So, which one are you?
In the Tenth Doctor era, it became something of a trope to have a middle of the season two-parter with a classic villain. Rise of the Cyberman and The Age of Steel was the first of these and it reintroduced the Cybermen. Eschewing both Mondas and Telos, the story recreated the Cybermen in an alternate universe with complete freedom to create as desired.
Plot Summary
The Doctor, Mickey and Rose are travelling in the TARDIS when it falls through a crack to a parallel universe. The transfer kills the power of the TARDIS and it materializes in a London where the rich travel in zeppelins and Rose's father is alive and a successful business man. The Doctor mopes about the TARDIS being dead until he discovers a small spark of energy. Using a little of his own regeneration energy, he recharges it which will allow them to leave in 24 hours.
Meanwhile, Rose has connected to the internet and learned that Pete Tyler's company was recently purchased by the Cybus corporation, headed by John Lumic. Lumic, unknown to them, has developed a metal body in which a brain can be installed, creating an alternate reality version of the Cybermen. He is trying to get permission to proceed with creating more but is being denied by the President of Great Britain. Despite the denial, he is proceeding anyway, taking homeless off the street and converting them.
Rose and Mickey rebel against the Doctor's warnings and head off to explore. The Doctor follows Rose, leaving Mickey to wander on his own. While they are walking, the people suddenly freeze and get a news download from their earpods. Concerned over this, the Doctor elects to sneak in to Jackie's 40th birthday party, at which the President will be attending, and investigate.
Mickey goes to his grandmother's house. In his universe, his grandmother died tripping over a loose patch of carpet on the stairs he failed to fix. She is still alive here although his counterpart is named Ricky. She invites him in for tea, having not seen him in a few days, but he is grabbed by a man in a van and sped off. They take him to a safehouse where Ricky is waiting. They are a group called the Preachers who work against Cybus and Lumic's plans. After searching Mickey, they are unsure of what he is but elect to take him along on a planned raid of Jackie's birthday party.
The Doctor and Rose sneak in to the party as staff. The Doctor slips away to pull information from Pete's computer while Rose chats with her parents. Pete let's slip that he and Jackie are separating. She also learns that she was never born in this universe, although they do have a dog named Rose. Meanwhile the Doctor learns of Lumic's Cybermen plans. Before he can leave though, a group of Cybermen assault the house, killing the President. The Cybermen kill or round up the rest of the guests for conversion.
Ricky and his gang try to gun down the Cybermen but their bullets are useless. The gang, the Doctor, Rose and Pete are cornered. The Doctor attempts to surrender but the Cybermen deny this chance due to the resistance. The Doctor discharges the TARDIS power cell he has with him, killing most of the Cybermen and they flee into London. They are pursued by other Cybermen and Ricky is killed in the attack.
With the raid successful, Lumic begins the conversion of London. He activates all earpods, putting people in a trance and having them walk to his factory for cyber-conversion. Seeing this, the Doctor realizes they need to stop it. Pete admits to being a mole inside Cybus, feeding the Prophets information. They divide into three groups: the Doctor and Mrs. Moore (the techie) will use tunnels to enter the complex; Rose and Pete don fake earpods and enter the front door with hypnotized people; Mickey and Jake head to the roof to try and knock out the broadcast signal to the earpods.
The Doctor and Mrs. Moore enter the facility but are spotted at one point and pursued. They disable one Cyberman and the Doctor figures a way to stop them. However, Mrs. Moore is killed and the Doctor taken to see Lumic who has been converted into the Cybercontroller following an attack by his second, Dr. Kendrick.
Pete and Rose successfully enter the facility but Pete is recognized by a Cyberman who used to be Jackie Tyler. Due to Pete's knowledge, he and Rose are also directed to be interrogated by Cybercontrol.
Mickey and Jake successfully infiltrate the airship where the broadcast signal is coming from. Attempting to stop it, they wake a prototype Cyberman. The Cyberman tries to kill them but Mickey is able to use it to knock out the signal to the pods. Awakened to what has happened, the people flee the facility. Mickey also hacks into the security system and observes the Doctor, Pete and Rose with the Cybercontroller.
Aware of Mickey's success, the Doctor instructs him what to do in a mouthy speech to the Cybercontroller. Mickey sends the code for the emotional inhibitor to Rose's phone and the Doctor sends it to the Cybermen. Suddenly aware of what they've become, the Cybermen collapse as their brains are overloaded. The sudden shut down also triggers equipment failure in the factory and it begins to explode.
Mickey contacts the Doctor, instructing them to head to the roof where he and Jake will get them on the Zeppelin. Mickey lowers a ladder and the three climb aboard. But the Cybercontroller pursues them and begins to climb the ladder as well. The Doctor tosses Pete his sonic screwdriver and Pete uses it to cut the lower part of the ladder. The Cybercontroller falls back to the factory as it explodes.
Afterwards, Rose admits to Pete that he is her father in the alternate universe. Unnerved, Pete leaves vowing to destroy Cybus' other Cyberman factories. Mickey also elects to stay behind as his grandmother is here and he has a new purpose. He is also tired of being a third wheel between Rose and the Doctor. Rose and the Doctor leave, closing the crack behind them. They return to Jackie's apartment where Rose reassures herself with a good hug with her mom.
Analysis
I enjoyed this story, although I've heard others give it more of a middling grade. I don't quite understand this as I thought the Cybermen were scarier and more competent than in most stories of the classic era. There were flaws in the story, but not so bad that I didn't enjoy what I did see.
The story does start a little slow and the Doctor's mopiness at the prospect of being stranded gets annoying after a while. But it doesn't last long and the Doctor is excellent in the rest of the story. The slow periods where the TARDIS team isn't doing much are cut with scenes of Pete and Jackie Tyler as well as John Lumic, so it takes advantage of the dearth of action to at least flesh out character and other set up points for the plot. That at least is nice in that we are treated to needed information in a non-expositional way rather than given a killing time runaround.
The second part is pretty much action from the word go. It is fairly obvious that Ricky and at least one of the redshirts is going to get killed but the interaction between the various teams is nice. It was also good to see them give a bit of a gut punch by converting Jackie and not have the story bog down with the idea of a rescue. The punch is tempered with the fact that this Jackie is a bit more bitchy and as the Doctor is constantly reminding Rose, that is not her actual mother.
One of the best things of the Tenth Doctor era, in my opinion, was the fact that the Doctor was often faced with unpleasant choices. We are treated to reminders in Jackie and the woman who was converted before her wedding day that the Cybermen have real people who are not evil in them. But they have been changed to an evil form and that the only way to stop them is to kill them. It's a good reminder of the tragedy of the situation and that sometimes dark measures do have to be taken for the greater good (the greater good). Of course, the Tenth Doctor has a habit of also overapologizing to emphasize the point in case you miss it and that does get old after a while.
There were some flaws in this story though. As mentioned before, it does start slow and much of Rise of the Cybermen can feel like set up before the full story commences in The Age of Steel. It's not bad, but no one fully enjoys a story that is primarily a set up for the next stage.
Another slightly surprising shortcoming is John Lumic. The actor, Roger Lloyd-Pack, is pretty good and outside of this I know him best as Barty Crouch Sr. from Goblet of Fire (with David Tennant amusingly). His performance here though is rather hammy. He is trying to show the obsessed and slightly mad genius, but it comes across as over-the-top and a bit too mustache twirly.
There are also a couple of moments where drama gives way to reality. After Mrs. Moore and the Doctor examine the Cyberman they felled, a Cyberman is shown standing right behind them to kill Mrs. Moore. Both her and the Doctor should have heard the Cyberman coming from a mile away but it's more dramatic if it sneaks up on them. Similarly, it is never overly clear as to why the factory starts to blow up after the emotional inhibitor is deactivated. We see the Cybermen falling over and in some cases blowing up, but then the factory starts to go for no apparent reason.
In the grand scheme of things, these are rather minor problems that don't overly detract from the overall story. I will warn you that bitchy Rose does make an appearance at times and it's very easy to sympathize with Mickey who is clearly getting the K-9 treatment. In fact, it's worse than it was in School Reunion which doesn't do anything to endear you especially to Rose in this story. A little bit with the Doctor too but he redeems himself easier, especially at the end. I don't think either of these detracts though, since I find Rose bitchy in most of Series Two.
Overall if you're in the mood for a two-parter, this isn't a bad one to sit down with. It's not overly deep; just a good action story with a hint of scariness. Having enjoyable secondary characters like Pete and Mrs. Moore helps get you invested as well. Even Ricky is entertaining with Noel Clarke putting on more of a hard edged effort that still smacks of goofiness. It's fun and worth a repeat watch.
Overall personal score: Rise of the Cybermen - 4 out of 5; The Age of Steel - 4.5 out of 5
Friday, June 10, 2016
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
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Turn Left
There is something on your back.
