Frontier in Space

19 Aug 2008, 11:17 pm
Dorney

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Frontier in Space 1:

Out of all my Doctor Who videos Frontier in Space is unique. It's the only VHS which I've left the price label on since the day I got it. I'm still not sure why. Tradition, probably. The irony is that it's one of the few in my collection that I didn't actually buy. I didn't steal it, don't panic, don't call the police. I won it in a DWM caption competition. The picture was one of Mel in the Paradise Towers pool with the yellow cleaner. My caption was " 'ere love - wanna look at my mussels". Hilarious. I'd like to remind you that these days people have been known to pay me to write comedy. I can't believe it either. (For those of you who are interested, the main winner that got published in the mag was: 'Of course, in custard I'm completely undetectable' which is genuinely amusing).

I mention all this as a way of filling in time because Frontier 1 is an odd episode, odd for reasons that lodged themselves in my mind the very first time I saw it. If you watch it, try to do so without checking out the timing or the clock. You see, I reckon that it will end significantly before you expect it to, as that’s what happened the first time I saw it.

You see, it's one of the least eventful episodes of Who I've ever seen. The Doctor and Jo arrive on a spaceship, that the Ogrons raid (disguised as Draconians), then they leave. That’s it. We don't even see the majority of the raid as all of the characters are unconscious throughout (one of the humans is knocked out, hilariously, because the Doctor uncharacteristically throws him at the attakers the moment they burst in). There’s a couple of world building chats between the crewmen, and politics on Earth, but it’s kind of hard to remember exactly what is said in them for more than about ten seconds.

And yet… it’s not boring. Somewhat uselessly, I’m not exactly sure why. Usually an episode can fill with character development and detail… but here, there doesn’t seem that much of it. I’m not sure what’s taking up the time.

I’m wondering if it’s actually the amount of plot packed in, despite little going on. Bear in mind that the central mystery of the initial episode (the mistaken identities of the Doctor, Jo, the Ogrons and the crewmen) is solved by the Doctor pretty instantly. OK, it’s all a lot of talk, but it’s plot advancing talk. Now, whilst this may be the story’s entire story blown in seconds (though I’m not convinced that Hulke could make that failing), it does mean that it’s entertaining. And, I suppose that the revelations do make you question something new – the villain’s motivation. In deed, there’s something quite intriguing about the initial mystery not being ‘what’ is going on, but ‘why’.

So a good start, if low key and not exactly memorable, it still manages to be engaging and interesting.


#732 21 Aug 2008, 7:06 pm
AlMiles

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Yay! I know we've had our spats in the current-affairs threads, well one of them anyway, but it is a genuine delight to read your thoughts, Chairman Dorney, especially with the episodes relatively fresh in my mind. You do have genuine insight and really help me to crystallise my own perception of them as a result - you give a perspective which allows me to frame where I stand on elements of the story, instead of being unaware why certain things in its execution or its apparent intent delight me or niggle. That's not to say I mirror your reactions to every bit, of course. But I do like it when you look anew at an unpopular episode and find something of interest. I enjoyed Frontier very much, and if you have any trouble 'backing up' your VHSs of any stories where necessary, well *cough* there are means, let me know...

Are you approaching this DWM 'Time Team'-stylee, pretending not to know what is coming next at least in story terms? Seems sensible - preserving the fresh viewing perspective you've brought to it so far makes sense. But what about production details, for instance when it is Roger Delgado's final story (not that I'm saying this is, of course!) do you pay more attention to how well he is employed and hark back to how his 'arc' (for want of another term) has played out against the series as a whole? Do you find yourself watching for certain scenes of, shall we say, historical repute or disrepute or take everything as it comes?

