They were treated like slaves. Is it no wonder that when they got the chance they repaid you in kind?
The Ark is a story that I don't know much about other than that the principle aliens are the Monoids and that it is divided into two halves with the cliffhanger of Episode Two being the statue with a Monoid head. I've never heard anyone speak highly of it so I'm expecting a story that rather mundane. Usually if a story is openly bad, it gets a little extra attention just for that. Forgettable stories just fade into the ether.
Plot Summary
The TARDIS lands in the midst of a jungle filled with Earth creatures. Dodo, who is suffering from a cold, assumes they've landed in a zoo and goes wandering off. Steven follows her, chastising her for being so cavalier. The Doctor also believes they are in a zoo of some kind but notes a metallic sky and mechanical vibration in the floor.
They have actually landed on a ship and in the crew area, a trial is being held regarding a crewman who endangered the lives of others both human and the alien Monoids, who escaped to Earth from their own dying world and are now travelling with these humans who are escaping the dying Earth. The defendant is found guilty and placed into a machine that shrinks him to a microscopic level where he is then frozen and placed into storage. One Monoid enters and informs the court that strangers have arrived and a group of Monoids go to investigate.
The Doctor and his party become aware of the search party and duck into a cave to avoid them. Once past, they walk out and into the inhabited part of the ship, with the Doctor realizing they are on a ship. The Monoid search party finds them and they are taken to the Commander.
The Commander welcomes them and explains their history and their goal of traveling to a world seven hundred years travel away. Most of the human colonists have been shrunk and frozen, leaving a small group to breed and man the ship along with the Monoids. The group is also shown a statue being built as a symbol of unity among the crew.
As they talk, the Commander begins to feel a bit ill. As his fever grows, a flatbed cart is driven in by a Monoid with another Monoid on it. Both the Monoid and the Commander have contracted Dodo's cold and their lack of immunity is making it worse than for Dodo. The Monoid dies and the Commander becomes incoherent. The deputy commander, Zentos, accuses the Doctor's party of being agents of the planet they intend to colonize and orders them arrested.
As the cold spreads, Zentos orders the Doctor, Dodo and Steven to be put on trial as saboteurs. Steven elects to be the representative at the court with a man named Rhos and the Commander's daughter Millium acting as defense. During the trial, word comes that a human has died from the illness and the crowd declares the defendants guilty and to be executed by being ejected into space. Also during the trial, Steven falls ill from the cold and is taken back to the cell.
Millium goes to her father and rouses him enough to order that the Doctor be given a chance to find a cure for the illness and that Steven is to be the test subject. If he fails, they will be executed. The Doctor readily accepts and has Dodo and the Monoids bring him ingredients from the TARDIS and the animals in the jungle. Working with both the human scientists and a Monoid technician, the Doctor synthesizes a cure and injects Steven with it. His fever spikes briefly and then breaks. Dodo heads out to inform the others and the cure is passed out to all the others.
Apologetic, Zentos releases them and wishes them well on their travels. The three leave in the TARDIS only to have it reappear in the same place. Confused, they walk out to look for the people they just met and find the space nearly empty. They do find the statue has been completed, only instead of being a man like the plans, it has the face of a Monoid.
The Doctor investigates the empty control room to find it fully automated. He also discovers that the Monoids have taken over and are now using the humans as slaves. The Doctor, Dodo and Steven are discovered by the Monoid second-in-command who takes them to the Monoid leader. The leader recognizes them as the same travelers from the past. He also relates that Dodo's cold mutated after they left, weakening the humans and Monoids in it's wake. The Monoids, encouraged by the humans to improve themselves, learned to make weapons and rose up in a violent revolution.
The three are sent to the security kitchen to assist in the preparation of food. The Doctor and Steven rally the humans to try and rise up against the Monoids but they are beaten back and one is killed by reinforcements. The Doctor and Dodo are taken out of the kitchen with Steven left as a promise of good behavior.
Approaching the planet Refusis II, the Monoids launch a landing craft with the Monoid second-in-command, his human slave, the Doctor and Dodo. They explore the planet but see no one. They do find a castle and enter it. The Monoid begins to destroy things to get the inhabitants attention but he is stopped by an invisible power. The Doctor calmly talks with the Refusian and learns they were altered into beings of energy by a solar flare impacting their planet. They welcome new inhabitants, so long as they are peaceful, and have taken steps to build shelters for them, including the castle.
Back on the ship, the Monoids plan to land on the planet and colonize it once they have a report. They also plan to blow up the Ark and all it's inhabitants with a bomb in the statue, ridding themselves of the remaining humans. One of the slaves overhears this and runs to the kitchen to warn the others.
This plan is also let slip by the second-in-command to his slave and Dodo. The slave tries to fight him but is shot down. The Monoid continues back to the landing craft, unaware that he is being followed by a Refusian. He signals the Ark but before he can relate the information about the Refusians, the Refusian blows up the landing craft, killing the second-in-command and leaving the Doctor and Dodo stranded on the planet.
Concerned over the failure of communications with Two, the lead Monoid orders that all Monoids, including the preserved ones, head down to the planet. However, Monoid Four believes that they should stay on the Ark and begins to foment dissent among some of the Monoids.
Knowing that they need to find the bomb, Steven and the others watch the Monoids prepare to depart. One man, Maharis, sneaks out after finishing loading the pods with the Monoid colonist trays and releases the others from the kitchen. After the Monoids depart the ship, they begin to scour the ship for the bomb.
On the planet, the Doctor and Dodo hide while the Monoids look for Two and the inhabitants of the planet. The Doctor and Dodo sneak aboard one landing craft and signal the Ark. The Doctor and Steven devise a plan where they will keep looking for the bomb while the Doctor tries to get it's location from the Monoids. As an added distraction, the Doctor has the Refusian he has been in contact with, take the landing craft back to the Ark.
The Doctor and Dodo surrender to the Monoids and the Monoids are equally dumbfounded by the landing craft departing when they cannot see anyone flying it. Interrogated by Monoid One, the Doctor insists that he and Dodo have not seen anyone. Unnerved, Monoid Four openly defies the leader and leads some of the Monoids back to the pods with the intention of taking the Ark elsewhere. Monoid One gloats that as the bomb is in the statue, he will find it difficult to move, allowing the Doctor to learn of it's location. Monoid One then gathers his followers to deal with Monoid Four's insubordination.
On the Ark, Maharis decides to take the landing craft back to Refusis to help the Doctor. Another collaborator, Dassuk, insists on going along and they head down. They land to see the Monoids in a firefight with each other. Dassuk tries to give himself to them but he is shot down. Maharis and those that accompanied him run to the castle where they tell the lone Monoid guard that Monoid One has sent for him to help in the fight.
Unguarded, the humans and the Doctor make their way back to the landing craft where the Doctor signals Steven that the bomb is in the statue. On board, the Refusian uses he powers to levitate the statue to the landing bay and Steven and another human named Venussa launch it into space where it explodes harmlessly.
The humans come down to the planet where they disarm the few surviving Monoids, Monoids One and Four having been killed in the fight. The Refusians allow them to colonize the planet so long as the two species live in peace. The Doctor chastises the humans noting that their ancestors enslaved the Monoids, embittering them towards the humans. If they treat each other as equals, they will live well together.
The Doctor, Steven and Dodo depart in the TARDIS. While in flight, the Doctor has a slight cough and as he does so, he begins to become invisible. Steven asks if this is similar to the Refusians but the Doctor informs him that he believes they are under attack from a more powerful source.
Analysis
I think The Ark can best be described as something that is there as it is not overly engaging. I do think that the second half of the story is better than the first, but neither is particularly engaging.
I think unquestionably the best thing about this story is the Doctor. The Doctor is calm, collected and inquisitive. He aims to help and doesn't get flustered, even when things go against him. He is also quite proactive, which is somewhat unusual for the First Doctor. Steven still takes the lead on much of the action but the Doctor goes out of his way to do things on his own. He actively petitions to help cure the plague in the first half, he instigates the feelings of rebellion in the second and actively works to thwart the Monoids and lend as much aid as possible to Steven in finding the bomb. He does all this with a chipper sense of adventure that is sometimes lacking with the First Doctor and it is enjoyable.
I'm not much for linguistics and it's been a while since I watched The Massacre so Dodo's switch from a more working class accent to the posh version was entirely lost on me. She was okay in this story though a bit dim. I got the feeling that she was intended to be more of a comic relief type of character, especially when dealing with the cold in the first half. In the second, she took a more subservient role to the Doctor and behaved more or less as the average 60's female companion: look nice and don't get in the Doctor's way. I didn't have a problem with it but there was nothing particularly catching about it either.
Steven was typical Steven. He took on a slightly exasperated parent tone when dealing with Dodo in Episode One, which did amuse me as Vicki had a similar tone when dealing with Steven in The Time Meddler. But once things got real, he settled down into his usual role. Episode Two didn't give him much other than the trial at the beginning but in the second half of the story, he went into typical action-man mode, going so far as to metaphorically slapping around the human slaves. He did well, but again, there wasn't much outside of what I would have expected. It was Steven being Steven and he did it well but nothing outside of that.
If there was a point where this story really fell down it was in the acting of the guest cast. This is more so in the first half. I actually didn't have a problem with the Monoids as I thought they were reasonably well designed and did about as well as you would expect a man in a suit to do. As such, when they were the focus in the second half, shortfalls in the acting did not register as much.
The real problems came with the human crew. The worst offender I thought was the Commander who falls ill at the end of Episode One. He has one good moment where a criminal is put into storage. After that, his delivery is terrible and he doesn't seem to know which direction he should take himself. Mellium is okay but she is every bland 60's female guest actor. She has her moments of stilted delivery and just standing about looking pretty which makes her quite uninteresting. Similarly Zentos is every zealous over-reactionary we've seen before. He chews the scenery while proclaiming the Doctor and his companions to be evil with no proof. He stands in a position of self-righteousness only to be humbled later as we have seen so many times before. If the acting doesn't get you, the genericness of the characters will.
There is a bit of an improvement in the second half as all the human characters seem to be portrayed by better actors, but there is so little time devoted to them, that it is impossible to care about them. I actually lost track of who was who at one point because all the men just seemed to look like each other. I guess that should be expected when you start with a relatively small genetic pool and then look forward seven hundred years, but it made the story just that much more difficult to follow. The standout was Venussa, not only because she was a woman but also because she seemed to be a slightly better actress and seemed to be the most enthusiastic about the revolution.
