tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77556863963543481542024-03-12T18:21:30.408-07:00The World of DorneyMainly reviews of Doctor Who and stuff. But maybe other things.John Dorneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00043867565471251131noreply@blogger.comBlogger69125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755686396354348154.post-42253194002782311162010-02-21T13:14:00.001-08:002010-02-21T13:43:35.489-08:00RobotRobot 1:<br /><br />One thing I’ve never really understood when it comes to fandom and its opinions on the classic series is precisely why Terrance Dicks is regarded as one of its best script writers. He’s not bad, certainly, but he never seems to be that inspired to me. Solid but workmanlike material for the most part. <br /><br />Certainly, this episode is an awful lot of fun, but doesn’t really have the inventiveness of plot that would truly knock it into the region of ‘classic’. What is does have is an infectious, joyous quality, and an incredible lick of pace.<br /><br />A lot of this is down to Tom Baker. Much as with Dicks, I’m not a massive fan of Pertwee without actually going to the lengths of disliking him. But Tom Baker’s breezy self-confidence blows him away within minutes. The opening ten minutes or so with him in a post-regenerative state are entertaining enough, but it’s in the rest of the story – when he starts to get involved and display character as well as personality – that he really shines. There’s a quirky energy there and it feels such a refreshing contrast to what’s gone before.<br /><br />That energy seemingly infects the script. Blitzing through the establishment of the new Doctor in half the episode and avoiding the self-indulgence that later episodes would succumb to, the narrative drive in this episode is astonishing. OK, so no one appears to have told Dudley Simpson (his slow, measured ‘K1’ theme, seems completely at variance with the actual material shown, particularly when John Scott Martin’s security man gets the chop), but the amount of material the story gets through is huge. There are one or two moments – particularly when the Brigadier’s description of security arrangements is illustrated as he speaks through montage – where it feels astonishing that, leading man aside, everyone involved in this, be they writer/producer/director, is a remnant of the last regime rather than one for the new. Because this does feel very much like a conceptual shift.<br /><br />There are other nice touches. Harry is immediately likeable, and his interaction with the Doctor is hugely entertaining. And Miss Winters has the makings of a corking villainess.<br /><br />It just remains a bit of a shame that there remains the slightly hacky quality to the actual plot. Because everything else is so right.<br /><br />(Oh, and it’s such an iconic part of the show history that I’ve never really noticed it before – but doesn’t this story have the dullest, most insipid title in the whole of the series?)<br /> <br />14 Feb 2010, 11:17 pm #4<br />Dorney<br />Robot 2:<br /><br />As seems to happen an awful lot, a story pays for going off at a blistering pace in its first episode by finding it’s run out of plot awfully quickly. I’m going to get well ahead of myself here, but the cliffhanger is a fairly good indication of the problem – a good one to show to anyone who feels the new series cliffhangers are over long to prove it’s not only a twenty first century problem– the Doctor’s attacked by the robot in Kettlewell’s lab… and the entire sequence just keeps on going til we reach a cliffhanger that could easily have happened two minutes earlier, and is essentially just a variation on every individual moment within those two minutes.<br /><br />Once again, we can pretty much see the entire plot laid out in front of us already. We know who’s behind everything, and not only that but the Doctor does as well (rather pointing up the outrageous coincidence of Sarah accidentally discovering the robot just as the rest of UNIT are investigating its attacks). And this means that the entire episode is just the Doctor wandering around chatting to people and filling in information he already knows, or getting philosophical with Kettlewell.<br /><br />Of course, it’s fine to have the audience know what’s going on… but having the Doctor work it out so quickly… well, it slightly weakens the villains. I’m rather taken by the entirely alienless sci-fi Who, something not done often enough in my opinion, and Miss Winters is an extremely well performed villain already, but there’s a sense of slightness about the way it all comes together. Like these people aren’t really a match for the Doctor. Certainly, their round the houses plan (stealing plans for a laser gun just so they can break into a safe) isn’t convincing – albeit, that’s mainly on the level of Dick’s just having the idea and not really having a good idea what to do with it. The robot’s got to be attacking someone, but it can’t be achieving anything too quickly. To be fair to him, it’s a difficult square to circle.<br /><br />But, and this is the important point – it is still fun. Baker’s still an enormously engaging presence, and Marter almost matches him for sparkle (I still think Harry is one of the great underrated companions of Classic Who – for evidence of how to do a similar character badly, just take a listen to Jeremy Fitzoliver). Miss Winters is just arch enough to be simultaneously convincing and entertaining (though the SRS subordinate in this episode doesn’t quite pitch it correctly, looking wooden rather than cold). And the robot, along with Kettlewell, is inching towards a genuinely touching quality, an actually sympathetic ‘monster’. Outside of that, there’s a playful, TV action comic strip quality to the story, a shameless desire to be entertaining. The entirely videotaped look probably helps, giving the production an immediacy. Overall, the plotting and structure is a little wooly, but by and large entertaining performances and witty lines carry it through.<br /><br /><br /> <br />16 Feb 2010, 11:37 pm #5<br />Dorney<br /><br />Robot 3:<br /><br />You know you’re in trouble when an episode takes as long as this one does just recapping the cliffhanger (and then bizarrely cutting it a little short at the end). Three minutes in and nothing new has happened. And you get a similar problem as last time at the end of this one as well – an over-extended cliffhanger that takes as long as it possibly can to a cliffhanger that could easily have appeared five minutes before. Yes, the dreaded curse of the non-existant plot strikes again.<br /><br />This is, in many ways, a typical episode three. All sound and fury with nothing going on. There’s still a vague pretence at investigation – with Sarah’s hiding out at the SRS meeting an obvious example… but nothing’s uncovered that they don’t already know. There are two exceptions – one being Kettlewell’s duplicity… which whilst a genuinely surprising twist is only such because it’s actually fairly unconvincing. And the Doctor already knows this (again for sound, but not terribly convincing reasons – and it does rather make his visit to Kettlewell’s lab at the end of part two nonsensical). The other is the information from Harry about a bunker trip. Harry’s role as a spy has been wasted in the last two episodes, it has to be said. Especially because this little bit of information he passes on could easily be gleaned from elsewhere. By the end it’s clear he’s only there to be a hostage… though why this couldn’t have just worked with Sarah is unclear. Dicks just doesn’t seem to know what to do with the character.<br /><br />But the big side-step in the episode is the whole SRS group meeting. Apart from giving Miss Winters a good chance to have a rant and a rave and dramatically reveal Kettlewell as a traitor as well, you have to ask the question: Why do they have a meeting at all? You’ve just got everything you want, the nuclear codes, the disintegrator gun… so rather than putting your plan into action straight away, you decide the best plan is to organise a meeting (in the world’s brightest evening) and have a bit of a shout. It’s the worst kind of plot contrivance – there’s not even the faintest attempt to justify the stalling tactics in plot terms. And another issue is becoming clear – the robot itself is pretty much the only menacing element in the story. There’s only so many times we can see it swing forward waving it’s oddly flailing arms and not quite managing to walk properly as an underwhelming musical score accompanies it without a certain degree of… well, shall we say metal fatigue? Oh dear. Perhaps not. (Oh, and that does remind me – notorious as Warriors of the Deep is for its clumsy poison set up, there’s an almost equally appalling one here as Kettlewell mentions his metal destroying poison with all the subtlety of Michael Bay movie – the only thing it has over it’s brother is that it doesn’t happen right in the first episode. It does scream out ‘here’s the solution’).<br /><br />However…<br /><br />It’s all rip roaring fun though, it has to be said. The action sequences are fun (if a little daft – how the hell do no SRS members get shot when they escape? Does no-one think to shoot Jellicoe or Winters? Why concentrate the fire on the clearly bullet proof robot?), the dialogue witty and amusing (yes, the ‘foreigners’ gag is another Brig as a figure of fun gag, but it’s genuinely amusing which helps), and the story is pacey and engaging. But it’s uninspired. I bemoaned the lack of imagination in the title in the episode one review… but in some ways it’s as appropriate as they come.<br />The World of Dorney - Who Reviews, Episode by Episode /Day by Day<br /> <br /> Today, 9:13 pm #6<br />Dorney<br /><br />Robot 4:<br /><br />Something of a damp squib finale, if I’m honest.<br /><br />I think I’ve mentioned before something I talk about as being ‘David Fisher syndrome’, and it’s something Robot 4 suffers from. A story that runs out of story very quickly in part four… and then has to add another plot on the end for the final episode to make up the time.<br /><br />And if I’m honest, Robot 4 is a particularly lacklustre example of the type. The problem is that these all powerful major league threats are defeated way too easily at every point. Even if the main plot is finishing early, you still need to have that story resolve in a strong effective manner, or there’s a lingering sense of wondering why you bothered watching in the first place.<br /><br />Take the Robot itself – big thing, unapproachable with a disintegrator in its hand. But the goodies get past it when it turns round at the wrong point. OK, that’s slightly unfair as it’s mainly incapacitated by its own confusion at the death of Kettlewell… but even then I feel ever so slightly dirty for typing out that last sentence. It sounds so rubbish, doesn’t it? This threat that’s been built up for three episodes is initially defeated by getting a bit confused? Poor dear. It’s been set up in the past couple of episodes I’ll admit… but that doesn’t really stop it being underwhelming. Foreshadowed underwhelming, is still underwhelming. And to top it off, the two main human villains either surrender or are defeated with a punch. You can’t see why it took our heroes this long to stop them.<br /><br />This almost wouldn’t matter if it was topped off by a better finale storyline. But it isn’t. What we get is essentially a rerun of the last plot. The story just decides to have the same ending twice, pretty much. Which is, again, stopped overly quickly and easily.<br /><br />It all seems like it’s Dicks filling in time, and moving hell and high water to get to the bit he’s really looking forward to instead – the giant robot and the King Kong parody. And this is probably the flattest bit of the lot.<br /><br />Not because of the effects. I can suspend my disbelief enough that they don’t bother me. It’s partially the fact that it all seems so narratively unjustified. He grows to the size of a giant… just because. He’s decided to destroy humanity… just because (the story really tries to have its cake and eat it with regard to the robot’s morality throughout). And picks up Sarah just because. <br /><br />But it’s also the fact that nothing’s really done with it. There are a few nice stomping around a village bits, and a good stamping on a UNIT soldier death… but it’s not really doing a vast amount more than it did when it was normal size. And even then, it’s over and done with too quickly. This is one of the problems of making it a minor subplot of its own in part four. There simply isn’t time to develop the plot. As it is, we know precisely how the robot’s going to be defeated even before he’s grown, as the Doctor is explicitly off making Kettlewell’s narrative device/virus.<br /><br />The fun rompy quality remains, but it really only just about hides the fact that this is something of a scrag-end of a final episode. Lots of leftovers and good individual sequences and routines, but not really a strong finale on any level.<br />The World of Dorney - Who Reviews, Episode by Episode /Day by DayJohn Dorneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00043867565471251131noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755686396354348154.post-23277879564264107562010-02-06T09:34:00.000-08:002010-02-06T09:35:36.946-08:00Planet of the SpidersPlanet of the Spiders 1:<br /><br />I’ve always had a fondness for stories where the first episode appears to present two totally unrelated storylines (like, say, Carnival). So this episode is nominally already onto a winner for me. OK, it slightly stretches credulity when you have two connected groups stumbling into the same situation, but then whole episodes of Who stretch credulity so that should hardly be viewed as a major issue, surely?<br /><br />Unusually, the episode ends with the precise link between the two left unclear. Which is possibly a mistake, as the connection would have a sort of coup de theatre flourish quality that would give added impact to the finale. But nonetheless it still works quite well as a hook.<br /><br />Otherwise, this is a fairly odd episode. There’s really very little movement of plot from about five minutes in. Once Yates knows Lupton’s up to know good and we know Cyril Shaps is a proper psychic, there’s really very little left for the episode to do, given where it ends. But it does go along quite pleasantly because, as I usually like, the time is used up by going into character stuff. Sloman/Letts are, unsurprisingly, always very good at characterization of the regulars, with the Brig and Benton being particularly entertaining in this part (albeit with the former when he’s not being treated as if he’s a cretin). Yates’ new incarnation is another intriguing take on the character. And the villains are already quite interestingly ordinary. I’m not entirely sure about Tommy. It’s a sensitively done performance, but it’s always a bit hard to make this sort of character anything other than a walking cliché. Nonetheless, it’s hard to dislike the character. It’s a bit of a shame that the (for obvious reasons) respectful treatment of Buddhism is slightly over-shadowed by Kevin Stoney in make-up, but it is nonetheless quite an intriguing world to see in a Who story. It takes the story to a slightly more metaphorical level somehow, a slightly deeper level.<br /><br />So, a good first episode. Intriguing, and whilst slow and lacking in any real incident, it keeps you involved and is gently amusing.<br /><br />Planet of the Spiders 2:<br /><br />There are some episodes you dread reviewing. Planet of the Spiders 2 is one such episode. Notorious for having half its running time devoted to an extended chase sequence, it doesn’t exactly give you much to talk about.<br /><br />Let’s look at the first half… well, first. There’s a good bit of a gallop to it, seemingly to get through the set up for the chase as quickly as possible. The two stories of episode one are linked together swiftly and efficiently, and the Spiders are very quickly established as an intriguing concept. There are a few nice touches of humour and we begin to get a sense of where the story is going. Lupton is already establishing himself as a rather beguilingly low-key villain. It feels an odd choice for a Doctor’s finale, given that he’s used to fighting more grandiose threats, but he’s all the more interesting for that.<br /><br />So the second half – well, the commonly held view is that the chase is just pointless running around and padding. And the obvious comment to add to that is: ‘well, it’s a chase. What do you expect?’<br /><br />Chases are fun. They just are. And I can’t think of a single time when they actually advance the plot. No chase in the history of storytelling couldn’t be cut. Chases are all about delaying the next plot development, not a plot development in themselves. And yet if you consider a rule of storytelling to be that every scene has to change something or advance something, every scene has to be going somewhere… they defy that rule.<br /><br />Chases are about building tension and suspense. And it therefore helps if they take time. It’s no coincidence that this is the most memorable chase sequence in the history of Who, purely for being longest (unless you want to count stories like DMP and, er, The Chase). It’s better than the TVM one and is all about playing fun variations on a theme – if a smile doesn’t cross your face when a hovercraft pulls up next to the speedboat and there might as well be an on-screen caption telling you precisely what’s going to happen next, then you’ve no soul.<br /><br />OK, so its definitely got a disappointing finale that appears to make the whole need for Lupton’s attempted escape utterly pointless, but it’s far more interesting than him being captured and it’s timed perfectly. Beyond all that, it’s an entertaining twelve minutes or so. Yes, an odd episode, but an enjoyable one for all that.<br /><br /><br />Planet of the Spiders 3:<br /><br />And it was all going so well.<br /><br />One of the frustrating things about Planet of the Spiders is that there’s so much that’s right with it. But then there’s a lot that’s appalling.<br /><br />Incredibly quickly after Eckersley, we once again get the joy of the mundane villain (this time joining up with massively powerful alien, admittedly). Lupton’s backstory in this episode, as a disgruntled and now power hungry salesman screwed over by accountants is utterly wonderful on every level. It’s all so wonderfully odd and idiosyncratic (aided by John Dearth’s slightly strange performance – he never seems totally with it to me). People who complain that his cohorts are nondescript are missing the point – they’re supposed to be. These aren’t super-villains, they’re very dull men who are trying to escape their boring natures. Lupton’s spider pretty much explicitly points this up with her continual withering asides about Barnes.<br /><br />Furthermore, there’s beautiful use of dramatic irony here with everyone ignoring Tommy despite him holding the key to everything. This is definitely part of the overall allegory of the story, with everyone too wrapped up in their own affairs to listen to the simplest, most honest voice. And there are some lovely moments of direction and scripting – the realisation of Sarah’s transportation (taking it from her viewpoint rather than her more traditional and expected slow vanishing) is extremely striking.<br /><br />So it is rather a shame that this episode takes this, up til now, quirky and unusual tale into the land of generic sci-fi cliché. I’m never really a fan of criticising a story for its effects or costumes… but the sudden lurch into cheap ‘oh my god, we’ve run out of money’ landscape and the jolting contrast with the crisp classiness of K’anpo’s centre and the earlier episodes marks this out as an episode where the reach exceeds the grasp. We’ve gone from the complex and original character of Lupton to a group of walking stereotypes. Hell, even the Spiders seem as generic as can be. It’s a real shame that a story starting out as genuinely quite interesting is resorting to sci-fi cliché to fill in the running time. And Gareth Hunt.<br /><br />Planet of the Spiders 4:<br /><br />Any six part story where characters say, in the same episode, ‘this is getting monotonous’ and words to the effect of ‘what’s the point of saying the same thing over and over’ is surely offering a hostage to fortune. So it’s surely odd that repetition and monotony isn’t really a problem with this episode (apart from the blatant filler of Barnes and his cronies standing around failing to do anything) and it’s more that it doesn’t really seem to have any ideas of where to take it.<br /><br />Actually, that’s probably not really true either. This is a story which clearly knows how it wants to end and where it’s going. It just hasn’t got a clue of how to spend the time whilst getting there. It’s hard not to see it as something of a jumbled mess, and the lack of a strong drive is emphasised with the structure of the individual episodes. There’s a commonly documented series of mess-ups over half this story where material is shuffled and cliffhangers created and this only really reminds you how little is going on. <br /><br />This episode ends up basically being about three things. The first is padding. By the end of the episode only a couple of things appear to have changed – one we’ll get to in a moment, but the other is the Doctor’s discovery of stones that protect from Spider-blasts. It remains to be seen how much this affects the over-all story, but at the moment it’s underwhelming. Beyond that, the end of this episode (with Sarah and the Doctor captured) is essentially where the previous episode ended. Sarah’s whole ‘hiding under a shawl’ bit and the ‘Doctor in a coma’ routine are just prevarication whilst they wait to be captured again.<br /><br />The second thing is exposition. This is the episode where we get the explanation of who the Spiders are. It’s all right, if a little pulpy, and it’s made more entertaining by switching between two different tellings.<br /><br />The third thing is the enlightenment of Tommy, far and away the only properly interesting thing to happen in this episode, almost single-handedly redeeming it. John Kane’s portrayal of the realization, his excitement building as his voice drops away reading a Jack and Jill book is beautifully done. It would be a very good scene in a regular episode, here it’s an easy stand-out. Shame the rest of it doesn’t match it, then.<br /><br />Planet of the Spiders 5<br /><br />One of the things that’s becoming gradually clear about this story is that it’s rather throwing away some of it’s bigger assets.<br /><br />Take Lupton for example. As I’ve said before, he’s an engagingly different and small villain for the show, the neutered former salesman looking for power. So it’s something of a shame that the script doesn’t really know what to do with him. From the moment he arrives on Metebelis 3, he’s pretty much neutered again, simply hanging round a throne room chatting to a bunch of puppets, and trying to get away with having been a bit rubbish. It remains unclear as to why the spiders bother keeping him around, unless his one just needs a lift somewhere once in a while. Like a Superhero threequel, this story is now over-dosing on villains to the degree that it loses track of where the focus should be, and none of them really seem all that threatening anymore. It’s like one of my least favourite Columbo episodes - the UK one, if anyone knows it, where the killers commit their crime by accident and are winging it as clueless idiots, and as a result never really feel like much of a match. Here it’s hard to believe that the petty squabbling spiders, making up plans on the hoof and more concerned with getting one over on each other than any overall scheme, are any real threat. Whilst I know that I’ve been raving about the entertaining banality of Lupton and his cronies, to then team them up with a bunch of equally pathetic super-beings does seem to lose the point. <br /><br />This does, however, mean that the introduction of the all-powerful Great One comes as a breath of fresh air, albeit one that really makes you realise how pointless her minions are. The scenes with the Doctor under her temporary thrall are the first that really make you feel that this is a story worth sending a Doctor off in. Shame that they really don’t seem to have much connection to the very generic sci-fi gubbins they’re nominally attached to.<br /><br />In deed, the other thing the Great One throws into view is that there doesn’t really appear to be any idea of what the central thrust of this story actually is. It’s like the title came first. The human revolution on Metebelis suggests that this flat sub-plot is over and done with now, but it was clearly only there to pad the story out.<br /><br />Still, there’s some good Doctor and Sarah stuff in this episode, so it ain’t all bad. But it mainly is.<br /><br />Planet of the Spiders 6:<br /><br />I always find reviews of final episodes difficult. It’s like I’m subconsciously done with the story by that point. Ridiculous, obviously, but once I’ve completed the story, I don’t feel the same immediate urge to write the review as when writing means I’m allowed to watch what happens next. So, as is traditional, I’m coming to write this a little after the fact.<br /><br />And I’m finding it hard to remember much about it. And that’s got to be odd for the big dramatic finale of a Doctor’s life, hasn’t it? And it’s rather indicative of why the story doesn’t entirely work. <br /><br />That’s not to say this is a bad episode. A lot of the story is tied off neatly, but a lot of it demonstrates wasted potential.