Day of the Daleks

7 Feb 2007, 11:17 pm
Dorney
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And we're back...

Day of the Daleks 1:
One of the highlights of acting in the panto Jack and the Beanstalk this Christmas was how the audience responded to the Giant. After being a disembodied voice for the whole of the first half, he’d finally turn up about fifteen minutes into act two. His henchman, Fleshcreep, ran on stage and introduced the giant Blunderbore at which point a massive door flew out and there he stood – an actor named Angus wearing a massive wirework frame body over his own, on stilts concealed in boots, and under an anamatronic head. When this enormous creature lurched down to the front of the stage, more often than not he’d get a round of applause (in the cases where he didn’t you had to ask yourself what an audience needed to see before they’d consider clapping).

Now quite a few of the cast members of the show were regular performers at another theatre that was also doing Jack and the Beanstalk and so later I went with them to watch this other production. A lot of things didn’t entirely work with it, and one of them was the giant. It was just an actor on stilts with a bit of odd makeup and a Mohican but that wasn’t the major problem. After being equally disembodied for act one, he first appeared at the start of act two – but hanging around the back of the stage so you slowly realised he was there. As a result very little impact.

In other words, he needed an entrance. If you build this character up, you have to make the reveal a big moment, as opposed to one where the audience don’t quite know how to react. One way gets a round of applause, the other gets stony silence.

The reason I mention this and it’s relevance to Doctor Who, as you are no doubt begging to find out, is that it emphasises the wrongness of one of the great lazy criticisms of the show. That being: ‘what’s the point of having the Daleks/Cybermen/whoever appearing at the cliffhanger as if it’s some big surprise.’

Now to my mind this is wrong for a number of reasons. Firstly, since when have great cliffhangers been about surprise? They can be, sure (Army of Ghosts leaps to mind), but this suggests that shock is the only way they can be effective, and that’s blatantly untrue. In a lot of cases, the best cliffhangers are dramatic highpoints, dramatic peaks (think Caves of Androzani 3, Ambassadors 2, Bad Wolf, Impossible Planet). Whilst some great cliffhangers are about moments of revelation, it’s by no means the only thing that makes people tune in next week.

Secondly, and this is how Jack and the Beanstalk relates, the villains need an entrance. The arrival of Daleks/Cybermen etc. has to be a dramatic highlight. It needs impact. Placing their arrival at the cliffhanger gives impact, regardless of whether or not it’s a surprise or not. Partially through build up, partially through promise of things to come, though mainly because cliffhangers tend to work best when they’re part of the story – a signal of the plot moving to the next level, rather than simple peril or shock and the arrival of the main villains sums that up. When they appear has to be a ‘big’ moment – and in a twenty five minute format, with a cliffhanger (also needing to be a ‘big’ moment) coming up, you can’t put a big moment halfway through without overbalancing things, without making it too big.

It’s the reason why the first appearances of monsters are often saved til the cliffhanger even when we’ve no idea who they are ( Zygons, Kraals, Wirrn, the Destroyer, Drashigs, Sea Devils, even the Mandrils). Introducing the monster is a dramatic highpoint, not a shock. It takes the story forward.

Equally obvious is when you look at how rubbish it seems when monsters appear mid episode. All of the eighties Dalek stories have them appear halfway through part one, and the entrances have little or no impact. Particularly rubbish is Revelation, as at least the other two try to give them a degree of fanfare.

In other words, the appearance of the Daleks tends to coincide with the part one cliffhanger because it’s usually the best place for it to go (in old series terms at least). Not because we’re supposed to be surprised.

Day of the Daleks features a particularly heinous demonstration of this point. This first episode is a great tension builder, filled with mystery. However, it makes to my mind a fundamentally stupid mistake.

About half way through the episode, the setting flashes forward to the camp controller (rather hilariously pushing his own swivel chair round in the most awkward manner possible) ordering around the Ogrons. At the end of the scene we see a Dalek, rather pointlessly.

It makes very little sense to include this scene. It doesn’t give us any information we need to understand what’s going on. It isn’t particularly dramatic.