It's actually a bit of a shame that more time could not have been devoted to them because there was an interesting angle could have been explored about the collaborators and their relationship with the Monoids and then back to the humans. It's glossed over in a bit of a hasty way in this story with only the one die-hard collaborator who is gunned down by his masters when he surprises them.
Another thing that bugged me about this story is the nature of the plague that developed. Dodo has a generic cold, a bout of the sniffles essentially when they land. I can understand it felling the inhabitants of the Ark and being nastier there as they are lacking the level of immunity that Dodo and Steven have. However, even without that immunity, death from a cold seems like an extreme reaction. What's more, Steven catches the disease but instead of having symptoms like Dodo, the virus has apparently mutated in the span of a few hours to fell him during the trial. This makes no sense as the base level germ should have been the same to what he was exposed to in the TARDIS. At one point when hiding, Steven had his hand over Dodo's mouth to keep her quiet so he has been more than exposed to the germ. Yet, rather than having an immunity to it, he is felled just as bad as the others. Even if he had not yet fully gotten Dodo's cold, he should have displayed symptoms similar to hers, given his own build up of immunities over the years. A slight fever maybe but it should have essentially been a runny nose, watery eyes and sneezing.
I would argue that the disease is not Dodo's cold but in fact some other germ that they've been exposed to and brought with them. The Doctor is immune because of his different physiology and Dodo does not get it because her cold has her immune system working harder and it repels the bulk of the infection without any significant effects. The passengers are felled first because of their lack of prior immunities but then Steven goes down with similar symptoms, demonstrating that it is a different bug. At least, that's how I like to think of it.
Jumping back to the Monoids, I rather liked the design even if the Beatles haircuts are a bit much. I would also note that despite what the Doctor says in Episode Four, there isn't a lot of evidence showing the Monoids as slaves in the first two episodes. Monoid One even goes so far as to mock the humans for encouraging their learning which allowed them to rise up. I thought it rather a weak sauce to make the idea of peace a little easier at the end by implying the humans were just as guilty as the Monoids, despite there being no evidence in the story of that guilt. It is actually a Monoid death that prompts Zentos to have the Doctor and his companions arrested, which doesn't seem like the actions of a slave master. I think it would have worked a bit better if the Monoids felt like they were being oppressed and the Doctor telling both sides they needed to talk to each other rather than just have the Doctor pronounce guilt on the humans, mitigating the Monoid's actions.
One positive point was the model work. Both the model statue and the ships were quite well done and I thought that was good work for the time. All the sets really were well done, although the idea of a "security kitchen" is a little dumb. I'm also not sure a real elephant was necessary to convey the feeling of the Ark, but it did add a nice little bit of extra flair.
I'm a bit indifferent about the Refusians. They were a literal Deus Ex Machina with the added benefit of being invisible so you save money on design. The story worked well enough with them, though the addition of god-like beings did make the Monoids seem like much more adept villains that normal. Or the humans as just that much more pathetic. Take you choice there.
If you can get past the faults of the first two episodes, this story isn't terrible. I wouldn't recommend it as a first run on the First Doctor era as there are much better stories out there. But it has some good points and at least a bit of fun adventure in the second half. The concept is definitely sound and one that should be played with more often (such as is implied in The Face of Evil) but this is more of a first draft effort.
Overall personal score: 2 out of 5
Showing posts with label Dodo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dodo. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
Wednesday, October 5, 2016
The Savages
They are men. Human beings like you and me; although it appears at the moment you are behaving in a rather subhuman fashion.
The Savages is a story you don't hear about much which is rather surprising given that it is Steven's departure story. Some of that stems from it being all recon and probably also that with much of Steven's performances lost, he is viewed as a lesser companion among some groups of fans. I happen to enjoy Steven and was rather curious about this somewhat overlooked story.
Plot Summary
The Doctor lands on a planet set in the far future. He heads out to take some scientific readings while Steven and Dodo wait outside the TARDIS. The Doctor is observed by men dressed in skins and armed with spears and clubs. They make to attack him but retreat when soldiers with laser guns appear. The soldiers welcome the Doctor, informing him that his movements have been tracked by the city elders and they wish to welcome him. The Doctor agrees to go with him and one of the soldiers named Exorse is sent to collect Steven and Dodo.
Steven, growing worried, scouts for the Doctor but is called back by Dodo screaming that she saw a savage man. The men reappear and hurl spears at them but Steven and Dodo take cover behind the TARDIS. The savages retreat when Exorse appears and takes the pair to the city.
At the city, the elders proclaim the Doctor an honorary elder and wish to discuss science with him. They are surprised at the arrival of Steven and Dodo as they had not expected companions, but they are given gifts and taken to another part of the city to enjoy refreshment. The Doctor sits with the elders and inquires about their source of energy, to which the elders both boast but are also vague about.
Meanwhile, city soldiers head out on patrols. The savages, observing from hidden locations, send messengers to warn their people to hide. One of the messengers is a woman named Nanina. She is captured by Exorse and taken back to the city where she is given over to a group of scientists. The scientists release a different savage whom they have just finished with and take Nanina down to the lab. The released savage, exhausted and dazed, walks slowly to the exit.
Steven and Dodo are escorted around the city but Dodo becomes suspicious as their two guides, Avon and Flower, take pains to ensure Dodo cannot see anything they do not want her to see. She sneaks a peek out a window and observes Exorse leading Nanina in to the city. Seeing him emerge from a room later, she manages to sneak away from the group and explore on her own. While walking down a passage, she runs into the savage just released from the lab. He ignores her and shuffles out through a door that leads outside the city. Outside, he is collected by the savage leaders.
The scientists place Nanina in a machine and begin to extract energy from her. Dodo, hearing Nanina's screams, makes her way into the lab to observe. She is grabbed and dragged into an adjoining chamber by the assistants who mistake her for another savage to be processed. Dodo however, fights back, threatening to destroy the equipment.
Steven, Avon and Flower finally notice that Dodo has gone missing and go to look for her. They interrupt the Doctor and elders to tell them but the Doctor dismisses their concerns as he trusts Dodo to take care of herself. The elders order guards to assist with the search. The guard believes that she may have gone down a restricted corridor. He prepares to go after her and threatens Steven that he is not go down the corridor either.
Dodo's actions arouse the awareness of the chief scientist Senta. He learns that she is not a savage and one of the Doctor's companions. He pulls her aside as the guard enters. The guard takes her back to Steven while Senta ends the extraction of Nanina. Nanina is then taken by the guards and released outside the city.
Dodo is taken back to Steven and the two of them are taken back to the Doctor. A guard then comes and arrests Avon and Flower for their negligence. The Doctor finishes his conversation with the elders and offers to show them some of his charts on time travel. He takes Steven and Dodo with him and heads back to the TARDIS. The chief elder, Jano, worried about what Dodo saw and suspects, orders the guard captain Edal to follow them.
The group heads back towards the TARDIS where the Doctor confirms to Dodo that he suspects something foul afoot as well. They find the man Dodo ran into earlier lying on the ground. The Doctor sends Steven and Dodo back to the TARDIS for medicine while he attends to him. Edal comes across them and tries to drive the man away. The Doctor resists and decries the practices used by the citizen of the city. Edal, worried about the Doctor's attitude, takes him back to the city under force.
Steven and Dodo return and give the man two capsules that help reenergize him. However, they are soon surrounded by other savages who mean to kill them. The man they helped protests, proclaiming them friends. He also tells them of how the Doctor was taken away when he stood for him. Steven and Dodo try to convince the savages to help them rescue the Doctor, but they protest, fearing how they are overmatched.
In the city, Jano tries to convince the Doctor of the good of their method but the Doctor still decries it and vows to fight them. Jano orders the Doctor taken to the lab where he is forcibly placed into the extraction machine. Senta begins to transfer energy from the Doctor into their vats. The operation successful, the Doctor is pulled out and sent to a cell to recover. Jano then states that he will take all the Doctor's vitality, not wanting to risk anyone else. He also orders Edal to find and bring back the Doctor's companions for similar treatment.
The savage leader Chal takes Steven and Dodo into a cave which is their refuge to escape the guards, whom they have learned are pursuing them. The guard Exorse learns of their location and follows them into the cave. Chal takes Steven and Dodo down a passage, hoping to discourage Exorse in his pursuit. Exorse cows the remaining savages in the cave and one reveals which passage the companions went down and he follows them.
The passage ends in a dead end and Chal gives themselves up as lost. Steven however, learns from Chal that the light guns may be vulnerable to reflection. He takes the jeweled mirror that Dodo was given and orders the other two to lie down. As Exorse approaches, he activates the light gun. As he does so, Steven lifts the mirror and the light shines back, freezing Exorse. Steven picks the gun up and pushes Exorse back to the main chamber, suspended in his own beam. The savages look with wonder on Steven turning the tables on the guard.
With the gun in his possession, Steven asks for help to get into the city. Chal agrees to lead them to the door the savages are expelled from after extraction. Steven also orders that no harm come to Exorse unless he tries to escape. A savage named Tor, drunk on the victory, ignores this and attacks Exorse. He wounds him but his blow is defected by Nanina who insists they listen to Steven. She then tends to Exorse's wound and he is softened by her kindness and humanity.
After dismissing the assistants Senta places Jano in the receiving chamber. He switches it on and transfers the Doctor's vitality into Jano. Jano emerges after the procedure, talking and acting like the Doctor for several moments before attempting to reassert his own mind. He tells Senta that the procedure was hard on him and needs rest. Senta agrees and leaves Jano alone in the lab with orders not to be disturbed.
Steven surprises a the guard at the city door and knocks him out when the light gun hits him in the eyes. Chal agrees to wait outside while Steven and Dodo enter the city to find the Doctor. Their entrance is monitored by Edal who orders the Doctor be placed at the end of the passage for them to find. Their transmissions are also monitored by Jano. Upon finding the Doctor, they attempt to lead him out of the city, but the Doctor merely shuffles about like a zombie. Edal orders the doors closed and the passageway flooded with gas. The gas renders the light guns inert and the group begins to choke on the gas.
Edal orders them to drop their guns and Dodo complies. Steven refuses and Jano, under the influence of the Doctor's mind, opens the door behind them. Dodo takes the Doctor out while the sudden rush of air, clears the passage of the gas, allowing Steven to fire his gun at Edal and his men. Steven retreats out through the door and Jano closes the door.
