Smith. Doctor John Smith.
I'd been holding off on this one for a while, not because of any misperception regarding this story, but because it is the last Liz Shaw story to review. Taking things as a whole, Liz Shaw might be my favorite companion in how she is a strong, intelligent woman who works with the Doctor very much as an equal, which is something you just don't get in any other companion. But this her introduction as well as the introduction of UNIT as regular set piece and not just the one off force as shown in The Invasion.
Plot Summary
On Earth, UNIT tracks a group of meteorites that crash down in Essex in a tight formation. A poacher, Sam Seeley, spies one of the orbs that crashes and is surprised to see it pulsating and giving off a signal. He pops it into his poacher's bag.
Nearby, the TARDIS appears and a freshly regenerated Third Doctor falls out. He is discovered by UNIT soldiers sent to find the meteorites and taken the local hospital. The UNIT second-in-command, Captain Munro, alerts Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, who is in the process of recruiting a scientist named Liz Shaw to assist them. The two head over upon hearing that the man was discovered near a police box.
At the hospital, the doctors are confused by the patient's physiology. This causes the janitor to alert the media, hoping for a payment for the story. The Brigadier arrives and blows off the media, making them only more suspicious. He is disappointed when he doesn't recognize the Doctor although the Doctor recognizes him. He asks for a mirror and takes himself in for the first time. He also manages to get the TARDIS key out of his shoe and slips it into his palm.
After the Brigadier leaves, two men enter the hospital and knock out Dr. Henderson, the attending physician, and kidnap the Doctor. The Doctor manages to break loose and roll away on his wheelchair, away from the ambulance that was going to take him away. The Doctor ditches the wheelchair and runs toward the TARDIS where he is shot by a UNIT patrol guarding it. The bullet only grazes him but he places himself in a coma to protect himself. The UNIT soldiers carry him back to the hospital.
Shortly afterwards, the Doctor pulls himself out of his coma and sneaks out of bed. He steals the clothes of one of the Doctor's and the traveling out fit of another who had come to examine him. He then steals the car of the consultant and races towards UNIT headquarters.
UNIT personnel recover another one of the meteorites, just as Sam had. Sam now has his in a trunk in his tool shed and is hiding it from his wife. The transfer did alert an Auton, which was in the woods trying to find the missing spheres. It changes course to go after the UNIT men who recovered the second sphere. It is placed in a truck for transport but it runs off the road when the Auton steps in it's path. The Auton takes the sphere out of the truck and heads back to it's headquarters.
The headquarters is a plastic factory making toy dolls. The disgruntled co-creator of the toy line, Ransome, comes in to complain about being pushed out. The director, Hibbert, is sympathetic and tries to warn him off until the same man who organized the attempted kidnapping of the Doctor, Channing, enters. Hibbert then becomes passive and Ransome leaves, although suspicious.
Hibbert and Channing are visited shortly afterwards by General Scobie, the liaison between UNIT and the regular British Army. He stopped by after visiting with the Brigadier about the meteors. Scobie is shown a semi-completed plastic replica of him that the plastic company is doing, claiming that they are modeling current important British figures for an exhibition and required a few more measurements from him to ensure it looks right.
The Doctor arrives at UNIT headquarters, drawn by a homing device on his watch to the TARDIS. The Brigadier begins to accept that this is in fact the Doctor but refuses to return the TARDIS key, recovered after being shot, until he helps out with the meteorites. The Doctor meets Liz and the two work together in examining the plastic casing that held the sphere that was stolen.
Ransome returns to the plastic factory to investigate what happened to his office and what is going on. He breaks into a room with a lot of scientific equipment and a row of plastic mannequins. One of the mannequins begins to walk towards him. It tries to kill him with a gun built into its hand but Ransome is able to get away. He escapes into the woods where he is picked up by UNIT forces and treated for shock.
Ransome is then brought to UNIT HQ to talk to the Brigadier. Liz enters and while the Brigadier is distracted, she steals the TARDIS key from off his desk. The Doctor claimed to have equipment they can use in the TARDIS and Liz had intended just to ask the Brigadier for it. The Doctor takes the key and tries to leave in the TARDIS but it has been disabled by the Time Lords. Both Liz and the Brigadier are annoyed with his deception but with no means of escape, the Doctor comes with them to talk with the other soldiers in the woods.
UNIT brings in Sam Seeley for questioning and while he is away, his wife breaks open the trunk where the sphere is being hidden. Exposed, Channing and Hibbert pick up it's signal again and dispatch an Auton to the house. The Auton searches the premises but can't find it. Mrs. Seeley discovers the Auton and shoots it with the shotgun but with no effect. The Auton knocks her out and begins to search the shed.
Informed about the sphere by Seeley, the Brigadier, Capt. Munro, the Doctor and Liz head to the house to find the Auton searching it. The Brigadier and Munro attack it and Channing orders it to retreat as he doesn't want to engage in full combat yet. The Doctor discovers the sphere and they take it back to the lab while Mrs. Seeley is taken to the hospital.
The retreating Auton enters the UNIT camp and finds Ransome. It kills him and vaporizes the body before disappearing back into the woods. The Brigadier arrives and finds Ransome gone with the Doctor pointing out that something cut its way into the tent to attack Ransome. The Doctor suggests investigating the plastics factory while he and Liz investigate the sphere. Agreeing, the Brigadier calls General Scobie who authorizes an investigation. However, as he hangs up the phone, a plastic duplicate of himself appears at the door and attacks him.
The fake Scobie calls the Brigadier back and orders him to call off any investigation. The Brigadier leaves to go directly to the Ministry to get permission while the Doctor and Liz travel to Madame Tussauds to examine the replicas there. They find one of General Scobie but the Doctor determines that it is actually General Scobie, suspended in a hypnotizing, plastic mold.
The Doctor and Liz hide until the museum closes and then examine the figures in detail. The Doctor determines that Scobie is the only real person but that the aliens behind this plan to replace the government officials with replicas to allow quicker takeover. They hide when Channing and Hibbert enter to examine the figures and take them away. The Doctor confronts Hibbert while alone and plants an idea to fight the control of the aliens.
While everyone is out, the fake General Scobie goes to UNIT headquarters and takes the sphere the Doctor and Liz were working on. They had determined that it was a part of a higher consciousness that when combined with the others would create a central intelligence. When it is taken to the plastic factory, Channing does that and orders that the attack begin at dawn. Hibbert, fighting the control of the aliens, tries to sabotage the machine where the consciousness, called the Nestene, is housed. He is discovered and killed by Channing.
Finding the sphere gone, the Doctor and Liz work through the night and build a machine that will attack the wavelength the intelligence works on. As they finish, the Brigadier receives word of shop window dummies coming to life all over Britain, attacking and killing patrons. With the machine ready, the Brigadier organizes his headquarters staff and the group attacks the plastic factory.
Before they attack, they meet a squad of regular army led by General Scobie who orders the Brigadier to stand down. The Doctor intervenes and test his weapon on Scobie, who drops as an inanimate plastic dummy. The Brigadier takes command and attacks while the Doctor and Liz slip inside. Channing orders Autons to attack and the UNIT and army forces try to hold them off.
The Doctor enters the control room and tries to activate his machine but it malfunctions. Channing ups the power and flees, allowing the Nestene brain to reach out with tentacles and attack the Doctor. From behind cover, Liz repairs the machine and activates it. The Doctor directs it at the Nestene brain and it effectively kills it. Once dead, all Autons, including Channing himself, collapse.
The group returns to UNIT headquarters where the Doctor, as he is trapped on Earth, agrees to help UNIT in exchange for a laboratory, a place to work on the TARDIS and the use of Liz as his assistant. He also strongly hints that he would like his own car in the 1920's roadster model.
Analysis
Spearhead From Space is an excellent way to kick off a new Doctor as it is a visual treat. It's not perfect, but it is very good and an easy and enjoyable watch. The funny thing is that it came about mostly due to a strike which forced Barry Letts to take the whole thing on the road and film it on location, which admittedly was probably a pain, but gave it a real sense of depth that is lost in studio shooting.
This might my favorite portrayal of the Third Doctor. Because he's coming off regeneration crisis, he's not fully into the pomposity that could make him unlikeable at times. He also immediately develops a nice rapport with both the Brigadier and Liz, seeing them as friends and allies. His relationship with Liz would stay that way but his interactions with the Brigadier would become more hostile as the era wore on. Here they are clearly on the same side the whole way. The Doctor also throws in some humor here and there and that is something that gets steadily left behind over as the era wears on. Perhaps the humor and even the style of speech are similar to the Second Doctor, which would be normal given that he is still in regeneration crisis, and that is one of the things that I find a bit more endearing. In fact in many ways, Spearhead From Space plays a lot like a later Second Doctor story and the roots from The Invasion are fairly visible.
Liz is of course, Liz. She is introduced simply and is a mix of intellectual curiosity, bemusement, and annoyed cynicism. She is skeptical of the Doctor but grows to appreciate him quickly, to the point of having him try to take advantage of that trust. But what works best for both of them is that there is an almost instant mutual respect. The Doctor sizes her up and acknowledges her intelligence quickly. She does the same and you can see both friendship and a solid partnership forming very rapidly. While I like Jo, the disdain and mistreatment the Doctor gives her in his paternalistic style can get tiresome. Nothing ever really matches the relationship the Doctor has with Liz and it sets itself up so easily almost instantly.
This is a good story for the Brigadier as well. As his third story, he doesn't really need to properly introduced but you still get the feeling that he will be playing a more prominent role right off the bat. He is immediately affable with a dry sense of humor. More importantly, he is shown to be quite intelligent which is sometimes lost in later stories. The Brigadier can be shown to be a shoot first buffoon at times but here he is thoughtful, hard working and smart enough to be well worthy of both his position and the Doctor's trust. He also is not shown to be trigger happy in this story. One of his men is but the Brigadier himself doesn't engage until after being fired upon by the Autons. Nor does he ever provoke the Doctor's ire by immediately suggesting the area be "cleansed." This version of the Brigadier is not afraid to use force but also not one to assume that force is the obvious solution and that is another sign of his intelligence showing through.
I also like the Autons (or Nestene if you prefer) as the villains. To be honest, I like the Nestene as villains in all three stories they appear in. It's usually some other aspect of the story that lets it down. Here they are quite good. The Autons themselves are quite scary, especially in their infiltration tactics and emerging from the shop windows. Only a slightly different framing and a slightly different style of music and it could have easily been something that John Carpenter put out. My only niggle on the Nestene and the Autons was the retreat from Sam's house before capturing the remaining sphere. That Auton could easily have overpowered or outgunned the Brigadier and Captain Munro but retreating preserved the important actors and gave the Doctor his clues in how to beat the Nestene so it was a writer's out to a plot hole.
The visuals were quite excellent with the shooting on location and on film. Unfortunately, the same emergency that forced this type of shooting did not allow for the needed set up with the audio. There are a number of scenes where it sounds like everyone is speaking in a large, echo-y room (because they are) and that is a bit distracting. It gets bad enough at a couple of points that it becomes very hard to hear what people are saying. Not impossible but it is probably the largest single flaw of the story.
