6 Aug 2005, 1:08 pm
Dorney
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Re: Day by Day
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The Silurians 1:
I did think for a moment that I’d write out the full title there… but then I thought sod that for a game of soldiers. There’s only so anal I’m prepared to be.
The most immediately striking thing about this episode is how different the new format of the show is. The general Troughton format was this: the Doctor arrives, he’s mistrusted but works his way in, then slowly uncovers whatever this weeks menace is. Here the Doctor is very much a figure of the establishment. Rather than the Doctor who stumbles across trouble and finds a way to deal with it, this Doctor is called in as a troubleshooter, making the character much more pro-active than before. He’s looking for adventures now, that’s his job. It’s quite a startling change. Spearhead manages to mask this by having the same basic structure as before, but Silurians is the first to really embrace the new Earthbound set up. I’m not totally convinced yet. It has a few advantages – the Doctor can get straight into the story and, as here, have the set up of the entire story told to him without having to resort to sly exposition. Very swiftly the basic mysteries of the story are established and investigated. On the negative side, it makes the Doctor more of a detective than previously, a sci-fi investigator and specialist, and that feels odd to me. A man actively travelling the country looking for problems to solve seems a world away from the gallivanting adventurer stumbling into them we’ve had before, and it seems a much more conventional character. No wonder Pertwee’s Doctor doesn’t quite feel like a maverick as the others did (the authority also gives him a slightly superior air too, which is hard to warm to) Daresay, I’ll get used to it though.
With seven episodes to play with, it’s hardly surprising that this episode doesn’t particularly kick into the plot straight away. It’s about establishing character, and setting up a few mysteries. In order to fill in the time, Malcolm Hulke demonstrates the same technique as mentioned in his last script, the War Games, by concentrating on establishing the personalities of the guest cast, using that to drive events and not really pushing too hard on actual action and events (the power surge sequence is a slight energy boost half way through, not really vital to the plot itself, but useful as a means of establishing the threat and an air of tension and urgency). There’s a particularly fine detail regarding Major Baker – a throwaway line where the Doctor says he’s ‘conscientious’, and the Brigadier replies that he made a mistake once and he’s been trying to make up for it. Hulke’s novelisations were famous for building up the personal histories of the characters (whether he plotted out detailed biogs pre-writing as some writers do, I don’t know ), and this is a faint gesture towards that, almost more successfully. I don’t think we find out exactly what Baker did, but it suggests and hints at the man having a proper past. All too often even the most rounded characters only seem to exist within the tale itself, whereas little throwaway, broadly irrelevant little details colour their world and suggest a life outside the story. There’s a moment in the film ‘Leon’ where the titular assassin is having a conversation with his friend, Danny Aiello, and the latter makes a reference to him having had difficulty with a woman before. It adds shades to the character, adds a sense of an entire life to the man. Curiously, in the extended edition that’s available in Japan, you get another scene explaining precisely what happened with this woman… and it’s substantially less interesting to know, mainly because it ties into the story. Irrelevant information helps round characters and gives a sense of them as real people with real lives. The other characters are similarly finely nuanced, and well cast. Fulton Mackay’s Quinn is another particularly fine piece of work, with the script and the performance playing on the actor’s natural charm and amiability to make him instantly warm, likeable and human, someone you could enjoy a pint with – and then undercuts it by making it clear he’s complicit in the problems of the base. The fact it’s revealed so early is vital too, before we’re really looking for any traitor figure. Using the least likely candidate method, he’d be your first guess if you were looking, but you’re beaten to the punch. His complicity isn’t played for a cheap shock or sensationalism, it’s once again about strengthening and complicating the character. Noticeably, he doesn’t feel like a villain in the scene – I was going to use the word betrayal just now, but it didn’t seem right. He still feels like a good man. As with the other mysteries it intrigues, and hooks you, and hints at a moral ambiguity to the script, again something of a sea change for the series. The episode puts forward oblique unexplained moments – the ill technicians, the cave painting patient, and the mysterious ‘they’ that Quinn talks about – all of which are quite mild as hooks, but are enough to keep you intrigued - especially because none of them really add together, or give more than the slightest hint to what’s going on, and none are really investigated by the end of the episode (the episode basically goes round listing the various mysteries, but doesn’t showing any interest in even moving to solve them, again like the War Games, and again all the more intriguing for it), and it is noticeable that the biggest and most interesting mystery is one driven by personality – the juxtaposition of Quinn’s likeability and his secrets.
So overall it’s a fairly fine episode – low on action or incident, but it doesn’t need to rush yet, it’s got time. It establishes plenty of low key mysteries, and hints that the situation may be bigger than it seems, and once again seems driven by character interaction more than overt plotting. The only oddities I can find in the episode involve the dinosaur. Quite why it’s blatantly revealed in the opening scene I don’t know (and what exactly the man who gets killed shouts I don’t know – ‘monster’? ‘mother’?). But weirdest of all, we get a very silly cliffhanger. The Doctor enters a cave with his torch, looks around and finds nothing. Turns, hears a roar, and turns back to find a Dinosaur standing right in front of him. How exactly did he miss that, eh?
