You've got to come out on to the balcony sometime and wave a tentacle.
Like much of the Philip Hinchcliff era, Terror of the Zygons is based on earlier material, in this case: Invasion of the Body Snatchers. It was originally slated to close Season 12, which is very apparent in the goodbye scene with Harry and the lingering acceptance of Sarah to continue with the Doctor, but problems behind the scenes pushed it back to the start of Season 13. It also is somewhat notable for being the last story released to DVD (baring any missing episode discoveries) supposedly just to screw with someone the 2Entertian execs didn't like and had said that this was his favorite story.
Plot Summary
The Doctor, Sarah and Harry land in Scotland after being summoned by the Brigadier. They land in the moors and are given a lift to UNIT headquarters by the local laird, the Duke of Forgill. The Brigadier informs them of several oil rigs that have been destroyed around the area in perfect weather with only a strange signal captured over the radio. The Doctor is a bit put out over being summoned for such a trivial matter but agrees to help. The three split up with the Doctor and the Brigadier heading to see the oil drilling company manager, Sarah to interview the locals and Harry to explore the seashore looking for other evidence.
Sarah interviews the local innkeeper, Angus, who warns Sarah of strange things on the moors and also claims to have a bit of "the second sight." Meanwhile, Harry spots a man stumbling around the shore and rushes to him. The man survived the destruction of the latest oil rig and tells Harry what happened. While talking, they are spotted by a bearded man in Scottish dress who produces a rifle and shoots them both. The rig survivor is killed but the second bullet glances Harry's head, only wounding him.
The Doctor and the Brigadier return from speaking with Mr. Huckle, the oil company manager who told them of a fourth attack. They also find a section of concrete with large holes poked into it. They receive a call from the hospital and drive over there with Sarah to check on Harry who is sedated. Knowing that he will recover, the Doctor and the Brigadier return to the inn while Sarah stays at the hospital.
Back at the inn, the Doctor makes a plaster mold of the holes to reveal two very large teeth punctures. They receive a call from Sarah stating that Harry seems to be coming around and is eager to tell them something, although he is still too groggy to articulate it. Sarah is suddenly attacked from behind by a Zygon. Overhearing her scream, the Doctor and Sargent Benton head over to the hospital.
Once at the hospital, they find both Sarah and Harry missing with the nurse suggesting that Harry escaped through the open window. The Doctor sends Benton out to search the grounds while he looks through the building. He finds Sarah in a decompression room and the Zygon who attacked her seals them in and activates the chamber. The Doctor hypnotizes Sarah into a minimal breathing state to preserve air while he goes into a trance himself. Benton and another soldier return to the hospital, find the Doctor and Sarah and pump air back into the chamber. The Doctor then brings himself and Sarah out of their trances.
Mr. Huckle arrives at the inn and finds the Brigadier and his staff passed out due to gas. When the Doctor, Sarah and Benton return, they rouse the Brigadier and the rest of the village, suspecting that they were gassed to hide the movement of something. Huckle produces an alien object that was recovered from the latest oil rig destruction and the Doctor recognizes it as something to lure the creature that is attacking.
The Zygon leader, Broton, observes all this through a camera hidden in the inn and sends one of his men to recover it, having morphed into the form of Harry. Benton calls the Brigadier and the Doctor away, having found one of the soldiers crushed to death outside the village, leaving Sarah alone. The fake Harry enters, takes the summoner and runs off. Sarah runs after him and finds him hiding in a barn. He attacks her with a pitchfork but he falls off while attacking her and is impaled on a hayrack. Broton, detecting the death of the Zygon, vaporizes the body remotely, leaving Sarah unable to show the Doctor the alien's true form.
Fearing discovery, Broton activates the summoner and sends the large mechanical plesiosaur-like creature towards the village. Suspecting what's happening, the Doctor grabs the device and drives out on to the moors. His car breaks down and he runs on foot, the creature steadily catching up to him. The Doctor dives out of the way as the creature lunges at him and the lunge knocks the tracker from the Doctor's hand. Thinking that the Doctor has been killed, Broton recalls the creature. Having triangulated the creature's origin to Loch Ness, Sarah and the Brigadier ride out after the Doctor. They find him walking the moors and they drive onward to the castle of the Duke of Forgill.
While they are away, Benton runs a search of the inn looking for the bugging devices. Broton becomes worried and orders that the camera in the eye of a mounted deer head be removed. After Benton leaves, Angus notices the camera and works to try and dismount the head, which was a gift from the Duke of Forgill. A Zygon in the form of the nurse, Sister Lamont, arrives, kills Angus and takes the camera. Benton hears Angus cry out and rushes to the scene to find Angus dead. His men fan out and see the creature fleeing through the woods. They open fire, wounding it. The wounded Zygon transforms back into Sister Lamont, knocks out a soldier and steals his jeep.
At the Duke of Forgill's castle the Doctor, the Brigadier and Sarah fill in the Duke with they Doctor's theory that the creature is a cyborg creature which allows the Zygons to control it. The Doctor suspects the aliens crashed hundreds of years ago and are making moves know as the oil drilling threatens to expose them. The Duke is skeptical but allows Sarah to stay behind and research his books while the Brigadier and the Doctor head back to the inn after receiving a call from Benton about the attack.
Sarah reaches up for a high book and accidentally triggers a door to a hidden passage. She sneaks down and discovers the alien ship with holding slots where the real Duke of Forgill, Sister Lamont and the Caber are in suspended animation. She also discovers Harry in a holding cell. Sarah rescues him, though they are forced to hide when the Zygons return helping a wounded comrade disguised as Sister Lamont.
The Doctor and the Brigadier learn of what happened from Benton and the Doctor realizes that the Duke has been taken over as well. They return to the castle just as Sarah and Harry emerge from the hidden passage. The Doctor heads down but is captured by Broton and taken into the ship. Broton warns off the Brigadier but the Brigadier gives his own warning.
They leave the castle and the Brigadier has depth charges launched into the loch, alarming Broton. Broton then orders the ship to launch and it rises out of the loch and into the sky. It flies south and lands in an abandoned quarry outside of London, jamming all radar instruments to aid its camouflage. Despite this, the Brigadier orders Benton to keep an ear out for any signals while Sarah and Harry comb over the Duke's library for any information.
The Doctor is placed in a cell and learns that the ship has cut it's power to half to avoid detection. He observes Broton resume the form of the Duke and head out on a mission to implement the next phase of the plan, which will terraform the Earth over the next several centuries before the Zygon refugee fleet arrives. The Doctor then forms a short link between two terminals using himself as the bridge. This sends out signal from the ship but also electrocutes himself.
Benton picks up the signal, triangulates it, informs the Brigadier and the whole group drives down from the inn to the ship. The Zygons manages to break into the Doctor's cell but think he has been killed by the electric shock. He revives after they leave and sneaks through the ship, freeing the real Duke, the Caber and Sister Lamont. The Doctor then sets off an alarm to pull the Zygons off the bridge and the group barricades themselves in there. Once on the bridge, the Doctor sets the self destruct and they flee the ship in the escape hatch. They run away just as the Brigadier's column arrives and they all dive for cover as the ship explodes, killing all the Zygons except Broton.
They receive word that the Loch Ness creature, called by the Zygons a Skarasen, has been swimming down from the sea and is now moving up the Thames. Pooling their information, they deduce that Broton is heading to a major energy conference disguised as the Duke and will attack the multitude of dignitaries there. The Doctor and UNIT head to the conference to stop him.
The Doctor and Sarah discover Broton planting the luring device for the Skarasen in a storage room. Broton attacks the Doctor and Sarah runs for the Brigadier. The Brigadier and two of his men enter. Broton turns his attack towards one of them but the Brigadier shoots Broton down. The Doctor scours the room and finds the luring device. He runs to a balcony just as the Skarasen emerges from the Thames. He throws it out over the river and the beast catches and eats it. With it's summoning device destroyed, the creature drops below the water and swims back up to Scotland.
The entire group returns to Scotland and the Duke helps the Doctor locate the TARDIS in the marshes. He offers Harry, the Brigadier and Sarah a lift back to London but both the Brigadier and Harry decline. Sarah hesitates for a moment, asking if he can get her back to London. The Doctor smiles and assures her he can. The two then enter while the other watch the TARDIS disappear.
Analysis
I had been avoiding this one for a bit as I had this odd feeling that I wasn't going to enjoy it as much as it's reputation stated I would. I'm not sure how I got that in my head because I know I enjoyed it the first time I saw it and this time I enjoyed it just as much. In a way, I had actually forgotten how well filmed and performed the story actually was.
First, all praise and honor to Douglas Camfield who does excellent work here. There is a lot of nice location footage on film and a really good use of lighting and mood to give this story a profound sense of creepiness. It would have been very easy to overexpose the Zygons and make them look rather silly, but this story keeps them as monsters in the dark and it does wonders. Kudos also goes to his work with the Skarasen in keeping it to the minimum of exposure. It could easily have gone into Invasion of the Dinosaurs territory with too much shown of the stop motion. Here you get just enough, leaving the majority of the action to be filled in by the viewer's imagination. It's just good work all around.
The Doctor is very good in this story with a very nice balance of comedy and drama. He shows annoyance at being called in for what seems a trivial matter but then gets very serious when figuring the real threat. When drama and tension are called for, such as the decompression scene, you can feel the tension coming from the Doctor. But at the same time, he's not so grim as to not crack jokes on occasion. His near mocking of Broton is quite funny and deflates the Zygons from the scary monsters they had seemed over the first three episodes to just another batch of aliens the Doctor needs to dispatch. The drama gets you invested but the humor gives you little payoffs while you wait for the overarching story to reach its climax.
Sarah is of course her normal proactive self and actually shows a bit more moxy than the Doctor, given that she is able to sneak on to the Zygon ship and rescue Harry without being caught while the Doctor is caught as soon as he walks into the tunnel. Ultimately it’s a nice balance but Sarah does get some dramatic action here and there and is very enjoyable to watch.
I wish the same could be said for Harry. Harry is his normal, affable self but with being injured halfway through Episode One and the Zygon using his body print killed in Episode Two, Harry is left without much to do. He serves as a small fount of exposition in Episodes Two and Three but just stands around and watches before deciding to stay at the end of Episode Four. It sums the problem the writers clearly had with Harry for most of Season 12 in that he was designed to be an Ian-like man for an older Doctor but the Fourth Doctor was young enough to make him superfluous. Harry really only shines when Sarah is cut off (like in Genesis of the Daleks) but here, Harry is the one who is cut off and he plays the damsel in distress for a short period of time.
The Zygons are pretty good villains with an interesting character trait of taking on the forms of others. However, there were points where they were written oddly. In both Episode Two and Episode Four, there's no good reason why Broton should go on expositionary rants to either Harry or the Doctor. It's useful for the audience but hard to imagine that any character would do such a thing to an enemy. There is also the question as to why they keep Harry and the Doctor alive. The other three prisoners and Harry initially make sense as they are using their body prints to disguise themselves. It could be argued that they intend to go back and give a different Zygon Harry's blueprint and they are keeping him alive for that purpose but what about the Doctor. Broton still thinks the Doctor is human at the start of Episode Four and the launch of the Skarasen attack on the nuclear conference renders the need for subterfuge irrelevant. So why keep the Doctor alive if you don't believe he has useful information or intend to use his body print to make a disguise? It's just one of those things that niggles in the background.
As far as the overall plot goes, the story works fairly well. There is some runaround but mostly in a tension building way. I actually appreciated that the Zygons were susceptible to conventional weapons as that made their dependence on deception more necessary. I also liked how there was a certain amount of paranoia that started to creep in, especially with Sarah and her reaction to Harry. Had this been a six-part story, I would imagine that paranoia would have been a high feature but there just wasn't time to incorporate it further. But as a thriller it does quite well. There are some genuine scare moments and the reveal of the Zygons at the end of Episode One is rather impressive.
What I would have liked developed a bit more is what Broton's ultimate plan was. They way it left off, it seemed as though Broton expected the Skarasen's attack on the nuclear conference to kill or scare enough people to cow the governments of the world into giving their authority to him, allowing him to terraform the planet. However armored the Skarasen was, there are things that would be able to destroy it and unless
Broton had a fleet of these things on standby, just one was not going to be enough to subjugate all the peoples of Earth and sheer volume of numbers would have crushed Broton eventually. So there is an element of the story falling apart at the end, but it's still a good ride up to that point.
Overall, there is a reason this is one of the classics. It is well acted, well directed and a pretty good thriller of a tale. There are some small holes here and there and the technology of the day definitely does limit things with the Skarasen (much like the dinosaurs in Invasion of the Dinosaurs) but those are small points compared to the quality of the overall story. It can easily be watched at any time and actually would make a decent story to introduce someone to the Fourth Doctor.
Overall personal score: 4.5 out of 5
Showing posts with label Harry Sullivan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Harry Sullivan. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 3, 2017
Friday, August 4, 2017
The Sontaran Experiment
Never throw anything away, Harry. Now, where's my 500-year diary? I remember jotting some notes on the Sontarans. It's a mistake to clutter one's pockets, Harry.
The Sontaran Experiment is the last of the proper two-part stories for me as Resurrection of the Daleks is a four-part story smooshed into two parts. I have seen this one once before but don't really remember it making much of an impact other than it being a bit of a weak reintroduction of the Sontarans. But perhaps my memory is faulty. Still, it'll blow by quickly whether it's good or bad.
Plot Summary
The Doctor, Harry and Sarah transmat down to Earth from Nerva Beacon. The beam has trouble with Harry and Sarah and the Doctor elects to do some repairs to the receivers while Harry and Sarah head off to explore. Wandering around, Harry stumbles into a pit which had it's mouth hidden by brush. Sarah runs back to the circle to get the Doctor to help.
As the Doctor is working on the circle, he is watched by two men from one of the Earth colonies. The Doctor hears the scream of a man who is running from a robot and slips off a cliff. The Doctor finds him dead of a broken neck and the two men take him back to their base camp. At the base camp, they and a third man, interrogate the Doctor, believing him to be the person who destroyed their ship and has systematically killed or captured the rest of their original nine man crew.