Doctor-lite stories have evolved nicely since the misfire that was Love and Monsters. It is not often that Doctor Who plays with the "what if" card but when it does it usually does it well. Turn Left is an interesting exploration of how things would have evolved had Donna never met the Doctor and he died in the aftermath of the sans Donna The Runaway Bride.
Plot Summary
Donna and the Doctor are visiting a planet and they split up to do some sampling. Donna enters a fortune teller's house who prompts her to recall the point in her life where she made a decision that resulted in her meeting the Doctor. She focuses on the moment when she ignored her mother and turned left at an intersection, leading her to get the job in which she eventually met the Doctor. The fortune teller tells her to focus on turning right as something sneaks behind her and latches on to her back.
Six months after turning right, Donna is celebrating Christmas with some coworkers, having just gotten a promotion in her job. One of the women is fixated as she keeps thinking that she sees something on Donna's back. Suddenly, London is attacked by the webbed star ship of the Racnoss. The army manages to destroy it and Donna rushes towards the action while everyone else runs away. There she sees the army taking away the body of the Doctor, although she doesn't know who the Doctor is at this point. He was drowned in the flooding and failed to regenerate.
As Donna turns away, she sees a blonde woman run up and asking about the Doctor. Donna tells her that the Doctor is dead. Rose turns away but notes Donna's name. Donna asks hers but she disappears before saying anything.
Several months later, Donna is being laid off. Everyone is distracted as a hospital has disappeared. It reappears several hours later with only a sole survivor. That survivor notes how a colleague named Martha saved his life and how a woman named Sarah Jane Smith had stopped another woman from using an MRI to destroy the hospital. He also reports of the search by "space rhinos," triggering Wilfred's interest. Rose also reappears to Donna, telling her to use the raffle ticket she still has and use her winnings to take the family out of London for Christmas.
At Christmas, Donna, her mother and grandfather head to an inn north of London. A maid enters and is immediately unnerved by something on Donna's back. They are distracted though as the television reports a replica of the Titanic is crashing into London. The feed is suddenly lost, but the whole family sees a mushroom cloud appear where London once was.
With most of southern England irradiated, the family is relocated to Leeds where they share a house with several other families, including a large Italian one headed by the jovial Rocco Colasanto. Wilfred is buoyed by the thought that the Americans have promised aid to help Britain. However, this is dashed a few days later when over sixty million Americans are killed in the birth and collection of the Adipose children.
A couple of months later, Rose appears again as army soldiers are seen trying to disable toxic gas coming from the cars. Rose leads Donna away and informs her of the Torchwood team's demise as they destroy the ATMOS system and the Sontaran ship. Rose also tells Donna that she is the special key and in three weeks will agree to come with her to stop all this, although Donna must die.
Three weeks later, the Colasanto family is relocated to an internment camp with Wilfred noting that this was how the Nazis started. He and Donna try to find solace in looking through his telescope but they observe the stars disappearing. Donna then acquiesces and goes with Rose when she reappears.
Rose and UNIT take Donna to a facility with the dark TARDIS. They have used technology scoured from it to create a time machine. They first show Donna the time beetle on her back. Freaked out, she begs them to turn the machine off. Rose then tells her that the only way to get rid of it is to fix the universe by having her go back in time and forcing herself to turn left at that intersection. Donna agrees although Rose again alludes that she will have to die.
The time machine sends Donna back to four minutes before she makes the turn but also deposits her half a mile away from the intersection. She runs as hard as she can but realizes that she won't make it to stop herself. Remembering what Rose said, she steps in front of an oncoming truck. The truck crashes into her and cars begin to back up towards the intersection. Seeing the traffic, the intersection Donna turns left. As the original Donna dies, Rose reappears and whispers two words into her ear. Donna reawakens in the fortune teller's shop, the failure to change having killed the beetle and the teller flees in terror.
The Doctor enters and Donna tells him what happened. He notes the beetle is part of the Trickster's Brigade (a Sarah Jane Adventures villain) and how is usually just creates a blip in time that that universe compensates for to feed. Donna however generated a parallel universe. Talking about that triggers Donna's memory and she recalls Rose. As Donna talks of her the Doctor becomes concerned, demanding to know her name. Donna recalls she said "Bad Wolf." As she does so, the Doctor runs back to the TARDIS with warning signs flashing everywhere. Confused, Donna asks what is wrong and the Doctor states that it's the end of the universe.
Analysis
Turn Left has it's ups and downs but it's the type of story that every companion should have: a character study that allows them to breathe and develop, especially in a way that is independent of the Doctor. Not that being with the Doctor is bad, but it is nice to see a companion act in a way that is not influenced by the Doctor now and again. This story is probably also the most Doctor-lite of all the Doctor-lites as he is only in the first thirty seconds at the beginning and the last two minutes at the end. Any shots of the Doctor during the rest of the episode are taken from previous episodes (mostly The Runaway Bride).
It was also a nice way to bring Rose back without offering disrespect to the drama of the goodbye moment in Doomsday (as would be done at the end of the season in Journey's End). It makes sense that in a parallel universe created around Donna, it would offer a thinner veil that Rose could break through and act as the Doctor surrogate. In the end, she gets left out again as the veil is returned to it's original strength (at least until Stolen Earth).
Donna has another one of her nice moments in this episode as well. She starts more like her stroppier self as she is unchanged by the Doctor, but there is emotional growth as the world comes crashing down. This culminates when she is shown the time beetle on her back and her reaction of fear and horror mixed with the refusal to believe that she is special is quite good. Yet it is also still mixed with Donna's humor which gives much needed levity.
On that note, this is a bleak episode to watch. It more or less has to be since it needs to highlight how important the Doctor is but there are moments that are just down right horrifying. The nuclear blast in London is pretty bad, but I think the moment that just hits you hardest is when the Colasanto family is taken away. Nearly everyone in the story had been pretty dour but Rocco expressed happiness in the face of dark times. Then he is taken away and he still stays happy for Donna. It is not until he salutes Wilf that that moment even breaks him. The tragedy of that scene just oozes out without being melodramatic. In a way, it reminded me of the scene near the end of Life is Beautiful where Guido maintains the illusion to his son that he is just playing a game with the soldiers as he is being led off to be shot. The episode doesn't get in to whether the Italians are actively being disposed of or just being held, but it is not hard to imagine that it might come to that point in that timeline.
There are only two points in this story that bother me. The first is the unconvincing way that Donna changes her mind to turn right. That might be down to direction but Donna starts the conversation so feisty and Sylvia isn't any worse than she normally is but Donna just rolls over and concedes. Now obviously in the real timeline, she blew her mother off so it shouldn't be too different, but it just feels wrong to have Donna concede so easily.
My second is one that others have mentioned and that is the Doctor's death. I don't recall the situation in The Runaway Bride being so dire as to that the Doctor would have died without Donna. I can think of more obvious situations where the Doctor would have died when he was with Martha but this was supposed to be about Donna so I can leave that point. It is also hard to imagine that things would have been so bad as to prevent him from regenerating. The half-hearted aside of it happening too fast seems like garbage to me as well. The only point that makes sense to me would be that if the chamber flooded, drowning the Doctor, his regeneration wouldn't have mattered as there still wouldn't have been air to breathe. We've seen enough instances where the Doctor is vulnerable during regeneration (with The Impossible Astronaut providing a direct example of total death in the midst of regeneration) so drowning in a sealed chamber could be seen as a way to kill the Doctor properly. But it still seemed a bit off to me. At the very least, it could have been explained better by the UNIT soldiers. Any story where I have to fill in a better explanation than the one provided is falling a bit short.
Despite the shortcomings and other small bits, this is a pretty good episode. It makes for a good intro into the finale, even if the finale didn't quite live up to all the expectations. It is not an episode to watch for a first timer as there is too much dependence on knowing the Tenth Doctor era to understand the story. But once you've been through, it is a perfectly good story to pull down and enjoy from time to time.
Overall personal score: 4 out of 5
Doctor-lite stories have evolved nicely since the misfire that was Love and Monsters. It is not often that Doctor Who plays with the "what if" card but when it does it usually does it well. Turn Left is an interesting exploration of how things would have evolved had Donna never met the Doctor and he died in the aftermath of the sans Donna The Runaway Bride.
Plot Summary
Donna and the Doctor are visiting a planet and they split up to do some sampling. Donna enters a fortune teller's house who prompts her to recall the point in her life where she made a decision that resulted in her meeting the Doctor. She focuses on the moment when she ignored her mother and turned left at an intersection, leading her to get the job in which she eventually met the Doctor. The fortune teller tells her to focus on turning right as something sneaks behind her and latches on to her back.