<br /><br />Whilst the story is nominally that of the Doctor facing his own fear and arrogance, accepting spiritual renewal… well, am I the only one who doesn’t find it that convincing?<br /><br />It’s all very well K’anpo lecturing the Doctor on how his greed for knowledge led to him taking the crystal… but for my money, that doesn’t entirely square with he actually did. It’s not like he knew it was the perfect crystal that was going to be required in the future, and it’s not like wanting knowledge is a massively awful thing. If the Doctor died because he was reminded how he could be a cock to Jo Grant, then the metaphor might stand a bit stronger. But what happens is the equivalent of us being killed because we took a pebble from a beach.<br /><br />The realisation of the Great One is also a disappointment, to me at least. Not because the puppet isn’t great – it isn’t, but neither is it actually all that bad – but because giant all powerful spider has potential – and then she doesn’t go anywhere, and is a bit of a loony who doesn’t realise her grand scheme will kill her as well.<br /><br />After mentioning how Lupton is wasted last episode – and he’s killed off here for no reason either - it’s fairly clear here that Tommy is as well. His ‘enlightenment’ is nicely handled, but ultimately pointless in plot terms (other than it seemingly granting him super-powers for no obvious reason). The reveal about the human’s not having succeeded in their rebellion is a neat reversal of expectation, but it does rather underline the problem.<br /><br />This story is entirely about good ideas that aren’t really used to their full potential. The themes are strong and solid, but ultimately not done all that well. The approach is good, it’s the final realisation that is flawed.John Dorneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00043867565471251131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755686396354348154.post-64294980095488987682009-07-28T06:44:00.000-07:002010-02-06T09:34:05.221-08:00The Monster of Peladon1 Jun 2009, 12:19 am <br /><br />Monster of Peladon 1:<br /><br />There ain’t much love for the Monster of Peladon. <br /><br />Whilst never exactly one of the stories obviously regarded as a turkey, it’s hard not to feel that it remains far from the most liked of tales. Often held up as dull, it probably manages to avoid wider distaste by not being the grand operatic folly of the major series disasters, merely being considered flat.<br /><br />But I dunno – I’ve always been rather fond of it. Not sure why. I don’t think I’ve watched it since becoming aware of its less than stellar reputation, something I’ve never quite got, and am wondering if the rewatch will crystalise why I’m fond of this somewhat dismissed tale.<br /><br />Certainly, I think that as first episodes go, this one is rather enjoyable. Obviously it helps that we’re comparatively familiar with the planet, but even with that as a given the story does kick off at remarkably high gear. There are loads of Doctor Who stories where there are armed rebellions (either successful or merely attempted) but I can’t think of any other where they take place in the first episode. And bear in mind that we also have three people killed off by a suspected apparition, the Doctor suspected of treason, and a lovely scene with Sarah accidentally hurting an alien’s feelings, so you’ll see that there’s a lot going on.<br /><br />Now this is all with one proviso – the general tone of the piece is a touch unsophisticated. Everyone talks in the same sort of cod-sci-fi speak, for example. In comparison to the witty sophistication of the Time Warrior, say, or the quasi realism of Invasion of the Dinosaurs it comes off badly (although it has more colour than Death to the Daleks). But I remain unconvinced that this is automatically a problem. As long as it is committed to, as it is here, there’s an enjoyable pulpy quality to it. And yes, the wigs (especially those of the miners) are a little odd… but as far as a shorthand for a different species they’re neat enough. Indeed, the differing stripes per caste is a neat little touch. In many ways, I prefer this as a technique to any number of random prostetics (for some reason I find the stripey hair more convincing than any number of Trekkian nose ridges or odd ears…perhaps because it’s more about implying cultural differences than tying everything down to a sole physical difference). And, much as he’s mocked, I even like Vega Nexos!<br /><br />So, not the classiest production in the show’s history, but if you’re in the mood for a rollicking bit of hokum, this is as solid as first episodes get.<br /><br />And why no MoP avatars, eh? Hmm? <br /><br />#829 4 Jun 2009, 4:21 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I'm a fan of Monster of Peladon, like you for reasons I can't quite fathom. It's a fun story well told and it's got lots of fun aliens. Your comment that unsophisticated doesn't automatically mean bad is spot - so long as everybody's putting their all into it then it's going to be far more enjoyable than something that's perhaps a lot more literate but being performed by actors who aren't fussed. And Donald Gee's Eckersley is excellent. Looks a lot like a young Tom Baker in many of his close-ups.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#833 9 Jun 2009, 3:12 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Monster of Peladon 2:<br /><br />Two episodes in and this story is still moving at a rapid pace. The attempted coup of the first episode is turning into full scale armed revolution. The story continues to develop and intrigue. You begin to wonder if this momentum can be sustained for another four episodes. Where exactly can the plot go from here?<br /><br />Well, one of the advantages is that what appears to be the central thread of the story (the terrorising and manipulation of the mining forces) is relegated to almost a sub-plot with the miner’s reaction to it leading the script. And there remains carefully layering of this main plot in the background, adding levels of intrigue - Sarah’s discovery of the supposedly unoccupied mining facility, for example, now complete with mysterious figure inside, keeps the mystery going under the surface as the Doctor investigates. And this means we do meet with a fairly action packed episode. OK, on a few occasions it has to pad it out a touch, but for the most part this shows how you fill a long script – you could argue that this story has really committed to its padding, if you like, as that’s essentially what it is. The main story can’t really take up too much time, so let’s fill in the missing minutes in as large scale a manner as possible. And it does fairly simply and quickly establish the political forces at work on Peladon.<br /><br />However, even as it does that, it does become fairly obvious that there are a few elements sacrificed. I spoke last time about the story being basically unsophisticated, and whilst I’m not totally against that, it does mean that there are a few blunt edges here and there. Most of the guest cast aren’t really characters, as such, as opposed to plot functions. Eckersley is probably an exception – he’s hard to pin down as any distinct type – and possibly Alpha Centauri too… but everyone else appears almost to have had one word character descriptions given to them. Gebek is noble, for example. Ettis, reckless. Again, the story almost gets away with it when they allow the story to move naturally (if nothing’s deep, shallow characters aren’t a major issue), but when they characters are so determinedly one note that they retain that position in the face of all logic or sense, you can feel the plot creaking desperately. The big point this becomes obvious in episode two is when Ortron (‘distrustful’) decides that Sarah-Jane is a traitor against all evidence, presumably for no better reason than to facilitate a cliffhanger. The only way this could happen is if Ortron isn’t actually a character at all, but an attitude, nothing that resembles a real person at all.<br /><br />It’s a shame, because when it’s on form the story is a delightful romp. Albeit one painted in broad strokes. <br /><br />#835 11 Jun 2009, 11:50 am <br />Dorney<br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />Monster of Peladon 3:<br /><br />Well, that’s a shame.<br /><br />A blatant time marking episode, part three is the kind of episode where no-one gets around to doing very much at all, and takes an awful lot of time doing it.<br /><br />Actually, that’s not exactly true. Because some of the time things happen a little too quickly – the Doctor and Sarah resolving the cliffhanger is as swift as can be (and rather underlines its arbitrary nature), and then we have the faintly ridiculous sequence of Ortron confining the Doctor to the citadel for about ten seconds (yes, the Doctor’s attempted escape is a perfectly natural thing for him to do, if remarkably stupid, but given that it’s a trap by Ortron that is sprung almost immediately, there’s clearly no reason to bother with it). I am left with the inescapable conclusion that I actually prefer long scenes of padding that actually pretend to be filling the time somehow as opposed to padding that just consists of a few random events being flung at the screen.<br /><br />You see, this is the problem with the first two episodes being as pacey as they are. The rebel miners are armed. But the script can’t take that anywhere, so they mainly stand around doing nothing. There’s a set piece with the sonic lance, sure, but it is, again, slightly arbitrary. Eckersley’s only remembered it about a minute ago. That’s the thing with this episode. It’s all about people not quite managing to do anything. The Doctor is sent to fetch Gebek for the Queen, but then gets confined to the citadel. Tries again, gets put in a cell. Gets released by Gebek, but then never actually gets him to her, heading off somewhere completely different. Equally, Sarah is consistently being told to stop what she’s doing and go somewhere else. Eckersley remembers the sonic lance and fails to remove it. We’ve had all the set up, but the story can’t really move forward until the Ice Warriors turn up. (Though when they do, in a relatively good cliffhanger, it’s in a context that means they might as well hold up a sign saying ‘we’re the surprise villains’. It’s almost as bad as the slow close up on Eckersley at the end of the scene just before it – the ‘Palpatine at the end of Phantom Menace’ giveaway shot - that Donald Gee at least knows blows everything and so underplays to the degree you might not actually have the plot ruined for you by odd direction).<br /><br />The only bit of the episode that really plays against this water-treading mentality is the, somewhat infamous, women’s lib scene. Now, perhaps surprisingly, I don’t really mind this bit of the story. Yes, it’s rather cringeworthy and patronising from our modern perspective (though, at least, not as morally suspect as similar scenes in 21st century Who, like ‘The Unquiet Dead’), but its heart is in the right place and, at least, it demonstrates an interest in using character to advance plot – which in the face of Ortron’s resolute determination to retain the depth of a rizzler is probably a good thing.<br /><br />So, a fairly flat episode, but the story still has enough of a general air of entertainment to hold on. <br /><br />#836 15 Jun 2009, 11:45 am <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Monster of Peladon 4:<br /><br />It’s something of a relief ten minutes into this episode when the Doctor basically points the finger at Azaxyr as a self-interest and manipulative sort who’s clearly up to no good (and all but blames him for the Aggedor manifestations). On paper it sounds like it’s a massive blowing of the plot but on screen, in keeping with the general ‘one-word characterisation’ of the script, Azaxyr is such a dyed in the wool psychotic nutcase from the get go (and his lieutenants so obviously the hiders in the refinery) that your main worry is whether they’re going to spend another couple of episodes thinking we haven’t figured it out.<br /><br />Having said all that, the arrival of the Ice Warriors does provide a welcome kick in the backside for the story, through Azaxyr’s villainy in particular. Barging in, threatening to kill people at the drop of hat (he decides to kill the Doctor for no reason other than pretty much just to be on the safe side) adds a certain demented energy to proceedings, raising the stakes and making the petty little squabbles of the previous episodes look a little flat in comparison. The story is no longer union negotiation, it’s an invasion story (albeit a back-door invasion) and immense fun for that. And beyond that, it helps in other areas - the prescence of the Ice Warriors make Ortron and Gebek appear to have actual personalities. They suddenly seem more layered and complicated when there’s another threat. In other words, this is a revitalised episode that almost feels like a different story entirely.<br /><br />It is a nice touch that the main plotline of the preceding few episodes – Ettis and his revolution - isn’t dropped immediately, making this two related four parters that cross over rather than two three parters. There is a faint problem with the Ettis storyline though. Halfway through, Roy Evans’ second miner in less than a year says Ettis has gone mad, and it seems to me that actor Ralph Watson has taken this way too literally. Ettis is now genuinely a loon, all wide goggling eyes and consistently at the point of demented laughter… but it doesn’t really make sense on a plot level. Why has he gone mad? Nothing much has happened to him, nothing to make him snap. Surely it’s more likely that the script intends that he’s just lost all sense of perspective – more psychosis than dementia, if you like. Watson’s performance is fun, but it doesn’t really connect to anything – although it does, perhaps, explain one of the more baffling elements of the story – untrained fighter Ettis being able to beat the crap out of the Doctor for the sake of a cliffhanger. <br /><br />#837 27 Jun 2009, 3:58 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />Monster of Peladon 5:<br /><br />There’s a camera in the refinery. With full sound.<br /><br />Just ponder that for a second. A camera in the refinery, the room from which Eckersley and Azaxyr are contriving and operating their entire plan, the image from which can be found quite easily just by scrolling through the options on a screen in an easily accessible room elsewhere, by anyone. Did neither of them think, just for a second ‘hold on – this is a bit friggin’ stupid, isn’t it? We’re bound to get caught!’<br /><br />Other than that, it’s not a bad episode. One of the major criticisms of this story is that it has pretty much the same plot as Curse. Now, I’m sorry, but I think that’s an over-simplification. It probably fits if you make your decision on the story an episode or two in, but the further it gets in the more it drifts away. In many ways it acts as a subversion of the previous story, setting itself up with all the same tropes and then undermining them (which is possibly a pun, but not a very good one, so be assured it’s not deliberate).<br /><br />The big clue to this is Ortron. Initially very much cut from the same cloth as Hepesh, if the story followed it’s predecessor’s pattern, he would turn out to be the bad guy behind everything. But for all his bluster, the moment a major league problem turns up he shifts onto the side of right and joins in with his previous foes, the miners. And, in some ways, his distrust of the Federation and the mining is proved perfectly correct – it causes more trouble to Peladon than it appears to solve.<br /><br />Now, there’s a degree to which this means the story is in two halfs, one of which is pretty much redundant the moment the Ice Warriors turn up. Certainly, Ortron and Ettis – the main driving forces of the revolution plot – are killed off as swiftly as possible. In Ortron’s case this is a particular shock (again, the joy of rewatching these stories so rarely is that twists can still surprise you), but it does mean that that whole thread isn’t really going to get resolved. The whole of the first three episodes are a maguffin, a smokescreen to disguise the real plot – they’re all about getting the Ice Warriors into the thing.<br /><br />Still, it’s turning into a good fun, and somewhat different, alien invasion story, with the rarity of seeing an occupying force (and an ostensibly peaceful one!). In deed, the whole thing does seem more than a little relevant to modern times more than once… <br /><br />Monster of Peladon 6:<br /><br />Anyone who regularly troubles themselves with looking at my reviews here may remember that something I’m fond of in a story is a slightly downbeat bad guy. The famous banality of evil thing. There’s something about the more grandiose plans of super-villains like the Master that places them at a remove. On one level their schemes are gloriously entertaining, but they always work on a fantasy, and therefore ‘fun’, level.<br /><br />Whereas Eckersley and his Ice Warrior cohorts hark back to villains like Bennett – they’re just nasty pieces of work out for themselves. It’s rather telling that when, in episode five, Eckersley announces that he’s been promised he’ll be ruler of the Earth that it seems utterly ludicrous – these bad guys are far more down and dirty than that. It has all the hallmarks of someone desperately trying to ‘Who-up’ something that really doesn’t need to be changed.<br /><br />And it’s a shame because they’re so much more interesting than that. One of my favourite moments in this episode is a slight and totally irrelevant little moment. When Thalira is being dragged as a hostage through the tunnels by Eckersley she comes across a group of the dead and shouts at Eckersley to look at what he’s done. Eckersley’s response isn’t a melodramatic justification, or a big speech, it’s a callous ‘Never mind’ before yanking her away again. It’s a chilling character touch that reminds you precisely how pathetic and ordinary (and therefore deeply unpleasant) this particular bad guy is. A man organizing mass murder for the shallowest ideals. Fab.<br /><br />Azaxyr also gets a bit of this too. I was initially a bit grumpy that his death, during a messy scramble in the throne room was at the hands of an un-named and unidentifiable miner, rather than the more obviously apt Gebek… but that could almost be the point. This representative of a race defined by nobility has demonstrated his utter lack of honour throughout the story – an honour he, ironically, claims to crave. So it’s somehow appropriate that his death, mere minutes after his holding a woman hostage, comes in a manner without significance or grace – on the knife of a faceless man he would think nothing of. He dies as he lived.<br /><br />Elsewhere this is something of a standard final episode. Enough threads have been set up that it’s just a matter of tying them all off. The use of the villain’s own weapon in order to defeat them is a lovely touch, as is the use of Aggedor himself to defeat and kill his effective blasphemer, meaning that the entire ending has a great sense of just desserts. Some of it doesn’t entirely work – Eckersley’s sparing of Sarah’s life seems massively weird, especially since he then goes on to need a hostage. And if there’s a better and more obvious example of the same actor being blatantly killed twice by different people in about five minutes then I don’t know what it is. But it’s all pacey and fun, and manages to tie everything up in a satisfying manner. A generally under-rated story I reckon.John Dorneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00043867565471251131noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755686396354348154.post-46933308596488816942009-07-28T06:43:00.000-07:002010-02-06T09:48:06.476-08:00Death to the Daleks1 Apr 2009, 8:25 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Death to the Daleks 1:<br /><br />Whilst I stand by my opinions in the Day of the Dalek review that holding off the monster til the cliffhanger (despite titular prescence) is not the massive act of idiocy fandom tends to assume it is, there are problems with this approach, and Death to the Daleks demonstrates one of them. Namely that you'd better be certain you've got enough plot to fill in the story before you get there.<br /><br />Death to the Daleks emphatically doesn’t. And that’s a shame, because there’s a lot of potential here. The initial hook of the episode is the TARDIS losing power, which is unnerving enough to be worthwhile. But because that is, by definition, a plot about something not actually doing anything, the absence of action, then it won’t really cover that much time. And the story as a whole just seems to be unsure of what to occupy itself with.<br /><br />Take the opening sequence. Man staggers along. Gets hit in chest by spear. Dies. Even written down in that bland way I’m still not managing to communicate the sheer underwhelming limpness of the sequence. It’s like everyone involved knows this is just a by the numbers way of trying to kick off the story with a bit of action. It’s all so desperately half-hearted. There’s no build up, no tension. Just an event.<br /><br />And the entire story is like that. The first fifteen minutes almost entirely consists of the Doctor and Sarah wandering around Exillon having the crap kicked out of them by, or kicking the crap out of, a few faceless savages. And lots of walking.<br /><br />Now, it livens up in the last ten with the appearance of the Earth expedition force, all of whom have been selected to conform to a stock stereotype rather than for any real use on the mission. OK, that’s a touch unfair, because at least they offer a bit of life. But ultimately they’re nothing we haven’t seen before.<br /><br />No, for that, we have to wait for the Exillon city. <br /><br />The Exillon city sequences are the exact opposite of the opening. They’re superb. The incongruous oddness of the building, especially given the generic quarry it’s placed in, give it an eerie and unsettling quality. And that revitalises the production. The sequences around the city are the exact opposite of the opening sting of this episode. Whereas the generic nature of that led to a clear lack of interest on the director’s part, you can almost see his ears pricking up when he hears about this sequence. Everything about it is inventive and original, combining beautiful sound and vision with the darker warnings of the Earth crew. Hopefully the remaining three episodes will pull this way.<br /><br />Though given the heinous mis-editing of the cliffhanger, giving away its own resolution, I’m not convinced. <br /><br />#811 8 Apr 2009, 11:59 pm <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Death to the Daleks 2:<br /><br />There’s something really frustrating about this story. It seems close to doing something really interesting, and yet never quite succeeds in pulling it off.<br /><br />For example – the notion of the Daleks losing their firepower is a genuinely novel idea (ok, it does necessitate a little delicate skipping around the problem of how they’re still able to move, but at least they try). How will these dangerous and powerful creatures cope when they have that power removed? How will the fare collaborating with their enemies? It’s an intriguing prospect that sets up several potential avenues worth exploring…<br /><br />But then it doesn’t do anything with them. The Dalek’s emasculation lasts all of about ten minutes. As soon as it can, the story gives them alternate weaponary. It’s a definite wasted opportunity, meaning one of the most original ideas this story had is frittered away on a cliffhanger resolution, and nothing more. Indeed, there’s no effort to carry it through – why, exactly, are the humans still treated as equals by the Daleks even after they’ve got ther firepower back?<br /><br />Equally, last episode’s most promising element – the Exillon city – is barely even mentioned this time around, as we end up spending most of our time hanging around a fairly standard sacrifice chamber, filling in time again.<br /><br />It’s pretty much standard for this episode. John Abineri is killed off, then almost instantly replaced with another commanding officer type (who’ve we never really know or develop any interest in) just to die as well. Wouldn’t it have made more sense to have only had Abineri mortally wounded?<br /><br />And it’s still so frustrating because the story constantly skims close to genuine interest. Galloway’s deliberate mishearing of his commander’s dying wish is a great moment (although it would be better if the character wasn’t so one-note). And the Dalek who explodes after Exillon attack gets one of his species best deaths.<br /><br />But it’s all just so lacklustre. There’s no real energy in the direction. Which is a shame because this has all the potential to be a good fun – if pulpy – space romp. But it isn’t quite committing enough to that. <br /> <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#813 11 Apr 2009, 12:51 am <br />Dorney<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Death to the Daleks 3:<br /><br />Sometimes an episode has something in it so famous you can’t help but mention it up front. A classic character, a great scene, an iconic image. And then some just have the most notoriously crap cliffhanger of all time. Yes, if there’s something that people tend to associate this story with, more often than not it’s the Doctor and Bellal reacting to a patterned floor. But let’s think about this a moment. Yes, it’s a laughably bad cliffhanger, but it’s important to notice what it tells us about the story, and its problems.