer of the star for fuel, unwittingly stealing the heart of the star which is alive. Martha attempts to rid the Doctor of the infection but the infected crewman revives and cuts the power. The captain then grabs the infected crewman and casts him and herself out of the airlock and into the star. Unable to help, the Doctor sends Martha to the auxiliary engine control, which has been opened by Riley and another crewman, and orders her to dump the fuel. She does so and the engines come back on line allowing the ship to escape.
Analysis
When I first watched this episode, I was just following on from The Lazarus Experiment and thought I could stay up for another one, despite being tired and a little tipsy. Needless to say, it didn't register and when I was looking back at episodes I had seen, I realized I couldn't remember any plot details of this one. Watching it a second time, I can see why it didn't register with me.
The thing is, there is nothing particularly wrong with the episode, but it didn't really grab me either. My immediate thought was that it felt somewhat similar to The Impossible Planet in it's set up. But where that episode had engaging characters and a horror tone, this one gave me no reason to care about any character other than Riley and very little time to appreciate any tone other than urgency.
The hook for this episode is the real-time countdown to destruction. But I think that actually worked against it in a way. The little time that was spent in slower moments where you would develop character were tinged with a feeling of wasting time that undercut the potential character moment. The rest was just running around, rushing to make sure someone didn't die or attempting to unlock the puzzle of the moment. The countdown itself was the only driver and it left you a bit cold towards the characters.
Another flaw in terms of grip was the Captain's portrayal. The Captain came across as a bit weak. She seemed to be someone who let someone else make decisions for her, which would be fine if (like The Impossible Planet) she had been thrust suddenly into command, but she was the Captain from the get go. It was she who made the decision to mine the star for fuel and then seemed like someone hit on the head when trouble began. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't compelling either and just seemed out of place given that she was with the Doctor in nearly every scene.
There were some nice moments. Martha had a couple of nice scenes where she called her mom and she also had some nice chemistry moments with Riley. I would have preferred if the Saxon team with Martha's mom hadn't been revealed until the last scene but it still worked. Likewise, the Doctor had some nice moments especially when he was rescuing Martha and after he had been infected.
Still, I think the word for this episode is uneventful. It has elements that should make it compelling, but it never really gels and once it is over, it begins to slip way from your mind. There's nothing here to really grab you and make you want to watch it again. Again, not bad, just not particularly good either.
Overall personal score: 2.5 out of 5
When I found out Friday that Chris Chibnall will be taking over as show runner following Series 10 in 2017, I thought I should pull one of his episodes again to refresh myself on his work. This worked out fairly well as I had no memory of 42 the first time I watched it. The net result... eh.
Plot Summary
The Doctor and Martha receive a distress call and land on a ship that is crashing into a star and will impact in forty-two minutes. The room where the TARDIS is becomes flooded with super-heated steam, preventing the evacuation of the ship. What's more, one of the crew has been infected and has sabotaged the main engine controls. Martha and one crew member (Riley) head to the auxiliary engine control room which has been sealed off by a series of doors. The doors are password protected with the password being the answer to trivia questions the crew came up with during a drunken binge.
The Doctor attempts to help repair the engine controls but gets pulled off as the infected crew member attacks and vaporizes other members of the crew. Martha and Riley manage to avoid being killed but are trapped in an escape pod that is launched towards the sun. The infected crewman is neutralized temporarily and the Doctor journeys outside the ship and magnetically pulls the escape pod back to the ship. However, he is infected by the star and learns that the captain had mined the outer layer of the star for fuel, unwittingly stealing the heart of the star which is alive. Martha attempts to rid the Doctor of the infection but the infected crewman revives and cuts the power. The captain then grabs the infected crewman and casts him and herself out of the airlock and into the star. Unable to help, the Doctor sends Martha to the auxiliary engine control, which has been opened by Riley and another crewman, and orders her to dump the fuel. She does so and the engines come back on line allowing the ship to escape.
Analysis
When I first watched this episode, I was just following on from The Lazarus Experiment and thought I could stay up for another one, despite being tired and a little tipsy. Needless to say, it didn't register and when I was looking back at episodes I had seen, I realized I couldn't remember any plot details of this one. Watching it a second time, I can see why it didn't register with me.
The thing is, there is nothing particularly wrong with the episode, but it didn't really grab me either. My immediate thought was that it felt somewhat similar to The Impossible Planet in it's set up. But where that episode had engaging characters and a horror tone, this one gave me no reason to care about any character other than Riley and very little time to appreciate any tone other than urgency.
The hook for this episode is the real-time countdown to destruction. But I think that actually worked against it in a way. The little time that was spent in slower moments where you would develop character were tinged with a feeling of wasting time that undercut the potential character moment. The rest was just running around, rushing to make sure someone didn't die or attempting to unlock the puzzle of the moment. The countdown itself was the only driver and it left you a bit cold towards the characters.
Another flaw in terms of grip was the Captain's portrayal. The Captain came across as a bit weak. She seemed to be someone who let someone else make decisions for her, which would be fine if (like The Impossible Planet) she had been thrust suddenly into command, but she was the Captain from the get go. It was she who made the decision to mine the star for fuel and then seemed like someone hit on the head when trouble began. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't compelling either and just seemed out of place given that she was with the Doctor in nearly every scene.
There were some nice moments. Martha had a couple of nice scenes where she called her mom and she also had some nice chemistry moments with Riley. I would have preferred if the Saxon team with Martha's mom hadn't been revealed until the last scene but it still worked. Likewise, the Doctor had some nice moments especially when he was rescuing Martha and after he had been infected.
Still, I think the word for this episode is uneventful. It has elements that should make it compelling, but it never really gels and once it is over, it begins to slip way from your mind. There's nothing here to really grab you and make you want to watch it again. Again, not bad, just not particularly good either.
Overall personal score: 2.5 out of 5
Thursday, January 21, 2016
The Wheel In Space
Logic, my dear Zoe, meerly enables one to be wrong with authority.
I was a bit worried about The Wheel in Space when it first started. It was very slow going at first. But things picked up as it moved along.
Plot Summary
The Doctor and Jamie land the TARDIS on a seemingly abandoned rocket. The TARDIS senses danger and tries to get them to take off but when the Doctor fights it, the fluid link fails and all the mercury atomizes into the atmosphere. They leave the TARDIS to explore the rocket. A robot patrols the halls and prepares to send the rocket on a different course. The Doctor hits his head in the speed jump, suffering a concussion. They arrive outside a space station and the robot releases probe spheres containing cybermats. Jamie destroys the robot when it attacks them and then signals the station for help. The crew rescue the two and the Doctor recuperates in the infirmary while Jamie is shown around the station by the librarian, Zoe. Overhearing the station commander's plan to destroy the rocket, Jamie sabotages the laser in fear that the TARDIS will be destroyed. He is arrested and confined to the infirmary with the Doctor.
The cybermats destroy the mineral stocks that power the laser and a team is dispatched to the rocket to gather more. Inside the rocket, the two crew are brainwashed by two Cybermen who are then smuggled into the same box as the minerals and carried back into the station. They brainwash the engineer in charge of the mineral and repairing the laser. The Cybermen take over rebuilding the laser and send the brainwashed engineer to destroy the radio, which he does although he is killed in the process. The Doctor rallies the station crew against the Cybermen while the station commander descends deeper into denial about the situation.
The Doctor and the crew manage to disable the cybermats and discover that the Cybermen intend to take over the base rather than have it destroyed. The Doctor needs the time vector generator from the TARDIS that he gave to Jamie but Jamie discovers it has been lost. He and Zoe spacewalk back to the rocket to discover it. Meanwhile the base second-in-command discovers the Cybermen intend to poison the air supply but is killed when she radios this to the Doctor.
Zoe and Jamie manage to make it over to the rocket and retrieve the time vector generator and learn that the Cyberplanner has learned of the Doctor and instructed the two Cybermen on board to eliminate him. The Doctor sneaks into the laser control room to gather parts to repair the radio while Jamie and Zoe make it back to the station. They capture one of the brainwashed crew who takes Jamie to see the Doctor. The Doctor manages to kill one of the Cybermen through a jury rigged force field and then installs the time vector generator into the laser. Jamie and the recovered crewman go down to the landing bay and kill the remaining Cyberman, rescuing another brainwashed crewman in the process. They seal the landing bay and eject a Cyberman boarding party into space. The crew then fire the Doctor's upgraded laser and destroy the approaching Cyberman invasion ship. The Doctor refills the mercury in the TARDIS but Zoe sneaks aboard asking go with them. The Doctor agrees but only if she understands the danger and proceeds to show her a previous adventure (The Evil of the Daleks specifically).
Analysis
Like a number of six-part stories in 1960's Doctor Who, this story was heavily padded and was two episodes too long. Patrick Troughton was absent in episode two so there is a holding pattern there. On top of that, episode one does very little to get the story going. The first half is spent setting up the problems with the TARDIS and lamenting the loss of Victoria. There is a bit more action in the second part of the episode but again, it is more set up before the actual plot gets going. The fact that the Cybermen don't even appear until the very end of episode two bears out how much padding is going on.
This is a real shame because the remaining four episodes are pretty good. The acting is done pretty well, especially by Gemma, the second in command. She is a strong presence and has an excellent rapport with the Doctor and Jamie. The rest of the cast isn't too bad despite indulging in easy stereotypes to portray an international crew as had been done several times before.
Episode Five drags a little as you feel you are just waiting for the final face off between the Doctor and the Cybermen but it pays off pretty well in Episode Six. It's only fault is that it is too short. It is a wonderful example of the Second Doctor looking like he is cornered and prepared to give himself up but then turns the tables. It is also an excellent example of his ability to out-think the enemy and keep control of the situation, even when he is at an apparent disadvantage.
The development of Zoe is done quite well. She is shown to be amiable although a bit cold in her devotion to logic. A lot of time is poured into her character so that it does become somewhat obvious that she is going to become a companion. However, that is appreciated as it forms a good substantive reason for her becoming a companion rather than just a quick tack on like others (such as the aforementioned Victoria).
Because of the padding, I don't think I would ever rate this story as highly as others. But the stuff that is good in this story is pretty good. The padding might be a bit better if all the episodes existed. Only Episodes Three and Six exist and they move well even if they also have slower points. I would give this story a reevaluation if it was found or fully animated, but I still think it would have been better if made in to a tight four-parter.
Overall personal score: 2.5 out of 5
I was a bit worried about The Wheel in Space when it first started. It was very slow going at first. But things picked up as it moved along.
Plot Summary
The Doctor and Jamie land the TARDIS on a seemingly abandoned rocket. The TARDIS senses danger and tries to get them to take off but when the Doctor fights it, the fluid link fails and all the mercury atomizes into the atmosphere. They leave the TARDIS to explore the rocket. A robot patrols the halls and prepares to send the rocket on a different course. The Doctor hits his head in the speed jump, suffering a concussion. They arrive outside a space station and the robot releases probe spheres containing cybermats. Jamie destroys the robot when it attacks them and then signals the station for help. The crew rescue the two and the Doctor recuperates in the infirmary while Jamie is shown around the station by the librarian, Zoe. Overhearing the station commander's plan to destroy the rocket, Jamie sabotages the laser in fear that the TARDIS will be destroyed. He is arrested and confined to the infirmary with the Doctor.
The cybermats destroy the mineral stocks that power the laser and a team is dispatched to the rocket to gather more. Inside the rocket, the two crew are brainwashed by two Cybermen who are then smuggled into the same box as the minerals and carried back into the station. They brainwash the engineer in charge of the mineral and repairing the laser. The Cybermen take over rebuilding the laser and send the brainwashed engineer to destroy the radio, which he does although he is killed in the process. The Doctor rallies the station crew against the Cybermen while the station commander descends deeper into denial about the situation.
The Doctor and the crew manage to disable the cybermats and discover that the Cybermen intend to take over the base rather than have it destroyed. The Doctor needs the time vector generator from the TARDIS that he gave to Jamie but Jamie discovers it has been lost. He and Zoe spacewalk back to the rocket to discover it. Meanwhile the base second-in-command discovers the Cybermen intend to poison the air supply but is killed when she radios this to the Doctor.
Zoe and Jamie manage to make it over to the rocket and retrieve the time vector generator and learn that the Cyberplanner has learned of the Doctor and instructed the two Cybermen on board to eliminate him. The Doctor sneaks into the laser control room to gather parts to repair the radio while Jamie and Zoe make it back to the station. They capture one of the brainwashed crew who takes Jamie to see the Doctor. The Doctor manages to kill one of the Cybermen through a jury rigged force field and then installs the time vector generator into the laser. Jamie and the recovered crewman go down to the landing bay and kill the remaining Cyberman, rescuing another brainwashed crewman in the process. They seal the landing bay and eject a Cyberman boarding party into space. The crew then fire the Doctor's upgraded laser and destroy the approaching Cyberman invasion ship. The Doctor refills the mercury in the TARDIS but Zoe sneaks aboard asking go with them. The Doctor agrees but only if she understands the danger and proceeds to show her a previous adventure (The Evil of the Daleks specifically).
Analysis
Like a number of six-part stories in 1960's Doctor Who, this story was heavily padded and was two episodes too long. Patrick Troughton was absent in episode two so there is a holding pattern there. On top of that, episode one does very little to get the story going. The first half is spent setting up the problems with the TARDIS and lamenting the loss of Victoria. There is a bit more action in the second part of the episode but again, it is more set up before the actual plot gets going. The fact that the Cybermen don't even appear until the very end of episode two bears out how much padding is going on.
This is a real shame because the remaining four episodes are pretty good. The acting is done pretty well, especially by Gemma, the second in command. She is a strong presence and has an excellent rapport with the Doctor and Jamie. The rest of the cast isn't too bad despite indulging in easy stereotypes to portray an international crew as had been done several times before.
Episode Five drags a little as you feel you are just waiting for the final face off between the Doctor and the Cybermen but it pays off pretty well in Episode Six. It's only fault is that it is too short. It is a wonderful example of the Second Doctor looking like he is cornered and prepared to give himself up but then turns the tables. It is also an excellent example of his ability to out-think the enemy and keep control of the situation, even when he is at an apparent disadvantage.
The development of Zoe is done quite well. She is shown to be amiable although a bit cold in her devotion to logic. A lot of time is poured into her character so that it does become somewhat obvious that she is going to become a companion. However, that is appreciated as it forms a good substantive reason for her becoming a companion rather than just a quick tack on like others (such as the aforementioned Victoria).
Because of the padding, I don't think I would ever rate this story as highly as others. But the stuff that is good in this story is pretty good. The padding might be a bit better if all the episodes existed. Only Episodes Three and Six exist and they move well even if they also have slower points. I would give this story a reevaluation if it was found or fully animated, but I still think it would have been better if made in to a tight four-parter.
Overall personal score: 2.5 out of 5
Asylum of the Daleks
Run you clever boy and remember.
Asylum of the Daleks is mostly remembered for impressive direction and a very clever twist near the end. But if you know that twist already and watch the episode again, it doesn't quite measure up to the praise it originally garnered.
Plot Summary
The Doctor is abducted by a Dalek agent and brought, along with Rory and Amy, to the Dalek parliament spacecraft. There they are given the assignment of going down to the Dalek Asylum planet and disengaging the force field protecting it. The shield has been damaged and the Daleks are afraid that rogue Daleks will escape. When the shield is down, they will destroy the planet.
They are sent down but Rory is separated from the group during transport. He makes contact via the radio with a survivor from a crashed Earth ship named Oswin. She has been hiding from the Daleks for over a year on the planet. The Doctor and Amy meet other survivors from the crash but are attacked when they are revealed to be Dalek puppets. They escape with help from Oswin who reunites them with Rory. In the melee though, Amy lost a bracelet which will protect her from the atmosphere, designed to convert any intruders into Dalek puppets.
Prior to their kidnapping by the Daleks, Rory and Amy were in the process of finalizing a divorce and the Doctor encourages Rory to try and awaken the old feelings of love they had to slow the conversion process. Unknown to either Amy or Rory, the Doctor slips his bracelet on Amy to protect her. He then goes to rescue Oswin who says she can deactivate the force field from her terminal. The Doctor suspects that the Daleks will destroy the planet with them on it but Rory had found a teleport pad which will take them back to the ship. This will allow them all to leave at the same time the shield drops.