Six months after turning right, Donna is celebrating Christmas with some coworkers, having just gotten a promotion in her job. One of the women is fixated as she keeps thinking that she sees something on Donna's back. Suddenly, London is attacked by the webbed star ship of the Racnoss. The army manages to destroy it and Donna rushes towards the action while everyone else runs away. There she sees the army taking away the body of the Doctor, although she doesn't know who the Doctor is at this point. He was drowned in the flooding and failed to regenerate.
As Donna turns away, she sees a blonde woman run up and asking about the Doctor. Donna tells her that the Doctor is dead. Rose turns away but notes Donna's name. Donna asks hers but she disappears before saying anything.
Several months later, Donna is being laid off. Everyone is distracted as a hospital has disappeared. It reappears several hours later with only a sole survivor. That survivor notes how a colleague named Martha saved his life and how a woman named Sarah Jane Smith had stopped another woman from using an MRI to destroy the hospital. He also reports of the search by "space rhinos," triggering Wilfred's interest. Rose also reappears to Donna, telling her to use the raffle ticket she still has and use her winnings to take the family out of London for Christmas.
At Christmas, Donna, her mother and grandfather head to an inn north of London. A maid enters and is immediately unnerved by something on Donna's back. They are distracted though as the television reports a replica of the Titanic is crashing into London. The feed is suddenly lost, but the whole family sees a mushroom cloud appear where London once was.
With most of southern England irradiated, the family is relocated to Leeds where they share a house with several other families, including a large Italian one headed by the jovial Rocco Colasanto. Wilfred is buoyed by the thought that the Americans have promised aid to help Britain. However, this is dashed a few days later when over sixty million Americans are killed in the birth and collection of the Adipose children.
A couple of months later, Rose appears again as army soldiers are seen trying to disable toxic gas coming from the cars. Rose leads Donna away and informs her of the Torchwood team's demise as they destroy the ATMOS system and the Sontaran ship. Rose also tells Donna that she is the special key and in three weeks will agree to come with her to stop all this, although Donna must die.
Three weeks later, the Colasanto family is relocated to an internment camp with Wilfred noting that this was how the Nazis started. He and Donna try to find solace in looking through his telescope but they observe the stars disappearing. Donna then acquiesces and goes with Rose when she reappears.
Rose and UNIT take Donna to a facility with the dark TARDIS. They have used technology scoured from it to create a time machine. They first show Donna the time beetle on her back. Freaked out, she begs them to turn the machine off. Rose then tells her that the only way to get rid of it is to fix the universe by having her go back in time and forcing herself to turn left at that intersection. Donna agrees although Rose again alludes that she will have to die.
The time machine sends Donna back to four minutes before she makes the turn but also deposits her half a mile away from the intersection. She runs as hard as she can but realizes that she won't make it to stop herself. Remembering what Rose said, she steps in front of an oncoming truck. The truck crashes into her and cars begin to back up towards the intersection. Seeing the traffic, the intersection Donna turns left. As the original Donna dies, Rose reappears and whispers two words into her ear. Donna reawakens in the fortune teller's shop, the failure to change having killed the beetle and the teller flees in terror.
The Doctor enters and Donna tells him what happened. He notes the beetle is part of the Trickster's Brigade (a Sarah Jane Adventures villain) and how is usually just creates a blip in time that that universe compensates for to feed. Donna however generated a parallel universe. Talking about that triggers Donna's memory and she recalls Rose. As Donna talks of her the Doctor becomes concerned, demanding to know her name. Donna recalls she said "Bad Wolf." As she does so, the Doctor runs back to the TARDIS with warning signs flashing everywhere. Confused, Donna asks what is wrong and the Doctor states that it's the end of the universe.
Analysis
Turn Left has it's ups and downs but it's the type of story that every companion should have: a character study that allows them to breathe and develop, especially in a way that is independent of the Doctor. Not that being with the Doctor is bad, but it is nice to see a companion act in a way that is not influenced by the Doctor now and again. This story is probably also the most Doctor-lite of all the Doctor-lites as he is only in the first thirty seconds at the beginning and the last two minutes at the end. Any shots of the Doctor during the rest of the episode are taken from previous episodes (mostly The Runaway Bride).
It was also a nice way to bring Rose back without offering disrespect to the drama of the goodbye moment in Doomsday (as would be done at the end of the season in Journey's End). It makes sense that in a parallel universe created around Donna, it would offer a thinner veil that Rose could break through and act as the Doctor surrogate. In the end, she gets left out again as the veil is returned to it's original strength (at least until Stolen Earth).
Donna has another one of her nice moments in this episode as well. She starts more like her stroppier self as she is unchanged by the Doctor, but there is emotional growth as the world comes crashing down. This culminates when she is shown the time beetle on her back and her reaction of fear and horror mixed with the refusal to believe that she is special is quite good. Yet it is also still mixed with Donna's humor which gives much needed levity.
On that note, this is a bleak episode to watch. It more or less has to be since it needs to highlight how important the Doctor is but there are moments that are just down right horrifying. The nuclear blast in London is pretty bad, but I think the moment that just hits you hardest is when the Colasanto family is taken away. Nearly everyone in the story had been pretty dour but Rocco expressed happiness in the face of dark times. Then he is taken away and he still stays happy for Donna. It is not until he salutes Wilf that that moment even breaks him. The tragedy of that scene just oozes out without being melodramatic. In a way, it reminded me of the scene near the end of Life is Beautiful where Guido maintains the illusion to his son that he is just playing a game with the soldiers as he is being led off to be shot. The episode doesn't get in to whether the Italians are actively being disposed of or just being held, but it is not hard to imagine that it might come to that point in that timeline.
There are only two points in this story that bother me. The first is the unconvincing way that Donna changes her mind to turn right. That might be down to direction but Donna starts the conversation so feisty and Sylvia isn't any worse than she normally is but Donna just rolls over and concedes. Now obviously in the real timeline, she blew her mother off so it shouldn't be too different, but it just feels wrong to have Donna concede so easily.
My second is one that others have mentioned and that is the Doctor's death. I don't recall the situation in The Runaway Bride being so dire as to that the Doctor would have died without Donna. I can think of more obvious situations where the Doctor would have died when he was with Martha but this was supposed to be about Donna so I can leave that point. It is also hard to imagine that things would have been so bad as to prevent him from regenerating. The half-hearted aside of it happening too fast seems like garbage to me as well. The only point that makes sense to me would be that if the chamber flooded, drowning the Doctor, his regeneration wouldn't have mattered as there still wouldn't have been air to breathe. We've seen enough instances where the Doctor is vulnerable during regeneration (with The Impossible Astronaut providing a direct example of total death in the midst of regeneration) so drowning in a sealed chamber could be seen as a way to kill the Doctor properly. But it still seemed a bit off to me. At the very least, it could have been explained better by the UNIT soldiers. Any story where I have to fill in a better explanation than the one provided is falling a bit short.
Despite the shortcomings and other small bits, this is a pretty good episode. It makes for a good intro into the finale, even if the finale didn't quite live up to all the expectations. It is not an episode to watch for a first timer as there is too much dependence on knowing the Tenth Doctor era to understand the story. But once you've been through, it is a perfectly good story to pull down and enjoy from time to time.
Overall personal score: 4 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
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
The End of the World
Everything has it's time.
Rose introduced the Doctor and companion while The End of the World propelled them on their first time adventure together. Except not really. Yes, they travelled through time five billion years, but Rose spends most of the episode in a state of shock (probably the first realistic reaction by a companion) or locked in a room. So this more of a Doctor with pseudo-companion in the form of Jabe the tree.
Plot Summary
Showing off for Rose, the TARDIS materializes on Platform 1, a space station overlooking Earth on the day it is to be destroyed. Artificial gravity satellites had kept the expansion of the sun in place but funding had run out and the abandoned Earth is to die in a show for the rich and famous.
The Doctor and Rose pose as guests and exchange gifts and pleasantries with the other invitees, most notably Cassandra, the last genetically pure human, although hundreds of surgeries have reduced her to a sheet of skin and extended her life for several thousand years. Among the gifts exchanged are a silver spheres from the Adherents of the Repeat Meme. While the guests are busy, spider droids emerge from the spheres and sneak into the crawlspaces and begin to sabotage the station.
Feeling overwhelmed, Rose leaves the observation deck. She calms herself a bit talking with a maintenance worker, who is killed by the spider droids after she leaves, and then sits alone in a side room. The Doctor finds her but becomes angry when she presses him for specifics about who he is and where he is from. Rose backs down and the Doctor reciprocates by tinkering with her phone to allow her to call her mother. While observing, the station rocks a bit and the Doctor recognizes a problem.
The Steward also recognizes an issue but before he can dispatch a repair team, a spider droid enters his office and brings down the sun shade, roasting him in his office. Back on the observation deck, the Doctor notices sabotage. Jabe, a sentient tree, offers to show him an access shaft near their quarters. Rose, offended by Jabe's assumption of a sexual relationship between her and the Doctor, stays on the observation deck, where she promptly gets into an argument with Cassandra.