The end of an episode, especially the first episode, works best as a gear change. And that’s the problem. The cliffhanger for this episode is practically a perfect example of how to do it – if everything it reveals hasn’t already been blown. The last moments are the Daleks shouting that they’re going to exterminate people. Yeah, that’s a big shock. They’re not actually doing anything threatening, they’re just voicing an aim we’ve known exists for half the episode.

Think how well it would work if they didn’t include this scene (and another brief, equally redundant future scene). After twenty odd minutes in a fairly straightforward, if intriguing, modern day environment, we’re given a sudden shift to a futuristic world, with a bunch of people we’ve not met before, and they’re under Dalek control. Who wouldn’t want to come back the next week? So there really is no point in including it earlier as all it does is ruin the cliffhanger – there’s nothing dramatic about the sudden appearance of something you’ve had ten minutes to get used to.

Actually, there is a fairly obvious point to the inclusion, and it’s that old favourite: filling in time. With the start of the episode featuring Styles meeting a guerrilla, the climax of the episode has to be the Doctor in a similar situation (once again, like Jack and the Beanstalk, where the interval has to come when Jack goes up the Beanstalk, and you have to fill in time to make that work). But, obviously and problematically, that means not much progression for the plot. So it’s got to be filled.

Now, it doesn’t do too badly. The duplicate Doctor and Jo scene is blatantly redundant, but is intriguing enough, and perfectly placed so it works as a nice warm up into the main theme. And Louis Marks takes the opportunity to explore the characterisation of the regulars - the RHIP scene is memorable and lovely, though I also like the touch of the Brigadier entering HQ in a state of disarray, sans tie etc. The Doctor isn’t too bad here either, much warmer than the self righteous prig of the previous serial, albeit with his stance on ‘ghosts’ not entirely feeling right so close to his slating of magic. Jo and Benton in particular do all right, and Styles is a well put together and surprisingly real politician. Generally, the writing is good, and the episode does a nice job in hooking us fairly early on with its intriguing set up (the sudden appearance of the Ogron is good, implying as it does that we’ve arrived in the middle of something, always a disorientating but fascinating position).

Ultimately though, it can’t help but feel like an episode about waiting, with a lot of time spent on characters hanging around til something happens – the Doctor, Jo, UNIT, the future people – heck, even the time travelling team decide to wait til morning for no obvious reason. The script is well written enough to keep us entertained, but we’re not exactly excited yet.

Oh, and I stand corrected. I’d always thought that Daleks voices were pretty much interchangeable and I couldn’t tell the difference. Shows how long it’s been since I watched this story. These voices are rubbish.

#560 8 Feb 2007, 8:46 pm
jacka
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RE "Power of the Daleks"...Yes this was a superb story ! it was strange that The Doctor's clothes had also changed when he was "renewed"...I recall Pat Troughton being amused at Polly & Ben's shock at his sudden "transformation"...he holds up a mirror (a picture of William Hartnell glares back at him !).. he keeps on referring to "him" as if he were not The Doctor....That silly stove pipe hat (which was soon discarded)... the 500 year diary !...he invites Polly & Ben to "come and meet the Daleks..."
The Dalek scans around...(you saw "Through" the Dalek's eyepiece...it's view...) picking up on Resno's "fear" like a shark...then awaiting it's chance....
Later the Dalek (minus it's extermination gun) tries to "fire" at a shocked Doctor...

At the end of the story after the Tardis dematerialises...a "dead" Dalek is seen lifeless....
Then chillingly it's eyestick rises slowly up....and the credits rolled....

A brilliant debut by Pat Troughton

Do remember tho' in "Tenth Planet" they had to keep the Original Doctor's role cut back to almost an observer as William Hartnell was unwell (he was totally unable to perform in Episode Three, thus The Doctor also "collapses"....), on his return for his last Episode, with quick rewriting ,they cut back his script demand as much as possible.

I enjoyed your review...brought back a lot of old memories...of a "classic" story...
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#562 9 Feb 2007, 12:29 pm
Raveen
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Interesting thoughts there Dorney, good to have you back and posting (now I've spent several happy days catching up ).

I just want to leap to the defence of the 80s Dalek stories and their choice of introducing the Daleks before the end of episode 1.

Firstly we can discount Revelation because it was written for the 2*45 min structure and as such the classic end of part one cliffhanger doesn't exist.