<br /><br />When I first saw this story this bit wasn’t a problem. It was the edited VHS release, so the precise cliffhanger locations were impossible to determine. But, when I didn’t know, I’d always take a guess, based around careful watching of the clock and guesswork. And, rather predictably I guessed the moment when the Daleks glide around the corner of the city and start firing at the spot where the Doctor previously stood. It’s a good guess, as were it not for the lack of material in the third episode, that was the scripted point.<br /><br />But seen in context, there’s a full five minutes left to run. And that’s what’s interesting. The episode has to lift five minutes from the next episode and fill out it’s length, but unlike similar botch jobs (such as Planet of the Spiders 5/6), there’s no need to re-edit the cliffhanger reprise, or take it to absurd length. Episode four still runs to length without those five minutes.<br /><br />When your final episode is so long that its offcuts can be used to pad out another episode without any trouble, when the earlier episodes aren’t full, doesn’t that suggest your saving too much up? That’s the main problem with this story so far. Lots of interesting ideas, but they’re left too late to be dealt with. Only now do we meet Bellal and get some exposition on the city (in one great big unashamed info-dump), for example, and seem to be moving on to something intriguing. Couldn’t this have come in a bit earlier? Too much of the story so far has been standard issue Dalek serial – slaves, shooting, threats, drilling, etc. This is the stuff that’s unique to this story, this is the element you should be focusing on.<br /><br />But at the same time, there’s another problem. Whilst the city storyline is intriguing, it really isn’t marrying all that well with the Dalek plot. It’s like the Doctor is in a separate storyline. OK, there are efforts to tie it all together, but it’s clearly less than the sum of its parts.<br /><br />Loads of weird little rubbish bits in this episode, btw. I don’t mean the violent root (which I like for the sound effect alone). More like the way that the logic test that’s supposed to have foiled a good three or four skeletons in the city is a simple map out of a child’s puzzle book. And Pertwee’s ‘Palpable hit’ stuff is pretentious and annoying.<br /><br />Still, at least you still get the cliffhanger to laugh at. <br /> <br />#814 14 Apr 2009, 12:01 pm <br />stanmore <br />Time Lord<br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />So, essentially, you disagree with the idea in The DisContinuity Guide that there's too much plot in this story rather than too little? <br /> <br />#815 15 Apr 2009, 2:23 am <br />AlMiles <br />Stay warm<br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I've always found the concerns over stories' plot (or lack of) to be rather pointless, anyway. Doctor Who is a half-hour fun romp for all the family, half of which are too young or too hip to bother with plots and want other things - action, scares, character, cool designs and concepts, witty dialogue, even to learn something new ... why does plot always hog the limelight? Is it a fan thing?<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#816 15 Apr 2009, 5:36 pm <br />Pete Lack <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Oh, I've always had something of a soft spot for 'Death' as it was my first VHS, and like Dorney, I viewed it as an edited 'movie' version. Unlike Dorney, I have never seen the original episodic version, so I have no real problems with the cliffhangers; in fact the first time I saw the 'floor of doom' was on the Trial DVD's cliffhangers docu...<br /><br />My god, I even like Carey Blyton's saxophone score, which also gets a fair bit of stick. Takes all sorts hey?<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#817 19 Apr 2009, 12:20 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by stanmore <br />"So, essentially, you disagree with the idea in The DisContinuity Guide that there's too much plot in this story rather than too little? "<br /><br />Not exactly. I think there probably are too many interesting ideas in the story to explore in the time... as a result they all get short shrift.<br /><br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by AlMiles <br />"I've always found the concerns over stories' plot (or lack of) to be rather pointless, anyway. Doctor Who is a half-hour fun romp for all the family, half of which are too young or too hip to bother with plots and want other things - action, scares, character, cool designs and concepts, witty dialogue, even to learn something new ... why does plot always hog the limelight? Is it a fan thing? "<br /><br />I think it's down to individual taste. Personally, I think that all of the things you mention, whilst important, are usually improved when attached to a storyline that actually makes sense, or has a bit of drive. Humour is always at its funniest when there is something at stake, for example. In deed, I think that whilst, yes, half the audience probably don't get the plots (I struggle to think of what I made of Kinda as a child), there has to be something for everyone in the audience - it is a family show after all. And a rollicking story helps. <br /> <br /><br /><br />#818 24 Apr 2009, 12:39 pm <br />Raveen<br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />"Too much of the story so far has been standard issue Dalek serial – slaves, shooting, threats, drilling, etc. "<br /><br />Is this actually such a crime? For us as fans yes, because we've seen The Daleks, Dalek Invasion of Earth, Planet of the Daleks and all the other serials that tread much the same ground relatively recently. For the average viewer in Nineteen Seventy Whatever is was it's not going to seem like a rehash of past stories because they haven't seen or don't remember those stories. Ok so this argument falls down a bit becasue Planet was only a year ago but surely that story at least can be excused it's Daleks Greatest Hits status because the hits were so long ago?<br /><br />It's the logic puzzles that really fail. Ok so the non-matching symbols works becasue we're never shown which one doesn't match so we can assume that the Doctor was very clever to work it out. The maze is much harder to justify. Ok it's something that kids can understand and relate to, but it's tricky to believe that nobody got past it (and we can assume that nobody did becuase the floor of death has no skeletons in evidence).<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br /><br />#819 24 Apr 2009, 6:28 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Raveen <br />"Is this actually such a crime? For us as fans yes, because we've seen The Daleks, Dalek Invasion of Earth, Planet of the Daleks and all the other serials that tread much the same ground relatively recently. For the average viewer in Nineteen Seventy Whatever is was it's not going to seem like a rehash of past stories because they haven't seen or don't remember those stories. Ok so this argument falls down a bit becasue Planet was only a year ago but surely that story at least can be excused it's Daleks Greatest Hits status because the hits were so long ago? "<br /><br />I dunno - there's a degree to which that's right... but it's hard to put yourself in the mind of those who aren't regular watchers. Maybe they have clearer memories than we think.<br /><br />Incidentally, part four's review will be up soon. I've been working on it for over a week, just been a bit busy! <br /><br /><br />#820 1 May 2009, 12:14 pm <br />Richard2801 <br />Fluffy Elephant<br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />For some reason I'd not caught up with this for a while - missing my chance to disagree with you markedly over Invasion of the Dinosaurs, I think! - but, sadly, you're spot-on with Death To the Daleks. I can never quite understand Michael E Briant's direction; in interviews and indeed in person he comes across as lively and committed, and on several stories he directs like that, too. At other times, it seems like someone utterly disinterested is saying 'yeah, whatever'. The script's so listless, too, that I can see how he'd have found it difficult to whip up enthusiasm, but still...<br /><br />Anyway, I'm following your blog (excellent idea) now, so no doubt I'll see the whole lot come up eventually, which is exciting. I've now got as far as, er, The Daleks on my own 'do the lot' blog, which suggests I've cut the time it'll take me to complete it from a little under 500 years to not much over 200. Woo hoo!<br /><br />(Alex, borrowing Richard. Richard writes his blog's Who reviews far more regularly)<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#821 3 May 2009, 2:13 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Death to the Daleks 4:<br /><br />I’m not sure how I can really finish off this review without simply reusing a phrase from the episode 3 review – ‘less than the sum of its parts’. If there’s a phrase that sums Death to the Daleks, it’s that.<br /><br />I’ve read that a lot of the story ideas here come from either Dicks or Holmes working behind the scenes, and that makes a lot of sense, frankly. Not because Nation’s incapable of coming up with intriguing concepts (he clearly is), but because the story is chock full of elements that never quite fit together. Particularly, the Daleks and their miracle mineral appear to be in a different story to the Exillon city. Notice how the central issue of the story – the power drain – is actually resolved twice as the natural conclusion to two separate threads.<br /><br />In deed, if you think of it that way, there’s pretty much two separate stories going on here. One starring the Doctor and about the city, one about the Dalek’s battle of wills with the humans – and they only really intersect for one episode (two). The Doctor never really gets much dealings with the Daleks after that episode – mainly hanging around out of the way whilst the City deals with them – and their threat is resolved by Galloway rather than him. At times it feels like a backdoor pilot for a Dalek TV show.<br /><br />And this approach ends up leaving them both a bit short changed. Whiltst the ‘meh’ quality of the Dalek plot isn’t all that disappointing, the Doctor’s thread is far more disappointing as it’s got so much more to play with. There’s never any real sense of what to do with this super-powered city, beautiful and haunting as it undeniably is (the death of the city at the end is really rather disturbing). Having a sequence of Crystal Maze traps smacks of desperation, especially when the logic for it is so fuzzy – only allow the smartest people into your brain, possibly to be made servants, though why you need servants at all, let alone smart ones, when you’ve been surviving perfectly well for hundreds of years is beyond me. Yes, the story takes loads of interesting ideas, but just doesn’t have the time or the interest into developing them into a proper solid story. Strong concepts – but no idea what to do with them. <br /> <br />#822 3 May 2009, 3:38 pm <br />Gravitational Pull <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />"Particularly, the Daleks and their miracle mineral appear to be in a different story to the Exillon city. Notice how the central issue of the story – the power drain – is actually resolved twice as the natural conclusion to two separate threads. "<br /><br />Wow, I'd never actually noticed despite the fact (now that someone mentions it) it is a bit blatant.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#823 15 May 2009, 1:14 am <br />Xipuloxx <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I was watching the "Frighten Factor" documentary on the Deadly Assassin DVD tonight, and up pops a "John Dorney, Writer" as one of the talking heads ...<br /><br />... is that you, Dorney?<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#824 15 May 2009, 11:05 am <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Xipuloxx <br />"I was watching the "Frighten Factor" documentary on the Deadly Assassin DVD tonight, and up pops a "John Dorney, Writer" as one of the talking heads ...<br /><br />... is that you, Dorney? "<br /><br />Er, yeah... <br /> <br />#825 15 May 2009, 3:14 pm <br />Xipuloxx <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Cool! Congratulaions on your moment of fame, then! Because clearly there is no greater fame than appearing as a talking head on a Doctor Who DVD. <br /><br />I hadn't realised you were a writer as well as an actor (you are an actor, right? I'm not going mad?), so I wasn't sure if it was you...<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br /><br />#826 15 May 2009, 4:08 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Xipuloxx <br />"Cool! Congratulaions on your moment of fame, then! Because clearly there is no greater fame than appearing as a talking head on a Doctor Who DVD. <br /><br />I hadn't realised you were a writer as well as an actor (you are an actor, right? I'm not going mad?), so I wasn't sure if it was you... "<br /><br />Hey, only did it for the freebie. Technically it's my second dvd mention (having been mentioned, although not by name) for a fanzine article I wrote in the Seeds of Death commentary (a series of articles about running down corridors that was, I cannot emphasise enough, meant to be a joke...).<br /><br />But yes, write and act a bit. See my sig for some of my written material (plug plug). <br /> <br />#827 15 May 2009, 6:43 pm <br />Mighty Chicken Man <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />"Hey, only did it for the freebie. Technically it's my second dvd mention (having been mentioned, although not by name) for a fanzine article I wrote in the Seeds of Death commentary (a series of articles about running down corridors that was, I cannot emphasise enough, meant to be a joke...).<br /><br />But yes, write and act a bit. See my sig for some of my written material (plug plug). "<br /><br />i didn't think there were 2 dorneys! good to see you on it<br /><br />---------------------------------------------------------------------------John Dorneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00043867565471251131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755686396354348154.post-36262037587685887902009-07-28T06:42:00.000-07:002010-02-09T09:17:57.600-08:00Invasion of the Dinosaurs16 Feb 2009, 6:32 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Crikey, you know you're in trouble when you're not sure what to title the review....<br /><br />Invasion 1:<br /><br />As with a lot of the stories I'm watching on this marathon, I already have preconceived notions of what I think. In a number of cases, it's been an awfully long time since I last saw the stories in question, so those preconceived notions may not be based in reality, or at least the reality of today. Invasion of the Dinosaurs is a case in point. With that proviso in mind, and in the knowledge that I may change my mind about this as the rewatching continues, here's the opening statement.<br /><br />If you don't like Invasion of the Dinosaurs, I think you have your Dr Who priorities wrong.<br /><br />I recall a fairly infamous article in DWM that was titled something like '25 years of Turkeys'. I can't remember the precise number of years, but it was something like that. It was nothing but a dull rehashing of accepted fan consensus. Stories that were attacked for being different (The Gunfighters, for example, although another factor was the, eventually disproved, 'lowest rating story' thing), largely humourous (Nimon) or possessing dodgy effects. Invasion of the Dinosaurs was, naturally on the list. Very few of those mentioned were stories that were completely uninteresting or dull or just poorly written. Yes, the attack was on the surface, on stories that were made a bit badly, or cheaply.<br /><br />For my money, that's the last thing we should care about. In deed, when even the most recent episode of the classic series is twenty years old, it seems absurd that people genuinely called stories turkeys on the basis of cheap sets or badly designed/executed special effects/monsters. From this vantage point, all classic series sets are cheap and unconvincing, and all the effects are terrible. If you're complaining about them, you're watching the show for the wrong reasons.<br /><br />Doctor Who is all about the stories. The characters. That's why you should be watching. There's nothing inherently interesting or exciting about high production values or special effects (as any number of Hollywood blockbusters, and new-Who knock off ITV dramas should prove). What counts is the story being told. Yes, rubbish monsters aren't great, but are we really saying that should matter more than rubbish stories? Shouldn't that be where we're directing our ire? If you don't have enough of a facility to suspend your disbelief, what the hell are you doing watching imaginative fiction?<br /><br />I can hardly wait for this story to come out on DVD. If they've any sense, they'll do that CGI replacement thing, and it might make the more unimaginative dullards who underrate this story reappraise it. Because it's got a great story.<br /><br />As first episodes go, this is a genuine corker. Opening with an eerie montage of a deserted London (something I've always had a soft spot for), we manage to have that rare thing, certainly during the Pertwee era - the Doctor doing his traditional stumbling into an already ongoing story - yet on contemporary Earth. All of the traditional mystery elements of such a scenario are present, but the fact that they’re in a world we’re used to gone utterly strange lends them a disquieting air. Equally, it means that the characters and situations are stronger as we have easier reference points. The looters in this episode, for example, are drawn swiftly but cover all we need. We know exactly what the punishments mean, we know exactly the scale of what’s happening, we know this world. Which makes its sudden lurch into an almost post-apocalyptic milieu all the more disturbing. The Doctor is lost on home turf.<br /><br />The regulars are all presented well. It’s always a relief when the Brig is presented as competent and intelligent (as Benton is here too). And the Doctor is on top form, genuinely likeable for a change – his mid mugshot grinning is one of Pertwee’s best moments, imo, somehow epitomising the ‘Doctor-ish’ quality. Better, perhaps, is that the scene manages to emphasise how important it is that he does it – he’s not just messing around, he’s doing it to help out Sarah-Jane, relax her (note how she just about manages to do exactly the same, albeit a little less confidently). Even the Venusinan Karate scenes are nicely done.<br /><br />If there’s anything odd about this episode, it’s the fact that given how quickly the story reveals its trump card (well, supposed trump card), the dinosaurs, the fake title does seem odd. We see them within ten minutes or so. Still never mind, eh? This episode is tense, presents an effectively well-realised world that seems unnervingly dangerous and strange, and hooks you in. Something of a runaround, it’s nonetheless extremely enjoyable and entertaining. <br /><br />#789 16 Feb 2009, 6:43 pm <br />Liberty Hall <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Love this story - although for me, as with all season 11 stories, it's always great when you realise Jo Grant isn't in it.<br /><br />------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <br /><br />#790 16 Feb 2009, 7:48 pm <br />Doc Phibes <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />"As first episodes go, this is a genuine corker. Opening with an eerie montage of a deserted London (something I've always had a soft spot for), we manage to have that rare thing, certainly during the Pertwee era - the Doctor doing his traditional stumbling into an already ongoing story - yet on contemporary Earth. All of the traditional mystery elements of such a scenario are present, but the fact that they’re in a world we’re used to gone utterly strange lends them a disquieting air. Equally, it means that the characters and situations are stronger as we have easier reference points. The looters in this episode, for example, are drawn swiftly but cover all we need. We know exactly what the punishments mean, we know exactly the scale of what’s happening, we know this world. Which makes its sudden lurch into an almost post-apocalyptic milieu all the more disturbing. The Doctor is lost on home turf." <br /><br />An excellent observation. We're well into the British sci-fi/horror traditions of Day Of The Triffids or 28 Days Later here.<br /><br /><br />Quote:<br />"...for me, as with all season 11 stories, it's always great when you realise Jo Grant isn't in it. "<br /><br />Oh, go stewey in your phooey! <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#791 17 Feb 2009, 12:14 am <br />AlMiles <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />"Doctor Who is all about the stories. The characters. That's why you should be watching. There's nothing inherently interesting or exciting about high production values or special effects (as any number of Hollywood blockbusters, and new-Who knock off ITV dramas should prove). What counts is the story being told. Yes, rubbish monsters aren't great, but are we really saying that should matter more than rubbish stories? Shouldn't that be where we're directing our ire? If you don't have enough of a facility to suspend your disbelief, what the hell are you doing watching imaginative fiction? "<br /><br />I read one of those Target book thingies once. Science fiction, like. It was all just words, printed on paper! Talk about cheap. And dated. At several points I had to turn a page over, completely taking me out of what little "moment" I had managed to find. At some points, there were pictures - "illustrations" - that were in black and white! Nothing like a decent Sci-Fi movie like "The Chronicles of Riddick".<br /><br />Don't know what people see in 'em.<br /><br />"The regulars are all presented well. It’s always a relief when the Brig is presented as competent and intelligent (as Benton is here too). And the Doctor is on top form, genuinely likeable for a change – his mid mugshot grinning is one of Pertwee’s best moments, imo, somehow epitomising the ‘Doctor-ish’ quality. "<br /><br />I love it when he puts his arm round Sarah and says to the Army photographer "how about one of us both together?" <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#793 17 Feb 2009, 9:27 am <br />codywillis1 <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br /><br />"I recall a fairly infamous article in DWM that was titled something like '25 years of Turkeys'. I can't remember the precise number of years, but it was something like that. It was nothing but a dull rehashing of accepted fan consensus." <br /><br />I never realised they had the Time Team back then, too!<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#794 18 Feb 2009, 12:33 am <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Invasion of the Dinosaurs 2:<br /><br />Again, something of a minor gem.<br /><br />It's striking that this story has effectively divided the first two episodes into two questions, two questions that are usually presented together. What and why?<br /><br />The first episode is based entirely around the mystery of what is going on. Arguably, this is why the title card is different when the monsters get a surprisingly early reveal. With hindsight, it's clear that this is entirely about dinosaurs, but the Pterodactyl's appearance doesn't confirm that we're only dealing with dinosaurs. The mystery is maintained, and with this episode developed - the medieval peasant and the time eddies all add questions.<br /><br />But as with any good story, there's only so long you want to wait for answers. So this episode starts to answer those questions. The Doctor is quick off the mark to figure out a logic to the appearances. Which, of course, shifts the questions into a different area. We're no longer concerned with what is happening, we're concerned with why it is.<br /><br />And what an interesting question that is. Those of you with long memories might remember that way back in my review of Enemy of the World, I said there were three great twists in Doctor Who history. Here's the second - Mike Yates is a bad guy.<br /><br />Actually, it's a little more complicated than that. The central implication of Mike working for the bad guys implies that whatever they're up to is a little bit more interesting than simple goodies and baddies. If the straight up UNIT soldier is betraying his friends, there's got to be a bit more to it than demented world domination. We get a handful of clues - perhaps too many. It's hard to tell when you already know what the plot is, but the 'green' stuff is potentially a little too obviously emphasised. Certainly Mike's talk on the beauty of the silent city stands out a touch. It's a great pointer to what's coming up, but it does feel a touch out of character. Or rather, I was going to say that but realised it isn't quite true. The problem is that this is the first time Mike has really appeared to possess a strong and obvious personality.