The Doctor and Jabe find an access panel that allows the Doctor to scan the station and access the main control box. While talking, Jabe confesses that she scanned the Doctor earlier and learned he is a Time Lord. She offers sympathy for the loss of his world. The Doctor thanks her and upon entering the discharge room they discover and capture one of the spider droids.
Following her argument with Cassandra, Rose stalks off and is knocked out by one of the Adherents. She is dragged to the room earlier and the sun shield begins to lower. She screams and the Doctor, returning to the observation deck hears her. He manages to raise the shield but the rays fused the door shut leaving her trapped in the room. He promises to come back for her.
Returning to the obervation deck the Doctor repairs the droid and sends it back to it's makers. It first goes to the Adherents of the Repeated Meme but they are exposed as robots as well. The droid then goes to Cassandra. She confesses as she stands to make a large amount of money with the deaths of the guests due to business holdings. She detonates the spiders, lowering the station shields and then transports off.
The Doctor and Jabe run back to the discharge room where the computer override station is located. But the way is blocked by rotating fans. With the controls damaged, the only way the fans can be slowed enough is for the control bar to be held down. Jabe grabs the bar even though the temperature is rising. The Doctor then begins to dodge the blades.
As the pressure wave approaches, the shieldless station begins to crack and unfiltered sun rays begin to get through, killing several guests. Meanwhile, the Doctor makes his way to the last blade. Jabe catches fire and the bar rolls back up, increasing the speed of the blade. Concentrating, the Doctor opens himself to time and passes through the gap. He then reactivates the shield just before the pressure wave hits, destroying the Earth.
The Doctor returns to the observation deck, as does Rose as the door was destroyed while the shield was down. He finds the transporter signaling device and recalls Cassandra without her medical support team. The heat increase in the station causes her to begin to dry out. Rose asks him for mercy but the Doctor just stands there. Cassandra dries to the point of contraction and then bursts apart, killing her.
The Doctor and Rose return to the present, where Rose is still feeling a bit shell shocked. The Doctor tells her of his race and that his planet was destroyed in a war that his people lost. He offers to let her go home but she instead suggests they go have some chips and relax.
Analysis
This story was pretty decent, but there was something missing from it for me. I'm not one hundred percent sure what it was but it just felt like something was lacking in terms of drawing me in.
One thing it is not is the acting. All the central characters played their parts well. The Doctor was on point with the prickly PTSD manifesting itself well in the scene with Rose and then later with Jabe. Rose did very well as well as we finally saw a companion legitimately overwhelmed by being in the midst of a group of aliens. Other companions had moments of disbelief but this is the first time one seems genuinely overwhelmed by the situation and Rose does it very well.
Jabe also works well as the step-in companion. She seems genuinely fond of the Doctor and noble in the acceptance of her death to help the Doctor save the rest. I also enjoyed Cassandra. She's a bit of a one-note stereotype, but she plays the part well and there is a subtle level of humor there, to say nothing of a fairly well executed plan. At the same time, it is very easy to stand with the Doctor and just let her die, especially after her mocking of him that she will tie up the courts for years.
Cassandra's death is a marked point in the new series as it defines that the Doctor will be vicious and cruel at times. In the classic series, the Doctor would kill but in most cases it was in self defense or the defense of others. Usually if there is something he could do to bring the villain to justice, he would do. This is an instance where he makes the active decision that the justice system will not be enough. He wants vengeance and the fact that he has to do nothing makes it so much easier. But as I am a fan of the dark and vengeful Doctor (see The Christmas Invasion), I found Cassandra's death and the Doctor's attitude towards her most satisfying.
So why is there this niggling lack of connection for me and this story? I think this story has an element of trying to hard and as a result, falling into cliché. The worst moment was actually the scene with the fans. The fans were meant to be a scary obstacle but with Jabe holding down the lever, they slowed down to the point that the Doctor should have been able to go through them faster than he did. It felt very much like a set up to ensure that he would have to do the last one without her help and use special Time Lord power. It also ensured that he would be raising the shields back up at the very last second. That just smacked of Galaxy Quest level cliché and it was obvious about it.
I think the other thing that bugged me was that the story had very little mystery or subtlety to it. Cassandra's reveal as the mastermind was the only reveal but we saw the spiders from the get go and there was a strong element of waiting until we saw what the ultimate goal of their sabotage was. I think that because the episode was running short, bit of a padding were put in which helped with character development but also slowed down the payoff of the story and I got tired of waiting after a while.
For me, the story was decent but I don't think I can rate it higher than average. Whether it was the waiting for stuff to happen or the obviousness of what was going on, the story just didn't grab me and say that this is one to watch again. I think I could even sense that going in for the rewatch as I remember looking at the Ninth Doctor catalogue in the past and always passing over this one as I never felt overly compelled by it. It's not bad and I wouldn't say no to watching it, but I feel no sense of desire to watch it again in the near future.
Overall personal score: 2.5 out of 5
Rose introduced the Doctor and companion while The End of the World propelled them on their first time adventure together. Except not really. Yes, they travelled through time five billion years, but Rose spends most of the episode in a state of shock (probably the first realistic reaction by a companion) or locked in a room. So this more of a Doctor with pseudo-companion in the form of Jabe the tree.
Plot Summary
Showing off for Rose, the TARDIS materializes on Platform 1, a space station overlooking Earth on the day it is to be destroyed. Artificial gravity satellites had kept the expansion of the sun in place but funding had run out and the abandoned Earth is to die in a show for the rich and famous.
The Doctor and Rose pose as guests and exchange gifts and pleasantries with the other invitees, most notably Cassandra, the last genetically pure human, although hundreds of surgeries have reduced her to a sheet of skin and extended her life for several thousand years. Among the gifts exchanged are a silver spheres from the Adherents of the Repeat Meme. While the guests are busy, spider droids emerge from the spheres and sneak into the crawlspaces and begin to sabotage the station.
Feeling overwhelmed, Rose leaves the observation deck. She calms herself a bit talking with a maintenance worker, who is killed by the spider droids after she leaves, and then sits alone in a side room. The Doctor finds her but becomes angry when she presses him for specifics about who he is and where he is from. Rose backs down and the Doctor reciprocates by tinkering with her phone to allow her to call her mother. While observing, the station rocks a bit and the Doctor recognizes a problem.
The Steward also recognizes an issue but before he can dispatch a repair team, a spider droid enters his office and brings down the sun shade, roasting him in his office. Back on the observation deck, the Doctor notices sabotage. Jabe, a sentient tree, offers to show him an access shaft near their quarters. Rose, offended by Jabe's assumption of a sexual relationship between her and the Doctor, stays on the observation deck, where she promptly gets into an argument with Cassandra.
The Doctor and Jabe find an access panel that allows the Doctor to scan the station and access the main control box. While talking, Jabe confesses that she scanned the Doctor earlier and learned he is a Time Lord. She offers sympathy for the loss of his world. The Doctor thanks her and upon entering the discharge room they discover and capture one of the spider droids.
Following her argument with Cassandra, Rose stalks off and is knocked out by one of the Adherents. She is dragged to the room earlier and the sun shield begins to lower. She screams and the Doctor, returning to the observation deck hears her. He manages to raise the shield but the rays fused the door shut leaving her trapped in the room. He promises to come back for her.
Returning to the obervation deck the Doctor repairs the droid and sends it back to it's makers. It first goes to the Adherents of the Repeated Meme but they are exposed as robots as well. The droid then goes to Cassandra. She confesses as she stands to make a large amount of money with the deaths of the guests due to business holdings. She detonates the spiders, lowering the station shields and then transports off.
The Doctor and Jabe run back to the discharge room where the computer override station is located. But the way is blocked by rotating fans. With the controls damaged, the only way the fans can be slowed enough is for the control bar to be held down. Jabe grabs the bar even though the temperature is rising. The Doctor then begins to dodge the blades.
As the pressure wave approaches, the shieldless station begins to crack and unfiltered sun rays begin to get through, killing several guests. Meanwhile, the Doctor makes his way to the last blade. Jabe catches fire and the bar rolls back up, increasing the speed of the blade. Concentrating, the Doctor opens himself to time and passes through the gap. He then reactivates the shield just before the pressure wave hits, destroying the Earth.
The Doctor returns to the observation deck, as does Rose as the door was destroyed while the shield was down. He finds the transporter signaling device and recalls Cassandra without her medical support team. The heat increase in the station causes her to begin to dry out. Rose asks him for mercy but the Doctor just stands there. Cassandra dries to the point of contraction and then bursts apart, killing her.
The Doctor and Rose return to the present, where Rose is still feeling a bit shell shocked. The Doctor tells her of his race and that his planet was destroyed in a war that his people lost. He offers to let her go home but she instead suggests they go have some chips and relax.