One other flaw that I would be remiss to point out is that there are a few points of overacting and a bit of silliness. The close ups of Ransome's face are a bit much with him doing his look of horror directly into the camera. I also can't help but snigger at the tentacles that are attacking the Doctor at the end of Episode Four. Jon Pertwee is trying his best but it's so obvious that he is holding the tentacle against himself and trying to make it look like he's being strangled. It's a bit silly looking no matter how hard he tries.
Despite these little set backs, I enjoy this story immensely. It's a great story to introduce someone to the Third Doctor to, especially since it's only four episodes and zips along with minimal padding. Obviously the filmed on location stuff wasn't going to stick around but I think I would enjoy the Third Doctor era more if the stories were this tightly paced more often. Definitely worth a watch any time the opportunity arises.
Overall personal score: 4.5 out of 5
Showing posts with label Liz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Liz. Show all posts
Monday, September 11, 2017
Monday, January 23, 2017
Doctor Who and the Silurians
But that's murder. They were a race of intelligent, alien beings. A whole race of them and he's just wiped them out.
Seven-part stories make me nervous. I've also been avoiding this one for two reasons: it's the last Liz Shaw story that I've not seen and I enjoy her a great deal, and the Silurians always seem to have the same story told about them. I remember watching The Hungry Earth and In Cold Blood and just not being that drawn by the story. Perhaps it was the secondary characters but I've become nervous that I would end up not liking a story regarded as a classic of the Third Doctor era just because I didn't care for a future version of the story.
Plot Summary
UNIT is called in to investigate an atomic research lab built in a series of natural caves following three months of unexplained accidents and injuries. The Doctor and Liz arrive in Bessie and are given a brief from the station manager, Dr. Lawrence. The Doctor is given a tour by the assistant manager, Dr. Quinn, and while on that, he discovers that the activity log of the cyclotron has had several pages torn out of it.
The Doctor is informed that the man responsible for the log is suffering from psychosis after he and a fellow worker were attacked in an undeveloped part of the caves. The other worker was killed, having cracked his skull in a fall, but also showing claw marks on his hands. The Doctor goes to see the mad worker only to find him possessed by fear, his only activity: making crude drawings on the wall of reptilian people.
During another test, the cyclotron malfunctions and the Doctor is forced to step in an help in the shut down when another worker becomes hysterical. Liz remarks to the Doctor that she felt a kind of terror when she was in the control room as well. The Doctor decides that he needs to investigate the caves as the control room is the deepest point within the caves.
He enters the caves and discovers a dinosaur after squeezing through a crevice. The dinosaur attacks him but is called off by a musical call. He returns to the lab just as the Brigadier is preparing a team to go look for him. They return to the cave and Major Baker, head of the lab security, rushes ahead and fires at a figure down the cave. The dinosaur returns and attacks Baker but is called off once again. Baker is wounded but alive. The Brigadier and his men chase after the figure while the Doctor takes Baker and some blood samples of the figure he shot back to the lab.
In the lab, the Doctor and Liz notice the blood is similar to reptilian blood. The Brigadier returns having lost the figure in the dark on the moors. He will continue the search in the morning. The figure meanwhile, finds a barn of a local farmer and buries itself in some hay bales to rest.
Dr. Lawrence goes looking for Dr. Quinn but is told by his assistant Miss Dawson that he has gone to his cottage to rest. However, Quinn is instead crawling into the cave where he is transfixed by a red beam. He is taken to a communications room where he pleads with the cave creature over the radio to not keep drawing power. The creatures refuse as they still need the power, having given Quinn the technology in the first place. Quinn is given the recall device of the figure on the surface and ordered to find him and bring him back in exchange for their going quiet for a time.
The next morning, the figure is discovered by the farmer. He claws at him and the farmer is so shocked, he dies of a heart attack. He is also spotted by the farmer's wife. The Brigadier is notified of the incident by the police and comes to investigate. Liz stays at the barn to take samples while the Doctor and the Brigadier head to the hospital to see the farmer's wife.
The farmer's wife is near hysterical with fear, much like the worker. The Doctor manages to get through to her by drawing a quick sketch and asking her to identify it. She agrees that it is the creature and she says it's still in the barn. The two men race back as the creature emerges from the hay once more and attacks Liz. It knocks her out, bolts the door to the barn and then runs out a side door.
The Brigadier breaks the door down and they find Liz, stunned and scratched but otherwise unharmed. As UNIT conducts a search for the creature, Dr. Quinn arrives, having stopped briefly to tell Miss Dawson about the device given to him. He takes the Brigadier's information and begins driving around the moors signaling the creature.
Quinn successfully picks up the creature in his car but his use of the signaling device is noticed by UNIT. The Doctor and the Brigadier head after him and find tracks suggesting that the creature was taken away. The Doctor goes and visits Quinn's house. Although he doesn't see the creature, he notices the heat turned up and Quinn behaving oddly. He leaves and Quinn is contacted by Miss Dawson again. He informs her that he plans on keeping the creature prisoner until it tells him all about their technology.
The Doctor returns to the lab and he and Liz break into Dr. Quinn's files. They find a globe with Pangaea and Miss Dawson stumbles into the lab as they do. The Doctor confronts her and she admits that Quinn was in contact with the creatures but she clams up when the Brigadier enters. Concerned over Quinn's safety, the Doctor returns to Quinn's cottage only to find him dead. He uses the signaler in Quinn's hand and the creature emerges. The Doctor, tries to talk to the creature, which he calls a Silurian. Although it understands him, it doesn't answer and runs off when startled by an outside noise.
The Doctor returns to the lab, although he only tells Liz that Quinn is dead. Major Baker asserts that he wants to head back to the caves with an armed force but the Brigadier overrules him and confines him to a hospital room. The Brigadier plans to attack himself but needs more men to search the caves. Major Baker breaks out of his hospital room and heads to the caves himself, but he is captured by the Silurians.
Hearing of Major Baker's escape, the Doctor and Liz head to the caves to find him. They use a map that the Doctor had taken from Quinn's cottage that he had marked. They find evidence of Baker's fight and follow a Silurian into a hidden base. In the base, they find Baker in a cage where he tells them of being interrogated by the Silurians. The Doctor advises him to make it a two-way exchange and learn as much as he can about the creatures while he and Liz return to the lab.
While they are gone, Sir John Masters, senior under-secretary to the minister, arrives at Dr. Lawrence's request. Masters is anxious that the project continue but he denies the Brigadier's request for more men. The Doctor and Liz arrive in the middle of the meeting and try to convince the others to negotiate with the creatures. Unfortunately, Miss Dawson arrives and tells them that Dr. Quinn is dead. The Brigadier makes up his mind to attack at dawn.
The Doctor sneaks off to warn the Silurians but the capture him and place him in the cage with Major Baker. Alerted by the Doctor's warning, the Silurians spring a trap for the Brigadier and his men, sealing them in a chamber in the cave. One of the Silurians then comes up and tries to kill the Doctor, but the colony leader restrains him. He learns of what the younger Silurian has done and does not approve but does not change it.
Major Baker attacks the Doctor but he is restrained by the Silurians. The Doctor pleads to be let out to talk to them and the leader does, taking him to the control room. He and the Doctor talk and the Doctor learns that the Silurians went into hibernation when they feared Earth would suffer a major catastrophe from an incoming planetoid. However, the object was captured and became the moon. Their equipment malfunctioned and they stayed in stasis until the cyclotron was built, supplying them with power.
The Doctor negotiates with the leader to let the Brigadier and his men go in exchange for allowing the Silurians to negotiate with the humans to set up cities in hot areas where the humans are not settled. He agrees and the Brigadier and his men are released before the suffocate. They return to the lab to find that Liz has been forced to reveal that the Doctor went ahead of the Brigadier to warn the Silurians. Miss Dawson is outraged and demands the Brigadier attack at once while Dr. Lawrence slips further into delusion, refusing to believe the Silurians exist. Masters defers to the Brigadier and the Brigadier refuses to go against the Doctor and elects to wait.
When the upstart Silurian learns of what the elder has done, he and another infect Major Baker with a disease they used to kill apes that would steal from their stores millions of years ago. He is released into the caves and escapes. The elder learns of this and is outraged. He gives the Doctor a sample of the infecting agent and sends him to the surface to devise a cure. After the Doctor leaves, the upstart Silurian is confronted and he kills the elder, taking over leadership of the colony.
Major Baker returns to the base with the Doctor right behind him. The Doctor orders no one to touch him but Baker tries to attack him. He collapses and is taken to the sick bay. Against the Doctor's orders, the lab doctor has Baker shipped to a local hospital. The Doctor and the Brigadier head to the hospital to establish quarantine. They arrive just as Baker runs out of the hospital and dies. The Brigadier establishes a quarantine while the Doctor heads back to the lab.
Masters gathers his things and leaves before the Doctor returns, telling Dr. Lawrence that he is going to recommend that the lab be shut down. Once the Doctor is back, he orders quarantine and has all personnel inoculated with a broad range of antibiotics. He and Liz begin work but are unable to find Masters or Dr. Lawrence. The Brigadier returns to coordinate efforts and Dr. Lawrence returns, lashing angrily out at Liz. He storms out but she learns that Masters left and showed early signs of infection. The brigadier orders the police to intercept Masters in London.
In London, Masters leaves the train, encountering a number of people before getting into a cab just before the police arrive. He takes the cab to the ministry of science but stumbles around as the disease takes hold. Back at the station, people become infected from the ticket taker and the police declare quarantine as people begin to collapse.
The Doctor and Liz continue to work testing various drug combinations on infected blood samples. Dr. Lawrence reemerges in full outbreak, having refused to take the antibiotic cocktail that is keeping everyone else relatively healthy. He attacks the Brigadier who pushes him back. Dr. Lawrence then collapses, dead.
The Silurians observe that the humans are showing greater resistance to the plague than anticipated. The new leader decides to capture the Doctor to prevent him from creating a cure. They overrun one UNIT checkpoint, killing two soldiers, although a third escapes. The leader and his lieutenant then head to the part of the cave abutting a wall of the lab and burn a hole, allowing them access.
The Doctor discovers a cure and synthesizes a small batch to test on one of the infected men. It works and he heads back to his work space to write the formula to be sent to the medical team ready to dispense drugs. As he writes the formula, the two Silurians who breached the lab attack him from behind and capture him. As they drag him out, they also kill a UNIT soldier on patrol.
Liz heads down to the lab and finds the Doctor missing. She grabs the Doctor's notes and tells the Brigadier. Another soldier find the dead soldier and informs the Brigadier. He puts the two together and figures a raid took place. He orders all of his men to push back on the Silurians attacking his men at the cave entrances to try and rescue the Doctor. Liz goes over the Doctor's notes and finishes the formula. She telephones the outside labs and gives them the information, allowing them to mass produce the cure.
In the Silurian base, the Doctor informs his captors of his cure and they decide to attack en mass. However, the lab is in the process of being shut down and there is insufficient power from the reactor. The Silurians grab the Doctor and decide to reinvade the base with the men they have and reactivate the reactor.
The Silurians reemerge just outside the Doctor's office and see Liz and the Brigadier, having just discovered that the elevators have been deactivated. They take the two hostage and the three enter the control room. They attack the technicians but the Doctor orders them to stop, saying that he won't help them if they kill anyone. The Silurians then set up a microwave emitter which will disrupt the Van Allen belt, heating the Earth and making it uninhabitable for mammals.