<br /><br />Generally, the story retains it's air of fun runaround, whilst maintaining enough intrigue to get you hooked. Nice bits of humour abound (Benton's dinosaur briefing leaps out in particular, as does the Doctor's almost slapstick attempts not to be interrupted, although this is pushed a little too obviously and Pertwee's final response too broadly 'comic' to work entirely). Still solid. <br /> <br /><br />#795 18 Feb 2009, 2:44 am <br />Menome <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />As I only watched IOTD for the first time a month or so ago, I can see how Mike Yates' green angle seems to be too much of a clue when viewed in hindsight. When I was going through the episode though, I merely thought it was just supposed to be a nice character-touch, rather than anything integral to the plot, and thus actually does work in the way it was probably intended. Well, for me it did anyway. <br /> <br /><br />#796 21 Feb 2009, 12:39 pm <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Invasion of the Dinosaurs 3:<br /><br />With the last Malcolm Hulke story, Frontier, we saw how he managed to survive the problems of a six-parter (just about) by constantly introducing new elements (new locations for the most part... well, new places to have cells, I suppose). And that's what happens again here.<br /><br />It's probably bad form to start the review with the end of the episode, but it's kind of key to what's going on. Throughout this episode we're beginning to get the sense of where things are going - the dinosaurs are being generated by a small group determined to empty London, a group with a purpose unknown, but potentially altruistic. We're even beginning to find out who the secret masters of the scheme are. All the cards appear to be on (or at least near the table).<br /><br />And then we have one of the best rug-pulls the series managed. The sudden shift into a new element (a spaceship that's left earth) that seems to have very little to do with what's gone before is a superb hook. Immediately we're back in the position of asking questions, just at the point where we thought we had got all the answers. Sublime.<br />I can't imagine anyone not wanting to come back. If they're not one of those people put off by the SFX.<br /><br />Cos this episode does contain the best and worst of them. Interestingly, it does seem to me that the problems with the dinosaur models are overstated a touch. Firstly, it isn't all of them that are a problem. The Stegosaurus and Brontosaurus we've had so far have been acceptable enough, mainly cos they don't move. No, it's only really the big T-Rex that we have to worry about. It's a fairly rubbish model in the first place, just in terms of appearance (and it's longer than realistic arms). Though again, not all the time (the extreme close ups of its face work surprisingly well). Having said all that, we do get one truly atrocious moment when it wakes up from slumber and sort of semi-levitates to an upright position (given my episode one review, it's important to clarify - it's fine to notice that the effects are bad - it's just not a good reason to string up a decent script).<br /><br />But plot wise it's all progressing nicely. We're getting the good guys making enough progress that it doesn't feel like it's all being padded out, everything falling out in a logical and character driven way (yes, Mike's sabotage holds the plot up, but that's sort of the point, and it's a strong character development. Decent stuff.<br /> <br /><br />#799 10 Mar 2009, 2:04 am <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Invasion of the Dinosaurs 4:<br /><br />There’s an enjoyable sub-genre of the crime novel called ‘the reverse whodunnit’. Most obviously popularised by Columbo on the TV, the form does pre-exist it (Dial M for Murder being an obvious example). It’s the story where we see who the murderer is at the beginning, and the mystery and tension is provided by the question of how they’re going to be caught.<br /><br />The reason I bring this up is that this story strikes me as the closest Who ever gets to the same model – a reverse Doctor Who, if you like. We meet the baddies in episode two, and from there on in the drama is entirely about their efforts to stop the Doctor discovering them. It’s all from their perspective.<br /><br />Think I’m exaggerating? Look at the reveal of General Finch as one of the bad guys this episode. There’s no big moment, no deliberate betrayal of the Doctor. It’s revealed, almost in passing, in a quick scene with Yates. Furthermore, look at how much of the story is being told with the Doctor in ignorant bliss, how much of it is done with the viewer knowing more than him (Butler as Grover’s chauffeur, for example).<br /><br />This all adds up to the fact that this is a story that’s about the villains rather than the heroes – and particularly about Yates. Very firmly in the character rather than plot driven camp, and all the more evidence of Hulke’s lack of interest in the whole dinosaur bit.<br /><br />There’s a fairly obvious reason for this. It’s the fact that the goodies aren’t really doing much. Sarah is stuck in a subplot, albeit an interesting one (nice to see that they’re still maintaining the mystery of the startling cliffhanger by continuing the seemingly unrelated thread going). And the Doctor’s investigations are a little dull frankly. Thing is, he’ basically got it pegged from the moment he arrives on the scene. His initial scheme – to use a disappearance to trace the energy source – is bang on. So you don’t really have the usual cat and mouse game of the Doctor getting a bit more information, the old slow drip. As a result, the tension has to come from somewhere. And it’s from whether the villains can stop the Doctor, and the moral struggle of Yates. The mystery of what is going on is shifted from what is causing the appearances to what is actually motivating the bad guys (it’s noticeable that for all its moral ambiguity, the story still does paint them in surprisingly broad strokes for a Hulke story – Butler, Finch and Whitaker are all fairly directly unpleasant from the get go. Though to be fair, this probably helps in terms of viewer response. If they weren’t obviously bad, and the story was about two nice groups of people, then I’m not sure there’d be much drama).<br /><br />Still very good though. The only real fly in the ointment this time round remain the dinosaurs (particularly the T-Rex standing up from supine position… I know what I’ve said about suspension of disbelief, but sometimes this story makes it really, really hard…). And that still ain’t enough to derail it completely. <br /> <br />#800 10 Mar 2009, 2:05 am <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />You know, just checking the dates, it astonishes me how long it took me to write that review. I didn't watch episode 4 too long after three, and I started writing it up fairly soon after... I've been doing bits and bobs of it for a fortnight. Crikey. <br /> <br />15 Mar 2009, 11:40 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Invasion of the Dinosaurs 5:<br /><br />It does say something about where the writer’s interest lies in this script in that it’s able to shunt the Doctor off for the majority of the episode – without massively hurting it.<br /><br />Now, admittedly, the chase runaround that occupies him for the majority of the episode is blatant padding. Padding that I have seen widely criticised. If I’m honest, though, it doesn’t really trouble me. It’s broken up sufficiently that it doesn’t really drag, It’s only really problematic on a narrative level. As I mentioned last episode, the Doctor’s storyline in this story is so straightforward he pretty much can’t be allowed to do anything.<br /><br />Which leaves all the good stuff to the other characters. Sarah is coming over very well – in particular, the long sequences of her break-out of the fake spaceship, culminating in her stepping out of the airlock, are stronger moments than the Doctor has had all story. Oddly, there never really seems to be a big reveal for this reasonably strong twist, but that’s a minor quibble. (Incidentally, given what I said in episode four about this being a story from the bad guy’s perspective first and foremost, note how General Finch pulling a gun on Sarah would be the moment of revelation in any other version. He hasn’t really done anything plotwise that can’t be attributed to Grover somehow, so the early reveal isn’t dictated by the plot).<br /><br />Equally, there’s good material for the Brig and Benton, albeit with limited screentime, both given the chance to prove their trust of and loyalty to the Doctor, with Benton’s self-sacrificial knocking out a particularly fine example.<br /><br />Beyond that, there’s very little to comment on. We get the full details of the bad guy’s plans. It’s a little disappointing that it is so obviously wrong. After several episodes hinting that it was mainly about a good moral outcome, it does seem a little straightforwardly ‘evil’, to the degree that Grover now just seems mental. Still, that’s a minor quibble in a reasonably enjoyable, and helpfully largely dinosaur free, episode. <br /> <br />#802 16 Mar 2009, 11:55 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Invasion of the Dinosaurs 6:<br /><br />After all of the last episode’s time wasting, and the last five’s sidelining of the Doctor, it’s somewhat surprising to see how much happens in this episode, and how much our hero actually gets to do. Why did we need to have an overlong chase in the last episode when this one almost doesn’t have enough space to do it justice?<br /><br />Almost. It is packed to the very edge, but it gets away with it. Most of the regular UNIT team get their own perfect showpiece here, a little stand out scene. It is still hard to reconcile the Mike we have here with the comparatively noble and intelligent character who we’ve watched for three years, but given that it’s far and away the most interesting the character gets it’s rather more tempting to try and square the old Mike with this one. Benton makes a serious grab at making this his best story (off the top of my head, I can’t think of any that come close – possibly Inferno, but that’s probably technically closer in the battle for Levene himself’s best rather than Benton’s), with his disarming of his old friend and fight with a General. The Brigadier doesn’t get a real set piece of his own, but it’s not like he really needs them any more. He’s just well written and performed (his little lament for Yates at the end is nicely understated).<br /><br />Sarah remains ballsy and smart, always on the initiative. In deed, it’s telling that the resolution of the story is fairly heavily based on her actions within the fake spaceship. In true 21st century Who style, the influence of the Doctor and his companion inspire others to save the day, with the chain of persuasion from Adam to Mark a particularly fine touch.<br /><br />If the Doctor doesn’t get to have any ‘cool’ moments himself, that’s more the fault of the individual sequences than an absence. He does get his bit, a coda located lecture on the evils and perils of the world, but it’s a little overloaded and lacking in subtlety. Still, Pertwee performs it with conviction, so it almost gets away with it. Less likely is the moment when, after having dynamited the entrance to the lift, the Doctor insists on going down alone as he doesn’t want to attract attention. Because obviously the explosion won’t be noticed in the least.<br /><br />If there’s a problem, it’s that the motivations of the bad guys are never really sufficiently developed. Grover is the only really convincing conspirator – the other three are so obviously cold and miserable that you can’t understand how they came to be involved in such a scheme. But generally, the story wraps up in fine and exciting style, throwing in intriguing new concepts right to the end (Grover suiting up to fake space walk, for example). Overall, severely under-rated. <br /> <br />-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------John Dorneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00043867565471251131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755686396354348154.post-15304205592387352032009-07-28T06:41:00.000-07:002010-02-09T14:51:54.278-08:00The Time Warrior20 Jan 2009, 11:47 pm <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Time Warrior 1:<br /><br />There's something quietly subversive about the first episode of this story.<br /><br />Generally speaking, the most successful opening installments follow a similar pattern. A perplexing, or at least mildly explained, situation is taking place. Odd stuff is happening. The Doctor investigates - around the end of the first episode, something happens that offers the semblance of an explanation. Carnival of Monsters is something of a template for this, but it also applies to most of the Dalek or Cyberman stories.<br /><br />Time Warrior feels likes it going to go down this route - and then it just doesn't. Like Carnival of Monsters we appear to have two seperate, incompatible plot threads. An alien in the middle ages versus disappearing scientists in the modern day. All would suggest we're going to be kept guessing at how the two relate...<br /><br />And then we're not. We're pretty much ten minutes in when it becomes clear what's happening in this story. The last line of the initial medieval sequence (Linx saying he will get help where it is available) tied in with the next (where a row of modern dress scientists work in the background) could not be more explicit. So given that, where's the hook?<br /><br />Well, the hook is in quirkiness and characterisation. Very soon after the likeably urbane Stevens we gain the dry and erudite Lynx (or is it Linx? Can't remember...). The direct contrast with the immediately unpleasant and boorish Irongron offers a lot of enjoyment. Both are a touch unusual for a Who villain, one too thick and the other too disinterested, meaning both are pretty amusing. In deed, everything about this story is light and amusing. The Doctor seems at his wittiest here (albeit when we say that, we mean 'for the third Doctor'), Rubeish is oddball <br />without being annoying, and the sequences with Sarah Jane are pleasingly spikey. Much as Jo's early scenes in the Green Death seemed livilier than the traditional companion material, Sarah gets a lot to play with in her earliest scenes, coming over as feisty - almost self-consciously so, as if determined to prove herself strong - with a naive streak. As an opening appearance it is very assured, particularly in her no-nonsense response to time travel (ironically, the only bit where SJS doesn't really hit well is in the slightly unconvincing way the script actually gets her to enter the actual TARDIS). It's also hard not to feel that the banter enervates Pertwee somewhat.<br /><br />All of this goes to show that the script isn't keeping us engaged through mystery, but an entertaining, playful quality. That's not to say that the plot is bad, it's enjoyable enough, but it takes second place to Holmes enjoying his characters and the use of language. <br /> <br /><br /><br />#780 23 Jan 2009, 11:34 pm <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Time Warrior 2:<br /><br />After the quirky quality of the last episode, the feeling continues. There's a jokey, almost farcical quality to this episode.<br /><br />Like the last episode, the Doctor takes an awfully long time to turn up in this one. He's briefly in the reprise, but the opening section of this story is entirely about Sarah. And boy does she grab it by the throat. Rich with dramatic irony, her confident breezing through an incredibly dangerous situation is one of the brightest scenes we've had in the series. The combination of her misplaced certainty and the villain's utter bemusement makes for a lot of fun. <br /><br />And the use of misunderstandings and confusions as a comedic device continues through the story, though it's worth emphasising that Irongron's just as susceptible to this as the Doctor and Sarah. Letting Sarah run free proves to be a big mistake, and it is very much this that provides the farce element, with the Doctor and Sarah running in and out around the castle for the first ten minutes or so, causing chaos but all but ignored (particularly lovely is the Doctor popping on to the balcony to save Hal with a neatly dispatched arrow, seemingly unnoticed by everyone). The essence of farce is a story working on many different levels, where different characters have different levels of comprehension, and that's what we have here. Sarah's perpetual misjudgements maintain this throughout, keeping it fast, but also fun and amusing - and how different is she already, leading a raggedy bunch of soliders to attack the Doctor? Not something you can imagine Jo doing (to any degree), and showing how she is driving the plot more than the Doctor.<br /><br />The Doctor is mainly establishing the premise of the story, rather than pushing the plot along - meeting the main alien enemy, finding out what he's up against. His side of the story is less exciting - although it does contain the most bizarre revelation of the series. Just throwing out the name of his home planet, casually, after 11 years is a really odd moment. It feels exactly like the sort of thing you'd see after it was a well-established element of the mythology, or something early on in the run. It's quite a big thing to say this far in.<br /><br />The only real flaw is the rushed cliffhanger. For the rest of the time, it's hard not to be swept away by the sense of fun and the sparkling dialogue. <br /> <br />#781 24 Jan 2009, 5:27 pm <br />Dorney <br /><br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Time Warrior 3:<br /><br />This episode does slightly suffer from the old sense that the third episode is where the plot has to be put on hold. Irongron's raid on Edward's castle seems like a bit of filler.<br /><br />And whilst it sort of is, it also sort of isn't. There's a degree to which most stories have a central section where variations on a theme get run through, a series of complications and obstacles to overcome if you want to use the slightly trite descriptions of screenwriting courses. Whilst the sequence doesn't really drive the main story forward, it does work as a natural result of that story. It's the point where it's been going.<br /><br />In deed, with hindsight it feels like it's exactly what the story needs. This is a story about two alien beings playing real life chess in the past. Linx's attack is exactly what the Doctor is going to do in response. It fits, it's a balance. It's easy to get swept up in the notion that every scene should advance the plot, but I don't think that's true. Things should change, certainly, but in a story like this where it is effectively a battle of wills between two combatants, you need a series of clashes between them. If it just went straight to the Doctor defeating Linx, then it would be a rubbish story.<br /><br />There's excellent character work here. Linx himself is terrific, with all the smug superiority of someone dealing with people well beneath him. In deed, the fact that only the Doctor is a plausible threat to him makes him wonderfully laid back for a villain, casually dismissive and indifferent to the wiles of Irongron. Irongron gets increasingly stupid and cowardly the more we get to know him, and wonderfully self-deluded (his scene with the equally vapid Bloodaxe, playing off him like a medieval Dumb and Dumber, where he pretends he's well in control of Linx is a comic highlight). If there is a flaw with this story, it's that they're all three incredibly hard to dislike. Whereas in contrast, the goodies stronghold is populated entirely by the wet.<br /><br />Still, all in all it remains rollicking good entertainment. <br /> <br />#782 24 Jan 2009, 11:27 pm <br />codywillis1 <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I love The Time Warrior. "Yours is indeed a towering intellect". Bloodaxe's brain-dead hero-worship of Irongron is just one of many wonderfully delightful touches.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br /><br />#783 25 Jan 2009, 4:57 pm <br />Max K Wilkie <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Dear Lord.<br /><br />I've been re-reading some of your old reviews, Dorney, and I've only now just realised what an irritating berk I was at age 14...some of my posts earlier in this thread are mind-blowingly...err...berkish.<br /><br />More to the point, I thought I'd let you know I'm still enjoying your witty and insightful reviews, which are still top-notch and, I think, the best around. And I'm still a berk, just slightly less irritating. <br /><br />It's been ages since I've gone through the better Pertwee stories, I really must do it again. I remember Time Warrior being particularly good, indeed.<br /><br />I'm now eagerly awaiting hilarious scorn upon your viewing of Monster of Peladon.<br /><br />-Max<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br /><br />#784 25 Jan 2009, 6:44 pm <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Time Warrior 4:<br /><br />OK, I'm going to have to admit it. I'm a little disappointed by this episode.<br /><br />It's not actually bad, don't get me wrong. It just doesn't quite impact the way it should. It's probably the fact that it feels more like it's a third episode rather than a fourth. In deed, there's almost a clue to this in the cliffhanger resolution - it's almost identical to the resolution at the start of part three (villain about to kill Doctor, Sarah knocks the weapon away).<br /><br />The story should be driving through to a conclusion at this point, but it instead concerns itself with minor little set pieces - The Doctor dressing as the android, Sarah getting roped in to work in the kitchens, the Doctor dodging bullets. They're all well put together and enjoyable (the latter in particular, a quirky and yet genuinely tense action sequence), but they're all about holding back the plot and stalling.<br /><br />This is probably down to the story having shooting it's bolt too early. With Linx indisposed a minute or so in, the plot is essentially over (it's hard to see Irongron as any real threat to the Doctor - he's just too darn thick), so our heroes have to invent obstacles for themselves to keep it going. The various elements of what needs to be done to solve the day have been planned since the end of the last episode, and all of them work. This means that the episode is entirely about them getting around to doing them, or them taking a bit of time (most obviously with the scientists having to be sent back one at a time). It's all a little easy, so there's not masses of impact.<br /><br />Still, it is performed with the same gusto and wit, and that is at least able to carry it through to some degree. The three central villains remain an enormous amount of fun. In deed, the story itself is comparitively light and simple - this one is all about the characterisation.<br /><br />So, the verdict. A fine story, for the most part, albeit one that tails off slowly. A jolly romp, and fine entertainment. Basically recommended. <br /> <br />#785 25 Jan 2009, 6:48 pm <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Max K Wilkie <br />"Dear Lord.<br /><br />I've been re-reading some of your old reviews, Dorney, and I've only now just realised what an irritating berk I was at age 14...some of my posts earlier in this thread are mind-blowingly...err...berkish. "<br /><br />Were you? Oh, no worries. I've completely forgotten! Thanks for the nice comments this time!<br /><br /><br />Quote:<br />"I'm now eagerly awaiting hilarious scorn upon your viewing of Monster of Peladon." <br /><br />You know, I'm genuinely unsure how I'm going to react to that story. I know it a little better than a lot of stories this season, and I seem to remember being rather fond of it as a youth. Yet, I am aware of its less than stellar reputation.John Dorneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00043867565471251131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755686396354348154.post-8757493039741172832009-07-28T06:40:00.000-07:002010-02-09T15:39:45.391-08:00The Green Death9 Jan 2009, 1:40 am <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Green Death 1:<br /><br />One of my major regrets in not being, ahem, quite as speedy with my rewatching as I'd once intended is that it becomes hard to really get a sense of the journey of the show. Getting through the first season or so was a really enlightening experience - the real sense of the first few stories as a genuine serial. If something was repetitive, you noticed. If someone left the show, you could see if you really missed them (and you really appeciate Hartnell so much more).<br /><br />But sometimes it accentuates flaws. It dawned on me as I watched the first episode of this story that it's been ages since we've had a serial that actually looks good. Much as I may have liked the divine Carnival of Monsters, it's got a noticeably garish quality. There's something about The Green Death that just feels... well real, really. And it's a massive relief.<br /><br />Of course, it's probably the juxtaposition. We've had six episodes of juvenile runaround in an unconvincing set, with everything desperately trying (and failing) to appear futuristic and just ending up looking cheap. The jarring and slightly false sense of quality that turns up pretty much the second that story has its sole outing onto film probably proves the point. But we're not dealing with ersatz quality here. This seems, so far, to be the real thing.