Analysis
This story was pretty decent, but there was something missing from it for me. I'm not one hundred percent sure what it was but it just felt like something was lacking in terms of drawing me in.
One thing it is not is the acting. All the central characters played their parts well. The Doctor was on point with the prickly PTSD manifesting itself well in the scene with Rose and then later with Jabe. Rose did very well as well as we finally saw a companion legitimately overwhelmed by being in the midst of a group of aliens. Other companions had moments of disbelief but this is the first time one seems genuinely overwhelmed by the situation and Rose does it very well.
Jabe also works well as the step-in companion. She seems genuinely fond of the Doctor and noble in the acceptance of her death to help the Doctor save the rest. I also enjoyed Cassandra. She's a bit of a one-note stereotype, but she plays the part well and there is a subtle level of humor there, to say nothing of a fairly well executed plan. At the same time, it is very easy to stand with the Doctor and just let her die, especially after her mocking of him that she will tie up the courts for years.
Cassandra's death is a marked point in the new series as it defines that the Doctor will be vicious and cruel at times. In the classic series, the Doctor would kill but in most cases it was in self defense or the defense of others. Usually if there is something he could do to bring the villain to justice, he would do. This is an instance where he makes the active decision that the justice system will not be enough. He wants vengeance and the fact that he has to do nothing makes it so much easier. But as I am a fan of the dark and vengeful Doctor (see The Christmas Invasion), I found Cassandra's death and the Doctor's attitude towards her most satisfying.
So why is there this niggling lack of connection for me and this story? I think this story has an element of trying to hard and as a result, falling into cliché. The worst moment was actually the scene with the fans. The fans were meant to be a scary obstacle but with Jabe holding down the lever, they slowed down to the point that the Doctor should have been able to go through them faster than he did. It felt very much like a set up to ensure that he would have to do the last one without her help and use special Time Lord power. It also ensured that he would be raising the shields back up at the very last second. That just smacked of Galaxy Quest level cliché and it was obvious about it.
I think the other thing that bugged me was that the story had very little mystery or subtlety to it. Cassandra's reveal as the mastermind was the only reveal but we saw the spiders from the get go and there was a strong element of waiting until we saw what the ultimate goal of their sabotage was. I think that because the episode was running short, bit of a padding were put in which helped with character development but also slowed down the payoff of the story and I got tired of waiting after a while.
For me, the story was decent but I don't think I can rate it higher than average. Whether it was the waiting for stuff to happen or the obviousness of what was going on, the story just didn't grab me and say that this is one to watch again. I think I could even sense that going in for the rewatch as I remember looking at the Ninth Doctor catalogue in the past and always passing over this one as I never felt overly compelled by it. It's not bad and I wouldn't say no to watching it, but I feel no sense of desire to watch it again in the near future.
Overall personal score: 2.5 out of 5
The Highlanders
Doctor: I am Doktor Von Wer.
Soldier: Doctor who?
Doctor: That's what I said.
The Highlanders is a lesson in pursing quality in a reconstruction. I actually tried to watch this story two times before. Both times, I watched a very poor quality recon with cheap animation. I barely made it the end of Episode One the first time. The second time through I rewatched Episode One and then got through Episode Two before putting it aside again. But third time was the charm and I noticed how much better I both understood the story and enjoyed it this time around. Obviously it would have been better if the story existed, but at least I felt I could enjoy the story rather than just watch it out of some completionist obligation.
Plot Summary
The Doctor, Ben and Polly appear just outside the Battle of Culloden where the English have routed the Scots. Ben runs off the explore, not realizing what is going on and the group is captured by two Scots: Jamie and Alexander. They take them to a cabin where their Laird is lying wounded.
The Scots are prepared to kill the Doctor and his companions, thinking them English army followers, but Ben gets the drop on them with a pistol. Polly offers the Doctor's services to help the Laird and leaves with the Laird's daughter, Kirsty, to find water. To show their good intentions, Ben drops the pistol but it goes off, alerting a patrol of English soldiers.
The soldiers surround the house and Alexander runs out to fight them. He is cut down and the soldiers enter to arrest everyone inside. The Doctor pretends to be from Hannover and a German subject but the English round them up to hang them. Polly and Kirsty observe this from a distance and throw rocks at the soldiers to try and pull the soldiers away. Seeing them, and hearing that Bonny Prince Charlie may be disguised as a woman, the lieutenant and two soldiers go after them, leaving the sargent to carry out the hanging.
Just before the hanging is to occur, Solicitor Grey arrives with his manservant Perkins. Grey is the Royal overseer of prisons but is also doing a side business in slavery. He takes Jamie and Ben but tells the soldiers they can hang the Doctor and the Laird. The Doctor argues that as a lawyer, Grey should know that his breaking the law by executing him without informing the German ambassador. Recognizing the value of having a Doctor, Grey agrees to take all of them, although he doubts the Laird will survive, and has them shipped to the prison at Inverness.
Polly and Kirsty hide in a cave from the soldiers. Polly wants to go and rescue the others but gets angry when Kirsty refuses to turn over her father's ring for them to get money. Polly storms out in the dark but falls into an animal trap pit. Kirsty finds her but also falls in trying to pull Polly out. Whilst trying to get out the patrol arrives. The lieutenant sends the two regulars back for his horse while he rests and has a bite. The ladies make a noise which lures him over and they pull him into the pit. They tie him up and take his money and food. They also take some of his hair to blackmail him if they need help from someone in the army and they climb out.
At the prison in Inverness, the Doctor sees to the Laird's wounds and discovers Bonny Prince Charlie's standard hidden on the Laird. The Doctor rouses the prisoners by playing a the prince's fanfare which alerts the guards. When the guards approach, the Doctor tells them he's discovered an assassination plot and must see Solicitor Grey. The guard takes him out. Jamie is angry but Ben calms him down telling him it was a ruse by the Doctor to get out so he could help them.
Solicitor Grey discusses the transfer of prisoners to the Caribbean by Captain Trask. Dismissing Trask and Perkins, he agrees to see the Doctor. The Doctor, pulling out the Prince's banner, hints that he knows the location of the Prince and will split the reward with him. When Grey leans in to learn more, the Doctor throws the banner over him and grabs his pistol. He ties Grey up and pushes him into a closet. Perkins comes in and he tricks him into lying down and ignoring the sounds of Grey banging on the door.
Back at the pit, the Sargent finds Lieutenant Ffinch in the pit. Ffinch orders him to pull him out but the Sargent waffles until Ffinch agrees to purchase a round of drinks for the men. With his money stolen, he agrees to pay him when they return to Inverness.
Captain Trask returns to Grey's office and releases him from the closet. Grey berates Perkins and they go looking for the Doctor. Trask then loads the remaining prisoners, including Ben, Jamie and the Laird onto the longboat to carry them to his ship. The Doctor, disguised as an old woman, gives the guard resealing the prison some food and drink. The guard leaves to eat, leaving the exit to the prison unlocked and the Doctor slips outside.
Trask throws the remaining prisoners in the hold. There they meet the original captain, Willie Mackay who initially is prepared to kill Ben as an Englishman. The Laird reassures Mackay that Ben is loyal to them as a former English sailor. Ben also enlightens Mackay that Trask, originally the mate, is not working for the king but has gone pirate and is going to sell them as slaves.
Polly and Kirsty disguise themselves as orange sellers (an allusion to prostitutes) and investigate the prison. They find the prisoners gone but are detained by the Sargent. He takes them to Lieutenant Ffinch who dismisses the sergeant. They leave him after he tells them that Solicitor Grey is in charge of prisoners after they are brought to Inverness. The two ladies meet Perkins and arrange a meeting with Grey. The Doctor, still disguised as an old woman, tries to get the ladies attention but must continue to hide from Perkins.
On the Annabelle, Solicitor Grey comes aboard and tells the Highlanders that they will either sign a contract to work for seven years in Barbados or be hanged. Mackay speaks against it but all but him, Ben, Jamie and the Laird agree to sign. Ben asks to read the contract before he decides and tears it up when Grey offers it to him. Trask knocks him out and Grey heads back to get more contracts.
In the pub, Perkins offers to keep the ladies entertained with a game of cards when the Doctor comes up behind him with a pistol. Grey returns and orders Perkins to come to his office to draw up new contracts. After he leaves, the Doctor, the pistol still hidden, orders Perkins to wait ten minutes before going. He and the ladies then leave and head to a barn where they had been hiding. Informing the ladies of the whereabouts of the prisoners, he forms a plan to use the remaining money to buy weapons scoured off the battlefield from the English soldiers.
Polly and Kirsty have little luck getting weapons but the Doctor returns with a large haul. They prepare them but the Doctor notices that Kirsty is wearing a ring with the Stuart seal. The prince had given it to the Laird for saving his life and the Laird had given it to Kirsty for safekeeping. The Doctor asks for it to help save the Laird's life. Reluctantly, she gives it to the Doctor.