The Doctor begins to activate the reactor but he gives Liz a signal and they dump all the uranium rods in at once. The action causes an overload in the controls and begins to overheat the reactor. The Doctor informs the Silurians that the reactor will blow, bathing the area in radiation for fifty years. The Silurians retreat to the caves and prepare to go into hibernation for fifty years, leaving the humans to die in the explosion. However, the Doctor is able to stop the meltdown, neutralizing the reactor.
The Doctor returns to the caves where all the Silurians have gone back into hibernation except for the leader, who stayed out to man the hibernation controls. He attacks the Doctor but the Brigadier shoots him from behind, having followed the Doctor. The Doctor returns to the base and after bringing the lab back to a minimal operating standard, he informs the Brigadier that he intends to awaken the Silurians one by one and negotiate peaceful terms with them.
The Brigadier, alarmed by this news, informs the ministry and they order him to seal the caves. He orders his men to place explosives around all the entrances to the caves. As the Doctor and Liz drive near the entrances, the explosives are detonated, sealing the entrance and causing many of the Silurian's caves to collapse. The Doctor is horrified and angrily drives back to UNIT HQ.
Analysis
This was enjoyable story, although a bit slow at the start. Usually when dealing with long stories, the padding falls more around Episodes Five or Six, but in this case, the padding is more in Episodes Two and Three with the search for the wounded Silurian. The rest was actually a fairly tight battle story between the two sides. In many ways, it wasn't quite so much padding as it was two different storylines that had an odd meet in the middle.
All the major characters were quite good in this one. The Doctor was his usual egotistical but enjoyable self. Liz was also quite good and her role expanded through the story. She was left to do "women's work" in the first couple of episodes but she expanded with her scientific knowledge, helping out the Doctor and even piecing together the final cure formula from the Doctor's notes after he was captured. I don't think any other companion could have done that.
This is also the first story where you can see the volume of respect that the Doctor has for Liz. He is a bit condescending towards her at a couple of points but mostly when about to go into action. He openly relies on her when it comes to a scientific view and has a strong respect for her mind. He even gives way in arguments, especially when he protests about his alien physiology and the need for the anti-biotic cocktail. Given the way the Third Doctor (and most Doctor's really) treats his other companions, it shows just how good Liz is in the respect that she earns from the Doctor. The Third Doctor is known for having a more father/daughter relationship with both Jo and Sarah. Liz is much more in the vein of a friend.
The Brigadier is well done in this story as well. He is orderly and smart. He has his eye toward action but does restrain himself at times, though mostly due to a desire for more resources. There is a strong respect for the Doctor from the Brigadier and even a deference to him at a couple points, which is somewhat unusual.
The secondary human characters were all pretty good as well. I couldn't help myself when I saw Dr. Lawrence as I instantly recognized him as the same actor who played Nyder in Genesis of the Daleks. What struck me most though was how quickly some of the other were gotten rid of. Dr. Quinn is dead by the end of Episode Three while Miss Dawson is removed from the picture in Episode Five, with only sporadic appearances. Masters is a quick entry and exit, serving mostly as the agent for turning a localized epidemic into a true pandemic. I was reminded of the game Pandemic as he got to London, envisioning how bad it would get because of one man.
Of all of it, I think I liked the pandemic portion of it. More than monsters, this was something really unnerving and well done. It was clearly shot with a number of background people being unaware of what is going on. It added an excellent sense of realism, along with the shooting on film. When you see random people in the street going down and police cars screaming around, it starts to take on an almost documentary type feel which is highly enjoyable.
The Silurians themselves were a bit disappointing. Obviously we've all been spoiled with the advances in the new series regarding the Silurians but you try to put that aside. The main problem is the build up. We are given only shadow glances at first and then we get the Halloween style first person perspective until the end of Episode Three. Even if you're a little disappointed there, it was still recoverable, except for the acting of the men in the suits.
The Silurians had their voices dubbed over so the men in the suits didn't have any real lines. As such, they tended to overact when talking. The tall one who takes over as leader is particularly bad as he constantly bobs his head in a rapid motion that makes it look like he's going to be sick. It effectively means that there is no subtlety in the performance. Even the voice acting is a bit overplayed as it was all done by one actor, who was clearly focused on making sure each Silurian sounded different rather than worrying much over putting much texture in his tone.
I was also disappointed that the third eye in their foreheads was such a catch-all for anything they did. It was a receiver for mechanics, it was a weapon of varying power to attack others, and it was an actual eye to see through. I would have liked if the eye was just a single use and they had to rely on constructed technology, like their signal devices shown in Episodes Two and Three, for most of their other functions. It didn't help that the noise emitted by the third eye was also quite annoying.
Also in the annoying scale was the music. There was very little tonality to the music and a lot of sharp instrumental break-ins that were highly jarring. Incidental music is best when it is in the background, providing mood without the listener being strongly aware of it. In this, the music called a lot of attention to itself and most of it was not the good kind.
As this is a Malcolm Hulke story, you would expect a story that shows both sides being in the wrong. In this case, you don't really get that. The impression given is that the Silurians began to wake up with the installation of the lab and that they made a deal with Dr. Quinn that would benefit both. Quinn does try to take advantage of that deal and pays a price for it. Likewise, some of the people (Miss Dawson for example) are shown to be somewhat bloodthirsty but usually with some justification. Only Major Baker is shown to be a complete fool in the shoot first, ask questions later vein.
So, for a Malcolm Hulke story, this one is rather one-sided as making the Silurian's the bad guys. They are shown as being reasonable with the original leader but he is killed and the more aggressive one takes over. At that instant, his personality is imprinted and the Silurians attack with gusto. I think we are supposed to sympathize with the Doctor at the end when the caves are destroyed that the Brig committed murder, but it is hard to feel much sympathy for the Silurians at this point. If there had been a faction in favor of negotiation and co-existence that was beaten into submission by the new leadership, that would be one thing. But the old leader is the only one who ever expresses any real desire for coexistence. I would also point out that even he does it more out of fear of what a war would humanity would do to his people. Perhaps it is murder, but I side with the Brigadier in what he was ordered to do.
Overall, I'd say this was a really good story. It has a few shortcomings that would keep it from being a great story but as the first full and proper Third Doctor story, it does well in how he is going to act and his relations with UNIT and Liz. As before, it's an episode or two too long but once you get into Episode Four, it really zips along and draws you in well. It would be a marathon, but I could sit through this one fairly easily, though I'd need a bathroom break in the middle.
Overall personal score: 4 out of 5
Seven-part stories make me nervous. I've also been avoiding this one for two reasons: it's the last Liz Shaw story that I've not seen and I enjoy her a great deal, and the Silurians always seem to have the same story told about them. I remember watching The Hungry Earth and In Cold Blood and just not being that drawn by the story. Perhaps it was the secondary characters but I've become nervous that I would end up not liking a story regarded as a classic of the Third Doctor era just because I didn't care for a future version of the story.
Plot Summary
UNIT is called in to investigate an atomic research lab built in a series of natural caves following three months of unexplained accidents and injuries. The Doctor and Liz arrive in Bessie and are given a brief from the station manager, Dr. Lawrence. The Doctor is given a tour by the assistant manager, Dr. Quinn, and while on that, he discovers that the activity log of the cyclotron has had several pages torn out of it.
The Doctor is informed that the man responsible for the log is suffering from psychosis after he and a fellow worker were attacked in an undeveloped part of the caves. The other worker was killed, having cracked his skull in a fall, but also showing claw marks on his hands. The Doctor goes to see the mad worker only to find him possessed by fear, his only activity: making crude drawings on the wall of reptilian people.
During another test, the cyclotron malfunctions and the Doctor is forced to step in an help in the shut down when another worker becomes hysterical. Liz remarks to the Doctor that she felt a kind of terror when she was in the control room as well. The Doctor decides that he needs to investigate the caves as the control room is the deepest point within the caves.
He enters the caves and discovers a dinosaur after squeezing through a crevice. The dinosaur attacks him but is called off by a musical call. He returns to the lab just as the Brigadier is preparing a team to go look for him. They return to the cave and Major Baker, head of the lab security, rushes ahead and fires at a figure down the cave. The dinosaur returns and attacks Baker but is called off once again. Baker is wounded but alive. The Brigadier and his men chase after the figure while the Doctor takes Baker and some blood samples of the figure he shot back to the lab.
In the lab, the Doctor and Liz notice the blood is similar to reptilian blood. The Brigadier returns having lost the figure in the dark on the moors. He will continue the search in the morning. The figure meanwhile, finds a barn of a local farmer and buries itself in some hay bales to rest.
Dr. Lawrence goes looking for Dr. Quinn but is told by his assistant Miss Dawson that he has gone to his cottage to rest. However, Quinn is instead crawling into the cave where he is transfixed by a red beam. He is taken to a communications room where he pleads with the cave creature over the radio to not keep drawing power. The creatures refuse as they still need the power, having given Quinn the technology in the first place. Quinn is given the recall device of the figure on the surface and ordered to find him and bring him back in exchange for their going quiet for a time.
The next morning, the figure is discovered by the farmer. He claws at him and the farmer is so shocked, he dies of a heart attack. He is also spotted by the farmer's wife. The Brigadier is notified of the incident by the police and comes to investigate. Liz stays at the barn to take samples while the Doctor and the Brigadier head to the hospital to see the farmer's wife.
The farmer's wife is near hysterical with fear, much like the worker. The Doctor manages to get through to her by drawing a quick sketch and asking her to identify it. She agrees that it is the creature and she says it's still in the barn. The two men race back as the creature emerges from the hay once more and attacks Liz. It knocks her out, bolts the door to the barn and then runs out a side door.
The Brigadier breaks the door down and they find Liz, stunned and scratched but otherwise unharmed. As UNIT conducts a search for the creature, Dr. Quinn arrives, having stopped briefly to tell Miss Dawson about the device given to him. He takes the Brigadier's information and begins driving around the moors signaling the creature.
Quinn successfully picks up the creature in his car but his use of the signaling device is noticed by UNIT. The Doctor and the Brigadier head after him and find tracks suggesting that the creature was taken away. The Doctor goes and visits Quinn's house. Although he doesn't see the creature, he notices the heat turned up and Quinn behaving oddly. He leaves and Quinn is contacted by Miss Dawson again. He informs her that he plans on keeping the creature prisoner until it tells him all about their technology.
The Doctor returns to the lab and he and Liz break into Dr. Quinn's files. They find a globe with Pangaea and Miss Dawson stumbles into the lab as they do. The Doctor confronts her and she admits that Quinn was in contact with the creatures but she clams up when the Brigadier enters. Concerned over Quinn's safety, the Doctor returns to Quinn's cottage only to find him dead. He uses the signaler in Quinn's hand and the creature emerges. The Doctor, tries to talk to the creature, which he calls a Silurian. Although it understands him, it doesn't answer and runs off when startled by an outside noise.
The Doctor returns to the lab, although he only tells Liz that Quinn is dead. Major Baker asserts that he wants to head back to the caves with an armed force but the Brigadier overrules him and confines him to a hospital room. The Brigadier plans to attack himself but needs more men to search the caves. Major Baker breaks out of his hospital room and heads to the caves himself, but he is captured by the Silurians.
Hearing of Major Baker's escape, the Doctor and Liz head to the caves to find him. They use a map that the Doctor had taken from Quinn's cottage that he had marked. They find evidence of Baker's fight and follow a Silurian into a hidden base. In the base, they find Baker in a cage where he tells them of being interrogated by the Silurians. The Doctor advises him to make it a two-way exchange and learn as much as he can about the creatures while he and Liz return to the lab.