Sarah returns to the circle to find the Doctor gone. She goes back to the hole to try and help Harry herself but she finds him gone as well. She is about to climb down when a fourth man, Roth, grabs her and keeps her quiet as a robot probe passes by. Once gone, he explains that there is an alien who has captured and killed most of the crew. He manages to escape and is trying to get away. When Sarah informs him that the Doctor can get him off, he agrees to help her.
Roth refuses to go into the camp as one of them, Vural, was also captured by the alien but let go and Roth fears a trap. Instead he runs past drawing the three of them away. Sarah cuts the Doctor's bonds and the three of them run back under cover. Sarah then shows the Doctor where Harry was. The Doctor suspects that there is a tunnel to get out but slips down and is knocked out at the bottom. Sarah and Roth try to get him but they are apprehended by the robot before they can climb down.
Harry had found a tunnel letting him out when he was looking for cover to avoid the robot's first pass through the area. Emerging a ways away, he picks his way through the rocks and eventually discovers a silver sphere nestled on the hill side. He watches as the robot pulls up, dragging a bound Sarah and Roth behind it. The door of the sphere opens and a Sontaran emerges to look at the prisoners.
Sarah believes it to be Linx, but he is simply of the same clone batch thousands of years later and called Styre. He takes Sarah as a new experiment but kills Roth as he had already learned what he could from him. He chains Sarah to the rock and sets a force field around her while he reports in to the field marshal in charge of the Sontaran fleet. Harry tries to free Sarah but is blocked by the force field. He also finds another crewman being deprived of water but is unable to free him either. He goes to look for the Doctor.
The Doctor tires to climb out the pit on waking but his cries only attract the three remaining crewmen. It also attracts the robot which takes them prisoner, but misses the Doctor in the pit. The Doctor finds the same tunnel Harry found and emerges on the rocks near Styre's ship. He finds Sarah being tortured by a mental device that makes her see her greatest fears. He uses his sonic screwdriver to short circuit the force field and removes the device, causing her to pass out. Styre discovers the Doctor and shoots him as he tries to run for cover.
Styre's robot returns with the three remaining crewmen to whom he reveals Vural's treachery. He ties Vural to a rock and forces the other two, Krans and Erak, to hold a gravity bar over him. He adjusts the weight and they try to hold it over him to prevent Vural from being crushed to death. Styre is interrupted in his experiment by a demand for a status update from the field marshal.
While Styre is detained, Harry returns and finds the Doctor alive, Styre's shot having glanced off a piece of metal in his pocket. Harry also determines the other crewman has died from dehydration. The Doctor sends Harry and Sarah up the rocks while he follows Styre. He disables the robot and overhears Styre delay the delivery of his report while he finishes his last experiment.
The Doctor returns to Harry and Sarah. He gives Harry his sonic screwdriver and tells him to remove a piece of equipment from Styre's ship. He then heads down and challenges Styre to single combat. Styre, his honor affronted, engages with the Doctor, leaving Sarah to free the three men. The Doctor continually falls back, forcing Styre to expend more energy in fighting him. Styre does get a drop on him at one point but Vural attacks him from behind. Styre kills him but it allows the Doctor to crawl away.
Exhausted from the fight, Styre returns to his ship to recharge himself. However, the piece of equipment that Harry removed causes raw energy to be drained from Styre's body. He stumbles outside the ship and his body collapses in on itself. The Doctor then signals the field marshal, informing him of Styre's demise and that an Earth fleet will destroy the Sontaran fleet if it crosses the border. Without the report, the field marshal orders his forces to fall back.
The Doctor, Harry and Sarah head back to the transmat circle. They offer to take Krans and Erak with them but they decline, not trusting the beam. The Doctor promises to have Nerva signal for a rescue ship when they get back as they are transported away.
Analysis
This story is easily a tale of two halves. The first episode is a bit slow with a lot of set up and running around. We aren't even introduced to the titular Sontaran until the end of the episode like the Daleks in a Terry Nation script. The second half is quite fast paced with only a few moments given for quick exposition scenes. It is far more engaging that the first episode but because so much action is compressed into one episode, the overall resolution feels rushed and a bit ham-fisted.
This story is the third overall to feature the Fourth Doctor but it was the first one shot for Season 12, before The Ark in Space. I think it shows as well. While I enjoyed the Fourth Doctor in this story, there is aloofness that seems more forced that normal, as though Tom Baker is playing the Doctor in a disinterested fashion. In later stories, you see him with aloofness but with confidence and overarching interest in matters that would normally be considered mundane. This story, even more than Robot, feels like the one where the Fourth Doctor was finding his feet. Of course, some of that may not be Tom Baker's fault as he was dealing with a broken collarbone for a good portion of the story and that will take a lot out of a person.
Both Sarah and Harry are quite enjoyable in this story. Harry is continually a bit of a klutz, but ends up doing more for himself and helps out a great deal, being the one to actually kill Styre with his sabotage. Sarah also does well, even if she falls a bit more into the damsel in distress role. Probably her best moment was when dealing with the effects of the terror inducing chip. That was some very good acting on her part and it sells the scene and the effects very well, given that all we actually saw were a rubber snake and a shaky camera.
Styre himself is pretty good as a villain. As it's the same actor, he is played nearly identical to Linx from The Time Warrior but there is a slightly more sadistic edge to him. Although not immediately obvious, Styre has a certain relish of his experiments, to the point where he keeps putting off the filing of his final report with the Marshal just because he wants to finish. It's also nice to see him not bothering with the standard capture but keep alive trope. He kills Roth as he is finished with him and likewise shoots the Doctor as he is of no use. I appreciate that he is also a good shot rather than having him take several shots to bring down the Doctor. It's just one shot and then done.
The rest of the cast is serviceable but there's nothing really to note about them. They seem to fill the standard role of survivors that are suspicious of the Doctor and then eventually ally with him. It hits the standard level of tropes, including having one be an enemy agent. If there had been another episode, there might have been a bit more development, especially in the case of Vural. But as it stands, none of the guest cast did anything to hurt the story so that stands in their favor.
One of the reasons this story gets talked about as much as it did is the visual style. It's shot all on location and with OBE video, akin to a sporting event broadcast. It gives the story a very natural look and the realism imposed by just using the surrounding countryside rather than any set draws the viewer into the story that much more. I'm a bit surprised that this wasn't done a bit more often, although I imagine that trying to do an entire four-part story on location would have been a bit of a logistical problem. Still, it would have been nice to see another shot at something like this prior to the Seventh Doctor era.
The overall direction is pretty standard with no issues either overly positive or negative. The ruggedness of the terrain probably made doing anything other than a basic point and shoot system very difficult. Things would have been compounded further by the fact that the lead actor was partially immobilized. This is rather obvious in the final fight scene where it's obvious the director is hiding the Doctor's face due to the fact that it's a stunt double. Amusingly, and I didn't know this until reading production notes, the actor who played Styre was also unable to film the fight scene due to his own poor health. So the final fight is between two stunt men. But it's only obvious with the Doctor.
I think my two biggest gripes are about the overall story. Episode One is rather slow with it's set up. I think Bob Baker and Dave Martin had locked into the idea of revealing Styre as the end of Episode One cliffhanger and built the first episode around that idea. I think this would have been less noticeable if it weren't a two episode story. It has the slow build up that you would expect from a four-part story and would be termed as building atmosphere if that were the case. But when things are so limited, it feels more like wasted time that could have been used elsewhere.
That plays in directly with the second problem of dealing with the incoming Sontaran fleet. Most of the second episode deals with the physical problem of getting rid of Styre and that goes fairly well. But you then have the Doctor bluffing the Marshal by not only lying about the presence of an Earth fleet but also insinuating that there is critical information in Styre's report about how to deal with humans. It's a "wave the magic wand" solution that just seems out of place. An argument could be made about how it satirizes bureaucracy, but even there it just feels like more of a cop out. I think I would have actually preferred it if the Marshal hadn't been included and instead you just had Harry overhear Styre telling Sarah that he will report back to his fleet to file his report prior to invasion. That eliminates the need to stop the Marshal and would have kept the entire focus on Styre.
Even with those limitations, this was still an enjoyable watch. I think it would have been better if it had been either the story had been balanced a bit more or if it had been expanded to three episodes. But there is a lot to like in this story and it goes by quickly. It's fun and straightforward. It also would make a pretty good story to show someone dipping their toe into the classic era. At only two episodes, they'd get a pretty good handle on whether or not the classic era is of a style they would like or not.
Overall personal score: 3.5 out of 5
The Sontaran Experiment is the last of the proper two-part stories for me as Resurrection of the Daleks is a four-part story smooshed into two parts. I have seen this one once before but don't really remember it making much of an impact other than it being a bit of a weak reintroduction of the Sontarans. But perhaps my memory is faulty. Still, it'll blow by quickly whether it's good or bad.
Plot Summary
The Doctor, Harry and Sarah transmat down to Earth from Nerva Beacon. The beam has trouble with Harry and Sarah and the Doctor elects to do some repairs to the receivers while Harry and Sarah head off to explore. Wandering around, Harry stumbles into a pit which had it's mouth hidden by brush. Sarah runs back to the circle to get the Doctor to help.
As the Doctor is working on the circle, he is watched by two men from one of the Earth colonies. The Doctor hears the scream of a man who is running from a robot and slips off a cliff. The Doctor finds him dead of a broken neck and the two men take him back to their base camp. At the base camp, they and a third man, interrogate the Doctor, believing him to be the person who destroyed their ship and has systematically killed or captured the rest of their original nine man crew.
Sarah returns to the circle to find the Doctor gone. She goes back to the hole to try and help Harry herself but she finds him gone as well. She is about to climb down when a fourth man, Roth, grabs her and keeps her quiet as a robot probe passes by. Once gone, he explains that there is an alien who has captured and killed most of the crew. He manages to escape and is trying to get away. When Sarah informs him that the Doctor can get him off, he agrees to help her.
Roth refuses to go into the camp as one of them, Vural, was also captured by the alien but let go and Roth fears a trap. Instead he runs past drawing the three of them away. Sarah cuts the Doctor's bonds and the three of them run back under cover. Sarah then shows the Doctor where Harry was. The Doctor suspects that there is a tunnel to get out but slips down and is knocked out at the bottom. Sarah and Roth try to get him but they are apprehended by the robot before they can climb down.
Harry had found a tunnel letting him out when he was looking for cover to avoid the robot's first pass through the area. Emerging a ways away, he picks his way through the rocks and eventually discovers a silver sphere nestled on the hill side. He watches as the robot pulls up, dragging a bound Sarah and Roth behind it. The door of the sphere opens and a Sontaran emerges to look at the prisoners.
Sarah believes it to be Linx, but he is simply of the same clone batch thousands of years later and called Styre. He takes Sarah as a new experiment but kills Roth as he had already learned what he could from him. He chains Sarah to the rock and sets a force field around her while he reports in to the field marshal in charge of the Sontaran fleet. Harry tries to free Sarah but is blocked by the force field. He also finds another crewman being deprived of water but is unable to free him either. He goes to look for the Doctor.
The Doctor tires to climb out the pit on waking but his cries only attract the three remaining crewmen. It also attracts the robot which takes them prisoner, but misses the Doctor in the pit. The Doctor finds the same tunnel Harry found and emerges on the rocks near Styre's ship. He finds Sarah being tortured by a mental device that makes her see her greatest fears. He uses his sonic screwdriver to short circuit the force field and removes the device, causing her to pass out. Styre discovers the Doctor and shoots him as he tries to run for cover.
Styre's robot returns with the three remaining crewmen to whom he reveals Vural's treachery. He ties Vural to a rock and forces the other two, Krans and Erak, to hold a gravity bar over him. He adjusts the weight and they try to hold it over him to prevent Vural from being crushed to death. Styre is interrupted in his experiment by a demand for a status update from the field marshal.
While Styre is detained, Harry returns and finds the Doctor alive, Styre's shot having glanced off a piece of metal in his pocket. Harry also determines the other crewman has died from dehydration. The Doctor sends Harry and Sarah up the rocks while he follows Styre. He disables the robot and overhears Styre delay the delivery of his report while he finishes his last experiment.
The Doctor returns to Harry and Sarah. He gives Harry his sonic screwdriver and tells him to remove a piece of equipment from Styre's ship. He then heads down and challenges Styre to single combat. Styre, his honor affronted, engages with the Doctor, leaving Sarah to free the three men. The Doctor continually falls back, forcing Styre to expend more energy in fighting him. Styre does get a drop on him at one point but Vural attacks him from behind. Styre kills him but it allows the Doctor to crawl away.
Exhausted from the fight, Styre returns to his ship to recharge himself. However, the piece of equipment that Harry removed causes raw energy to be drained from Styre's body. He stumbles outside the ship and his body collapses in on itself. The Doctor then signals the field marshal, informing him of Styre's demise and that an Earth fleet will destroy the Sontaran fleet if it crosses the border. Without the report, the field marshal orders his forces to fall back.
The Doctor, Harry and Sarah head back to the transmat circle. They offer to take Krans and Erak with them but they decline, not trusting the beam. The Doctor promises to have Nerva signal for a rescue ship when they get back as they are transported away.
Analysis
This story is easily a tale of two halves. The first episode is a bit slow with a lot of set up and running around. We aren't even introduced to the titular Sontaran until the end of the episode like the Daleks in a Terry Nation script. The second half is quite fast paced with only a few moments given for quick exposition scenes. It is far more engaging that the first episode but because so much action is compressed into one episode, the overall resolution feels rushed and a bit ham-fisted.
This story is the third overall to feature the Fourth Doctor but it was the first one shot for Season 12, before The Ark in Space. I think it shows as well. While I enjoyed the Fourth Doctor in this story, there is aloofness that seems more forced that normal, as though Tom Baker is playing the Doctor in a disinterested fashion. In later stories, you see him with aloofness but with confidence and overarching interest in matters that would normally be considered mundane. This story, even more than Robot, feels like the one where the Fourth Doctor was finding his feet. Of course, some of that may not be Tom Baker's fault as he was dealing with a broken collarbone for a good portion of the story and that will take a lot out of a person.