Edal prepares to go after the group and Jano declares that he will lead the patrol. He orders one set of guards to head to the TARDIS while the others head towards the caves. Steven and Dodo meet up with Chal and Chal and Dodo take the Doctor back to the caves. Steven stays behind to delay the patrol. He fires at the patrol from the undergrowth, scattering the guards and retreating steadily. Once Jano has a shot on Steven but declines to take it, his mind still struggling against the Doctor's.
Chal, Dodo and the Doctor arrive at the caves just as Tor is preparing to fight Nanina over the life of Exorse. Steven arrives with the guards directly behind him. They see Jano leading the patrol and Steven makes an effort to take him down. Suddenly the Doctor speaks, ordering Steven not to harm Jano. Steven complies and the group retreats in to the cave. Jano's patrol then breaks off the attack, but Jano stays behind.
The Doctor slowly begins to come around. He states that they cannot leave and leave the savages in their current state. He proposes to destroy the transference machine with help from inside the city. As darkness approaches, Jano enters the cave, just as the Doctor had told them he would. Jano, in taking the Doctor's vitality all to himself, has absorbed thoughts and grown a conscious. He agrees that they must change their ways and offers to help destroy the transference machine.
While Jano is talking, Exorse manages to free himself and flees into the jungle. Nanina follows and begs him not to betray them. She also points out that he owes her his life. Exorse acknowledges this but continues to the city.
Edal returns to the city and informs Senta of what happened. Senta believes Jano may have absorbed some of the Doctor's ideas and tells him and the other elders of the transference. Edal declares martial law and takes command. Exorse enters and informs them that he was captured but escaped. He also tells them that Jano was around but does not reveal Jano's plan. Edal is suspicious and orders Exorse taken away to be interrogated later.
Jano returns to the city with the Doctor and his companions as well as some of the savages posing as his prisoners. He denounces Edal and his attempt at seizing power and orders his arrest. Senta and the elders side with Jano and Edal is taken away. Once out of the room, Jano attempts to convince Senta to dismantle the transference machine. Senta is taken back by this and refuses. Jano then releases his "prisoners" and the group falls upon the machine and destroys it.
The guards burst in with Edal back in command and enraged at Jano's treason he prepares to shoot him. Steven however anticipates this and shoots Edal down instead. As the smoke clears from the destruction of the machine, Jano and Chal agree that they must have a neutral mediator to help both sides accept the other. They ask the Doctor to stay but he refuses. Chal then declares that Steven is the man they will accept. Jano, already in Steven's debt agrees. Steven protests but the Doctor insists that he is prepared to accept the challenges offered.
Steven agrees and after saying goodbye to the Doctor and a tearful Dodo, heads up to the main chamber to meet with both sides. Dodo asks if they will see him again and the Doctor offers a hope given the nature of their travels. He and Dodo then depart in the TARDIS.
Analysis
I must say that I was quite surprised by how much I liked this story. Generally when a story is generally overlooked by fans, you expect it to be more of the middling variety; something that doesn't sway people much one way or the other. Instead, I found this to be a very engaging and well acted story. There was tension as well as good action that actually translated fairly well to an audio only format and I'm sure looked pretty good on screen.
I must first praise the acting, especially of the Doctor. In the first episode and a half, he is very subtle. It would be easy to think him impressed and awed by the fawning attention he is getting. But there is a note in his voice indicating that he is well aware that something rotten is going on. He is certainly much more aware than Steven who is easily taken in by the wonders of the city. But the Doctor's best moments are his stands first again Edal and then Jano in defiance of their practices. It is an excellent denouncement of what they are doing. and very engaging. The Doctor has less to do in the following two episodes but what he does do is both well acted and entertaining. He is the Doctor who is in full command of the situation and he lets you know it.
Steven and Dodo do well here as well. Steven is a little off character in the first episode as he is normally not that trusting but he comes around as the proper man of action. Dodo is also engaging as she finally gets some proper spunk in her investigating as well as proper action sequences both with Steven and in helping the Doctor. She also has a nice emotional reaction in Steven's departure as someone clearly losing a good friend.
Most of the guest cast was pretty good. I especially enjoyed Jano both in his noble, yet barbaric mind but even more so when channeling the Doctor at the end of Episode Three. I found his impression to be quite impressive and I can imagine the bit of joking there was on set in his performance. The others were pretty good too, although I didn't really care for Tor. He seemed a bit too stereotypical young hothead and I didn't really buy his performance. There was no subtlety to it and his scenes mostly went nowhere except to create false tension that wasn't really needed.
Something else that is somewhat interesting is the carryover in production from the original title. It is fairly well known that the working title of this story was The White Savages, giving the impression that if that moniker is left off, the natural inclination toward savages is to imagine someone of non-Caucasian stock. More intelligent minds prevailed and the story was retitled. However it is interesting to note that all of the important players among the city dwellers are blacked up. Jano is the darkest but other characters are definitely wearing darker foundation than their natural skin tone. About the only ones who aren't are Avon, Flower, and Exorse. I am not sure if this was some sort of social commentary or if it was an expression of natural racism. In the end, it didn't bother me and if I hadn't been aware of the working title, I might not have paid much attention to it. Of course, the lack of moving pictures also helps to overlook it. If it were more visible, it might have stuck out more and perhaps affected my enjoyment of the story but I cannot say at this time.
One of the things that I found myself imagining with this story while watching it is that while the Doctor recovers from his vitality extraction, he loses a measure of his life to the machine. The First Doctor only lasts for an additional three stories before regenerating at the end of The Tenth Planet. I've not seen The Smugglers yet but in both The War Machines and The Tenth Planet, the First Doctor is clearly beginning to ail. Behinds the scenes, it is well known that the producer Innes Lloyd was actively working to both sideline and potentially replace William Hartnell. He gets a bit of a reprieve in both The Gunfighters and here, but throwing in a plot element about having part of your life sapped away to be playing in Lloyd's mind as another potential way of getting rid of Hartnell.
Unfortunately I can't speak to the production values too much for this story given that we can't see it. But the costuming and set design that we can see looks fairly decent. The helmets and light guns are a bit odd but that's pretty well par for the course in any 1960's Sci-Fi story. At the very least, nothing looked so odd or out of place that it distracted from the overall story.
One thing I do remember being brought up in a discussion of this story that I listened to was why the city dwellers didn't domesticate the savages and create less work for themselves. I think the answer is two-fold to that question. First, as anyone who works with animals will tell you, a wild animal will have more vitality and vigor than a domesticated one. This is even more true with animals that are not naturally domesticated and attempting to keep a group of humans locked away would probably diminish their overall vitality beyond what was needed. The Doctor and his companions would have been exceptions to this (and they were planning to keep them prisoner) but only because they got such a high yield of vitality from the Doctor and presumably would have from Steven and Dodo.
The second reason is actually alluded to in the story. While the people of the city had an idea of what was going on, they were clearly discouraged from discussing it and kept in the dark about the full nature of the procedures. This is demonstrated in Avon and Flower's evasiveness in answering Dodo's questions as well as trying to shield her from evidence of the truth. How much harder would it be to keep the people fully in the dark if a large farm of caged humans were kept nearby. What's more, continuous exposure to the savages would have risked exposing that they were not that different from the city dwellers and a genuine risk of savage rights activists might have appeared. Keeping the savages at a distance and letting them loom over as a threat to those who would go outside the city allowed the elders to maintain the fiction of their intellectual and cultural superiority over the masses as well as continue to encourage the idea that an armed state was necessary for defense.
On the whole, I enjoyed this one. I think it fair to say that I enjoyed it enough that I think I could sit through it again as a reconstruction and enjoy it. Obviously I'd prefer to see it fully realized and if it does manage to come back, I'd be happy to sit through it a second time. There are a couple of niggles outside of the limitations of it being a recon that knocked it down a touch but on the whole, this was a good one and unfortunately overlooked.
Overall personal score: 4 out of 5
The Savages is a story you don't hear about much which is rather surprising given that it is Steven's departure story. Some of that stems from it being all recon and probably also that with much of Steven's performances lost, he is viewed as a lesser companion among some groups of fans. I happen to enjoy Steven and was rather curious about this somewhat overlooked story.
Plot Summary
The Doctor lands on a planet set in the far future. He heads out to take some scientific readings while Steven and Dodo wait outside the TARDIS. The Doctor is observed by men dressed in skins and armed with spears and clubs. They make to attack him but retreat when soldiers with laser guns appear. The soldiers welcome the Doctor, informing him that his movements have been tracked by the city elders and they wish to welcome him. The Doctor agrees to go with him and one of the soldiers named Exorse is sent to collect Steven and Dodo.
Steven, growing worried, scouts for the Doctor but is called back by Dodo screaming that she saw a savage man. The men reappear and hurl spears at them but Steven and Dodo take cover behind the TARDIS. The savages retreat when Exorse appears and takes the pair to the city.
At the city, the elders proclaim the Doctor an honorary elder and wish to discuss science with him. They are surprised at the arrival of Steven and Dodo as they had not expected companions, but they are given gifts and taken to another part of the city to enjoy refreshment. The Doctor sits with the elders and inquires about their source of energy, to which the elders both boast but are also vague about.
Meanwhile, city soldiers head out on patrols. The savages, observing from hidden locations, send messengers to warn their people to hide. One of the messengers is a woman named Nanina. She is captured by Exorse and taken back to the city where she is given over to a group of scientists. The scientists release a different savage whom they have just finished with and take Nanina down to the lab. The released savage, exhausted and dazed, walks slowly to the exit.
Steven and Dodo are escorted around the city but Dodo becomes suspicious as their two guides, Avon and Flower, take pains to ensure Dodo cannot see anything they do not want her to see. She sneaks a peek out a window and observes Exorse leading Nanina in to the city. Seeing him emerge from a room later, she manages to sneak away from the group and explore on her own. While walking down a passage, she runs into the savage just released from the lab. He ignores her and shuffles out through a door that leads outside the city. Outside, he is collected by the savage leaders.
The scientists place Nanina in a machine and begin to extract energy from her. Dodo, hearing Nanina's screams, makes her way into the lab to observe. She is grabbed and dragged into an adjoining chamber by the assistants who mistake her for another savage to be processed. Dodo however, fights back, threatening to destroy the equipment.