<br /><br />Film is so much more pleasing than the harshness of video. That doesn't inherently make anything better on it's own, obviously, but it helps. Watching the Metebelis 3 sequences in this story, it's hard not to think its predecessor would be so much more likeable if they'd had the money to shoot it all like this. The softness understandably takes the edge off the naff special effects aliens, and the lighting and sound do their very best to make the whole thing suitably eerie. There's an hilarious moment when the Doctor runs back into the TARDIS which is immediately attacked by about a dozen different things and weapons from a dozen different directions, but beyond that it's remarkably atmospheric. It's an example of the show realising it can't do something properly so trying to find a way around it. As opposed to either not realising, or hoping no-one notices.<br /><br />The Doctor is largely absent with this little sub-plot for this episode, but this doesn't really matter. Partially this is down to the fact that, as Jo says, Prof. Jones is very much a younger version of him, and he fills a lot of the same plot function. But it's mainly down to the treatment of Jo. Again we have an example of the perspective that watching this story right up against Planet of the Daleks brings - Katy Manning is a revelation. Within the shifting of two episodes there's a real and obvious change and the character appears completely different.<br /><br />I've not been against Jo, but when she's written with a bit of verve and a spikey quality, as she is here, you do spot what you've been missing. She's all personality, and there hasn't been much of that throughout her run. She's only been allowed to be generic. Still, at least she gets to shine sometimes, which is more than can be said of others.<br /><br />The reality factor keeps playing in with the main storyline. The general plotline (an oil manufacturer and their nearby coal mine) is refereshingly every day after an endless stream of scientific establishments, military bases and universities in the Earthbound stories, and the environmental concerns are down to Earth (if you'll pardon the expression). And even the chauffeur as thug echoes a certainly 'gritty' quality as it's clearly influenced by Ian Hendry's similar role in Get Carter. Only the last few minutes betray that this isn't entirely going to be a relatively straightforward Doomwatch-esque tale of pollution. As it stands at the moment it's an intriguing hook that may or may not be successfully integrated into the main story - though I must confess, that the moment the adult tone is broken by Stevens pulling out a massive pair of comedy headphones, a little part of me was wishing it could have been something less overtly fantastical.<br /><br />Because the general attitude and tone of the show gives this story a serious and mature feel. It makes you forgive the comedy bird's legs in the same way that Jaws makes you forgive the rubber shark. It feels like a children's show made with the same integrity and respect of an adult show. Edge of Darkness for the family, if you like. Very promising. <br /> <br /><br /><br />#764 10 Jan 2009, 12:17 am <br />The Secretive Bus <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I must admit, I find the bit with Jo reading the newspaper and complaining about pollution etc whilst the Doctor natters on about Metebelis pretty excrutiating to watch. Maybe it's the obvious dialogue or the direction or Manning's overtly chirpy acting but the "Oh no!... They can't!... Criminal, absolutely criminal!... Don't they know the pollution that'll cause!" stuff sounds jarringly fake. I'm not sure why it sticks out for me but it's some of the worst acting by a companion in the era, by my reckoning. Manning seems stuck in panto mode for a lot of episode 1, though she is admittedly pretty good for the rest of it. <br /> <br /><br /><br />#765 10 Jan 2009, 1:14 am <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by The Secretive Bus <br />"I must admit, I find the bit with Jo reading the newspaper and complaining about pollution etc whilst the Doctor natters on about Metebelis pretty excrutiating to watch. Maybe it's the obvious dialogue or the direction or Manning's overtly chirpy acting but the "Oh no!... They can't!... Criminal, absolutely criminal!... Don't they know the pollution that'll cause!" stuff sounds jarringly fake. I'm not sure why it sticks out for me but it's some of the worst acting by a companion in the era, by my reckoning. Manning seems stuck in panto mode for a lot of episode 1, though she is admittedly pretty good for the rest of it. "<br /><br />I see where you're coming from - the newspaper stuff is contrived, and it's a touch broad - but in context, and after six episodes of being generic on Spiridon it probably comes across an awful lot better! <br /> <br /><br />#766 10 Jan 2009, 11:21 pm <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Green Death 2:<br /><br />Interesting piece of construction, this episode. It's, on the surface, something of a makeweight episode. It's very clear quite early on that an awful lot of the episode is about the fallout from the cliffhanger resolution (in deed, Jo hasn't managed to get out of the mine by the time the end of the episode comes around) rather than driving an ongoing storyline. The forward motion of the story stops whilst it focuses on a subplot.<br /><br />Now this could cause alarm bells for people who've been reading my witterings for a while. A lack of forward momentum is precisely what causes a story to fall apart and feel like padding. It doesn't matter whether that momentum is fast, and it doesn't matter whether it is relevant to the main storyline, as long as things are going somewhere. And to its credit, this episode maintains a sense of urgency to the sidestep, leaving it involving. There are a few issues - Dr Jones and the Doctor's abortive attempt to invade Global Chemicals is something of a non-starter (not least cos it's hard to imagine where they get a cherry picker if they can't find cutting equipment), though it does offer up some good character moments. Once again the air of 'realism' floats in the vague vacinity, and the villains are all remarkably believable. Stevens is coming across as a serious and urbane villain for a start, and their reaction to the Doctor raiding the plant is, if anything, understated. They all seem like real people rather than comic book style supervillians.<br /><br />This does point to the one major flaw so far. It's all very well giving the whole thing an air of sobriety and shooting it like a proper drama, but that does mean that any time any of the more fantastical elements turn up they look ridiculous. They're so incongruous they jar. The headphones in episode one (if more archaic now than then) are a good case in point, as is the mysterious boss figure and the hypnosis all of which gestures towards the more traditional style of Who we're used to. <br /><br />Anyway, I digress. As I said the episode is, on the surface, investigating a side alley (but with enough drive for this not to feel like a waste of our time). But then the characters suddenly stumble over the green goo and the maggots, and suddenly we see that it is part of the main plot line. In a neat bit of writing, the minor problem to be solved has led to the investigation, rather than the Doctor simply instigating it himself. Everything ties together well and leaves the episode feeling quite well put together.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br /><br />#767 12 Jan 2009, 12:48 pm <br />Raveen <br /> <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />"Much as I may have liked the divine Carnival of Monsters, it's got a noticeably garish quality. "<br /><br />Thankyou so much, I've been trying to put my finger on exactly what about Carnival I don't like and garish is the word I've been failing to find all this time.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#768 14 Jan 2009, 10:10 pm <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Green Death 3:<br /><br />The faintly jarring mix of weird 'sci-fi' style additions with quasi-realistic eco-drama that slightly marred the last episode is being to grow on me. Either that, or it's just judged a little more carefully this time. In many ways, it's becoming the icing on this particular cake. The odd combination of quirky, traditionalist sci-fi gubbins (such as possesion and hypnosis) combined with the mundane. It makes this feel like a Doctor Who version of Edge of Darkness. The Whoniverse impinging and insisting itself on the real world. That and the central premise is intriguing. The last episode ended with a great strange sequence as the Maggots arrive. Tying this to the strange hypnosis stuff and the green dead people in the episode seems impossible. One episode along and yes, it's fairly clear where the Maggots are coming from, and where the Green Death is coming from - but there are clear implications that there's yet more going on...<br /><br />It's particularly noticeable with Stevens, who's fast becoming my favourite character. For the chief villain he retains a remarkable amount of realistic humanity. You can truly believe this guy could exist. His confrontation with the Brigadier feels like a scene we've seen played out in dozens of cop dramas and is all the better for it. The sequence where he forces a subordinate to commit suicide, yet is protesting to his Boss that there is no need is fantastic. As he sits down and places his head in hands when it is finally done, the story genuinely makes you feel for its bad guy, something I can't recall happening in a long time. It's fairly obvious that this story is a little more complex, a little greyer than usual. And it's not just limited to Stevens. Precisely what's going on is still unclear, as the motivations of characters like Elgin are not what we usually expect from characters in his position within the villainous empire.<br /><br />Outside of all that, the story is continuing in a strong manner. It's not particularly fast moving, I'll admit, and the plot is slight, but the set pieces are genuinely tense and interesting (the escape from the mine here is nicely done), there's enough of a logical progression in the set pieces (and enough of them). <br /><br />The episode ends with a dinner party that quickly becomes the main talking point of the episode. In itself, it's a little odd - the Brig and Jo suddenly doing themselves up all formal, all the laughing and joking seems an entirely strange response to what they've gone through in the last day (not least because one of the people they've met is apparently dying in hospital all the time). But it does work out extremely well in terms of how it illustrates character, and specifically Jo. Now, if I'm honest, I don't totally buy the Jo/Cliff romance. It seems to happen a little quickly and for no real reason - up to now, pretty much all the time they've spent together was in his lab, where she wrecked everything. He seems cross, and then suddenly they're pretty much sorted.<br /><br />However, if you can buy the fact of them falling in love in the first place, the developing romance is well handled. The faint combination of embarassment and enthusiasm is played perfectly, but even better is the Doctor's obvious jealousy and sabotage. A beautifully judged moment of actual character interaction, it really rounds the episode off perfectly. <br /> <br /><br />#769 17 Jan 2009, 2:46 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Green Death 4:<br /><br />It's traditionally believed that episode four is the point where the momentum of a six parter begins to dry up. Most stories are ending at this point, this is the episode where new things need to be fed in if the story is to continue successfully. And The Green Death does manage to achieve this quite effectively.<br /><br />Now there's a degree to which it has it slightly easy in this regard. The first three episodes don't entirely have much story going on in them, being largely based around the set up and resolution of one major set piece - Jo getting trapped down the mine. By providing enough obstacles this has managed to feed a good few episodes worth of material, so in a very real sense episode four is where the story proper has to kick in.<br /><br />And so it does. This episode is all about escalation. What had started out as a fairly low key, if deadly, threat is now being built into a major problem. The sequences of the maggots forcing themselves out of the ground are generally well done (even if the models are, bizarrely, more convincing than the real maggots shot against miniature sets) and genuinely a little disturbing. Slowly something that seemed initially beneath UNIT is moving towards crisis point. This ramps up the excitement and anticipation for the closing episodes.<br /><br />There's also the arrival of Mike Yates as a spy. It's only when you watch the series in sequence that you get a hint to the true impact of this - he's been pretty much gone for an entire year, so you've all but forgotten he exists. But it certainly is a good way to use a character who's been borderline redundant since the beginning, more so with the TARDIS' ability to travel removed. Again, it gives the story a little extra kick, a little extra mystery. You wonder where this new element is going to lead the story and that hooks you in again at the point where you need something new to keep you going, the element of surprise.<br /><br />And of course the big kicker is the climactic revelation of the boss' identity as the computer. Now, this one I'm not entirely sure about. The low key sci-fantasy of the first three episodes has worked rather well played against a comparitively naturalistic backdrop. The evil computer is a concept that could push the delicate balancing act over. At the same time, the fact that it is a computer rather than an alien is something of a relief, as it does at least fit in with the quasi-realistic milieu. Obviously, it's hard to judge at this point, so I'll give it the benefit of the doubt. <br /><br />Beyond that, there are only a few points to note - I'm not totally convinced by the Doctor's various disguises. The charlady outfit is a kind of broad joke that feels slightly out of place with the generally serious tone of the rest of the story. And the Milkman is flat wrong - Pertwee plays it as a comedy caricature so it looks fake. It's hard to see how the guard buys it. It's hard to mind either of them too much in context though.<br /><br />Still good. <br /> <br />#770 18 Jan 2009, 9:32 am <br />Doc Phibes <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />"Beyond that, there are only a few points to note - I'm not totally convinced by the Doctor's various disguises. The charlady outfit is a kind of broad joke that feels slightly out of place with the generally serious tone of the rest of the story. And the Milkman is flat wrong - Pertwee plays it as a comedy caricature so it looks fake. It's hard to see how the guard buys it. It's hard to mind either of them too much in context though. "<br /><br />Pertwee was, what, 1.91m tall? A 6'3" cleaning lady? Personally, I found the babbling old Milkman faaar more believable. Loved 'em both though. I wish they had let Pertwee do more disguise bits, at least one or two a season. But, I was brought up on Mel Brooks and High Anxiety, where I learned the best way to get past security is not to be anonymous, but an extremely annoying caricature.<br /><br />I'm enjoying the reviews. Keep 'em coming. Oh, and The B.O.S.S. is the best! Love him.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br /><br />#771 18 Jan 2009, 11:09 am <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Doc Phibes <br />"Pertwee was, what, 1.91m tall? A 6'3" cleaning lady? Personally, I found the babbling old Milkman faaar more believable. Loved 'em both though. I wish they had let Pertwee do more disguise bits, at least one or two a season. But, I was brought up on Mel Brooks and High Anxiety, where I learned the best way to get past security is not to be anonymous, but an extremely annoying caricature. "<br /><br />It's hard not to like the comedy milkman to a degree, I'll confess. I think, like McCoy, Pertwee is a far more interesting comic actor than a straight man. But if I think my problem was best summed up by a review I saw recently that said it's clearly not the Doctor playing the milkman, it's Pertwee. Whilst Pertwee is undeniably brilliant at those bits, it feels somewhat alien to the fairly straight laced 3rd Doctor. <br /><br />#772 18 Jan 2009, 12:20 pm <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Green Death 5:<br /><br />If there is a flaw with this episode, it's the fact that after part 4 has gone to such lengths to escalate the situation, part 5 doesn't entirely go with the momentum. The level of concern and activity still seems about the same as in the previous four episodes. The ideal reaction would be a sense of the situation getting critically out of control. But it stalls slightly. The helicopter blowing a couple of things up seems a minor league stopgap solution at best, and the lightning fast possession and recovery of Yates is something you'd expect to find a bit earlier, rather than when the story should be building.<br /><br />These are minor quibbles though, as the story is still pretty darn good. BOSS is, so far, a fantastic creation. Super-powered megalomaniac computers are ten a penny in sci-fi, but BOSS manages to transcend the mediocrity of his genre by entertaining a very dry wit. None of the bland booming monosyllables of WOTAN here, this evil computer has a personality.<br /><br />And it's also a neat little trick that his main aim is small - success for Global Chemicals. This again means that the story comfortably straddles the realistic and the fantastical. Now I've read stuff that makes me think this is all going to go to pot in the final episode, but for the moment it works ok.<br /><br />Elsewhere, the story is having to stall, somewhat. The Doctor nearly escapes BOSS, then gets captured to no end, and escapes again. The bad guys discover Mike's a spy, brainwash him for about a minute (and the sequence when he reappears at the Nuthutch is really strangely done, it has to be said) and then discover he's a spy again (though, admittedly, in one of the great sub-genre of cool cliffhangers - like Ambassadors 2, one that sounds rubbish when written down, but kind of works on the telly). Further subclause on that is that the loss of Elgin (due to actor illness) sort of works and also doesn't. His vanishing from the plot is nicely enigmatic, as if he's been dealt with and shoved out of the way, and you can't help but feel it works better than if he had taken the scenes of Roy Skelton's replacement character of Jones, which would be almost desultory. The Elgin figure barely appears in this episode (which would have been his last) and that would have left it feeling like the character drifts off. As it stands, he's removed from the story when he's still making an impact, which is a stronger exit. Now, Jones doesn't really impact in this episode as a result, and is slightly misjudged (it makes little sense for him to be a member of the management we haven't seen - surely generic guard would have felt more plausible?). But overall, I think it works remarkably well.<br /><br />Anyway, back to the stalling. It's at its clearest with Cliff. Having discovered the cure, he now has to be kept unconscious because revealing it would start the end of the story too soon. Still, it's all done enjoyable enough, and with enough verve and character you don't mind. <br /> <br />#773 19 Jan 2009, 8:22 pm <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Green Death 6:<br /><br />There's something difficult with reviewing this episode. It really shouldn't work. But somehow it does.<br /><br />An awful lot of things are wrong with the resolution. Firstly, the incredibly convenient revelation that Cliff Jones' fungus is fatal to the maggots is... well, absurdly convenient. Not just in the fact, but also in the discovery (when one maggot just pops along to eat some at exactly the right point). Furthermore, the bizarre way that even despite this, it takes a few more deductive leaps before figuring out that this might also heal people victimised by the titular disease itself (and incidentally - what happened to the thuggish chauffeur chap? We assume he's dead, but are never really told, which is a bit wimpy, surely. Still, at least it makes Elgin's disappearance less of a problem when he's not the only one). And the magical healing properties of the blue ctystal go well beyond convenience into full on deus ex machina.<br /><br />In fact, there are other moments of remarkable convenience. At this point, you do begin to wonder what qualifications are required to get a job as a guard at Global Chemicals, given how ridiculously easy Mike's escape from their clutches is. At least the Doctor's break in makes a bit more sense, though again you have to wonder how much thought BOSS put into his plans, because he's got no real reason to hypnotise his subjects again. All he does is hand himself defeat on a plate.<br /><br />There's also the fact that the giant maggot plot and the mental computer plot never really intersect. This means that the plot of this episode largely consists of the Doctor switching off one plotline, before rushing away to switch off the other. The cliche of a six parter as a four parter combined with a related two parter is clearly realised here.<br /><br />And yet it all sort of works. When I say 'all', I'm fairly obviously discarding the giant fly (which is more about the design of the model than anything else) and the dodgy moments of CSO, not least because if you can't suspend your disbelief for them, you've no business watching Who anyway. The combination of a relatively straightforward, heightened reality thriller tone to the story with a commited cast means that the messier bits work a bit better than they should. Because, of course, real life is messy. The two plot lines don't tie up particularly neatly... but they do tie up. <br /><br />The resolutions being low key work as well. You can't really have a big ending to these essentially small (well, smaller) stories. The maggots being defeated by nature is entirely appropriate, as is resolving the BOSS storyline by appealing to Stevens - for once, a villain's sudden change of attitude at the last second is entirely apt, because Stevens has been pitched throughout as a genuine human being, so his attack of conscience isn't an absurd stretch - emphasised by the little tear on his cheek as the room is about to explode. Indeed, the sequence of BOSS' destruction is one of the most beautifully put together scenes I've seen in this show. The psychedelic colouring combined with the FX and strong performances from the two central performers give this a bigger impact than the subsequent explosion.<br /><br />Though of course, that isn't really the end. Finally we reach a sequence that seems now to be one of the most influential in the history of the show - Jo's departure. I say influential because it's clearly a major contributor to the closing sequences of the last three series of the current show - the departures of Rose, Martha and Donna, and the lonely Doctor. But, if I'm honest, it does slightly show those others up. Not that they're bad, don't get me wrong. But the way all the emotion of the final scenes is underplayed means it has far more impact and subtlety than it's new series brethren. The sequence is generally expertly played (though one can't help but feel sorry for Richard Franklin, who's trying desperately to squeeze in everything the script isn't giving him an actual chance to say), particularly by Pertwee, and has a hauntingly memorable quality. A pretty damn fine conclusion to a pretty damn fine story. <br /> <br /><br />#774 20 Jan 2009, 12:19 am <br />Phil W <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Hurray! I've always been a fan of The Green Death, at least in part because it was one of the very first DW stories I ever saw as a child (I think I had seen Planet of Evil, Revenge of the Cybermen, Pyramids of Mars and The Seeds of Doom, all of which hooked me on the show, so the Pertwee must have been a repeat at some point in the mid 1970s here in NZ). But I've always been happy that it is a good story too (for example I think it is comfortably better than the Sea Devils, which itself isn't bad).<br /><br />As always it is fascinating to read you reviews, Dorney. You drop hints that you aren't so familiar with this one, though, or have I inferred something incorrectly?<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br /><br />#775 20 Jan 2009, 10:16 am <br />AlMiles <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />The Green Death 6:<br /><br />"There's something difficult with reviewing this episode. It really shouldn't work. But somehow it does.<br /><br />An awful lot of things are wrong with the resolution. Firstly, the incredibly convenient revelation that Cliff Jones' fungus is fatal to the maggots is... well, absurdly convenient. "<br /><br />Real life is like that, though. Witness penicillin. Serendipity existed before Doctor Who.<br /><br />I find it more absurd that some/most of the Doctor's victories have to be so laborious and without good luck. He really does live in a flippin' depressing universe.