Both Sarah and Harry are quite enjoyable in this story. Harry is continually a bit of a klutz, but ends up doing more for himself and helps out a great deal, being the one to actually kill Styre with his sabotage. Sarah also does well, even if she falls a bit more into the damsel in distress role. Probably her best moment was when dealing with the effects of the terror inducing chip. That was some very good acting on her part and it sells the scene and the effects very well, given that all we actually saw were a rubber snake and a shaky camera.
Styre himself is pretty good as a villain. As it's the same actor, he is played nearly identical to Linx from The Time Warrior but there is a slightly more sadistic edge to him. Although not immediately obvious, Styre has a certain relish of his experiments, to the point where he keeps putting off the filing of his final report with the Marshal just because he wants to finish. It's also nice to see him not bothering with the standard capture but keep alive trope. He kills Roth as he is finished with him and likewise shoots the Doctor as he is of no use. I appreciate that he is also a good shot rather than having him take several shots to bring down the Doctor. It's just one shot and then done.
The rest of the cast is serviceable but there's nothing really to note about them. They seem to fill the standard role of survivors that are suspicious of the Doctor and then eventually ally with him. It hits the standard level of tropes, including having one be an enemy agent. If there had been another episode, there might have been a bit more development, especially in the case of Vural. But as it stands, none of the guest cast did anything to hurt the story so that stands in their favor.
One of the reasons this story gets talked about as much as it did is the visual style. It's shot all on location and with OBE video, akin to a sporting event broadcast. It gives the story a very natural look and the realism imposed by just using the surrounding countryside rather than any set draws the viewer into the story that much more. I'm a bit surprised that this wasn't done a bit more often, although I imagine that trying to do an entire four-part story on location would have been a bit of a logistical problem. Still, it would have been nice to see another shot at something like this prior to the Seventh Doctor era.
The overall direction is pretty standard with no issues either overly positive or negative. The ruggedness of the terrain probably made doing anything other than a basic point and shoot system very difficult. Things would have been compounded further by the fact that the lead actor was partially immobilized. This is rather obvious in the final fight scene where it's obvious the director is hiding the Doctor's face due to the fact that it's a stunt double. Amusingly, and I didn't know this until reading production notes, the actor who played Styre was also unable to film the fight scene due to his own poor health. So the final fight is between two stunt men. But it's only obvious with the Doctor.
I think my two biggest gripes are about the overall story. Episode One is rather slow with it's set up. I think Bob Baker and Dave Martin had locked into the idea of revealing Styre as the end of Episode One cliffhanger and built the first episode around that idea. I think this would have been less noticeable if it weren't a two episode story. It has the slow build up that you would expect from a four-part story and would be termed as building atmosphere if that were the case. But when things are so limited, it feels more like wasted time that could have been used elsewhere.
That plays in directly with the second problem of dealing with the incoming Sontaran fleet. Most of the second episode deals with the physical problem of getting rid of Styre and that goes fairly well. But you then have the Doctor bluffing the Marshal by not only lying about the presence of an Earth fleet but also insinuating that there is critical information in Styre's report about how to deal with humans. It's a "wave the magic wand" solution that just seems out of place. An argument could be made about how it satirizes bureaucracy, but even there it just feels like more of a cop out. I think I would have actually preferred it if the Marshal hadn't been included and instead you just had Harry overhear Styre telling Sarah that he will report back to his fleet to file his report prior to invasion. That eliminates the need to stop the Marshal and would have kept the entire focus on Styre.
Even with those limitations, this was still an enjoyable watch. I think it would have been better if it had been either the story had been balanced a bit more or if it had been expanded to three episodes. But there is a lot to like in this story and it goes by quickly. It's fun and straightforward. It also would make a pretty good story to show someone dipping their toe into the classic era. At only two episodes, they'd get a pretty good handle on whether or not the classic era is of a style they would like or not.
Overall personal score: 3.5 out of 5
Friday, April 21, 2017
Revenge of the Cybermen
Harry Sullivan is an imbecile!
I had a hankering to watch a story with Harry Sullivan in it for some reason and was a bit disappointed to find that I've written my reactions on most of his stories already. I'm saving The Sontaran Experiment for when I want a quick one so that left Terror of the Zygons and this one. I wasn't quite feeling Zygons so I opted to go for this one, which I think is a little better than it usually gets credit for. If you've seen the documentary short about it, it's probably definitely better than Philip Hinchcliff thinks it is.
Plot Summary
The Doctor, Harry and Sarah arrive back on Nerva Beacon thousands of years after they left, when it was being used as an actual satellite beacon for passing spacecraft. They arrive before the TARDIS has materialized in their time and head out to explore the beacon while they wait. As they open the doors to the transmat room, a dead body falls through the open door. Harry estimates that he has been dead for over a week although putrification has not set in. The find the corridor littered with bodies in a similar fashion.
Elsewhere on the beacon the communications man, Warner, warns off several approaching ship with a notice of plague quarantine. Base Commander Stevenson has orders from Earth to warn off all other ships until aid arrives from Earth. Aside from him and Warner, the only two others on the beacon are the second-in-command Lester, and a civilian professor named Kellman. Stevenson and Lester detect a warning signal as the Doctor and his companions break through the quarantine door and they head out to investigate.
Kellman walks into the control room and they discuss an asteroid that has recently passed into the system and has seemingly been caught in the orbit of Jupiter. Warner is pretty sure he has just received an aborted transmission from the asteroid, but Kellman tells him to ignore it as he has taken a study of the asteroid and found nothing of interest. Shortly afterward, Warner is attacked by a metallic snake-like object while Kellman watches. After Warner is down, Kellman steals the tape recording of the transmission.
On the asteroid, which is actually the planetoid Voga, were the inhabitants live in caves below the surface, a transmission was made but the caller was killed before anything else came through. The authorization to kill came from Vorus, a young military minded man. He is in league with an elder named Magrik and together are hatching a plan to be able to return to the surface and have formed a league with the Cybermen and have a human agent on the beacon.
Steven and Lester confront the Doctor and his companions. Before they can explain, Kellman comes up and claims that Warner is a victim of the plague. The Doctor then poses themselves as a medical team from Earth and go to examine him. Harry, Sarah and Lester take Warner back to the crew quarters while Stevenson and the Doctor stay in the communications room. The Doctor notes the metallic scratches on the wall and the stolen tape. He points these out to Stevenson who is dumbstruck.
The Doctor then asks about Kellman and Stevenson informs him that he is studying the planetoid he named Voga which was captured by Jupiter about fifty years ago. The Doctor recognizes the name and immediately suspects the Cybermen as they were involved in a war with Voga years ago. He then dashes out to examine Warner. Warner has just died with Harry unable to help him. The Doctor examines his neck and finds small puncture wounds and tells Harry he has been poisoned.
All this is observed by Kellman via a special camera system hidden in his quarters. He then pulls a device out and sends a coded signal to a Cyber scout ship holding in space. He leaves the room and the Doctor breaks in to examine it. He finds the communicator and the monitoring equipment. Kellman comes back and the Doctor hides under the bed. Seeing the disturbed room, Kellman electrifies the floor, leaves and locks the door. The Doctor steps out and the shock causes him to jump on to the bed and also starts a fire. He crawls over to the counter using the closet door and unlocks the door using his sonic screwdriver to escape.
Left alone in the crew quarters, Sarah watches a news feed from Earth, unaware that a snake-like Cybermat is approaching. She turns off the feed just as the Cybermat leaps at her. She grabs it and tries to hold it off as it tries to sting her. It does sting her just as the Doctor arrives and shuts it down with his sonic. He carries her into the transmat room as Harry, Stevenson and Lester arrive, drawn by Sarah's screams.
The Doctor gives Sarah to Harry and prepares to transmat them down to Voga as the transport will distillate the poison from Sarah's system. He finds the control mechanism sabotaged with one piece missing. He informs Stevenson and Lester that Kellman is in league with the Cybermen and has done it. He manages to hotwire the controls to send Harry and Sarah down but without the device, cannot bring them back.
In the caves of Voga, Sarah comes back to full health but they are arrested by a Vogan patrol. They are taken to Vorus but he is interrupted in his interrogation by Tyrum, the head of the ruling council, who summons him back to the city. Harry and Sarah are then chained up for further interrogation.
Stevenson and Lester manage to get the drop on Kellman and arrest him. They threaten him with execution Kellman continues to deny everything. The Doctor however manages to get one of the Cybermat control devices and threatens to attack him with it. Kellman panics and gives up the missing component, allowing the Doctor to repair the transmat.
Tyrum informs Vorus that has become aware of his flouting of the law of secrecy and is dispatching militia to take over for Vorus' forces. They will fight if Vorus resists. Vorus becomes angry at the threat to his plans and heads back. He orders Magrik to send a patrol to kill the humans so as to avoid evidence of his plans falling into Tyrum's hands.
Harry, having noticed the chains are made of gold, manages to get him and Sarah free of them just before Magrik's squad arrives. They run through the tunnels but are eventually cornered by the squad. But the squad itself is surrounded by Tyrum's militia and they surrender, taking Harry and Sarah to see Tyrum. Harry and Sarah tell Tryum all the know while Vorus and his men have retreated to a hall and entrenched themselves. Tryum elects to wait and allow Vorus to remain where he is.
On the station, the Doctor fixes the transmat but notices that Harry and Sarah have gone out of range. His investigations are interrupted by an approaching ship that ignores their warnings to stay away. The Doctor realizes that it's the Cybermen. He tries to manually jam the door but they force it open. Stevenson and Lester fire on the Cybermen but are shot down by them. The Doctor also tries to run but he is shot by the Cybermen as well. Kellman emerges and asks the Cybermen not to kill them as they may be useful. The Cyberleader agrees.
The Cybermen bring aboard bombs that they will strap on to the Doctor, Stevenson and Lester. They will then walk to the center of Voga where the bombs will detonate, destroying the planet. Kellman requests to go on ahead and scout and the Cyberleader agrees. The Doctor breaks free for a moment but is quickly recaptured.
Kellman transmats down and is captured by Tyrum's militia while trying to see Vorus. He informs Tyrum, Sarah and Harry about Vorus' plan to lure the Cybermen aboard Nerva Beacon and then destroy it with a missile. Tyrum heads up to the mines with the three humans to interrogate Vorus about the missile. On the way, Sarah manages to sneak away, intending to warn the Doctor about the missile.
The Doctor, Stevenson and Lester are equipped with bombs with the buckles booby trapped to ensure they cannot remove them. Two Cybermen are sent with them to monitor their progress and fulfill the mission if they fail. After transmating down, the Cybermen are pulled into battle with Tyrum's militia while the Doctor, Stevenson and Lester make their way down towards the center of the planet on their own, the Doctor attempting to think of a way out of their situation.
Tyrum and Vorus make a truce and their forces combine to fight the Cybermen, attempting to buy time for the missile launch, which is being equipped with the warhead. Tyrum recalls a service tunnel that would allow them to get ahead of the Doctor's party and stop them.
Sarah manages to get behind the Cybermen, who are engaged with the Vogan in battle and transmats herself back to the station, unaware that the Doctor is already on Voga. She sneaks away and listens as the Cyberleader monitors the battle and the Doctor's party's progress to the center of Voga.
Harry and Kellman find the service shaft and crawl down but find their way partially blocked by a cave in. They start to shift the rock, unaware that the Doctor is on the other side, also trying to clear the rock while Stevenson and Lester rest. Their combined efforts cause the loose rock to collapse. Harry is thrown backwards but Kellman is crushed to death. The Doctor is also knocked out. Harry sees him and after checking his vitals, tries to remove the bomb but Lester stops him.
The Doctor wakes and tells Stevenson to head to the center while he, Harry and Lester take out the two Cybermen on Voga with gold dust. The three of them crawl on to a ledge and when the Cybermen walk beneath them they leap down, attempting to push the gold dust into their chest vent units. The Cybermen however knock them backwards and they drop the dust. They run away and then Lester jumps down next to the Cybermen and undoes his harness, activating the booby trap. The explosion kills him and the two Cybermen but does not destroy the bomb control. The Doctor takes the control and deactivates the control for the bombs and the booby trap, allowing him to take off the harness.
On the beacon, the Cyberleader sees the deactivation of the radar scope. He attempts to manually activate the bombs. Sarah rushes out to stop him but is restrained by other Cybermen. The Cyberleader activates the bombs but the Doctor has already deactivated them. The Cyberleader then interrogates Sarah, learning about the planned rocket launch. The Cyberleader surmises that as the rocket has not yet fired, it must be malfunctioning and plans to load Nerva Beacon with explosives and then crash it at a high rate of speed into a fissure on Voga. The explosion should rip the planet apart per his calculations.
The Doctor learns of the rocket as it is now ready for launch and Sarah's attempt to rescue him on the beacon. He tells Vorus to give him fifteen minutes to try and rescue Sarah and then to fire the rocket. Vorus reluctantly agrees and the Doctor transmats back up the beacon. He arrives to find Sarah alone in the control room as the Cybermen are retrieving explosives from their ship. He unties her and then finds one of the deactivated Cybermats. He swaps out the toxin for gold dust and sics it on a Cyberman, who collapses. He tries to do it again in the control room and does manage to kill another Cyberman but they are captured by other Cybermen. They are tied up in the control room while the Cyberleader activates the controls propelling the beacon toward Voga. The Cybermen then leave for their ship.
Impatient, Vorus paces angrily. As the timer nears zero, they observe the station moving towards them. Vorus orders Magrik to fire the rocket but Tyrus shoots him before he can activate it. Vorus then steps in. Stevenson tries to stop him but Vorus knocks him down. Tyrus shoots him as well, but Vorus is able to fire the rocket before he dies.
Seeing the rocket launch, the Doctor and Sarah manage to slip out of their bonds. However the Doctor finds the controls are jammed. He calls over the radio and walks Stevenson through the controls of the rocket. Stevenson manages to redirect the rocket away from the beacon just before impact. The swerve takes it in line with the Cyberman ship and destroys it.
With the immediate danger past, the Doctor finds the manual control and uses it to override the lock on the guidance system. He manages to pull the beacon out of it's descent just before crashing on Voga and stabilizes it's orbit once again.
As the beacon rises, the TARDIS materializes in the control room. The Doctor immediately enters and checks the systems. Harry transmats back to the beacon to congratulate the Doctor and Sarah. The Doctor emerges and informs them that he's been called back by the Brigadier and is leaving. Stunned by the suddenness of it, Sarah and Harry run into the TARDIS just as the Doctor is activating the controls.