Resurrection and Rememberance are both jam packed with plot and need to include the Daleks before the part 1 cliffhanger to squeeze it all in without feeling lop-sided. To use your Jack and the beanstalk example, whilst the reveal is best placed at the interval, if you need to giant to take an active part in proceedings in the first half of the story, you shouldn't pad the first half out until the interval just for the reveal. The play will end up with uneven pacing and a dodgy structure.

Interestingly though Resurrection uses a very similar sort of part 1 cliffhanger to most of the earlier Dalek stories and it *is* the first time the Doctor is aware of their involvement. If you cut out all the Dalek scenes in part 1 the cliffhanger would be pure Terry Nation.

The Rememberance part 1 cliffhanger is so perfect that I'll happily take the low impact Dalek reveal in exchange for it.

#563 10 Feb 2007, 12:34 pm
Dorney
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Raveen
"Firstly we can discount Revelation because it was written for the 2*45 min structure and as such the classic end of part one cliffhanger doesn't exist. "

Actually, I'd argue that Revelation is a really bad example, because due to its 2x45 structure, it can afford to have a mid episode big moment of, er, revelation, without unbalancing the episode. And it has the weakest first appearance of the Daleks ever.


Quote:
"Resurrection and Rememberance are both jam packed with plot and need to include the Daleks before the part 1 cliffhanger to squeeze it all in without feeling lop-sided. To use your Jack and the beanstalk example, whilst the reveal is best placed at the interval, if you need to giant to take an active part in proceedings in the first half of the story, you shouldn't pad the first half out until the interval just for the reveal. The play will end up with uneven pacing and a dodgy structure. "

Well, technically, the best reveal for the Giant is in the second half, not at the interval (the interval has to be Jack climbing the beanstalk). The reason being that if the Giant's any good, you have to get to the end pretty quickly as there's nowhere left to go.

But the stories always need some presence for the baddy in the first half, true - but it's usually as a voice. That and the usage of a henchman, Fleshcreep. And that's the trick - you don't pad out that first half til you can reveal the monster, you find ways of giving that monster presence without a reveal.

That is the whole point of the robomen in DIOE, for example, the Androids in Earthshock. And you'd think the Ogrons in Day - to act as a substitute monster until the real one can turn up. Certainly I'd argue with Ressurection (though I'm not totally sure about this, not having seen it for a few years) that you could get away with just using the mercenaries to fill all the plot functions the Daleks have. And does the Dalek really need to be seen in the junkyard in Rememberance? I'm not convinced.

#564 10 Feb 2007, 4:30 pm
Raveen
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True, in Resurrection you have suitable henchmonsters to fill the first 20 minutes or so. Although in the end that would have been scuppered by being transmitted in a 2*45min format anyway

Rememberance has no such henchmonsters candidates. Whilst it feels like a fairly unimportant scene that junkyard sequence messes a whole lot of other plot points up if you pull it out.

I suppose in Revelation the Daleks *are* the henchmonsters (in spite of what the story title might suggest ). The story is all about Davros so it should be his reveal that's a big dramatic moment (which I think it was but it's been a while).

#565 12 Feb 2007, 10:26 am
Dorney
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Raveen
"Rememberance has no such henchmonsters candidates. Whilst it feels like a fairly unimportant scene that junkyard sequence messes a whole lot of other plot points up if you pull it out. "

Oh, I'm not suggesting you pull it out - and it is the best reveal of the three - but you could probably get away with keeping it hidden for the scene.


#566 12 Feb 2007, 4:51 pm
Dorney
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Day of the Daleks 2:

This second episode demonstrates a further problem of bringing in the Daleks too early before they really need to be there.

Now, it may be a result of their being a latter addition to the plot, rather than part of the initial pitch. But it’s hard not to feel that their obvious presence doesn’t really aid the story.

You see, it does rather clearly signal who’s side we should be on. We know the Daleks, and we know they can’t be up to any good. As a result, we have to stand on the side of the guerrillas.

Which is a shame, because the rest of the script appears to be structured ambiguously. In episode one, the guerrillas kill a couple of UNIT squaddies, which the Ogron’s haven’t done yet, so there’s the suggestion the aliens are the goodies. And the Controller is all sweetness and light to Jo when she arrives. Now, sure, you can’t hold onto this set up too long, but a game of ‘guess the villain’ has to be worth a punt, doesn’t it? Especially when the Daleks really haven’t done anything in the first two episodes that really warrants them being seen.