The Doctor discovers Oswin in a remote section of the asylum and confirms that which he had suspected: that she had been converted into a Dalek but was in denial of that fact. Confronting the truth nearly allows the the Dalek conversion to take over her mind but she fights back. She agrees to lower the force field if the Doctor promises to remember her as she was before conversion. She also initiates a program that erases the Doctor from the Dalek memory. The Doctor returns to the teleport to find that Rory and Amy have reconciled and they teleport up just before the planet is destroyed. The Daleks now have no memory of the Doctor and they escape in the TARDIS as the Daleks ask who he is.
Analysis
Coming to the party late as I did, I was already aware of the twist where Oswin turns out to be a Dalek. But I think that even I hadn't been aware of that, this episode started off on the wrong foot for me. Series Five and Six demonstrated the devotion Rory and Amy had for each other, especially Rory's. To start the episode off with the idea that they were separated and preparing for divorce rang very hollow to me; a trumped up plot point for the convenience of this particular episode. Once put off by that, it was difficult to fully get invested in the rest of the episode.
In fact, there were several of points that just didn't quite gel. The idea of a Dalek parliament seemed wrong, especially since the Dalek emperor was still there in charge of everything. It felt like an excuse to just have a thousand Daleks in a single shot.
Things improved when the team got onto the planet. The artistry of the shots was very nice and the direction involved with the mad Daleks, especially when Amy's perception of them began to change, was very good. Oswin playing guide also was quite entertaining and a nice foreshadow of what was to come with Clara and the Doctor.
Unquestionably, the best scene of the entire episode was the face-to-face meeting between the Doctor and Oswin. Seeing the reality dawn on her of what has happened is crushing. It's even worse in the form of the vitriol the Doctor barely containing in confronting her with the reality of the situation. You feel the Doctor almost deserves it when Oswin starts saying "Exterminate!" and advances on the Doctor, only to stop at the last second. Your heart goes out for her and her situation and the sacrifice at the end, albeit predictable, is touching.
It is unfortunate that the episode couldn't leave that touching moment as the tone to end on. Instead they had to indulge in the "Doctor Who" gag as the final shot. That the Doctor is reveling in the presence of the Daleks while they shout this is even more galling. In addition to just looking silly, if the Daleks had forgotten the Doctor, why would they bother to ask who he was? Wouldn't they just see an intruder and shout "Exterminate" with a thousand Dalek guns firing at once?
This is a hard episode to evaluate. The look and the parts that are good are really good and I love watching those clips. But the other stuff just takes it down such a notch. It's never cringeworthy as some episodes are for me with their poor acting or other flaws. But the flaws are significant enough that I don't feel like pulling it up to watch again with any regularity.
Overall personal score: 3 out of 5
Asylum of the Daleks is mostly remembered for impressive direction and a very clever twist near the end. But if you know that twist already and watch the episode again, it doesn't quite measure up to the praise it originally garnered.
Plot Summary
The Doctor is abducted by a Dalek agent and brought, along with Rory and Amy, to the Dalek parliament spacecraft. There they are given the assignment of going down to the Dalek Asylum planet and disengaging the force field protecting it. The shield has been damaged and the Daleks are afraid that rogue Daleks will escape. When the shield is down, they will destroy the planet.
They are sent down but Rory is separated from the group during transport. He makes contact via the radio with a survivor from a crashed Earth ship named Oswin. She has been hiding from the Daleks for over a year on the planet. The Doctor and Amy meet other survivors from the crash but are attacked when they are revealed to be Dalek puppets. They escape with help from Oswin who reunites them with Rory. In the melee though, Amy lost a bracelet which will protect her from the atmosphere, designed to convert any intruders into Dalek puppets.
Prior to their kidnapping by the Daleks, Rory and Amy were in the process of finalizing a divorce and the Doctor encourages Rory to try and awaken the old feelings of love they had to slow the conversion process. Unknown to either Amy or Rory, the Doctor slips his bracelet on Amy to protect her. He then goes to rescue Oswin who says she can deactivate the force field from her terminal. The Doctor suspects that the Daleks will destroy the planet with them on it but Rory had found a teleport pad which will take them back to the ship. This will allow them all to leave at the same time the shield drops.
The Doctor discovers Oswin in a remote section of the asylum and confirms that which he had suspected: that she had been converted into a Dalek but was in denial of that fact. Confronting the truth nearly allows the the Dalek conversion to take over her mind but she fights back. She agrees to lower the force field if the Doctor promises to remember her as she was before conversion. She also initiates a program that erases the Doctor from the Dalek memory. The Doctor returns to the teleport to find that Rory and Amy have reconciled and they teleport up just before the planet is destroyed. The Daleks now have no memory of the Doctor and they escape in the TARDIS as the Daleks ask who he is.
Analysis
Coming to the party late as I did, I was already aware of the twist where Oswin turns out to be a Dalek. But I think that even I hadn't been aware of that, this episode started off on the wrong foot for me. Series Five and Six demonstrated the devotion Rory and Amy had for each other, especially Rory's. To start the episode off with the idea that they were separated and preparing for divorce rang very hollow to me; a trumped up plot point for the convenience of this particular episode. Once put off by that, it was difficult to fully get invested in the rest of the episode.
In fact, there were several of points that just didn't quite gel. The idea of a Dalek parliament seemed wrong, especially since the Dalek emperor was still there in charge of everything. It felt like an excuse to just have a thousand Daleks in a single shot.
Things improved when the team got onto the planet. The artistry of the shots was very nice and the direction involved with the mad Daleks, especially when Amy's perception of them began to change, was very good. Oswin playing guide also was quite entertaining and a nice foreshadow of what was to come with Clara and the Doctor.
Unquestionably, the best scene of the entire episode was the face-to-face meeting between the Doctor and Oswin. Seeing the reality dawn on her of what has happened is crushing. It's even worse in the form of the vitriol the Doctor barely containing in confronting her with the reality of the situation. You feel the Doctor almost deserves it when Oswin starts saying "Exterminate!" and advances on the Doctor, only to stop at the last second. Your heart goes out for her and her situation and the sacrifice at the end, albeit predictable, is touching.
It is unfortunate that the episode couldn't leave that touching moment as the tone to end on. Instead they had to indulge in the "Doctor Who" gag as the final shot. That the Doctor is reveling in the presence of the Daleks while they shout this is even more galling. In addition to just looking silly, if the Daleks had forgotten the Doctor, why would they bother to ask who he was? Wouldn't they just see an intruder and shout "Exterminate" with a thousand Dalek guns firing at once?
This is a hard episode to evaluate. The look and the parts that are good are really good and I love watching those clips. But the other stuff just takes it down such a notch. It's never cringeworthy as some episodes are for me with their poor acting or other flaws. But the flaws are significant enough that I don't feel like pulling it up to watch again with any regularity.
Overall personal score: 3 out of 5
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
The Space Pirates
Jamie, sometimes I think you don't appreciate all I do for you.
I'm not sure I understand why this story is reviled. It is a bit slow at the start and Milo Clancy's accent is a bit of a stretch to understand, but I didn't think it was that bad.
Plot Summary
The story opens with a band of pirates attacking a series of space beacons. The beacons are made of a precious mineral and the pirates are blowing them up to collect the mineral. The Doctor and his friends land on one of these beacons that has also been landed on by a military team. The military thinks the Doctor and his party are the pirates but the real pirates arrive and slaughter the military team save one. They then blow the beacon with the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe trapped in one section that is running out of air. The Doctor attempts to drive the section back towards the others so they can get back to the TARDIS but only launch it further into space. They are boarded and rescued by a space prospector named Milo Clancy.
Clancy is suspected of being the leader of the pirates by the military and his ship is attacked by a fighter ship. He evades the fighter and then lands on the principle mineral mining planet, run by the daughter of his old partner. Clancy repairs his ship while the Doctor and his companions wander off thinking Clancy might be part of the pirates. They run into the real pirates and fall into a holding cell where the captured army officer is being held. Clancy finds them and they flee through the tunnels away from the pirates who discovered them. They run into Clancy's partner's daughter (Madeline) who turns them over to the pirates. She began the gang as a salvage operation but the pirate leader (Caven) has expanded his control and is now blackmailing her.
They are put into the old study where Clancy's partner (Dom) has been held for years. Caven plans to put them aboard Clancy's old ship and kill them in an apparent "accident" just as the military arrives. That will allow the pirates some time to lie low before resuming their activities. The Doctor's group manages to escape the study and heads for Clancy's ship. The pirates launch Clancy's ship remotely with only Clancy and Dom aboard. The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe realize what has happened and return to the control room. They knock out the guard and Madeline signals the military as to what is happening. The Doctor returns oxygen to Clancy's ship and walks Clancy through how to regain control. Caven, realizing what has happened, rigs the power plant to explode via remote detonation as they fly away. Clancy manages to land his ship back on the planet and frees the Doctor and his friends. The Doctor races to the power plant and disables the remote detonator. The military attacks the pirates and when the pirates attempt to detonate the bomb, nothing happens. The pirate ship is destroyed and Clancy gives the Doctor and his companions a lift back to the section of the beacon that has the TARDIS.
Analysis
I liked this story a lot better than I thought I might based on it's reputation. I think the fan gripes about it are the result of three issues. The first is the fact that it is a recon and an action-y recon at that. This story reminds me not so much of pirate tales but of tales of the cattle barons and outlaws. Good stories but very action oriented and when you can't see that action, things begin to bog down in the mind. It is well written but there is less dialogue than might be expected in a Robert Holmes script and given that this is the only Holmes story missing the video, it is interesting to see how the witty word play is hamstrung by the lack of visuals.
The second gripe I imagine many fans have is Milo Clancy's accent. It's like a bad imitation of Dana Carvey doing Jimmy Stewart. It will grate on you after a while but there was enough break that it never got to me. Also, unlike others, I didn't have any problem understanding what he was saying. I had worse problems understanding Caven due to audio fading at times.
The third thing that I think gets to fans is how little the Doctor is involved until the end. The Doctor and his friends are not even part of the action until Episode Three and even then they are more tag-a-longs as it is Clancy that still drives the action. It is not until Episode Five and the break out from Dom's study/prison that the Doctor begins to assert himself fully. That the Doctor controls nearly all the action and problem solving in Episode Six may not make up for it in some fan's eyes. I, on the other hand, didn't have a problem with it. I thought the story interesting enough that the Doctor's stance on the outside wasn't an issue. Episode One was a bit of a slog without the Doctor and some rather obvious padding, but things tightened up in Episode Two and went fine from there as far as I'm concerned.
As I said, the story was well written with Robert Holmes honing his skills. There were a couple of small instances of the traditional two-person sparing that Holmes would later do so well. I think if Clancy's voice had been done in a less odd fashion, the dialogue would be a bit more well received with this story.
My own faults lie in the same vein as those mentioned above, except that they didn't bother me quite as much as others. Tightening this to a five-parter, dropping Clancy's voice into a more normal range, and having actual action footage would shoot this story pretty high for me. But I have to say that despite these, I still really enjoyed this one on the whole. I'd happily sit down and watch it again if it were found.
Overall personal score: 3 out of 5
I'm not sure I understand why this story is reviled. It is a bit slow at the start and Milo Clancy's accent is a bit of a stretch to understand, but I didn't think it was that bad.
Plot Summary
The story opens with a band of pirates attacking a series of space beacons. The beacons are made of a precious mineral and the pirates are blowing them up to collect the mineral. The Doctor and his friends land on one of these beacons that has also been landed on by a military team. The military thinks the Doctor and his party are the pirates but the real pirates arrive and slaughter the military team save one. They then blow the beacon with the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe trapped in one section that is running out of air. The Doctor attempts to drive the section back towards the others so they can get back to the TARDIS but only launch it further into space. They are boarded and rescued by a space prospector named Milo Clancy.
Clancy is suspected of being the leader of the pirates by the military and his ship is attacked by a fighter ship. He evades the fighter and then lands on the principle mineral mining planet, run by the daughter of his old partner. Clancy repairs his ship while the Doctor and his companions wander off thinking Clancy might be part of the pirates. They run into the real pirates and fall into a holding cell where the captured army officer is being held. Clancy finds them and they flee through the tunnels away from the pirates who discovered them. They run into Clancy's partner's daughter (Madeline) who turns them over to the pirates. She began the gang as a salvage operation but the pirate leader (Caven) has expanded his control and is now blackmailing her.
They are put into the old study where Clancy's partner (Dom) has been held for years. Caven plans to put them aboard Clancy's old ship and kill them in an apparent "accident" just as the military arrives. That will allow the pirates some time to lie low before resuming their activities. The Doctor's group manages to escape the study and heads for Clancy's ship. The pirates launch Clancy's ship remotely with only Clancy and Dom aboard. The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe realize what has happened and return to the control room. They knock out the guard and Madeline signals the military as to what is happening. The Doctor returns oxygen to Clancy's ship and walks Clancy through how to regain control. Caven, realizing what has happened, rigs the power plant to explode via remote detonation as they fly away. Clancy manages to land his ship back on the planet and frees the Doctor and his friends. The Doctor races to the power plant and disables the remote detonator. The military attacks the pirates and when the pirates attempt to detonate the bomb, nothing happens. The pirate ship is destroyed and Clancy gives the Doctor and his companions a lift back to the section of the beacon that has the TARDIS.
Analysis
I liked this story a lot better than I thought I might based on it's reputation. I think the fan gripes about it are the result of three issues. The first is the fact that it is a recon and an action-y recon at that. This story reminds me not so much of pirate tales but of tales of the cattle barons and outlaws. Good stories but very action oriented and when you can't see that action, things begin to bog down in the mind. It is well written but there is less dialogue than might be expected in a Robert Holmes script and given that this is the only Holmes story missing the video, it is interesting to see how the witty word play is hamstrung by the lack of visuals.
The second gripe I imagine many fans have is Milo Clancy's accent. It's like a bad imitation of Dana Carvey doing Jimmy Stewart. It will grate on you after a while but there was enough break that it never got to me. Also, unlike others, I didn't have any problem understanding what he was saying. I had worse problems understanding Caven due to audio fading at times.
The third thing that I think gets to fans is how little the Doctor is involved until the end. The Doctor and his friends are not even part of the action until Episode Three and even then they are more tag-a-longs as it is Clancy that still drives the action. It is not until Episode Five and the break out from Dom's study/prison that the Doctor begins to assert himself fully. That the Doctor controls nearly all the action and problem solving in Episode Six may not make up for it in some fan's eyes. I, on the other hand, didn't have a problem with it. I thought the story interesting enough that the Doctor's stance on the outside wasn't an issue. Episode One was a bit of a slog without the Doctor and some rather obvious padding, but things tightened up in Episode Two and went fine from there as far as I'm concerned.
As I said, the story was well written with Robert Holmes honing his skills. There were a couple of small instances of the traditional two-person sparing that Holmes would later do so well. I think if Clancy's voice had been done in a less odd fashion, the dialogue would be a bit more well received with this story.
My own faults lie in the same vein as those mentioned above, except that they didn't bother me quite as much as others. Tightening this to a five-parter, dropping Clancy's voice into a more normal range, and having actual action footage would shoot this story pretty high for me. But I have to say that despite these, I still really enjoyed this one on the whole. I'd happily sit down and watch it again if it were found.
Overall personal score: 3 out of 5
The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang
Could you all stay still a minute BECAUSE I AM TALKING!
The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang made an excellent end to Series Five and the start of the Eleventh Doctor. However, while good, I don't gush as profusely as others about this one.
Plot Summary
The Doctor arrives in Roman Britain with Amy. He receives a message that the Queen of Egypt has come and wants to see him. There he finds River with a painting message from Vincent Van Gogh. Also in the camp is Rory, although Amy fails to recognize him. His memory is fuzzy beyond being killed by the Silurians and then awakening as a Roman centurion but all other memories are intact.
The Doctor, Amy, River, and Rory's squad of Romans proceed to Stonehenge where they find a large stone box, the Pandorica. The Doctor realizes that it is coming on-line and will open soon. He also realizes that a signal is being sent so that all hostile races of the universe will be attempting to collect it. Several decayed Cybermen are already there and attempt to kill Amy and the Doctor before being dispatched by the Romans. A number of aliens arrive but the Doctor manages to scare them off with a speech. He then sends River to bring the TARDIS to Stonehenge. She gets to the TARDIS but gets taken instead to Amy's house where she discovers books on Roman Britain and Greek mythology. Realizing that it's a trap, River races back to the TARDIS but something goes wrong and the TARDIS explodes.
Meanwhile, the Romans (including Rory) reveal themselves to be Autons. They capture the Doctor and bring him down to face a group of his greatest foes. The Pandorica opens with only a chair inside. They lock the Doctor inside with him pleading with them to not do this as it will cause the universe to collapse. Rory, attempting to fight his Auton nature, shoots Amy and she collapses.