Analysis
There are some flaws in this story with regard to production and acting, but for the most part, it actually hangs together for the first three episodes. It's when Episode Four comes up that most of the stuff in this story goes to pot and I think most of that blame goes to too many people giving input and then realizing they've written themselves into a corner. As such, characters suddenly start acting differently and making choices you wouldn't expect after the first three episodes.
About the only character who is consistent through the story is the Doctor. This is the Fourth Doctor very much in The Ark and Space vein where he is very alien and odd, but without the anger that crops up in Season 13 stories. The Doctor cares for those around him but at the same time has a casual indifference about him as well. About the only dire action you ever seem him take is to try and keep the Cybermen from boarding Nerva Beacon at the end of Episode Two and then his direct attack on the Cybermen early in Episode Four. Still, he has a nice balance. He has a serious to convey the threat but still cracks jokes here and there. But there is also enough restraint so that the jokes don't go too over the top and are, in fact, a way of getting under the enemy's skin a bit.
Speaking of getting under skin, one of the primary criticisms of this story is that in their previous stories, the Cybermen had been very emotionless yet the Cyberleader is very emotional. Almost every word he says is dripping with anger or relish. At no point does he ever sound like the emotionless drones he has around him. Instead he seems to take sadistic enjoyment from how his plan is progressing. He also seems to express frustration when something doesn't go according to plan.
I generally don't mind this as one of the limitations of the Cybermen was the lack of a leader figure that could banter with the Doctor the way Davros came to for the Daleks. That the leader would retain emotions also doesn't bother me as I could see that as a functional adaptation for leadership. Where it does bother me is when it becomes a plot convenience in Episode Four. After Sarah has been captured and she has told them about the rocket, there is no reason to keep her alive and the Cybermen should have dispensed with her. Instead, the Cyberleader goes into Bond villain mode, going so far as to crack a joke about Sarah getting a good view of Voga when the station crashes. He does this again when he leaves the Doctor and Sarah tied up after the bombs have been planted. This was the line that was too far for me because it went against even what a Cyberleader should have seen as the logic course of action. This was taking pleasure in torture for the sake of the pleasure.
Also on the subject of things taking a left turn in Episode Four we have Sarah and Harry. Both Harry and Sarah do fairly well for themselves, although with not that much to do in the first couple of episodes. Sarah gets bit at the end of Episode One so she and Harry go down to Voga where they are made prisoners. But there you have Harry showing initiative in getting out of the gold chains, getting a bit of fun little banter between him and Sarah as well. Similarly you have Sarah taking the reins and heading back to Nerva Beacon to try and save the Doctor in Episode Three. It's not much to do but you see the people we've come to know over the course of Season 12.
Then you have Episode Four. Sarah goes from being a strong willed, if slightly overmatched, go getter to being this emotional wuss. She runs out screaming no when the Cyberleader is about to detonate the bombs, knowing that it will only result in her death or capture and do nothing to stop him. She then sits and is sad as a bound damsel in distress until the Doctor shows up to rescue her. In both instances she does absolutely nothing to try and think her way out of the situation. Even if the situation hadn't worked and rescue by the Doctor was her only hope, she should have at least been shown trying to think of a way out or shown actively trying to escape. Instead she becomes generic damsel companion and that just stinks.
Similarly, Harry goes from being a helpful man of action to being a dumb form of comic relief in Episode Four. The cave in, the killing of Kellman and near explosion of the Doctor are played as though he's a moron who should have been aware of all the potential repercussions despite being that making no sense. He then sounds like a total moron when filling the Doctor in on everything that has happened, going so far as pass over Kellman's death as though mentioning that it rained yesterday. Later he plays captain obvious with Sarah about the beacon crashing into Voga in what I think is supposed to be a funny moment. No where to be found is the reliable and hard working person found in earlier stories. Instead we are given an inept clown that is completely unaware and uncaring about the surroundings. They went so overboard in an attempt for comic relief that it just made him into a shell of his former character.
Kellman wasn't too bad as a fake-out villain for the first two episodes. He had a bad moment when threatened by the Cybermat as his acting took a major swing downward. I don't know who gave him lessons in fear acting, but his style was not good. But aside from that, he worked fairly well. His motivations were always a bit unclear though. I guess he was offered a large payment of gold by the Vogan or he either had strong feelings about destroying the Cybermen. Neither is explained very well. In fact a better explanation is given of his story that is fed to the Cybermen. I would have liked a bit more backstory with Kellman rather than his random killing off in Episode Three. In fact, that seems cheap and unearned. He should have had some role in the final confrontation and to be left out after being crushed in a rockslide is a bit unsatisfying.
I didn't have a problem with the Vogans for the most part. Yes their masks were a bit cheap looking and the acting got a little Shakespearean over-the-top but they worked for the most part. What got me was that they spent nearly an episode and a half getting slaughtered by two Cybermen and not changing their tactics. You would think they might have had some sort of explosives, grenades or the like, to use against the Cybermen. Lester proved a simple explosion could take them out so there is no reason to believe the Vogans shouldn't have been able to toss a grenade barrage and take them out. Or if they didn't have high explosives, why didn't they have any of the "glitter guns" leftover from the previous Cyberman war? Are we to believe they supplied volumes of gold to humans in their war against the Cybermen and didn't take any anti-Cyberman weapons for themselves? It just doesn't make any sense. The Cybermen should have cut through the Vogan's initial defensive line but someone should have run back for advanced weapons and taken the Cybermen out in a secondary attack. It's a logical flaw that just bugged me, despite how impressive the battle scenes looked.
The action direction was fairly decent as it did a fairly good job of disguising the fact that the same actors and locations were being used over and over again. It still made it look as though the Cybermen were driving further into Voga and killing many Vogans while doing it. The non-action scenes were a bit flatter and some of the effects were just downright bad. I think my biggest dislike was actually the Cybermats with the long snake-like bodies. I think the Cybermats were more effective and creepy when they were the small, mouse-like objects seen in The Tomb of the Cybermen. Making them bigger actually made them seem less likely to move unobtrusively through Nerva Beacon. I also made their leap ups on to the neck and chests of their victims look that much more fake.
Overall, I don't think this is terrible as many others put it, but it's not especially good either. It starts off well enough and I think for about two and half to three episodes, I can hang with it but Episode Four is just a real let down given what it does. It's also a bit of a crash as far as the season goes, coming down from the highs of The Ark in Space and Genesis of the Daleks but that's a larger scope view which I try to avoid. I think if you showed this story to anyone under the age of twelve, they would really like it as it is right up the alley of that age group, but for anyone else, the flaws will stick out and just be a bit of a come down. Watchable in a pinch, but probably last on the list of choices for it's season.
Overall personal score: 2 out of 5
I had a hankering to watch a story with Harry Sullivan in it for some reason and was a bit disappointed to find that I've written my reactions on most of his stories already. I'm saving The Sontaran Experiment for when I want a quick one so that left Terror of the Zygons and this one. I wasn't quite feeling Zygons so I opted to go for this one, which I think is a little better than it usually gets credit for. If you've seen the documentary short about it, it's probably definitely better than Philip Hinchcliff thinks it is.
Plot Summary
The Doctor, Harry and Sarah arrive back on Nerva Beacon thousands of years after they left, when it was being used as an actual satellite beacon for passing spacecraft. They arrive before the TARDIS has materialized in their time and head out to explore the beacon while they wait. As they open the doors to the transmat room, a dead body falls through the open door. Harry estimates that he has been dead for over a week although putrification has not set in. The find the corridor littered with bodies in a similar fashion.
Elsewhere on the beacon the communications man, Warner, warns off several approaching ship with a notice of plague quarantine. Base Commander Stevenson has orders from Earth to warn off all other ships until aid arrives from Earth. Aside from him and Warner, the only two others on the beacon are the second-in-command Lester, and a civilian professor named Kellman. Stevenson and Lester detect a warning signal as the Doctor and his companions break through the quarantine door and they head out to investigate.
Kellman walks into the control room and they discuss an asteroid that has recently passed into the system and has seemingly been caught in the orbit of Jupiter. Warner is pretty sure he has just received an aborted transmission from the asteroid, but Kellman tells him to ignore it as he has taken a study of the asteroid and found nothing of interest. Shortly afterward, Warner is attacked by a metallic snake-like object while Kellman watches. After Warner is down, Kellman steals the tape recording of the transmission.
On the asteroid, which is actually the planetoid Voga, were the inhabitants live in caves below the surface, a transmission was made but the caller was killed before anything else came through. The authorization to kill came from Vorus, a young military minded man. He is in league with an elder named Magrik and together are hatching a plan to be able to return to the surface and have formed a league with the Cybermen and have a human agent on the beacon.
Steven and Lester confront the Doctor and his companions. Before they can explain, Kellman comes up and claims that Warner is a victim of the plague. The Doctor then poses themselves as a medical team from Earth and go to examine him. Harry, Sarah and Lester take Warner back to the crew quarters while Stevenson and the Doctor stay in the communications room. The Doctor notes the metallic scratches on the wall and the stolen tape. He points these out to Stevenson who is dumbstruck.
The Doctor then asks about Kellman and Stevenson informs him that he is studying the planetoid he named Voga which was captured by Jupiter about fifty years ago. The Doctor recognizes the name and immediately suspects the Cybermen as they were involved in a war with Voga years ago. He then dashes out to examine Warner. Warner has just died with Harry unable to help him. The Doctor examines his neck and finds small puncture wounds and tells Harry he has been poisoned.
All this is observed by Kellman via a special camera system hidden in his quarters. He then pulls a device out and sends a coded signal to a Cyber scout ship holding in space. He leaves the room and the Doctor breaks in to examine it. He finds the communicator and the monitoring equipment. Kellman comes back and the Doctor hides under the bed. Seeing the disturbed room, Kellman electrifies the floor, leaves and locks the door. The Doctor steps out and the shock causes him to jump on to the bed and also starts a fire. He crawls over to the counter using the closet door and unlocks the door using his sonic screwdriver to escape.
Left alone in the crew quarters, Sarah watches a news feed from Earth, unaware that a snake-like Cybermat is approaching. She turns off the feed just as the Cybermat leaps at her. She grabs it and tries to hold it off as it tries to sting her. It does sting her just as the Doctor arrives and shuts it down with his sonic. He carries her into the transmat room as Harry, Stevenson and Lester arrive, drawn by Sarah's screams.
The Doctor gives Sarah to Harry and prepares to transmat them down to Voga as the transport will distillate the poison from Sarah's system. He finds the control mechanism sabotaged with one piece missing. He informs Stevenson and Lester that Kellman is in league with the Cybermen and has done it. He manages to hotwire the controls to send Harry and Sarah down but without the device, cannot bring them back.
In the caves of Voga, Sarah comes back to full health but they are arrested by a Vogan patrol. They are taken to Vorus but he is interrupted in his interrogation by Tyrum, the head of the ruling council, who summons him back to the city. Harry and Sarah are then chained up for further interrogation.
Stevenson and Lester manage to get the drop on Kellman and arrest him. They threaten him with execution Kellman continues to deny everything. The Doctor however manages to get one of the Cybermat control devices and threatens to attack him with it. Kellman panics and gives up the missing component, allowing the Doctor to repair the transmat.
Tyrum informs Vorus that has become aware of his flouting of the law of secrecy and is dispatching militia to take over for Vorus' forces. They will fight if Vorus resists. Vorus becomes angry at the threat to his plans and heads back. He orders Magrik to send a patrol to kill the humans so as to avoid evidence of his plans falling into Tyrum's hands.
Harry, having noticed the chains are made of gold, manages to get him and Sarah free of them just before Magrik's squad arrives. They run through the tunnels but are eventually cornered by the squad. But the squad itself is surrounded by Tyrum's militia and they surrender, taking Harry and Sarah to see Tyrum. Harry and Sarah tell Tryum all the know while Vorus and his men have retreated to a hall and entrenched themselves. Tryum elects to wait and allow Vorus to remain where he is.
On the station, the Doctor fixes the transmat but notices that Harry and Sarah have gone out of range. His investigations are interrupted by an approaching ship that ignores their warnings to stay away. The Doctor realizes that it's the Cybermen. He tries to manually jam the door but they force it open. Stevenson and Lester fire on the Cybermen but are shot down by them. The Doctor also tries to run but he is shot by the Cybermen as well. Kellman emerges and asks the Cybermen not to kill them as they may be useful. The Cyberleader agrees.
The Cybermen bring aboard bombs that they will strap on to the Doctor, Stevenson and Lester. They will then walk to the center of Voga where the bombs will detonate, destroying the planet. Kellman requests to go on ahead and scout and the Cyberleader agrees. The Doctor breaks free for a moment but is quickly recaptured.
Kellman transmats down and is captured by Tyrum's militia while trying to see Vorus. He informs Tyrum, Sarah and Harry about Vorus' plan to lure the Cybermen aboard Nerva Beacon and then destroy it with a missile. Tyrum heads up to the mines with the three humans to interrogate Vorus about the missile. On the way, Sarah manages to sneak away, intending to warn the Doctor about the missile.
The Doctor, Stevenson and Lester are equipped with bombs with the buckles booby trapped to ensure they cannot remove them. Two Cybermen are sent with them to monitor their progress and fulfill the mission if they fail. After transmating down, the Cybermen are pulled into battle with Tyrum's militia while the Doctor, Stevenson and Lester make their way down towards the center of the planet on their own, the Doctor attempting to think of a way out of their situation.
Tyrum and Vorus make a truce and their forces combine to fight the Cybermen, attempting to buy time for the missile launch, which is being equipped with the warhead. Tyrum recalls a service tunnel that would allow them to get ahead of the Doctor's party and stop them.
Sarah manages to get behind the Cybermen, who are engaged with the Vogan in battle and transmats herself back to the station, unaware that the Doctor is already on Voga. She sneaks away and listens as the Cyberleader monitors the battle and the Doctor's party's progress to the center of Voga.