Of course, they’re not alone in that. This episode doesn’t really do much at all in its twenty five minutes. The only real progression is Jo’s transportation to the future. Apart from that, it’s mainly the humans hanging round, locking up the Doctor and Jo in the cellar a couple of times, and waiting. However, it somehow doesn’t come across as as dull as it sounds, and you don’t really notice how little it moves unless you think about it. I’d wager that this is because it’s all played with a good air of tension and conflict. Waiting is dull, waiting in tension is interesting. In other words, there is a real sense that people are waiting because they have to. They’re not waiting for something to happen, they’re waiting but are worried that something is going to happen. The former is passive, the latter active.

As a result, when something does happen – the Ogron raid on the house – it’s properly exciting. An Ogron smashing through the french windows is arresting. It’s a shame that it’s wrapped up too quickly – the slow menacing advance of these huge creatures being arrested by the Brig shooting them from offscreen, about as flat a resolution as you can get.

So, a general write up then – a good air of mystery, slightly negated by the obvious villains. Nothing much going on (UNIT in particular are massively underused this week). Dalek voices still rubbish – and a new entry for the deeply irritating re-use of the cliffhanger sting at the start of every episode. But generally, involving and well written (bar the stilted broadly contraction-less dialogue of the future humans). Not bad.

#567 13 Feb 2007, 5:32 am
Jeffster
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Wow, when I started reading this topic, I figured, like blaine's, it started so long ago and I started so recently that I would never have anything timely to say. But at this rate, I may just catch up to you!

I started my own "day by day" viewing last March (though the rate I watched episodes changed quite a bit for awhile) and tonight I just watched The Mind of Evil episode 5. I'm now watching one episode per weekday, and I'll be including some Big Finish audios as well when I get to them, so I'm scheduled to finish my epic journey at the end of April 2009. I thought about making my own thread, but I really don't have so much to say as you guys do about each episode, so it would really be more like a few random notes from time to time.

#568 16 Feb 2007, 12:33 pm
NyssaOfTraken
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dorney
"Day of the Daleks 2:

This second episode demonstrates a further problem of bringing in the Daleks too early before they really need to be there.

Now, it may be a result of their being a latter addition to the plot, rather than part of the initial pitch. But it’s hard not to feel that their obvious presence doesn’t really aid the story.

You see, it does rather clearly signal who’s side we should be on. We know the Daleks, and we know they can’t be up to any good. As a result, we have to stand on the side of the guerrillas. "

On the contrary, I think this is a good thing. The Daleks are the bad guys, therefore the guerrilas are obviously the good guys...which makes the big reveal all the more potent - It's one of the good guys who explodes the bomb that starts WWIII and ultimately lets the Daleks in. If the guerillas were ambiguous, it wouldn't be at all suprising and the big reveal falls flat on its face.

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#569 16 Feb 2007, 1:16 pm
Dorney

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Quote:
Originally Posted by NyssaOfTraken
"On the contrary, I think this is a good thing. The Daleks are the bad guys, therefore the guerrilas are obviously the good guys...which makes the big reveal all the more potent - It's one of the good guys who explodes the bomb that starts WWIII and ultimately lets the Daleks in. If the guerillas were ambiguous, it wouldn't be at all suprising and the big reveal falls flat on its face. "

Hold on though - that's not for two episodes yet. I'm not suggesting we shouldn't realise relatively soon who the good guys are, and it certainly shouldn't be held up until the end of the story (for the reasons you suggest) but this early on amibiguity should be the key. There's no point blowing a twist in episode one in order to facilitate a shock in episode four. An episode, an episode and a half with the sides clearly delineated would still have the ending work. A reveal around the end of part two would be the best point.

#570 9 Mar 2007, 2:41 am
Jeffster
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I've officially caught up to Dorney, as I just watched Day of the Daleks Episode Two tonight.

My immediate thought is, this is why I think 4-parters are too short. We're halfway through and nothing's happened yet!

And I totally agree with you about the voices. Where's Peter Hawkins? What idiot told the guy doing the voice that Daleks speak in kindergarten phonics?

