#130 24 Nov 2004, 12:47 pm
Dorney
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The Dominators 1:
One of the nice things about watching every episode in order is that it does make you watch, well, every episode. All those little stories you never really feel in the mood for, usually the sort of middle ranking ones. There are a good few stories that I'm not sure I'd immediately plump for in a rewatching sort of a way (for example, I can't remember when I last watched 'The Daemons') that you find yourself forced to watch.
The Dominators is sort of like that. Now, I've always been a little fond of the Dominators, mad as that may sound, but it's been a very very long time since I decided to sit down and watch it off my own bat. As a consequence, it's one of the stories I've been looking forward to rewatching.
And it's still fun so far. It's flawed, certainly. It's hard to ignore how silly the outfits of the Dulcians make them look. Odd really that the Dominator's costumes are superb, and they drop the ball with the ordinary folk. And I've always been taught 'The longer the build up, the better that punchline ought to be'. It's such a shame that they spend all the first episode hiding the appearance of the Quarks (even down to a lovely atmospheric p.o.v shot), and then they turn out to be so... nondescript. They're not bad, just nothing that makes you go wow (bear in mind that this is one of the few episodes I can think of that does the Dalek trick of deliberately concealing the appearance of the monster for as long as possible - and it just doesn't match their standard).
But apart from that, it's rather jolly. I love the Dominators themselves, both hugely melodramatic and entertaining villains. Toba, with his bloodlust and stupidity is a particular joy. Again it's rather nice to have a story that tries to undermine the villains - it's never in doubt that the Dominators are dangerous, but with Toba it's his stupidity that makes him dangerous. Rago is more calculating. It's symptomatic of the good characterisation of this story that we pretty much know their personalities straight away here (I recently relistened to BF's Invaders from Mars, and I think it's bickering aliens owe a great deal to these two). I also like the way that we are allowed into the aliens thoughts and conversations for a change. They're allowed to be individuals for a change, and it makes them more of a creditable race. Good fun villains, with personalities and a clear sense of threat. Don't know why they bothered with all the 'fleet of spacecraft' stuff at the beginning, though... seems a waste of budget.
One episode after spotting Donald Sumpter in a bit part, up pops Phillip Voss, darling of the RSC, in a bit part. Odd that.
Further to the thoughts on characterisation, again the teacher and his students are nicely characterised (the teacher in particular, with his constant note taking, is rather fun). There does remain the feeling that they're all a little bit 'on the button'. The teacher is a bit old and fuddy duddy. The students are brainy but naive. The rebels are a bit rebellious. Nothing too out of the ordinary there (the Dominators themselves prove more surprising, but this just makes a contrast - the Dulcians are nicely characterised, but not particularly interesting). And the female student is a little too one note, wispy posh for my taste.
The TARDIS crew are still fun, when they eventually appear after a long build up. Occasional moments of dodginess though (I love at the end of the episode when the Doctor races back to try and save the TARDIS, and says to Zoe 'Are you coming' and she, for no reason at all other than to split the cast up, says 'No thanks'.)
Quite entertaining then, if a little broad stroke.
Dorney
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#131 24 Nov 2004, 2:35 pm
The Secretive Bus
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Re: Day by Day
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Quarks! Quarks! Quarks!
There was going to be one in "Donald Hickerty" y'know.
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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.
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"They laughed at Gallileo once."
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#132 24 Nov 2004, 3:29 pm
Calapine
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Re: Day by Day
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Oh, spiffiness! Me likes Dominators and the Quarks muchly, yes. You say good things.
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#133 25 Nov 2004, 11:48 am
Dorney
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Re: Day by Day
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The Secretive Bus
There was going to be one in "Donald Hickerty" y'know.
What d'you mean 'was'? You'd better finish that story off. Or there'll be trouble.
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#134 25 Nov 2004, 1:14 pm
The Secretive Bus
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Re: Day by Day
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It I do it won't be for a considerable time, dear boy...