In the second part, the aliens have all turned to stone as their home planets are wiped out of time. Rory, mourning what he has done to Amy, sees the Doctor arrive from the future and tell him to unlock him from the Pandorica so he can help Amy. Rory does so and they place Amy in the Pandorica which will keep her alive until a sample of her fresh DNA can be used to restore her. This means that Amy will have to wait in the Pandorica until arriving at her own childhood nearly 2,000 years in the future. Rory accepts this, vowing to stand guard over the Pandorica until the Doctor and young Amy arrive.
The Doctor uses River's vortex manipulator to jump forward in time and get young Amy to touch the Pandorica, opening it and reviving Amy. She is reunited with Rory who is now a museum security guard. The light from the Pandorica also revitalizes a Dalek who had been kept in the museum. Young Amy disappears, a sign that the universe is collapsing and, urged by a visit from a wounded Doctor from the future, run to the roof where they see the TARDIS exploding. The Doctor uses the vortex manipulator again to rescue River from the TARDIS.
The Dalek emerges and shoots the Doctor. He then jumps back in time while Amy and Rory run. River shoots the Dalek, destroying it. The group reunites with the wounded Doctor who has converted the Pandorica to fly into the TARDIS explosion, which should reset the universe. Urging Amy to remember him, he flies in to the explosion and begins to seal the universe cracks. He closes the last one in Amy's bedroom by stepping into it.
Amy then wakes on her wedding day. Prompted by River's empty diary at the reception, Amy begins to recall the Doctor and focuses on her memories of him. The TARDIS then materializes and the Doctor steps out of it. After the wedding, the Doctor returns River's diary and vortex manipulator, allowing her to return to her own time while he, Rory and Amy leave on new adventures.
Analysis
Both episodes are very good, although I think I like The Pandorica Opens a little better than The Big Bang. The pacing keeps you on the edge of your seat and the mystery of what is going on causes you to lose yourself in the story. There are also great moments of comedy ("Look at me, I'm a target") that provide levity at just the right moments, pulling you actually deeper into the story.
Ironically, if there was one part of The Pandorica Opens that I didn't care for it was the Stonehenge speech which everyone else loves. There wasn't anything particularly profound in it and it was a reliance on the threat of the Doctor rather than actually seeing him do anything. It makes for a stark contrast to the Tenth Doctor who would be subtle, almost indifferent in his warnings, but then he would go forth and damn the body count.
The Big Bang was a good follow up and very different. It still held a good amount of tension but the scope was so different. While The Pandorica Opens had an epic feel with a large cast and many special effects, The Big Bang was contained with the smallness of the cast and location pressing in on you. It's such a significant contrast that it ends up flowing very well.
Like The Pandorica Opens, the pacing is tight with the emptiness providing the tension. Yet there are also dashes of humor, especially from River, that both ease the mood and yet draw you in further to the story. River's taunting of the Dalek before she kills it is especially entertaining.
On the subject of the Dalek, that begins the short list of nits that I have to pick with this episode. The Dalek wasn't really necessary and it actually ended up being mostly pointless other than to provide a substantive threat for a brief period of time. You could liken it to the Primords in Inferno in that the environmental threat was viewed as not enough and a corporeal monster was also needed. However, the Dalek's role is small and it does also provide with the fun scene between it and River so that also mitigates my annoyance with it.
My other problem with the episode was the almost magical nature of the Doctor's return. The End of Time rightly took a lot of flak for resurrecting the Master with blood magic (no matter how much they tried to claim it was "science"). I don't really see why Amy's resurrecting of the Doctor should get any less scorn. First, her memory is triggered by River and her (now empty) diary. But River got her diary from the Doctor so it's existence is questionable to begin with. Second, why is it that Amy remembering is what brings the Doctor back? Her latent memories of Rory brought him back but that was due to the Autons exploiting her memory and recreating aspects of that reality. The Doctor is more or less wished into existence by Amy calling on latent memories. I can understand how dual memories can exist when patching together two time streams, but actually being able to bring something from that other time stream by nothing other than bridging it in your mind seems a little to fanciful for a show that leans very heavily on science and logic. If you wish to indulge in magic or acts of faith, fine; I have no problem with that if it is within the context of your tale (see Harry Potter). But to indulge in that without setting up a proper context for it just doesn't sit right with me. It's more Deus Ex Machina than I can truly accept.
Still, it doesn't diminish what went on in the prior minutes. They are still very good stories and I happily sit down to rewatch them when I get a chance.
Overall personal score: The Pandorica Opens - 5 out of 5; The Big Bang - 4 out of 5
The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang made an excellent end to Series Five and the start of the Eleventh Doctor. However, while good, I don't gush as profusely as others about this one.
Plot Summary
The Doctor arrives in Roman Britain with Amy. He receives a message that the Queen of Egypt has come and wants to see him. There he finds River with a painting message from Vincent Van Gogh. Also in the camp is Rory, although Amy fails to recognize him. His memory is fuzzy beyond being killed by the Silurians and then awakening as a Roman centurion but all other memories are intact.
The Doctor, Amy, River, and Rory's squad of Romans proceed to Stonehenge where they find a large stone box, the Pandorica. The Doctor realizes that it is coming on-line and will open soon. He also realizes that a signal is being sent so that all hostile races of the universe will be attempting to collect it. Several decayed Cybermen are already there and attempt to kill Amy and the Doctor before being dispatched by the Romans. A number of aliens arrive but the Doctor manages to scare them off with a speech. He then sends River to bring the TARDIS to Stonehenge. She gets to the TARDIS but gets taken instead to Amy's house where she discovers books on Roman Britain and Greek mythology. Realizing that it's a trap, River races back to the TARDIS but something goes wrong and the TARDIS explodes.
Meanwhile, the Romans (including Rory) reveal themselves to be Autons. They capture the Doctor and bring him down to face a group of his greatest foes. The Pandorica opens with only a chair inside. They lock the Doctor inside with him pleading with them to not do this as it will cause the universe to collapse. Rory, attempting to fight his Auton nature, shoots Amy and she collapses.
In the second part, the aliens have all turned to stone as their home planets are wiped out of time. Rory, mourning what he has done to Amy, sees the Doctor arrive from the future and tell him to unlock him from the Pandorica so he can help Amy. Rory does so and they place Amy in the Pandorica which will keep her alive until a sample of her fresh DNA can be used to restore her. This means that Amy will have to wait in the Pandorica until arriving at her own childhood nearly 2,000 years in the future. Rory accepts this, vowing to stand guard over the Pandorica until the Doctor and young Amy arrive.
The Doctor uses River's vortex manipulator to jump forward in time and get young Amy to touch the Pandorica, opening it and reviving Amy. She is reunited with Rory who is now a museum security guard. The light from the Pandorica also revitalizes a Dalek who had been kept in the museum. Young Amy disappears, a sign that the universe is collapsing and, urged by a visit from a wounded Doctor from the future, run to the roof where they see the TARDIS exploding. The Doctor uses the vortex manipulator again to rescue River from the TARDIS.
The Dalek emerges and shoots the Doctor. He then jumps back in time while Amy and Rory run. River shoots the Dalek, destroying it. The group reunites with the wounded Doctor who has converted the Pandorica to fly into the TARDIS explosion, which should reset the universe. Urging Amy to remember him, he flies in to the explosion and begins to seal the universe cracks. He closes the last one in Amy's bedroom by stepping into it.
Amy then wakes on her wedding day. Prompted by River's empty diary at the reception, Amy begins to recall the Doctor and focuses on her memories of him. The TARDIS then materializes and the Doctor steps out of it. After the wedding, the Doctor returns River's diary and vortex manipulator, allowing her to return to her own time while he, Rory and Amy leave on new adventures.
Analysis
Both episodes are very good, although I think I like The Pandorica Opens a little better than The Big Bang. The pacing keeps you on the edge of your seat and the mystery of what is going on causes you to lose yourself in the story. There are also great moments of comedy ("Look at me, I'm a target") that provide levity at just the right moments, pulling you actually deeper into the story.
Ironically, if there was one part of The Pandorica Opens that I didn't care for it was the Stonehenge speech which everyone else loves. There wasn't anything particularly profound in it and it was a reliance on the threat of the Doctor rather than actually seeing him do anything. It makes for a stark contrast to the Tenth Doctor who would be subtle, almost indifferent in his warnings, but then he would go forth and damn the body count.
The Big Bang was a good follow up and very different. It still held a good amount of tension but the scope was so different. While The Pandorica Opens had an epic feel with a large cast and many special effects, The Big Bang was contained with the smallness of the cast and location pressing in on you. It's such a significant contrast that it ends up flowing very well.
Like The Pandorica Opens, the pacing is tight with the emptiness providing the tension. Yet there are also dashes of humor, especially from River, that both ease the mood and yet draw you in further to the story. River's taunting of the Dalek before she kills it is especially entertaining.
On the subject of the Dalek, that begins the short list of nits that I have to pick with this episode. The Dalek wasn't really necessary and it actually ended up being mostly pointless other than to provide a substantive threat for a brief period of time. You could liken it to the Primords in Inferno in that the environmental threat was viewed as not enough and a corporeal monster was also needed. However, the Dalek's role is small and it does also provide with the fun scene between it and River so that also mitigates my annoyance with it.
My other problem with the episode was the almost magical nature of the Doctor's return. The End of Time rightly took a lot of flak for resurrecting the Master with blood magic (no matter how much they tried to claim it was "science"). I don't really see why Amy's resurrecting of the Doctor should get any less scorn. First, her memory is triggered by River and her (now empty) diary. But River got her diary from the Doctor so it's existence is questionable to begin with. Second, why is it that Amy remembering is what brings the Doctor back? Her latent memories of Rory brought him back but that was due to the Autons exploiting her memory and recreating aspects of that reality. The Doctor is more or less wished into existence by Amy calling on latent memories. I can understand how dual memories can exist when patching together two time streams, but actually being able to bring something from that other time stream by nothing other than bridging it in your mind seems a little to fanciful for a show that leans very heavily on science and logic. If you wish to indulge in magic or acts of faith, fine; I have no problem with that if it is within the context of your tale (see Harry Potter). But to indulge in that without setting up a proper context for it just doesn't sit right with me. It's more Deus Ex Machina than I can truly accept.
Still, it doesn't diminish what went on in the prior minutes. They are still very good stories and I happily sit down to rewatch them when I get a chance.
Overall personal score: The Pandorica Opens - 5 out of 5; The Big Bang - 4 out of 5
Thursday, January 14, 2016
The Dalek Invasion of Earth
One day I shall come back, yes I shall come back...
Because of the Doctor Who mythology that surrounds, especially the last ten minutes, of The Dalek Invasion of Earth, it tends to be hailed as a classic regardless of the story quality. Having watched the story in total, it's not an unreasonable claim.
Plot Summary
The Doctor and his companions land in mid-twenty-second century London to find Earth in the control of the Daleks and their converted human puppets called Robomen. Barbara and Susan fall in with a group of rebels while the Doctor and Ian are captured by the Daleks. The humans launch an attack on one of the Dalek ships but their weapons are ineffectual. The Doctor is rescued and is reunited with Susan and a rebel named David. Ian stays aboard the ship but hides himself from the Daleks in the chaos. Barbara retreats with the survivors back to the main rebel base.
Learning that the Daleks have concentrated their work towards mining operations in central Britain, the Doctor, Susan and David begin to make their way towards the mining facilities, falling in with another fighter named Tyler. Ian is also taken there as the ship he is on is dropping off captured prisoners there. Barbara and a small group first make their way across London looking for other bands of fighters but then also makes towards the mine with a fighter named Jenny.
Ian and another fighter named Larry fall in with the mine resistance and make their way into the mines. Barbara and Jenny are captured and taken to the mines, although Barbara later tricks the Daleks into taking her and Jenny into the Dalek control room in an attempt to disrupt their operations. The Doctor and his party launch an attack against the Dalek power grid that temporarily neutralizes the Daleks. In the disruption, Ian dislodges a bomb intended to expose the Earth's core and Barbara orders the Robomen to turn on the Daleks, leading to a wide scale revolt at the mine. The humans flee the mine and the bomb explodes. The Dalek control ships are caught in the explosion, having been assembled to harvest the Earth's core, and destroyed. United, the team prepares to leave but Susan admits that she loves David and is heartbroken about leaving when David proposes to her but feels obligated to care for the Doctor. Seeing this, the Doctor locks her out of the TARDIS, telling her that she must go and build a new life with David and that he will eventually return to her. The TARDIS then leaves and a shocked Susan leaves with David.
Analysis
There are moments in this story that are absolutely wonderful. There are also moments that are pretty bad as well. It's just a question of which side carries more weight in how much you enjoy the story.
First, the good. The overall tone of the story is excellent. The acting is well done and there is an excellent sense of menace from the Daleks. All of the human characters are very relateable (both the resistance fighters and the civilians they meet). There is a very strong emoting both in acting and dialogue of WWII and to see Daleks parading around London monuments like Nazis only twenty years after the fact must have evoked a strong reaction, especially from the parents who watched the episodes with their children.
My personal favorite scene was early in episode three where Barbara, Jenny, and the resistance scientist Dortmun are running across London, avoiding the Daleks who are positioned around various famous landmarks. There is no dialogue in this scene. There is just the sound of rising and falling drums as the Daleks move around and the resistance party runs from location to location. There is an intensity here that is not felt anywhere else in the episode as to how much in control the Daleks are and how pitiful the resistance is. It is just very well done.
The Doctor's final speech to Susan is also very good, but it is lessened in its impact by two things. The first is the fact that it is probably the most recognizable moment in the entire First Doctor era. Anyone who has familiarity with the classic series has heard this speech and its impact is lessened with overexposure. The second is the drawn out nature of the scene. Susan lingers with David and gets so weepy that it becomes very obvious that she is going to stay behind. The Doctor is even starting to broadcast that before he enters the TARDIS. Susan's dazed reaction after the TARDIS disappears also goes on too long. Her reaction of dropping the key and David coming to support her should have happened much quicker. I think a questioning "Grandfather?" might also have been appropriate from Susan rather than just her stunned silence. To me, it offset the impact of the Doctor's speech in its awkwardness.
Now the not so good. It is difficult in a story of this scope to not notice the limitations brought by technology and budget. There are a number of occasions where the studio backdrop is obvious or the props don't look right or some explosion is happening but the camera focuses on the actor (or where the actor was) while a light and noise happen off camera. There is also a scene where Susan is being threatened by an alligator and it is very obvious that the alligator filmed is a baby one made to look bigger. Things like this can be overlooked as they were obviously doing the best they could, but when viewed in large numbers, they begin to take a toll in reminding you of the production limits and distracting from the overall story.
My second nit is that the story, as is, is an episode too long. William Hartnell takes an episode off in episode four and the story jogs in place while he is absent. There is a small detour done with Ian showing the deals that had to be made with spivs and Barbara and Jenny's travels are given a bit more detail, but most of that could have either been cut or compressed in other areas without the loss of anything integral to the story.
A counter-balance to keeping it a six-part story would be to address the third complaint I have and that is the abruptness of the ending. This is not a new problem for me and Doctor Who as I often feel the conflict resolution is rushed, but this one stands out a little more. No explanation is given as to why the Daleks wish to remove the Earth's core and replace it with an engine. Giving them a planet to fly around the universe doesn't seem to be a particularly useful tool and seems like a waste of invasion resources. The Daleks also seem to be rather easily overthrown through the loss of power that it seems odd that no one else ever did that. It also seems very odd that the people in the mining area (including the Doctor) could get clear in the amount of time given and still have the explosion large enough to mimic a volcanic eruption that destroys the entire Dalek fleet. It just felt like a bit of hand waving to make everything turn out nicely in time for the story to finish in the allotted time.
Again, it's a question of how much the good outweighs the bad. I think I could watch this one again without too many problems, especially if I opted to skip episode four. I think the first half of The Dalek's Master Plan was the best contribution by Terry Nation in the First Doctor era, but this is better than his other efforts with The Chase being the only story of the First Doctor era of his that I have not seen yet.
Overall personal score: 3 out of 5
Because of the Doctor Who mythology that surrounds, especially the last ten minutes, of The Dalek Invasion of Earth, it tends to be hailed as a classic regardless of the story quality. Having watched the story in total, it's not an unreasonable claim.
Plot Summary
The Doctor and his companions land in mid-twenty-second century London to find Earth in the control of the Daleks and their converted human puppets called Robomen. Barbara and Susan fall in with a group of rebels while the Doctor and Ian are captured by the Daleks. The humans launch an attack on one of the Dalek ships but their weapons are ineffectual. The Doctor is rescued and is reunited with Susan and a rebel named David. Ian stays aboard the ship but hides himself from the Daleks in the chaos. Barbara retreats with the survivors back to the main rebel base.