Anyway, they better have something exciting cooked up for the last two parts, because the first two had very little compelling in them at all. (Really, the alternate future selves of the Doc and Jo were the only thing that I like so far.)

I'll be watching Episode 3 tomorrow night, but I don't suppose Dorney will. Now I'm wondering if I actually should start my own thread.
#587 23 May 2007, 12:22 am
Thot Gor
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I really dont understand what it is with these fans (you're not the first one I've encountered)that want to watch the entire series in chronological order from beginning to end?


#589 25 May 2007, 9:52 pm
Dorney
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thot gor
"I really dont understand what it is with these fans (you're not the first one I've encountered)that want to watch the entire series in chronological order from beginning to end? "

Well, quite simply, it's a new way of watching and appreciating the show. It genuinely does give you a new appreciation of various things (you'll never quite get the way the Hartnell years and particularly Hartnell himself work without doing it). It's interesting getting the sense of how the show develops (and as such it's also the way I watch most other shows - Dad's Army, Steptoe, etc.) rather than just cherry picking favourites. And also it does force you to watch shows you might otherwise have avoided or forgotten for years (as I said above, I'd left the Krotons in its cellophane wrapping since buying it).

#590 26 May 2007, 2:19 am
codywillis1
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I entirely agree, Dorney. I'm doing a marathon myself at the moment (just started season 8 last night) and it's a very different way of watching the show - and, in many ways, more satisfying. As you said, the Hartnell era in particular is SO MUCH better watched in context, I honestly can't imagine me watching it out of order ever again. And companion arrivals/departures and regenerations actually MEAN something.
I'm lovin' my marathon, personally.

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#603 2 Jun 2007, 6:39 pm
fortmap
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I did the whole series in order, right up until the first new series. It was really, really good.
Particularly the Hartnell ones.
Troughton suffered a lot with the repetition of storylines though.

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#604 9 Jun 2007, 2:13 pm
Michael S Collins
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moving back on topic

I like Day of the Daleks. It had an interesting flow of narrative, Aubrey Woods was good in it and I liked the time paradox.

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#605 25 Jun 2007, 9:32 am
colonel_masters
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Just one thing - how did you get to watch all of the episodes? Do you have all the dvds / videos - thinking of doing the same myself but don't know how easy it will be to get hold of everything


#606 25 Jun 2007, 9:32 pm
Dorney
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I've already got the VHS. Not sure how easy they'll be to come by. But it's worth doing, I promise.

At least, it's worth doing when I get round to it... new updates in a month.

#607 28 Jun 2007, 10:49 pm
colonel_masters
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I have some, can get hold of others, but may have to check youtube for any I can't get. What do you do about missing episodes and big finish - are they included? On a tangent, wouldn't it be cool if there were animated vesions of these in the same manner as the recent release of the Invasion

#608 29 Jun 2007, 1:49 pm
The Secretive Bus
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Quote:
"What do you do about missing episodes"

Dorney's reviewed every missing episode amongst his 60s reviews, using either fan reconstructions or the official BBC Radio Collection releases.

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#609 29 Jun 2007, 11:56 pm
Dorney
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Quote:
Originally Posted by colonel_masters
"I have some, can get hold of others, but may have to check youtube for any I can't get. What do you do about missing episodes and big finish - are they included? On a tangent, wouldn't it be cool if there were animated vesions of these in the same manner as the recent release of the Invasion "

Further to the Bus' post, I had originally intended to review the BF audios - but then I got work in some. It's not so much that I would feel weird reviewing things I'm actually in, just that seeing some of the processes and reasoning behind various creative decisions from the other side makes it kind of impossible to judge the story merits objectively. That and any negatives would feel rude and a bit of a betrayal.

#613 11 Jul 2007, 2:13 am
colonel_masters
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Have gotten as far as The Keys of Marinus. Not going to spam your thread by reviewing them all, Dorney, but I will say I'm enjoying this immensley and it mmakes for top escapism once a day. Hartnell Dr Who's stand up pretty well despite their age (can't believe it's almost half a century!) I think I might even do big finish when I get to Davidson, but thats a long way off!

#616 23 Jul 2007, 10:32 am
Phil W
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If I were to get to choose the manner of my masochismic torture, watching every Doctor Who episode would definitely be my second most favouritist choice.