Steven, Avon and Flower finally notice that Dodo has gone missing and go to look for her. They interrupt the Doctor and elders to tell them but the Doctor dismisses their concerns as he trusts Dodo to take care of herself. The elders order guards to assist with the search. The guard believes that she may have gone down a restricted corridor. He prepares to go after her and threatens Steven that he is not go down the corridor either.
Dodo's actions arouse the awareness of the chief scientist Senta. He learns that she is not a savage and one of the Doctor's companions. He pulls her aside as the guard enters. The guard takes her back to Steven while Senta ends the extraction of Nanina. Nanina is then taken by the guards and released outside the city.
Dodo is taken back to Steven and the two of them are taken back to the Doctor. A guard then comes and arrests Avon and Flower for their negligence. The Doctor finishes his conversation with the elders and offers to show them some of his charts on time travel. He takes Steven and Dodo with him and heads back to the TARDIS. The chief elder, Jano, worried about what Dodo saw and suspects, orders the guard captain Edal to follow them.
The group heads back towards the TARDIS where the Doctor confirms to Dodo that he suspects something foul afoot as well. They find the man Dodo ran into earlier lying on the ground. The Doctor sends Steven and Dodo back to the TARDIS for medicine while he attends to him. Edal comes across them and tries to drive the man away. The Doctor resists and decries the practices used by the citizen of the city. Edal, worried about the Doctor's attitude, takes him back to the city under force.
Steven and Dodo return and give the man two capsules that help reenergize him. However, they are soon surrounded by other savages who mean to kill them. The man they helped protests, proclaiming them friends. He also tells them of how the Doctor was taken away when he stood for him. Steven and Dodo try to convince the savages to help them rescue the Doctor, but they protest, fearing how they are overmatched.
In the city, Jano tries to convince the Doctor of the good of their method but the Doctor still decries it and vows to fight them. Jano orders the Doctor taken to the lab where he is forcibly placed into the extraction machine. Senta begins to transfer energy from the Doctor into their vats. The operation successful, the Doctor is pulled out and sent to a cell to recover. Jano then states that he will take all the Doctor's vitality, not wanting to risk anyone else. He also orders Edal to find and bring back the Doctor's companions for similar treatment.
The savage leader Chal takes Steven and Dodo into a cave which is their refuge to escape the guards, whom they have learned are pursuing them. The guard Exorse learns of their location and follows them into the cave. Chal takes Steven and Dodo down a passage, hoping to discourage Exorse in his pursuit. Exorse cows the remaining savages in the cave and one reveals which passage the companions went down and he follows them.
The passage ends in a dead end and Chal gives themselves up as lost. Steven however, learns from Chal that the light guns may be vulnerable to reflection. He takes the jeweled mirror that Dodo was given and orders the other two to lie down. As Exorse approaches, he activates the light gun. As he does so, Steven lifts the mirror and the light shines back, freezing Exorse. Steven picks the gun up and pushes Exorse back to the main chamber, suspended in his own beam. The savages look with wonder on Steven turning the tables on the guard.
With the gun in his possession, Steven asks for help to get into the city. Chal agrees to lead them to the door the savages are expelled from after extraction. Steven also orders that no harm come to Exorse unless he tries to escape. A savage named Tor, drunk on the victory, ignores this and attacks Exorse. He wounds him but his blow is defected by Nanina who insists they listen to Steven. She then tends to Exorse's wound and he is softened by her kindness and humanity.
After dismissing the assistants Senta places Jano in the receiving chamber. He switches it on and transfers the Doctor's vitality into Jano. Jano emerges after the procedure, talking and acting like the Doctor for several moments before attempting to reassert his own mind. He tells Senta that the procedure was hard on him and needs rest. Senta agrees and leaves Jano alone in the lab with orders not to be disturbed.
Steven surprises a the guard at the city door and knocks him out when the light gun hits him in the eyes. Chal agrees to wait outside while Steven and Dodo enter the city to find the Doctor. Their entrance is monitored by Edal who orders the Doctor be placed at the end of the passage for them to find. Their transmissions are also monitored by Jano. Upon finding the Doctor, they attempt to lead him out of the city, but the Doctor merely shuffles about like a zombie. Edal orders the doors closed and the passageway flooded with gas. The gas renders the light guns inert and the group begins to choke on the gas.
Edal orders them to drop their guns and Dodo complies. Steven refuses and Jano, under the influence of the Doctor's mind, opens the door behind them. Dodo takes the Doctor out while the sudden rush of air, clears the passage of the gas, allowing Steven to fire his gun at Edal and his men. Steven retreats out through the door and Jano closes the door.
Edal prepares to go after the group and Jano declares that he will lead the patrol. He orders one set of guards to head to the TARDIS while the others head towards the caves. Steven and Dodo meet up with Chal and Chal and Dodo take the Doctor back to the caves. Steven stays behind to delay the patrol. He fires at the patrol from the undergrowth, scattering the guards and retreating steadily. Once Jano has a shot on Steven but declines to take it, his mind still struggling against the Doctor's.
Chal, Dodo and the Doctor arrive at the caves just as Tor is preparing to fight Nanina over the life of Exorse. Steven arrives with the guards directly behind him. They see Jano leading the patrol and Steven makes an effort to take him down. Suddenly the Doctor speaks, ordering Steven not to harm Jano. Steven complies and the group retreats in to the cave. Jano's patrol then breaks off the attack, but Jano stays behind.
The Doctor slowly begins to come around. He states that they cannot leave and leave the savages in their current state. He proposes to destroy the transference machine with help from inside the city. As darkness approaches, Jano enters the cave, just as the Doctor had told them he would. Jano, in taking the Doctor's vitality all to himself, has absorbed thoughts and grown a conscious. He agrees that they must change their ways and offers to help destroy the transference machine.
While Jano is talking, Exorse manages to free himself and flees into the jungle. Nanina follows and begs him not to betray them. She also points out that he owes her his life. Exorse acknowledges this but continues to the city.
Edal returns to the city and informs Senta of what happened. Senta believes Jano may have absorbed some of the Doctor's ideas and tells him and the other elders of the transference. Edal declares martial law and takes command. Exorse enters and informs them that he was captured but escaped. He also tells them that Jano was around but does not reveal Jano's plan. Edal is suspicious and orders Exorse taken away to be interrogated later.
Jano returns to the city with the Doctor and his companions as well as some of the savages posing as his prisoners. He denounces Edal and his attempt at seizing power and orders his arrest. Senta and the elders side with Jano and Edal is taken away. Once out of the room, Jano attempts to convince Senta to dismantle the transference machine. Senta is taken back by this and refuses. Jano then releases his "prisoners" and the group falls upon the machine and destroys it.
The guards burst in with Edal back in command and enraged at Jano's treason he prepares to shoot him. Steven however anticipates this and shoots Edal down instead. As the smoke clears from the destruction of the machine, Jano and Chal agree that they must have a neutral mediator to help both sides accept the other. They ask the Doctor to stay but he refuses. Chal then declares that Steven is the man they will accept. Jano, already in Steven's debt agrees. Steven protests but the Doctor insists that he is prepared to accept the challenges offered.
Steven agrees and after saying goodbye to the Doctor and a tearful Dodo, heads up to the main chamber to meet with both sides. Dodo asks if they will see him again and the Doctor offers a hope given the nature of their travels. He and Dodo then depart in the TARDIS.
Analysis
I must say that I was quite surprised by how much I liked this story. Generally when a story is generally overlooked by fans, you expect it to be more of the middling variety; something that doesn't sway people much one way or the other. Instead, I found this to be a very engaging and well acted story. There was tension as well as good action that actually translated fairly well to an audio only format and I'm sure looked pretty good on screen.
I must first praise the acting, especially of the Doctor. In the first episode and a half, he is very subtle. It would be easy to think him impressed and awed by the fawning attention he is getting. But there is a note in his voice indicating that he is well aware that something rotten is going on. He is certainly much more aware than Steven who is easily taken in by the wonders of the city. But the Doctor's best moments are his stands first again Edal and then Jano in defiance of their practices. It is an excellent denouncement of what they are doing. and very engaging. The Doctor has less to do in the following two episodes but what he does do is both well acted and entertaining. He is the Doctor who is in full command of the situation and he lets you know it.
Steven and Dodo do well here as well. Steven is a little off character in the first episode as he is normally not that trusting but he comes around as the proper man of action. Dodo is also engaging as she finally gets some proper spunk in her investigating as well as proper action sequences both with Steven and in helping the Doctor. She also has a nice emotional reaction in Steven's departure as someone clearly losing a good friend.
Most of the guest cast was pretty good. I especially enjoyed Jano both in his noble, yet barbaric mind but even more so when channeling the Doctor at the end of Episode Three. I found his impression to be quite impressive and I can imagine the bit of joking there was on set in his performance. The others were pretty good too, although I didn't really care for Tor. He seemed a bit too stereotypical young hothead and I didn't really buy his performance. There was no subtlety to it and his scenes mostly went nowhere except to create false tension that wasn't really needed.
Something else that is somewhat interesting is the carryover in production from the original title. It is fairly well known that the working title of this story was The White Savages, giving the impression that if that moniker is left off, the natural inclination toward savages is to imagine someone of non-Caucasian stock. More intelligent minds prevailed and the story was retitled. However it is interesting to note that all of the important players among the city dwellers are blacked up. Jano is the darkest but other characters are definitely wearing darker foundation than their natural skin tone. About the only ones who aren't are Avon, Flower, and Exorse. I am not sure if this was some sort of social commentary or if it was an expression of natural racism. In the end, it didn't bother me and if I hadn't been aware of the working title, I might not have paid much attention to it. Of course, the lack of moving pictures also helps to overlook it. If it were more visible, it might have stuck out more and perhaps affected my enjoyment of the story but I cannot say at this time.
One of the things that I found myself imagining with this story while watching it is that while the Doctor recovers from his vitality extraction, he loses a measure of his life to the machine. The First Doctor only lasts for an additional three stories before regenerating at the end of The Tenth Planet. I've not seen The Smugglers yet but in both The War Machines and The Tenth Planet, the First Doctor is clearly beginning to ail. Behinds the scenes, it is well known that the producer Innes Lloyd was actively working to both sideline and potentially replace William Hartnell. He gets a bit of a reprieve in both The Gunfighters and here, but throwing in a plot element about having part of your life sapped away to be playing in Lloyd's mind as another potential way of getting rid of Hartnell.
Unfortunately I can't speak to the production values too much for this story given that we can't see it. But the costuming and set design that we can see looks fairly decent. The helmets and light guns are a bit odd but that's pretty well par for the course in any 1960's Sci-Fi story. At the very least, nothing looked so odd or out of place that it distracted from the overall story.