Learning that the Daleks have concentrated their work towards mining operations in central Britain, the Doctor, Susan and David begin to make their way towards the mining facilities, falling in with another fighter named Tyler. Ian is also taken there as the ship he is on is dropping off captured prisoners there. Barbara and a small group first make their way across London looking for other bands of fighters but then also makes towards the mine with a fighter named Jenny.
Ian and another fighter named Larry fall in with the mine resistance and make their way into the mines. Barbara and Jenny are captured and taken to the mines, although Barbara later tricks the Daleks into taking her and Jenny into the Dalek control room in an attempt to disrupt their operations. The Doctor and his party launch an attack against the Dalek power grid that temporarily neutralizes the Daleks. In the disruption, Ian dislodges a bomb intended to expose the Earth's core and Barbara orders the Robomen to turn on the Daleks, leading to a wide scale revolt at the mine. The humans flee the mine and the bomb explodes. The Dalek control ships are caught in the explosion, having been assembled to harvest the Earth's core, and destroyed. United, the team prepares to leave but Susan admits that she loves David and is heartbroken about leaving when David proposes to her but feels obligated to care for the Doctor. Seeing this, the Doctor locks her out of the TARDIS, telling her that she must go and build a new life with David and that he will eventually return to her. The TARDIS then leaves and a shocked Susan leaves with David.
Analysis
There are moments in this story that are absolutely wonderful. There are also moments that are pretty bad as well. It's just a question of which side carries more weight in how much you enjoy the story.
First, the good. The overall tone of the story is excellent. The acting is well done and there is an excellent sense of menace from the Daleks. All of the human characters are very relateable (both the resistance fighters and the civilians they meet). There is a very strong emoting both in acting and dialogue of WWII and to see Daleks parading around London monuments like Nazis only twenty years after the fact must have evoked a strong reaction, especially from the parents who watched the episodes with their children.
My personal favorite scene was early in episode three where Barbara, Jenny, and the resistance scientist Dortmun are running across London, avoiding the Daleks who are positioned around various famous landmarks. There is no dialogue in this scene. There is just the sound of rising and falling drums as the Daleks move around and the resistance party runs from location to location. There is an intensity here that is not felt anywhere else in the episode as to how much in control the Daleks are and how pitiful the resistance is. It is just very well done.
The Doctor's final speech to Susan is also very good, but it is lessened in its impact by two things. The first is the fact that it is probably the most recognizable moment in the entire First Doctor era. Anyone who has familiarity with the classic series has heard this speech and its impact is lessened with overexposure. The second is the drawn out nature of the scene. Susan lingers with David and gets so weepy that it becomes very obvious that she is going to stay behind. The Doctor is even starting to broadcast that before he enters the TARDIS. Susan's dazed reaction after the TARDIS disappears also goes on too long. Her reaction of dropping the key and David coming to support her should have happened much quicker. I think a questioning "Grandfather?" might also have been appropriate from Susan rather than just her stunned silence. To me, it offset the impact of the Doctor's speech in its awkwardness.
Now the not so good. It is difficult in a story of this scope to not notice the limitations brought by technology and budget. There are a number of occasions where the studio backdrop is obvious or the props don't look right or some explosion is happening but the camera focuses on the actor (or where the actor was) while a light and noise happen off camera. There is also a scene where Susan is being threatened by an alligator and it is very obvious that the alligator filmed is a baby one made to look bigger. Things like this can be overlooked as they were obviously doing the best they could, but when viewed in large numbers, they begin to take a toll in reminding you of the production limits and distracting from the overall story.
My second nit is that the story, as is, is an episode too long. William Hartnell takes an episode off in episode four and the story jogs in place while he is absent. There is a small detour done with Ian showing the deals that had to be made with spivs and Barbara and Jenny's travels are given a bit more detail, but most of that could have either been cut or compressed in other areas without the loss of anything integral to the story.
A counter-balance to keeping it a six-part story would be to address the third complaint I have and that is the abruptness of the ending. This is not a new problem for me and Doctor Who as I often feel the conflict resolution is rushed, but this one stands out a little more. No explanation is given as to why the Daleks wish to remove the Earth's core and replace it with an engine. Giving them a planet to fly around the universe doesn't seem to be a particularly useful tool and seems like a waste of invasion resources. The Daleks also seem to be rather easily overthrown through the loss of power that it seems odd that no one else ever did that. It also seems very odd that the people in the mining area (including the Doctor) could get clear in the amount of time given and still have the explosion large enough to mimic a volcanic eruption that destroys the entire Dalek fleet. It just felt like a bit of hand waving to make everything turn out nicely in time for the story to finish in the allotted time.
Again, it's a question of how much the good outweighs the bad. I think I could watch this one again without too many problems, especially if I opted to skip episode four. I think the first half of The Dalek's Master Plan was the best contribution by Terry Nation in the First Doctor era, but this is better than his other efforts with The Chase being the only story of the First Doctor era of his that I have not seen yet.
Overall personal score: 3 out of 5
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Deep Breath
Planet of the pudding brains.
The introduction of the Twelfth Doctor is a real mixed bag for me with some truly excellent scenes mixed with some less than desirable ones.
Plot Summary
The TARDIS is coughed up by a dinosaur that has appeared in late 19th century London. A newly regenerated Doctor appears and collapses. He, the TARDIS and Clara are taken by Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax to their home to recover. While there, the dinosaur is murdered and the Doctor wanders off to investigate. Both the Doctor and Clara see an advertisement in the paper a day later that appears to be coming from the other to meet at a specific restaurant. There they discover the patrons are all robots fitted with human augments and that there is a tunnel leading to the robot headquarters. The robots begin to wake and they discover they can avoid detection by holding their breath and posing as robots. Clara and the Doctor are separated and Clara is captured, however the Doctor emerges and rescues her. Clara and the Paternoster Gang fight off the drone robots while the Doctor pursues the Half-Faced Man leader robot in a balloon. They confront each other while the robots get the upper hand against the Gang but they all deactivate when the Half-Face Man is impaled after falling out of the balloon. The Doctor and Clara leave but Clara is unsure if she will continue to travel with the Doctor until she receives a call from the Eleventh Doctor shortly before he regenerates telling her that he now needs her more than ever. Clara then accepts the Doctor in his new form and agrees to continue adventuring with him.
Analysis
I think it's fairly obvious that the production team was scared of how the audience would react to the Twelfth Doctor. There is a lot of hand holding and exposition that give the impression (unlike other episodes in the new series) that the audience cannot be trusted to either remember information from previous episodes or that they will dislike things because they are less pretty. As someone who doesn't have a problem with either an older Doctor or the darker tone, these hesitations distract from what would have been a very good story.
The acting is quite good, especially from Peter Capaldi in getting his feet wet as the Doctor. There is a contemptuous and dark edge to his Doctor that hadn't been seen since the Sixth Doctor days, but it makes him more interesting. It made for a major contrast with the effervescent and optimistic Eleventh Doctor but in a good way.
My overwhelmingly favorite scene in the episode emphasized this. The Doctor and the Half-Faced Man are facing off at the entrance to the balloon, knowing that either the Half-Faced Man will have to jump out or the Doctor will have to push him out. We are not shown what happens, only that the robot has been impaled. The camera pans back up to the Doctor where he is looking down and then he looks directly into the camera. In that moment, you see that it doesn't matter whether he pushed him or he didn't. You see that he would have pushed him if required. It's similar to the Tenth Doctor triggering the switch that caused the Sycorax to fall to his death in The Christmas Invasion but with so much more subtlety. That look just gave off one singular thought: Don't f*** with me.
The look of the episode also was very well done. The BBC does period very well anyway, but there was a lot of small touches that made it look better. There was also a lot of good trickery to make it feel like it was very big, when it was really very tightly contained to several rooms. In fact, despite the expansive approach, many scenes were done to emphasize the claustrophobic nature, giving you the adding feeling of tension that might lead you to hold your own breath during the fear of discovery moments.
But then there were the down moments as well. The weakest link in the episode was Clara. As the audience proxy, Clara was shown to be in a confused and weak understanding position and it seemed like a complete 180 from her normal attitude. Clara, probably more than any other companion, should have understood and been okay with the regeneration. Yet she is shown as having the biggest problem with it. It is very jarring to begin with and then when you add the exceptionally condescending scene with Madame Vastra and being able to see or not see the veil, it just puts you off both characters.
Clara rebounded a bit with the nice interplay between her and the Doctor and her speech of dedication to the Doctor right before he rescues her, but it was dissipated a second time by the need for the Eleventh Doctor's reassurances. Why would Clara need such reassurances if the Doctor just proved himself after her speech of dedication? It was another point where the audience was assumed to still not be on board with the new Doctor and they must be granted permission to accept his new iteration. It just felt so forced and again, against the characterization that had been built up for Clara.
A second decision that was made by the production staff that I didn't care for was the assumption that the audience couldn't put two and two together. Allusions to the past can work well and there were moments when the Doctor is staring at his face in the alley that it works well. But then it goes too far. In the confrontation between the Doctor and the Half-Faced Man, the Doctor reads an inscription of the SS Marie Antoinette. That should have been all that was needed. Indeed it would have been all that would have printed on any ship designation. But they added that she was the sister ship to the Madame de Pompadour. It was painful exposition and made the production team look like they thought the audience was incapable of remembering something to which people had been pointing out allusions to ever since the Half-Faced Man was first seen in the Series 8 preview trailer.
I also didn't care for the gratuitous kiss between Madame Vastra and Jenny. It seemed like titillating the slash writers and just rubbed me the wrong way. A more subtle scene of displayed affection would have been much better than this which seemed very forced.
Despite all of this, the good heavily outweighs the bad. It's just frustrating to watch something that had the capability of being a top tier story and just gets dragged down by extras. Especially if those extras feel like they came from a Lindsey Naegle memo. But, I've seen this episode at least three times now and it is a good introduction to the Twelfth Doctor. I'd happily recommend it to anyone looking for a good story to watch.
Overall personal score: 4 out of 5
The introduction of the Twelfth Doctor is a real mixed bag for me with some truly excellent scenes mixed with some less than desirable ones.
Plot Summary
The TARDIS is coughed up by a dinosaur that has appeared in late 19th century London. A newly regenerated Doctor appears and collapses. He, the TARDIS and Clara are taken by Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax to their home to recover. While there, the dinosaur is murdered and the Doctor wanders off to investigate. Both the Doctor and Clara see an advertisement in the paper a day later that appears to be coming from the other to meet at a specific restaurant. There they discover the patrons are all robots fitted with human augments and that there is a tunnel leading to the robot headquarters. The robots begin to wake and they discover they can avoid detection by holding their breath and posing as robots. Clara and the Doctor are separated and Clara is captured, however the Doctor emerges and rescues her. Clara and the Paternoster Gang fight off the drone robots while the Doctor pursues the Half-Faced Man leader robot in a balloon. They confront each other while the robots get the upper hand against the Gang but they all deactivate when the Half-Face Man is impaled after falling out of the balloon. The Doctor and Clara leave but Clara is unsure if she will continue to travel with the Doctor until she receives a call from the Eleventh Doctor shortly before he regenerates telling her that he now needs her more than ever. Clara then accepts the Doctor in his new form and agrees to continue adventuring with him.
Analysis
I think it's fairly obvious that the production team was scared of how the audience would react to the Twelfth Doctor. There is a lot of hand holding and exposition that give the impression (unlike other episodes in the new series) that the audience cannot be trusted to either remember information from previous episodes or that they will dislike things because they are less pretty. As someone who doesn't have a problem with either an older Doctor or the darker tone, these hesitations distract from what would have been a very good story.
The acting is quite good, especially from Peter Capaldi in getting his feet wet as the Doctor. There is a contemptuous and dark edge to his Doctor that hadn't been seen since the Sixth Doctor days, but it makes him more interesting. It made for a major contrast with the effervescent and optimistic Eleventh Doctor but in a good way.
My overwhelmingly favorite scene in the episode emphasized this. The Doctor and the Half-Faced Man are facing off at the entrance to the balloon, knowing that either the Half-Faced Man will have to jump out or the Doctor will have to push him out. We are not shown what happens, only that the robot has been impaled. The camera pans back up to the Doctor where he is looking down and then he looks directly into the camera. In that moment, you see that it doesn't matter whether he pushed him or he didn't. You see that he would have pushed him if required. It's similar to the Tenth Doctor triggering the switch that caused the Sycorax to fall to his death in The Christmas Invasion but with so much more subtlety. That look just gave off one singular thought: Don't f*** with me.
The look of the episode also was very well done. The BBC does period very well anyway, but there was a lot of small touches that made it look better. There was also a lot of good trickery to make it feel like it was very big, when it was really very tightly contained to several rooms. In fact, despite the expansive approach, many scenes were done to emphasize the claustrophobic nature, giving you the adding feeling of tension that might lead you to hold your own breath during the fear of discovery moments.
But then there were the down moments as well. The weakest link in the episode was Clara. As the audience proxy, Clara was shown to be in a confused and weak understanding position and it seemed like a complete 180 from her normal attitude. Clara, probably more than any other companion, should have understood and been okay with the regeneration. Yet she is shown as having the biggest problem with it. It is very jarring to begin with and then when you add the exceptionally condescending scene with Madame Vastra and being able to see or not see the veil, it just puts you off both characters.
Clara rebounded a bit with the nice interplay between her and the Doctor and her speech of dedication to the Doctor right before he rescues her, but it was dissipated a second time by the need for the Eleventh Doctor's reassurances. Why would Clara need such reassurances if the Doctor just proved himself after her speech of dedication? It was another point where the audience was assumed to still not be on board with the new Doctor and they must be granted permission to accept his new iteration. It just felt so forced and again, against the characterization that had been built up for Clara.
A second decision that was made by the production staff that I didn't care for was the assumption that the audience couldn't put two and two together. Allusions to the past can work well and there were moments when the Doctor is staring at his face in the alley that it works well. But then it goes too far. In the confrontation between the Doctor and the Half-Faced Man, the Doctor reads an inscription of the SS Marie Antoinette. That should have been all that was needed. Indeed it would have been all that would have printed on any ship designation. But they added that she was the sister ship to the Madame de Pompadour. It was painful exposition and made the production team look like they thought the audience was incapable of remembering something to which people had been pointing out allusions to ever since the Half-Faced Man was first seen in the Series 8 preview trailer.
I also didn't care for the gratuitous kiss between Madame Vastra and Jenny. It seemed like titillating the slash writers and just rubbed me the wrong way. A more subtle scene of displayed affection would have been much better than this which seemed very forced.
Despite all of this, the good heavily outweighs the bad. It's just frustrating to watch something that had the capability of being a top tier story and just gets dragged down by extras. Especially if those extras feel like they came from a Lindsey Naegle memo. But, I've seen this episode at least three times now and it is a good introduction to the Twelfth Doctor. I'd happily recommend it to anyone looking for a good story to watch.
Overall personal score: 4 out of 5
Monday, January 11, 2016
The Pirate Planet
Mr. Fibuli!
The Pirate Planet is a story that starts rather poorly, but it grows on you towards the end. It's a comedy that is looks cheap and is over the top at first, but the depth of the performance matures as the story progresses and starts to offset the cheaper effects.
Plot Summary
The Doctor and Romana land on what they believe to be the planet Calufrax where the second piece of the Key to Time is located. However they find themselves on the planet Zanak instead, despite the Key locator telling them they are in the right location. The Doctor stumbles across a family who's son has been selected by the Mentiads, a telepathic sect that is fighting the Captain, the leader of the planet. Allying with the Mentiads, and following the locator, the Doctor and Romana break into the Captain's castle with the intention of stealing the Key segment.
Inside the castle, they discover that Zanak is a mobile planet that consumes other worlds. The Captain is being directed by Queen Xanxia, who has her old body held in stasis while actually posing as the Captain's nurse. The Captain is also subtly fighting her, planning to use the destroyed planets against her. The Doctor and Romana escape the castle. Romana and K-9 rally the Mentiads against the Captain's troops while the Doctor uses the TARDIS to disrupt Zanak's attempted materialization around Earth. The Captain, realizing that the Queen is being attacked, turns on her but she kills him first. This is distraction enough for the Mentaid army to sabotage the planetary engines, destroying the bridge and Xanxia. The Doctor and Romana then recover the remains of Calufrax and convert it into the second segment.