"Frontier" was an unknown to me beyond the Hulke novelisation. And I think the Pertwee era stands up robustly in written form - as inventive and satisfying a collection of adventures as in any other era of the show. Back in the 70s-mid 80s there was no other way to judge it (bar a dodgy VHS of "Day"). Regardless of execution, I find Hulke's stories to be worthy (and not always dull. Except 'Colony/Doomsday Weapon', obviously - only an Earth 2 producer could admire that). The political machinations, misplaced distrust and deceit formed a Master plan worthy of great enjoyment, and the return of the Ogrons was an early fanboy frisson too. Somehow I felt the Daleks must be around the corner, especially as Vorg had pointed out/reminded us one story before that the Ogrons were their servants... there's also some nice design to enjoy in this story, always a boon to someone like me who preferred visual imagination over plodding plot necessity.

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#733 21 Aug 2008, 10:53 pm
Dorney
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AlMiles
"Yay! I know we've had our spats in the current-affairs threads, well one of them anyway, "

You know, except in one or two relentless cases, I can never really remember having 'spats' with anyone!


Quote:
"Are you approaching this DWM 'Time Team'-stylee, pretending not to know what is coming next at least in story terms? "

I do slightly view it in the overall context of what I know about the show, later episodes. The problem there, is that these are the only classic series episodes I've watched in 5 years (well, with three exceptions - two stories, Invasion and DMP where I did watch newly found/recreated episodes, but in both cases I'd already watched them - the other more recently, and I'll keep that to myself for the moment). And even then, a lot I won't have seen for years before then. So to a degree, I'm coming at them fresh. So, with Frontier, for example, I can remember the odd cliffhanger, the presence of the Master and the Daleks... but that's about it. So it's an odd combination of knowing what's coming up and not having a clue.

#734 23 Aug 2008, 11:17 am
The Secretive Bus

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Sadly I can remember most Who episodes like the back of my hand (I wish I could erase most of my knowledge of it to make way for my degree, but alas...). It was quite exciting to get the Reign of Terror CD recently as I'd never heard episodes 4 and 5 before, nor had I seen the other episodes in years. Then I realised the story is completely pants.

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#735 23 Aug 2008, 3:32 pm
AlMiles
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dorney
"You know, except in one or two relentless cases, I can never really remember having 'spats' with anyone! "

True, thinking about it I was probably disagreeing with someone else but Tenth Planet tends to polarise everything into two "camps" on every issue and in one thread I was definitely in the other "camp"! Nice to return to more pleasant corners of the forum...

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#736 24 Aug 2008, 2:01 pm
mircalla
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I hope you won't mind the interruption but as one who's Dr Who collection is so far from complete that a review like this is impossible, I wanted to say that reading this thread is giving me a great deal of enjoyment. As I read the comments I can either return to my own vhs / DVD or relive the episode in my head.

However, AlMiles, if Androzani, Talons, Genesis and Inferno belong to adolescent boys, I've been carrying on a successful masquerade for many years!! I do agree with you about the impact of mood. My list would certainly be different to that in the Torygraph but for varying reasons on different days. My real quibble would be why isn't Invasion in there somewhere. I find myself returning again and again to the Troughton videos and DVDs that I own, remembering what an excellent Doctor 2 was. I was besotted with the programme from the first episode but I think that when Pat Troughton arrived I began to love the Doctor and have managed to do so ever since.

I do occasionally, after visiting the forum, wonder if I am too uncritical as I find something to love in every story when it does at times seem as if some longer-standing forum members positively hate something I've just enjoyed but have decided to be philosophical - after all, I'm not claiming that any of it is perfect or that I can't perceive any flaws, just that it is always worthwhile. I'm currently avoiding completing a dissertation and running out of time as I write this (instead of the 14,000 words I have to complete by Friday!) because I'm helping my stress by running as much Who as possible with the occasional intrusion of Star Trek or Stargate Atlantis and am left feeling that Doctor Who, overall, achieves a quality of inspiration, variety and imagination that nothing else approaches - as near to perfect as we are likely to get.