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#278 6 Aug 2005, 5:17 pm
Dorney
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Bromley, Kent
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Re: Day by Day
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The Silurians 2:
Odd episode this one. After all the mysteries are so carefully established in part one, they're pretty much all answered here, fairly swiftly. The Doctor himself barely has to do any investigation before he's cottoned on to pretty much exactly what's going on. As a result, the episode becomes a quite straightforward chase episode. About five minutes in, a Silurian is shot, and the rest of the episode is spent trying to track it. It's interesting and tense, but it doesn't feel particularly specific to this story. As a result we get a relatively tense, if slow, chase. The focus narrows down into a simple hunter/hunted scenario. It's pretty much the first half of a self contained two parter, as the script can't get into the interaction between the main cast and the Silurians this early and with the focus narrowed down, it does rather feel as if the main plot has pretty much stopped (bar some intrigue with Quinn and a mysterious voice). Like in the War Games, Hulke does prove adept at raising the stakes, and keeps his plot involving by adding new layers - the second race in the caves is a nice development, as is the fact that Quinn is actively working with them, rather than just aware of their presence. But it's more on hold than actively advancing, noticeable by the way we don't really return to the other characters in the base til the second half of the episode, with the missing Silurian a distraction for the characters rather than a vital stage of the narrative.
However, there remains the focus on characterisation, as most of the supporting cast get their characters developed. Dr Lawrence moves from acerbic to moderately unpleasant (although, as a slightly unhinged base commander, he's not exactly the most excitingly different character the series has had), Quinn is less likeable (he's now clearly an opportunist) and Baker comes across as a little trigger happy (and following my talk about how the narrative is being driven by character rather than plot, his recklessness sparks off the whole plot of this episode). It remains this detailed interest, and the attempts to make the characters all flawed but human (no black and white characterisation here) that keep you involved. The plot itself is fairly slight so far, as I've suggested above, and you can't help but wonder if the move into character driven plotting is a deliberate intent on the part of the producers. Certainly, the Doctor's immediate positivity about the creatures living below them seems an unusual moral stance, both for the character and the series. All too often the series does tend to stick with the ugly=bad philosophy, only veering away when that's the actual moral point of the particular story, and whilst it is understandable, the Doctor's insistence that the creatures might not be deliberately dangerous is a clear indication that the series is going somewhere different. The second Doctor would probably have done the same, but he was never given the chance (bar the Faceless Ones, by the same author unsurprisingly) Characterisation in monsters (as opposed to villains) is something I can't recall much of in the show. Is it a reaction to the closeted environment provided by the new format? In the absence of any space based thrills it looks like the show is trying to pitch itself as a more morally complex series. Or it could just be the influence of Malcolm Hulke. Certainly, my memories of season 7 are that it is broadly speaking more of a straight sci-fi drama (Quatermass style, with at least three of the stories broadly corresponding to the originals - Quatermass Experiment and Inferno, Spearhead and Quatermass II, and Silurians and ...and the Pit) than a family adventure serial, very different in feel to the stories either side. Pertwee's Doctor himself is a much straighter figure who seems to look down on humanity so far, very much a moral absolutist.
But I'm getting ahead of myself, mainly because the actual content of this episode is so straightforward it's hard to write too much. So I'll just leave it there I think.
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#279 6 Aug 2005, 9:16 pm
The Secretive Bus
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Re: Day by Day
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The story is actually very much like "The Sensorites"- but I'll come back to that later...
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Ben grins out of the cockpit window:
“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.
- "Face of Death" by Sparacus
"They laughed at Gallileo once."
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#280 7 Aug 2005, 12:24 pm
Dorney
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Re: Day by Day
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Oh, meant to add: Isn't 'She was found in the barn, paralysed with fear. She may have seen something' one of the funniest dumb lines in the show's history? It predates the similarly ludicrous scene in Species (psychic Forrest Whitaker entering a room covered in blood, guts and assorted organs, taking in the scene and then using his amazing powers to deduce: 'something bad happened here.'). I laughed.
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Last edited by Dorney; 7 Aug 2005 at 12:26 pm.
Re: Day by Day
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I'm glad you reminded me of that line - a friend and I used to regularly spout it at school at least once a week, and he'd never even seen "The Silurians"...
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Ben grins out of the cockpit window:
“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.
- "Face of Death" by Sparacus
"They laughed at Gallileo once."
- Sparacus
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#282 8 Aug 2005, 12:26 pm
Dorney
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Re: Day by Day
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The Silurians 3:
I love Columbo. Recently I bought the DVD boxset of the first series, and have been passing many pleasant minutes working my way through it, and sometimes drifting to whatever episode is getting repeated on Channel 5. Falk is terrific of course, but what always makes it more compelling than your usual Whodunnit is the focus on the villain. Concentrating on the murderer, making them psychologically interesting, sympathetic or hissable, always grabs me.