Grey returns to the Annabelle with new contracts. The highlanders are prepped to sign the documents, although Grey warns Trask to use a gentle hand as he is fearful of them refusing if pushed too hard. Ben is brought on deck to be used as both an example and to punish him for his earlier deeds. He is tied and dangled from the yard arm and dunked into the sea. But Ben had loosed his ropes and swims free to shore.
Upon reaching shore, Ben meets the Doctor in disguise. He takes Ben back to the barn to dry and have a bowl of soup. The group then plans their strategy and heads back to the Annabelle.
Back on ship, Grey has finished having the highlanders sign the contracts when the Doctor arrives. He offers the signet ring as proof that the prince was captured in disguise and that if he identifies him, he will split the reward money. Cautious, but tempted, Grey agrees and escorts the Doctor into the hold. While he was up there, Kirsty and Polly rowed around and passed arms through the portholes to the prisoners.
In the hold, the Doctor indicates that Jamie is actually the prince but when Grey approaches him, the prisoners leap up and attack. Grey and Perkins surrender immediately and the two guards are quickly overpowered. Trask however holds his own against Mackay, wounding him slightly. Trask, flees to the deck where he sees the remaining men killed or surrendering to the Scots. Knocked off balance by Jamie, Trask faces Mackay pursing him and is knocked overboard.
Retaking command, Mackay sets sail for France where the Scots can wait until the English pacification is over. The Doctor, Ben and Polly take Grey back to the shore as prisoner with Perkins volunteering to stay and serve as clerk to the Laird as he speaks French. Jamie also returns to shore, although on a second boat, meeting the Doctor back on shore.
On shore Grey yells out, attracting the attention of two soldiers. Ben and Jamie overpower them, but Grey escapes in the fracas. Polly then sees Lieutenant Ffinch and prepares to have him escort them back to the moor to find the TARDIS. However, Ffinch's commanding officer appears and to cover themselves, the Doctor gives him the signet ring as proof that he knows the prince's whereabouts. The colonel sends Ffinch with the Doctor and his friends to capture the prince immediately.
Upon reaching the cabin where the Doctor first met Jamie, they are set up by Grey with a small group of soldiers nominally under Ffinch's command. Grey tries to arrest them but the Doctor and Polly expose Grey's scheme of selling slaves. Grey tries to produce the contracts which would have given him an alibi but finds them missing. The Doctor denies all knowledge of them and Ffinch arrests Grey instead. He then leaves with his men, revealing a soft spot for Polly, despite her blackmail of him. She in turn gives him back the token, freeing him of her blackmail.
The group returns to the TARDIS and they invite Jamie with them rather than having him survive in the highlands by himself. Jamie is hesitant at first, but Polly assures him it's ok and he boards. The TARDIS disappears shortly afterward.
Analysis
The Highlanders feels a bit like a missed opportunity. If you go into this story cold, with a title like this, you would think it would focus more on Scotland, especially when opening with the Battle of Culloden. Instead, the battle only serves as a pretext to get us into a swashbuckler story. I have no problem with swashbuckler stories but it still feels a bit like being cheated when you are initially led into a different concept.
Casting that aside and looking at this story with an objective eye, it's not bad. It's a bit slow to start and when I started with an unclear recon, that just made it feel like a chore to get in to. I'd also say that the Second Doctor is still not quite the loveable character from the later stories. He is still quiet and a bit more scheming which also takes a little bit longer to get drawn in.
Neither Ben or Polly start well in this story either. Both are very ignorant of history and completely oblivious to how the Scots perceived the English at this time, or how English soldiers would have behaved to anyone in the company of Scots at this time. So that was a bit frustrating to start.
However, things really picked up in Episode Three. Culloden is discarded and the Doctor moves to reunite with Polly. Now the story is well established against Grey and the pirates and it moves along with a steady clip. In fact, it actually jumps over a few points that could easily have been expanded upon. If the dictate had come down to expand this from four episodes to six, I could easily have seen Polly and Kirsty's exploration of the prison or the Doctor's raid for weapons being expanded. I could even have seen the journey back to the moor with Grey in pursuit being expanded. I wouldn't have minded that actually as some of the duller stuff in Episode One could have been dispensed with.
Jamie doesn't have a lot to do in this story, but then again, neither does Ben. Polly is the companion who stands out but the Doctor also steps up as well. Contrasting with the First Doctor, the Second is still planning but he is also executing many of the same plans rather than letting the companions take the lead. Obviously this is done at Ben's determent but Ben does get a few moments here and there, especially in Episode Three where he stands out.
I have seen a little bit of complaint that this story is a bit corny with the Doctor doing an over-the-top German accent and a very Long John Silver pirate in the form of Trask, but neither of those really bothered me. If anything, Trask's heavy pirate nature helped a bit in the absence of a visual. Nor was I bothered by the German accent of the Doctor's except for the fact that it wasn't that good. The stretch there is that the English actually believed he was German.
So overall, I'd say this story is a tale of two halves. It starts poorly, wandering off what could have been a really good story in pursuit of a middling one. It picks up again with a fun little pirate adventure with the Doctor taking a lead role, excelling in what will become his signature trait of stalling. It dips a little bit at the end but only in that the whole journey back to the TARDIS could have been expanded to give a bit more punch to Grey's exit or Ffinch's interest in Polly towards the end. Balancing it all out, I'd say a middle of the road score is fair for this one. I'd think I'd go so far as to say that I'd give it a better than half rating if it had been an existing story rather than a recon.
Overall personal score: 2.5 out of 5
Soldier: Doctor who?
Doctor: That's what I said.
The Highlanders is a lesson in pursing quality in a reconstruction. I actually tried to watch this story two times before. Both times, I watched a very poor quality recon with cheap animation. I barely made it the end of Episode One the first time. The second time through I rewatched Episode One and then got through Episode Two before putting it aside again. But third time was the charm and I noticed how much better I both understood the story and enjoyed it this time around. Obviously it would have been better if the story existed, but at least I felt I could enjoy the story rather than just watch it out of some completionist obligation.
Plot Summary
The Doctor, Ben and Polly appear just outside the Battle of Culloden where the English have routed the Scots. Ben runs off the explore, not realizing what is going on and the group is captured by two Scots: Jamie and Alexander. They take them to a cabin where their Laird is lying wounded.
The Scots are prepared to kill the Doctor and his companions, thinking them English army followers, but Ben gets the drop on them with a pistol. Polly offers the Doctor's services to help the Laird and leaves with the Laird's daughter, Kirsty, to find water. To show their good intentions, Ben drops the pistol but it goes off, alerting a patrol of English soldiers.
The soldiers surround the house and Alexander runs out to fight them. He is cut down and the soldiers enter to arrest everyone inside. The Doctor pretends to be from Hannover and a German subject but the English round them up to hang them. Polly and Kirsty observe this from a distance and throw rocks at the soldiers to try and pull the soldiers away. Seeing them, and hearing that Bonny Prince Charlie may be disguised as a woman, the lieutenant and two soldiers go after them, leaving the sargent to carry out the hanging.
Just before the hanging is to occur, Solicitor Grey arrives with his manservant Perkins. Grey is the Royal overseer of prisons but is also doing a side business in slavery. He takes Jamie and Ben but tells the soldiers they can hang the Doctor and the Laird. The Doctor argues that as a lawyer, Grey should know that his breaking the law by executing him without informing the German ambassador. Recognizing the value of having a Doctor, Grey agrees to take all of them, although he doubts the Laird will survive, and has them shipped to the prison at Inverness.
Polly and Kirsty hide in a cave from the soldiers. Polly wants to go and rescue the others but gets angry when Kirsty refuses to turn over her father's ring for them to get money. Polly storms out in the dark but falls into an animal trap pit. Kirsty finds her but also falls in trying to pull Polly out. Whilst trying to get out the patrol arrives. The lieutenant sends the two regulars back for his horse while he rests and has a bite. The ladies make a noise which lures him over and they pull him into the pit. They tie him up and take his money and food. They also take some of his hair to blackmail him if they need help from someone in the army and they climb out.
At the prison in Inverness, the Doctor sees to the Laird's wounds and discovers Bonny Prince Charlie's standard hidden on the Laird. The Doctor rouses the prisoners by playing a the prince's fanfare which alerts the guards. When the guards approach, the Doctor tells them he's discovered an assassination plot and must see Solicitor Grey. The guard takes him out. Jamie is angry but Ben calms him down telling him it was a ruse by the Doctor to get out so he could help them.
Solicitor Grey discusses the transfer of prisoners to the Caribbean by Captain Trask. Dismissing Trask and Perkins, he agrees to see the Doctor. The Doctor, pulling out the Prince's banner, hints that he knows the location of the Prince and will split the reward with him. When Grey leans in to learn more, the Doctor throws the banner over him and grabs his pistol. He ties Grey up and pushes him into a closet. Perkins comes in and he tricks him into lying down and ignoring the sounds of Grey banging on the door.