Analysis
As I mentioned earlier, this episode starts off on the wrong foot. The Captain is very over-the-top and his costume does no favors in allaying fears of low budget. The "crowds" addressed by the Captain involve about seven people standing in an empty courtyard while the Mentiads and the manifestation of their powers look very hokey. Add some bad blue screen effects when using air cars and the first episode and a half will make you feel like you are watching something pretty awful.
However, once the Doctor and Romana break into the castle, things improve. The Captain is still over-the-top but a subtly comes into his performance, especially when his nurse is introduced. His interactions with Mr. Fibuli also add a bit more depth and will remind many of the interactions between Captain Hook and Smee in the Disney adaptations of Peter Pan.
The scaling down of the setting also helps. When confined to the castle the lack of extras is diminished and by the time the Mentiads make their assault on the castle entrance, things are starting to look decent. It's still typical mid-70's television fare, but it doesn't look bad anymore.
The Doctor also getting into direct interface with the Captain and Queen Xanxia helps a great deal with landing the jokes. The three of them (with Romana playing the straight man) offer more puns and intelligent humor that we expect from Douglas Adams' style. By the time episode four rolls around, it's either interesting action or well landed jokes and the story starts flowing bay. There is a real cheap effect that sours things at the end, but if you can keep the context of the time, it is tolerable to watch.
The Pirate Planet's biggest problem is that it follows the very intelligent The Ribos Operation. With that episode in mind, this clear play at a younger audience falls flat. It gets its legs under it eventually, but the beginning is a hard price to pay for only a good payoff at the end. I'll watch it again, but it's lower on the priority list.
Overall personal score: 3 out of 5
The Pirate Planet is a story that starts rather poorly, but it grows on you towards the end. It's a comedy that is looks cheap and is over the top at first, but the depth of the performance matures as the story progresses and starts to offset the cheaper effects.
Plot Summary
The Doctor and Romana land on what they believe to be the planet Calufrax where the second piece of the Key to Time is located. However they find themselves on the planet Zanak instead, despite the Key locator telling them they are in the right location. The Doctor stumbles across a family who's son has been selected by the Mentiads, a telepathic sect that is fighting the Captain, the leader of the planet. Allying with the Mentiads, and following the locator, the Doctor and Romana break into the Captain's castle with the intention of stealing the Key segment.
Inside the castle, they discover that Zanak is a mobile planet that consumes other worlds. The Captain is being directed by Queen Xanxia, who has her old body held in stasis while actually posing as the Captain's nurse. The Captain is also subtly fighting her, planning to use the destroyed planets against her. The Doctor and Romana escape the castle. Romana and K-9 rally the Mentiads against the Captain's troops while the Doctor uses the TARDIS to disrupt Zanak's attempted materialization around Earth. The Captain, realizing that the Queen is being attacked, turns on her but she kills him first. This is distraction enough for the Mentaid army to sabotage the planetary engines, destroying the bridge and Xanxia. The Doctor and Romana then recover the remains of Calufrax and convert it into the second segment.
Analysis
As I mentioned earlier, this episode starts off on the wrong foot. The Captain is very over-the-top and his costume does no favors in allaying fears of low budget. The "crowds" addressed by the Captain involve about seven people standing in an empty courtyard while the Mentiads and the manifestation of their powers look very hokey. Add some bad blue screen effects when using air cars and the first episode and a half will make you feel like you are watching something pretty awful.
However, once the Doctor and Romana break into the castle, things improve. The Captain is still over-the-top but a subtly comes into his performance, especially when his nurse is introduced. His interactions with Mr. Fibuli also add a bit more depth and will remind many of the interactions between Captain Hook and Smee in the Disney adaptations of Peter Pan.
The scaling down of the setting also helps. When confined to the castle the lack of extras is diminished and by the time the Mentiads make their assault on the castle entrance, things are starting to look decent. It's still typical mid-70's television fare, but it doesn't look bad anymore.
The Doctor also getting into direct interface with the Captain and Queen Xanxia helps a great deal with landing the jokes. The three of them (with Romana playing the straight man) offer more puns and intelligent humor that we expect from Douglas Adams' style. By the time episode four rolls around, it's either interesting action or well landed jokes and the story starts flowing bay. There is a real cheap effect that sours things at the end, but if you can keep the context of the time, it is tolerable to watch.
The Pirate Planet's biggest problem is that it follows the very intelligent The Ribos Operation. With that episode in mind, this clear play at a younger audience falls flat. It gets its legs under it eventually, but the beginning is a hard price to pay for only a good payoff at the end. I'll watch it again, but it's lower on the priority list.
Overall personal score: 3 out of 5
Midnight
I guess we'll just have to talk to each other.
Midnight is pretty good especially in that it's not really like a traditional Doctor Who story. It is far closer to something that you would see in The Twilight Zone.
Plot Summary
The Doctor and Donna are visiting a spa on an alien planet. Donna stays behind while the Doctor goes on shuttle to a tourist part of the planet. The Doctor disables the entertainment and the tourists spend several hours chatting. While on a slight detour from the normal route, the shuttle suddenly stops. Whilst investigating, the mechanic notices a shadow moving outside. Shortly afterwards, there is a knocking on the outside of the shuttle. The knocking continues and responds to anyone knocking back. One woman named Sky panics, thinking the thing is coming for her. The shuttle is suddenly knocked about and the power goes off.
The passengers soon find that the cockpit has been destroyed and that Sky is now in a trance. The Doctor informs the passengers that a distress signal had been sent and that a rescue shuttle should be there in an hour. Sky begins to repeat what they are saying that begins to unnerve the passengers even more. She progresses and starts repeating what they are saying as they are saying it. At this point the passengers begin to discuss throwing her out of the shuttle to be killed by the overpowered sun. The Doctor protests, trying to talk them out of it and the passengers begin to talk about throwing him out as well. Sky then stops repeating all of them and only repeats the Doctor. The passengers relax a little but then Sky takes command of the Doctor, talking with him repeating her words while his body stops moving. Sky convinces most of the passengers that the entity has passed from her to the Doctor and they must throw him out before it can move to each of them. They grab the Doctor and begin to drag him to the door but when Sky starts using phrases only the Doctor had used earlier, the hostess realizes that the entity is still in Sky and has merely taken over the Doctor's mind. She grabs Sky and propels both of them out the door. The Doctor instantly is released and the passengers back away from each other. The rescue ship arrives soon afterward and they are taken back to the resort.
Analysis
This episode was quite good. It is off the beaten path in style and it is an interesting experiment in how quickly people will turn into animals when trapped in a stressful environment. The act of simply repeating what someone says is very unnerving when done without stopping and it is also easy to feel that increased sense of panic when someone else starts going off the rails. This was well enhanced by the fact that the first 10-15 minutes of the episode is devoted to friendly interaction between the passengers which not only introduces each of them, but shows each of them in a fairly friendly and sympathetic light. The contrast formed when they turn like viscous dogs amplifies the tension all the more.
One of the best moments is the debate on whether to throw Sky out of the shuttle. The Doctor is protesting and the episode looks like it will follow the typical Doctor Who formula of the Doctor being the voice of reason and calming everyone down. But after every short appeal speech the Doctor makes, someone, usually the hostess, states the opposite of what you expect and the argument starts over again, the stakes now elevated as the passengers are both increasing in rabidity as well as animosity against the Doctor. In the absence of a companion, we feel the Doctor's panic as he is moving to a point of having no allies on the shuttle. It is also interesting that the passengers are ultimately proven right in that throwing out Sky was the only way to stop the creature.
There are a few nits to pick in this story though. Constrained by the episode time, some of the panic happens a little quickly. In fact, a number of the emotional turns happen just a little too much on a dime and that shift is a bit jarring. It undercuts the tension at times.
The other thing that bothered me was the resolution. In the debate I mentioned above, it is usually the hostess driving the argument of throwing out Sky. The only person who comes close to being on the Doctor's side is the Professor's assistant Dee Dee. It therefore seems odd that it is the hostess who retains her head and realizes that Sky is still possessed and moves to throw her out. Granted, it needed to be the hostess because she was the one who had overheard the Doctor using foreign phrases and that is what trips the light bulb as to what is going on. I just think that the hostess should not have been the one leading the argument to throwing Sky out as it made her sudden support of the Doctor look odd. Either that or it should have been Dee Dee to throw Sky out.
The other niggle I had was in Sky getting thrown out. As the Doctor is being dragged, the hostess grabs Sky and opens the door, holding her for six seconds until the pressure bubble collapses and they are both sucked out. The problem was that it didn't look like Sky was struggling that much so I didn't see a reason why the hostess needed to hold her there until they were both sucked out rather than simply try to push her out. Perhaps there was a risk of not getting her out but the way it was shot made it look like the sacrifice was rather unnecessary.
Despite these, it is a very good episode and any time that the Doctor is completely powerless in the face of an enemy is always a bit unsettling and packs an extra punch. This might be even more true for the Tenth Doctor who is always so brash with villains like the Daleks and Cybermen. Seeing him in real fear and peril gives the episode that little bit of extra oomph that is so good.
Overall personal score: 4.5 out of 5
Midnight is pretty good especially in that it's not really like a traditional Doctor Who story. It is far closer to something that you would see in The Twilight Zone.
Plot Summary
The Doctor and Donna are visiting a spa on an alien planet. Donna stays behind while the Doctor goes on shuttle to a tourist part of the planet. The Doctor disables the entertainment and the tourists spend several hours chatting. While on a slight detour from the normal route, the shuttle suddenly stops. Whilst investigating, the mechanic notices a shadow moving outside. Shortly afterwards, there is a knocking on the outside of the shuttle. The knocking continues and responds to anyone knocking back. One woman named Sky panics, thinking the thing is coming for her. The shuttle is suddenly knocked about and the power goes off.
The passengers soon find that the cockpit has been destroyed and that Sky is now in a trance. The Doctor informs the passengers that a distress signal had been sent and that a rescue shuttle should be there in an hour. Sky begins to repeat what they are saying that begins to unnerve the passengers even more. She progresses and starts repeating what they are saying as they are saying it. At this point the passengers begin to discuss throwing her out of the shuttle to be killed by the overpowered sun. The Doctor protests, trying to talk them out of it and the passengers begin to talk about throwing him out as well. Sky then stops repeating all of them and only repeats the Doctor. The passengers relax a little but then Sky takes command of the Doctor, talking with him repeating her words while his body stops moving. Sky convinces most of the passengers that the entity has passed from her to the Doctor and they must throw him out before it can move to each of them. They grab the Doctor and begin to drag him to the door but when Sky starts using phrases only the Doctor had used earlier, the hostess realizes that the entity is still in Sky and has merely taken over the Doctor's mind. She grabs Sky and propels both of them out the door. The Doctor instantly is released and the passengers back away from each other. The rescue ship arrives soon afterward and they are taken back to the resort.
Analysis
This episode was quite good. It is off the beaten path in style and it is an interesting experiment in how quickly people will turn into animals when trapped in a stressful environment. The act of simply repeating what someone says is very unnerving when done without stopping and it is also easy to feel that increased sense of panic when someone else starts going off the rails. This was well enhanced by the fact that the first 10-15 minutes of the episode is devoted to friendly interaction between the passengers which not only introduces each of them, but shows each of them in a fairly friendly and sympathetic light. The contrast formed when they turn like viscous dogs amplifies the tension all the more.
One of the best moments is the debate on whether to throw Sky out of the shuttle. The Doctor is protesting and the episode looks like it will follow the typical Doctor Who formula of the Doctor being the voice of reason and calming everyone down. But after every short appeal speech the Doctor makes, someone, usually the hostess, states the opposite of what you expect and the argument starts over again, the stakes now elevated as the passengers are both increasing in rabidity as well as animosity against the Doctor. In the absence of a companion, we feel the Doctor's panic as he is moving to a point of having no allies on the shuttle. It is also interesting that the passengers are ultimately proven right in that throwing out Sky was the only way to stop the creature.
There are a few nits to pick in this story though. Constrained by the episode time, some of the panic happens a little quickly. In fact, a number of the emotional turns happen just a little too much on a dime and that shift is a bit jarring. It undercuts the tension at times.
The other thing that bothered me was the resolution. In the debate I mentioned above, it is usually the hostess driving the argument of throwing out Sky. The only person who comes close to being on the Doctor's side is the Professor's assistant Dee Dee. It therefore seems odd that it is the hostess who retains her head and realizes that Sky is still possessed and moves to throw her out. Granted, it needed to be the hostess because she was the one who had overheard the Doctor using foreign phrases and that is what trips the light bulb as to what is going on. I just think that the hostess should not have been the one leading the argument to throwing Sky out as it made her sudden support of the Doctor look odd. Either that or it should have been Dee Dee to throw Sky out.
The other niggle I had was in Sky getting thrown out. As the Doctor is being dragged, the hostess grabs Sky and opens the door, holding her for six seconds until the pressure bubble collapses and they are both sucked out. The problem was that it didn't look like Sky was struggling that much so I didn't see a reason why the hostess needed to hold her there until they were both sucked out rather than simply try to push her out. Perhaps there was a risk of not getting her out but the way it was shot made it look like the sacrifice was rather unnecessary.
Despite these, it is a very good episode and any time that the Doctor is completely powerless in the face of an enemy is always a bit unsettling and packs an extra punch. This might be even more true for the Tenth Doctor who is always so brash with villains like the Daleks and Cybermen. Seeing him in real fear and peril gives the episode that little bit of extra oomph that is so good.
Overall personal score: 4.5 out of 5
Inferno
Doctor: I keep telling you I'm not from this world!
Brigade Leader: Then you won't feel our bullets when we shoot you.
Inferno is pretty good. It's one of the best stories I've ever seen in terms of creating tension. But I'm not ready to call it the be all and end all that other fans declare it to be.
Plot Summary
The Doctor and UNIT are assisting in a scientific en devour to drill down through the Earth's crust to tap potential energy reserves. As the drill nears the end, a green ooze begins to seep out and a technician in infected. It transforms him into a beast who attacks others workers. The beast increases the power to the drill, trying to accelerate it. The power surge causes the TARDIS console (which the Doctor has removed for experimental purposes) to surge into the vortex before being returned. The Doctor and UNIT stop the beast and drilling resumes. The Doctor attempts to recreate the surge and ends up sending the TARDIS console and himself into a parallel universe where Britain is run by a Fascist regime.
The Doctor is captured and interrogated as a spy. He attempts to escape but is recaptured when he attempts to stop the drilling. The drill breaks through the crust shortly before the Doctor is to be shot and the well explodes. The program leader, Professor Stahlman, who had already been infected, seals technicians and converts them into beasts as his own process is accelerated. The breakthrough is also causing violent earthquakes as magma rushes to the surface. The Doctor realizes that the parallel world is doomed and urges them to help him return to the other world so he can stop that drill. They agree, although the Brigade Leader is planning on forcing the Doctor to take them with him. The team manages to get power back to the TARDIS console while holding off the beasts. The Brigade Leader is shot by Liz Shaw when he tries to stop the Doctor and the Doctor disappears as a wall of lava approaches the shed where the console was. Back in original universe, the Doctor recovers and tries to stop the drilling. Professor Stahlman completes his transformation before the drill breaks through but with only one of him, he is subdued quickly, the drilling stopped and orders given for the shaft to be filled immediately.
Analysis
This may be one of the bleakest and intense Doctor Who stories I've seen. The end of episode six with the Doctor about to leave and the others turning to see the wall of lava approaching them is genuinely sad. It's a lot like The Fires of Pompeii except that the Doctor can't even save those that helped him. He can only leave to ensure that the tragedy doesn't happen to his universe.
In addition to the quality of the acting, one of the things that helps add to the tension is the absence of music. Instead, all we are given is the sound of the drilling and the occasional blaring of alarms. The intensity just builds from that background rhythm and without music to break that tension, even if in an attempt to build more tension, there is little to take you out of the story. It is reminiscent of The Birds in that respect.
As noted above, the acting is stellar. Nicholas Courtney especially takes the slightly stick-in-the-mud but endearing Brigadier and turns him into a cowardly bully in the alternate universe. Likewise, Liz Shaw's turn as an authoritarian who would just as soon shoot the Doctor as help him is also impressive.
However, there are a few flaws in this story as well. At seven episodes, it is a bit too long. There are enough points of running around and exposition that if that had been trimmed, it could have been turned into a very tense six-part story. Also possible for trimming would have been the elimination of the beasts. They don't make a lot of sense in the story as a whole and they function more as a visual threat and something that has to be fought off since the volcanic shaft is a bit too abstract a threat for younger audiences.