Episode three of Doctor Who and the Silurians is pretty much an episode of Columbo. Following on from last time, the main plot has halted whilst we continue the hunt storyline, but once again the focus narrows down even further. This episode belongs to Fulton Mackay. The episode is a character study from the perspective of the Doctor Who villain, and for once the villain figure (even if that sounds like a weird thing to say in respect to Quinn, one of the most amiable baddies the series ever had) is made morally complex and ambiguous. One of my major frustrations with the villains in Who is their lack of proper motivation. The Master is probably the best example of this, evil just because he happens to be evil rather than for any proper, you know, reason . For once we are allowed inside the head of the bad guy, and can explore the motivation of how a regular human being goes bad - here for the very basic traditional motive of greed. It's utterly absorbing, and is the classical definition of a tragedy: a good man brought down by his fatal flaw. Like your Columbo episodes, it's clear from very early on that the Doctor has got him pinned, playing with him as Quinn backs himself into corners. The scene where the two confront each other in his cottage, each basically knowing what the other is thinking but not prepared to vocalise it, is one of the best scenes I've seen in the show in quite some time, with the Doctor's offer of help to a man obviously doomed but too desperate to go for it a great moment for the show. The story of Quinn, the mini adventure within the story, is a simple morality play, with a good man tempted, succumbing, and then refusing redemption when it is offered, with fatal consequences. I'm not sure there's another character in Who who has such a thorough exploration.
It's a fascinating way to structure an episode, and if you're not paying attention you wouldn't notice that it really is just a means to fill out the story before the plot really gets going (as I keep saying, character is the best form of padding, as it stops being padding at all). Quinn takes the vast majority of the screen time here (and when he's not there, he's usually being talked about), to the degree that Baker and Lawrence only get a scene or two each, and barely any scenes within the base that is the nominal focus for the story. As with Columbo, it's pretty much entirely from the 'baddies' perspective, with the emphasis on why he's doing things. As with Columbo, we also feel tense for him when he's nearly discovered, or gets himself in trouble, because we sympathise with him, because we understand him. A lesser script would have taken the story from the Doctor's perspective, uncovering Quinn's betrayal. But that would have been melodrama, pure and simple, and we would have seen Quinn as a villain pure and simple. As it is, he leaves the story a tragic hero, and one of the best guest characters the show had.
And that's pretty much all for this episode. The villain, the detective, and one single monster that we don't see (with admirable restraint, as it could easily have finished episode two) The main plot doesn't move a vast amount sure, but the psychological drama is genuinely quite touching, and makes this episode highly recommended.
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#283 8 Aug 2005, 12:35 pm
The Secretive Bus
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Re: Day by Day
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I suppose we should be thankful that Quinn gets killed off before he can degenerate into a ranting "No, no, the secrets are mine!" type of villain.
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Ben grins out of the cockpit window:
“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.
- "Face of Death" by Sparacus
"They laughed at Gallileo once."
- Sparacus
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#284 9 Aug 2005, 1:10 pm
Dorney
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Re: Day by Day
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As I am in Edinburgh, there will now follow a short interval.
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#285 9 Aug 2005, 2:29 pm
The Secretive Bus
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Re: Day by Day
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Get me an ice cream, wench.
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Ben grins out of the cockpit window:
“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.
- "Face of Death" by Sparacus
"They laughed at Gallileo once."
- Sparacus
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#286 25 Aug 2005, 11:34 pm
Dorney
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Re: Day by Day
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Nope.
The Silurians 4:
It's odd coming back to this story after so long away. It barely seems to matter, which reinforces the point that the early episodes are a morality play against the backdrop of the regular sci-fi content. Further to that, it becomes increasingly clear that, yes, this story is similar to a lot of Hulke's work, and driven by character. This will become something of a cliche in my reviews of this story, I feel, but it's important.
Notice how no-one actually has a scheme at the moment. The Silurians themselves have no obvious plan, they're just waking each other up. As villains/monsters go they're quite quiet. The story itself is set off by the personalities of the individuals involved. Baker for example isn't lured into a trap - his own reckless need to prove himself pushes him into trouble. And the last minute appearance of Miss Dawson at the end provides the tragic masterstroke of the story, with her own personal bitter take on the death of Quinn pushing the situation into needless agression. The story isn't about villains with plots this time, it's about characters responding to other characters, reacting to the actions of other individuals. The fact that some of these individuals are lizard men seems broadly irrelevant. The characters drive the plot, create the plot, rather than serve as function to it. This is the reason why the story is so effective as a tragic masterpiece - you can't help but feel that if the characters weren't so blunt headed it could all turn out okay. Every character is beautifully written (I love the slightly cheeky scientist), and you kind of get the feeling that Hulke is so involved in their worlds he forgets the plot (there's a lengthy scene between Masters and Lawrence, exploring their characters, that contrasts with the slightly desperate rush to get the Doctor and the army into the caves and trapped at the cliffhanger).
The most interesting character development in this episode comes from the Brigadier and the Doctor. The pair of them are somewhat at loggerheads here, and it bodes very well for the Earthbound scenario. The Brig's status as all round decent chap from Web/Invasion/Spearhead develops well into a proper character in his own right. The thing to remember is that the Brigadier is not a companion in the same sense that Liz manages to be (despite not going anywhere). Technically, he could have been pitched that way, but it would have been hard to pull off. The companions, at least since Ian and Barbara, are very much subordinate to the Doctor (the name sort of implies it), usually loyal apart from plot necessity, and always returned to the status quo at the end. Perhaps most tellingly, they usually react to the plot, with the Doctor's lead status defined by his status as major plot mover. The Brigadier upsets this. For the first, and only, time in the shows history, we have a second regular who is allowed to drive the plot (a second lead really), who is accorded as much plot and screeen weight as the Doctor himself, and can be placed in opposition to him. A lot of the later companions, most clearly Ace and Rose, are able to move the plot themselves too, but the Brigadier is the only one whose status gives him any real power to drive events in a way the Doctor might not want. What's also rather effective here is the fact that the Brigadier isn't made to seem an idiot, or villainous. It's a brave move, taking the immediately warm figure from the Troughton era, and using him for a permanent source of conflict, but it works. He could so easily have been treated as the Doctor's muscle, and that would have destroyed the show. As it is, his military outlook defines the Doctor's own for us, and reinforces why he is the hero.