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#632 4 Oct 2007, 1:09 pm
Dorney
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Day of the Daleks 3:

It struck me as odd that for all the equating of the Pertwee years with UNIT, there's precious little of them as of about this episode. There's only one full scale UNIT story left in the Pertwee years (Dinosaurs), and that's one less than Tom Baker gets. If you ignore that, each year UNIT appear in two stories - and each and every time they're shunted off the scene as quickly as possible. It's a real shame - they added a different dynamic to the show, and for the production team to seem almost embarassed by them is a bit rubbish.

But this essentially means we're back in bricks and mortar Who land now. Unashamedly going 'stuff the exile' we're heading off to the future again. A weird future with lots of face paint and curiously backward looking scooters.

As with the previous episode, there isn't an awful lot happening in this episode, but what isn't happening isn't happening interestingly. It's main emphasis is on context. Having spent two episodes being terribly vague about the future world, we get to see it. The script is designed to show you how appalling it is. Now some aspects of this work - the brutalised regime in command, for example, immediately conjures up a load of associations (surely the commander is a blatant ripoff of Bridge on the River Kwai?). The slave workforce is less successful (there's only about a dozen of them) and the blasted future world looks pretty much like the grounds of Style's estate. You don't really get the sense of a world in peril - just a small area. But it does show why the story needs the Daleks - it adds a much more specific threat than simple generic fascist dictatorship, which had to be old hat even in the seventies. Without them there just wouldn't be enough of a sense of a great evil to be avenged (not to justify a Doctor Who story, frankly). Sure, dictatorships are unpleasant things, but we are pretty much only seeing it from the viewpoint of the disaffected (who could be misguided terrorists rather than freedom fighters). The Daleks add clear definable evil and a straightforward sense of which side we should be on. They still shouldn't have turned up til the part two cliffhanger though.

There's plenty of emphasis on world building here - every character (even the two bit parters in the Doctor's interrogation scene) are given a sense of personality. Again this is down to strong writing. The scene with the Controller and the Doctor chatting cordially over wine is probably the nub of the episode - clever and fun. I'm never entirely sure about Aubrey Woods arch and mildly hammy performance, but in many ways that's the joy of it. All the dialogue is delivered with such relish.

OK, so it's still a little eggy in places. The Doctor and Jo's escape is totally redundant (and only lasts about a minute). It also makes very little sense - not only do they plan it in a room the Daleks are monitoring, they then call in the guard and defeat him, only to run out of a completely different door - and then they have the most pathetic motor chase I've ever seen. Honestly, Pertwee may have loved his gadgets, but he clearly didn't love them enough to learn to use them properly. Utterly embarassing, and over quickly, thankfully. Though that's not true of the episode itself.


#633 5 Oct 2007, 12:58 am
Jeffster
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Good to see you back on the reviewing board, Dorney! You helped inspire me to make my review thread, and I started right about where you left off before. Now I'm up to The Face Of Evil!

I agree with a lot of what you said about Day of the Daleks. I couldn't get past the overall uselessness of the Daleks and the way off-model voices they had in that story. The action picked up in the second half, but it still didn't seem to go anywhere. And the climactic attack of the couple of slow-moving Daleks just wasn't very effective at all to me.

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#636 6 Oct 2007, 2:21 pm
ianzpotter
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Yay. Curse of Peladon by Christmas, I reckon! Please, everyone stop employing Dorney, it takes his mind of his work.

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#637 6 Oct 2007, 2:41 pm
Dorney

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Quote:
Originally Posted by ianzpotter
"Yay. Curse of Peladon by Christmas, I reckon! Please, everyone stop employing Dorney, it takes his mind of his work. "

I'm determined to get there by the end of the week, frankly. Sea Devils is tricky, as I'm not sure where my copy is, but I think I've sourced an alternative.

Ideally, I want to hit season ten by mid november, as I can take the DVDs of 3 Docs and Carnival with me to panto.

#638 6 Oct 2007, 3:26 pm
ianzpotter
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They'll fit in very nicely for panto indeed...

I'm finishing listening to 100 today, and seriously considering starting from the beginning again...
Must get life or convincing substitute.