Harry and Kellman find the service shaft and crawl down but find their way partially blocked by a cave in. They start to shift the rock, unaware that the Doctor is on the other side, also trying to clear the rock while Stevenson and Lester rest. Their combined efforts cause the loose rock to collapse. Harry is thrown backwards but Kellman is crushed to death. The Doctor is also knocked out. Harry sees him and after checking his vitals, tries to remove the bomb but Lester stops him.
The Doctor wakes and tells Stevenson to head to the center while he, Harry and Lester take out the two Cybermen on Voga with gold dust. The three of them crawl on to a ledge and when the Cybermen walk beneath them they leap down, attempting to push the gold dust into their chest vent units. The Cybermen however knock them backwards and they drop the dust. They run away and then Lester jumps down next to the Cybermen and undoes his harness, activating the booby trap. The explosion kills him and the two Cybermen but does not destroy the bomb control. The Doctor takes the control and deactivates the control for the bombs and the booby trap, allowing him to take off the harness.
On the beacon, the Cyberleader sees the deactivation of the radar scope. He attempts to manually activate the bombs. Sarah rushes out to stop him but is restrained by other Cybermen. The Cyberleader activates the bombs but the Doctor has already deactivated them. The Cyberleader then interrogates Sarah, learning about the planned rocket launch. The Cyberleader surmises that as the rocket has not yet fired, it must be malfunctioning and plans to load Nerva Beacon with explosives and then crash it at a high rate of speed into a fissure on Voga. The explosion should rip the planet apart per his calculations.
The Doctor learns of the rocket as it is now ready for launch and Sarah's attempt to rescue him on the beacon. He tells Vorus to give him fifteen minutes to try and rescue Sarah and then to fire the rocket. Vorus reluctantly agrees and the Doctor transmats back up the beacon. He arrives to find Sarah alone in the control room as the Cybermen are retrieving explosives from their ship. He unties her and then finds one of the deactivated Cybermats. He swaps out the toxin for gold dust and sics it on a Cyberman, who collapses. He tries to do it again in the control room and does manage to kill another Cyberman but they are captured by other Cybermen. They are tied up in the control room while the Cyberleader activates the controls propelling the beacon toward Voga. The Cybermen then leave for their ship.
Impatient, Vorus paces angrily. As the timer nears zero, they observe the station moving towards them. Vorus orders Magrik to fire the rocket but Tyrus shoots him before he can activate it. Vorus then steps in. Stevenson tries to stop him but Vorus knocks him down. Tyrus shoots him as well, but Vorus is able to fire the rocket before he dies.
Seeing the rocket launch, the Doctor and Sarah manage to slip out of their bonds. However the Doctor finds the controls are jammed. He calls over the radio and walks Stevenson through the controls of the rocket. Stevenson manages to redirect the rocket away from the beacon just before impact. The swerve takes it in line with the Cyberman ship and destroys it.
With the immediate danger past, the Doctor finds the manual control and uses it to override the lock on the guidance system. He manages to pull the beacon out of it's descent just before crashing on Voga and stabilizes it's orbit once again.
As the beacon rises, the TARDIS materializes in the control room. The Doctor immediately enters and checks the systems. Harry transmats back to the beacon to congratulate the Doctor and Sarah. The Doctor emerges and informs them that he's been called back by the Brigadier and is leaving. Stunned by the suddenness of it, Sarah and Harry run into the TARDIS just as the Doctor is activating the controls.
Analysis
There are some flaws in this story with regard to production and acting, but for the most part, it actually hangs together for the first three episodes. It's when Episode Four comes up that most of the stuff in this story goes to pot and I think most of that blame goes to too many people giving input and then realizing they've written themselves into a corner. As such, characters suddenly start acting differently and making choices you wouldn't expect after the first three episodes.
About the only character who is consistent through the story is the Doctor. This is the Fourth Doctor very much in The Ark and Space vein where he is very alien and odd, but without the anger that crops up in Season 13 stories. The Doctor cares for those around him but at the same time has a casual indifference about him as well. About the only dire action you ever seem him take is to try and keep the Cybermen from boarding Nerva Beacon at the end of Episode Two and then his direct attack on the Cybermen early in Episode Four. Still, he has a nice balance. He has a serious to convey the threat but still cracks jokes here and there. But there is also enough restraint so that the jokes don't go too over the top and are, in fact, a way of getting under the enemy's skin a bit.
Speaking of getting under skin, one of the primary criticisms of this story is that in their previous stories, the Cybermen had been very emotionless yet the Cyberleader is very emotional. Almost every word he says is dripping with anger or relish. At no point does he ever sound like the emotionless drones he has around him. Instead he seems to take sadistic enjoyment from how his plan is progressing. He also seems to express frustration when something doesn't go according to plan.
I generally don't mind this as one of the limitations of the Cybermen was the lack of a leader figure that could banter with the Doctor the way Davros came to for the Daleks. That the leader would retain emotions also doesn't bother me as I could see that as a functional adaptation for leadership. Where it does bother me is when it becomes a plot convenience in Episode Four. After Sarah has been captured and she has told them about the rocket, there is no reason to keep her alive and the Cybermen should have dispensed with her. Instead, the Cyberleader goes into Bond villain mode, going so far as to crack a joke about Sarah getting a good view of Voga when the station crashes. He does this again when he leaves the Doctor and Sarah tied up after the bombs have been planted. This was the line that was too far for me because it went against even what a Cyberleader should have seen as the logic course of action. This was taking pleasure in torture for the sake of the pleasure.
Also on the subject of things taking a left turn in Episode Four we have Sarah and Harry. Both Harry and Sarah do fairly well for themselves, although with not that much to do in the first couple of episodes. Sarah gets bit at the end of Episode One so she and Harry go down to Voga where they are made prisoners. But there you have Harry showing initiative in getting out of the gold chains, getting a bit of fun little banter between him and Sarah as well. Similarly you have Sarah taking the reins and heading back to Nerva Beacon to try and save the Doctor in Episode Three. It's not much to do but you see the people we've come to know over the course of Season 12.
Then you have Episode Four. Sarah goes from being a strong willed, if slightly overmatched, go getter to being this emotional wuss. She runs out screaming no when the Cyberleader is about to detonate the bombs, knowing that it will only result in her death or capture and do nothing to stop him. She then sits and is sad as a bound damsel in distress until the Doctor shows up to rescue her. In both instances she does absolutely nothing to try and think her way out of the situation. Even if the situation hadn't worked and rescue by the Doctor was her only hope, she should have at least been shown trying to think of a way out or shown actively trying to escape. Instead she becomes generic damsel companion and that just stinks.
Similarly, Harry goes from being a helpful man of action to being a dumb form of comic relief in Episode Four. The cave in, the killing of Kellman and near explosion of the Doctor are played as though he's a moron who should have been aware of all the potential repercussions despite being that making no sense. He then sounds like a total moron when filling the Doctor in on everything that has happened, going so far as pass over Kellman's death as though mentioning that it rained yesterday. Later he plays captain obvious with Sarah about the beacon crashing into Voga in what I think is supposed to be a funny moment. No where to be found is the reliable and hard working person found in earlier stories. Instead we are given an inept clown that is completely unaware and uncaring about the surroundings. They went so overboard in an attempt for comic relief that it just made him into a shell of his former character.
Kellman wasn't too bad as a fake-out villain for the first two episodes. He had a bad moment when threatened by the Cybermat as his acting took a major swing downward. I don't know who gave him lessons in fear acting, but his style was not good. But aside from that, he worked fairly well. His motivations were always a bit unclear though. I guess he was offered a large payment of gold by the Vogan or he either had strong feelings about destroying the Cybermen. Neither is explained very well. In fact a better explanation is given of his story that is fed to the Cybermen. I would have liked a bit more backstory with Kellman rather than his random killing off in Episode Three. In fact, that seems cheap and unearned. He should have had some role in the final confrontation and to be left out after being crushed in a rockslide is a bit unsatisfying.
I didn't have a problem with the Vogans for the most part. Yes their masks were a bit cheap looking and the acting got a little Shakespearean over-the-top but they worked for the most part. What got me was that they spent nearly an episode and a half getting slaughtered by two Cybermen and not changing their tactics. You would think they might have had some sort of explosives, grenades or the like, to use against the Cybermen. Lester proved a simple explosion could take them out so there is no reason to believe the Vogans shouldn't have been able to toss a grenade barrage and take them out. Or if they didn't have high explosives, why didn't they have any of the "glitter guns" leftover from the previous Cyberman war? Are we to believe they supplied volumes of gold to humans in their war against the Cybermen and didn't take any anti-Cyberman weapons for themselves? It just doesn't make any sense. The Cybermen should have cut through the Vogan's initial defensive line but someone should have run back for advanced weapons and taken the Cybermen out in a secondary attack. It's a logical flaw that just bugged me, despite how impressive the battle scenes looked.
The action direction was fairly decent as it did a fairly good job of disguising the fact that the same actors and locations were being used over and over again. It still made it look as though the Cybermen were driving further into Voga and killing many Vogans while doing it. The non-action scenes were a bit flatter and some of the effects were just downright bad. I think my biggest dislike was actually the Cybermats with the long snake-like bodies. I think the Cybermats were more effective and creepy when they were the small, mouse-like objects seen in The Tomb of the Cybermen. Making them bigger actually made them seem less likely to move unobtrusively through Nerva Beacon. I also made their leap ups on to the neck and chests of their victims look that much more fake.
Overall, I don't think this is terrible as many others put it, but it's not especially good either. It starts off well enough and I think for about two and half to three episodes, I can hang with it but Episode Four is just a real let down given what it does. It's also a bit of a crash as far as the season goes, coming down from the highs of The Ark in Space and Genesis of the Daleks but that's a larger scope view which I try to avoid. I think if you showed this story to anyone under the age of twelve, they would really like it as it is right up the alley of that age group, but for anyone else, the flaws will stick out and just be a bit of a come down. Watchable in a pinch, but probably last on the list of choices for it's season.
Overall personal score: 2 out of 5
Monday, November 28, 2016
Genesis of the Daleks
To hold in my hand, a capsule that contains such power. To know that life and death on such a scale was my choice. To know that the tiny pressure on my thumb, enough to break the glass, would end everything. Yes, I would do it. That power would set me up among the gods. And through the Daleks, I shall have that power!
Genesis of the Daleks is generally regarded as the best Dalek story ever written by Terry Nation. Some go so far as to proclaim it the best Dalek story but you can usually get a good discussion going regarding The Power of the Daleks and The Evil of the Daleks. Genesis of the Daleks is actually so highly regarded as a story, that there remains constant debate as to whether Terry Nation actually wrote most of it or whether Robert Holmes filled in Terry Nation's outline.
I'm a little more inclined to think that Terry Nation is responsible for at least 95% of the story. It contains all his usual tropes and unlike some of his other scripts, he was forced to take time and go back to rework it after Barry Letts sent it back to him. I wouldn't be shocked if Robert Holmes did punch up a couple of scenes, especially the scenes between the Doctor and Davros, but I'm still willing to give Terry Nation the credit (or blame depending on your point of view) for the quality of this story.
Plot Summary
The Doctor's transmat beam from Earth is intercepted by the Time Lords who take him, Sarah and Harry to Skaro. There he is tasked with either destroying or altering the development of the Daleks in their nascent state. The Doctor reluctantly agrees and is given a time dial as his only means of returning to the TARDIS once his mission is complete.
Having arrived in the middle of a wasteland between the two principle cities, the Doctor and his companions maneuver through a minefield and arrive outside the Kaled city defenses. They are caught in a Thal attack but a squad of Kaleds kill the attackers and take Harry and the Doctor prisoner. Sarah is knocked unconscious in the attack and assumed dead by the Kaleds.
In the bunker, General Ravon threatens to torture them for information but the Doctor gets the drop on him. He and Harry manage to escape to the surface but are recaptured by a patrol and taken by Security Chief Nyder. He is interested by the advanced technology found in the Doctor's pockets and decides they should see Davros, the chief scientist and leader of the Kaled elites.
Sarah wakes and ventures back into the wasteland when she cannot find a way into the bunker. Sensing that she is being shadowed, she hides in an abandoned bunker. There she observes Davros and his assistant Gharman testing a Mark III travel machine, the standard format of a Dalek. Pleased with the test, Davros and Gharman leave but Sarah is set upon by a pack of Mutos, the genetic casualties of the chemical and radiological warfare between the Kaleds and the Thals. Some want to kill her but another objects. However before they can decide, the entire group is captured by a Thal patrol and taken back to their city.
The Doctor and Harry are taken to see the senior scientist Ronson after being stripped of the time dial bracelet. Ronson is skeptical but after seeing their scans, he becomes convinced that they are alien. His interrogation is interrupted by Davros introducing the Dalek to his science team. Davros permits the Dalek to operate independently and it means to kill the Doctor and Harry but Ronson stops it. Davros is angry at the interference but concedes that Ronson's interrogation would provide useful information. He permits Ronson to continue.
While Ronson's team extracts information from the Doctor, he gathers information from them. After it's over Ronson comes and apologizes. He has seen the Daleks that Davros is breeding and wishes to stop the Kaled people from becoming that. He agrees to help the Doctor escape if the Doctor can inform the Kaled government what Davros has been developing. The Doctor agrees and he takes the Doctor to an airshaft that leads outside the bunker.
In the Thal city, Sarah, the Mutos and a few Kaled prisoners are put to work loading a rocket with explosives. The explosives are unshielded and expose the workers to toxic radiation. Knowing that it will kill them, Sarah and the rest of the prisoners plan an escape. They knock out the guard and climb up the scaffolding to escape through the top of the dome. The guard wakes as they near the top and sounds the alarm. Most of the prisoners are shot down as they try to climb. Sarah slips and nearly falls to her death but hits a landing a few feet down. The Muto Sevrin helps her back to the top but are recaptured before they climb out the top.
The Doctor and Harry emerge from the airshaft in a cave with mutated animals, experimented on by Davros. They manage to get through and up to the city where the Doctor informs the Kaled leaders of what Davros is doing and the long term effects the Daleks will have on the universe. The Kaled leaders decide to investigate for themselves and will order a suspension of Davros' work while they do so. If they find the Doctor's claims correct, they will destroy the work.