Also, before I shut up, did want to congratulate Dorney on a wonderful description of why Carnival of the Monsters works so well.

#737 30 Aug 2008, 3:09 pm
Dorney
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Frontier in Space 2:

One of the problems of writing this thread is that occassionally you'll watch an episode and then just not have the time to write up the review before going off to do other things. Case in point, I watched Frontier in Space around about the 22nd August. But because of various things I had to go off and do, I didn't get to write it up immediately. So it gets put off. And then, of course, the further you get away from it, the harder it is to remember precisely what it was you liked or disliked about the episode. Making the review harder to write still, and meaning you put it off a bit more, leading into a fairly vicious circle.

Sometimes, however, that doesn't matter. Sometimes you get lucky. And, quite frankly, I got lucky with Frontier in Space 2. Because this episode is so defined by one basic idea, that that's the only thing I have to remember. This is a Doctor Who episode entirely about the Doctor getting locked up. A lot.

You see, once in a while an episode comes along that is padded so shamelessly you just have to admire it. The Doctor and Jo get imprisoned and released about four or five times in this episode, and it just reaches the point - roughly as the Ogrons storm the human complex disguised as Draconians... as if the Draconians hadn't genuinely raided the same place about five minutes earlier - where the episode is pretty much winking at you. This episode isn't just padded. It's saying 'yeah, I'm padded. So what?'

And once again, it sort of gets by. OK, it's never a classic episode, but prison escapes are sort of fun and by ramming so many on top of each other, it manages to be pacey and fun, despite very little happening. In deed, the weakest bits of the story are those parts where it isn't so shameless - the Doctor's little anecdote about previous experiences with mind-probes is a little bit forced and uncomfortable, reminding me a little of my least favourite bit of padding ever (Vicki and the magic castle from the Chase). By pretending to have a point it actually comes over far worse than the pointless running around bits do, which is daft but possessed of a strange sort of sense.

That's not to say the episode is completely shallow, of course. The interrogation scenes (with the Doctor basically reiterating what we already know) are engaging, and the repetition actually helps - because it grants the show a decent stab at realism with nothing immediately turning up to cause anyone to believe him. Of course he'd be held in prison for yonks. And the Draconians are already a striking and interesting alien - and a bemusingly non-recurring one at that.

But, ultimately, this episode is about prison cells. And far more entertaining than that sounds.


#738 30 Aug 2008, 11:24 pm
Dorney

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Frontier in Space 3:

Of course, there is just taking the piss.

After the hilariously rubbish resolution to the cliffhanger (emphasising it's pointlessness by not advancing the plot an inch and being resolved in about five seconds flat - a fabulous contrast to the desperate padding of part two's two minute reprise), we get an awful lot more imprisonment.

Well, that's not fair. It's just one imprisonment, but it goes on quite a bit. Basically, to break the monotony of the last episodes batch of cells, we get the Doctor sent to a lunar penal colony. And it's odd, because it seems as well that he's sent to a completely different plot.

There's an awful lot of discussion about the Peace Party (and in deed, riots elsewhere are referred to in the main plot, both in dialogue and footage, although this is admittedly anti-Draconian), and we're clearly meant to judge this as being the victims of a fairly fascist society... but this is problematic as the society we've met up to this point isn't bad. OK, General Williams is portrayed as fairly one-note heavy militarist, but the Earth president... well, she seems to be a decent enough sort. There's no real sense of dictatorship, and her natural inclination is towards peace to a degree that is almost ridiculous (I mean, think about it - none of us are keen on war, but a woman in her position is supposed to make those hard decisions for us. With Draconians raiding and killing her subjects, breaking into her facilities and murdering people, her avoidance of declaring war seems overly pacifistic - fortuitous for the plot, obviously, due to it being the right choice, but slightly unbelievable in a proper politician).