One thing I do remember being brought up in a discussion of this story that I listened to was why the city dwellers didn't domesticate the savages and create less work for themselves. I think the answer is two-fold to that question. First, as anyone who works with animals will tell you, a wild animal will have more vitality and vigor than a domesticated one. This is even more true with animals that are not naturally domesticated and attempting to keep a group of humans locked away would probably diminish their overall vitality beyond what was needed. The Doctor and his companions would have been exceptions to this (and they were planning to keep them prisoner) but only because they got such a high yield of vitality from the Doctor and presumably would have from Steven and Dodo.
The second reason is actually alluded to in the story. While the people of the city had an idea of what was going on, they were clearly discouraged from discussing it and kept in the dark about the full nature of the procedures. This is demonstrated in Avon and Flower's evasiveness in answering Dodo's questions as well as trying to shield her from evidence of the truth. How much harder would it be to keep the people fully in the dark if a large farm of caged humans were kept nearby. What's more, continuous exposure to the savages would have risked exposing that they were not that different from the city dwellers and a genuine risk of savage rights activists might have appeared. Keeping the savages at a distance and letting them loom over as a threat to those who would go outside the city allowed the elders to maintain the fiction of their intellectual and cultural superiority over the masses as well as continue to encourage the idea that an armed state was necessary for defense.
On the whole, I enjoyed this one. I think it fair to say that I enjoyed it enough that I think I could sit through it again as a reconstruction and enjoy it. Obviously I'd prefer to see it fully realized and if it does manage to come back, I'd be happy to sit through it a second time. There are a couple of niggles outside of the limitations of it being a recon that knocked it down a touch but on the whole, this was a good one and unfortunately overlooked.
Overall personal score: 4 out of 5
Friday, May 20, 2016
The War Machines
WOTAN must be obeyed.
The War Machines was the last story of Season Three and the unceremonious dumping of the last of the earliest companions. It also marked true beginning of the end for the First Doctor. He would survive for two more stories, but the process that had begun in earnest in The Celestial Toymaker finally came to fruition and word came down on high that the Doctor would be replaced. It is rather ironic then that The War Machines actually produced probably the most iconic shot of the First Doctor: him staring down the war machine while everyone around him flees at the end of Episode Three.
Plot Summary
The Doctor and Dodo land in London in July, 1966. Looking around, they see the newly finished Post Office tower and the Doctor gets a strange alien feeling from it. They enter, posing as a scientist and secretary.
The head scientist, Professor Brett, shows them the computer WOTAN, which is scheduled to be connected to other major computers around the world in a few days. The Doctor is impressed but also unsettled. Dodo examines it but zones out for a moment. She dismisses it as being tired and Professor Brett suggests that his secretary, Polly Wright, take her out. Polly suggests a club she knows called The Inferno.
In the club, Polly meets a friend who encourages her to cheer up a repeat customer. A sailor named Ben Jackson is moping about due to being assigned to shore duty for six months. Polly chats with him and is accosted by another patron. Ben, warning the patron, knocks him down and settles in to keep Polly and Dodo company.
The Doctor heads to the scientific meeting where WOTAN is being made known to the press. Professor Brett is late but the head, Sir Charles Summer, discusses the project without him. At the lab, Professor Brett is preparing to leave when WOTAN hypnotizes him to bring him under control. It does the same with Major Green, head of the building security. Professor Brett heads to the scientific meeting where he grabs Professor Krimpton and brings him back to WOTAN where he is also hypnotized.
While they are gone, Major Green calls The Inferno and has Dodo put on the phone. Over the phone, WOTAN reengages the hypnotism it started earlier. Dodo then leaves the club, although Ben and Polly notice she is missing after a while. When all four are assembled, WOTAN issues an order for the Doctor to be brought to it. Dodo and Professor Krimpton leave to do this while Professor Brett and Major Green begin to construct a set of war machines. Major Green also works on telephoning scientists from all over the country to be hypnotized by WOTAN.
Dodo reenters the club and tries to lure the Doctor back to the tower. Polly jumps in and gets a taxi for them. The three drive off with Ben agreeing to meet Polly for lunch tomorrow. He passes a tramp who is preparing to enter an old warehouse to spend the night.
In the warehouse, Professor Brett is leading a group of workers who also have been hypnotized in building the war machines. Professor Krimpton comes in to let him know that Dodo has not been able to bring the Doctor. The tramp overhears this but he is detected by WOTAN. Professor Brett orders the workers and they surround and kill him.
The next morning, the Doctor reads of the death of a noted scientist. Sir Charles has also become aware of the disappearance of several other prominent scientists. Polly enters the room, having been telephoned by Professor Brett that Sir Charles' secretary was ill and that she should work for him today. Dodo enters a minute later and suggests that they go to see Professor Brett to have his questions answered. The Doctor agrees but decides to telephone the lab to let Professor Brett know that they are coming.
When the Doctor calls, Major Green connects the phone to WOTAN. The Doctor reacts with pain and hangs up the phone. Dodo comes to him to ask what his instructions are, but the Doctor broke contact before WOTAN could control him. Realizing that Dodo has been hypnotized, the Doctor counters the hypnosis with a little of his own. Sir Charles offers to take her to his country house to be taken care of by his wife. Polly, seeing what happened to Dodo, heads over to the lab to check on Professor Brett.
The Doctor continues to recover and think when Ben shows up looking for Polly as they were to meet for lunch. The Doctor enlists his help to investigate the area near the club last night. Ben, seeing the activity near the warehouse, slips in and observes Major Green conducting tests with the new war machine. It kills one man in a weapons test and begins to approach his hiding spot in another test.
Ben tries to run but is spotted by the machine. Major Green alerts the people and they pursue him. Polly arrives and locks the door, having been hypnotized and sent over to work. Ben is captured and would have been killed but Polly states that WOTAN demands the work be finished and all labor must be used. Ben is put to work but with everyone working, he is able to run off and escape. Polly sees him but does not raise the alarm as she is starting to fight the hypnosis. When this is discovered, she is sent back to WOTAN for punishment.
Concerned for Ben's safety, the Doctor is about to leave Sir Charles' house when Ben arrives. He tells them what happened and the Doctor realizes that they must knock out WOTAN. Sir Charles however believes that the war machine Ben found is the only and they should deal with it directly. He calls the government and has the army brought in.
The army sends a squad in to the warehouse. Major Green dispatches the workers and the war machine to attack them. The workers are beaten back but the machine beams out a signal that jams their guns. In the face of the attack, the soldiers fall back. Others begin to retreat as well as the machine advances but the Doctor stands his ground, despite Ben urging him to retreat. As the machine approaches, it suffers a fault and shuts down.
With the machine down, the soldiers clear the warehouse and the men come out from their hypnosis. Major Green does not even remember meeting the Doctor so they are dismissed. The Doctor examines the machine and determines that the other eleven machines are scheduled to attack all of London at noon.
In another location, a second war machine is misprogramed, kills the programmer and destroys the relay device. It then breaks loose and begins to attack London, heading towards a major power station. The Doctor proposes capturing it by trapping it in a powerful magnetic field. He has the army set up electrical cables in three parts of a square. When the machine enters, Ben runs behind it and finishes the square. The cables are activated and the magnetic force renders the machine inert.
The Doctor enters the field and deactivates the machine. He then reprograms it to only attack other machines and not humans. The Doctor then sends the machine to the Post Office tower to destroy WOTAN.
Guessing that Polly had gone back to WOTAN, Ben races ahead of the machine and breaks into the office. He grabs Polly and carries her out, her fighting him the whole way. Professors Brett and Krimpton try to stop him, but the reprogramed war machine arrives. Professor Krimpton tries to stop it but the machine shoots him down. The machine then smashes WOTAN. Professor Brett slowly comes out of his trance as Sir Charles and the Doctor arrive. Seeing WOTAN destroyed, the Doctor leaves.
The next day, the Doctor waits for Dodo outside the TARDIS. Ben and Polly arrive with a message that Dodo has fully recovered, but has decided to stay. The Doctor, slightly indignant, thanks them and enters the TARDIS. As they walk away, Polly realizes she still has a TARDIS key that had been dropped earlier. She and Ben unlock the TARDIS and enter to give it back to the Doctor. As they enter, the machine dematerializes.
Analysis
Okay, first to address the big controversy: WOTAN referring to the Doctor as Doctor Who. First, it is very clear that WOTAN uses that as the Doctor's name. However, that does not mean that this is the Doctor's actual name. Throughout the series, nearly all Doctors have enjoyed a little joke in using Doctor Who. The Second Doctor goes so far as to use the German titled version: Doktor Von Wer. I have no problem with it as it obviously and alias used by the Doctor. I like to imagine that the Doctor came up with it when he entered some place and a clerk or receptionist asked his name. He said "the Doctor" and the clerk responded, "Doctor Who?" In response, the Doctor simply said "Yes." It is an easy way to get past annoying people and the use of it as a joke would explain why the Doctor is seemingly so amused by the joke so many years later (Asylum of the Daleks being an obvious example). So of all the great nerd rages, this is not one that causes me much of a second thought.
Now, on to the actual review. Overall, this wasn't a bad story but the limitations of 1960's television do show with the design of the war machines. There is also some very questionable pacing decisions that nearly undercut some good performances.
I enjoyed the Doctor in this story a great deal, despite his being sidelined a bit for screen time. In a way, that sidelining worked to his advantage and he appeared smarter and even more on top of the situation than if he had been involved in every scene. I mentioned the stare down at the end of Episode Three and as this is the first time he has seen a war machine, his facing it down without flinching seems even more impressive.
It was also nice to see the army looking somewhat competent for a change. Obviously they were hindered by the inability to use their weapons which didn't help, but the fight against the workers and the war machine in Episode Three wasn't bad, although not shot that well. Then the fact that they successfully organized a clear path and capture of the war machine made them better that what we often got out of UNIT.
I enjoyed the acting of the side characters as well. The hypnosis moment was a bit shoddy but the overall performance of everything else was pretty good. I had this nagging feeling that I have seen the actor who played Professor Brett before but the only thing I can find that I've seen is that he was also in The Macra Terror so I must be remembering him from there.