Back at the pit, the Sargent finds Lieutenant Ffinch in the pit. Ffinch orders him to pull him out but the Sargent waffles until Ffinch agrees to purchase a round of drinks for the men. With his money stolen, he agrees to pay him when they return to Inverness.
Captain Trask returns to Grey's office and releases him from the closet. Grey berates Perkins and they go looking for the Doctor. Trask then loads the remaining prisoners, including Ben, Jamie and the Laird onto the longboat to carry them to his ship. The Doctor, disguised as an old woman, gives the guard resealing the prison some food and drink. The guard leaves to eat, leaving the exit to the prison unlocked and the Doctor slips outside.
Trask throws the remaining prisoners in the hold. There they meet the original captain, Willie Mackay who initially is prepared to kill Ben as an Englishman. The Laird reassures Mackay that Ben is loyal to them as a former English sailor. Ben also enlightens Mackay that Trask, originally the mate, is not working for the king but has gone pirate and is going to sell them as slaves.
Polly and Kirsty disguise themselves as orange sellers (an allusion to prostitutes) and investigate the prison. They find the prisoners gone but are detained by the Sargent. He takes them to Lieutenant Ffinch who dismisses the sergeant. They leave him after he tells them that Solicitor Grey is in charge of prisoners after they are brought to Inverness. The two ladies meet Perkins and arrange a meeting with Grey. The Doctor, still disguised as an old woman, tries to get the ladies attention but must continue to hide from Perkins.
On the Annabelle, Solicitor Grey comes aboard and tells the Highlanders that they will either sign a contract to work for seven years in Barbados or be hanged. Mackay speaks against it but all but him, Ben, Jamie and the Laird agree to sign. Ben asks to read the contract before he decides and tears it up when Grey offers it to him. Trask knocks him out and Grey heads back to get more contracts.
In the pub, Perkins offers to keep the ladies entertained with a game of cards when the Doctor comes up behind him with a pistol. Grey returns and orders Perkins to come to his office to draw up new contracts. After he leaves, the Doctor, the pistol still hidden, orders Perkins to wait ten minutes before going. He and the ladies then leave and head to a barn where they had been hiding. Informing the ladies of the whereabouts of the prisoners, he forms a plan to use the remaining money to buy weapons scoured off the battlefield from the English soldiers.
Polly and Kirsty have little luck getting weapons but the Doctor returns with a large haul. They prepare them but the Doctor notices that Kirsty is wearing a ring with the Stuart seal. The prince had given it to the Laird for saving his life and the Laird had given it to Kirsty for safekeeping. The Doctor asks for it to help save the Laird's life. Reluctantly, she gives it to the Doctor.
Grey returns to the Annabelle with new contracts. The highlanders are prepped to sign the documents, although Grey warns Trask to use a gentle hand as he is fearful of them refusing if pushed too hard. Ben is brought on deck to be used as both an example and to punish him for his earlier deeds. He is tied and dangled from the yard arm and dunked into the sea. But Ben had loosed his ropes and swims free to shore.
Upon reaching shore, Ben meets the Doctor in disguise. He takes Ben back to the barn to dry and have a bowl of soup. The group then plans their strategy and heads back to the Annabelle.
Back on ship, Grey has finished having the highlanders sign the contracts when the Doctor arrives. He offers the signet ring as proof that the prince was captured in disguise and that if he identifies him, he will split the reward money. Cautious, but tempted, Grey agrees and escorts the Doctor into the hold. While he was up there, Kirsty and Polly rowed around and passed arms through the portholes to the prisoners.
In the hold, the Doctor indicates that Jamie is actually the prince but when Grey approaches him, the prisoners leap up and attack. Grey and Perkins surrender immediately and the two guards are quickly overpowered. Trask however holds his own against Mackay, wounding him slightly. Trask, flees to the deck where he sees the remaining men killed or surrendering to the Scots. Knocked off balance by Jamie, Trask faces Mackay pursing him and is knocked overboard.
Retaking command, Mackay sets sail for France where the Scots can wait until the English pacification is over. The Doctor, Ben and Polly take Grey back to the shore as prisoner with Perkins volunteering to stay and serve as clerk to the Laird as he speaks French. Jamie also returns to shore, although on a second boat, meeting the Doctor back on shore.
On shore Grey yells out, attracting the attention of two soldiers. Ben and Jamie overpower them, but Grey escapes in the fracas. Polly then sees Lieutenant Ffinch and prepares to have him escort them back to the moor to find the TARDIS. However, Ffinch's commanding officer appears and to cover themselves, the Doctor gives him the signet ring as proof that he knows the prince's whereabouts. The colonel sends Ffinch with the Doctor and his friends to capture the prince immediately.
Upon reaching the cabin where the Doctor first met Jamie, they are set up by Grey with a small group of soldiers nominally under Ffinch's command. Grey tries to arrest them but the Doctor and Polly expose Grey's scheme of selling slaves. Grey tries to produce the contracts which would have given him an alibi but finds them missing. The Doctor denies all knowledge of them and Ffinch arrests Grey instead. He then leaves with his men, revealing a soft spot for Polly, despite her blackmail of him. She in turn gives him back the token, freeing him of her blackmail.
The group returns to the TARDIS and they invite Jamie with them rather than having him survive in the highlands by himself. Jamie is hesitant at first, but Polly assures him it's ok and he boards. The TARDIS disappears shortly afterward.
Analysis
The Highlanders feels a bit like a missed opportunity. If you go into this story cold, with a title like this, you would think it would focus more on Scotland, especially when opening with the Battle of Culloden. Instead, the battle only serves as a pretext to get us into a swashbuckler story. I have no problem with swashbuckler stories but it still feels a bit like being cheated when you are initially led into a different concept.
Casting that aside and looking at this story with an objective eye, it's not bad. It's a bit slow to start and when I started with an unclear recon, that just made it feel like a chore to get in to. I'd also say that the Second Doctor is still not quite the loveable character from the later stories. He is still quiet and a bit more scheming which also takes a little bit longer to get drawn in.
Neither Ben or Polly start well in this story either. Both are very ignorant of history and completely oblivious to how the Scots perceived the English at this time, or how English soldiers would have behaved to anyone in the company of Scots at this time. So that was a bit frustrating to start.
However, things really picked up in Episode Three. Culloden is discarded and the Doctor moves to reunite with Polly. Now the story is well established against Grey and the pirates and it moves along with a steady clip. In fact, it actually jumps over a few points that could easily have been expanded upon. If the dictate had come down to expand this from four episodes to six, I could easily have seen Polly and Kirsty's exploration of the prison or the Doctor's raid for weapons being expanded. I could even have seen the journey back to the moor with Grey in pursuit being expanded. I wouldn't have minded that actually as some of the duller stuff in Episode One could have been dispensed with.
Jamie doesn't have a lot to do in this story, but then again, neither does Ben. Polly is the companion who stands out but the Doctor also steps up as well. Contrasting with the First Doctor, the Second is still planning but he is also executing many of the same plans rather than letting the companions take the lead. Obviously this is done at Ben's determent but Ben does get a few moments here and there, especially in Episode Three where he stands out.
I have seen a little bit of complaint that this story is a bit corny with the Doctor doing an over-the-top German accent and a very Long John Silver pirate in the form of Trask, but neither of those really bothered me. If anything, Trask's heavy pirate nature helped a bit in the absence of a visual. Nor was I bothered by the German accent of the Doctor's except for the fact that it wasn't that good. The stretch there is that the English actually believed he was German.
So overall, I'd say this story is a tale of two halves. It starts poorly, wandering off what could have been a really good story in pursuit of a middling one. It picks up again with a fun little pirate adventure with the Doctor taking a lead role, excelling in what will become his signature trait of stalling. It dips a little bit at the end but only in that the whole journey back to the TARDIS could have been expanded to give a bit more punch to Grey's exit or Ffinch's interest in Polly towards the end. Balancing it all out, I'd say a middle of the road score is fair for this one. I'd think I'd go so far as to say that I'd give it a better than half rating if it had been an existing story rather than a recon.
Overall personal score: 2.5 out of 5
Monday, May 23, 2016
The Lodger
Have you met you?
The Lodger is one of those fun little stories that took advantage of the Eleventh Doctor's quirkiness. In many ways, it follows some of the same tent poles shown in Fear Her but it is done better, relying on more seasoned actors and a better use of practical effects.
Plot Summary
Landing in Colchester, the Doctor steps out to investigate when the TARDIS takes off again with Amy still inside. A day later, the Doctor becomes the housemate of Craig Owens who is looking for a lodger and whose house is the source of the time distortion that is preventing the TARDIS from landing. He has also managed to contact Amy to get information on her end as well.