The Doctor does feel incredibly Doctorish in this episode too. The cliffhanger resolution (holding out his hand and saying 'Hello' to the monster) is gorgeously done, as is his brusque entrance to the base at the end, announcing his presence quite loudly. All at once you see the alien figure there, brave and reckless and prepared to do the mad thing. The moral core of the character is explored throughout as well - even if his insistence to look on the positive side with the Silurians themselves is a little out of character (he's always in a good mood to blow up aliens usually). And to further the 'driven by character' argument, look at the way he deliberately hides the news of Quinn's death. The Doctor is almost being reinvented before our eyes, as befits the massively different context. He's becoming a moral authority figure, rather than a proactive plot pusher, as befits an alien in a world of the little people.
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#287 26 Aug 2005, 12:04 am
The Secretive Bus
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Re: Day by Day
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Hurrah! Business is resumed!
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Ben grins out of the cockpit window:
“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.
- "Face of Death" by Sparacus
"They laughed at Gallileo once."
- Sparacus
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#288 26 Aug 2005, 7:33 am
Mr Coxy
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Re: Day by Day
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dorney
The moral core of the character is explored throughout as well - even if his insistence to look on the positive side with the Silurians themselves is a little out of character (he's always in a good mood to blow up aliens usually).
G'day Dorney. I've been reading your reviews pretty regularly recently. They're an engaging and stimulating read, and demand lots of my time and attention. Damn you sir!
Regarding the little snippet above, the point is of couse that these chaps are earthlings not aliens with some prior claim to the planet. So the Doctor reacts differently. It would be interesting to let him loose on Israel/Palestine.
Mind you, what would the ninth Doctor have done in this situation? 'Sorry lads, your time is up. No moisturiser for you...'
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#289 26 Aug 2005, 10:45 am
Dorney
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Re: Day by Day
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Quote:
Originally Posted by James Cox
Regarding the little snippet above, the point is of couse that these chaps are earthlings not aliens with some prior claim to the planet. So the Doctor reacts differently. It would be interesting to let him loose on Israel/Palestine.
Does the Doctor know that yet, though? I'm not sure he does. In any case, doesn't that smack of double standards? Bear in mind that his only real experience of them is their wandering around, killing, but he's immediately up for defending them on the basis of them being an intelligent species.
In many ways, the problem isn't that he defends them now, it's that he's seldom as keen to defend other species... The Silurians just want to exist, and quite a few other 'monsters' in the show do as well. Certainly, they're not going about it in a way that justifies his faith.
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#290 26 Aug 2005, 2:12 pm
The Secretive Bus
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Re: Day by Day
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I think it's just that nearly every other alien race we've seen so far has been either obviously hostile, or acting in a hostile manner before we realise that they're actually peaceful (the Sensorites, for instance, whom the Doctor distrusts until he has reason to alter his views). We've never really had the Doctor attempting to aid the "monstrous" aliens before, so yes, it does seem a bit out of character for the Doctor that we've seen so far - but more in character for everything we'd like the Doctor to be.
"Doctor Who: From A - Z" has an article that compares "The Silurians" and "Terror of the Zygons", pointing out that they're basically the same story, with the exception that whilst Pertwee wants to make peace between the humans and Silurians, Tom Baker just mocks the Zygons, blows them up, and then actively seeks out Broton so that the alien blighter can get his just desserts as well. But there we're informed by the Doctor, reliably we hope, that the Zygons are "evil" and so to destroy them is justified.
As I said before, "The Silurians" has fairly obvious parallels with "The Sensorites" as well..
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Ben grins out of the cockpit window:
“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.
- "Face of Death" by Sparacus
"They laughed at Gallileo once."
- Sparacus
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#291 27 Aug 2005, 12:38 am
Dorney
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Re: Day by Day
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The Silurians 5:
There's a lovely little scene in this episode where the Young Silurian and the Scientist have a chat. Just a chat. They're not plotting, particularly, they're discussing the events that are happening. Think about that for a moment. For once the monsters are involved in a scene where their identity as monsters is broadly irrelevant. For once, we're being asked to look at the monsters as characters first and foremost. The three main Silurians are well defined individuals (even if pretty much walking cliches - the venerable elder, the hotheaded youth, and the weak willed accomplice), and once again this means that the story pretty much veers away from sci-fi into straight drama - that just happens to feature scaly green men. For quite a lot of the time, you almost forget that half of the characters are monsters (honestly), and this is mainly due to good work from the actors inside the rubber costumes who, for all the head wobbling, emphasise the 'humanity' and personality of their characters (watch the Scientist's head fall as he realises he has no choice but to go with the Young Silurian). Watch the physicality as well - the Young Silurians arrogant strut, upright, perhaps even slightly angled back, compared with the hunched Old Silurian. You can always tell which character is which straight off.