Of course, there were some let down moments as well. The production staff tried hard to make the war machine scary but it didn't really work. Probably the biggest fault is that it fired a steam cannon rather like the Daleks in the two Peter Cushing movies. It just works better when there is an actual projectile be it bullet or laser. The forward hammers were also very clunky and obviously restricted by their own weight so that didn't help the machine either. It was a competent try but it still looked a bit unconvincing.
My second complaint was Ben's acting. It makes a marked contrast with Steven who could also be over the top but had a certain level of restraint also. Ben just sounds like he's a hair away from hysterical which give an odor of "Look, I'm acting!" to his performance. His quieter moments we're okay, but his intense moments got grating at times, especially in the first half of Episode Three where he combined them with obtuse character moments that just made him an annoyance.
As an aside, I also didn't like WOTAN's voice. Why is a computer hissing like an Ice Warrior? I'm guessing they were going for a sinister sound, but I think it would have been better if it were a cold, emotionless voice. That would have been more appropriate for a computer and much scarier. To say nothing of that fact that I would have been able to understand all that it said instead of straining make out the words.
But probably the biggest problem is the pacing. Episodes One and Two weren't bad, although I thought the parts in the club were a bit dull. But with the focus being on Dodo and the direct threat to the Doctor, there was a tension that was reasonably well played out. But Episode Three got dull. Too much time was devoted to Ben's capture and rather cheesy escape. As a result, very little time was spent with the Doctor and nothing much had been accomplished except that the army and the Doctor were aware of one machine.
This lack of development had a cascade effect in pushing together so much that Episode Four felt rushed. Rather than have so much time wasted on Ben's capture and escape, I think the story would have been better served if he had escaped immediately after being detected. This would have pushed the army attack to the middle of Episode Three and it could have ended with either learning that the machines are preparing to attack at noon or with the word that a second machine had been loosed on the city. A bit more development there would have evened out the pacing.
Instead, we are left with a very rushed ending with the reprogrammed war machine rushing in to destroy WOTAN, making it look weak with very little defense. It also makes you wonder why the army couldn't have rushed in and destroyed WOTAN. Afterall, Ben was able to rush in and grab Polly. Why couldn't have a squad of troops rushed in, grabbed Brett and Krimpton, and then tossed a few grenades through the door to destroy WOTAN? I would have been simple and easily done before the rest of the war machines were launched. Either way, the villain was shown to be not up to the caliber that you would expect of a principle threat.
Overall, this is a mixed bag. Decent performances and some nice cinematography, but poor pacing exposed some annoying shortfalls in the story and left me a bit bored at points. It's ok for background watching, but I can't say that I'd rush to watch it again.
Overall personal score: 2 out of 5
The War Machines was the last story of Season Three and the unceremonious dumping of the last of the earliest companions. It also marked true beginning of the end for the First Doctor. He would survive for two more stories, but the process that had begun in earnest in The Celestial Toymaker finally came to fruition and word came down on high that the Doctor would be replaced. It is rather ironic then that The War Machines actually produced probably the most iconic shot of the First Doctor: him staring down the war machine while everyone around him flees at the end of Episode Three.
Plot Summary
The Doctor and Dodo land in London in July, 1966. Looking around, they see the newly finished Post Office tower and the Doctor gets a strange alien feeling from it. They enter, posing as a scientist and secretary.
The head scientist, Professor Brett, shows them the computer WOTAN, which is scheduled to be connected to other major computers around the world in a few days. The Doctor is impressed but also unsettled. Dodo examines it but zones out for a moment. She dismisses it as being tired and Professor Brett suggests that his secretary, Polly Wright, take her out. Polly suggests a club she knows called The Inferno.
In the club, Polly meets a friend who encourages her to cheer up a repeat customer. A sailor named Ben Jackson is moping about due to being assigned to shore duty for six months. Polly chats with him and is accosted by another patron. Ben, warning the patron, knocks him down and settles in to keep Polly and Dodo company.
The Doctor heads to the scientific meeting where WOTAN is being made known to the press. Professor Brett is late but the head, Sir Charles Summer, discusses the project without him. At the lab, Professor Brett is preparing to leave when WOTAN hypnotizes him to bring him under control. It does the same with Major Green, head of the building security. Professor Brett heads to the scientific meeting where he grabs Professor Krimpton and brings him back to WOTAN where he is also hypnotized.
While they are gone, Major Green calls The Inferno and has Dodo put on the phone. Over the phone, WOTAN reengages the hypnotism it started earlier. Dodo then leaves the club, although Ben and Polly notice she is missing after a while. When all four are assembled, WOTAN issues an order for the Doctor to be brought to it. Dodo and Professor Krimpton leave to do this while Professor Brett and Major Green begin to construct a set of war machines. Major Green also works on telephoning scientists from all over the country to be hypnotized by WOTAN.
Dodo reenters the club and tries to lure the Doctor back to the tower. Polly jumps in and gets a taxi for them. The three drive off with Ben agreeing to meet Polly for lunch tomorrow. He passes a tramp who is preparing to enter an old warehouse to spend the night.
In the warehouse, Professor Brett is leading a group of workers who also have been hypnotized in building the war machines. Professor Krimpton comes in to let him know that Dodo has not been able to bring the Doctor. The tramp overhears this but he is detected by WOTAN. Professor Brett orders the workers and they surround and kill him.
The next morning, the Doctor reads of the death of a noted scientist. Sir Charles has also become aware of the disappearance of several other prominent scientists. Polly enters the room, having been telephoned by Professor Brett that Sir Charles' secretary was ill and that she should work for him today. Dodo enters a minute later and suggests that they go to see Professor Brett to have his questions answered. The Doctor agrees but decides to telephone the lab to let Professor Brett know that they are coming.
When the Doctor calls, Major Green connects the phone to WOTAN. The Doctor reacts with pain and hangs up the phone. Dodo comes to him to ask what his instructions are, but the Doctor broke contact before WOTAN could control him. Realizing that Dodo has been hypnotized, the Doctor counters the hypnosis with a little of his own. Sir Charles offers to take her to his country house to be taken care of by his wife. Polly, seeing what happened to Dodo, heads over to the lab to check on Professor Brett.
The Doctor continues to recover and think when Ben shows up looking for Polly as they were to meet for lunch. The Doctor enlists his help to investigate the area near the club last night. Ben, seeing the activity near the warehouse, slips in and observes Major Green conducting tests with the new war machine. It kills one man in a weapons test and begins to approach his hiding spot in another test.
Ben tries to run but is spotted by the machine. Major Green alerts the people and they pursue him. Polly arrives and locks the door, having been hypnotized and sent over to work. Ben is captured and would have been killed but Polly states that WOTAN demands the work be finished and all labor must be used. Ben is put to work but with everyone working, he is able to run off and escape. Polly sees him but does not raise the alarm as she is starting to fight the hypnosis. When this is discovered, she is sent back to WOTAN for punishment.
Concerned for Ben's safety, the Doctor is about to leave Sir Charles' house when Ben arrives. He tells them what happened and the Doctor realizes that they must knock out WOTAN. Sir Charles however believes that the war machine Ben found is the only and they should deal with it directly. He calls the government and has the army brought in.
The army sends a squad in to the warehouse. Major Green dispatches the workers and the war machine to attack them. The workers are beaten back but the machine beams out a signal that jams their guns. In the face of the attack, the soldiers fall back. Others begin to retreat as well as the machine advances but the Doctor stands his ground, despite Ben urging him to retreat. As the machine approaches, it suffers a fault and shuts down.
With the machine down, the soldiers clear the warehouse and the men come out from their hypnosis. Major Green does not even remember meeting the Doctor so they are dismissed. The Doctor examines the machine and determines that the other eleven machines are scheduled to attack all of London at noon.
In another location, a second war machine is misprogramed, kills the programmer and destroys the relay device. It then breaks loose and begins to attack London, heading towards a major power station. The Doctor proposes capturing it by trapping it in a powerful magnetic field. He has the army set up electrical cables in three parts of a square. When the machine enters, Ben runs behind it and finishes the square. The cables are activated and the magnetic force renders the machine inert.
The Doctor enters the field and deactivates the machine. He then reprograms it to only attack other machines and not humans. The Doctor then sends the machine to the Post Office tower to destroy WOTAN.
Guessing that Polly had gone back to WOTAN, Ben races ahead of the machine and breaks into the office. He grabs Polly and carries her out, her fighting him the whole way. Professors Brett and Krimpton try to stop him, but the reprogramed war machine arrives. Professor Krimpton tries to stop it but the machine shoots him down. The machine then smashes WOTAN. Professor Brett slowly comes out of his trance as Sir Charles and the Doctor arrive. Seeing WOTAN destroyed, the Doctor leaves.
The next day, the Doctor waits for Dodo outside the TARDIS. Ben and Polly arrive with a message that Dodo has fully recovered, but has decided to stay. The Doctor, slightly indignant, thanks them and enters the TARDIS. As they walk away, Polly realizes she still has a TARDIS key that had been dropped earlier. She and Ben unlock the TARDIS and enter to give it back to the Doctor. As they enter, the machine dematerializes.
Analysis
Okay, first to address the big controversy: WOTAN referring to the Doctor as Doctor Who. First, it is very clear that WOTAN uses that as the Doctor's name. However, that does not mean that this is the Doctor's actual name. Throughout the series, nearly all Doctors have enjoyed a little joke in using Doctor Who. The Second Doctor goes so far as to use the German titled version: Doktor Von Wer. I have no problem with it as it obviously and alias used by the Doctor. I like to imagine that the Doctor came up with it when he entered some place and a clerk or receptionist asked his name. He said "the Doctor" and the clerk responded, "Doctor Who?" In response, the Doctor simply said "Yes." It is an easy way to get past annoying people and the use of it as a joke would explain why the Doctor is seemingly so amused by the joke so many years later (Asylum of the Daleks being an obvious example). So of all the great nerd rages, this is not one that causes me much of a second thought.
Now, on to the actual review. Overall, this wasn't a bad story but the limitations of 1960's television do show with the design of the war machines. There is also some very questionable pacing decisions that nearly undercut some good performances.
I enjoyed the Doctor in this story a great deal, despite his being sidelined a bit for screen time. In a way, that sidelining worked to his advantage and he appeared smarter and even more on top of the situation than if he had been involved in every scene. I mentioned the stare down at the end of Episode Three and as this is the first time he has seen a war machine, his facing it down without flinching seems even more impressive.