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#776 20 Jan 2009, 12:36 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Phil W <br />"As always it is fascinating to read you reviews, Dorney. You drop hints that you aren't so familiar with this one, though, or have I inferred something incorrectly? "<br /><br />No, that's right. Given things like personal taste and availability, there are some stories I've simply not watched as often as others. In a few cases, of which I think the Green Death is one and Daemons was certainly another, I deliberately didn't rewatch them after a point as I knew I was doing this. <br /><br />Certainly, there are a few coming up that I am very wobbly on - Revenge of the Cybermen, for example, and Planet of Evil are both pretty much blank slates to me, and I very much look forward to rediscovering them. <br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by AlMiles <br />"Real life is like that, though. Witness penicillin. Serendipity existed before Doctor Who. "<br /><br />Whilst that's undeniably true, you reach the problem that drama isn't reality. There are rarely well constructed stories, or proper endings. Real life has to be shaped into a dramatic form. And an ending that relies on luck is less satisfying than one that doesn't. <br /><br />(Actually, to clarify that a touch - luck itself isn't a problem. For example, the cure for the Ice Warrior spores in Seeds of Death is found in a similarly chance way... but because the cure's something incredibly easy to come across, it feels less of a problem. Here it's the way it's almost double or treble the convenience. Jo just happens to knock fungus onto the slides. A rare fungus that is pretty much impossible to find anywhere in the UK apart from this one house. And so on... That's not just lucky, that's incredibly lucky.) <br /> <br />#777 20 Jan 2009, 1:06 pm <br />AlMiles <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Well, yeah - that's pretty much the definiton of "serendipity"! <br /><br />I don't find it too pat when it happens a few times in 800-odd episodes. Some shows are like that every single week...<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#778 20 Jan 2009, 1:47 pm <br />Tiger <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Thanks for your reviews Dorney, always informative and they give an interesting slant on stories I either liked or disliked making me rethink my views on some of them. <br /><br />You've confirmed my views on Frontier in Space though. Rather over rated given that its one hop from a cell to another with very little actual story. <br /><br />It will be interesting when you get to the end of the Pertwee era to get to your views on it as a whole. Its suffered from the 'Pertwee backlash' conception since the early 90s. Whether its still suffering from that (and if it is, is it deservedly so) is an interesting subject, but having wathced the show in order, it will be interesting to get your view whether the Pertwee era now deserves a re-appraisal and whether it is superior or inferior to the show in the 60s. Its all a matter of taste though of course......John Dorneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00043867565471251131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755686396354348154.post-24169026676995044582009-07-28T06:39:00.000-07:002010-02-09T15:45:48.964-08:00Planet of the Daleks2 Dec 2008, 12:34 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Planet of the Daleks 1:<br /><br />One of the problems I had with the second Incredible Hulk film released this year was that because of the mixed reception the previous film had had there had clearly been a lot of thinking at Marvel. <br /><br />The first film had included an origin story, back story and so on. But at the same time, they didn't want to remind people of it. The question was how much to acknowledge that.<br /><br />It's a tricky question, and clearly one that they took time to think about. For my money, too much time. Because there's a fatal indecision at the heart of the Incredible Hulk movie. They clearly didn't decide whether it was a sequel of a reboot until well into the process. And as a result, the movie doesn't quite succeed as either. With a truncated origin story, it doesn't really work as a launch and it's opening scenes are clearly influenced by the end of the previous film. But at the same time, there are elements that completely contradict it.<br /><br />You can see where I'm going with this, can't you? Planet of the Daleks 1 has the same problem. Is it part one of a new story - or part seven of another?<br /><br />At least part of it only makes sense as the continuation of Frontier in Space. Within this story alone we've no idea (and it's never explained) why the Doctor is in quite a state at the beginning, for example. And as the opening episode to an action adventure serial, ten minutes of Katy Manning talking to herself whilst she walks through a not particularly menacing forest is hardly a grabber.<br /><br />And yet - it also seems to think it's a story of its own. Now, I don't entirely mind the cliffhanger revelations of Daleks in stories where they're named in the title, for reasons I discussed under Day of the Daleks - but here it's just daft. They had a big dramatic reveal a week ago. They don't need one now. In deed, to pitch that as the big shock of the finale is odd, because surely the big twist at this point isn't that it's a Dalek, it's that it's an invisible Dalek? And it's certainly the former that it's pitched as, with the Doctor's exclamation of surprise being the big clue - and that's just barking. The Daleks are clearly still out there at the end of the previous episode, the Doctor's going after them, he meets Thals, he even talks about Daleks, for crying out loud. Why's he surprised?<br /><br />He's surprised because the odd structure means that despite the Doctor clearly being after the Daleks at the end of the last story, the story's still hamstrung by the duality. Because Nation, at least in part, views this as part one, he's got to hold off the plot for an episode to get to the reveal. The episode becomes about breaking the continuity, rather than running with it.<br /><br />And that's a bit sad, because this story could have launched with a bang rather than the Doctor going in and out of a coma as the story dictated. It could have carried on the momentum, but Nation's inability to work with an unusual structure means that the episode is just a bit disappointing.<br /><br />OK, it's still watchable enough. There's always something going on, the writings all right, and there are some potentially entertaining (if unoriginal) ideas at work. Ultimately, however, it's just not as interesting as it could have been, and remains a placeholder episode.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#750 5 Dec 2008, 3:08 pm <br />Xipuloxx <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />"Nation's inability to work with an unusual structure means that the episode is just a bit disappointing. "<br /><br />It seems to me that it's a little unfair to place the blame at Nation's feet without evidence of where the blame lies. I mean, unless you know how much he was told about the ongoing plot, it's impossible to judge how good a job he did. If he didn't know what was going to happen in the previous story, it's entirely understandable that he'd just write a more-or-less normal Dalek story, and leave it up to the script editor to make it fit into the series' continuity. Even if Nation did know and fumbled the ball, it's still the script editor's job to pick it up (though in that case at least the blame would be shared).<br /><br />It's like the bit at the beginning of Girl In The Fireplace where Mickey and Rose are getting on fabulously, despite the fact that at the end of the previous ep she obviously didn't want him along, and there's clearly only been a very short time in between. Some people criticised Steven Moffat for not making his episode match better with the previous one, which I thought was uncalled-for, given that he had obviously written his episode without knowing how the previous one was going to end. Other people have the specific jobs of editing scripts and overseeing continuity; the writer is only reponsible for his own job.<br /><br />Apart from that little niggle, good review as always! <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#751 6 Dec 2008, 6:38 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Xipuloxx <br />"It seems to me that it's a little unfair to place the blame at Nation's feet without evidence of where the blame lies. I mean, unless you know how much he was told about the ongoing plot, it's impossible to judge how good a job he did. If he didn't know what was going to happen in the previous story, it's entirely understandable that he'd just write a more-or-less normal Dalek story, and leave it up to the script editor to make it fit into the series' continuity. Even if Nation did know and fumbled the ball, it's still the script editor's job to pick it up (though in that case at least the blame would be shared)." <br /><br />To be honest, if an episode doesn't work, the script editor should always share some of the blame (he should point things out).<br /><br />But, to me, it's fairly clear that the problem with the episode is that it doesn't know whether it's an episode one or an episode seven - and that means, to me, that it has to be by and large Nation's fault. Because whatever he was told, whatever he knew about the season's structure, he doesn't manage to pull off either option. <br /><br /><br />#752 7 Dec 2008, 3:26 am <br />AlMiles <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />"To be honest, if an episode doesn't work, the script editor should always share some of the blame (he should point things out).<br /><br />But, to me, it's fairly clear that the problem with the episode is that it doesn't know whether it's an episode one or an episode seven - and that means, to me, that it has to be by and large Nation's fault. Because whatever he was told, whatever he knew about the season's structure, he doesn't manage to pull off either option. "<br /><br />In the novelisation of "Frontier" (titled "Doctor Who and the Space War"), original author Malcolm Hulke doesn't even have the Doctor being shot - he's perfectly healthy and awake as the book ends. Then as the subsequent novelisation starts, he's suffering the after-effects of a gunshot and comatose! One could argue that maybe Hulke was working from the original scripted ending and not Paul Bernard's hasty revised effort due to the Ogron-eater re-edit. But this was years later and the programme as broadcast was well-known. If Hulke can't make it tie into the subsequent (already screened) episode, he's no better than Nation!<br /><br />Also, if the script for "Frontier" was mucked around with to cope with what was shot, and what was removed by Letts & Co in editing, we can't know what Nation had intended to include or exclude without seeing his script. The whole transition looks a bit of a fiasco from producer and director(s) on down.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#753 8 Dec 2008, 3:08 pm <br />Llama Roddy <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />ISTR reading an interview with Malcolm Hulke in which he explained that he'd deliberately left the cliffhanger ending out of the novelisation tp provide closure for readers who didn't know or have the subsequent book. His books never did stick to a straightforward duplication of what appeared on screen, which is part of the reason they're so much better than a lot of the later novelisations. If you don't like this particular instance of his going a different way from the televised version, so be it, but it was never a matter of inability to tie things in with the start of PotD.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#754 8 Dec 2008, 5:28 pm <br />AlMiles <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Llama Roddy <br />"ISTR reading an interview with Malcolm Hulke in which he explained that he'd deliberately left the cliffhanger ending out of the novelisation tp provide closure for readers who didn't know or have the subsequent book. His books never did stick to a straightforward duplication of what appeared on screen, which is part of the reason they're so much better than a lot of the later novelisations. If you don't like this particular instance of his going a different way from the televised version, so be it, but it was never a matter of inability to tie things in with the start of PotD. "<br /><br />That clean-break philosophy could explain why Nation started his story in such a way though - the Daleks were a "shock revelation" because, with a production team that wanted as many "first nights" or jumping-abord episodes as possible in a season (budget allowing), it'd be barmy to have a 12-part story with one "first night" and 11 continuations... and "Planet" is clearly a completely new cast and plot, rarely if ever referring back to the events of "Frontier", so Nation may not have been the sole chooser of this approach, he could even have been directed to use it (and Dicks clearly didn't amend the script on this point).<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#755 12 Dec 2008, 12:44 am <br />Xipuloxx <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by AlMiles <br />"That clean-break philosophy could explain why Nation started his story in such a way though - the Daleks were a "shock revelation" because, with a production team that wanted as many "first nights" or jumping-abord episodes as possible in a season (budget allowing), it'd be barmy to have a 12-part story with one "first night" and 11 continuations... and "Planet" is clearly a completely new cast and plot, rarely if ever referring back to the events of "Frontier", so Nation may not have been the sole chooser of this approach, he could even have been directed to use it (and Dicks clearly didn't amend the script on this point). "<br /><br />But my point was that, although it's been a while since I've watched it, it seemed to me that Part 1 of "Planet" was, in fact, a fairly normal Dalek story Part 1, with only the whole "The Doctor is ill" thing tacked on to tie it into the previous story. Therefore I'd say seems like Nation simply wrote it as a normal Part 1, and left it up to Dicks to tie it into the ongoing plot.<br /><br />Now, I agree it doesn't really work as it is, but without knowing how much he knew about the previous story, it's impossible to say whether that is Nation's fault for writing it poorly -- i.e. leaving Dicks with an impossible task because Nation's script simply didn't fit and the reworking it required was too much in the time available -- or whether he was simply doing the best job he could under the circumstances -- i.e. writing a story that worked on its own, and leaving continuity issues to others.<br /><br />I could be misremembering, of course, and maybe it really is more of an uncomfortable halfway house than I recall. But I'd still say we don't know how much of the finished script was written by Dicks, and we can't simply blame Nation without that knowledge. Maybe it is a structural mess, and "doesn't know whether it's an episode one or an episode seven" -- but that could be because Nation wrote it one way, then Dicks rewrote it the other way.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#756 17 Dec 2008, 11:07 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Planet of the Daleks 2:<br /><br />There's something inherently charming about an episode that all but admits it's filler. A sort of honesty that you can't help but admire.<br /><br />The buzz with the Thals this episode is that they don't have a plan. They're hanging round a bit, slowly getting picked off, waiting. And as anyone's who read this thread will know, this translates into: no plot. No one doing anything means no story.<br /><br />OK, that's a bit of an over-simplification here, because the Daleks are at least up to something - the whole invisibility thing. But because the characters we're following are doing their level best to avoid the Daleks (and couldn't do anything if they met them) then that doesn't really get us anywhere. Throughout the episode we're just waiting to the revelation of the final seconds - something to push a bit of urgency into the story, give the characters something to aim at.<br /><br />So without a plot to keep it going, what are the twenty five minutes filled with? Well, firstly, we've got a few leanings towards arguments about the morality of war, and the obligations of a soldier, and a meditation on cowardice - all of which is interesting enough, if broadly written (as you'd expect from a family show). Already it's fairly clear that there's going to be a bit of worthy moralising in this story, though as ever with Nation it's a bit hard to tell what the message is - Horsfall for example is presented as noble and wise - but it's hard not to see some worth in Hancock's suggestion that they really ought to be doing something. And this is all a bit weird from the man who created Blake's 7. The side effect of this is that the Thals aren't really presented as individual characters but as archetypal thematic avatars - wisdom, recklessness and fear. Though given that the Daleks are essentially the same, this isn't really a major problem.<br /><br />Blunt as it may be, straightforward as it may be, there's something likeable in Nation's comic strip style. Again it's easy to forget that the man's other tv shows tend to have a more adult bent (albeit played with a fairly boy's own feel) and that this feel is fairly deliberately tailored. This is intentional pulp and as it is it works - in deed, I'd go so far as to say that given the obvious limitations in realising the world, it's almost the best thing to do - the broader stroke suit the environment. It's fun.<br /><br />And the next episode might even have a story. <br /> <br />#757 19 Dec 2008, 7:03 pm <br />Michael S Collins <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Keep going, Dorney. you'll be home and dry before you know it.<br /><br />Hope your career's still going strong.<br /><br />Michael<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#758 21 Dec 2008, 7:39 pm <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Planet of the Daleks 3:<br /><br />Now that's more like it.<br /><br />You know, people often talk about PotD as being a blatant remake of the first Dalek story. It's not hard to see a certain degree of logic to this, but I think it's slightly fairer to say that it's similar conceptually rather than a remake. So it contains a lot of the same basic elements (Daleks and Thals, aliens jungle surrounding alien city) just juggles them with a new plot.<br /><br />Most of the time.<br /><br />Episode three is the exception. It's probably exarcebated by the black and white (and boy, that's a bit of a shock when you're so used to colour - completely forgot it was coming up!) but episode three does rather feel like it's The Daleks in twenty five minutes. So many specific elements turn up again - the heroes using tunnels leading into the base that are based around piping, other heroes trapped in a cell luring in a Dalek and disabling it, peril in lifts, two seperate teams meeting up, heroic sacrifice.<br /><br />And by ramming it all together we get a cracking episode. After two installments waiting for things to happen and with precious little actual threat, we have a great boy's own yarn of escape. It's comparitively straight forward (and often reliant on ludicrous coincidence - of all the vents Varon choses he picks the one the Doctor's just about to walk past!), but it's fast, and with some genuine Dalek menace giving it high stakes. One of the things that makes it work is the real sense that they're in trouble - the Doctor consistently getting forced deeper into the city, Daleks at every corner, the effort made to imply dangerous levels of cold in the tunnels and the emphasis on how it's a dangerous plan - it all racks up the tension. OK, it's not without it's flaws. General Von Klinkerhoffen's self sacrifice seems utterly pointless from both his perspective and in terms of story, he's barely said a word anyway so it doesn't matter a stuff to us. The ice volcano stuff comes out of nowhere as does the biological stuff the Daleks are supposedly working on. Oh and Jo really doesn't feel the urge to do anything useful (though to be fair the Doctor seems to have forgotten the fact she's supposed to be dead). But at the same time, crappier elements of previous episodes are skipped (little spiridon action means we don't have to put up with anything else like Tim Preece's interpretative dance sequence). And the ending, whilst almost certainly scientific balls, is mental enough to work as precisely the sort of audacious get out the build up needs (when things are getting difficult, you need the escape route to be insane otherwise it diminshes the threat - if the situation is desperate, the resolution must be desperate too).<br /><br />So, all in all, rather good fun. <br /> <br />#759 27 Dec 2008, 8:32 pm <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Planet of the Daleks 4:<br /><br />If you want to know what the problem with this story is, episode four provides the result. It's like the entire six parts in microcosm.<br /><br />After the surge in quality of the previous episode, the script keeps this up. There's a fairly limp resolution to the cliffhanger, though admittedly one that was fairly obviously coming up last time anyway (episode 3: it's not working, episode 4: oh, it is, sorry, my mistake...), but it still manages to keep the tension going for the first ten minutes or so.<br /><br />And then it just stops. The rest of the episode returns to tedious runaround and strange moralising speeches that don't make an awful lot of sense. And it's relatively clear why.<br /><br />The reason the first half works (and the third episode too) is focus. There's a clear sense of purpose and drive. The story's going somewhere. It knows where it's going and it's going there. But the moment our heroes escape from the Dalek city, that stops. We're back to the first couple of episodes with a lot of Thals mooching around not quite sure what they're going to do.<br /><br />I remember someone somewhere suggesting the game of 'Tell me the plot of The Armageddon Factor' as a fun way to bemuse a fan, and I suspect that it's true of this story as well, albeit for different reasons. There simply isn't one. What's it about? The Daleks are after invisibility (a promising idea that's basically been forgotten), they're developing a bacteria, they've got a frozen army. The story can't decide what it's central thrust is, and that's probably why the Thal storyline is equally vague - after all, how can your heroes fight the villains when the villains don't have a clue what they're up to.<br /><br />It's a shame because we're stuck in a position where most of the Thals are cyphers with one word personalities (that fade in and out according to the requirements of the plot - no cowardice from Preece for a couple of episodes, you'll note), which almost doesn't matter if you've got enough story driving it through (let's face it, it's a Nation staple). But without, the story becomes a character piece without any characters.<br /><br />It's not all bad, though. We finally get at least an attempt to tie the story to Frontier (though it's hilariously tenuous and with the Doctor practically admitting that it makes little sense). But generally it doesn't work. When a major plot point is trying to find a warm place to sleep you know you're in trouble. <br /> <br />#760 31 Dec 2008, 1:01 am <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Planet of the Daleks 5:<br /><br />OK, so I lied.<br /><br />Turns out that it isn't just episode three that's a little too influenced by its authors earlier material. This episode does it as well. But we'll get to that.<br /><br />It's odd that this episode, and this story, spends an awfully small amount of time letting its stars do anything. It takes over six minutes for the Daleks to even appear in this episode, for example. But this is nowhere more pronounced than in the bacteriological warfare subplot. The token friendly Spiridon, Wester (forgotten for a couple of episodes until his return is convenient) turns up at the camp and warns our heroes about the planned virus. And it doesn't really seem to fuss them in the slightest.<br /><br />Let me reiterate that point. A virus that will wipe out every single thing on the planet is less important to them than destroying a currently inactive army of Daleks. Er, why? Surely that should be your priority. The frozen army can wait, help the friendly invisible chappie.<br /><br />It's made even worse by the resolution of this subplot - the Doctor and Taron watch as Wester sacrifices his life to save everyone... and once again, the Doctor doesn't seem to give a toss. He just suggests they move on.<br /><br />It's all deeply frustrating, as this plotline that keeps insinuating it's a major plot point actually turns out not to affect any of the main cast at all. It distracts the Daleks for a bit, keeps them looking busy, and is eventually resolved by a minor supporting character who we haven't (if you'll forgive the pun) seen in a couple of episodes. It really should connect with the Doctor in some way, shouldn't it? Otherwise it's just a sideshow.<br /><br />To be fair, the plot of this episode is, largely, about the Doctor trying to get into the Dalek city to actually achieve something. He speaks for the audience when he tells Taron that he's tired of just running away (but surely, to be able to sit down and write these lines and not realise there's a problem with your storyline... well, that beggars belief). This leads to a glorious line when Jo offers to be a lure for the Daleks because she's 'tired of being hunted'. So you decide that the best thing to do when you're tired of being hunted is: get someone to hunt you. Yeah, that makes sense.