The whole thing is increasingly played as an almost classical tragedy. Character after character is defeated by their individual fatal flaw - Baker's pride, the Young Silurian's prejudice. The plot remains driven by the reactions of these individuals to the behaviour of others. Up until this episode, with the introduction of the plague, there isn't really an overall plot. And even then, that isn't part of a Silurian masterplan. It's a response. There are some nice surprises in the characterisation too - Masters is quite sensible for a Pertwee era politician for example, and Dr Lawrence's journey in the story is unusually small scale - for once here's a man who actually doesn't care about the monsters, and doesn't actually interact with them. They've come out of nowhere and ruined his career, they're what he couldn't foresee. He's more concerned about how he'll look than what they'll do (his bitter line as Masters leaves speaks volumes). His plot is about how aliens turn up and ruin his day. A further detail there is that this episode practically ignores the original set up - the threat to the research centre has moved into the background, the centre itself becoming a generic base. The story is no longer about a threat per se, but about humans and pre-humans.
If anything, the story is about trust. No-one trusts anyone else. If they do (The Old Silurian trusting the Doctor, Lawrence trusting Masters) they are punished (death, and the failure of the plant), which suggests that they're right not to. If the story has a message, it's the fairly downbeat one that whilst trust is a good thing, it is too often unworkable in our modern world. Something of a depressing theme for this most positive of series, but quite a brave one.
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#292 27 Aug 2005, 1:06 am
supervoc
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Re: Day by Day
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Paul Darrow does an excellent job as Captain Hawkins, much better than Richard Franklin would do as Captain Yates. A pity he didn't continue in UNIT for a few seasons.
Nice points on trust there, all too true, sadly.
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#293 27 Aug 2005, 11:08 pm
The Secretive Bus
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Re: Day by Day
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Happy birthday, Dorney!
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Ben grins out of the cockpit window:
“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.
- "Face of Death" by Sparacus
"They laughed at Gallileo once."
- Sparacus
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#294 27 Aug 2005, 11:13 pm
Carlos R
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Re: Day by Day
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Happy Birthday!!!
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"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out."
Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.
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#295 28 Aug 2005, 1:08 am
supervoc
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Merrie England
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Re: Day by Day
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You deserve a very merry birthday after your Herculean efforts!
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#296 30 Aug 2005, 7:09 pm
ianzpotter
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Sheffield
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Re: Day by Day
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Indeed! Happy Birthday from back here at episode 6 of The Wheel in Space!
Ian
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#297 3 Sep 2005, 7:52 pm
Carlos R
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Re: Day by Day
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What happened to the sticky?
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#298 3 Sep 2005, 9:23 pm
The Secretive Bus
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Re: Day by Day
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What what what what?
Damn it!
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Ben grins out of the cockpit window:
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#299 4 Sep 2005, 1:03 am
Dorney
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Bromley, Kent
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Re: Day by Day
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Blimey, almost missed this! Go away for a week, and get unstickied? Blummey. Went to Europe for four months, and I was pinned throughout.
Still trying to squeeze in time for the last two episodes of Silurians, btw. After that, not sure how long it'll be til Ambassadors, as I'm moving and the Internet connection situation is in flux at the mo. Don't know the convenience levels, if you get my drift. I'll try my hardest to keep going at least vaguely.
Does still make the choice of title more ironic with every passing day of course...
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#300 4 Sep 2005, 12:21 pm
The Secretive Bus
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Re: Day by Day
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dorney
Went to Europe for four months, and I was pinned throughout.
Well those Europeans are very passionate sorts.
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Ben grins out of the cockpit window:
“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.
- "Face of Death" by Sparacus
"They laughed at Gallileo once."
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#301 4 Sep 2005, 1:05 pm
Carlos R
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Re: Day by Day
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Hopefully they left no bruising...
Actually, Dorney, you did admit fairly early on you'd be hard pressed to keep to "schedule" - you have a life to lead. I just hope you do continue in some form or other, as I honestly enjoy how you dismantle each episode.
*sits back and puts feet up*
I'm here to stay!
- C
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#302 4 Sep 2005, 6:37 pm
Dorney
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Bromley, Kent
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Re: Day by Day
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Further research suggests I may have less problems than I thought (via a potential free computer), so I'm going to take Ambassadors and Inferno to my new flat tomorrow in a spirit of dangerous optimism.
I will try to have finished Silurians by then, btw.
Also, should add, thanks for the Birthday Greetings, they were greatly appreciated, even if only recently seen. Particularly pleased to see a visitation from the mighty IanZpotter. Not joining me, sir? Come on, the water's lovely.
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#303 4 Sep 2005, 8:24 pm
The Secretive Bus
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Re: Day by Day
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You won't get to these two stories for a while, but what are your general feelings on the two Peladon stories? I just finished watching "Monster", and I've never worked out why it's so hated by fandom, as I rather like it. And "Curse" is my second favourite Pertwee.
Probably cos I'm an Ice Warrior fan, me.
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Ben grins out of the cockpit window:
“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.