It was also nice to see the army looking somewhat competent for a change. Obviously they were hindered by the inability to use their weapons which didn't help, but the fight against the workers and the war machine in Episode Three wasn't bad, although not shot that well. Then the fact that they successfully organized a clear path and capture of the war machine made them better that what we often got out of UNIT.
I enjoyed the acting of the side characters as well. The hypnosis moment was a bit shoddy but the overall performance of everything else was pretty good. I had this nagging feeling that I have seen the actor who played Professor Brett before but the only thing I can find that I've seen is that he was also in The Macra Terror so I must be remembering him from there.
Of course, there were some let down moments as well. The production staff tried hard to make the war machine scary but it didn't really work. Probably the biggest fault is that it fired a steam cannon rather like the Daleks in the two Peter Cushing movies. It just works better when there is an actual projectile be it bullet or laser. The forward hammers were also very clunky and obviously restricted by their own weight so that didn't help the machine either. It was a competent try but it still looked a bit unconvincing.
My second complaint was Ben's acting. It makes a marked contrast with Steven who could also be over the top but had a certain level of restraint also. Ben just sounds like he's a hair away from hysterical which give an odor of "Look, I'm acting!" to his performance. His quieter moments we're okay, but his intense moments got grating at times, especially in the first half of Episode Three where he combined them with obtuse character moments that just made him an annoyance.
As an aside, I also didn't like WOTAN's voice. Why is a computer hissing like an Ice Warrior? I'm guessing they were going for a sinister sound, but I think it would have been better if it were a cold, emotionless voice. That would have been more appropriate for a computer and much scarier. To say nothing of that fact that I would have been able to understand all that it said instead of straining make out the words.
But probably the biggest problem is the pacing. Episodes One and Two weren't bad, although I thought the parts in the club were a bit dull. But with the focus being on Dodo and the direct threat to the Doctor, there was a tension that was reasonably well played out. But Episode Three got dull. Too much time was devoted to Ben's capture and rather cheesy escape. As a result, very little time was spent with the Doctor and nothing much had been accomplished except that the army and the Doctor were aware of one machine.
This lack of development had a cascade effect in pushing together so much that Episode Four felt rushed. Rather than have so much time wasted on Ben's capture and escape, I think the story would have been better served if he had escaped immediately after being detected. This would have pushed the army attack to the middle of Episode Three and it could have ended with either learning that the machines are preparing to attack at noon or with the word that a second machine had been loosed on the city. A bit more development there would have evened out the pacing.
Instead, we are left with a very rushed ending with the reprogrammed war machine rushing in to destroy WOTAN, making it look weak with very little defense. It also makes you wonder why the army couldn't have rushed in and destroyed WOTAN. Afterall, Ben was able to rush in and grab Polly. Why couldn't have a squad of troops rushed in, grabbed Brett and Krimpton, and then tossed a few grenades through the door to destroy WOTAN? I would have been simple and easily done before the rest of the war machines were launched. Either way, the villain was shown to be not up to the caliber that you would expect of a principle threat.
Overall, this is a mixed bag. Decent performances and some nice cinematography, but poor pacing exposed some annoying shortfalls in the story and left me a bit bored at points. It's ok for background watching, but I can't say that I'd rush to watch it again.
Overall personal score: 2 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
Friday, December 18, 2015
The Celestial Toymaker
Lady luck will show the way, win the game or here you'll stay.
I'm not sure I understand the dislike for this one. Is it a great episode; no. But is the spawn of the devil; also no.
The story is very simple. An entity known as the Celestial Toymaker (one might assume he is is in the same vein as the White and Black Guardians) captures the Doctor and his companions. He sets the Doctor to a logic game while Steven and Dodo must play games against opponents of his creation. If Steven and Dodo lose or the Doctor solves the logic puzzle before Steven and Dodo get through their games, the Toymaker wins and Steven and Dodo will be turned into dolls for his collection while the Doctor will remain the Toymaker's prisoner and play in a continuous match of wits.
Episode one sets the premise and starts the games which continue through episodes two, three, and the first part of four. The story ends with the Doctor figuring out how to escape as the completion of the logic game will cause the world to be destroyed, taking them with it. The Doctor ends up using a voice trick to make it seem as though the Toymaker solved the puzzle, allowing him and his companions to dematerialize before the planet is destroyed.
First, the elephant in the room, there is casual racism in this episode. Celestial was word used in the 19th century to refer to Chinese people, especially those who had emigrated to English speaking countries. The fact that the Toymaker wears Chinese robes that would have been period to this time reinforces the idea that this was an implied meeting. Of course, the Toymaker himself is not Chinese and the term in this context had fallen into disuse even by the 1960's. So this is more subtle and would go over nearly everyone's head, even at the time.
The second piece of racism is more historical. In episode two, the King of Hearts recites an old nursery rhyme to decide which chair to test first and the nursery rhyme contains the "n" word. In the Loose Cannon recon, the audio of the rhyme is turned way down so that it sounds more like the King is just mumbling to himself. If you weren't paying close attention, you would probably miss it. This is an unfortunate artifact of the time. Nursery rhymes containing this word were common up through WWII (see Ten Little Indians). It seems odd that the production would have been able to get away with saying it even in 1966, but it is there. However, I view this as an artifact of the time and while we might cringe at these things from a modern perspective, I don't think it is blatant or vile enough to denigrate the story as a whole.
There are good elements in this story. In many ways, it's not that far removed from Amy's Choice. A powerful entity sets the rules for a contest that the Doctor and his team must manipulate to first stay alive and then to win outright. The premise is interesting and Steven and Dodo do a decent job of showing a proper sense of tension due to the stakes applied in not only losing the games, but even in being delayed.
Episodes two and three also do well in introducing opponents who are not simple caricatures of henchmen, but actually have personalities and provide entertainment in their own right. In a way, though they are not real, you can almost feel a bit bad that Steven and Dodo have to beat them to advance. The King and Queen of Hearts do an especially good job of noting that they view themselves just as real as Steven and Dodo and wish their liberty just as much. The clowns and Cyril fall more in the vein of unsympathetic competitors whom you are happy to see Steven and Dodo triumph over.
Of course, there are poor elements to this story as well. Probably most annoying is the fact that Steven and Dodo do not really win any of their games, they simply fail to lose:
Against the clowns, they stop the clowns from cheating and Joey falls from the course allowing them to win by default.
The cards end up with a 50-50 chance of winning and only lose because they select the wrong chair. You could argue that if only one had sat in the chair rather than both they would have won, but it was still a lucky chance that they picked the wrong chair.
Steven and Dodo would have lost the dancing trap if Sergeant Rugg and Mrs. Wiggs hadn't stepped on to the dancing floor to try and get to the TARDIS, allowing the dancer dolls to capture other players.
Cyril did win the hopscotch challenge but slipped on one of his own traps which again allowed Steven and Dodo to win by default.
I know that bringing the dolls to life allowed them to be fit with human failings and sympathies, but to have all four games end because the opponent made a mistake is a bit unsatisfying. It seems like Steven and Dodo should have won at least one of the games by outright skill to make it more believable.
Also on the subject of the games, Dodo became more and more annoying. She was repeatedly taken in by the opponents into things that cost time or might have cost them the game outright. Some of her sympathies towards the King and Queen of Hearts or Sergeant Rugg and Mrs. Wigg might be understandable, but giving in to Cyril despite Steven's repeated warnings and reminders just made her look foolish.
One final notch on the negative side is the acting of the Toymaker himself. He seemed rather stiff and his speech was stilted. I don't know if that should be chalked up to the director or to the fact that he was acting against an empty room for the majority of the story (the Doctor was invisible and mute for most of episode two, all of episode three, and part of episode four). But it made the Toymaker a bit less convincing as a villain when he came across as so wooden.
Despite all of these faults, I found myself enjoying this story. I would put the weight of that on the enjoyability of the opponents in episodes two and three. If things had gone along the lines of episodes one and four where Steven and Dodo have to carry the attention against annoying opponents, it would have been a lot less enjoyable, especially since they did not win outright in any case. As it exists mostly in recon form, I doubt I would pull this off to watch again, but if it was discovered, I think I would watch it again without any reservation.
Overall personal score: 3 out of 5
I'm not sure I understand the dislike for this one. Is it a great episode; no. But is the spawn of the devil; also no.
The story is very simple. An entity known as the Celestial Toymaker (one might assume he is is in the same vein as the White and Black Guardians) captures the Doctor and his companions. He sets the Doctor to a logic game while Steven and Dodo must play games against opponents of his creation. If Steven and Dodo lose or the Doctor solves the logic puzzle before Steven and Dodo get through their games, the Toymaker wins and Steven and Dodo will be turned into dolls for his collection while the Doctor will remain the Toymaker's prisoner and play in a continuous match of wits.
Episode one sets the premise and starts the games which continue through episodes two, three, and the first part of four. The story ends with the Doctor figuring out how to escape as the completion of the logic game will cause the world to be destroyed, taking them with it. The Doctor ends up using a voice trick to make it seem as though the Toymaker solved the puzzle, allowing him and his companions to dematerialize before the planet is destroyed.
First, the elephant in the room, there is casual racism in this episode. Celestial was word used in the 19th century to refer to Chinese people, especially those who had emigrated to English speaking countries. The fact that the Toymaker wears Chinese robes that would have been period to this time reinforces the idea that this was an implied meeting. Of course, the Toymaker himself is not Chinese and the term in this context had fallen into disuse even by the 1960's. So this is more subtle and would go over nearly everyone's head, even at the time.
The second piece of racism is more historical. In episode two, the King of Hearts recites an old nursery rhyme to decide which chair to test first and the nursery rhyme contains the "n" word. In the Loose Cannon recon, the audio of the rhyme is turned way down so that it sounds more like the King is just mumbling to himself. If you weren't paying close attention, you would probably miss it. This is an unfortunate artifact of the time. Nursery rhymes containing this word were common up through WWII (see Ten Little Indians). It seems odd that the production would have been able to get away with saying it even in 1966, but it is there. However, I view this as an artifact of the time and while we might cringe at these things from a modern perspective, I don't think it is blatant or vile enough to denigrate the story as a whole.
There are good elements in this story. In many ways, it's not that far removed from Amy's Choice. A powerful entity sets the rules for a contest that the Doctor and his team must manipulate to first stay alive and then to win outright. The premise is interesting and Steven and Dodo do a decent job of showing a proper sense of tension due to the stakes applied in not only losing the games, but even in being delayed.