<br /><br />And here we get the repeat of the first Dalek story again, as the Doctor and friends imobilise a Dalek or two through a handy weakness (cold killing them on impact -which makes the notion of the frozen army a little odd, though I guess not impossible), before chucking out the disgusting creature inside (and once again, we cut away) before being led in, in a handy Dalek & his posse formation. It works well enough (and the location filming makes the whole thing seem much less unrealistic).<br /><br />It's all OK, but it's just a shame it's taken this long to get going. The original serial was at this point three episodes in, remember. That's the problem - no forward momentum. No-one doing anything for a grander purpose than filling out a bit of time until they can do something else. <br /><br />7 Jan 2009, 10:36 am <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Planet of the Daleks 6:<br /><br />I’ve often felt that the final episode of a story should be one of the easiest to write. Set up enough in the earlier episodes, and the finale should be a comparative doddle as you just have to let it all roll. But there’s a problem with that. Don’t set up enough and you’ve got far too much time to fill.<br /><br />That’s Planet’s problem. It’s all very well writing a story about inaction and an inability to complete – after all, that’s essentially the story of Shakespeare’s most iconic play – as long as you use that time profitably. And it’s even more clear here that the time has been wasted. It’s all been a desperate attempt to fill in as much time as possible.<br /><br />You see, now the Thals have finally decided that it’s time to act… well, it’s all just terribly easy. It’s the equivalent of Hamlet just going up to Claudius and stabbing him. They go down to the lower level and blow up what they need to blow up. The Daleks half try to follow them, but get barricaded out. And, as if to rub our noses in it, Jo and her bland friend (who’s done absolutely nothing in the story apart from give her someone to talk to – which would be almost acceptable if Jo had herself done any more than mooch around the jungle filling in time and giving the show something to cut away to. No wonder I can’t remember his name) abseil in down the incomprehensibly unguarded chimney that our heroes previously escaped from. Why didn’t they all do that? Why the over-complicated and nearly fatal ‘Spiridons and guard’ routines?<br /><br />The earlier episodes haven’t bothered to set anything up, so the resolution has to be correspondingly simple. There just isn’t enough to fill this episode with. There’s some effort to disguise all this with some half hearted attempts to inject a bit of threat or danger – ‘oh my god, we’ve dropped the bomb amongst the Daleks!’ ‘Oh my god, the Dalek Rebec was in has been destroyed!’ ‘The explosion hasn’t released the ice volcano like we planned!’ ‘There are poisonous plants squirting between us and the TARDIS’. But you can tell it’s half-hearted due to the way the threat is resolved instantly, in the dullest manor imaginable – ‘Oh well, the Doctor can just climb down and pick it up.’ ‘Oh, she got out.’ ‘Oh, actually it did.’’Oh, just cover your face and leg it.’ None of it’s tied to the plot, none of it changes the direction. Hell, even the arrival of the Supreme Dalek is just something to distract us with, as he doesn’t do anything at all either. Apart from blind himself every time he speaks.<br /><br />And then it’s all over. Jo’s mate asks her to go back to Skaro, after they’ve displayed less chemistry than a broken Bunsen burner (I mean, is it even supposed to be a romance?). Jo declines, which turns out to be the right decision because, typically of the story, Latep (all right, I looked it up) seems not to be bothered in the slightest by this, heading straight off to the spaceship with nary a tear or backward glance.<br /><br />All in all, it’s a wasted opportunity. Frontier promises, and Planet just doesn’t deliver. And not only that, it actively, consciously doesn’t deliver, it’s about not delivering. Which is hardly a good thing. <br /> <br />#762 7 Jan 2009, 1:01 pm <br />fortmap <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />And yet Planet of the Daleks was the story that made a fan. Well - the novelisation, to be precise. <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------John Dorneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00043867565471251131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755686396354348154.post-78014520140948774502009-07-28T06:38:00.000-07:002010-02-10T04:19:10.989-08:00Frontier in Space19 Aug 2008, 11:17 pm <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />Frontier in Space 1:<br /><br />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).<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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.<br /><br />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’.<br /><br />So a good start, if low key and not exactly memorable, it still manages to be engaging and interesting. <br /><br /><br />#732 21 Aug 2008, 7:06 pm <br />AlMiles <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />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...<br /><br />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?<br /><br />"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.<br /><br />----------------<br /><br />#733 21 Aug 2008, 10:53 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by AlMiles <br />"Yay! I know we've had our spats in the current-affairs threads, well one of them anyway, "<br /><br />You know, except in one or two relentless cases, I can never really remember having 'spats' with anyone!<br /><br /><br />Quote:<br />"Are you approaching this DWM 'Time Team'-stylee, pretending not to know what is coming next at least in story terms? "<br /><br />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. <br /> <br />#734 23 Aug 2008, 11:17 am <br />The Secretive Bus <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />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.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br /><br />#735 23 Aug 2008, 3:32 pm <br />AlMiles <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />"You know, except in one or two relentless cases, I can never really remember having 'spats' with anyone! "<br /><br />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...<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#736 24 Aug 2008, 2:01 pm <br />mircalla <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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. <br /><br />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.<br /><br />Also, before I shut up, did want to congratulate Dorney on a wonderful description of why Carnival of the Monsters works so well. <br /> <br />#737 30 Aug 2008, 3:09 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Frontier in Space 2:<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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?'<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />But, ultimately, this episode is about prison cells. And far more entertaining than that sounds. <br /> <br /><br />#738 30 Aug 2008, 11:24 pm <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Frontier in Space 3:<br /><br />Of course, there is just taking the piss.<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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.<br /><br />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).<br /><br />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?<br /><br />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.. <br /><br />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. <br /><br />#739 5 Sep 2008, 9:12 am <br />AlMiles <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />"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. "<br /><br />Heheheh. I do love those moments when Delgado allows his natural cockney to break through.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#740 9 Oct 2008, 5:43 pm <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#741 11 Oct 2008, 11:45 am <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Frontier in Space 4:<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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. <br /> <br />#742 13 Oct 2008, 11:53 pm <br />Dorney <br /><br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Frontier in Space 5:<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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. <br /> <br /><br />#743 14 Oct 2008, 12:37 pm <br />AlMiles <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />!(in a manner alarmingly reminiscent of Babylon 5) "<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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".<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#744 14 Oct 2008, 6:23 pm <br />The White Guardian <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I've just browsed through your recent reviews and loved them! I can't wait to see your reactions to TB's stories.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#745 24 Oct 2008, 10:45 am <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Frontier in Space 6:<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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?<br /><br />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?<br /><br />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?<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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. <br /> <br /><br />#746 28 Nov 2008, 6:49 pm <br />skinsale2 <br /><br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />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<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------John Dorneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00043867565471251131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755686396354348154.post-44973185439460888652009-07-28T06:36:00.000-07:002010-02-10T04:28:21.934-08:00Carnival of Monsters21 May 2008, 11:29 am <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Carnival of Monsters 1:<br /><br />I’m going to start this one by declaring an interest. Carnival of Monsters is the first Doctor Who story I ever saw. Five Faces of Doctor Who repeats, 1981, BBC2. The cliffhanger to episode three leaps out in my memory very clearly (and unlike the third cliffhanger of the Three Doctors, I remember it correctly!).<br /><br />So obviously I have a certain nostalgic fondness for this story. But putting that aside, trying to be objective… well, it’s still pretty much perfect, isn’t it?<br /><br />Long time readers of my ramblings may recall that I’ve often suggested that Who fans tend to select what they think of as classics based on how ‘adult’ it feels (in order to reinforce their own comfort with an obsessive interest in what’s often regarded as a ‘children’s show’) and as a result are dismissive of anything that’s not obviously telling us how ‘serious’ it is all the time – say through lots of violence, a lack of humour, etc. To be fair, it’s not exactly limited to Who fans – theatre and cinema tend to praise the straight and the serious (the ‘worthy’) as better than the light and frivolous, as if that’s somehow a poorer relation, as if making someone smile has less artistic value than making them cry. See how the Oscars never go to impeccably made comedies or comic performances (I mean, Sean Penn’s wail-fest in Mystic River better than Bill Murray’s Lost in Translation subtlety, or Johnny Depp;s original tour-de-force performancein Pirates of the Caribbean? Get real). I always like to judge a story not by how worthy it is, but by how well it is made – what its intentions are and how well it succeeds in achieving those intentions.<br /><br />Which is why I was annoyed by the furore when Carnival was announced as the second Pertwee DVD, over such obvious fan favourites as Sea Devils, or Green Death, or Inferno. As if it was bad. Because it just isn’t. It’s about as beautifully realised a piece of television as the Pertwee era ever managed. Those others have a sombre tone, but they’re nowhere near as impeccable. It’s tragic that people can’t appreciate a story this well written simply because it’s got a day-glo set and some jokes.<br /><br />Look at this episode in particular. It’s about as good an opening as you can get. The initial hook is gorgeous, and entirely reliant on our status as a viewer – what on Earth connects these two strikingly different plot lines? The gaudiness of the alien world is a vital part of this, of course, as it offers a huge contrast to the naturalistic classic serial feel of the SS Bernice sequences, emphasising the differences and exacerbating our confusion. <br /><br />But there’s more to it than that. The Inter Minor sequences in this episode are incredibly clever writing – for one specific reason I’ll get to in a moment. On the surface, they’re sparkling. The grey skinned inhabitants are beautifully and wittily written, a note perfect parody of bureaucracy, with their own distinctive speech patterns and behaviour. The Lurmans are equally swiftly drawn, recognisable types we understand. After four not especially exciting stories, this is Robert Holmes really becoming the writer we know – an avoidance of the bland clichés of science fiction, rewriting it all into something quirkier, more distinctive.<br /><br />But the reason those scenes are so clever is not the deft characterisation and humour – it’s the fairly fundamental problem they avoid. In order to preserve the suspense it is vital that we don’t know what the Scope is, or what it does. Explain that and it becomes fairly obvious where the Doctor and Jo actually are. And the Inter Minor plot can’t really go anywhere until we know that. So the script has a difficult balancing act to pull off – it has to have the Inter Minor sequences (other wise there’s no mystery) but it also can’t really do anything with them (otherwise there’s no mystery). So, once again, we have an exercise in procrastination – but here we have a model example of how to do it, because you genuinely don’t notice. The time is filled with beautiful character work, world building, neat little touches of humour. Every scene has a clear purpose and drive to it. It always seems to be progresses. It’s gorgeous slight of hand.<br /><br />Equally, the Doctor and Jo’s scenes are exactly how these stories need to work. Constantly moving, always with a purpose. The Doctor has his own sub hook for the story (his determination they’re not on Earth) and that drives his section of the script (which again is, by and large, about avoiding getting anywhere in the overall scheme, just a minor mystery to unravel). Notice how every scene is about something, going somewhere. All engaging, all involving. Nothing is there just to fill time.<br /><br />About as dazzling an opening episode as you’re going to get. And whilst I may be biased, I’m also right. <br /> <br /><br />#713 21 May 2008, 11:34 am <br />The Secretive Bus <br />------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />You got through the entire Three Doctors review without mentioning Hartnell once!<br /><br />Everybody bangs on about the dandy and a clown line but for my money his finest line in the story, and indeed the last line Hartnell ever says in Doctor Who (so it's a fairly emotional moment too from that perspective, especially if he's your fave), is the "And considering the way things have been going... well I shudder to think what you'd do without me!"<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#714 21 May 2008, 4:25 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />To be honest, there's not much to say about him in it, really, and most of what there is you've already covered (his appearance is a little depressing). You get the occassional blast of 1st Doctor there ('stop dilly dallying - and cross it'), and the respect accorded him by the others is a decent touch. It's bittersweet. <br /> <br />#715 23 May 2008, 8:25 pm <br />AlMiles <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by The Secretive Bus <br />"You got through the entire Three Doctors review without mentioning Hartnell once!"<br /><br />Everybody bangs on about the dandy and a clown line but for my money his finest line in the story, and indeed the last line Hartnell ever says in Doctor Who (so it's a fairly emotional moment too from that perspective, especially if he's your fave), is the "And considering the way things have been going... well I shudder to think what you'd do without me!" "<br /><br />A lovely line, and a far better swansong than "Stay warm!" <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#716 23 May 2008, 8:40 pm <br />AlMiles <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dacar92 <br />"Hartnell never looked so old as he did in the 3 docs, for obvious reasons. So, where did the TL's take him out of time and space? Sometime during the 4th episode of Tenth Planet? "<br /><br />Jon Preddle's "Timelink" posits that the 1st Doctor garden scenes (here, and in The Five Doctors) occur during the "missing four days" at the end of The War Machines (before he goes off with Ben and Polly. This fits quite well with the Doctor needing to recover from WOTAN's hypnotism attempt and perhaps spending time in the country at his friend Sir Charles Summer's residence. Dodo was also meant to be staying there, but had probably gone off to stay with relatives by then (or something)...<br /><br />Of course, the garden could also be the one which John Lucarotti had the Doctor "semi-retired" to during his prologue/epilogue to "The Massacre" (Target novelisation).<br /><br />In any case, due to low temporal energy, the garden scenes and the timescooping (of both One and Two, come to think of it) have to be near the end of their incarnations. The Doctor was severely aged by the Time Destructor in The Daleks' Master Plan, and also suffered a great drain of life energy in The Savages, so after those two stories seems likely. During Tenth Planet 3 or 4 (just before his recovery in 4) would fit except for the shots of him in a garden on the Time Lords' screen.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#717 8 Jun 2008, 4:52 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Carnival of Monsters 2:<br /><br />One thing you may or may not have noticed as a major predilection of mine in these reviews is the concept of padding. This strange notion Doctor Who fans have that unless a story is all plot, plot, plot, the material is ‘padding’.<br /><br />You see, for me, there’s no such thing, well, not as such. You only have good writing, or bad writing. Every story has sequences that are used to fill in time, it isn’t all story. And that’s a good thing. Cos if it was just story, everything would seem shallow and bland. The meat of a script happens in the gaps between the plot bits. The bits where people are given personalities, lives, proper identities. Where the world is built. You write those bits badly, or not at all, that’s when you get what’s commonly regarded as ‘padding’. Write them well, and nobody notices. I promise you could name me any classic story you like, that you think doesn’t have an ounce of fat and I could find you something that really, really doesn’t need to be there.<br /><br />Of course, sometimes this can create a problem. If you need to cut it down, the detail is the first bit you’re going to go for, because by definition it’s unnecessary. But it’s a temptation that has to be resisted, because it’s what gives the story life. As I write this, I’ve just finished watching the Silence in the Library two parter, and it has a specific element that’s a case in point – the fact that two characters share the name Dave is completely irrelevant to the plot. But without it, you have a slightly less interesting, real world. All of a sudden these characters are so much more human.<br /><br />And this is important in regards to Carnival of Monsters because it gives you some important context. You see, if you are going to use the word ‘padding’, then Carnival is one of the most padded stories of all time.<br /><br />Look at this episode. Nothing that even vaguely resembles plot happens. We get the expository sequences explaining the plot of the first episode, identifying what the Scope actually is… but then what? The Doctor and Jo spend the episode going for a bit of a wander trying to escape from wherever they are. On Inter Minor, lots of conversations go nowhere, and the characters distract themselves with little subplots that don’t really progress. The simple fact of the matter is that there really isn’t enough plot to sustain four episodes. The Doctor can’t escape for a while yet, the Inter Minorans are just filling in time til he can. If padding was inherently bad, this episode would be awful.<br /><br />But it just isn’t, and that’s because the time is used well. It’s used for witty exploration of character for example. Everyone in this script feels so distinct, so full. OK, some of that is helped by the fact that they’re all pitched as broad stock figures to a degree, but they’re written with such charm this hardly matters. The touches of humour and quirkiness really aid this as well – one of the truisms of a script is that comedy helps. Give someone a couple of jokes, suddenly they comes across better. Because everyone likes someone who tells a few jokes, don’t they? Again, they stop being ‘characters’, they become ‘people’. There’s never a sense that anything as pointless as filling in time is going on. The time is being used. No matter how consequence-less a sequence is (the Eradicator being used on the Scope for example), they always feel like they’re scenes with direction and purpose.<br /><br />And even then the script has the balls to comment on its own nature. Beautifully, there’s an utterly irrelevant action sequence that turns up out of nowhere, simply on Vorg’s whim. The script is directly having one for the sake of it, because that’s what the show does, and acknowledging that. The Drashigs are there for a bit of entertainment value, monsters for the kiddies, and that’s how they’re described. The Doctor and Jo are basically trapped inside a television show, getting menaced by things at the right points because they need to be.<br /><br />So ultimately, this episode is about nothing whatsoever – and yet it’s also tremendous fun. <br /> <br />#718 20 Jun 2008, 8:57 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Carnival of Monsters 3:<br /><br />Watching this episode, it strikes me that this is the first - of about two, maybe three stories - that's got an organic structure.<br /><br />Now, you might not understand what I mean by that so I'll try to explain. Before this story starts there is no plot. No story is going to happen, nobody is up to anything. <br /><br />That a plot arrives is a natural and, yes, organic process simply from setting a few disparate groups of people in opposition and seeing what happens. The plot develops from the characters operating in a normal and straightforward way, and that causing other people to do something new, and it all following on in a chain. Kalik, for example, must be the only Doctor Who villain who only comes up with his evil scheme half way through the story. Up until that point he's a jerk, but he's not actually a villain. This is a story driven by developing the personalities, by the way the characters interact. A status quo that the Doctor upsets with his arrival.<br /><br />The only other Who story I can think of that does something similar is Androzani - the Doctor and Peri operating as a catalyst for the pre-existing tensions within a political situation to explode. I have a sneaking feeling Ribos Operation has a similar aspect, but it's been a while since I've seen that. Maybe Mysterious Planet.<br /><br />It is of course no coincidence that they're all by Robert Holmes. Regular readers (both of them) can possibly remember my frustration at how long it takes for the proper Robert Holmes to arrive. For all their conceptual invention, the Auton stories are dull, the less said about Space Pirates the better, although I do think the Krotons is undervalued. Well, he's here. Holmes is all about character. Detailed, quirky, utterly real, and identifiable characters. So naturally, plot's not going to be a major concern of his. That's not to say they have bad plots, obviously, they're impeccable. But that the plot is defined by the characters rather than the other way round.<br /><br />There's a real sense in this episode of all the threads coming together. All the seperate elements of the story begin to impact on the others - and I'm not just meaning in the obvious ways with the Drashigs attacking the boat and Kalik's developing evil plan. But it's tying up little details - the Doctor needing rope from the boat, the dynamite from there damaging the scope and so on. The construction is beautiful. Pretty darn brilliant stuff. <br /> <br />#719 23 Jun 2008, 7:11 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The problem comes with the ending; I think you'll revise your opinion when you watch episode 4 again. Holmes sets up the characters and tensions etc beautifully, no doubts there, but because it takes so long for Kalik to come up with a plan the plan itself is a bit rubbish and is dealt with hurriedly. The same thing goes for The Time Warrior, which has wonderful characters but the plot goes back to Terror of the Autons territory with lots of set pieces designed to fill out 100 minutes, complete with a sudden ending that doesn't justify the length of the story. <br /><br />Come to think of it, Holmes really wasn't much of a plotter. Everybody loves Pyramids and Talons but everybody also complains about the rushed endings. And The Deadly Assassin has a big plot point that comes out of nowhere halfway through part 4. The Caves of Androzani is, for me, the only totally accomplished work of his and part of that is due to the direction - witness The Ribos Operation which in structure is nearly identical to The Caves of Androzani (lots of existing tensions and figures with whom the Doctor and companion barely interact until part 2 and even then they have little to do with the moving story) but seems a bit boring because the direction is rubbish.