- "Face of Death" by Sparacus
"They laughed at Gallileo once."
- Sparacus
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#304 5 Sep 2005, 12:11 am
Dorney
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Re: Day by Day
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Curse is one of the earliest stories I saw, so I have a fondness too it. And I think Monster is underrated, with a cracking villain. Obviously, more later.
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#305 5 Sep 2005, 12:40 am
Dorney
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Re: Day by Day
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The Silurians 6:
If there's a major drawback to this story, it's its lack of actual proper plot. You know, an ongoing storyline, with threads that are going somewhere. Actually, that's a little over harsh. It does have a plot, for about an episode and a half right at the beginning. But from then on in, with the Doctor swiftly guessing the truth, the story becomes a sequence of explorations of 'first contact' (or something basically similar, to be technical). We have a series of actions from one side or the other, that are then given a response by the opponent - and then on to the next, broadly unrelated, action. (the escapee, the raid on the caves, the poison). Neither side is working to a specific plan, so as a result the story lacks a distinct direction. You get the sense that Hulke is going to keep coming up with confrontations for however long the story needs to be, you don't really feel it's building to a climax.
Now this isn't, necessarily, a bad thing. This is, despite the epic length, quite a small scale story, about people and the way they behave. The more I think about it, the harder it is to come up with a story that is purely about the character before it is about the plot.
This probably isn't the best episode of the story to pitch that though, as it's probably the weakest of the seven. The spreading plague is impressively done (if there was any justice in the world, the mass commuter collapse would be as widely iconic image as the hollow grandstanding of the Invasion 6 cliffhanger), and you do get a sense of it's scale, both through the increasing number, rising tally and the sheer length of time it is concentrated on, but you do begin to lose the sense of the mini-plot that we've been focusing on. By shifting the majority of the drama and risk to London, away from the main cast, the episode becomes curiously static (the Doctor spending most of his time in a lab looking grumpy) and the Silurians, the narrative raison d'etre for the entire story, are broadly sidelined. The lack of any internal pressures on the Doctor and co. mean that there's a surprising lack of tension in the cure hunting scenes. Better surely to have had some blatant Silurian incursion into the base, rather than their back door break in, putting a sense of urgency into the science bits. As it is, the Doctor barely seems to raise a sweat (watch him as he's writing down the cure - doesn't he look more than a little relaxed?). In deed, this is kind of similar to episode 3, with the 'villains' being sidelined in their own show for an episode, losing some real forward drive. It's always clear that the Doctor will find the cure, so you don't feel quite as gripped by this episode as you could do.
The best elements for this episode though come from outside the regulars. The deaths of Masters, and Lawrence are worlds away from each other, but both are two of the most memorable moments the show has had. Masters' death is noteable for its direction, with the sequence of him clambering up the railed slope and eventually collapsing beautifully shot and played for great visual effect. In contrast, Lawrence's death is memorable for the sheer demented energy of Peter Miles - his screeching at the Brigadier is amazing, and contrasts beautifully with his angry arrogance to Liz earlier in the episode.
It initially feels odd that the deaths of the supporting cast in this episode - Masters in particular, and Baker last time - all seem so much more tragic than usual, but I don't think it is. Firstly, they are clearly collateral damage in a way lots of others aren't (all are basically good people, bar the utterly selfish Lawrence, and can't be seen to deserve death in the way lots of other characters do). Also, it doesn't help that all these deaths are pointless and based on prejudice, rather than as the result of any proper invasion plan (at least when Ransom is killed in Spearhead, it's because it directly helps the goal of the Nestenes). People die because they don't talk. Because they don't think. Obviously it's going to be tragic. So even if the plot is weak, the story is still powerful, because it really does examine people, and is one of the rare stories that's more about engaging us emotionally than exciting us.
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#306 5 Sep 2005, 2:16 am
The Secretive Bus
Time Lord
Edinburgh
Joined April 18, 2004
Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm
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Re: Day by Day
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I think only "Inferno" cracked the seven part plot in this season - both "Silurians" and "Ambassadors" go for long stretches where, at first glance, a lot of action is going on, but in terms of the ongoing plot very little is actually happening. Still, I love "Ambassadors", and "Silurians" is a cracking yarn too - it's the way the characters are written and acted, with a hefty amount of top notch direction too. Sort of distracts your attention from the plot mechanics.
However, even though "Inferno" is obviously building to a climax, the nature of the story means that we have to have the climax played out twice... Season 7 really was more about the characters rather than the plots. "Doctor Who", to be fair, rarely strikes a consistent balance between the two.
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Ben grins out of the cockpit window:
“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.
- "Face of Death" by Sparacus
"They laughed at Gallileo once."
- Sparacus
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Last edited by The Secretive Bus; 5 Sep 2005 at 2:18 am.
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#307 8 Sep 2005, 6:39 pm
ianzpotter
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Sheffield
Joined April 19, 2004
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Re: Day by Day
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I'd love to be back in the saddle, Dorney, and I'd recommend doing this to anyone, you get a much clearer context on the series (I'd never realised just how a rubbish a script editor Gerry Davis was before, until he left and the story logic pinged back into shape. I mean Faceless Ones, eh?), but I haven't time for the critiquing sadly. It has really helped me with my paper for the Manchester University Who book tracing soem of the programme's technical developments, whenever that's out now.