I was getting rushed off my feet with college work, and so decided to drop the story, at least for now. I'd planned out each round's chapter 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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#135 25 Nov 2004, 1:45 pm
Dorney
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Re: Day by Day
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The Dominators 2:
OK - let's get this out of the way straight up. This episode starts with one of the all time monumental continuity howlers that Doctor Who ever managed. Toba is at the top of the mountain with the Quarks. Then in the very next shot he is inside the spaceship as Rago instructs the Quarks to drag in the Doctor and Jamie. How's that work? (You could argue that Toba has nipped inside the spaceship to explain what's going on outside, and that does also explain how the desperately unsteady Quarks get down the hill so fast - but that's missing the point that that clearly isn't what's intended to have happened).
I dunno... I'm still finding this rather fun. The Dominators themselves are tremendously entertaining villains, and they're clearly intended to be so (compare Ronald Allen's gloriously ott sneering in this episode to his relaxed, casual and practically unrecognizable turn as Ralph Cornish merely a season later and you can see he's trying two completely different things with the parts). You can't have aliens being this bickering without it being for fun. Certainly, the Doctor's blatant outsmarting of them gives a clear indication of what they're about - strong, dangerous, but with the lack of smarts that goes with most bullies. Honestly, how can you take a race seriously when they introduce themselves by saying 'We are Dominators'. Course you are duckies. I always fancied writing some fanfic where it was revealed that the Dominators came from the planet Dominatus and the name was just an unfortunate coincidence that they eventually decided to live up to after years of being distrusted. I still might. However, the fact that they call themselves 'The Dominators' shows that this is a race that has wilfully decided to go around invading planets and stuff. And that offers a contrast to the Dulcians that I'm not sure I've heard mention before. Just as the story is slightly dismissive of pacifism, it's also dismissive of the stupidity of overt milatirism. The script suggests that those who bully and resort to physical strength are dumb. Dangerous, yes, as all violent people are, but lacking in intelligence. Most clearly with Toba, but Rago also isn't quite as smart as he thinks he is (he seems to believe that strength is all that is required).
So the villains are hugely entertaining. The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe are on fine form too, the first two in particular. These are actors hugely comfortable with each other, working as a unit. The sequences with their testing on board the Dominator's spacecraft is beautifully judged comedy... heck, all their exchanges are. The biggest problem with the story remains that the guest cast just aren't that exciting. Pacifism seems to equal bland characterisation. Everyone's a bit too nice to have any real edge or interest. Cully comes closest to offering a bit of personality, but he is unfortunately a little too miscast to work - Cox himself puts in a perfectly acceptable performance, but he's just that little bit too middle aged. A little too old, a little too bald, a little too tubby. He comes across as someone 'trying' to be a rebel, rather than being one. Even the rebels are respectable.
Quite an enjoyable episode though, as long as you go in with the right attitude (you're not supposed to take the villains seriously - they're dangerous, but not menacing). The plotting is nicely focused for a change as well - the Doctor and Jamie's subplot offers a very distinct unit. Cully and Zoe's back and forth to the capitol is a little bit like filler though. But perfectly acceptable in an unshowy way.