Episodes two and three also do well in introducing opponents who are not simple caricatures of henchmen, but actually have personalities and provide entertainment in their own right. In a way, though they are not real, you can almost feel a bit bad that Steven and Dodo have to beat them to advance. The King and Queen of Hearts do an especially good job of noting that they view themselves just as real as Steven and Dodo and wish their liberty just as much. The clowns and Cyril fall more in the vein of unsympathetic competitors whom you are happy to see Steven and Dodo triumph over.
Of course, there are poor elements to this story as well. Probably most annoying is the fact that Steven and Dodo do not really win any of their games, they simply fail to lose:
Against the clowns, they stop the clowns from cheating and Joey falls from the course allowing them to win by default.
The cards end up with a 50-50 chance of winning and only lose because they select the wrong chair. You could argue that if only one had sat in the chair rather than both they would have won, but it was still a lucky chance that they picked the wrong chair.
Steven and Dodo would have lost the dancing trap if Sergeant Rugg and Mrs. Wiggs hadn't stepped on to the dancing floor to try and get to the TARDIS, allowing the dancer dolls to capture other players.
Cyril did win the hopscotch challenge but slipped on one of his own traps which again allowed Steven and Dodo to win by default.
I know that bringing the dolls to life allowed them to be fit with human failings and sympathies, but to have all four games end because the opponent made a mistake is a bit unsatisfying. It seems like Steven and Dodo should have won at least one of the games by outright skill to make it more believable.
Also on the subject of the games, Dodo became more and more annoying. She was repeatedly taken in by the opponents into things that cost time or might have cost them the game outright. Some of her sympathies towards the King and Queen of Hearts or Sergeant Rugg and Mrs. Wigg might be understandable, but giving in to Cyril despite Steven's repeated warnings and reminders just made her look foolish.
One final notch on the negative side is the acting of the Toymaker himself. He seemed rather stiff and his speech was stilted. I don't know if that should be chalked up to the director or to the fact that he was acting against an empty room for the majority of the story (the Doctor was invisible and mute for most of episode two, all of episode three, and part of episode four). But it made the Toymaker a bit less convincing as a villain when he came across as so wooden.
Despite all of these faults, I found myself enjoying this story. I would put the weight of that on the enjoyability of the opponents in episodes two and three. If things had gone along the lines of episodes one and four where Steven and Dodo have to carry the attention against annoying opponents, it would have been a lot less enjoyable, especially since they did not win outright in any case. As it exists mostly in recon form, I doubt I would pull this off to watch again, but if it was discovered, I think I would watch it again without any reservation.
Overall personal score: 3 out of 5
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
The Gunfighters
When there's blood on the sawdust in the Last Chance Saloon
A person's appreciation of The Gunfighters is directly proportional to your attitude going into it. If you expect a serious historical, you will be sadly mistaken. But if you are expecting a mild parody of the traditional Western, especially as seen in 60's television, it's an enjoyable story.
I'm of two minds on this one. On one hand, it was a well put together story, straight out of John Wayne movies or TV shows I heard my dad talking about. On the other hand, I'm a bit of a historical pedant and a historical story filled with as many inaccuracies as this one is always slightly off putting. I've not seen My Darling Clementine but I imagine this is closer to that.
The story is very lawmen vs. ranch. The Doctor arrives in Tombstone looking for a dentist and is taken care of by Doc Holliday. The Doctor is mistaken for Doc Holliday by the Clanton brothers who are searching for him since he killed their brother Reuben. Doc Holliday goes along but his girlfriend Kate manages to get the Doctor arrested by Wyatt Earp. The Clantons try to force the issue but one is arrested for attempting to hang Steven. The barman spills the beans to the Clantons as to Doc Holliday's identity after he kills a hired gun in the saloon. The Clantons fall in with Johnny Ringo who has arrived in town also looking for Doc Holliday. He takes Steven with him since Doc Holliday has fled with Dodo. The Clantons meanwhile break into the jail and free their arrested brother, killing Warren Earp in the process. Wyatt then sends a challenge to the Clantonss to meat him at the OK Corral at sunup. Johnny Ringo falls in with the Clantons and goes along. Doc Holliday arrives back in Tombstone with Dodo and agrees to go with the Earps. The Doctor and Steven ride to the Clantons to try and stop them but they are too late. Virgil and Wyatt Earp fight with Ike, Billy, and Phineas Clanton in the street. Johnny Ringo tries to sneak behind but Dodo interferes and Doc Holliday shoots him down. Holliday then joins the Earps and they gun down the Clantons. The next day the Doctor, Steven, and Dodo leave Tombstone.
If you can separate the story from the history, it's quite fun. It's a little slow in the middle as most Westerns are but the gunfight at the end makes up for it in spades. There is a lot of cracking and shooting and the bad guys get gunned down in the end. Exactly what young boys would have loved watching. The story is punctuated throughout by lines from a song called "The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon." It goes from entertaining, to annoying, and then back to catchy all in one watch. It helps that the tempo alters a bit as the mood of the story changes and Kate's voice is very pleasant as she sings the various lines.
But there is the history to consider as well. The marshal is Bat Masterson, except that Bat Masterson never set foot in Tombstone. He was marshal in Dodge City with Wyatt Earp but that was before Tombstone. Morgan Earp is mentioned but is missing from the story. Morgan was actually at the OK Corral with Virgil and Wyatt. Also, while Johnny Ringo was part of the Clanton gang, he was not in Tombstone at the time of the fight. Even the source of the fight is wrong. The Earps were all deputized and trying to serve a warrant when the fight broke out, not setting out for a private vendetta. The outcome of the fight was altered as well. Only Bill Clanton was actually killed of the Clantons. Two other associates of their's were killed and Ike Clanton actually ran away before the fight started.
Now, to be fair, it is very unlikely that anyone would have known this information unless they did some serious digging. It wasn't until the movies Tombstone and Wyatt Earp came out that there was even an attempt at portraying the OK Corral in a historical context. It was much more interesting to show the white hat Earps killing the black hat Clantons. To hold a British show to at standard that even American shows weren't hitting would be rather hypocritical.
Also, while we're on the subject of Americans as perceived by the British, one must give a large grain of salt to the actors for their attempts at American accents. I'm sure the British people laugh at Americans when we try to do their accents. And in truth, after about five minutes you barely notice it. So at least the actors were consistent in their portrayal.
Overall, I'd say the story is pretty good. There are other historicals I like better, but this one is enjoyable, especially when you keep it in context of the time it was made. I'm betting that if I showed this to my dad, he would be absolutely enthralled with it.
Overall personal score: 3.5 out of 5
A person's appreciation of The Gunfighters is directly proportional to your attitude going into it. If you expect a serious historical, you will be sadly mistaken. But if you are expecting a mild parody of the traditional Western, especially as seen in 60's television, it's an enjoyable story.
I'm of two minds on this one. On one hand, it was a well put together story, straight out of John Wayne movies or TV shows I heard my dad talking about. On the other hand, I'm a bit of a historical pedant and a historical story filled with as many inaccuracies as this one is always slightly off putting. I've not seen My Darling Clementine but I imagine this is closer to that.
The story is very lawmen vs. ranch. The Doctor arrives in Tombstone looking for a dentist and is taken care of by Doc Holliday. The Doctor is mistaken for Doc Holliday by the Clanton brothers who are searching for him since he killed their brother Reuben. Doc Holliday goes along but his girlfriend Kate manages to get the Doctor arrested by Wyatt Earp. The Clantons try to force the issue but one is arrested for attempting to hang Steven. The barman spills the beans to the Clantons as to Doc Holliday's identity after he kills a hired gun in the saloon. The Clantons fall in with Johnny Ringo who has arrived in town also looking for Doc Holliday. He takes Steven with him since Doc Holliday has fled with Dodo. The Clantons meanwhile break into the jail and free their arrested brother, killing Warren Earp in the process. Wyatt then sends a challenge to the Clantonss to meat him at the OK Corral at sunup. Johnny Ringo falls in with the Clantons and goes along. Doc Holliday arrives back in Tombstone with Dodo and agrees to go with the Earps. The Doctor and Steven ride to the Clantons to try and stop them but they are too late. Virgil and Wyatt Earp fight with Ike, Billy, and Phineas Clanton in the street. Johnny Ringo tries to sneak behind but Dodo interferes and Doc Holliday shoots him down. Holliday then joins the Earps and they gun down the Clantons. The next day the Doctor, Steven, and Dodo leave Tombstone.
If you can separate the story from the history, it's quite fun. It's a little slow in the middle as most Westerns are but the gunfight at the end makes up for it in spades. There is a lot of cracking and shooting and the bad guys get gunned down in the end. Exactly what young boys would have loved watching. The story is punctuated throughout by lines from a song called "The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon." It goes from entertaining, to annoying, and then back to catchy all in one watch. It helps that the tempo alters a bit as the mood of the story changes and Kate's voice is very pleasant as she sings the various lines.
But there is the history to consider as well. The marshal is Bat Masterson, except that Bat Masterson never set foot in Tombstone. He was marshal in Dodge City with Wyatt Earp but that was before Tombstone. Morgan Earp is mentioned but is missing from the story. Morgan was actually at the OK Corral with Virgil and Wyatt. Also, while Johnny Ringo was part of the Clanton gang, he was not in Tombstone at the time of the fight. Even the source of the fight is wrong. The Earps were all deputized and trying to serve a warrant when the fight broke out, not setting out for a private vendetta. The outcome of the fight was altered as well. Only Bill Clanton was actually killed of the Clantons. Two other associates of their's were killed and Ike Clanton actually ran away before the fight started.
Now, to be fair, it is very unlikely that anyone would have known this information unless they did some serious digging. It wasn't until the movies Tombstone and Wyatt Earp came out that there was even an attempt at portraying the OK Corral in a historical context. It was much more interesting to show the white hat Earps killing the black hat Clantons. To hold a British show to at standard that even American shows weren't hitting would be rather hypocritical.
Also, while we're on the subject of Americans as perceived by the British, one must give a large grain of salt to the actors for their attempts at American accents. I'm sure the British people laugh at Americans when we try to do their accents. And in truth, after about five minutes you barely notice it. So at least the actors were consistent in their portrayal.
Overall, I'd say the story is pretty good. There are other historicals I like better, but this one is enjoyable, especially when you keep it in context of the time it was made. I'm betting that if I showed this to my dad, he would be absolutely enthralled with it.
Overall personal score: 3.5 out of 5
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