I'm doing the stories as audio only at the moment, so I can listen to them on walks as part of an exercise regime and it's interesting feeling the stories change around '68 to include more visual action making that harder (God bless electronic editing!). Seeds of Death episode 1 today. The Space Pirates looms, the only story I've never seen or heard entirely before coming up, I hope it's another pleasant surprise. I'm going to have such a culture shock come Spearhead.
Keep ahead of me please, Dorney, give me something to chase!
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#308 17 Sep 2005, 7:03 pm
Llama Roddy
Bigger than a frog
Hull, England
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Re: Day by Day
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When do we get to episode 7?
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#309 18 Sep 2005, 4:32 am
Joey Doodle
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Manchester
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Re: Day by Day
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Llama Roddy
When do we get to episode 7?
This review is dragging almost as long as the original broadcast took!
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#310 21 Sep 2005, 8:16 pm
Dorney
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Bromley, Kent
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Re: Day by Day
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Yeah, many apologies for the lack of an update - I've been a bit bad at keeping up to date with the reviews at the moment, what with a move and a lack of computer. Hopefully, I should be able to keep a slightly more regular routine (ish) as of next week via my local library, unless I get a proper job (well, you got to keep the wolf from the door, haven't you?). I'm annoying myself, it has to be said, as I don't want to watch Silurians 7 until I know I can review it, so I'm on tenterhooks.
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#311 24 Sep 2005, 7:25 am
Max K Wilkie
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Sydney, Australia
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Re: Day by Day
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As soon as you're back, Dorney, I'll use my magnificent powers of mind-control to try and get the thread re-pinned.
Keep up the good work!!
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Mind the gap.
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#312 12 Oct 2005, 2:59 pm
Dorney
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Re: Day by Day
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Just a brief note - Silurians 7 should be up in the next day or two. I've watched the episode, and made a few notes, it all just depends on how much time I get on my local library's somewhat erratic internet system...
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#313 12 Oct 2005, 3:27 pm
Alzarian
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Raleigh, NC
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Re: Day by Day
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Yay!
You have been missed.
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#314 12 Oct 2005, 7:16 pm
Carlos R
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Melbourne
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Re: Day by Day
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Seconded! You've been missed Dorney.
Cheers!
C
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"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out."
Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.
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#315 12 Oct 2005, 9:33 pm
The Secretive Bus
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Re: Day by Day
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With you in that dress, my thoughts, I confess
Verge on dirty.
Oh come on, Dorney!
...
Evenin'.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ben grins out of the cockpit window:
“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.
- "Face of Death" by Sparacus
"They laughed at Gallileo once."
- Sparacus
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#316 12 Oct 2005, 11:04 pm
Dan Stimson
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Re: Day by Day
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The Secretive Bus
Probably cos I'm an Ice Warrior fan, me.
Awwww! I never knew you cared
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#317 13 Oct 2005, 11:36 am
Dorney
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Re: Day by Day
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Doctor Who and the Silurians 7:
It's something of an irony that I've had to review this episode pretty much in isolation from the rest of the story. Because this episode pretty much is in isolation from the rest of the story itself.
The problems caused by the episodic nature of the script and the lack of an overall 'plot' become clear here. Within five minutes of the start of the episode, the whole plague plot line is eradicated. In deed, rather disappointingly, the cliffhanger is negated pretty instantly as well: the Doctor is kidnapped before he can transcribe the formula - shock, horror - but then Liz looks at the discarded mass of papers. Now you'd think that the episode would milk the tension here for a bit - Liz frantically searching for the formula as people die around the world, whilst the Doctor tries to talk his way out of danger with the Silurians. But no. Liz finds the sheet of paper on her third go, and the Doctor has one quick chat with the Silurians before being taken right back to the power station. Come on. There's so much room for suspense here, and it's thrown away. Beyond this point, the plague isn't even referred to once. It retains its sense of being a succession of set pieces rather than a plot. You feel that the Silurians will keep coming up with new plans, keep getting defeated, until the allocated time is filled in, without the plot really progressing. It's the laziest type of storytelling in Doctor Who. The stakes need to be raised, the plot needs to develop. There is no plot here.
This was all well and good and no particular problem when the story was basing itself in characterisation, and this is really the biggest problem with the final episode and why it seems less interesting than its six predecessors. The story has been so keen to kill off its characters that there are now none left. The regulars are the only good guys we get in this story. Before hand the story was all but pitched as a character study where the personalities interested us more than the events, the personalities and their interaction providing the development that the plot didn't (Dr Lawrence most clearly, but with such elements as the Silurian conflict, Quinn's shifting loyalties). But with them all gone, the story feels so much more straightforward. Even the Silurian's themselves, seemingly so multi-layered before, come across as pretty much straight forward monsters in this part, mainly due to their leaders death. This does cause some problems with the famous resolution to the story, but more on that in a bit.