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#640 20 Oct 2007, 9:55 am
Dorney
Time Lord

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Day of the Daleks 4:

Well, it's a corking episode. With reservations.

The biggest positive about this episode is, conversely, it's biggest problem. For some reason, the production team seem to have decided that they should squeeze the entire plot into this one episode. It's genuinely astonishing to watch. After three episodes of engaging, if plot light, material, the second half kicks off with an astonishing pace - I mean, practically new series pace. As a result you never really get a chance to breathe.

And the remarkable thing is that they barely sacrifice any character or material to get that pace. Look at the controller - practically his entire character is defined by this episode. Up until now he's been an entertainingly arch but nonetheless generic figure. Whereas in this episode, we get pretty much his entire journey. It's surprisingly realistic and non-judgemental for the show. We understand his point of view. This isn't some one note evil associate wanting power (along the Mavic Chen line), this is a more complex figure who hates the Daleks as much as anyone, just has to work alongside them. It feels like a fairly real interpretation of the dilemma people must have living under tyrannical regimes - survive or fight. His ultimate switch, whilst never really a shock, is written with admirable precision -like the rest of the episode, it's swift, but it doesn't feel contrived. Of course, having said that, it's a bit of a shame that his subordinate might as well be wearing a hat with the word 'evil' on it (though I think that is a performance/directing issue rather than script), and for my money Woods doesn't quite deliver his last line right (I'm not sure precisely why - it just feels a touch too... well 'delivered'). But that's a small issue with some finely judged character work.

One of the other slight flaws in the pace (and in deed, the structure) is that the revelation about what the guerillas are up to, the place Styles has in history, and the Doctor's subsequent debunking of it are over in about twenty seconds. It's sort of a shame we don't get a bit more time to treat this as a mystery, though to be fair, it's hard not to think that if we did we'd probably guess the truth rather quickly ourselves (not necessarily the precise details but the general premise). Having said that, the associated air of tension as history moves implacably into place could have been interesting. Even then, though, there are bonuses - Pertwee's delivery of the revelation ('You did it yourselfs') is a great impassioned reading.

And there are other minor flaws - the story completely runs out of things for Jo to do and she just hangs around emoting pointlessly throughout, and the resolution is so quick as to be a little disappointing (you're all excited by the battle, then the bomb itself takes about half a second to destroy an entire house, then two lines and the story's over - you do immediately go 'hold on, is that it?'), though that's got a lot to do with the preceding five minutes being great fun. The pattern of take with one, give with the other reasserts itself - Shura is turned round remarkably quickly, but his last line is a gem.

Despite all this, it's great entertainment. A battle heavy episode, with lots of Dalek and UNIT action, this is what you've been waiting for (I mean, let me say that again - UNIT vs. Daleks. What's going to be wrong with that?!). The Brig is commanding, not a figure of fun, and the final confrontation is beautifully done.

So, in other words, it's a pacey and fun episode, that still manages to get a lot of plot in elegantly, and interestingly, as it ticks off everything we really need from a story climax. Deeply satisfying and one of the finest final episodes I've seen.

1 Nov 2007, 10:40 am
Dorney

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Well, as the more astute of you may have noticed, I've now got a BF audio on the go which is taking up much of my time...

http://www.bigfinish.com/32-sapphire...r-me-544-p.asp

... so apologies for the semi traditional delay.

However, I will be copying some VHS to DVD so when I'm off doing panto I should be able to keep going. This next batch of stories I've been looking forward to (for the most part) so I do want to have a crack.






#647 21 Nov 2007, 11:23 pm
colonel_masters
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"Got stuck on Galaxy Four for about a month -couldn't say whether it was because it was a recon or because it is a poor story. Finally got past it and watched Mission to the Unknown recon which was class. Can't be bothered trying to get hold of Myth Makers recon so I'm going to listen to the audio whilst looking at the stills from the bbc website. "

#648 7 Dec 2007, 9:34 am
AlMiles
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Going back a bit to The Moonbase which I'm on now...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dorney
"If there's anything about this that's a little weak, it's the rather self-conscious mutli-national make-up of the station, immediately reminiscent of the Tenth Planet. However, the alternative is a bunch of white englishmen, which is probably worse (though I would like it if the black cast member didn't die straight away. The series seems, to my eyes, to be it's most amenable to casting black actors here. This is, what, the fourth story out of six to cast one. "

Fifth out of seven - there's Dwight Whylie as the radio announcer in The War Machines.