So given that the state doesn't appear overly fascist, and that the Doctor doesn't seem to be bothered by it, and given that Peace Party never really explain their grievances, and given that the Doctor never really has any interest in helping them out, or bringing down the government - we're left in the slightly unpleasant position of having to wonder if they properly are just a bunch of terrorists. It's genuinely unclear. There's a sense that they're supposed to be sympathetic figures - the bizarrely performed Dale taking the Doctor on his escape with him for the greater good - but without anything to justify their position, and with the Doctor not condemning and fighting against their permanent incarceration (he doesn't want to free them, he just wants to get out himself) what are we supposed to take from this?

Well, confused material aside, it still manages to be entertaining. It’s a miracle this story. I suppose it helps that prisons are inherently tense, and whilst the story refuses to progress (the 3rd Doctor no further along in the plot at the end of this episode than two parts ago), it has an inherent dramatic tension. In many ways it feels like a little side adventure (mainly due to it forgetting the Draconians completely), and that’s probably why it works. Yes, it’s padding, but it’s dramatic padding – it’s roughly the same as the Doctor’s mind-probe story in the last episode, but it’s acted out, and it’s comparative success proves the ‘show, don’t tell’ adage..

Back on Earth, things perk up with the appearance of the Master. Ironically, whilst Jo and the Doctor have been wasting their time, hanging around various irrelevant prisons, the Master’s actually popped over to involve them in the plot himself (he’s clearly bored, and wants to make trouble for himself). He get's one of his most gloriously off-kilter, out of character lines in the series ('for the whole of your natural?'), but generally, he's still fun. Of course, it does mean that most of the remaining mystery of the plot (which there hasn’t been much of since the first ten minutes) is stripped away, so I’m not sure where it can go from here on in.

#739 5 Sep 2008, 9:12 am
AlMiles
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dorney
"Back on Earth, things perk up with the appearance of the Master. Ironically, whilst Jo and the Doctor have been wasting their time, hanging around various irrelevant prisons, the Master’s actually popped over to involve them in the plot himself (he’s clearly bored, and wants to make trouble for himself). He get's one of his most gloriously off-kilter, out of character lines in the series ('for the whole of your natural?'), but generally, he's still fun. "

Heheheh. I do love those moments when Delgado allows his natural cockney to break through.

The original Master really was impossible to hate, wasn't he? Gave some credibility to the Doctor always letting him off (and even pleading for him at his post-Daemons trial). Not sure why the later, Universe-entropifying version got the same treatment, that one was clearly mad but this fellas most amusing.

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#740 9 Oct 2008, 5:43 pm
Dorney

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#741 11 Oct 2008, 11:45 am
Dorney

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Frontier in Space 4:

One of the difficulties with reviewing on an episodic basis, especially with a six parter, is that a lot of the flaws in an story persist and you risk repetition. A repetitious story leads to a repetitious review. Take this one, for example.

Once again, this tale's bizarre insistence on blowing all of its mysteries at the top means there really is no plot to hang on to. We know what's going on, and so it's all just procrastination until the point where the Doctor can switch the plot off. As a result, we've got a series of mini-adventures, all based around the Doctor being locked up somewhere.

Whereas episode three at least manages to do something with this format, seemingly developing it's own one episode storyline, episode four is weaker. By and large just the Master, the Doctor and Jo in a ship, this episode is largely reminiscent of the insanely dumb fourth episode of the Time Monster.

However, unlike that previous atrocity, this one just about works. Just. Whilst the action doesn't really progress the story - the Doctor going through a convuluted attempt to escape, that just ends with him in the Master's power again, before the Draconians arrive and capture them all - it's pitched quite straightforwardly. Sure, it's not massively exciting, but it isn't particularly dull either. And I suppose that does make sense on a certain level. This story, and it's sequel, were intended to be viewed as a twelve part epic, divided in two, reminiscent of DMP. And viewed in that context, it begins to make sense.