Another thing that bothered me was the forced romance shoved in. In episode one, a drilling expert named Sutton arrives to help in the final phases of the project and he gets very 70's fresh with Dr. Williams, Professor Stahlman's assistant. She blows him off at first but from then on we are treated as through Sutton is madly in love with her and she is just resisting him because of her work. In the alternate universe it is a little easier to buy this because the impression is given that Sutton has been on the project longer (as a form of prison sentence), giving him more time to interact with Williams, and the constant threat of death to either Sutton or both of them can accelerate passions. However, in the original universe, their romance carries on in just the same manner and it just comes across as unbelievable. It takes you out of the story when they try to play it up.
The shaft destroying the Earth is also something that bugged me. There are hundreds of cracks in the Earth's crust and we call those volcanoes. While I could see that what the alternate universe had done would be destructive to them personally and potentially Britain as a whole, I don't buy the idea that it would have increased to the point of destroying the whole planet. But the destruction of an entire planet was a fairly common trope in those days without much consideration as to how impossible that would actually be, so I can turn off that bit of logic without hurting the story too much.
This is not quite a criticism as it is an observation, but with the contrast in UNIT personalities it demonstrated that the Third Doctor is a bit of an ass. I was already aware of that, but his negative aspects were diminished when dealing with the Fascist universe jumped boldly outward when back to dealing with the original universe. Again, not a criticism but it does give me a bit of understanding as why despite the more action oriented plots, I find myself a little less interested in the Third Doctor than some of the others.
I think the grand summary of this one is a bit of a flawed masterpiece. If a few minor changes were made, this could have been one of the best stories made. But those flaws are there and cannot be swept away. They wouldn't stop me from watching this one again but it is not going to be the story I instantly gravitate to either I think.
Overall personal score: 4 out of 5
Brigade Leader: Then you won't feel our bullets when we shoot you.
Inferno is pretty good. It's one of the best stories I've ever seen in terms of creating tension. But I'm not ready to call it the be all and end all that other fans declare it to be.
Plot Summary
The Doctor and UNIT are assisting in a scientific en devour to drill down through the Earth's crust to tap potential energy reserves. As the drill nears the end, a green ooze begins to seep out and a technician in infected. It transforms him into a beast who attacks others workers. The beast increases the power to the drill, trying to accelerate it. The power surge causes the TARDIS console (which the Doctor has removed for experimental purposes) to surge into the vortex before being returned. The Doctor and UNIT stop the beast and drilling resumes. The Doctor attempts to recreate the surge and ends up sending the TARDIS console and himself into a parallel universe where Britain is run by a Fascist regime.
The Doctor is captured and interrogated as a spy. He attempts to escape but is recaptured when he attempts to stop the drilling. The drill breaks through the crust shortly before the Doctor is to be shot and the well explodes. The program leader, Professor Stahlman, who had already been infected, seals technicians and converts them into beasts as his own process is accelerated. The breakthrough is also causing violent earthquakes as magma rushes to the surface. The Doctor realizes that the parallel world is doomed and urges them to help him return to the other world so he can stop that drill. They agree, although the Brigade Leader is planning on forcing the Doctor to take them with him. The team manages to get power back to the TARDIS console while holding off the beasts. The Brigade Leader is shot by Liz Shaw when he tries to stop the Doctor and the Doctor disappears as a wall of lava approaches the shed where the console was. Back in original universe, the Doctor recovers and tries to stop the drilling. Professor Stahlman completes his transformation before the drill breaks through but with only one of him, he is subdued quickly, the drilling stopped and orders given for the shaft to be filled immediately.
Analysis
This may be one of the bleakest and intense Doctor Who stories I've seen. The end of episode six with the Doctor about to leave and the others turning to see the wall of lava approaching them is genuinely sad. It's a lot like The Fires of Pompeii except that the Doctor can't even save those that helped him. He can only leave to ensure that the tragedy doesn't happen to his universe.
In addition to the quality of the acting, one of the things that helps add to the tension is the absence of music. Instead, all we are given is the sound of the drilling and the occasional blaring of alarms. The intensity just builds from that background rhythm and without music to break that tension, even if in an attempt to build more tension, there is little to take you out of the story. It is reminiscent of The Birds in that respect.
As noted above, the acting is stellar. Nicholas Courtney especially takes the slightly stick-in-the-mud but endearing Brigadier and turns him into a cowardly bully in the alternate universe. Likewise, Liz Shaw's turn as an authoritarian who would just as soon shoot the Doctor as help him is also impressive.
However, there are a few flaws in this story as well. At seven episodes, it is a bit too long. There are enough points of running around and exposition that if that had been trimmed, it could have been turned into a very tense six-part story. Also possible for trimming would have been the elimination of the beasts. They don't make a lot of sense in the story as a whole and they function more as a visual threat and something that has to be fought off since the volcanic shaft is a bit too abstract a threat for younger audiences.
Another thing that bothered me was the forced romance shoved in. In episode one, a drilling expert named Sutton arrives to help in the final phases of the project and he gets very 70's fresh with Dr. Williams, Professor Stahlman's assistant. She blows him off at first but from then on we are treated as through Sutton is madly in love with her and she is just resisting him because of her work. In the alternate universe it is a little easier to buy this because the impression is given that Sutton has been on the project longer (as a form of prison sentence), giving him more time to interact with Williams, and the constant threat of death to either Sutton or both of them can accelerate passions. However, in the original universe, their romance carries on in just the same manner and it just comes across as unbelievable. It takes you out of the story when they try to play it up.
The shaft destroying the Earth is also something that bugged me. There are hundreds of cracks in the Earth's crust and we call those volcanoes. While I could see that what the alternate universe had done would be destructive to them personally and potentially Britain as a whole, I don't buy the idea that it would have increased to the point of destroying the whole planet. But the destruction of an entire planet was a fairly common trope in those days without much consideration as to how impossible that would actually be, so I can turn off that bit of logic without hurting the story too much.
This is not quite a criticism as it is an observation, but with the contrast in UNIT personalities it demonstrated that the Third Doctor is a bit of an ass. I was already aware of that, but his negative aspects were diminished when dealing with the Fascist universe jumped boldly outward when back to dealing with the original universe. Again, not a criticism but it does give me a bit of understanding as why despite the more action oriented plots, I find myself a little less interested in the Third Doctor than some of the others.
I think the grand summary of this one is a bit of a flawed masterpiece. If a few minor changes were made, this could have been one of the best stories made. But those flaws are there and cannot be swept away. They wouldn't stop me from watching this one again but it is not going to be the story I instantly gravitate to either I think.
Overall personal score: 4 out of 5
Friday, January 8, 2016
Amy's Choice
Amy: I have chosen. Of course... I've chosen. It's you stupid.
Rory: Oh, good. Thanks.
I love "What is reality" stories. Growing up, my favorite Star Trek: TNG story was Frame of Mind where Commander Riker is trying to figure out which version of events is the real one and whether he is losing his mind. This story operates on very similar lines.
Plot Summary
The Doctor lands in a quiet village to find a pregnant Amy and Rory living after their travels with the Doctor. Suddenly they fall asleep and find themselves back on the TARDIS with the controls disabled and the TARDIS falling towards a cold star. In trying to figure out what is happening a figure appears calling himself "The Dream Lord." He states that one set of events is real, the other a dream and they must choose with things in both worlds trying to kill them. In the village they are pursued by elderly people who have been possessed by aliens while the TARDIS world continues to fall into the star. Eventually, in the village, Rory is killed and Amy decides that the village is not real and kills herself and the Doctor in a van crash. They wake in the TARDIS (with Rory alive) and the Dream Lord congratulates them on winning. He returns the controls and disappears. The Doctor then overrides the controls and destroys the TARDIS. Both worlds were dreams and all three awake to find that they had inhaled psychic pollen and that the Dream Lord was the manifestation of the dark side of the Doctor's ego.
Analysis
Even if you are not as interested in "What is reality" stories, this is a very good episode. There is a nice tenderness between Rory and Amy, especially in the village scenes where they seem very comfortable with each other, exactly as you would expect a longer married couple to be. There is a real sadness felt when Rory dies just because it means saying goodbye to the promise that the village dream life held. This is also the first time that Rory dies so it had yet to become the joke that it later would in the series. It's one of the reasons that the coda letter to Brian Williams following The Angels Take Manhattan is so touching despite it being a near direct copy of Kathy Nightingale's letter from Blink.
Also excellent is the Dream Lord. When the Doctor was confronted by his dark side in The Trial of a Time Lord season, the Valeyard was very direct and just as prone to temper as the Doctor was. The Dream Lord on the other hand is like a pest, sniping insults and taunts at the Doctor, smug and self possessed. Yet, he is compelling and enjoyable to watch as a character. You want to see him get his comeuppance but at the same time you also want to see him strut in front of the Doctor more. It's just a very entertaining performance.
There is also a darkness in this episode this in enjoyable. The tone is obviously dire, but there is an extra level of dark that gives it a bit of a knife edge as well. It is probably the only episode I can recall where children are killed as the first manifestation of the aliens in the elderly is to kill the school class as they approach the Doctor, Amy and Rory. Granted, it's done off screen, but the aftermath is shown as there are a bunch of ash piles where the children had been seen before. The consequence of knowing that the only escape is to allow yourself to die in one reality brings a heavy weight as well. For some reason, that weight was felt more by me in the village scenes rather than the TARDIS for some reason. Maybe because it was an active foe invading what should have been a peaceful setting while we are used to danger in the TARDIS and it's passive nature there is less jarring.
I think my only nit to pick on this episode would be that it is not an episode to show a newbie. Not because of the Doctor, but because it required the development of the relationship between Amy and Rory a bit more. In fact, with The Eleventh Hour and The Vampires of Venice being the only Amy and Rory stories prior to this, the depth between them was probably not felt as well as it would be going back and watching it again after their full story is told. In fact, it gains an extra level of sadness when you know the River story line and it's impact on their lives. But that is a small quibble and one that goes away on rewatch.
This is an episode that I actively choose for rewatch. I think I could sit down at just about any time and enjoy this one without question.
Overall personal score: 5 out of 5
Rory: Oh, good. Thanks.
I love "What is reality" stories. Growing up, my favorite Star Trek: TNG story was Frame of Mind where Commander Riker is trying to figure out which version of events is the real one and whether he is losing his mind. This story operates on very similar lines.
Plot Summary
The Doctor lands in a quiet village to find a pregnant Amy and Rory living after their travels with the Doctor. Suddenly they fall asleep and find themselves back on the TARDIS with the controls disabled and the TARDIS falling towards a cold star. In trying to figure out what is happening a figure appears calling himself "The Dream Lord." He states that one set of events is real, the other a dream and they must choose with things in both worlds trying to kill them. In the village they are pursued by elderly people who have been possessed by aliens while the TARDIS world continues to fall into the star. Eventually, in the village, Rory is killed and Amy decides that the village is not real and kills herself and the Doctor in a van crash. They wake in the TARDIS (with Rory alive) and the Dream Lord congratulates them on winning. He returns the controls and disappears. The Doctor then overrides the controls and destroys the TARDIS. Both worlds were dreams and all three awake to find that they had inhaled psychic pollen and that the Dream Lord was the manifestation of the dark side of the Doctor's ego.
Analysis
Even if you are not as interested in "What is reality" stories, this is a very good episode. There is a nice tenderness between Rory and Amy, especially in the village scenes where they seem very comfortable with each other, exactly as you would expect a longer married couple to be. There is a real sadness felt when Rory dies just because it means saying goodbye to the promise that the village dream life held. This is also the first time that Rory dies so it had yet to become the joke that it later would in the series. It's one of the reasons that the coda letter to Brian Williams following The Angels Take Manhattan is so touching despite it being a near direct copy of Kathy Nightingale's letter from Blink.
Also excellent is the Dream Lord. When the Doctor was confronted by his dark side in The Trial of a Time Lord season, the Valeyard was very direct and just as prone to temper as the Doctor was. The Dream Lord on the other hand is like a pest, sniping insults and taunts at the Doctor, smug and self possessed. Yet, he is compelling and enjoyable to watch as a character. You want to see him get his comeuppance but at the same time you also want to see him strut in front of the Doctor more. It's just a very entertaining performance.
There is also a darkness in this episode this in enjoyable. The tone is obviously dire, but there is an extra level of dark that gives it a bit of a knife edge as well. It is probably the only episode I can recall where children are killed as the first manifestation of the aliens in the elderly is to kill the school class as they approach the Doctor, Amy and Rory. Granted, it's done off screen, but the aftermath is shown as there are a bunch of ash piles where the children had been seen before. The consequence of knowing that the only escape is to allow yourself to die in one reality brings a heavy weight as well. For some reason, that weight was felt more by me in the village scenes rather than the TARDIS for some reason. Maybe because it was an active foe invading what should have been a peaceful setting while we are used to danger in the TARDIS and it's passive nature there is less jarring.
I think my only nit to pick on this episode would be that it is not an episode to show a newbie. Not because of the Doctor, but because it required the development of the relationship between Amy and Rory a bit more. In fact, with The Eleventh Hour and The Vampires of Venice being the only Amy and Rory stories prior to this, the depth between them was probably not felt as well as it would be going back and watching it again after their full story is told. In fact, it gains an extra level of sadness when you know the River story line and it's impact on their lives. But that is a small quibble and one that goes away on rewatch.
This is an episode that I actively choose for rewatch. I think I could sit down at just about any time and enjoy this one without question.
Overall personal score: 5 out of 5
The War Games
You can't just change what I look like without consulting me!
You would think that when faced with a ten-part story, a feeling of dread would come over as you anticipate mounds of filler. But in fact, The War Games is one of the best Second Doctor stories out there.
Plot Summary
The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe land in what appears to be WWI France. They are caught in cross-fire but are rescued by a passing ambulance driver who gives them a lift back to the sector HQ. They are treated well until the commanding general sees them and their out of place look. They are sentenced as spies and prepared to be shot. But the base comes under attack before that can happen and the Doctor and his companions flee with another soldier. The find evidence that the British general is working with a German general. They then stumble through a fog and find themselves being attacked by Roman legions. They flee back through the fog and back in to WWI France.
At this point the Doctor suspects that something is amiss. They investigate further and discover the general has a machine that takes them to a central control room where a series of different battles are taking place. The Doctor disrupts things as best he can while Jamie and Zoe help to unite soldiers who have broken the alien conditioning and been operating as small rebel bands. Together they unify into a large fighting force.
The Doctor also discovers that the aliens are led by a man called the War Lord and have been aided with TARDIS technology supplied by a rogue Time Lord called the War Chief. However, the War Chief's machines are inferior to the Doctor's own TARDIS and begin to break down. Knowing that his usefulness will run out, the War Chief attempts to ally with the Doctor to overthrow the War Lord. He is exposed and seemingly killed by the War Lord. The united rebels soon arrive and take control of the central command but things are at a stalemate so the Doctor summons the Time Lords to aid him.
The Time Lords arrive and return the soldiers to their proper times. They also dispatch the War Lord and his people when they attempt to escape. The Doctor is put on trial for his violation of his people's law of non-interference, he is found guilty but given a mitigated sentence of exile with a forced regeneration. Jamie and Zoe are returned to their respective times with their memories wiped of all but their first adventure with the Doctor. The episode ends with the Doctor beginning to transform into his third iteration.
Analysis
Again, you would think that a long running story with several back and forth trips from war zone to war zone and from the central command to the war zones would get tedious. But at no point is there ever a real feel of padding. There are a couple of moments where I can guess that they lengthened events to push something that might have taken one episode into two, but the quality of both the writing and the acting really carries things.
The escalation of the villains is also interesting. The first villain is the alien posing as the British general. This upgrades to the alien overseeing the German and Confederate armies. We then face off against the War Chief, and then things reach a head with the War Lord, who looks and acts a bit like Steve Jobs. Each villain is more controlled and thus more menacing. The War Lord commands presence despite his diminutive stature, especially relative to the War Chief. It keeps raising the stakes and doesn't give time for the conflict to go stale.
The Doctor is at his best in this story as well. He schemes but also is forced to improvise. He is serious but also gives moments of levity. He cares for his companions but also trusts them enough to get certain tasks done in dangerous environments. Given that this story ends with a regeneration, it is interesting to note that the Second Doctor is the only Doctor to have regeneration forced upon him. Two Doctors (the first and eleventh) regenerated due to old age but all the rest were fatally injured in some fashion. It adds a little prestige in my opinion that despite his appearance as a kindly little bumbler, the Second Doctor was the best survivor of all the Doctors.