While they are gone, Sir John Masters, senior under-secretary to the minister, arrives at Dr. Lawrence's request. Masters is anxious that the project continue but he denies the Brigadier's request for more men. The Doctor and Liz arrive in the middle of the meeting and try to convince the others to negotiate with the creatures. Unfortunately, Miss Dawson arrives and tells them that Dr. Quinn is dead. The Brigadier makes up his mind to attack at dawn.
The Doctor sneaks off to warn the Silurians but the capture him and place him in the cage with Major Baker. Alerted by the Doctor's warning, the Silurians spring a trap for the Brigadier and his men, sealing them in a chamber in the cave. One of the Silurians then comes up and tries to kill the Doctor, but the colony leader restrains him. He learns of what the younger Silurian has done and does not approve but does not change it.
Major Baker attacks the Doctor but he is restrained by the Silurians. The Doctor pleads to be let out to talk to them and the leader does, taking him to the control room. He and the Doctor talk and the Doctor learns that the Silurians went into hibernation when they feared Earth would suffer a major catastrophe from an incoming planetoid. However, the object was captured and became the moon. Their equipment malfunctioned and they stayed in stasis until the cyclotron was built, supplying them with power.
The Doctor negotiates with the leader to let the Brigadier and his men go in exchange for allowing the Silurians to negotiate with the humans to set up cities in hot areas where the humans are not settled. He agrees and the Brigadier and his men are released before the suffocate. They return to the lab to find that Liz has been forced to reveal that the Doctor went ahead of the Brigadier to warn the Silurians. Miss Dawson is outraged and demands the Brigadier attack at once while Dr. Lawrence slips further into delusion, refusing to believe the Silurians exist. Masters defers to the Brigadier and the Brigadier refuses to go against the Doctor and elects to wait.
When the upstart Silurian learns of what the elder has done, he and another infect Major Baker with a disease they used to kill apes that would steal from their stores millions of years ago. He is released into the caves and escapes. The elder learns of this and is outraged. He gives the Doctor a sample of the infecting agent and sends him to the surface to devise a cure. After the Doctor leaves, the upstart Silurian is confronted and he kills the elder, taking over leadership of the colony.
Major Baker returns to the base with the Doctor right behind him. The Doctor orders no one to touch him but Baker tries to attack him. He collapses and is taken to the sick bay. Against the Doctor's orders, the lab doctor has Baker shipped to a local hospital. The Doctor and the Brigadier head to the hospital to establish quarantine. They arrive just as Baker runs out of the hospital and dies. The Brigadier establishes a quarantine while the Doctor heads back to the lab.
Masters gathers his things and leaves before the Doctor returns, telling Dr. Lawrence that he is going to recommend that the lab be shut down. Once the Doctor is back, he orders quarantine and has all personnel inoculated with a broad range of antibiotics. He and Liz begin work but are unable to find Masters or Dr. Lawrence. The Brigadier returns to coordinate efforts and Dr. Lawrence returns, lashing angrily out at Liz. He storms out but she learns that Masters left and showed early signs of infection. The brigadier orders the police to intercept Masters in London.
In London, Masters leaves the train, encountering a number of people before getting into a cab just before the police arrive. He takes the cab to the ministry of science but stumbles around as the disease takes hold. Back at the station, people become infected from the ticket taker and the police declare quarantine as people begin to collapse.
The Doctor and Liz continue to work testing various drug combinations on infected blood samples. Dr. Lawrence reemerges in full outbreak, having refused to take the antibiotic cocktail that is keeping everyone else relatively healthy. He attacks the Brigadier who pushes him back. Dr. Lawrence then collapses, dead.
The Silurians observe that the humans are showing greater resistance to the plague than anticipated. The new leader decides to capture the Doctor to prevent him from creating a cure. They overrun one UNIT checkpoint, killing two soldiers, although a third escapes. The leader and his lieutenant then head to the part of the cave abutting a wall of the lab and burn a hole, allowing them access.
The Doctor discovers a cure and synthesizes a small batch to test on one of the infected men. It works and he heads back to his work space to write the formula to be sent to the medical team ready to dispense drugs. As he writes the formula, the two Silurians who breached the lab attack him from behind and capture him. As they drag him out, they also kill a UNIT soldier on patrol.
Liz heads down to the lab and finds the Doctor missing. She grabs the Doctor's notes and tells the Brigadier. Another soldier find the dead soldier and informs the Brigadier. He puts the two together and figures a raid took place. He orders all of his men to push back on the Silurians attacking his men at the cave entrances to try and rescue the Doctor. Liz goes over the Doctor's notes and finishes the formula. She telephones the outside labs and gives them the information, allowing them to mass produce the cure.
In the Silurian base, the Doctor informs his captors of his cure and they decide to attack en mass. However, the lab is in the process of being shut down and there is insufficient power from the reactor. The Silurians grab the Doctor and decide to reinvade the base with the men they have and reactivate the reactor.
The Silurians reemerge just outside the Doctor's office and see Liz and the Brigadier, having just discovered that the elevators have been deactivated. They take the two hostage and the three enter the control room. They attack the technicians but the Doctor orders them to stop, saying that he won't help them if they kill anyone. The Silurians then set up a microwave emitter which will disrupt the Van Allen belt, heating the Earth and making it uninhabitable for mammals.
The Doctor begins to activate the reactor but he gives Liz a signal and they dump all the uranium rods in at once. The action causes an overload in the controls and begins to overheat the reactor. The Doctor informs the Silurians that the reactor will blow, bathing the area in radiation for fifty years. The Silurians retreat to the caves and prepare to go into hibernation for fifty years, leaving the humans to die in the explosion. However, the Doctor is able to stop the meltdown, neutralizing the reactor.
The Doctor returns to the caves where all the Silurians have gone back into hibernation except for the leader, who stayed out to man the hibernation controls. He attacks the Doctor but the Brigadier shoots him from behind, having followed the Doctor. The Doctor returns to the base and after bringing the lab back to a minimal operating standard, he informs the Brigadier that he intends to awaken the Silurians one by one and negotiate peaceful terms with them.
The Brigadier, alarmed by this news, informs the ministry and they order him to seal the caves. He orders his men to place explosives around all the entrances to the caves. As the Doctor and Liz drive near the entrances, the explosives are detonated, sealing the entrance and causing many of the Silurian's caves to collapse. The Doctor is horrified and angrily drives back to UNIT HQ.
Analysis
This was enjoyable story, although a bit slow at the start. Usually when dealing with long stories, the padding falls more around Episodes Five or Six, but in this case, the padding is more in Episodes Two and Three with the search for the wounded Silurian. The rest was actually a fairly tight battle story between the two sides. In many ways, it wasn't quite so much padding as it was two different storylines that had an odd meet in the middle.
All the major characters were quite good in this one. The Doctor was his usual egotistical but enjoyable self. Liz was also quite good and her role expanded through the story. She was left to do "women's work" in the first couple of episodes but she expanded with her scientific knowledge, helping out the Doctor and even piecing together the final cure formula from the Doctor's notes after he was captured. I don't think any other companion could have done that.
This is also the first story where you can see the volume of respect that the Doctor has for Liz. He is a bit condescending towards her at a couple of points but mostly when about to go into action. He openly relies on her when it comes to a scientific view and has a strong respect for her mind. He even gives way in arguments, especially when he protests about his alien physiology and the need for the anti-biotic cocktail. Given the way the Third Doctor (and most Doctor's really) treats his other companions, it shows just how good Liz is in the respect that she earns from the Doctor. The Third Doctor is known for having a more father/daughter relationship with both Jo and Sarah. Liz is much more in the vein of a friend.
The Brigadier is well done in this story as well. He is orderly and smart. He has his eye toward action but does restrain himself at times, though mostly due to a desire for more resources. There is a strong respect for the Doctor from the Brigadier and even a deference to him at a couple points, which is somewhat unusual.
The secondary human characters were all pretty good as well. I couldn't help myself when I saw Dr. Lawrence as I instantly recognized him as the same actor who played Nyder in Genesis of the Daleks. What struck me most though was how quickly some of the other were gotten rid of. Dr. Quinn is dead by the end of Episode Three while Miss Dawson is removed from the picture in Episode Five, with only sporadic appearances. Masters is a quick entry and exit, serving mostly as the agent for turning a localized epidemic into a true pandemic. I was reminded of the game Pandemic as he got to London, envisioning how bad it would get because of one man.
Of all of it, I think I liked the pandemic portion of it. More than monsters, this was something really unnerving and well done. It was clearly shot with a number of background people being unaware of what is going on. It added an excellent sense of realism, along with the shooting on film. When you see random people in the street going down and police cars screaming around, it starts to take on an almost documentary type feel which is highly enjoyable.
The Silurians themselves were a bit disappointing. Obviously we've all been spoiled with the advances in the new series regarding the Silurians but you try to put that aside. The main problem is the build up. We are given only shadow glances at first and then we get the Halloween style first person perspective until the end of Episode Three. Even if you're a little disappointed there, it was still recoverable, except for the acting of the men in the suits.
The Silurians had their voices dubbed over so the men in the suits didn't have any real lines. As such, they tended to overact when talking. The tall one who takes over as leader is particularly bad as he constantly bobs his head in a rapid motion that makes it look like he's going to be sick. It effectively means that there is no subtlety in the performance. Even the voice acting is a bit overplayed as it was all done by one actor, who was clearly focused on making sure each Silurian sounded different rather than worrying much over putting much texture in his tone.
I was also disappointed that the third eye in their foreheads was such a catch-all for anything they did. It was a receiver for mechanics, it was a weapon of varying power to attack others, and it was an actual eye to see through. I would have liked if the eye was just a single use and they had to rely on constructed technology, like their signal devices shown in Episodes Two and Three, for most of their other functions. It didn't help that the noise emitted by the third eye was also quite annoying.
Also in the annoying scale was the music. There was very little tonality to the music and a lot of sharp instrumental break-ins that were highly jarring. Incidental music is best when it is in the background, providing mood without the listener being strongly aware of it. In this, the music called a lot of attention to itself and most of it was not the good kind.
As this is a Malcolm Hulke story, you would expect a story that shows both sides being in the wrong. In this case, you don't really get that. The impression given is that the Silurians began to wake up with the installation of the lab and that they made a deal with Dr. Quinn that would benefit both. Quinn does try to take advantage of that deal and pays a price for it. Likewise, some of the people (Miss Dawson for example) are shown to be somewhat bloodthirsty but usually with some justification. Only Major Baker is shown to be a complete fool in the shoot first, ask questions later vein.
So, for a Malcolm Hulke story, this one is rather one-sided as making the Silurian's the bad guys. They are shown as being reasonable with the original leader but he is killed and the more aggressive one takes over. At that instant, his personality is imprinted and the Silurians attack with gusto. I think we are supposed to sympathize with the Doctor at the end when the caves are destroyed that the Brig committed murder, but it is hard to feel much sympathy for the Silurians at this point. If there had been a faction in favor of negotiation and co-existence that was beaten into submission by the new leadership, that would be one thing. But the old leader is the only one who ever expresses any real desire for coexistence. I would also point out that even he does it more out of fear of what a war would humanity would do to his people. Perhaps it is murder, but I side with the Brigadier in what he was ordered to do.