As I've probably wittered on about before, an epic doesn't entirely play by the same rules as a regular story. It's less about plot or plot complexity and more about journey. In other words, it doesn't matter if the individual story doesn't shift gears every episode as long as plenty of stuff happens along the way. A full journey. We need to feel that getting through this is dangerous and complicated. It's not about the characters minds, it's about their endurance.

So it doesn't really matter if the set pieces don't entirely progress the story, as long as they work well enough as set pieces. And by and large, so far, they do.

Oh, before I finish, one quick note. There's some lovely direction in this episode - the idea of the Master using his own security cameras to contact the Doctor on the bridge is decent enough - but the lovely touch is that when he starts, we cut to him broadcasting to an empty bridge, with the implication of the Doctor having already rushed off the bridge to help Jo. It's a terrific way to convey energy and pace.

#742 13 Oct 2008, 11:53 pm
Dorney


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Frontier in Space 5:

After a fairly empty episode, we get to one that's fairly packed. With episodes one and four in particular being plotted almost entirely about single set pieces, this one is basically all go, and more reminiscent of episode two's frenetic series of capture escapes. Like that episode, there's a faint sense of pointless sound and fury (we don't really need two seperate, and swiftly resolved, Ogron raids - they could quite easily grab Jo at the first attempt with about the same effect). Equally, the increased pace does rather mean that a lot of the realism goes out the window - after loads of episodes of long journeys across time and space, with the Master needing a sleep before getting to the Draconian homeworld, they manage to get back to Earth in about half an hour.

Oddly though, they do manage to get quite a bit of half-decent drama in there. The scenes in the Draconian palace are well put together, and take a realistic approach to the logic of how people would react to the Doctor's claims. Neatly, they're almost exactly the same as the earlier scenes (again in episode two) which is either a gorgeous bit of mirroring or a bit of lazy characterisation depending on your perspective (the Draconian emperor is, like the president, conveniently unwilling to act). OK, this realistic approach is disappointingly resolved by the Master having to turn into a bit of a moron, overlooking something rather obvious in a contrived manner. Heck, it technically resolves the main problem of the serial, with proof that the Ogrons are faking the entire war, and is far too simple (and in deed, arbitrary, with the Doctor being pretty much a bystander) as a conclusion to the plot motor. But this sequence and the follow up sequence where the general realises how he made a mistake earlier (in a manner alarmingly reminiscent of Babylon 5) are genuinely interesting character exploration in a way the rest of the story really isn't.


#743 14 Oct 2008, 12:37 pm
AlMiles

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dorney
!(in a manner alarmingly reminiscent of Babylon 5) "

Well its creator was a fan of British TV, certainly Blakes 7 and The Prisoner, so no doubt he wouldn't have minded also borrowing from a show transmitted in between those two.

And US science fiction series don't mind plundering the Pertwee era for their own means - right up to entire stories, settings, characters and plots being identical. Just look at "Earth 2".

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#744 14 Oct 2008, 6:23 pm
The White Guardian
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I've just browsed through your recent reviews and loved them! I can't wait to see your reactions to TB's stories.

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#745 24 Oct 2008, 10:45 am
Dorney

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Frontier in Space 6:

There’s something a little… disappointing about this episode. Something dispiriting. Because if ever there was an episode of Who that defined ‘less than the sum of its parts’… well, it’s this one.

It should be great. It’s the mid point of an epic, the culmination of one story thread before another launches off. We’ve had five episodes of scale and prisons, build up and build up. Then a climax at the villains base, surprise Daleks. Done right, this should have been a classic episode. So why isn’t it?

Well one is that the episode doesn’t quite feel like a climax. On one level it isn’t, of course, as the story does continue into the next. But that’s the central difficulty with pitching it as two distinctly different tales, with wholly different plots. On some level the first one has to end properly. There’s a real sense of indecision about this episode. Is it just another part of a longer tale… or the end of one half of it?