The War Games is not without some flaws but they are hard to isolate. As I mentioned earlier, there are a few points where you can guess that the scene was extended or split off to be used later. This gives you the niggling feeling that with a little extra work, the story could have been cut to nine episodes. But it's much better than in some stories where there are whole episodes that are complete filler. Whatever other flaws there were, they did not register with me other than anachronisms of the era (and I would include the War Chief's hair style in that).
I would definitely recommend this one to watch again. Given that it is ten parts, I probably wouldn't recommend trying to get through the whole thing in one go, but that's only because general fatigue might set in over the course of the four hours it would take to watch it rather than for any section that drags. Besides, a good story like this should be savored rather than binged.
Overall personal score: 5 out of 5
You would think that when faced with a ten-part story, a feeling of dread would come over as you anticipate mounds of filler. But in fact, The War Games is one of the best Second Doctor stories out there.
Plot Summary
The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe land in what appears to be WWI France. They are caught in cross-fire but are rescued by a passing ambulance driver who gives them a lift back to the sector HQ. They are treated well until the commanding general sees them and their out of place look. They are sentenced as spies and prepared to be shot. But the base comes under attack before that can happen and the Doctor and his companions flee with another soldier. The find evidence that the British general is working with a German general. They then stumble through a fog and find themselves being attacked by Roman legions. They flee back through the fog and back in to WWI France.
At this point the Doctor suspects that something is amiss. They investigate further and discover the general has a machine that takes them to a central control room where a series of different battles are taking place. The Doctor disrupts things as best he can while Jamie and Zoe help to unite soldiers who have broken the alien conditioning and been operating as small rebel bands. Together they unify into a large fighting force.
The Doctor also discovers that the aliens are led by a man called the War Lord and have been aided with TARDIS technology supplied by a rogue Time Lord called the War Chief. However, the War Chief's machines are inferior to the Doctor's own TARDIS and begin to break down. Knowing that his usefulness will run out, the War Chief attempts to ally with the Doctor to overthrow the War Lord. He is exposed and seemingly killed by the War Lord. The united rebels soon arrive and take control of the central command but things are at a stalemate so the Doctor summons the Time Lords to aid him.
The Time Lords arrive and return the soldiers to their proper times. They also dispatch the War Lord and his people when they attempt to escape. The Doctor is put on trial for his violation of his people's law of non-interference, he is found guilty but given a mitigated sentence of exile with a forced regeneration. Jamie and Zoe are returned to their respective times with their memories wiped of all but their first adventure with the Doctor. The episode ends with the Doctor beginning to transform into his third iteration.
Analysis
Again, you would think that a long running story with several back and forth trips from war zone to war zone and from the central command to the war zones would get tedious. But at no point is there ever a real feel of padding. There are a couple of moments where I can guess that they lengthened events to push something that might have taken one episode into two, but the quality of both the writing and the acting really carries things.
The escalation of the villains is also interesting. The first villain is the alien posing as the British general. This upgrades to the alien overseeing the German and Confederate armies. We then face off against the War Chief, and then things reach a head with the War Lord, who looks and acts a bit like Steve Jobs. Each villain is more controlled and thus more menacing. The War Lord commands presence despite his diminutive stature, especially relative to the War Chief. It keeps raising the stakes and doesn't give time for the conflict to go stale.
The Doctor is at his best in this story as well. He schemes but also is forced to improvise. He is serious but also gives moments of levity. He cares for his companions but also trusts them enough to get certain tasks done in dangerous environments. Given that this story ends with a regeneration, it is interesting to note that the Second Doctor is the only Doctor to have regeneration forced upon him. Two Doctors (the first and eleventh) regenerated due to old age but all the rest were fatally injured in some fashion. It adds a little prestige in my opinion that despite his appearance as a kindly little bumbler, the Second Doctor was the best survivor of all the Doctors.
The War Games is not without some flaws but they are hard to isolate. As I mentioned earlier, there are a few points where you can guess that the scene was extended or split off to be used later. This gives you the niggling feeling that with a little extra work, the story could have been cut to nine episodes. But it's much better than in some stories where there are whole episodes that are complete filler. Whatever other flaws there were, they did not register with me other than anachronisms of the era (and I would include the War Chief's hair style in that).
I would definitely recommend this one to watch again. Given that it is ten parts, I probably wouldn't recommend trying to get through the whole thing in one go, but that's only because general fatigue might set in over the course of the four hours it would take to watch it rather than for any section that drags. Besides, a good story like this should be savored rather than binged.
Overall personal score: 5 out of 5
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
The Doctor's Wife
And I'm Sexy
Is it wrong that I best know Neil Gaiman from a guest appearance he did on Arthur? I have seen Coraline, but I'm not really familiar with his work. I already dogged Nightmare in Silver so it's fairly obvious that I don't really care about who the writer is. But The Doctor's Wife is a pretty good story.
Plot Summary
Lured by a Time Lord message, the Doctor, Rory and Amy land on a planet in a bubble universe. There, the essence of the TARDIS is drained out by the planet (calling itself House) and placed in the body of a woman named Idris. House eats TARDISs and once the essence is extracted, he moves to consume the Doctor's. But the Doctor, thinking he's saving them, has Rory and Amy go back to the TARDIS where House has taken possession. House launches the TARDIS back towards the normal universe in the hopes of finding more prey and amuses himself by setting Rory and Amy into a mental fun house. The Doctor and Idris cobble together a makeshift TARDIS console from the eaten TARDIS leftovers and manage to land within the Doctor's TARDIS. House corners them in an old control room but when he attempts to erase them, he accidentally transports them back to the main control room. This allows the essence of the Doctor's TARDIS to reenter the mainframe, destroying House in the process. Idris' body burns out from containing the TARDIS essence and she dies, although the TARDIS returns to normal. The Doctor, Amy and Rory fly off to new adventures with the Doctor last seen caressing the console and talking to the TARDIS in a loving manner.
Analysis
This was a very entertaining episode. It's a very interesting concept to see the TARDIS taken out and given a personality. I think we have all talked to a vehicle in some fashion and the idea that it might be able to talk back and interact is a fun one. What's more, despite the direness of the situation, there is a lot of humor in this one. House's two servants, Auntie and Uncle, are particularly amusing in a reserved and gallows humor manner.
The interaction between the Doctor and Idris is particularly good. Idris is a confused mess at first which leads to some amusing lines but as she orients herself she develops a very good re pore with the Doctor. They act in a manner somewhat similar to the Doctor and River do only without River's confidence and more social faux pas. But there is still a very clear bond between the two that would only come from a long and comfortable knowledge of each other.
Amy and Rory are also good, although they don't have as much of a role. The producers play the "let's kill Rory" game again, although it is only an illusion in Amy's mind done by House. This part is the darkest of the episode as there is no levity and some some genuine hatred emanating from the Rory in Amy's mind about her abandoning him. It's a rather interesting juxtaposition to the abandoned Amy in The Girl Who Waited later in the series. But it also gets a touch of the time filler feeling as it goes on.
If there is a complaint about this episode it is that it is pretty thin. There is no real twist other than the soul of the TARDIS being put into Idris' body and House is dispatched with relative ease. I already mentioned that the scenes with Rory and Amy in the TARDIS are good, but do have the air of filler about them and that doesn't help the thin argument.
But, it is good. It's an enjoyable ride and best of all, when Idris dies, you are left with both a sad feeling of losing a friend and wanting the story to go on longer. This is a good rewatch episode and also probably a good episode to show someone less versed in the Doctor Who universe, despite there being a lot of little nods to the Classic Series in it. Definitely one of the high ones for the series. Just not the be all and end all of existence as some of the Neil Gaiman fans might think it is.
Overall personal score: 4 out of 5
Is it wrong that I best know Neil Gaiman from a guest appearance he did on Arthur? I have seen Coraline, but I'm not really familiar with his work. I already dogged Nightmare in Silver so it's fairly obvious that I don't really care about who the writer is. But The Doctor's Wife is a pretty good story.
Plot Summary
Lured by a Time Lord message, the Doctor, Rory and Amy land on a planet in a bubble universe. There, the essence of the TARDIS is drained out by the planet (calling itself House) and placed in the body of a woman named Idris. House eats TARDISs and once the essence is extracted, he moves to consume the Doctor's. But the Doctor, thinking he's saving them, has Rory and Amy go back to the TARDIS where House has taken possession. House launches the TARDIS back towards the normal universe in the hopes of finding more prey and amuses himself by setting Rory and Amy into a mental fun house. The Doctor and Idris cobble together a makeshift TARDIS console from the eaten TARDIS leftovers and manage to land within the Doctor's TARDIS. House corners them in an old control room but when he attempts to erase them, he accidentally transports them back to the main control room. This allows the essence of the Doctor's TARDIS to reenter the mainframe, destroying House in the process. Idris' body burns out from containing the TARDIS essence and she dies, although the TARDIS returns to normal. The Doctor, Amy and Rory fly off to new adventures with the Doctor last seen caressing the console and talking to the TARDIS in a loving manner.
Analysis
This was a very entertaining episode. It's a very interesting concept to see the TARDIS taken out and given a personality. I think we have all talked to a vehicle in some fashion and the idea that it might be able to talk back and interact is a fun one. What's more, despite the direness of the situation, there is a lot of humor in this one. House's two servants, Auntie and Uncle, are particularly amusing in a reserved and gallows humor manner.
The interaction between the Doctor and Idris is particularly good. Idris is a confused mess at first which leads to some amusing lines but as she orients herself she develops a very good re pore with the Doctor. They act in a manner somewhat similar to the Doctor and River do only without River's confidence and more social faux pas. But there is still a very clear bond between the two that would only come from a long and comfortable knowledge of each other.
Amy and Rory are also good, although they don't have as much of a role. The producers play the "let's kill Rory" game again, although it is only an illusion in Amy's mind done by House. This part is the darkest of the episode as there is no levity and some some genuine hatred emanating from the Rory in Amy's mind about her abandoning him. It's a rather interesting juxtaposition to the abandoned Amy in The Girl Who Waited later in the series. But it also gets a touch of the time filler feeling as it goes on.
If there is a complaint about this episode it is that it is pretty thin. There is no real twist other than the soul of the TARDIS being put into Idris' body and House is dispatched with relative ease. I already mentioned that the scenes with Rory and Amy in the TARDIS are good, but do have the air of filler about them and that doesn't help the thin argument.
But, it is good. It's an enjoyable ride and best of all, when Idris dies, you are left with both a sad feeling of losing a friend and wanting the story to go on longer. This is a good rewatch episode and also probably a good episode to show someone less versed in the Doctor Who universe, despite there being a lot of little nods to the Classic Series in it. Definitely one of the high ones for the series. Just not the be all and end all of existence as some of the Neil Gaiman fans might think it is.
Overall personal score: 4 out of 5
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
The Massacre
The Doctor is not the Abbot! He's only pretending!
I've said it before about some recons, but it is a real shame this one does not exist. I must admit that I cheated a little and read a historical summary of the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, but it did help a bit with my understanding of the story.
Plot Summary
The Doctor and Steven land in Paris a few days before the massacre. The Doctor leaves Steven at a tavern as he wishes to go see a scientific mind of the time. He promises to meet Steven that evening. Steven then falls in with a group of Huguenot nobility who offer him a place to spend the night when the Doctor fails to return after curfew. Meanwhile, a young girl named Anne Chaplet runs into them and is rescued from a group of guards sent by the Abbot of Amboise. She tells them that she overheard a group of people talking about what sounded like a Catholic plot. Steven continues to be concerned for the Doctor but thinks he recognizes him when he sees the Abbot the next day. His recognition of the Abbot arouses suspicions of the Huguenots and Steven eventually flees when they refuse to take him to the Abbot's house. There he overhears a murder plot but doesn't know who the target is. He tries to warn the Huguenots but he is turned out without listening to him.
The target is the Admiral de Coligny who is a close friend of King Charles IX. Steven and Anne go back to the Abbot's house to learn more and figure out who the target is. They flee once again to the Huguenots and this time one listens to him. He runs to warn the Admiral, who is returning from a council meeting, but the Admiral is shot and wounded anyway. The Marshal, angry that the Abbot's plan failed, orders him killed. The locals think the Abbot was murdered by Huguenots and Steven is distraught as he believes the Doctor has been killed (convinced that the Doctor has been impersonating the Abbot). Steven flees back to the shop where the Doctor had originally gone and Anne is hiding. They search the place looking for the TARDIS key to allow Steven to escape when the Doctor reappears. He had been searching for Steven who never returned to the tavern after the first morning. The Doctor soon realizes what is about to happen and sends Anne away, ordering her to hide at a relative's house. He and Steven then run back to the TARDIS and take off as soldiers begin pounding on the Admiral's door. The Doctor relates to Steven what happens and notes that he cannot change the past. Steven becomes angry that the Doctor left Anne to her presumed death and demands to be let off when they stop again. He walks out and the Doctor contemplates what to do next. Dodo (a descendant of Anne's) walks in to the TARDIS thinking it was a real police box. Steven charges in shortly after her warning the Doctor to take off as the police are approaching the TARDIS. The Doctor takes off and welcomes Dodo to the team.
Analysis
This is a real cloak and dagger story. It does a pretty good job explaining the history of what happened but with it already being a recon, I think I was better off reading the historical summary first. It allowed me to concentrate on the story rather than have to juggle the historical facts in addition to the story (which is fairly complex).
This story is a showcase for Steven. The Doctor is only in episodes one and four and the Abbot is only given lines in episode three (suggesting that William Hartnell was on holiday during episode two). Steven meanwhile does all the heavy lifting except for the scenes involving the royal council. I'm not familiar with the British acting corp of the 1960's but these scenes are very well acted with folks who are probably experienced with period drama. I enjoyed Steven's scenes a great deal, but I could have easily watched a full episode of political machinations between the Admiral, the Marshal and Catherine de' Medici.
It is that depth of talent that does point out a few of the shortcomings. Steven does a good job but he seems to equate intense emotion with shouting and that can actually decrease his believability at times. There is another character, Gaston, who is also a bit shouty and there is a scene between the two (including a sword fight) where there is a lot of shouting back and forth at each other. I get they are trying to show intensity, but it felt a bit amateurish, especially when compared to the depth shown in other scenes.
My other small complaint is that this story could have used a little levity. It was dour throughout and that did provide a nice intensity, but a little joke here and there would have been nice. Granted that might have taken away from the gloom that was building throughout the episode, but a little pun or a touch of gallows humor scattered here and there would have kept things moving during the few slow spots.
I would definitely watch this one again if it was found in some capacity. I'd be very interested to see how William Hartnell played the Abbot versus the Doctor. They sound rather similar but I'd be curious to see how he made them look different. The ending is a bit weak and rushed as I would have liked a better introduction for Dodo, but it did have a nice quiet moment of the Doctor reflecting on the past and his future. Quality that should only improve with a return to motion.
Overall personal score: 3.5 out of 5
I've said it before about some recons, but it is a real shame this one does not exist. I must admit that I cheated a little and read a historical summary of the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, but it did help a bit with my understanding of the story.
Plot Summary
The Doctor and Steven land in Paris a few days before the massacre. The Doctor leaves Steven at a tavern as he wishes to go see a scientific mind of the time. He promises to meet Steven that evening. Steven then falls in with a group of Huguenot nobility who offer him a place to spend the night when the Doctor fails to return after curfew. Meanwhile, a young girl named Anne Chaplet runs into them and is rescued from a group of guards sent by the Abbot of Amboise. She tells them that she overheard a group of people talking about what sounded like a Catholic plot. Steven continues to be concerned for the Doctor but thinks he recognizes him when he sees the Abbot the next day. His recognition of the Abbot arouses suspicions of the Huguenots and Steven eventually flees when they refuse to take him to the Abbot's house. There he overhears a murder plot but doesn't know who the target is. He tries to warn the Huguenots but he is turned out without listening to him.
The target is the Admiral de Coligny who is a close friend of King Charles IX. Steven and Anne go back to the Abbot's house to learn more and figure out who the target is. They flee once again to the Huguenots and this time one listens to him. He runs to warn the Admiral, who is returning from a council meeting, but the Admiral is shot and wounded anyway. The Marshal, angry that the Abbot's plan failed, orders him killed. The locals think the Abbot was murdered by Huguenots and Steven is distraught as he believes the Doctor has been killed (convinced that the Doctor has been impersonating the Abbot). Steven flees back to the shop where the Doctor had originally gone and Anne is hiding. They search the place looking for the TARDIS key to allow Steven to escape when the Doctor reappears. He had been searching for Steven who never returned to the tavern after the first morning. The Doctor soon realizes what is about to happen and sends Anne away, ordering her to hide at a relative's house. He and Steven then run back to the TARDIS and take off as soldiers begin pounding on the Admiral's door. The Doctor relates to Steven what happens and notes that he cannot change the past. Steven becomes angry that the Doctor left Anne to her presumed death and demands to be let off when they stop again. He walks out and the Doctor contemplates what to do next. Dodo (a descendant of Anne's) walks in to the TARDIS thinking it was a real police box. Steven charges in shortly after her warning the Doctor to take off as the police are approaching the TARDIS. The Doctor takes off and welcomes Dodo to the team.