Nyder informs Davros of what the leadership is planning and that he suspects Ronson of allowing the prisoners to escape. Davros takes it in and plays along with the Kaled leadership that he will agree to suspend all work, though he asks for 24-hours before shut down. The leadership gives him 12. After they have left, Davros and Nyder take a secret shuttle to the Thal city where Davros claims to be exhausted and willing to sue for peace. He gives the Thals a chemical formula which will destroy the protective dome of the Kaled city, allowing their rocket to penetrate and destroy the city. He and Nyder then return to their bunker.
Harry and the Doctor leave the Kaled city and sneak into the Thal city using underground tunnels. They overhear part of Davros' plan but not the part about the Thals being able to destroy the Kaled city. He and Harry knock out two guards, steal their suits and sneak into the rocket bay. There, they knock out the other guard and free the prisoners, who had been left to be incinerated in the rocket discharge. The Doctor sends Harry, Sarah and Sevrin out to warn the Kaleds of Davros' treachery while he tries to sabotage the rocket. However, the guard comes to and electrifies the metal the Doctor is examining, knocking him out.
The Thals bombard the Kaled dome with the chemicals Davros told them about and upon seeing them work, they launch the rocket. The Doctor tries to stop them but he is restrained by the Thal guards. The rocket lands, destroying the Kaled city. The Doctor despairs, thinking that Harry and Sarah were killed in the attack. The Thal governor declares a day of celebration and an amnesty on all prisoners. The Doctor is released and he plans to head back to the bunker to try and destroy the Daleks, whom he is sure have survived.
In the bunker, Davros and his scientific team watch and feel the city being destroyed above them. Davros declares that he will avenge their people using the Daleks and points out Ronson's treachery. Ronson tries to protest but the summoned Daleks kill him. Davros then orders the Daleks to invade the Thal city and destroy everyone inside.
As the Doctor prepares to leave, he hears the familiar sound of Dalek weaponry. He and a Thal woman named Bettan escape the city. The Doctor tells her to gather as many survivors as she can and then meet him outside the Kaled bunker for an attack. The Doctor reenters the cave to get into the bunker airshafts when he attacked by Mutos. They are driven off by Harry, Sarah and Sevrin. Harry informs the Doctor that they were attacked by the Mutos which delayed them until after the city was attacked. Seeing it destroyed, they hid in the cave, guessing that the Doctor would try to get back into bunker. The Doctor sends Sevrin to Bettan, suggesting that he try and bring as many Mutos willing to fight as possible. He, Harry and Sarah then enter the shafts.
In the bunker, Gharman begins organizing a resistance when Davros orders new Daleks to be altered to remove any conscious they may have. Nyder overhears this and tricks Gharman into thinking he supports him. He lures Gharman into the lower levels where Davros overhears his plans and the fellow conspirators. Nyder knocks Gharman out and they plan to operate on his mind to make him servile once more.
In the lower levels, Nyder overhears the Doctor and his companions crawling through the ducts and arrest them upon entering. Davros interrogates the Doctor where he learns of the future success of the Daleks. He threatens to torture Harry and Sarah and forces the Doctor to reveal all the times the Doctor is aware of the Daleks failure in battle. He records this information and then dismisses Nyder with the prisoners, leaving the Doctor and himself to talk as scientists. The Doctor goads Davros into admitting that that he would destroy all life just to create a superior life form and seizes control of Davros' chair while distracted. He forces Davros to order the destruction of the incubating Daleks but Nyder knocks the Doctor out and Davros countermands the order. Davros orders the Doctor taken to a cell.
Harry and Sarah are placed in the same cell as Gharman and the three plot against Davros. One of the scientists loyal to Gharman knocks out the guard and Harry disguises him as the guard. When Nyder brings the Doctor, Harry surprises him, although Nyder gets away. Free, Gharman and the other scientists work through the lab, convincing most to join their side, locking up those that won't. Harry, Sarah and the Doctor find some explosives and the Doctor sets them up in the incubation room to destroy the Daleks.
Davros, aware that rebellion is fomenting, plots to destroy all of them. He convinces Gharman to assemble the whole team where each will present their case and then let a vote be taken on the course of action. While Gharman assembles the people, Davros sends a signal recalling the Daleks from the Thal city. Gharman informs the Doctor, who had been hesitating about whether the destroy the Daleks and he leaves the explosives in the room.
In Davros' lab as he makes his case, the Doctor, Harry and Sarah recover the items taken from the Doctor, including his sonic screwdriver and the time bracelet. They also observe Nyder slipping out and they too slip out to follow him. Capturing him in the hallway, they force Nyder to unlock the safe in his office where the recording of the Doctor relaying the Dalek failures was kept. The Doctor destroys the tape but Nyder slips out of the room, locking them in. The Doctor isn't worried until he notices that the time bracelet slipped off in the struggle with Nyder.
Outside, the Thal force assembled by Bettan and Sevrin follows the Daleks as they enter the bunker. Bettan sets up explosives to destroy the entrance and seal the occupants in. Sevrin, concerned about the Doctor and his companions, goes in after them, although Bettan warns him that if they are not back by the time she is ready, she will seal them in too.
Sevrin releases the Doctor and his companions from the locked room. Over the monitors, they observe the Daleks surrounding those who continued to defy Davros and execute all of them. With Gharman's revolution over, the Doctor orders Sevrin to take Harry and Sarah out while he blows up the incubator room.
After the execution, Davros observes that Dalek production has commenced despite his orders not yet been given. He orders Nyder to stop it until they are ready. However, he is gunned down by a Dalek when he tries to stop it. They Daleks then turn and execute all the other scientists, despite Davros pleading for their survival.
The Doctor rewires the explosives but cannot set them off due to an approaching Dalek. However, the Dalek runs over the wires and detonates the explosives, killing all Daleks in the incubator room. He then flees down the tunnel just as Bettan and her men are about to close the doors. They pull him through and shut the doors in the face of several pursing Daleks. The Thals then detonate the explosives, sealing the Daleks into the bunker.
In the bunker, realizing the Daleks are turning on him, Davros pleads for pity but the Daleks do not recognize the word. He attempts to hit a button that would destroy the bunker except for that room, but he is gunned down before he can press it. The Daleks then vow to replicate themselves and extricate themselves from the bunker over the next thousand years.
With the Daleks neutralized, Sevrin and the Thals leave to rebuild a society while the Doctor and his companions activate the time bracelet to pull them back to the TARDIS. The Doctor muses that even though they did not fully accomplish their mission, a measure of good will come from their actions.
Analysis
As much as people might deny it, the hands of Terry Nation are all over this story. I think because Terry Nation reused so many of his ideas to the point that they became tropes causes us to forget that he was actually a pretty good writer. Some of his stories are slow but most stories with padding are slow. The first four-parter he wrote (Death to the Daleks) moved pretty well and it was let down mostly by production problems rather that story issues (although elements were heavily recycled again). As for Genesis of the Daleks, while I think Robert Holmes did do a few edits, I think this story is a good example of the quality that Nation was capable of when forced to actually put some extra thought into it.
I really enjoyed this one. The first time I saw this, I was a bit more aware of the padding, refusing to let myself get washed in the story. I found the scenes with Sarah and the rocket to be a bit dull. The second time around, I let go and just let the story come as it was and I found I liked it a lot better. While I was still aware there wasn't much point to the rocket scenes except to give Sarah something to do, I was able to appreciate the tension and the peril that Sarah found herself in. Even as padding, it was enjoyable and it did serve a small element story-wise in terms of giving texture to the nature of the conflict, including the fact that the Thals are not "good guys" as seen in The Daleks, only the other side in a war.
The Doctor was quite good here and I think it goes without saying that his "Do I have the right" speech will probably be shown in the montage at Tom Baker's funeral. He interacts well with everyone but I really enjoyed his banter with Harry in the first couple of episodes. I would also say that there is almost no scene that can top the interaction he has with Davros as they "talk as men of science." That is one of those scenes that you just wish would go on for so much longer you enjoy it so much. There is even some very nice subtle acting being done by Tom Baker as you can see him showing mock strain as he holds Davros' hand away from his control board. I don't know if Michael Wisher was actually pushing against him, but it made it look as though there was a real struggle going on there.
Both companions had good arcs in this story as well. With Sarah removed, Harry fell into the dominant companion role. He didn't have much dialogue, but he played off the Doctor well and they seemed to function as a proper team, stepping in for more physicality when the Doctor was unable to fulfill that role. Absent Sarah, I think Harry could have been remembered as good of a companion as Sarah is.
Sarah was excellent as usual. It was nice to see her not give in to any kind of typical feminine hopelessness and instead focus exclusively on how to escape the rocket silo. Although it didn't work, it was still a valiant effort and well within what we expect of her character. It was also nice to see her acting the voice of conviction when the Doctor hesitated in destroying the Daleks. She correctly points out the evil of the Daleks and how the Doctor would destroy them if they were a virus or a germ. Her interaction is as important as the Doctor's hesitancy as it points out what the stakes are and what each side looks at.
All the supporting cast was good too. It is almost unfortunate that their performances are somewhat lost when compared to Davros and Nyder. Not enough credit is given to Michael Wisher as he fully formed Davros in this story. Although other actors would play him, they all followed in the footsteps of the path he created. What's more, future versions of Davros would focus heavily on the meglomanical tendencies but they minimized his cunning. It is important to note that Davros outsmarted everyone in this story and did effectively win. It is only that the Daleks overrode his control of them in the end that he is seemingly finished at the end of the story.
Nyder is the other great character of this story: the ultimate sycophantic loyalist. Nyder is an obvious parallel to Joseph Goebbels and does an excellent portrayal along those lines. He is arguably more sadistic than Davros who simply uses strength and pain for control. Nyder enjoys it and on more than one occasion, attempts to persuade Davros to release him to purge the ranks of the disloyal. It is this loyalty that gives power to the performance when he actually pauses at Davros' actions of killing the Kaled people and how their whole destiny is simply to become Daleks. Even his death is impressive. Everyone else, including Davros, screamed horribly when killed by a Dalek. Nyder however, does not scream. He has a pained expression but makes no sound as he falls. It is somewhat fitting though that he is shot in the back.
Of all the other secondary characters, I think I enjoyed Gharman the most. Unlike Ronson or the rest of the Kaled leadership, he did not oppose the Dalek project, but saw it as taking advantage of an inevitable mutation that was a side effect of a thousand years of war. His only objection was the creation of the pure Dalek: the one without conscious or morality. In other words, he saw the form as inevitable but wanted to keep the nature that of a Kaled. It is an interesting take and given how the Daleks eventually turned on everyone, Gharman is ultimately proven correct in his concerns. His portrayal even outside of the interesting story arc is also quite enjoyable.
The direction in this story is quite good as well. There were some very well framed scenes. About the only part that was janky for me was towards the end of the first half of Episode One when the story shifted from film to tape. Film gave the story so much extra atmosphere that the story seemed to deflate a bit when they shifted to tape, though they tried to disguise it. I'm not sure what the logistics would have been, but I think the transition would have been a little bit better if the scene in the trench where Harry and the Doctor are captured were also done on film. That could have pushed the tape transition to when the story moved indoors. It's already a harsh change and it would have disguised the shift slightly better in my opinion. But that is a minor criticism in a well produced story.
Although the story did utilize several Terry Nation tropes, the only one that sits out blatantly is Sevrin, the friendly native. Nation would always use some local who would help out for very little reason except that the story said he was to. It is the same here where all other Mutos want to kill Sarah. But Sevrin intervenes and continues to help the Doctor and his companions with little outstanding gain for himself. Perhaps he sees hope in the Doctor's plan that will end the war, despite little evidence given for that as they are there to destroy the Daleks, which would have been mostly unknown to the Mutos. Arguably he stayed loyal to Sarah because of her loyalty to him during their imprisonment by the Thals but it is the one significant Nation trope that is not folded in to the story particularly well and sticks out like a lump in the gravy.
As far as the debate between what Nation did and what Holmes may have added, I can't honestly tell as I find the scenes move together rather fluidly. From experience, I would suggest that the scene between the Doctor and Davros was probably edited by Holmes, although I suspect that most of Davros' speech was written by Nation. I would also suspect that Holmes punched up the "Do I have a right" speech by the Doctor. Again, I would believe that Nation wrote the scene but that Holmes might have tweaked the dialogue so that it flowed either better or more epically. But aside from those two scenes. I'm not sure I could pick out any other point where the hand of Holmes could be overtly detected and I think that speaks well of Terry Nation in this case. This is his story and he should be credited for the work entailed therein.
Overall, this is a very good story. Is it the best Dalek story? No, but then again, it doesn't have many Daleks in it. That works in it's favor as the human drama between the Doctor and Davros drive a large amount of the enjoyment. It could be trimmed a bit and some of the characters curtailed in their involvement, but it is hard not to consider this story one of the best in the entire classic run. I think anyone could sit down and enjoy this at just about any time and I wouldn't hesitate pulling it down to watch again if the mood struck me.
Overall personal score: 5 out of 5
Genesis of the Daleks is generally regarded as the best Dalek story ever written by Terry Nation. Some go so far as to proclaim it the best Dalek story but you can usually get a good discussion going regarding The Power of the Daleks and The Evil of the Daleks. Genesis of the Daleks is actually so highly regarded as a story, that there remains constant debate as to whether Terry Nation actually wrote most of it or whether Robert Holmes filled in Terry Nation's outline.
I'm a little more inclined to think that Terry Nation is responsible for at least 95% of the story. It contains all his usual tropes and unlike some of his other scripts, he was forced to take time and go back to rework it after Barry Letts sent it back to him. I wouldn't be shocked if Robert Holmes did punch up a couple of scenes, especially the scenes between the Doctor and Davros, but I'm still willing to give Terry Nation the credit (or blame depending on your point of view) for the quality of this story.
Plot Summary
The Doctor's transmat beam from Earth is intercepted by the Time Lords who take him, Sarah and Harry to Skaro. There he is tasked with either destroying or altering the development of the Daleks in their nascent state. The Doctor reluctantly agrees and is given a time dial as his only means of returning to the TARDIS once his mission is complete.
Having arrived in the middle of a wasteland between the two principle cities, the Doctor and his companions maneuver through a minefield and arrive outside the Kaled city defenses. They are caught in a Thal attack but a squad of Kaleds kill the attackers and take Harry and the Doctor prisoner. Sarah is knocked unconscious in the attack and assumed dead by the Kaleds.