I agree with you and Jac Rayner that it is also weak that in 2070 it's an all-male crew on the Moonbase!

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#649 24 Dec 2007, 12:24 am
VanHusen

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dorney
"Day of the Daleks 4:

Well, it's a corking episode. With reservations.

The biggest positive about this episode is, conversely, it's biggest problem. For some reason, the production team seem to have decided that they should squeeze the entire plot into this one episode. It's genuinely astonishing to watch. After three episodes of engaging, if plot light, material, the second half kicks off with an astonishing pace - I mean, practically new series pace. As a result you never really get a chance to breathe.

And the remarkable thing is that they barely sacrifice any character or material to get that pace. Look at the controller - practically his entire character is defined by this episode. Up until now he's been an entertainingly arch but nonetheless generic figure. Whereas in this episode, we get pretty much his entire journey. It's surprisingly realistic and non-judgemental for the show. We understand his point of view. This isn't some one note evil associate wanting power (along the Mavic Chen line), this is a more complex figure who hates the Daleks as much as anyone, just has to work alongside them. It feels like a fairly real interpretation of the dilemma people must have living under tyrannical regimes - survive or fight. His ultimate switch, whilst never really a shock, is written with admirable precision -like the rest of the episode, it's swift, but it doesn't feel contrived. Of course, having said that, it's a bit of a shame that his subordinate might as well be wearing a hat with the word 'evil' on it (though I think that is a performance/directing issue rather than script), and for my money Woods doesn't quite deliver his last line right (I'm not sure precisely why - it just feels a touch too... well 'delivered'). But that's a small issue with some finely judged character work.

One of the other slight flaws in the pace (and in deed, the structure) is that the revelation about what the guerillas are up to, the place Styles has in history, and the Doctor's subsequent debunking of it are over in about twenty seconds. It's sort of a shame we don't get a bit more time to treat this as a mystery, though to be fair, it's hard not to think that if we did we'd probably guess the truth rather quickly ourselves (not necessarily the precise details but the general premise). Having said that, the associated air of tension as history moves implacably into place could have been interesting. Even then, though, there are bonuses - Pertwee's delivery of the revelation ('You did it yourselfs') is a great impassioned reading.

And there are other minor flaws - the story completely runs out of things for Jo to do and she just hangs around emoting pointlessly throughout, and the resolution is so quick as to be a little disappointing (you're all excited by the battle, then the bomb itself takes about half a second to destroy an entire house, then two lines and the story's over - you do immediately go 'hold on, is that it?'), though that's got a lot to do with the preceding five minutes being great fun. The pattern of take with one, give with the other reasserts itself - Shura is turned round remarkably quickly, but his last line is a gem.

Despite all this, it's great entertainment. A battle heavy episode, with lots of Dalek and UNIT action, this is what you've been waiting for (I mean, let me say that again - UNIT vs. Daleks. What's going to be wrong with that?!). The Brig is commanding, not a figure of fun, and the final confrontation is beautifully done.

So, in other words, it's a pacey and fun episode, that still manages to get a lot of plot in elegantly, and interestingly, as it ticks off everything we really need from a story climax. Deeply satisfying and one of the finest final episodes I've seen. "

It has some shots of Jo Grants underwear which the director obviously missed during editing that make it one the kids can't watch

#650 29 Dec 2007, 11:06 pm
The Secretive Bus
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Quote:
Originally Posted by VanHusen
"It has some shots of Jo Grants underwear which the director obviously missed during editing that make it one the kids can't watch "

Actually, if you listen carefully at the 9 minutes and 33 seconds mark, at one of the more notable knicker flashes, you can hear the director (or somebody else in studio) grunt "F **k, yes!" Listen out for it.

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#651 10 Jan 2008, 12:56 am
AlMiles
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dorney
"Jamie and Victoria don't get much to do, and this means they've been pretty much sidelined for the second half. Their episode away means that the vast majority of the stuff you'd expect a companion to do gets transferred to Astrid "

And 40 years later (December 1967 to 2007), history repeats itself Do you think RTD had this in mind when he named Kylie's character?

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