Analysis
This is a real cloak and dagger story. It does a pretty good job explaining the history of what happened but with it already being a recon, I think I was better off reading the historical summary first. It allowed me to concentrate on the story rather than have to juggle the historical facts in addition to the story (which is fairly complex).
This story is a showcase for Steven. The Doctor is only in episodes one and four and the Abbot is only given lines in episode three (suggesting that William Hartnell was on holiday during episode two). Steven meanwhile does all the heavy lifting except for the scenes involving the royal council. I'm not familiar with the British acting corp of the 1960's but these scenes are very well acted with folks who are probably experienced with period drama. I enjoyed Steven's scenes a great deal, but I could have easily watched a full episode of political machinations between the Admiral, the Marshal and Catherine de' Medici.
It is that depth of talent that does point out a few of the shortcomings. Steven does a good job but he seems to equate intense emotion with shouting and that can actually decrease his believability at times. There is another character, Gaston, who is also a bit shouty and there is a scene between the two (including a sword fight) where there is a lot of shouting back and forth at each other. I get they are trying to show intensity, but it felt a bit amateurish, especially when compared to the depth shown in other scenes.
My other small complaint is that this story could have used a little levity. It was dour throughout and that did provide a nice intensity, but a little joke here and there would have been nice. Granted that might have taken away from the gloom that was building throughout the episode, but a little pun or a touch of gallows humor scattered here and there would have kept things moving during the few slow spots.
I would definitely watch this one again if it was found in some capacity. I'd be very interested to see how William Hartnell played the Abbot versus the Doctor. They sound rather similar but I'd be curious to see how he made them look different. The ending is a bit weak and rushed as I would have liked a better introduction for Dodo, but it did have a nice quiet moment of the Doctor reflecting on the past and his future. Quality that should only improve with a return to motion.
Overall personal score: 3.5 out of 5
Monday, January 4, 2016
The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit
He is using your basic fears against you!
The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit are an interesting and well put together combo. Like many of the Moffat two-parters, they have very different styles of storytelling in each part, but both work well and do not detract from each other. It is up to the preferences of the viewer to decide which part is a bit more to their liking.
Plot Summary
The Impossible Planet sets the stage as a suspense thriller. The Doctor and Rose land on a planet too close to a black hole. It is only not sucked in because there is an energy source generating a counter gravity field against it. A team of humans has come to discover the source of the power and exploit it if possible. They have also brought Ood workers to handle the actual drilling and maintenance (this is the first appearance of the Ood). The team archaeologist begins hearing voices and is eventually taken over by an evil spirit. In this form, he kills one of the workers and also begins to mind control the Ood. Adding additional peril, the TARDIS falls into a chasm in the planet when an earthquake destroys part of the base. The episode ends with the Doctor and one of the crew members (Ida) having gone down to the cavern to which the drill has penetrated. The see a pit which is opening. Meanwhile the Ood are moving against the rest of the crew, having already killed one member.
The Satan Pit picks up the tale as a base under siege story, but with a bit of philosophical punch. The captain has locked the Ood out of the control room while Rose and the surviving members of the crew are holed up in the dig room. The Doctor and Ida attempt to travel back up but the line is cut to their capsule and they are trapped in the cavern. The Doctor then opts to rappel down into the pit using the severed cable. Rose and the other crew figure out how to disrupt the Ood control, giving them breathing space to get to the escape rocket. The security chief is killed in the escape but Rose, the Captain, the archaeologist and the Ood monitor launch away in the rocket. Meanwhile, the Doctor finds himself in a cavern with a chained beast. He realizes that only the body of the Beast is here and that the mind has invaded one of the crew members. Faced with the dilemma of letting the Beast escape or destroying the gravity field which will kill everyone (including those in the rocket), the Doctor opts for the noble sacrifice and destroys the gravity field. As the rocket is pulled towards the black hole, the Beast panics in the body of the archaeologist, revealing his disguise. Rose blows the window of the rocket and releases his harness causing the Beast to be ejected into space towards the black hole before emergency measures reseal the rocket. Down in the pit, the Doctor falls backwards and finds the TARDIS has fallen into the same region. He then rescues Ida from the planet before it is sucked in and pulls the rocket to safety. The remaining crew return to Earth while the Doctor and Rose fly off.
Analysis
There was very little of this two-parter that I did not enjoy. The atmosphere is built up very nicely in The Impossible Planet with some genuine fearful notes established. The oscillation of the Ood between helpfulness and murderous dialogue also gives a strong sense of unease. Things are further put off balance with the Doctor himself being confronted by something that is completely outside his knowledge and openly challenges his understanding of the universe with the evidence presented. Coupled with the loss of the TARDIS, the Doctor is unsettled and seemingly on the wrong foot for nearly the whole episode which helps keep the viewer on edge.
The Satan Pit follows things up well despite my fear that the shift in tone would bring the episode down. If the episode had shifted too much into a chase scenario, it would have lessened the effect. Instead, the Ood are simply outside trying to get in providing a more soft pressure. The only chase sequence comes in a tunnel moving sequence that is very much an homage to Alien and shows just enough to keep the tension up without getting too cat and mouse. It also helps that the performances of the major players are very well done with their limited screen time given over to strong character building moments. When Mr. Jefferson is trapped and is about to die, you fell genuinely sad that this character is lost because he was someone you liked and had bought into. Likewise you understand the burdens the Captain is going through.
Probably the best aspect of either episode is that no character makes a decision that seems out of place. The crew act like real people with real backstories that affect their how they behave and react and it gives a genuine tone to everything. It also emphasizes the Doctor's alienness throughout especially as he reacts to their actions in the way a human does when their pet does something they love to see. It is both patronizing but also endearing. His optimism and bubbliness, even when confronting the Beast's body still set him apart from the grim realness the crew and Rose give off.
My favorite part of either episode was in the first few minutes of The Satan Pit where the Doctor is openly challenged by the Beast, both directly and philosophically. In most Doctor Who stories, the argument between science and religion pulls strongly to the science side. It was rather nice to see a strong challenge from the religion side, something the Doctor couldn't come up with a final answer to, leaving it up to the viewer to decide the Beast's origins and whether he was lying or not. There are many things that cannot be explained except in this manner and it is nice to see that question debated and left open to interpretation.
The only thing I didn't quite care for was the ending. Not the dilemma, I liked that; it was the miraculous reappearance of the TARDIS that bothered me. The removal of the TARDIS was important as it aided the sense of being trapped on the planet and it would of course be necessary to end the story with the Doctor and Rose escaping in it. However, I wish a little more set up had been made to the possibility of it being near there. To see the Doctor back out of the foreground simply fall on to it's side was the absolute definition of a Deus Ex Machina ending. I understand it's necessity, but I wish the ending could have been set up a little better because it just felt like cheating at the end.
In the end, this was a very enjoyable two-parter and quite possibly the best of Series Two.
Overall personal score: The Impossible Planet - 5 out of 5; The Satan Pit - 4.5 out of 5
The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit are an interesting and well put together combo. Like many of the Moffat two-parters, they have very different styles of storytelling in each part, but both work well and do not detract from each other. It is up to the preferences of the viewer to decide which part is a bit more to their liking.
Plot Summary
The Impossible Planet sets the stage as a suspense thriller. The Doctor and Rose land on a planet too close to a black hole. It is only not sucked in because there is an energy source generating a counter gravity field against it. A team of humans has come to discover the source of the power and exploit it if possible. They have also brought Ood workers to handle the actual drilling and maintenance (this is the first appearance of the Ood). The team archaeologist begins hearing voices and is eventually taken over by an evil spirit. In this form, he kills one of the workers and also begins to mind control the Ood. Adding additional peril, the TARDIS falls into a chasm in the planet when an earthquake destroys part of the base. The episode ends with the Doctor and one of the crew members (Ida) having gone down to the cavern to which the drill has penetrated. The see a pit which is opening. Meanwhile the Ood are moving against the rest of the crew, having already killed one member.
The Satan Pit picks up the tale as a base under siege story, but with a bit of philosophical punch. The captain has locked the Ood out of the control room while Rose and the surviving members of the crew are holed up in the dig room. The Doctor and Ida attempt to travel back up but the line is cut to their capsule and they are trapped in the cavern. The Doctor then opts to rappel down into the pit using the severed cable. Rose and the other crew figure out how to disrupt the Ood control, giving them breathing space to get to the escape rocket. The security chief is killed in the escape but Rose, the Captain, the archaeologist and the Ood monitor launch away in the rocket. Meanwhile, the Doctor finds himself in a cavern with a chained beast. He realizes that only the body of the Beast is here and that the mind has invaded one of the crew members. Faced with the dilemma of letting the Beast escape or destroying the gravity field which will kill everyone (including those in the rocket), the Doctor opts for the noble sacrifice and destroys the gravity field. As the rocket is pulled towards the black hole, the Beast panics in the body of the archaeologist, revealing his disguise. Rose blows the window of the rocket and releases his harness causing the Beast to be ejected into space towards the black hole before emergency measures reseal the rocket. Down in the pit, the Doctor falls backwards and finds the TARDIS has fallen into the same region. He then rescues Ida from the planet before it is sucked in and pulls the rocket to safety. The remaining crew return to Earth while the Doctor and Rose fly off.
Analysis
There was very little of this two-parter that I did not enjoy. The atmosphere is built up very nicely in The Impossible Planet with some genuine fearful notes established. The oscillation of the Ood between helpfulness and murderous dialogue also gives a strong sense of unease. Things are further put off balance with the Doctor himself being confronted by something that is completely outside his knowledge and openly challenges his understanding of the universe with the evidence presented. Coupled with the loss of the TARDIS, the Doctor is unsettled and seemingly on the wrong foot for nearly the whole episode which helps keep the viewer on edge.
The Satan Pit follows things up well despite my fear that the shift in tone would bring the episode down. If the episode had shifted too much into a chase scenario, it would have lessened the effect. Instead, the Ood are simply outside trying to get in providing a more soft pressure. The only chase sequence comes in a tunnel moving sequence that is very much an homage to Alien and shows just enough to keep the tension up without getting too cat and mouse. It also helps that the performances of the major players are very well done with their limited screen time given over to strong character building moments. When Mr. Jefferson is trapped and is about to die, you fell genuinely sad that this character is lost because he was someone you liked and had bought into. Likewise you understand the burdens the Captain is going through.
Probably the best aspect of either episode is that no character makes a decision that seems out of place. The crew act like real people with real backstories that affect their how they behave and react and it gives a genuine tone to everything. It also emphasizes the Doctor's alienness throughout especially as he reacts to their actions in the way a human does when their pet does something they love to see. It is both patronizing but also endearing. His optimism and bubbliness, even when confronting the Beast's body still set him apart from the grim realness the crew and Rose give off.
My favorite part of either episode was in the first few minutes of The Satan Pit where the Doctor is openly challenged by the Beast, both directly and philosophically. In most Doctor Who stories, the argument between science and religion pulls strongly to the science side. It was rather nice to see a strong challenge from the religion side, something the Doctor couldn't come up with a final answer to, leaving it up to the viewer to decide the Beast's origins and whether he was lying or not. There are many things that cannot be explained except in this manner and it is nice to see that question debated and left open to interpretation.
The only thing I didn't quite care for was the ending. Not the dilemma, I liked that; it was the miraculous reappearance of the TARDIS that bothered me. The removal of the TARDIS was important as it aided the sense of being trapped on the planet and it would of course be necessary to end the story with the Doctor and Rose escaping in it. However, I wish a little more set up had been made to the possibility of it being near there. To see the Doctor back out of the foreground simply fall on to it's side was the absolute definition of a Deus Ex Machina ending. I understand it's necessity, but I wish the ending could have been set up a little better because it just felt like cheating at the end.
In the end, this was a very enjoyable two-parter and quite possibly the best of Series Two.
Overall personal score: The Impossible Planet - 5 out of 5; The Satan Pit - 4.5 out of 5
The Ark in Space
We called him Noah as an amusement.
Although Season 12 and the introduction of the Fourth Doctor began with Robot, the true introduction of the Fourth Doctor begins with the inauguration of the Philip Hinchcliff era and The Ark in Space.
Plot Summary
The Doctor, Sarah, and Harry land on a space station many years into Earth's future. A solar flare was expected to devastate the Earth so a group of the best physical and mental specimens were placed in hibernation to repopulate the Earth. The station was sabotaged by an alien known as a Wirrn who infected one of the hibernating crew before dying. The hatched Wirrn begin to take over the station, infecting the leader of the group, Noah, and killing several others. The Doctor manages to stave off the Wirrn for a while using electricity. Eventually, they trick the swarm into climbing aboard the escape rocket and then launching it into space. Noah, with the last trace of his humanity, destroys the rocket and the swarm on board.
Analysis
There is a lot in this story that will be poached by Ridley Scott when he makes Alien four years later. If you like that film, odds are you will like this story and I enjoyed both. There is a moody dread that overhangs much of the story and it helps sell the dire nature of what is happening, despite limited effects. The acting is particularly good, both in the core cast and also with the supporting cast. Noah, once he has been infected, can be a bit over the top but not so bad that it detracts from his overall performance.
The one spot of this story that does suffer is the effects. The infection of Noah was done using green bubble wrap, which would have been a great novelty at the time, but is now very common and identifiable. The Wirrn themselves are also somewhat difficult to take seriously when seen in full as it is very difficult not to see them as foam puppets. This gets even worse when they are shown walking near the escape rocket. Instead of crawling with undulating movements as you would expect from insects, they bounce along, just as you would expect a puppet to do. I understand that it was the best they could do and it was probably still pretty scary to children at the time, but in view as an adult, seeing the Wirrn detracts a bit from the overall scary mood of the story.
Despite the effects downsides, the story and acting are excellent. The mood of stays creepy and intense nearly the whole way through, despite the addition of padding in a couple of places, mostly at the beginning of the story. It makes for an excellent start to the Fourth Doctor era.
Overall personal score: 4 out of 5
Although Season 12 and the introduction of the Fourth Doctor began with Robot, the true introduction of the Fourth Doctor begins with the inauguration of the Philip Hinchcliff era and The Ark in Space.
Plot Summary
The Doctor, Sarah, and Harry land on a space station many years into Earth's future. A solar flare was expected to devastate the Earth so a group of the best physical and mental specimens were placed in hibernation to repopulate the Earth. The station was sabotaged by an alien known as a Wirrn who infected one of the hibernating crew before dying. The hatched Wirrn begin to take over the station, infecting the leader of the group, Noah, and killing several others. The Doctor manages to stave off the Wirrn for a while using electricity. Eventually, they trick the swarm into climbing aboard the escape rocket and then launching it into space. Noah, with the last trace of his humanity, destroys the rocket and the swarm on board.
Analysis
There is a lot in this story that will be poached by Ridley Scott when he makes Alien four years later. If you like that film, odds are you will like this story and I enjoyed both. There is a moody dread that overhangs much of the story and it helps sell the dire nature of what is happening, despite limited effects. The acting is particularly good, both in the core cast and also with the supporting cast. Noah, once he has been infected, can be a bit over the top but not so bad that it detracts from his overall performance.
The one spot of this story that does suffer is the effects. The infection of Noah was done using green bubble wrap, which would have been a great novelty at the time, but is now very common and identifiable. The Wirrn themselves are also somewhat difficult to take seriously when seen in full as it is very difficult not to see them as foam puppets. This gets even worse when they are shown walking near the escape rocket. Instead of crawling with undulating movements as you would expect from insects, they bounce along, just as you would expect a puppet to do. I understand that it was the best they could do and it was probably still pretty scary to children at the time, but in view as an adult, seeing the Wirrn detracts a bit from the overall scary mood of the story.
Despite the effects downsides, the story and acting are excellent. The mood of stays creepy and intense nearly the whole way through, despite the addition of padding in a couple of places, mostly at the beginning of the story. It makes for an excellent start to the Fourth Doctor era.
Overall personal score: 4 out of 5
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