It's very much a shame that the thoughtfulness of the majority of this story descends into something simpler, something, well... 'Who' ish, if you like. All moral ambiguity vanishes, and the monsters turn up with a machine, that the Doctor defeats by technobabble. To be fair, a lot of this criticism can be put down to the fact that it's been a month and a half since I saw the first six episodes. With six episodes of build up this could feel like the natural follow through, with the focus tightening, and the moral and intellectual depth of the previous six hanging over this episode. But I don't know. I just feel this is almost like Hulke can't figure out how to end it. He's painted himself into a corner. The story hasn't really been going anywhere, so it's can't really have an ending, or a climax. The script itself somewhat peters out. After the epic scale, it all seems a little too narrow, and bit too enclosed (the lack of any characters other than the regulars makes it feel less globally threatening). As it is, it almost whimpers out, with the prevention of the meltdown embarrassingly casual, and at the point when the story should be finishing, a bizarre bit of 'comic' padding (the Doctor tracking his magic liquid through Bessie) that feels completely out of place with the downbeat tone, especially since we know what the Brigadier is planning) that just seems to be there to stretch the story out.
And the ending... there are a few problems here with this most iconic of moments. One, it's hard not to agree with the Brigadier. With the Elder Silurian dead, they are incredibly dangerous, and have shown no inclination to negotiate (why exactly are they different from, the Ice Warriors say? Another intelligent species. Why does the Doctor get so obsessed with negotiating with creatures who seem to want to kill him? Isn't he just being a bit too liberal?) The other massive problem, for me, is a certain amount of hypocrisy caused by weird behaviour by the Doctor (to the degree that it suggests weak playing on the part of Pertwee, as the line makes no sense as played). When the Doctor investigates the caves to check the Silurians are hibernating at the end, and he is attacked by the Young Silurian, the Brig comes in and shoots it. Quite a lot. It's quite a brutal moment. What's the Doctor's response? A cheery 'well done Brigadier'. Cheery. Not even releived, actual nonchalance. Now, I'd guess that this was written as sarcasm, presumably at the disproportionate nature of the Brigadiers attack. But this isn't how it's played. So we're left with the frankly uncomfortable suggestion that the Doctor's perfectly prepared to play the moral high ground from a safe distance... but when his life's actually threatened, he's more than happy to have 'intelligent' beings killed.
However, despite these, the ending does really work. The look on Pertwee's face in that final scene, a sort of horrified sadness, is an incredibly memorable image, and some of his finest acting work in the show. It's this that sells the moment, this and the Brigadiers sneaking around behind him to arrange it earlier in the episode. Something of a shame that the underlying tension this suggests (and the bravery of upsetting the status quo of the new format this early) kind of goes for a burton with the pair of them remaining jolly chums for most of the era, neutered by the transformation of Lethbridge Stewart from hard nosed military man (and companion with equal status) to comic foil. The willingness to experiment is joyfully brave, and it's what gives the story it's power, and explains why the final episode doesn't totally die or ruin the script despite it's structural flaws. The end of the story continues the themes - everyone acting for what they consider their best interests, no one trying to concede. Everyone is right, everyone is wrong, and they all end up dead through their own hubris, their own 'fatal flaws'. The story is quite possibly the most successful tragedy the series ever managed.
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#318 13 Oct 2005, 4:47 pm
The Secretive Bus
Time Lord
Edinburgh
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Re: Day by Day
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This is where the comparisons to "The Sensorites" come through. Think about it; both stories have an "alien" menace lurking in the shadows that we see glimpses of during the first few episodes before the Doctor goes to their planet/base, whereupon we get lots of info about them and their titles (they're credited as Sensorite and Silurian in the first episodes, and then we get First Elder, Second Elder, Young Silurian, Silurian Scientist etc.); there's a power struggle between the protagonist alien (who has a cowardly scientist helping him) and a person of supreme authority (the second elder or the old Silurian), centering mainly on their opinions to the "humans" (City Administrator and Young Silurian want to destroy them to protect the species, whereas the real leaders feel that negotiation may work), during which the "goody" one gets killed; after a careful build up, the protagonist then appears to be spending several episodes hurling varied problems to overcome the Doctor and co. but doesn't really seem to be building up to any grand plan; and there's an infection in both (though one is started by human astronauts and the other by the Silurians). The major difference is that negotiation in one story actually works, and in the other it ends in needless death. But still really rather similar in both structure and core themes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ben grins out of the cockpit window:
“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.
- "Face of Death" by Sparacus
"They laughed at Gallileo once."
- Sparacus
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#319 13 Oct 2005, 5:34 pm
supervoc
Time Lord
Merrie England
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Re: Day by Day
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The Secretive Bus
But still really rather similar in both structure and core themes.
You are absolutely right. I don't think I have seen anyone draw that particular comparison before. Well observed, Mr Bus.
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#320 14 Oct 2005, 11:37 am
Dorney
Time Lord
Bromley, Kent
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Last On: Today 9:46 pm
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Re: Day by Day
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Interesting in deed, Bus, and bang on the money.
Looking over my reviews for the earlier episodes of the story, it strikes me that I complain that 6 is too focused outside the base, and 7 too focused in side. This makes me think that an ideal last two episodes would have paralleled the plague storyline and the Van Allen belt storyline, with the plague's effects constantly spreading and the Doctor unable to deal with them because the Silurians have dealt with the base. Unlike the slightly contrived touch of the meltdown threat, this gives a plausible reason for a bit of internal tension.
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