The disconnect is obvious from the opening. We’re in the final episode – everything should be hurtling to a climax. There’s no time for sub-plots. So why do we waste time in the first few minutes with a staggeringly generic Draconian attack on the Doctor’s ship?

Actually, to be fair, I can tell why it’s there. There are only two strands in the plot at the moment (the Jo half and the Doctor half) and there’s got to be something to cut to. Equally, given the amount of time this story has spent emphasising the time element of space travel, the Doctor’s plotline jumping directly from Earth to the Ogron planet would seem ridiculous, so something has to happen en route. But it’s all done in a rushed way (this sort of thing pretty much took up the whole of episodes one and four – probably a bit too far the other way, but you know what I mean). Equally, it’s fairly nonsensically presented – would the Earth authorities really not warn Draconia there was a special ship coming through? And they keep trying out excuses why the Draconian prince they have on the ship can’t just call them off: ‘they won’t take the time to listen’, ‘they’ll be hard to persuade’. Wouldn’t you at least, y’know, try? Personally, I think it would have made a lot more sense to cut down some of the more padded material of episode four, shunted the episodes along a bit (we’d only miss out on some rubbish cliffhangers) and left the entire last episode a battle for survival on the Ogron homeworld.

And that does kind of lead to a general criticism of the episode. A lot happens… but most of it doesn’t have a point. There’s precious little sense of why it’s going on. As with the absent attempts to hail the Draconians who attack, the Earth president doesn’t try and persuade the people that they’re actually under attack from a third party on the basis that they’ve got no evidence. So she sends soldiers across the galaxy to the villain’s base, where they get killed or locked up. Then the Doctor sends them back home to try and persuade their respective people’s of the truth. But they still don’t have any evidence. The entire trip across the galaxy has no point.

Likewise, the Master allows Jo to escape, so she can broadcast a message to the Doctor as a trap. She broadcasts on a short wave radio that only he can hear (as the Master has detected his ship approaching). This way, says the Master, when the Doctor arrives, they’ll be ready for him.

But hold on – he’s broadcast on a short wave radio to a ship that he knows the Doctor is on, that he knows is approaching them? So surely he doesn’t need Jo to broadcast a signal in order to be ready for the Doctor. He already knows the Doctor is there. How much more readiness does he require? What new information does he gain from Jo’s ‘trap’? Why doesn’t he just shoot the ship down? OK, I know he comes up with a lame excuse to the Daleks – he wants the Doctor to watch the war - but, really, that’s just the Master being a cretin, as he was perfectly happy to kill the Doctor simply a few episodes ago.

And speaking of the Daleks, what the hell are they doing here? They don’t do anything! Yes, it’s a great reveal, but what’s the logic behind it? They travel through space, half a dozen of them or so, have a brief chat with the Master then sod off again. It’s like they’re the foreman of a building site popping in to check that the builders are still doing they’re job. It’s a bit rubbish isn’t it? Though it does lead to one of the most delightful lines in the series – we catch the tail end of a conversation the Master’s having over the radio with them when they’ve left which starts with him saying ‘There’s nothing to worry about.’ To a DALEK. As if just after leaving they’ve phoned him up in a panic. Like a nervy mum.

It’s all basically about trying to make it look big and exciting to conceal the fact that there’s no actual ending. And when I say that, I’m not talking about the damb squib/ vanishing Master/weird editing thing. Nothing actually happens that concludes the plot. We have to assume that the Draconians and the Humans are going to make peace.

It’s a shame, because a proper conclusion would have tied it all together, and made the episodic nature feel part of a whole. As it is, I’m just going to have to take it in part with Planet and see how that works.


#746 28 Nov 2008, 6:49 pm
skinsale2


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I originally sent this post as a private message but I couldn't so I will have to post it here. Dorney I would like to thank you for your awesome reviews as they have inspired me to write my own on The Doctor Who Ratings Guide. So thank you Dorney for inspiring me to do something interesting for a change

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