Not wanting to alert anything hostile to his presence, the Doctor refrains from using his sonic or any advanced technology. He also resolves to try and blend in (which Amy is skeptical of). Over the course of the time the Doctor is there, several people are called up to the second floor of the building by a person in shadow asking for help. When up there, they are killed and a spot of dry rot on Craig's ceiling grows.
As the Doctor investigates, he intrudes more into Craig's life, arousing Craig's jealousy through his friendship with the woman Craig has a crush on, Sophie and outperforming him in a local soccer match. The Doctor, meanwhile is actually trying to help push Sophie and Craig together as they very obviously have feelings for each other.
Things reach a head when the Doctor cures Craig of poisoning by the dry rot and then going to work for him. The combined stress causes Craig to ask the Doctor to leave. The Doctor then shares memories with Craig, explaining who he is and why he is there. As they are sharing, Sophie arrives but is called upstairs by the mysterious figure. Sensing the time distortion, the Doctor races upstairs to save her. Amy also pipes in saying that she has found the plans for the house and there actually is no second floor.
Upstairs, they find an alien ship with a TARDIS like control room. The pilot is dead and the computer has been searching for a replacement but all previous human trials have proved inadequate. Craig and the Doctor pull off Sophie before she can burn but the computer selects the Doctor and tries to plug him in. Knowing that he would be trapped if connected and that could cause an explosion that would destroy the solar system, the Doctor tells Craig to plug in since Craig has been putting up excuses to stay with Sophie. The desire to stay will counter the ship's programming as it had been previously been pulling in people trying to leave. Craig does so and confesses his love for Sophie who loves him back. The ship releases Craig but the feedback triggers a self destruct and the three escape as the ship implodes leaving the one-story building it always was.
With the ship gone, the TARDIS lands with Amy unharmed. Craig and Sophie make plans together while the Doctor has Amy prepare the clues they had left for him before things started. While she starts, she discovers the engagement ring Rory had given her before his erasure from existence.
Summary
This was a fun episode with a lot of humor, although it did peter out at the end. Following Craig's incredulity as he deals with the Doctor's weirdness is very funny, especially as the Doctor attempts to do things that might be seen as normal behavior.
As mentioned above, there is a lot in this story that is similar to Fear Her. There is a lost alien entity that is trying to help itself but is actually making things worse; the Doctor has to pass himself off as a normal person while getting to the bottom of it; at the center of things is an ordinary person with a problem that ends up giving a solution to the problem and the Doctor and companion are split up forcing the solution on to only one of the pair.
However, The Lodger took everything Fear Her got wrong and made it better. Rather than putting the onus on the companion to solve the issue, the Doctor is the catalyst. The ordinary person is not a child actor forced to carry things, but an established comedian who can play both funny and straight man as needed, keeping the comic timing fresh. The Eleventh Doctor is much more alien and strange and that contrasts much better than the Tenth Doctor who could easily pass himself off as a slightly quirky human, generating a greater comedic effect in the environment. Also the alien entity is more sinister as children are not involved and it actually kills people trying to fix itself rather than trapping them for a potential happy ending.
The ending of The Lodger was also slightly better than Fear Her as it did not go with the overly sappy Olympic torch lighting that just looked so cheap and strange. However, it still contained the greatest flaws of the episode. The alien computer was looking for a new pilot and humans weren't capable of handling the strain. But why would the Doctor overload the system and cause the explosion? Also, things are happening so fast with so much yelling and loud music, that it is very difficult to hear and understand that Craig's desire to stay will override the system. Also, why? It just seemed like a cheap way to defeat the computer and also have Craig finally tell Sophie that he loved her, which is what he had been trying to do all episode. But it was done in such a clunky and ham fisted way that it didn't give the emotional payoff that it felt like it deserved. The ending was definitely the one thing that just clanged while the rest of the episode performed nicely.
Aside from the flaws of the ending, this was a enjoyable episode. It was funny, the enemy was simple yet sinister and the whole thing kept you entertained throughout. If the ending had been done better, I'd have considered giving it a 5, but it's just a strong sour note at the end that just doesn't quite jive with everything else. Still, I wouldn't hesitate to watch it again if offered.
Overall personal score: 4 out of 5
The Lodger is one of those fun little stories that took advantage of the Eleventh Doctor's quirkiness. In many ways, it follows some of the same tent poles shown in Fear Her but it is done better, relying on more seasoned actors and a better use of practical effects.
Plot Summary
Landing in Colchester, the Doctor steps out to investigate when the TARDIS takes off again with Amy still inside. A day later, the Doctor becomes the housemate of Craig Owens who is looking for a lodger and whose house is the source of the time distortion that is preventing the TARDIS from landing. He has also managed to contact Amy to get information on her end as well.
Not wanting to alert anything hostile to his presence, the Doctor refrains from using his sonic or any advanced technology. He also resolves to try and blend in (which Amy is skeptical of). Over the course of the time the Doctor is there, several people are called up to the second floor of the building by a person in shadow asking for help. When up there, they are killed and a spot of dry rot on Craig's ceiling grows.
As the Doctor investigates, he intrudes more into Craig's life, arousing Craig's jealousy through his friendship with the woman Craig has a crush on, Sophie and outperforming him in a local soccer match. The Doctor, meanwhile is actually trying to help push Sophie and Craig together as they very obviously have feelings for each other.
Things reach a head when the Doctor cures Craig of poisoning by the dry rot and then going to work for him. The combined stress causes Craig to ask the Doctor to leave. The Doctor then shares memories with Craig, explaining who he is and why he is there. As they are sharing, Sophie arrives but is called upstairs by the mysterious figure. Sensing the time distortion, the Doctor races upstairs to save her. Amy also pipes in saying that she has found the plans for the house and there actually is no second floor.
Upstairs, they find an alien ship with a TARDIS like control room. The pilot is dead and the computer has been searching for a replacement but all previous human trials have proved inadequate. Craig and the Doctor pull off Sophie before she can burn but the computer selects the Doctor and tries to plug him in. Knowing that he would be trapped if connected and that could cause an explosion that would destroy the solar system, the Doctor tells Craig to plug in since Craig has been putting up excuses to stay with Sophie. The desire to stay will counter the ship's programming as it had been previously been pulling in people trying to leave. Craig does so and confesses his love for Sophie who loves him back. The ship releases Craig but the feedback triggers a self destruct and the three escape as the ship implodes leaving the one-story building it always was.
With the ship gone, the TARDIS lands with Amy unharmed. Craig and Sophie make plans together while the Doctor has Amy prepare the clues they had left for him before things started. While she starts, she discovers the engagement ring Rory had given her before his erasure from existence.
Summary
This was a fun episode with a lot of humor, although it did peter out at the end. Following Craig's incredulity as he deals with the Doctor's weirdness is very funny, especially as the Doctor attempts to do things that might be seen as normal behavior.
As mentioned above, there is a lot in this story that is similar to Fear Her. There is a lost alien entity that is trying to help itself but is actually making things worse; the Doctor has to pass himself off as a normal person while getting to the bottom of it; at the center of things is an ordinary person with a problem that ends up giving a solution to the problem and the Doctor and companion are split up forcing the solution on to only one of the pair.
However, The Lodger took everything Fear Her got wrong and made it better. Rather than putting the onus on the companion to solve the issue, the Doctor is the catalyst. The ordinary person is not a child actor forced to carry things, but an established comedian who can play both funny and straight man as needed, keeping the comic timing fresh. The Eleventh Doctor is much more alien and strange and that contrasts much better than the Tenth Doctor who could easily pass himself off as a slightly quirky human, generating a greater comedic effect in the environment. Also the alien entity is more sinister as children are not involved and it actually kills people trying to fix itself rather than trapping them for a potential happy ending.
The ending of The Lodger was also slightly better than Fear Her as it did not go with the overly sappy Olympic torch lighting that just looked so cheap and strange. However, it still contained the greatest flaws of the episode. The alien computer was looking for a new pilot and humans weren't capable of handling the strain. But why would the Doctor overload the system and cause the explosion? Also, things are happening so fast with so much yelling and loud music, that it is very difficult to hear and understand that Craig's desire to stay will override the system. Also, why? It just seemed like a cheap way to defeat the computer and also have Craig finally tell Sophie that he loved her, which is what he had been trying to do all episode. But it was done in such a clunky and ham fisted way that it didn't give the emotional payoff that it felt like it deserved. The ending was definitely the one thing that just clanged while the rest of the episode performed nicely.
Aside from the flaws of the ending, this was a enjoyable episode. It was funny, the enemy was simple yet sinister and the whole thing kept you entertained throughout. If the ending had been done better, I'd have considered giving it a 5, but it's just a strong sour note at the end that just doesn't quite jive with everything else. Still, I wouldn't hesitate to watch it again if offered.
Overall personal score: 4 out of 5
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)