Overall, I'd say this was a really good story. It has a few shortcomings that would keep it from being a great story but as the first full and proper Third Doctor story, it does well in how he is going to act and his relations with UNIT and Liz. As before, it's an episode or two too long but once you get into Episode Four, it really zips along and draws you in well. It would be a marathon, but I could sit through this one fairly easily, though I'd need a bathroom break in the middle.
Overall personal score: 4 out of 5
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
Dimensions In Time
I've seen them thrown out of the Vic, but never dragged in.
So how bad is Dimensions in Time? Pretty bad. It's actually even worse if, like me, you know nothing about East Enders and wouldn't know any of the characters if they walked up and introduced themselves. Despite everything that had gone on in the past, you do have to give JNT credit for trying to put together something fun for the thirtieth anniversary, but this is pretty bad.
Plot Summary
The special opens with the Third Doctor visiting the set of Noel's House Party and showing everyone the new special (including 3-D effects). They then cut to the Rani who has exiled the First and Second Doctor to a loop in time, leaving their projected heads swirling around her TARDIS.
The Fourth Doctor sends out a distress signal as the Rani prepares to trap the remaining Doctors in the time loop. She targets the TARDIS and the Seventh Doctor and Ace materialize in 1973 London instead of China as intended. Blips in time begin to show as the Seventh Doctor gives way to the Sixth Doctor.
Time continues to slip mixing Doctors with companions at various points in time. The Third Doctor with Mel, the Sixth Doctor with Susan, the Third Doctor with Sarah Jane; all the while, the Doctor and companions interact with characters from East Enders. The Doctors realize that a time loop is oscillating things in twenty year spans, 1973, 1993, and 2013.
Fearing that the Doctor is on to her plan, the Rani releases specimens from her collection to deal with the Doctor. A Cyberman and an Ogron attack the Fifth Doctor, Peri and Nyssa. Other monsters materialize to chase them and the Rani herself materializes as the program breaks.
The audience in invited to vote for a helper for the Doctor: either Mandy or Big Ron. The show resumes the next day with Mandy as the winner of the audience poll.
The Fifth Doctor summons his other selves upon seeing the Rani. The Third Doctor appears with Liz Shaw. Liz charges the Rani to attack but is thrown off by a passer-by (Mandy). Captain Yates rolls up in Bessie to take the Third Doctor to the TARDIS as the Rani flees. The Brigadier lands in a helicopter, meeting the Sixth Doctor.
The Rani, having retreated to her TARDIS, prepares to materialize in the loop. Romana (II) appears to help but is pulled into the pub to keep her out of the way. The Third Doctor is back outside the TARDIS with Victoria. The Doctor takes the TARDIS to the Greenwich Meridian. The Rani's TARDIS appears nearby as the Seventh Doctor emerges from the TARIDS. Leela emerges from the Rani's TARDIS, having escaped but saying that she was cloned. The Doctor realizes that she is planning to open the time tunnel along the Meridian giving her control of the development of the universe.
Knowing that the Rani has a copy of Romana's brain print to work with, the Seventh Doctor sets up a feedback loop to pull the Rani's TARDIS in the time loop she has created with K-9 assisting. The Doctor's plan works, releasing the First and Second Doctor and pulling her TARDIS in. The Seventh Doctor and Ace prepare to leave with the time stream returned to normal.
Analysis
If you were to create a list of the things that I dislike in television stories, Dimensions in Time would probably hit all of them. Poor writing: check. Poor acting: check. Poor pacing: check. Poor visual effects: check. I'm sure their heart was in the right place, but this story is appallingly bad.
John Nathan-Turner was not a writer for the show and the fact that he gets co-writing credit on this shows why he didn't write. The story is overly confusing with a desperate attempt to cram as many cameos by past companions and East Enders characters in as possible. That actually is the primary motivation of the story and the Rani's plan, nor the Doctor's solution is ever really explained as to what they are doing.
Then the acting. Tom Baker is the worst as he isn't even half-assing it. Most of the other Doctor's do fairly well, although it's pretty obvious that Jon Pertwee can barely move due to the condition of his back. The companions fair less well with most of them failing to add any depth or energy to the wooden lines. Ace does well as her dialogue actually makes sense and Sarah Jane falls back into her role with ease. The Brig also comes across decent, although that is due more to his gravitas rather than anything special in the acting or writing. The East Enders folks are even worse with cornball lines thrown in an attempted jokey fashion that just sound stupid.
The camera work isn't bad as there is a lot of circling around in a way that would have made Aaron Sorkin proud, but the overall pacing is not particularly good. It is jump cut after jump cut after jump cut. I think they were trying to get a frenetic feeling but instead it gave it an overly rushed feeling. Characters are given one line to hurrily insert or a Doctor gets thirty seconds to cram as much exposition in as possible. Then at random moments, it slows down to give the wooden dialogue even more time to set it. It's just painful to watch.
The visual effects scream no money as well. They also scream early '90s and I'm willing to cut a little slack for that, much like I give Noel Edmonds a bit of a break for the shirts he is wearing. But they are still pretty darn bad. The dummy heads of the First and Second Doctors floating around set a bad tone. What's probably the actual worst is when the various enemies make cameo appearances. These are obviously recycled costumes and puppets from earlier episodes but the lighting and camera angles used make them look even more fake than when they were originally on. Going back to pacing, it's obvious that there is this desperate push to get as many villain cameos in as quick as possible in the 45 seconds allotted to the Fifth Doctor, Peri and Nyssa running through the square and it exposes the poor quality, much of which probably looks worse just because of natural deterioration.
I can see what JNT was going for as he obviously wanted something fun and fan service-y for the thirtieth anniversary but this is of the level of a student film. While I'm sure he had almost no budget to make this, they did have professional cameras and experience that should have put them over a student level production. Certainly having another writer take a second or third stab at the script also would have helped some.
But what still makes no sense is why an anniversary special for Doctor Who was paired for a crossover with East Enders. That would be like having an anniversary special of Star Trek where Kirk and his crew interacted with folks on Dallas. The two settings are at cross purposes and I can't see how either fan base would be interested in the overall story.
I will say that for more casual fans at the time, it probably felt good to see the old characters again. Hardcore fans were probably appalled at the lack of quality and it would have seemed like a horrible way to watch the show you loved disappear into the darkness. For someone watching from the future, it just seems silly and poorly done. I would say that anyone who enjoys Doctor Who should watch it at least once, just for the experience and to get an added perspective on not only how good the new series is, but even on how bad things really could have been during the low points of the mid/late-'80's. But once you've seen it once, that's more than enough unless you intend to go full MST3K.
Overall personal score: 0 out of 5
So how bad is Dimensions in Time? Pretty bad. It's actually even worse if, like me, you know nothing about East Enders and wouldn't know any of the characters if they walked up and introduced themselves. Despite everything that had gone on in the past, you do have to give JNT credit for trying to put together something fun for the thirtieth anniversary, but this is pretty bad.
Plot Summary
The special opens with the Third Doctor visiting the set of Noel's House Party and showing everyone the new special (including 3-D effects). They then cut to the Rani who has exiled the First and Second Doctor to a loop in time, leaving their projected heads swirling around her TARDIS.
The Fourth Doctor sends out a distress signal as the Rani prepares to trap the remaining Doctors in the time loop. She targets the TARDIS and the Seventh Doctor and Ace materialize in 1973 London instead of China as intended. Blips in time begin to show as the Seventh Doctor gives way to the Sixth Doctor.
Time continues to slip mixing Doctors with companions at various points in time. The Third Doctor with Mel, the Sixth Doctor with Susan, the Third Doctor with Sarah Jane; all the while, the Doctor and companions interact with characters from East Enders. The Doctors realize that a time loop is oscillating things in twenty year spans, 1973, 1993, and 2013.
Fearing that the Doctor is on to her plan, the Rani releases specimens from her collection to deal with the Doctor. A Cyberman and an Ogron attack the Fifth Doctor, Peri and Nyssa. Other monsters materialize to chase them and the Rani herself materializes as the program breaks.
The audience in invited to vote for a helper for the Doctor: either Mandy or Big Ron. The show resumes the next day with Mandy as the winner of the audience poll.
The Fifth Doctor summons his other selves upon seeing the Rani. The Third Doctor appears with Liz Shaw. Liz charges the Rani to attack but is thrown off by a passer-by (Mandy). Captain Yates rolls up in Bessie to take the Third Doctor to the TARDIS as the Rani flees. The Brigadier lands in a helicopter, meeting the Sixth Doctor.
The Rani, having retreated to her TARDIS, prepares to materialize in the loop. Romana (II) appears to help but is pulled into the pub to keep her out of the way. The Third Doctor is back outside the TARDIS with Victoria. The Doctor takes the TARDIS to the Greenwich Meridian. The Rani's TARDIS appears nearby as the Seventh Doctor emerges from the TARIDS. Leela emerges from the Rani's TARDIS, having escaped but saying that she was cloned. The Doctor realizes that she is planning to open the time tunnel along the Meridian giving her control of the development of the universe.
Knowing that the Rani has a copy of Romana's brain print to work with, the Seventh Doctor sets up a feedback loop to pull the Rani's TARDIS in the time loop she has created with K-9 assisting. The Doctor's plan works, releasing the First and Second Doctor and pulling her TARDIS in. The Seventh Doctor and Ace prepare to leave with the time stream returned to normal.
Analysis
If you were to create a list of the things that I dislike in television stories, Dimensions in Time would probably hit all of them. Poor writing: check. Poor acting: check. Poor pacing: check. Poor visual effects: check. I'm sure their heart was in the right place, but this story is appallingly bad.
John Nathan-Turner was not a writer for the show and the fact that he gets co-writing credit on this shows why he didn't write. The story is overly confusing with a desperate attempt to cram as many cameos by past companions and East Enders characters in as possible. That actually is the primary motivation of the story and the Rani's plan, nor the Doctor's solution is ever really explained as to what they are doing.
Then the acting. Tom Baker is the worst as he isn't even half-assing it. Most of the other Doctor's do fairly well, although it's pretty obvious that Jon Pertwee can barely move due to the condition of his back. The companions fair less well with most of them failing to add any depth or energy to the wooden lines. Ace does well as her dialogue actually makes sense and Sarah Jane falls back into her role with ease. The Brig also comes across decent, although that is due more to his gravitas rather than anything special in the acting or writing. The East Enders folks are even worse with cornball lines thrown in an attempted jokey fashion that just sound stupid.
The camera work isn't bad as there is a lot of circling around in a way that would have made Aaron Sorkin proud, but the overall pacing is not particularly good. It is jump cut after jump cut after jump cut. I think they were trying to get a frenetic feeling but instead it gave it an overly rushed feeling. Characters are given one line to hurrily insert or a Doctor gets thirty seconds to cram as much exposition in as possible. Then at random moments, it slows down to give the wooden dialogue even more time to set it. It's just painful to watch.
The visual effects scream no money as well. They also scream early '90s and I'm willing to cut a little slack for that, much like I give Noel Edmonds a bit of a break for the shirts he is wearing. But they are still pretty darn bad. The dummy heads of the First and Second Doctors floating around set a bad tone. What's probably the actual worst is when the various enemies make cameo appearances. These are obviously recycled costumes and puppets from earlier episodes but the lighting and camera angles used make them look even more fake than when they were originally on. Going back to pacing, it's obvious that there is this desperate push to get as many villain cameos in as quick as possible in the 45 seconds allotted to the Fifth Doctor, Peri and Nyssa running through the square and it exposes the poor quality, much of which probably looks worse just because of natural deterioration.