In the bunker, General Ravon threatens to torture them for information but the Doctor gets the drop on him. He and Harry manage to escape to the surface but are recaptured by a patrol and taken by Security Chief Nyder. He is interested by the advanced technology found in the Doctor's pockets and decides they should see Davros, the chief scientist and leader of the Kaled elites.
Sarah wakes and ventures back into the wasteland when she cannot find a way into the bunker. Sensing that she is being shadowed, she hides in an abandoned bunker. There she observes Davros and his assistant Gharman testing a Mark III travel machine, the standard format of a Dalek. Pleased with the test, Davros and Gharman leave but Sarah is set upon by a pack of Mutos, the genetic casualties of the chemical and radiological warfare between the Kaleds and the Thals. Some want to kill her but another objects. However before they can decide, the entire group is captured by a Thal patrol and taken back to their city.
The Doctor and Harry are taken to see the senior scientist Ronson after being stripped of the time dial bracelet. Ronson is skeptical but after seeing their scans, he becomes convinced that they are alien. His interrogation is interrupted by Davros introducing the Dalek to his science team. Davros permits the Dalek to operate independently and it means to kill the Doctor and Harry but Ronson stops it. Davros is angry at the interference but concedes that Ronson's interrogation would provide useful information. He permits Ronson to continue.
While Ronson's team extracts information from the Doctor, he gathers information from them. After it's over Ronson comes and apologizes. He has seen the Daleks that Davros is breeding and wishes to stop the Kaled people from becoming that. He agrees to help the Doctor escape if the Doctor can inform the Kaled government what Davros has been developing. The Doctor agrees and he takes the Doctor to an airshaft that leads outside the bunker.
In the Thal city, Sarah, the Mutos and a few Kaled prisoners are put to work loading a rocket with explosives. The explosives are unshielded and expose the workers to toxic radiation. Knowing that it will kill them, Sarah and the rest of the prisoners plan an escape. They knock out the guard and climb up the scaffolding to escape through the top of the dome. The guard wakes as they near the top and sounds the alarm. Most of the prisoners are shot down as they try to climb. Sarah slips and nearly falls to her death but hits a landing a few feet down. The Muto Sevrin helps her back to the top but are recaptured before they climb out the top.
The Doctor and Harry emerge from the airshaft in a cave with mutated animals, experimented on by Davros. They manage to get through and up to the city where the Doctor informs the Kaled leaders of what Davros is doing and the long term effects the Daleks will have on the universe. The Kaled leaders decide to investigate for themselves and will order a suspension of Davros' work while they do so. If they find the Doctor's claims correct, they will destroy the work.
Nyder informs Davros of what the leadership is planning and that he suspects Ronson of allowing the prisoners to escape. Davros takes it in and plays along with the Kaled leadership that he will agree to suspend all work, though he asks for 24-hours before shut down. The leadership gives him 12. After they have left, Davros and Nyder take a secret shuttle to the Thal city where Davros claims to be exhausted and willing to sue for peace. He gives the Thals a chemical formula which will destroy the protective dome of the Kaled city, allowing their rocket to penetrate and destroy the city. He and Nyder then return to their bunker.
Harry and the Doctor leave the Kaled city and sneak into the Thal city using underground tunnels. They overhear part of Davros' plan but not the part about the Thals being able to destroy the Kaled city. He and Harry knock out two guards, steal their suits and sneak into the rocket bay. There, they knock out the other guard and free the prisoners, who had been left to be incinerated in the rocket discharge. The Doctor sends Harry, Sarah and Sevrin out to warn the Kaleds of Davros' treachery while he tries to sabotage the rocket. However, the guard comes to and electrifies the metal the Doctor is examining, knocking him out.
The Thals bombard the Kaled dome with the chemicals Davros told them about and upon seeing them work, they launch the rocket. The Doctor tries to stop them but he is restrained by the Thal guards. The rocket lands, destroying the Kaled city. The Doctor despairs, thinking that Harry and Sarah were killed in the attack. The Thal governor declares a day of celebration and an amnesty on all prisoners. The Doctor is released and he plans to head back to the bunker to try and destroy the Daleks, whom he is sure have survived.
In the bunker, Davros and his scientific team watch and feel the city being destroyed above them. Davros declares that he will avenge their people using the Daleks and points out Ronson's treachery. Ronson tries to protest but the summoned Daleks kill him. Davros then orders the Daleks to invade the Thal city and destroy everyone inside.
As the Doctor prepares to leave, he hears the familiar sound of Dalek weaponry. He and a Thal woman named Bettan escape the city. The Doctor tells her to gather as many survivors as she can and then meet him outside the Kaled bunker for an attack. The Doctor reenters the cave to get into the bunker airshafts when he attacked by Mutos. They are driven off by Harry, Sarah and Sevrin. Harry informs the Doctor that they were attacked by the Mutos which delayed them until after the city was attacked. Seeing it destroyed, they hid in the cave, guessing that the Doctor would try to get back into bunker. The Doctor sends Sevrin to Bettan, suggesting that he try and bring as many Mutos willing to fight as possible. He, Harry and Sarah then enter the shafts.
In the bunker, Gharman begins organizing a resistance when Davros orders new Daleks to be altered to remove any conscious they may have. Nyder overhears this and tricks Gharman into thinking he supports him. He lures Gharman into the lower levels where Davros overhears his plans and the fellow conspirators. Nyder knocks Gharman out and they plan to operate on his mind to make him servile once more.
In the lower levels, Nyder overhears the Doctor and his companions crawling through the ducts and arrest them upon entering. Davros interrogates the Doctor where he learns of the future success of the Daleks. He threatens to torture Harry and Sarah and forces the Doctor to reveal all the times the Doctor is aware of the Daleks failure in battle. He records this information and then dismisses Nyder with the prisoners, leaving the Doctor and himself to talk as scientists. The Doctor goads Davros into admitting that that he would destroy all life just to create a superior life form and seizes control of Davros' chair while distracted. He forces Davros to order the destruction of the incubating Daleks but Nyder knocks the Doctor out and Davros countermands the order. Davros orders the Doctor taken to a cell.
Harry and Sarah are placed in the same cell as Gharman and the three plot against Davros. One of the scientists loyal to Gharman knocks out the guard and Harry disguises him as the guard. When Nyder brings the Doctor, Harry surprises him, although Nyder gets away. Free, Gharman and the other scientists work through the lab, convincing most to join their side, locking up those that won't. Harry, Sarah and the Doctor find some explosives and the Doctor sets them up in the incubation room to destroy the Daleks.
Davros, aware that rebellion is fomenting, plots to destroy all of them. He convinces Gharman to assemble the whole team where each will present their case and then let a vote be taken on the course of action. While Gharman assembles the people, Davros sends a signal recalling the Daleks from the Thal city. Gharman informs the Doctor, who had been hesitating about whether the destroy the Daleks and he leaves the explosives in the room.
In Davros' lab as he makes his case, the Doctor, Harry and Sarah recover the items taken from the Doctor, including his sonic screwdriver and the time bracelet. They also observe Nyder slipping out and they too slip out to follow him. Capturing him in the hallway, they force Nyder to unlock the safe in his office where the recording of the Doctor relaying the Dalek failures was kept. The Doctor destroys the tape but Nyder slips out of the room, locking them in. The Doctor isn't worried until he notices that the time bracelet slipped off in the struggle with Nyder.
Outside, the Thal force assembled by Bettan and Sevrin follows the Daleks as they enter the bunker. Bettan sets up explosives to destroy the entrance and seal the occupants in. Sevrin, concerned about the Doctor and his companions, goes in after them, although Bettan warns him that if they are not back by the time she is ready, she will seal them in too.
Sevrin releases the Doctor and his companions from the locked room. Over the monitors, they observe the Daleks surrounding those who continued to defy Davros and execute all of them. With Gharman's revolution over, the Doctor orders Sevrin to take Harry and Sarah out while he blows up the incubator room.
After the execution, Davros observes that Dalek production has commenced despite his orders not yet been given. He orders Nyder to stop it until they are ready. However, he is gunned down by a Dalek when he tries to stop it. They Daleks then turn and execute all the other scientists, despite Davros pleading for their survival.
The Doctor rewires the explosives but cannot set them off due to an approaching Dalek. However, the Dalek runs over the wires and detonates the explosives, killing all Daleks in the incubator room. He then flees down the tunnel just as Bettan and her men are about to close the doors. They pull him through and shut the doors in the face of several pursing Daleks. The Thals then detonate the explosives, sealing the Daleks into the bunker.
In the bunker, realizing the Daleks are turning on him, Davros pleads for pity but the Daleks do not recognize the word. He attempts to hit a button that would destroy the bunker except for that room, but he is gunned down before he can press it. The Daleks then vow to replicate themselves and extricate themselves from the bunker over the next thousand years.
With the Daleks neutralized, Sevrin and the Thals leave to rebuild a society while the Doctor and his companions activate the time bracelet to pull them back to the TARDIS. The Doctor muses that even though they did not fully accomplish their mission, a measure of good will come from their actions.
Analysis
As much as people might deny it, the hands of Terry Nation are all over this story. I think because Terry Nation reused so many of his ideas to the point that they became tropes causes us to forget that he was actually a pretty good writer. Some of his stories are slow but most stories with padding are slow. The first four-parter he wrote (Death to the Daleks) moved pretty well and it was let down mostly by production problems rather that story issues (although elements were heavily recycled again). As for Genesis of the Daleks, while I think Robert Holmes did do a few edits, I think this story is a good example of the quality that Nation was capable of when forced to actually put some extra thought into it.
I really enjoyed this one. The first time I saw this, I was a bit more aware of the padding, refusing to let myself get washed in the story. I found the scenes with Sarah and the rocket to be a bit dull. The second time around, I let go and just let the story come as it was and I found I liked it a lot better. While I was still aware there wasn't much point to the rocket scenes except to give Sarah something to do, I was able to appreciate the tension and the peril that Sarah found herself in. Even as padding, it was enjoyable and it did serve a small element story-wise in terms of giving texture to the nature of the conflict, including the fact that the Thals are not "good guys" as seen in The Daleks, only the other side in a war.
The Doctor was quite good here and I think it goes without saying that his "Do I have the right" speech will probably be shown in the montage at Tom Baker's funeral. He interacts well with everyone but I really enjoyed his banter with Harry in the first couple of episodes. I would also say that there is almost no scene that can top the interaction he has with Davros as they "talk as men of science." That is one of those scenes that you just wish would go on for so much longer you enjoy it so much. There is even some very nice subtle acting being done by Tom Baker as you can see him showing mock strain as he holds Davros' hand away from his control board. I don't know if Michael Wisher was actually pushing against him, but it made it look as though there was a real struggle going on there.
Both companions had good arcs in this story as well. With Sarah removed, Harry fell into the dominant companion role. He didn't have much dialogue, but he played off the Doctor well and they seemed to function as a proper team, stepping in for more physicality when the Doctor was unable to fulfill that role. Absent Sarah, I think Harry could have been remembered as good of a companion as Sarah is.
Sarah was excellent as usual. It was nice to see her not give in to any kind of typical feminine hopelessness and instead focus exclusively on how to escape the rocket silo. Although it didn't work, it was still a valiant effort and well within what we expect of her character. It was also nice to see her acting the voice of conviction when the Doctor hesitated in destroying the Daleks. She correctly points out the evil of the Daleks and how the Doctor would destroy them if they were a virus or a germ. Her interaction is as important as the Doctor's hesitancy as it points out what the stakes are and what each side looks at.
All the supporting cast was good too. It is almost unfortunate that their performances are somewhat lost when compared to Davros and Nyder. Not enough credit is given to Michael Wisher as he fully formed Davros in this story. Although other actors would play him, they all followed in the footsteps of the path he created. What's more, future versions of Davros would focus heavily on the meglomanical tendencies but they minimized his cunning. It is important to note that Davros outsmarted everyone in this story and did effectively win. It is only that the Daleks overrode his control of them in the end that he is seemingly finished at the end of the story.
Nyder is the other great character of this story: the ultimate sycophantic loyalist. Nyder is an obvious parallel to Joseph Goebbels and does an excellent portrayal along those lines. He is arguably more sadistic than Davros who simply uses strength and pain for control. Nyder enjoys it and on more than one occasion, attempts to persuade Davros to release him to purge the ranks of the disloyal. It is this loyalty that gives power to the performance when he actually pauses at Davros' actions of killing the Kaled people and how their whole destiny is simply to become Daleks. Even his death is impressive. Everyone else, including Davros, screamed horribly when killed by a Dalek. Nyder however, does not scream. He has a pained expression but makes no sound as he falls. It is somewhat fitting though that he is shot in the back.
Of all the other secondary characters, I think I enjoyed Gharman the most. Unlike Ronson or the rest of the Kaled leadership, he did not oppose the Dalek project, but saw it as taking advantage of an inevitable mutation that was a side effect of a thousand years of war. His only objection was the creation of the pure Dalek: the one without conscious or morality. In other words, he saw the form as inevitable but wanted to keep the nature that of a Kaled. It is an interesting take and given how the Daleks eventually turned on everyone, Gharman is ultimately proven correct in his concerns. His portrayal even outside of the interesting story arc is also quite enjoyable.
The direction in this story is quite good as well. There were some very well framed scenes. About the only part that was janky for me was towards the end of the first half of Episode One when the story shifted from film to tape. Film gave the story so much extra atmosphere that the story seemed to deflate a bit when they shifted to tape, though they tried to disguise it. I'm not sure what the logistics would have been, but I think the transition would have been a little bit better if the scene in the trench where Harry and the Doctor are captured were also done on film. That could have pushed the tape transition to when the story moved indoors. It's already a harsh change and it would have disguised the shift slightly better in my opinion. But that is a minor criticism in a well produced story.