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#136 29 Nov 2004, 2:21 pm
Dorney
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Re: Day by Day
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The Dominators 3:
I'm beggining to get the impression that Haisman and Lincoln aren't really all that good at plotting. They have a premise for their stories, but they don't really know where to take it. Their only really massively popular story is Web, and this is the one that really used the lack of plot progression to its advantage, making it increasingly tense and desperate and claustrophobic. In a wide ranging story, such as this, this doesn't happen. This story starts 'Aggresive aliens land on pacifist planet'. But then doesn't really go anywhere. No-one's really changed their attitudes, or their positions three episodes in. In many ways, this backs up one of the themes of the story - the danger of stagnation. The very fact that the Dulcian council don't want to do anything, get some more evidence, then still don't do anything, is, ironically, a metaphor for the problems of this script. The script is entirely about waiting and doing nothing, until you get to the point where you have to write the final episode. Watch how many scenes just don't progress the story - the Dulcian council chambers, and the regulars plus Cully's trips to them are there merely to shift the characters around a bit, and keep some of them busy, they don't progress a thing. Even at the end they get in the great Brian Cant, who's acting is noticeably more interesting than most of the other cast members, as some sort of wise sage who advises them... to do exactly what they were going to do before he turned up. Thanks for that. Likewise the cliffhanger resolution is one of those annoying ones that just nullifies it. Toba tries to blow up the base, and halfway through, Rago tells him not to. Cut out the cliffhanger and it's resolution and you'd not notice they were ever there (and in deed, it's symptomatic of the lack of progress in the story that the cliffhanger to this episode is virtually identical to that of part two).
Likewise, the supporting cast are just all a little too posh and bland. The girl student is just getting on my nerves now - even when lugging around big stones, she's still desperately trying to sound posh and lovely. Oh, come on love, you're not at drama school now! Get some proportion.
Beyond that, I sort of run out of things to say. There's just not enough to talk about in the episode. The Troughton stuff is fun, and his double act with Jamie works well (though neither of them are really involved in the funniest moment in the episode - the desperate pretence that it actually is Troughton on location). But when the best thing you can talk about for an episode is the bufoonery, you know you're in trouble.
That's not to say I'm not enjoying it - I still am, sort of. Just some bits are fun, and other bits are dull, and I just wish it was going somewhere.
Dorney
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#137 29 Nov 2004, 5:22 pm
The Secretive Bus
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Re: Day by Day
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I've never really liked this story, nor had the effort to dislike it. It's just sort of there. Doing nothing. Like Kamelion but with less lute-playing.
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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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#138 1 Dec 2004, 12:25 pm
Dorney
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Re: Day by Day
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The Dominators 4:
Why is Brian Cant even in this? The character advises the Dulcians to do exactly what they've already been doing, and then just hangs around to get killed. Is he there because they're too scared to just have the Dominators kill old blokes? Surely that's the point - the Dominators attack and kill people who are too weak to fight back - the aged and students.
Still the marching on the spot continues. The Dominators have found their drilling sites as far back as episode one, then they just fart around for three episodes. Despite this, I'm not bored as such - the petty bickering and rampant ham of the two villains make this watchable, thankfully. I just keep wanting progression. Why bother with these tests? Why make the special trip to the capitol to organise slave parties? Just get going with the drills! You're drawing attention to yourself and asking to be defeated.
Having said that, the scene with Rago and the Consul is the only one that contrasts the pacifism with the aggression. The ineptitude of their response (hilariously, they're less concerned about their meeting being broken up by a huge evil alien, than the fact he isn't following protocol) make the point of the story. Of course, by taking the arguments to the extremes the story goes terribly right wing (the Dominators only think in terms of aggression, the Dulcians are helpless, it's terribly black and white), but there is enough of a message there to get through. I'd like to think the fact that both sides are portrayed as morons is deliberate, suggesting that extremism is the refuge of fools, but I'm not sure - the Dulcians inability to accept that their in imminent deadly threat, and the knee jerk tendency of the Dominators to any problem at all (particularly Rago killing Tensa in a fit of peak as if that isn't what he's berated Toba for). The most telling thing is that the Dominators remain convinced of their own superiority - despite still talking about 'the stupid ones', a constant reminder of their lack of savvy.
The rest of the story wastes time (watch how embarrisingly weak the mini-subplot about the increasing lack of oxygen in the shelter is - minor ten minute distraction at best). Even the Dominator's rows are beginning to get repetitive - Rago really ought to kill Toba at some point, otherwise it likewise fails to go anywhere. And yet another attack on the Quarks... well, one Quark. Killed pathetically easily.