I can see what JNT was going for as he obviously wanted something fun and fan service-y for the thirtieth anniversary but this is of the level of a student film. While I'm sure he had almost no budget to make this, they did have professional cameras and experience that should have put them over a student level production. Certainly having another writer take a second or third stab at the script also would have helped some.
But what still makes no sense is why an anniversary special for Doctor Who was paired for a crossover with East Enders. That would be like having an anniversary special of Star Trek where Kirk and his crew interacted with folks on Dallas. The two settings are at cross purposes and I can't see how either fan base would be interested in the overall story.
I will say that for more casual fans at the time, it probably felt good to see the old characters again. Hardcore fans were probably appalled at the lack of quality and it would have seemed like a horrible way to watch the show you loved disappear into the darkness. For someone watching from the future, it just seems silly and poorly done. I would say that anyone who enjoys Doctor Who should watch it at least once, just for the experience and to get an added perspective on not only how good the new series is, but even on how bad things really could have been during the low points of the mid/late-'80's. But once you've seen it once, that's more than enough unless you intend to go full MST3K.
Overall personal score: 0 out of 5
Monday, June 6, 2016
The Ambassadors of Death
We demand that you return our ambassadors or we will destroy Earth.
Spearhead From Space firmly established that the Third Doctor era was going to be much more action oriented, but it was The Ambassadors of Death that took the full plunge into the James Bond-ian world of cloak and dagger mixed with raw action. Conspiracy reigns along with some actually rather brutal action at times. The story was enjoyable but not without some flaws inherent to this type of story.
Plot Summary
A rescue capsule is preparing to dock with a capsule that made an emergency take-off from Mars seven months ago. No contact has been made with the two astronauts inside and when rescue capsule docks, a strange high pitched signal is emitted and contact is lost with the rescue astronaut. The Doctor and Liz, observing on television, hear the signal and the Doctor heads to mission control immediately.
Inside mission control, under the eye of Ralph Cornish, the Doctor is given clearance by Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and accurately predicts a response high pitched signal. He, Liz and the Brigadier monitor things and try to triangulate the response signal. When a second one comes, it is pin-pointed to a warehouse only a few miles away.
UNIT storms the warehouse. Inside a group of men are holed up with their commander ordering them to delay UNIT without killing if possible. They hold them back but are eventually overrun. The sergeant in charge of the squad has the chance to kill the Brigadier but surrenders instead. The men in charge then flee, destroying their communication equipment.
Back at mission control, the Doctor tries to get computer time from Dr. Taltalian, but he pulls a gun on them as he is allied with the warehouse group. He flees when the Brigadier shows up and they lose him in the base tunnels. The Brigadier and the Doctor then interrogate the sergeant. He tells them nothing but they do learn he is military. After the Doctor and the Brigadier leave, a mysterious figure knocks out the guard and frees the sergeant.
In space, the recovery capsule, spurred by news of an impending solar flare, detaches from the Mars capsule and returns to Earth. After landing, the mission control team tries to open the hatch but find it locked from inside. The group then prepares to move it back to mission control to open. However, they are waylaid and the capsule is stolen by the same group from the warehouse.
The Doctor, following at a distance, pretends to be an old man having car trouble which causes the truck to stop. While moving Bessie, the Doctor activates a force field which prevents the thieves from letting go and the Doctor resteals the truck, taking the capsule back to Mission Control.
After getting it back, the Doctor and the Brigadier go to see Sir James at the ministry. He promises to start and inquiry. The Doctor is unsatisfied but leaves. Afterwards, Dr. Taltalian emerges and reports how the Doctor has thwarted their efforts.
Liz manages to make contact inside the capsule but the astronauts inside only ask about reentry. After not responding to common questions, the Doctor urges the team to cut the capsule open. Upon doing so, they discover it empty with a tape player running a message over the radio. The Doctor surmises that a group within the military pulled the astronauts out during an unauthorized inspection. The Doctor also surmises based on the radiation readings, that the real astronauts are still up in the Mars capsule and that something else was brought down.
The Doctor and the Brigadier go to see Sir James who introduces them to General Carrington who has been overseeing the interference. He tells them that the Mars capsule ran into a strange batch of radiation affecting the astronauts and that they are keeping them under wraps as they are now generating radiation which could be used as a weapon. The Doctor insists on seeing the astronauts and Carrington agrees.
Before the group arrives, a man named Reegan breaks in and steals the three spacesuited men. The two observing scientists are killed when they try to stop them. Reegan also kills his two accomplices by having them sit back with the three astronauts and dying of radiation poisoning. He dumps their bodies in a local quarry. The three astronauts are put into a new room with radioactive rods to keep them alive and under the care of a rogue scientist named Doctor Lennox.
The bodies of the two accomplices are discovered and the conspirators become more concerned about the progress the Doctor and Liz are making in deciphering the coded message and about getting a new capsule up to rescue the men believed to be in the Mars capsule. Reegan is dispatched to capture them. He sends a fake note from the Brigadier summoning the two to the quarry to look over the bodies of the accomplices but only Liz goes as the Doctor is trying to help Cornish prepare for the next launch.
Liz is waylaid by Reegan and taken to the hideout to assist Dr. Lennox. Lennox takes pity on her and tries to help her escape. However, she is caught again by Dr. Taltalian who had come by to warn the group of the Doctor's progress in deciphering the message, despite the threat to Liz's life.
Cornish is also ruffling feathers among the conspirators as he is pushing hard with preparations to launch another rescue capsule. The Doctor volunteers to go up, clearing the last obstacle being thrown in their way.
Reegan sends Dr. Taltalian back with a suitcase bomb. He told Taltalian that it has a 15 minute delay but he has reset it to go off instantly. Taltalian arms the bomb but takes most of the blast and the Doctor is only lightly injured. In the wreckage, he finds a device similar to the one the Doctor is trying to build.
Learning of the bomb's failure and the Doctor's plan to return to the Mars capsule, Reegan takes one of the astronauts to Sir James' office. He kills several workers and Sir James. He nearly kills the Doctor but the Brigadier comes upon the scene and distracts him. The astronaut heads back to Reegan's truck who takes him back to the hideout.
Cornish and the Doctor take advantage of the chaos of Sir James' death and prepare to launch. General Carrington tries to stop them but Cornish ignores him. Meanwhile, learning of what Reegan did, Dr. Lennox escapes with Liz's help to tell the Brigadier what is going on. Lennox is placed in a cell for his own safety until the Brigadier can come see him personally.
Reegan, learning of what has happened, sneaks on to Mission Control himself. He sabotages the rocket fuel by flooding it with too much booster. He then breaks in to Dr. Lennox's cell and locks him in with a radioactive isotope rod. Lennox dies from radiation poisoning.
The Brigadier discovers both the murder and the sabotage to the rocket. He tries to stop the launch but is too late. The Doctor takes off but the excess booster in the fuel causes the rocket to accelerate too rapidly and will take him out of Earth's orbit. The Doctor early jettisons the stage 1 booster and his rocket levels off. He then rendezvouses with the Mars capsule. However, before he can board, both capsules are swallowed by an alien spacecraft.
On board, the Doctor finds the three astronauts, hypnotized to think they are back on Earth and in a decontamination process. An alien comes on to the screen who demands the return of their ambassadors. The Doctor convinces the aliens that a third party has intervened and he will find and return their ambassadors. The aliens agree, although they will keep the astronauts as hostages and threaten to attack Earth if the Doctor fails. The Doctor agrees and his recovery capsule is sent back to Earth.
Back on Earth, Liz discovers the "astronauts" are in fact aliens and with their strength returning are becoming more aware of their imprisonment. Reegan admits to killing Lennox and offers Liz the chance to be his replacement. He then gets a call ordering him to head back to Mission Control and kill the Doctor. Reegan does sneak back on to the base and fills the decontamination chamber with gas, knocking the Doctor out. Reegan takes the Doctor back to the hideout.
General Carrington returns from Geneva, desiring to destroy the alien ship with nuclear missiles but does not have clearance from the Council. He also accuses the Doctor of being behind it, although the Brigadier rebuffs him. Carrington leaves the base and turns up at the hideout where he prepares to shoot the Doctor. Before he does though, Reegan enters are argues that the Doctor should be kept alive to build a machine to communicate with the aliens. Carrington reluctantly agrees.
Carrington believes that the aliens are preparing to invade and wants to use the ambassadors to convince the world to attack first. He had previously encountered them when he was on a previous Mars mission and they accidentally killed his co-pilot. Believing the death was deliberate, Carrington invited the ambassadors to create the attack trap.
Carrington takes one ambassador to Mission Control while Reegan takes the other two to steal supplies of radioactive isotopes. Carrington prepares to reveal the ambassador to the world on television. Before he broadcasts though, a signal is received from the alien spacecraft demanding the return of their ambassadors or they will attack.
The Doctor builds the machine to communicate with the aliens and uses it to send an SOS signal to UNIT. He then successfully communicates with the ambassadors who protest their captivity. Reegan commandeers the machine and orders them to obey him or be killed.
Carrington arrests the Brigadier and places the base on lockdown. The Brigadier manages to escape his guards meets with the UNIT soldiers who located the SOS signal. They assemble what few men they have and attack the hideout. Reegan is arrested and the Doctor appeals to the ambassadors to help them stop Carrington.
The Doctor and the Brigadier take the ambassadors to Mission Control and they open the gates for them. The Doctor asks them not to kill anyone and the soldiers flee when they find their bullets have no effect. Freeing the arrested UNIT soldiers, the Brigadier and his men burst into the control room and arrest Carrington before he can broadcast and appeal for an attack. The Doctor frees the last ambassador and leaves Ralph Cornish and Liz to arrange an exchange with the alien spacecraft: the ambassadors go up and the aliens will send the astronauts back in the same capsule. The Doctor then leaves for his own lab.
Analysis
There is an odd quirk with The Ambassadors of Death in that not all the surviving footage is in color. So it fades from color to black and white at various points. That is a rather odd thing although it doesn't really affect the enjoyment of the overall story.
This one is pretty good from a storytelling angle. It is fairly well acted as well. It is however, too long. There is a lot of back and forth between the hideout and Mission Control, so much so that it makes the Mission Control security look like a bunch of bumbling fools. I realize that Carrington was supplying Reegan with false documents, but it is hard to imagine that any one man could go through the gate so much without being detained at least once.
The story itself was enjoyable and I especially like the fact that the ambassadors themselves are fairly peaceful. It is only the General's paranoia, fueled by remorse over his dead colleague, and Reegan's greed that make for the conflict. There is however a bit of a plot hole in that once communications are established, it becomes clear that the ambassadors are aware that they being used to kill humans. It seems odd that they continue to go along with this as they are on a peaceful mission. It makes it seems as though the ambassadors are a bit weak-willed. If a communication had been established earlier and Reegan was deliberately withholding radiation from them to compel them, that would have made their actions a bit more understandable. However we are shown that complex communications are not established until after they have been used on an attack mission.