Although the story did utilize several Terry Nation tropes, the only one that sits out blatantly is Sevrin, the friendly native. Nation would always use some local who would help out for very little reason except that the story said he was to. It is the same here where all other Mutos want to kill Sarah. But Sevrin intervenes and continues to help the Doctor and his companions with little outstanding gain for himself. Perhaps he sees hope in the Doctor's plan that will end the war, despite little evidence given for that as they are there to destroy the Daleks, which would have been mostly unknown to the Mutos. Arguably he stayed loyal to Sarah because of her loyalty to him during their imprisonment by the Thals but it is the one significant Nation trope that is not folded in to the story particularly well and sticks out like a lump in the gravy.
As far as the debate between what Nation did and what Holmes may have added, I can't honestly tell as I find the scenes move together rather fluidly. From experience, I would suggest that the scene between the Doctor and Davros was probably edited by Holmes, although I suspect that most of Davros' speech was written by Nation. I would also suspect that Holmes punched up the "Do I have a right" speech by the Doctor. Again, I would believe that Nation wrote the scene but that Holmes might have tweaked the dialogue so that it flowed either better or more epically. But aside from those two scenes. I'm not sure I could pick out any other point where the hand of Holmes could be overtly detected and I think that speaks well of Terry Nation in this case. This is his story and he should be credited for the work entailed therein.
Overall, this is a very good story. Is it the best Dalek story? No, but then again, it doesn't have many Daleks in it. That works in it's favor as the human drama between the Doctor and Davros drive a large amount of the enjoyment. It could be trimmed a bit and some of the characters curtailed in their involvement, but it is hard not to consider this story one of the best in the entire classic run. I think anyone could sit down and enjoy this at just about any time and I wouldn't hesitate pulling it down to watch again if the mood struck me.
Overall personal score: 5 out of 5
Thursday, February 11, 2016
Robot
There's no point of being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes
Robot is the first story of the Fourth Doctor. However, the story format and telling is very much belonging to that of the Third Doctor era but with a bit more comedy thrown in.
Plot Summary
After regenerating, the Doctor recuperates in the UNIT medical center. He is primed to leave except that the Brigadier brings word that secret plans for a laser weapon have been stolen and a man killed. After some initial investigating, the Doctor is intrigued enough to stick around and work with UNIT one more time.
Sarah also contributes by using her reporters credentials to investigate a think tank that has had ties to the weapon plans. There she discovers a the robot that has been stealing the plans and killing (although she doesn't know this yet). She shows kindness to the robot while everyone else dismisses it as a mindless machine. She then meets the robot's creator, Professor Kettlewell, who had been dismissed from the think tank.
The robot is used to steal the last of the plans and to murder a cabinet minister who had nuclear launch codes in his possession. Those codes are taken to the think tank director, Hilda Winters, who is organizing a rise of the intellectual class who will rebuild society after the lesser elements are destroyed. Sarah, the Doctor, and Professor Kettlewell go to a meeting of the society's members, although the Doctor is unaware that Sarah has snuck in. She learns that Professor Kettlewell is actually the mastermind behind the society, although Miss Winters has taken it to extremes. UNIT moves to arrest the society but Winters, her assistant and Kettlewell escape using Sarah as a hostage.
They flee to a bunker where Winters sets the codes to launch the world's nuclear arsenal. The Robot is dispatched to guard the entrance and successfully repels UNITs attempts to get by. Sarah and Harry, who had also been taken captive, attempt to escape. Winters orders the robot to kill them but it hesitates as it remembers Sarah being kind to it. It eventually fires but kills Kettlewell instead, further destabilizing it's mind. The Doctor sneaks in and disables the launch computer and Winters and all the others in the bunker are arrested.
After Winters is taken away, the robot reactivates and moves against UNIT in an attempt to protect Sarah. UNIT attempts to destroy the robot with the disintegration gun but it causes a reaction which causes the robot to grow to a giant size. It grabs Sarah and places her on a building to keep her out of harm's reach and then begins to attack UNIT. The Doctor runs back to Professor Kettlewell's lab and brews a solution that will dissolve the robot's structure. He throws it on the robot and it causes the robot to shrink back to it's normal size and then be eaten away.
Analysis
If you watched Doctor Who in broadcast order, you might not think of this one as much different than the stories that preceded it. But if you have seen Fourth Doctor stories that aired later, this would have seemed very out of left field. It is not bad, but it just feels off because it is clearly more suited for the Third Doctor.
For the most part, the story is pretty good. It is well acted and it is also nice to see a strong female villain, even if it is another tired retread of taking over the world. Professor Kettlewell is also a nice character as it is not the typical angry scientist retread and instead a man with somewhat extreme ideas uses by people with even worse extremes. The Doctor also finds his feet very quickly and is recognizable almost instantly, a bit of a divergence from the usual needing a couple of stories to get over the effects of regeneration.
There are two prominent shortcomings that I can find with this story. First is nature of the Fourth Doctor and how it offsets UNIT. The Third Doctor worked well with UNIT and the two seemed to mesh, even when they were at odds. The Forth Doctor seems wrong in being tied down with the Brigadier and even his driving of Bessie around just doesn't seem to fit. It gives a constant underplay of something just being not right with this one.
The second shortcoming are the effects. There is a lot of CSO and it looks pretty bad. In 1970's stories there is a bit of leeway given but the effects here just stand out as blatantly below par. It isn't even that bad up through the first three episodes as I thought they did a pretty good job with the Robot. But in Episode Four, when it becomes King Kong, things just go to pot. The story also loses a lot in it's dynamic in Episode Four. Professor Kettlewell and Miss Winters provided different aspects to the villain's side and also helped flesh out the robot with it's own psychosis. However, in Episode Four, the robot has gone completely into reactionary Oedipus Complex and is reduced to the rampaging monster, again like King Kong. In many ways, if the story had ended in Episode Three, it might have been slightly better received. Or maybe that's just me.
Overall, this wasn't a bad way to end the producership of Barry Letts or to introduce the Fourth Doctor. But it also wasn't a particularly great beginning either. I'd have considered a 3.5 or a 4 for the first three episodes but I've got to knock it down for the shortfalls of Episode Four, action-packed as it may have been.
Overall personal score: 3 out 5
Robot is the first story of the Fourth Doctor. However, the story format and telling is very much belonging to that of the Third Doctor era but with a bit more comedy thrown in.
Plot Summary
After regenerating, the Doctor recuperates in the UNIT medical center. He is primed to leave except that the Brigadier brings word that secret plans for a laser weapon have been stolen and a man killed. After some initial investigating, the Doctor is intrigued enough to stick around and work with UNIT one more time.
Sarah also contributes by using her reporters credentials to investigate a think tank that has had ties to the weapon plans. There she discovers a the robot that has been stealing the plans and killing (although she doesn't know this yet). She shows kindness to the robot while everyone else dismisses it as a mindless machine. She then meets the robot's creator, Professor Kettlewell, who had been dismissed from the think tank.
The robot is used to steal the last of the plans and to murder a cabinet minister who had nuclear launch codes in his possession. Those codes are taken to the think tank director, Hilda Winters, who is organizing a rise of the intellectual class who will rebuild society after the lesser elements are destroyed. Sarah, the Doctor, and Professor Kettlewell go to a meeting of the society's members, although the Doctor is unaware that Sarah has snuck in. She learns that Professor Kettlewell is actually the mastermind behind the society, although Miss Winters has taken it to extremes. UNIT moves to arrest the society but Winters, her assistant and Kettlewell escape using Sarah as a hostage.
They flee to a bunker where Winters sets the codes to launch the world's nuclear arsenal. The Robot is dispatched to guard the entrance and successfully repels UNITs attempts to get by. Sarah and Harry, who had also been taken captive, attempt to escape. Winters orders the robot to kill them but it hesitates as it remembers Sarah being kind to it. It eventually fires but kills Kettlewell instead, further destabilizing it's mind. The Doctor sneaks in and disables the launch computer and Winters and all the others in the bunker are arrested.
After Winters is taken away, the robot reactivates and moves against UNIT in an attempt to protect Sarah. UNIT attempts to destroy the robot with the disintegration gun but it causes a reaction which causes the robot to grow to a giant size. It grabs Sarah and places her on a building to keep her out of harm's reach and then begins to attack UNIT. The Doctor runs back to Professor Kettlewell's lab and brews a solution that will dissolve the robot's structure. He throws it on the robot and it causes the robot to shrink back to it's normal size and then be eaten away.
Analysis
If you watched Doctor Who in broadcast order, you might not think of this one as much different than the stories that preceded it. But if you have seen Fourth Doctor stories that aired later, this would have seemed very out of left field. It is not bad, but it just feels off because it is clearly more suited for the Third Doctor.
For the most part, the story is pretty good. It is well acted and it is also nice to see a strong female villain, even if it is another tired retread of taking over the world. Professor Kettlewell is also a nice character as it is not the typical angry scientist retread and instead a man with somewhat extreme ideas uses by people with even worse extremes. The Doctor also finds his feet very quickly and is recognizable almost instantly, a bit of a divergence from the usual needing a couple of stories to get over the effects of regeneration.
There are two prominent shortcomings that I can find with this story. First is nature of the Fourth Doctor and how it offsets UNIT. The Third Doctor worked well with UNIT and the two seemed to mesh, even when they were at odds. The Forth Doctor seems wrong in being tied down with the Brigadier and even his driving of Bessie around just doesn't seem to fit. It gives a constant underplay of something just being not right with this one.
The second shortcoming are the effects. There is a lot of CSO and it looks pretty bad. In 1970's stories there is a bit of leeway given but the effects here just stand out as blatantly below par. It isn't even that bad up through the first three episodes as I thought they did a pretty good job with the Robot. But in Episode Four, when it becomes King Kong, things just go to pot. The story also loses a lot in it's dynamic in Episode Four. Professor Kettlewell and Miss Winters provided different aspects to the villain's side and also helped flesh out the robot with it's own psychosis. However, in Episode Four, the robot has gone completely into reactionary Oedipus Complex and is reduced to the rampaging monster, again like King Kong. In many ways, if the story had ended in Episode Three, it might have been slightly better received. Or maybe that's just me.
Overall, this wasn't a bad way to end the producership of Barry Letts or to introduce the Fourth Doctor. But it also wasn't a particularly great beginning either. I'd have considered a 3.5 or a 4 for the first three episodes but I've got to knock it down for the shortfalls of Episode Four, action-packed as it may have been.
Overall personal score: 3 out 5
Monday, January 4, 2016
The Ark in Space
We called him Noah as an amusement.
Although Season 12 and the introduction of the Fourth Doctor began with Robot, the true introduction of the Fourth Doctor begins with the inauguration of the Philip Hinchcliff era and The Ark in Space.
Plot Summary
The Doctor, Sarah, and Harry land on a space station many years into Earth's future. A solar flare was expected to devastate the Earth so a group of the best physical and mental specimens were placed in hibernation to repopulate the Earth. The station was sabotaged by an alien known as a Wirrn who infected one of the hibernating crew before dying. The hatched Wirrn begin to take over the station, infecting the leader of the group, Noah, and killing several others. The Doctor manages to stave off the Wirrn for a while using electricity. Eventually, they trick the swarm into climbing aboard the escape rocket and then launching it into space. Noah, with the last trace of his humanity, destroys the rocket and the swarm on board.
Analysis
There is a lot in this story that will be poached by Ridley Scott when he makes Alien four years later. If you like that film, odds are you will like this story and I enjoyed both. There is a moody dread that overhangs much of the story and it helps sell the dire nature of what is happening, despite limited effects. The acting is particularly good, both in the core cast and also with the supporting cast. Noah, once he has been infected, can be a bit over the top but not so bad that it detracts from his overall performance.
The one spot of this story that does suffer is the effects. The infection of Noah was done using green bubble wrap, which would have been a great novelty at the time, but is now very common and identifiable. The Wirrn themselves are also somewhat difficult to take seriously when seen in full as it is very difficult not to see them as foam puppets. This gets even worse when they are shown walking near the escape rocket. Instead of crawling with undulating movements as you would expect from insects, they bounce along, just as you would expect a puppet to do. I understand that it was the best they could do and it was probably still pretty scary to children at the time, but in view as an adult, seeing the Wirrn detracts a bit from the overall scary mood of the story.
Despite the effects downsides, the story and acting are excellent. The mood of stays creepy and intense nearly the whole way through, despite the addition of padding in a couple of places, mostly at the beginning of the story. It makes for an excellent start to the Fourth Doctor era.
Overall personal score: 4 out of 5
Although Season 12 and the introduction of the Fourth Doctor began with Robot, the true introduction of the Fourth Doctor begins with the inauguration of the Philip Hinchcliff era and The Ark in Space.
Plot Summary
The Doctor, Sarah, and Harry land on a space station many years into Earth's future. A solar flare was expected to devastate the Earth so a group of the best physical and mental specimens were placed in hibernation to repopulate the Earth. The station was sabotaged by an alien known as a Wirrn who infected one of the hibernating crew before dying. The hatched Wirrn begin to take over the station, infecting the leader of the group, Noah, and killing several others. The Doctor manages to stave off the Wirrn for a while using electricity. Eventually, they trick the swarm into climbing aboard the escape rocket and then launching it into space. Noah, with the last trace of his humanity, destroys the rocket and the swarm on board.
Analysis
There is a lot in this story that will be poached by Ridley Scott when he makes Alien four years later. If you like that film, odds are you will like this story and I enjoyed both. There is a moody dread that overhangs much of the story and it helps sell the dire nature of what is happening, despite limited effects. The acting is particularly good, both in the core cast and also with the supporting cast. Noah, once he has been infected, can be a bit over the top but not so bad that it detracts from his overall performance.
The one spot of this story that does suffer is the effects. The infection of Noah was done using green bubble wrap, which would have been a great novelty at the time, but is now very common and identifiable. The Wirrn themselves are also somewhat difficult to take seriously when seen in full as it is very difficult not to see them as foam puppets. This gets even worse when they are shown walking near the escape rocket. Instead of crawling with undulating movements as you would expect from insects, they bounce along, just as you would expect a puppet to do. I understand that it was the best they could do and it was probably still pretty scary to children at the time, but in view as an adult, seeing the Wirrn detracts a bit from the overall scary mood of the story.
Despite the effects downsides, the story and acting are excellent. The mood of stays creepy and intense nearly the whole way through, despite the addition of padding in a couple of places, mostly at the beginning of the story. It makes for an excellent start to the Fourth Doctor era.
Overall personal score: 4 out of 5
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