There's plenty of nice characterisation - the playful banter between Zoe and the Doctor is lovely, with the Doctor able to gently rib Zoe in a way he'd never have tried with the much more delicate Victoria - she's a much more personable character straight away (though I love the daftness of the moment when they act all shocked at locating the Dominator's energy source, as if it hasn't been blatantly in plain sight for hours). And Jamie gets to be brave and proactive, and surprisingly sensible, even if he doesn't really do much (with all the furore about the death of the Quark, it's again something of a sideshow to what I'll laughingly refer to as 'the plot'). Fun in a way, but get on with it.
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#139 2 Dec 2004, 9:57 am
Dorney
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Re: Day by Day
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The Dominators 5:
This is one of those bizarre episodes, like Planet of Giants 3, where the production team decided that the story didn't quite have enough meat on it for the full length, and truncate the two episodes into one. Quite why the let a few of last seasons stories through untouched I'm not sure (Wheel could do with losing an episode in the middle, certainly). But the fact is they cut this one, although unlike PoG, they did so before production.
The thing that really strikes me as odd about this particular concept is that both times I'm aware of it happening, they cut the last two episodes. Now, obviously I don't know what a six part Dominators would have been like, but I'd suggest they're cutting the wrong one. Push 5 and 6 together, and you have a lot of fannying around, followed by a rushed climax. Watch here, as after four episodes of mulling around, the main drill is started, completed and defeated within about ten minutes. The finale is not where you need to inject pace. You do it in the middle, particularly if it's as flabby as the middle of this story. As it is, rather than have a story that's evenly paced throughout, you've got one that stands still for the majority of the time, then does a sprint.
So as it is, this episode is quite fun, just a little over-crowded. Rago and Toba's bickering seems to be going nowhere all the time, and has got a little boring - you can't help but feel sorry for Toba, who does feel like an admonished child. You wonder precisely what the Dulcians would have to do before Rago would let him kill them. Even I thought Toba would be justified in killing them all about halfway through (in deed, had he been allowed to do this, they'd actually have won - why bother conserving the Quarks power when you've all the time in the world? They only need to rush because they've drawn attention to themselves. I just wish Toba got one line of 'I told you so' before being blown up). One theory is that Rago won't let Toba kill anyone, because he wants to do it instead (on his own he's perfectly happy to kill Brian Cant for far less reason than anything Toba wants to do). It seems a little bit pervese that when he actually decides to take out Jamie and Cully, he doesn't let Toba have a go.
And the Quarks are pathetically easy to defeat aren't they? (The design of their head suggests they should be able to see 360%, surely). Knock a rock at them, trip them up with a cloth. Yes, Doctor, incredibly dangerous, oh yes.
One little problem with the story is the message. If the point is supposed to be that inaction and pacifism is useless in the face of an agressor, then how come the Dulcian council are allowed to 'just wait' and still survive? They're Micawber like faith in 'something turning up' is touching, yes, but it shouldn't succeed. Whether you agree with the politics or not (personally, I find them a little black and white), you can see that this doesn't complete the theme. The same message hangs around the orignal Dalek story, and in that the Thals survive through action. The Dulcians in this still don't do anything (even the students, when their planet is in imminent danger of 'total destruction' - c) Toba - are more interested in checking if Cully's ok than digging the tunnel that could SAVE THEIR WORLD!).
So not the most succesful story. Fun at times, but lacking in any clear aim or development (everyone is still the same at the end as the beginning, neither the Dulcians nor the Dominators have learnt anything, and none of the threads have gone anywhere at all). The central performances of the regulars remain a treat though (the friendly teasing and warmth is a delight) and the story is lifted by gloriously entertaining ham from the Dominator actors. But this is Who where it's writers aren't really aiming for anything other than kids.
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#140 2 Dec 2004, 3:14 pm
The Secretive Bus
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Re: Day by Day
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I suppose really you could have cut and pasted the episode 1 review another 4 times..
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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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