Another aspect of this story that I really enjoyed was the music. UNIT's jaunty little theme is enjoyable and also a bit ironic given that they are often being sent out on rather dark adventures. Even better though is the ethereal theme for the ambassadors themselves. I find it strangely compelling and it offers an almost mystical quality to the air whenever it plays. I would like to have that piece isolated for my own listening pleasure.
Aside from the small plot holes noted earlier, the principle downside of this story is that it can get slow. A few of the back and forths are not really needed and there are a couple of side storylines (such as Dr. Lennox's escape and murder) that don't really offer anything other than creating the opening for the Doctor later on. I'm pretty sure this could have been tightened to six parts, possibly five, although I think the story might have suffered in the other direction if it had been cut that far down.
One other thing that I would have liked to have seen changed was the exposure of General Carrington's plan a little earlier. His exposure at the end of Episode Six made for a nice cliffhanger but it then led to the big exposition dump at the beginning of Episode Seven. I think the story might have been better serviced if Carrington had been shown as the boss earlier with his motivation rolled out over the course of two episodes rather than compressed into one three minute back and forth with the Doctor. I don't think it hurt the story directly, but it would have clarified things a bit more.
Interestingly, for as long as this story is, there is not a whole lot to say about it. It was entertaining but without overly memorable moments. There was very little that stood out as either overly impressive or as overly terrible. I guess that puts it more in the middling camp for me. It was definitely on the positive side and I wouldn't have a problem watching it with someone else who wanted to watch it, but I also probably wouldn't take it as my first choice when presented with Third Doctor options. But for the sake of the music, I'll tick it a half point higher than my original thought.
Overall personal score: 3.5 out of 5
Spearhead From Space firmly established that the Third Doctor era was going to be much more action oriented, but it was The Ambassadors of Death that took the full plunge into the James Bond-ian world of cloak and dagger mixed with raw action. Conspiracy reigns along with some actually rather brutal action at times. The story was enjoyable but not without some flaws inherent to this type of story.
Plot Summary
A rescue capsule is preparing to dock with a capsule that made an emergency take-off from Mars seven months ago. No contact has been made with the two astronauts inside and when rescue capsule docks, a strange high pitched signal is emitted and contact is lost with the rescue astronaut. The Doctor and Liz, observing on television, hear the signal and the Doctor heads to mission control immediately.
Inside mission control, under the eye of Ralph Cornish, the Doctor is given clearance by Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and accurately predicts a response high pitched signal. He, Liz and the Brigadier monitor things and try to triangulate the response signal. When a second one comes, it is pin-pointed to a warehouse only a few miles away.
UNIT storms the warehouse. Inside a group of men are holed up with their commander ordering them to delay UNIT without killing if possible. They hold them back but are eventually overrun. The sergeant in charge of the squad has the chance to kill the Brigadier but surrenders instead. The men in charge then flee, destroying their communication equipment.
Back at mission control, the Doctor tries to get computer time from Dr. Taltalian, but he pulls a gun on them as he is allied with the warehouse group. He flees when the Brigadier shows up and they lose him in the base tunnels. The Brigadier and the Doctor then interrogate the sergeant. He tells them nothing but they do learn he is military. After the Doctor and the Brigadier leave, a mysterious figure knocks out the guard and frees the sergeant.
In space, the recovery capsule, spurred by news of an impending solar flare, detaches from the Mars capsule and returns to Earth. After landing, the mission control team tries to open the hatch but find it locked from inside. The group then prepares to move it back to mission control to open. However, they are waylaid and the capsule is stolen by the same group from the warehouse.
The Doctor, following at a distance, pretends to be an old man having car trouble which causes the truck to stop. While moving Bessie, the Doctor activates a force field which prevents the thieves from letting go and the Doctor resteals the truck, taking the capsule back to Mission Control.
After getting it back, the Doctor and the Brigadier go to see Sir James at the ministry. He promises to start and inquiry. The Doctor is unsatisfied but leaves. Afterwards, Dr. Taltalian emerges and reports how the Doctor has thwarted their efforts.
Liz manages to make contact inside the capsule but the astronauts inside only ask about reentry. After not responding to common questions, the Doctor urges the team to cut the capsule open. Upon doing so, they discover it empty with a tape player running a message over the radio. The Doctor surmises that a group within the military pulled the astronauts out during an unauthorized inspection. The Doctor also surmises based on the radiation readings, that the real astronauts are still up in the Mars capsule and that something else was brought down.
The Doctor and the Brigadier go to see Sir James who introduces them to General Carrington who has been overseeing the interference. He tells them that the Mars capsule ran into a strange batch of radiation affecting the astronauts and that they are keeping them under wraps as they are now generating radiation which could be used as a weapon. The Doctor insists on seeing the astronauts and Carrington agrees.
Before the group arrives, a man named Reegan breaks in and steals the three spacesuited men. The two observing scientists are killed when they try to stop them. Reegan also kills his two accomplices by having them sit back with the three astronauts and dying of radiation poisoning. He dumps their bodies in a local quarry. The three astronauts are put into a new room with radioactive rods to keep them alive and under the care of a rogue scientist named Doctor Lennox.
The bodies of the two accomplices are discovered and the conspirators become more concerned about the progress the Doctor and Liz are making in deciphering the coded message and about getting a new capsule up to rescue the men believed to be in the Mars capsule. Reegan is dispatched to capture them. He sends a fake note from the Brigadier summoning the two to the quarry to look over the bodies of the accomplices but only Liz goes as the Doctor is trying to help Cornish prepare for the next launch.
Liz is waylaid by Reegan and taken to the hideout to assist Dr. Lennox. Lennox takes pity on her and tries to help her escape. However, she is caught again by Dr. Taltalian who had come by to warn the group of the Doctor's progress in deciphering the message, despite the threat to Liz's life.
Cornish is also ruffling feathers among the conspirators as he is pushing hard with preparations to launch another rescue capsule. The Doctor volunteers to go up, clearing the last obstacle being thrown in their way.
Reegan sends Dr. Taltalian back with a suitcase bomb. He told Taltalian that it has a 15 minute delay but he has reset it to go off instantly. Taltalian arms the bomb but takes most of the blast and the Doctor is only lightly injured. In the wreckage, he finds a device similar to the one the Doctor is trying to build.
Learning of the bomb's failure and the Doctor's plan to return to the Mars capsule, Reegan takes one of the astronauts to Sir James' office. He kills several workers and Sir James. He nearly kills the Doctor but the Brigadier comes upon the scene and distracts him. The astronaut heads back to Reegan's truck who takes him back to the hideout.
Cornish and the Doctor take advantage of the chaos of Sir James' death and prepare to launch. General Carrington tries to stop them but Cornish ignores him. Meanwhile, learning of what Reegan did, Dr. Lennox escapes with Liz's help to tell the Brigadier what is going on. Lennox is placed in a cell for his own safety until the Brigadier can come see him personally.
Reegan, learning of what has happened, sneaks on to Mission Control himself. He sabotages the rocket fuel by flooding it with too much booster. He then breaks in to Dr. Lennox's cell and locks him in with a radioactive isotope rod. Lennox dies from radiation poisoning.
The Brigadier discovers both the murder and the sabotage to the rocket. He tries to stop the launch but is too late. The Doctor takes off but the excess booster in the fuel causes the rocket to accelerate too rapidly and will take him out of Earth's orbit. The Doctor early jettisons the stage 1 booster and his rocket levels off. He then rendezvouses with the Mars capsule. However, before he can board, both capsules are swallowed by an alien spacecraft.
On board, the Doctor finds the three astronauts, hypnotized to think they are back on Earth and in a decontamination process. An alien comes on to the screen who demands the return of their ambassadors. The Doctor convinces the aliens that a third party has intervened and he will find and return their ambassadors. The aliens agree, although they will keep the astronauts as hostages and threaten to attack Earth if the Doctor fails. The Doctor agrees and his recovery capsule is sent back to Earth.
Back on Earth, Liz discovers the "astronauts" are in fact aliens and with their strength returning are becoming more aware of their imprisonment. Reegan admits to killing Lennox and offers Liz the chance to be his replacement. He then gets a call ordering him to head back to Mission Control and kill the Doctor. Reegan does sneak back on to the base and fills the decontamination chamber with gas, knocking the Doctor out. Reegan takes the Doctor back to the hideout.
General Carrington returns from Geneva, desiring to destroy the alien ship with nuclear missiles but does not have clearance from the Council. He also accuses the Doctor of being behind it, although the Brigadier rebuffs him. Carrington leaves the base and turns up at the hideout where he prepares to shoot the Doctor. Before he does though, Reegan enters are argues that the Doctor should be kept alive to build a machine to communicate with the aliens. Carrington reluctantly agrees.
Carrington believes that the aliens are preparing to invade and wants to use the ambassadors to convince the world to attack first. He had previously encountered them when he was on a previous Mars mission and they accidentally killed his co-pilot. Believing the death was deliberate, Carrington invited the ambassadors to create the attack trap.
Carrington takes one ambassador to Mission Control while Reegan takes the other two to steal supplies of radioactive isotopes. Carrington prepares to reveal the ambassador to the world on television. Before he broadcasts though, a signal is received from the alien spacecraft demanding the return of their ambassadors or they will attack.
The Doctor builds the machine to communicate with the aliens and uses it to send an SOS signal to UNIT. He then successfully communicates with the ambassadors who protest their captivity. Reegan commandeers the machine and orders them to obey him or be killed.
Carrington arrests the Brigadier and places the base on lockdown. The Brigadier manages to escape his guards meets with the UNIT soldiers who located the SOS signal. They assemble what few men they have and attack the hideout. Reegan is arrested and the Doctor appeals to the ambassadors to help them stop Carrington.
The Doctor and the Brigadier take the ambassadors to Mission Control and they open the gates for them. The Doctor asks them not to kill anyone and the soldiers flee when they find their bullets have no effect. Freeing the arrested UNIT soldiers, the Brigadier and his men burst into the control room and arrest Carrington before he can broadcast and appeal for an attack. The Doctor frees the last ambassador and leaves Ralph Cornish and Liz to arrange an exchange with the alien spacecraft: the ambassadors go up and the aliens will send the astronauts back in the same capsule. The Doctor then leaves for his own lab.
Analysis
There is an odd quirk with The Ambassadors of Death in that not all the surviving footage is in color. So it fades from color to black and white at various points. That is a rather odd thing although it doesn't really affect the enjoyment of the overall story.
This one is pretty good from a storytelling angle. It is fairly well acted as well. It is however, too long. There is a lot of back and forth between the hideout and Mission Control, so much so that it makes the Mission Control security look like a bunch of bumbling fools. I realize that Carrington was supplying Reegan with false documents, but it is hard to imagine that any one man could go through the gate so much without being detained at least once.
The story itself was enjoyable and I especially like the fact that the ambassadors themselves are fairly peaceful. It is only the General's paranoia, fueled by remorse over his dead colleague, and Reegan's greed that make for the conflict. There is however a bit of a plot hole in that once communications are established, it becomes clear that the ambassadors are aware that they being used to kill humans. It seems odd that they continue to go along with this as they are on a peaceful mission. It makes it seems as though the ambassadors are a bit weak-willed. If a communication had been established earlier and Reegan was deliberately withholding radiation from them to compel them, that would have made their actions a bit more understandable. However we are shown that complex communications are not established until after they have been used on an attack mission.
Another aspect of this story that I really enjoyed was the music. UNIT's jaunty little theme is enjoyable and also a bit ironic given that they are often being sent out on rather dark adventures. Even better though is the ethereal theme for the ambassadors themselves. I find it strangely compelling and it offers an almost mystical quality to the air whenever it plays. I would like to have that piece isolated for my own listening pleasure.
Aside from the small plot holes noted earlier, the principle downside of this story is that it can get slow. A few of the back and forths are not really needed and there are a couple of side storylines (such as Dr. Lennox's escape and murder) that don't really offer anything other than creating the opening for the Doctor later on. I'm pretty sure this could have been tightened to six parts, possibly five, although I think the story might have suffered in the other direction if it had been cut that far down.
One other thing that I would have liked to have seen changed was the exposure of General Carrington's plan a little earlier. His exposure at the end of Episode Six made for a nice cliffhanger but it then led to the big exposition dump at the beginning of Episode Seven. I think the story might have been better serviced if Carrington had been shown as the boss earlier with his motivation rolled out over the course of two episodes rather than compressed into one three minute back and forth with the Doctor. I don't think it hurt the story directly, but it would have clarified things a bit more.
Interestingly, for as long as this story is, there is not a whole lot to say about it. It was entertaining but without overly memorable moments. There was very little that stood out as either overly impressive or as overly terrible. I guess that puts it more in the middling camp for me. It was definitely on the positive side and I wouldn't have a problem watching it with someone else who wanted to watch it, but I also probably wouldn't take it as my first choice when presented with Third Doctor options. But for the sake of the music, I'll tick it a half point higher than my original thought.
Overall personal score: 3.5 out of 5
Monday, January 11, 2016
Inferno
Doctor: I keep telling you I'm not from this world!
Brigade Leader: Then you won't feel our bullets when we shoot you.
Inferno is pretty good. It's one of the best stories I've ever seen in terms of creating tension. But I'm not ready to call it the be all and end all that other fans declare it to be.
Plot Summary
The Doctor and UNIT are assisting in a scientific en devour to drill down through the Earth's crust to tap potential energy reserves. As the drill nears the end, a green ooze begins to seep out and a technician in infected. It transforms him into a beast who attacks others workers. The beast increases the power to the drill, trying to accelerate it. The power surge causes the TARDIS console (which the Doctor has removed for experimental purposes) to surge into the vortex before being returned. The Doctor and UNIT stop the beast and drilling resumes. The Doctor attempts to recreate the surge and ends up sending the TARDIS console and himself into a parallel universe where Britain is run by a Fascist regime.
The Doctor is captured and interrogated as a spy. He attempts to escape but is recaptured when he attempts to stop the drilling. The drill breaks through the crust shortly before the Doctor is to be shot and the well explodes. The program leader, Professor Stahlman, who had already been infected, seals technicians and converts them into beasts as his own process is accelerated. The breakthrough is also causing violent earthquakes as magma rushes to the surface. The Doctor realizes that the parallel world is doomed and urges them to help him return to the other world so he can stop that drill. They agree, although the Brigade Leader is planning on forcing the Doctor to take them with him. The team manages to get power back to the TARDIS console while holding off the beasts. The Brigade Leader is shot by Liz Shaw when he tries to stop the Doctor and the Doctor disappears as a wall of lava approaches the shed where the console was. Back in original universe, the Doctor recovers and tries to stop the drilling. Professor Stahlman completes his transformation before the drill breaks through but with only one of him, he is subdued quickly, the drilling stopped and orders given for the shaft to be filled immediately.
Analysis
This may be one of the bleakest and intense Doctor Who stories I've seen. The end of episode six with the Doctor about to leave and the others turning to see the wall of lava approaching them is genuinely sad. It's a lot like The Fires of Pompeii except that the Doctor can't even save those that helped him. He can only leave to ensure that the tragedy doesn't happen to his universe.
In addition to the quality of the acting, one of the things that helps add to the tension is the absence of music. Instead, all we are given is the sound of the drilling and the occasional blaring of alarms. The intensity just builds from that background rhythm and without music to break that tension, even if in an attempt to build more tension, there is little to take you out of the story. It is reminiscent of The Birds in that respect.
As noted above, the acting is stellar. Nicholas Courtney especially takes the slightly stick-in-the-mud but endearing Brigadier and turns him into a cowardly bully in the alternate universe. Likewise, Liz Shaw's turn as an authoritarian who would just as soon shoot the Doctor as help him is also impressive.
However, there are a few flaws in this story as well. At seven episodes, it is a bit too long. There are enough points of running around and exposition that if that had been trimmed, it could have been turned into a very tense six-part story. Also possible for trimming would have been the elimination of the beasts. They don't make a lot of sense in the story as a whole and they function more as a visual threat and something that has to be fought off since the volcanic shaft is a bit too abstract a threat for younger audiences.
Another thing that bothered me was the forced romance shoved in. In episode one, a drilling expert named Sutton arrives to help in the final phases of the project and he gets very 70's fresh with Dr. Williams, Professor Stahlman's assistant. She blows him off at first but from then on we are treated as through Sutton is madly in love with her and she is just resisting him because of her work. In the alternate universe it is a little easier to buy this because the impression is given that Sutton has been on the project longer (as a form of prison sentence), giving him more time to interact with Williams, and the constant threat of death to either Sutton or both of them can accelerate passions. However, in the original universe, their romance carries on in just the same manner and it just comes across as unbelievable. It takes you out of the story when they try to play it up.
The shaft destroying the Earth is also something that bugged me. There are hundreds of cracks in the Earth's crust and we call those volcanoes. While I could see that what the alternate universe had done would be destructive to them personally and potentially Britain as a whole, I don't buy the idea that it would have increased to the point of destroying the whole planet. But the destruction of an entire planet was a fairly common trope in those days without much consideration as to how impossible that would actually be, so I can turn off that bit of logic without hurting the story too much.
This is not quite a criticism as it is an observation, but with the contrast in UNIT personalities it demonstrated that the Third Doctor is a bit of an ass. I was already aware of that, but his negative aspects were diminished when dealing with the Fascist universe jumped boldly outward when back to dealing with the original universe. Again, not a criticism but it does give me a bit of understanding as why despite the more action oriented plots, I find myself a little less interested in the Third Doctor than some of the others.
I think the grand summary of this one is a bit of a flawed masterpiece. If a few minor changes were made, this could have been one of the best stories made. But those flaws are there and cannot be swept away. They wouldn't stop me from watching this one again but it is not going to be the story I instantly gravitate to either I think.
Overall personal score: 4 out of 5
Brigade Leader: Then you won't feel our bullets when we shoot you.
Inferno is pretty good. It's one of the best stories I've ever seen in terms of creating tension. But I'm not ready to call it the be all and end all that other fans declare it to be.
Plot Summary
The Doctor and UNIT are assisting in a scientific en devour to drill down through the Earth's crust to tap potential energy reserves. As the drill nears the end, a green ooze begins to seep out and a technician in infected. It transforms him into a beast who attacks others workers. The beast increases the power to the drill, trying to accelerate it. The power surge causes the TARDIS console (which the Doctor has removed for experimental purposes) to surge into the vortex before being returned. The Doctor and UNIT stop the beast and drilling resumes. The Doctor attempts to recreate the surge and ends up sending the TARDIS console and himself into a parallel universe where Britain is run by a Fascist regime.
The Doctor is captured and interrogated as a spy. He attempts to escape but is recaptured when he attempts to stop the drilling. The drill breaks through the crust shortly before the Doctor is to be shot and the well explodes. The program leader, Professor Stahlman, who had already been infected, seals technicians and converts them into beasts as his own process is accelerated. The breakthrough is also causing violent earthquakes as magma rushes to the surface. The Doctor realizes that the parallel world is doomed and urges them to help him return to the other world so he can stop that drill. They agree, although the Brigade Leader is planning on forcing the Doctor to take them with him. The team manages to get power back to the TARDIS console while holding off the beasts. The Brigade Leader is shot by Liz Shaw when he tries to stop the Doctor and the Doctor disappears as a wall of lava approaches the shed where the console was. Back in original universe, the Doctor recovers and tries to stop the drilling. Professor Stahlman completes his transformation before the drill breaks through but with only one of him, he is subdued quickly, the drilling stopped and orders given for the shaft to be filled immediately.
Analysis
This may be one of the bleakest and intense Doctor Who stories I've seen. The end of episode six with the Doctor about to leave and the others turning to see the wall of lava approaching them is genuinely sad. It's a lot like The Fires of Pompeii except that the Doctor can't even save those that helped him. He can only leave to ensure that the tragedy doesn't happen to his universe.
In addition to the quality of the acting, one of the things that helps add to the tension is the absence of music. Instead, all we are given is the sound of the drilling and the occasional blaring of alarms. The intensity just builds from that background rhythm and without music to break that tension, even if in an attempt to build more tension, there is little to take you out of the story. It is reminiscent of The Birds in that respect.
As noted above, the acting is stellar. Nicholas Courtney especially takes the slightly stick-in-the-mud but endearing Brigadier and turns him into a cowardly bully in the alternate universe. Likewise, Liz Shaw's turn as an authoritarian who would just as soon shoot the Doctor as help him is also impressive.
However, there are a few flaws in this story as well. At seven episodes, it is a bit too long. There are enough points of running around and exposition that if that had been trimmed, it could have been turned into a very tense six-part story. Also possible for trimming would have been the elimination of the beasts. They don't make a lot of sense in the story as a whole and they function more as a visual threat and something that has to be fought off since the volcanic shaft is a bit too abstract a threat for younger audiences.
Another thing that bothered me was the forced romance shoved in. In episode one, a drilling expert named Sutton arrives to help in the final phases of the project and he gets very 70's fresh with Dr. Williams, Professor Stahlman's assistant. She blows him off at first but from then on we are treated as through Sutton is madly in love with her and she is just resisting him because of her work. In the alternate universe it is a little easier to buy this because the impression is given that Sutton has been on the project longer (as a form of prison sentence), giving him more time to interact with Williams, and the constant threat of death to either Sutton or both of them can accelerate passions. However, in the original universe, their romance carries on in just the same manner and it just comes across as unbelievable. It takes you out of the story when they try to play it up.
The shaft destroying the Earth is also something that bugged me. There are hundreds of cracks in the Earth's crust and we call those volcanoes. While I could see that what the alternate universe had done would be destructive to them personally and potentially Britain as a whole, I don't buy the idea that it would have increased to the point of destroying the whole planet. But the destruction of an entire planet was a fairly common trope in those days without much consideration as to how impossible that would actually be, so I can turn off that bit of logic without hurting the story too much.
This is not quite a criticism as it is an observation, but with the contrast in UNIT personalities it demonstrated that the Third Doctor is a bit of an ass. I was already aware of that, but his negative aspects were diminished when dealing with the Fascist universe jumped boldly outward when back to dealing with the original universe. Again, not a criticism but it does give me a bit of understanding as why despite the more action oriented plots, I find myself a little less interested in the Third Doctor than some of the others.
I think the grand summary of this one is a bit of a flawed masterpiece. If a few minor changes were made, this could have been one of the best stories made. But those flaws are there and cannot be swept away. They wouldn't stop me from watching this one again but it is not going to be the story I instantly gravitate to either I think.
Overall personal score: 4 out of 5
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