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br /><br />#720 28 Jun 2008, 5:43 am <br />AlMiles <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />That's a good point about "Ribos", and though it's a much-vaunted story (the superb design, great acting and... er, Prentis Hancock? ) I always felt the Seeker was naff (cliched old witch) and Unstoffe terribly mundane... perhaps it's just his haircut <br /><br />Anyway, though I prefer "Ribos" to "Androzani" (the latter just being the usual 1980s Saward sadomasochism, IMO, despite Petey being greater than ever), surely the usual one that gets unfavourably compared to Androzani is "Power of Kroll" - for having much the same plot if nothing else... how do you think they compare, Bus? Must admit I haven't seen Kroll for years, I'm quite looking forward to seeing Abineri, Madoc and McCarthy, even though I know their talents are wasted in this.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />29 Jun 2008, 12:32 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Power of Kroll gets compared to Androzani simply because there's a bit of gun-running in it. Otherwise in structure and themes it's a completely different story! Going by the "pre-existing tensions snapped by presence of Doctor" bit, the chaps at the refinery go off to shoot the gun runner off their own bat. The Doctor spends the rest of the time doing traditionally Doctorish things and saving the day multiple times. The Doctor of Androzani is merely trying to stay alive and doesn't directly contribute to anybody's downfall, nor does he achieve anything other than to save Peri and get back to the TARDIS in time to turn into Colin Baker. So there's no similarity between the stories at all.<br /><br />Fair enough in Ribos the Doctor ends up killing the Graff but the other characters kill each other off. The Doctor spends the first two episodes not getting involved in anything and the second two running away from the baddies. It's also the Doctor that upsets things by his very presence, making everybody paranoid or suspicious and thereby ruining Garron's money making scam.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#722 3 Jul 2008, 2:07 pm <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Carnival of Monsters 4:<br /><br />This most beautiful and elegant of stories comes to a beautiful and elegant finish.<br /><br />It's odd to see how much plot is crammed into this episode, given the fairly light content of the previous three. Well, I say odd, but it's not really, is it? They've slightly run out of time. And they need to get through it. Yet, it never feels rushed, or crowded.<br /><br />And indeed, it's somewhat unfair to suggest that there hasn't been much in the previous three. This is a fairly blatant slow burner of a story, with several disparate thread set up and left to trail before eventually being tied together. All of the set ups start to pay off, the repetition on the ship hits home, and so on. It's all dealt with in elegant simplicity.<br /><br />For example, the resolution of the Kalik storyline. It's interesting to note that the DWM Pertwee special from years back pointed out that the Doctor doesn't get involved in this ('the main thrust of the storyline' it said) until episode three. Now that's wrong on several levels - the fact it's episode four pretty much being the least of them.<br /><br />The fact is the Doctor doesn't even realise there's an evil villain in the story at all. As far as he's aware, the whole story is about him rescuing himself and Jo and saving the other inhabitants of the scope. He simply isn't aware that there's another plot. And that's why the swift resolution of said plot doesn't really matter.<br /><br />Because it's a punchline. The Inter-Minorans are all cretins to a man, but in the grand comic tradition, one of them thinks he's a genius. The only difference is the script doesn't let us realise this until the last moment. One of my favourite jokes of this episode is the fact that Kalik spends a good two minutes explaining to Orum how they'll be perfectly safe from the Drashigs as they cause mayhem and destruction - then promptly gets killed pretty much instantly as their only victim. This is a low key story. Defeating a grand villain in a grand way in such a tale would be out of keeping and disappointing. Much fitter that he turns out to be a rubbish villain, who defeats himself, and has his entire scheme foiled by a supporting character.<br /><br />The other problem with that DWM thing is that it's a sideshow, not the main thrust. The central thrust is the zoo/television metaphor that is the Scope. Kalik isn't the villain, not really, or at the very most a secondary one. Vorg is the villain. An unthinking, daft one, but the villain nonetheless. What he's doing is at least as bad as what Kalik fails to do... but the key difference is that crucially, when push comes to the shove, he decides to be brave, because he's a decent chap at heart.<br /><br />And that's why this story is great - it's a genuinely lovely tale filled with wit and heart, where the villains are misguided and likeable rather than out and out bad (heck, even the subsiduary ones are more entertaining than evil). It's honest and true about humanity. Just because it's slight and small and not self important or 'worthy', doesn't mean it's not as good as more ostensibly serious scripts. Along with Inferno, the best story of the Pertwee era. <br /> <br />#723 4 Jul 2008, 2:12 am <br />Xipuloxx <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />*Applause*<br /><br />Thanks for that Dorney. Carnival is a great story IMO, and it just doesn't get anywhere near enough love. Largely, I think, because people keep expecting it to be something it's not. But it does what intends to do, and does it brilliantly.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br /><br />#724 4 Jul 2008, 12:12 pm <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Xipuloxx <br />"But it does what intends to do, and does it brilliantly. "<br /><br />You've just nailed precisely what I think a good script/story is. Ask yourself firstly what does this story want to do? Secondly, how well it achieves that.<br /><br />Hefty drama isn't inherently better than comedy. It just keeps yelling at you that it's important. <br /> <br />#725 4 Jul 2008, 12:48 pm <br />AlMiles <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />"Hefty drama isn't inherently better than comedy. It just keeps yelling at you that it's important."<br /><br />That's pretty much what I thought when I read The Daily Telegraph's new "Top Ten Who Stories" list:<br />http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main...o-episodes.xml<br /><br />Androzani? Talons? Genesis?? Inferno??? Mainly the grim and heavy stories favoured by adolescent boys. One of the great things "Classic Who" does is mixing humour with the grimness. <br /><br />"The Seeds of Doom", with astonishing direction by Douglas Camfield, has the perfect mix of sharp witticisms and suspense/mystery/horror. That easily beats "Talons".<br /><br />"The Massacre" (interestingly, like "Blink", a "Doctor-lite" story) is perhaps the second-best Hartnell after the superlative and assured "The Aztecs", though I prefer the immaculate writing and performances of "The Crusade" or the devil-may-care abandon of the epic "Daleks' Master Plan" (both Camfield again - I'm spotting a pattern here).<br /><br />Amusing that they mention "Inferno" as being a great example of Camfield's work - apart from the pre-filmed exteriors and one studio session, the rest was directed by Barry Letts after Camfield fell ill. Ever the hard taskmaster, Camfield (whose wife was in "Inferno") had to visit a cast member on "Seeds" who had also been hospitalised. Although his wife was all sympathy, Camfield himself just asked the actor when he would return to work!!<br /><br />They need more humour in the list, and Troughton excels at the combination of laughs and thrills. "Power of the Daleks" is the ultimate Dalek story, but also the ultimate regeneration story. And you have to go a long way to beat "The Invasion" (guess what - Camfield again).<br /><br />However, I love Carnival because it was the first Target book I ever got (it was a birthday present from my Nan) - took me ages to pick it up, but when I had, I became a real fan as opposed to just someone who watched the show.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br /><br />#726 4 Jul 2008, 4:31 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />"Carnival of Monsters 4:<br /><br />This most beautiful and elegant of stories comes to a beautiful and elegant finish. "<br /><br />Ah, well then. Colour me "wrong".<br /><br />I do like the story a great deal, don't get me wrong, but it's very plotless and I prefer my stories to have a narrative thrust. That's what the Kalik plotline seems to be there for and the sudden ending after so many scenes of him plotting and scheming doesn't strike me as any sort of punchline, more a "Oh my God I've five minutes to end the story" convenience. Since Holmes' last story was Terror of the Autons and the next one is The Time Warrior (both of which end suddenly out of nowhere) I don't buy that Holmes suddenly became a master craftsman of plotting for one story. <br /><br />It's a good collection of set pieces and the performances are wonderful but the lack of a real plot lets it down. Still, it's miles better to what comes next.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#727 7 Jul 2008, 10:55 am <br />Richard2801 <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by AlMiles <br />"...Androzani? Talons? Genesis?? Inferno??? Mainly the grim and heavy stories favoured by adolescent boys. One of the great things "Classic Who" does is mixing humour with the grimness. <br /><br />"The Seeds of Doom", with astonishing direction by Douglas Camfield, has the perfect mix of sharp witticisms and suspense/mystery/horror. That easily beats "Talons".<br /><br />...However, I love Carnival because it was the first Target book I ever got (it was a birthday present from my Nan) - took me ages to pick it up, but when I had, I became a real fan as opposed to just someone who watched the show. <br /><br />A splendid review of Carnival as ever, John, pulling out much of its greatness - it's an odd one for me, having loved it like AlMiles as a kid from the book (has there ever been a better bit of blurb than "The Doctor and Jo land on a cargo ship crossing the Indian Ocean in the year 1926... Or so they think"?), but feeling now that though it's very entertaining, there's something not quite right. Perhaps it's that the TV story always misses some of the little polishes from Terrance’s book for me (and Pertwee nicks most of Jo's best lines), while the book just doesn’t have enough sparkle on its own to be Terrance's best. So, in my head, there's a more satisfying fusion of both. <br /><br />Pop fact: half-way through doing the special sound for this story, Brian Hodgson resigned to found his own studio, so Dick Mills took over from here until 1989 – which means that the Drashig cry, one of the most memorable sound effects for me, was down to both of them. It’s Brian’s original scream into the mike, with Dick’s treatment on it.<br /><br />But back to AlMiles on the Torygraph (above). I agree very much with the thrust of your post, but it seems to me a natural consequence of devising a list of individual 'best stories' rather than a list of stories that represent what's best in the series. Two of my favourite seasons are 13 and 16, for example, but I wouldn't call either 'representative' on their own - one's too grim and violent to sum up the breadth of the series, the other too playful and funny (14's a better mix of both, but that's by-the-by). So unless you set out to make a list that deliberately ticks off stories for, say, horror, playfulness, wit, strangeness, big ideas, monsters, villains, action, dialogue, alien worlds, past, present and future - or whatever else you think good Doctor Who encompasses - it's almost inevitably going to have something missing.<br /><br />The other problem with making a list of ingredients, of course, is that no fan's going to agree with any other fan on which stories have them. I was fascinated to see your attack on "the grim and heavy stories favoured by adolescent boys" being illustrated by The Talons of Weng-Chiang, and then calling The Seeds of Doom "the perfect mix of sharp witticisms and suspense/mystery/horror". For me, it's quite the opposite. There are some fabulous moments of humour in Seeds, but they're overwhelmed by the horror in what's probably the most violent, macho show in the series' history; Talons, on the other hand, never fails to crack me up, whether it's Greel's hysteria, Jago's bombast or Litefoot trying to eat like Leela. Even Caves is funnier for me than Seeds, with Morgus's blackly comic asides. So I'm not saying either of us is right or wrong; just that it shows the perils of saying 'this story is definitively such-and-such', and that you made me smile by picking as your perfect mix the very story I'd think of if asked to name a "grim and heavy" one "favoured by adolescent boys" that I'd still say was pretty good <br /><br />(Alex, borrowing Richard)<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br /><br />#728 7 Jul 2008, 6:51 pm <br />AlMiles <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Richard2801 <br />"But back to AlMiles on the Torygraph (above). I agree very much with the thrust of your post, but it seems to me a natural consequence of devising a list of individual 'best stories' rather than a list of stories that represent what's best in the series. Two of my favourite seasons are 13 and 16, for example, but I wouldn't call either 'representative' on their own - one's too grim and violent to sum up the breadth of the series, the other too playful and funny (14's a better mix of both, but that's by-the-by). So unless you set out to make a list that deliberately ticks off stories for, say, horror, playfulness, wit, strangeness, big ideas, monsters, villains, action, dialogue, alien worlds, past, present and future - or whatever else you think good Doctor Who encompasses - it's almost inevitably going to have something missing."<br /><br />The other problem with making a list of ingredients, of course, is that no fan's going to agree with any other fan on which stories have them. I was fascinated to see your attack on "the grim and heavy stories favoured by adolescent boys" being illustrated by The Talons of Weng-Chiang, and then calling The Seeds of Doom "the perfect mix of sharp witticisms and suspense/mystery/horror". For me, it's quite the opposite. There are some fabulous moments of humour in Seeds, but they're overwhelmed by the horror in what's probably the most violent, macho show in the series' history; Talons, on the other hand, never fails to crack me up, whether it's Greel's hysteria, Jago's bombast or Litefoot trying to eat like Leela. Even Caves is funnier for me than Seeds, with Morgus's blackly comic asides. So I'm not saying either of us is right or wrong; just that it shows the perils of saying 'this story is definitively such-and-such', and that you made me smile by picking as your perfect mix the very story I'd think of if asked to name a "grim and heavy" one "favoured by adolescent boys" that I'd still say was pretty good "<br /><br />True, and a lot depends not only on my memories of a story (I haven't rewatched Talons for ages, but had just passed Seeds in my marathon 1963-2008 episode-by-episode rewatch) but on my mood. Sometimes I'm in a mood to reflect on Talons and all the (Robert) Holmesian humour, black as it may be, comes to the fore - the Doctor berating the policeman, Litefoot and Jago, "Trumpet Voluntary" into a bowl of goldfish etc... and other times the giant rat devouring people, "bent-face", Mr Sin and his knife, and the draining of innocent maidens predominates. Keeping both in mind at once is difficult. I agree that the grimness of Seeds is definitely there on screen, especially for those with a visual memory - the sly humour of most of the dialogue is more prevalent to those with a mainly auditory memory, so for me it only remains in mind when I've recently seen it - I soon forget dialogue, but never images. <br /><br />And if I'm in a jolly mood when I put it on (as I usually am, because I know I'm in for a delicious treat) then I'm more attuned to pick up the humour. Watching Dr Who can be fascinating, and even if my faulty memory makes me think of Androzani as a morose gun-fest, I am sure when I actually watch it again Holmes's wicked humour will make a powerful impact on me. And hopefully Talons will be a perfect mix of humour and grimness for me when I reach it... perhaps I was too hasty in emphasising its dark side (though the tone of the Torygraph article indicates that humour isn't high on their list of points that recommend a story).<br /><br />Interesting points you make about Carnival, especially the Hodgson/Mills crossover! I may not have a good auditory memory but I've been paying attention to the sound design on this rewatch/marathon. It's the series greatest technical strength and always worth concentrating on.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------John Dorneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00043867565471251131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755686396354348154.post-28311847688858078792009-07-28T06:35:00.000-07:002010-02-13T03:51:26.890-08:00The Three Doctors11 May 2008, 11:05 am <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Three Doctors 1:<br /><br />Fun. How important is it? During my time with Cronos, I received an email from my old chum Alex Wilcock (a name some of you may remember as a regular contributor to DWM’s Time Team). He said that the last two stories were the only ones he and his partner wildly disagreed on. Alex thought the Mutants a good script let down by its execution, and the Time Monster awful – whereas the opposing view was that the former was tedious and the latter fun.<br /><br />It’s hard not to see the point. You see, for all the intelligence of its script, the Mutants isn’t especially entertaining. And vacuous as the Time Monster may be, it’s got an awful lot of enjoyable set pieces and camp villainy. If you’re in the mood to switch your brain off, and settle down with some escapist entertainment, you’re never going to pick the former over the latter. So I refer you back to the question I started with. How important is ‘fun’?<br /><br />Watching The Three Doctors, I can’t help but feel this is going to be a question that comes up again. As it stands this episode is enormous fun. There’s not much else to it than that, though, not so far anyway. But in some ways that’s a clear difference from The Time Monster. Most of the fun in the first four episodes of that story is incidental, or really spread out. As I said above, you have to switch your brain off. Whereas this story seems to have higher standards for its fun. Ambitious fun. It wants to be the most fun it can be, not the barest minimum. This is the people making the show having fun, rather than just hoping they can get away with it. <br /><br />So why is it more fun than its predecessor, or at least more successful fun? Well, it’s relentlessly fast paced for one. Within the first ten minutes or so we’ve established an, admittedly, somewhat nebulous threat and are going into full grown battle mode. This is an obvious necessity of the premise, as we can’t really spend too much time establishing the threat when we need the other Doctor’s in before the episode ends. But necessity leads to great things in this case. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not usually a fan of speed for the sake of speed. But this is perfectly paced. It’s fast, but relatively simplistic (the entire plot of the first fifteen minutes or so is ‘blob attacks’) so the speed doesn’t leave it feeling rushed. OK, it does cause a couple of problems on a plot level, with the Doctor managing to leap to the right conclusion at the speed of light with very little actual evidence, and very weak justifications for the blob attacking Ollis and Tyler. But it’s all pitched with such joie de vivre that you get swept up. The whole thing is written and performed with bravado and confidence so you don’t care about minor plot problems. Within minutes you’re pitched into surprisingly high gear action – and part of the fun is that you still don’t have any real idea what’s going on.<br /><br />And then of course, Patrick bloody Troughton turns up, and it kicks into high gear. The scenes between the two Doctors are the blatant highlights of the episode, full of wit and vigour. The idea of them not really getting on is probably the obvious choice, but that doesn’t make it any less the correct one (where’s the fun in them getting on all the time, eh?). It’s the perfect dynamic, and the two actors are really up to the task, the sci-fi equivalent of the odd couple. There’s not really much to add to that, as discussion of those scenes is almost redundant. They’re gloriously enjoyable, two great characters and actors (even entertainers) playing off each other brilliantly. What’s not to love?<br /><br />When it comes down to it, The Three Doctors seems to me to be more fun than it’s predecessor because there’s more to fun than just set pieces. That’s the difference between dumb fun and fun. It needs heart, and joy, and the Three Doctors has that in spades. There’s the real sense that everyone involved is having a ball. Whereas the last story doesn’t have that same commitment to the material (at least until the final two episodes). No-one’s having fun, they just seem desperate to get through it.<br /><br />So I suppose what it comes down to is that the most important isn’t whether something is fun or not. But that fun has to be done well. Unexciting drama is almost fine. Whereas there’s nothing as bad as dull fun. <br /> <br /><br />#706 11 May 2008, 12:32 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Three Doctors starts well but I must admit I find it a bit of a slog, especially the last two episodes. Plus watching Billy clearly struggling with the script is a depressing experience which, for me, sucks a lot of the fun out of it.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#707 15 May 2008, 4:29 am <br />Dacar92 <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by The Secretive Bus <br />"The Three Doctors starts well but I must admit I find it a bit of a slog, especially the last two episodes. Plus watching Billy clearly struggling with the script is a depressing experience which, for me, sucks a lot of the fun out of it. "<br /><br />Hartnell never looked so old as he did in the 3 docs, for obvious reasons. So, where did the TL's take him out of time and space? Sometime during the 4th episode of Tenth Planet?<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#708 15 May 2008, 10:38 am <br />Phil W <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Surely it is just the effect of him being in proximity (however tenuously) to two of his subsequent selves [ref TimeCrash]?<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br /><br />#709 16 May 2008, 2:09 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Three Doctors 2:<br /><br />After the relentless pace of the opener, it’s time to calm down a touch.<br /><br />As I mentioned last time, the speed of the first episode was down to the amount of plot required before they could reach the vital money moments of the episode (the 1st and 2nd Doctors turning up), that had to appear before the cliffhanger. This episode slightly pays the price as it’s clear that it’s marking time slightly.<br /><br />This is most clear in the way that the 2nd Doctor doesn’t really achieve anything throughout the episode, and at the climax basically does what the 3rd did at the end of the last one. This wouldn’t be a major problem if it wasn’t for the fact that the third Doctor doesn’t really do much in this episode either – after the lump of anti-matter has gone out of it’s way to capture him and transport him through a black hole, he’s left to just wander around for a bit until he gets taken to a citadel, where he once again doesn’t meet anyone or do anything.<br /><br />This could all be terribly tedious, but once again it’s lifted by the sparkling script. The sequences of Doctor two interacting with Benton and the Brigadier are enjoyable and amusing – ok, so the Brigadier pretty much has to turn into a moron, and act as an all purpose comedy fool, but it is something rather big he’s come across so it’s at least vaguely plausible, and it does at least manage to be funny.<br /><br />Equally, there’s a engagingly witty sense of the surreal about the episode. This manifests itself in subtle ways – the oddball design of the palace, complete with the bizarre, unworldly, plinky-plonk soundtrack (innocently childlike, yet alien and strange) But it’s also obviously there in the Doctor and Jo wandering about a quarry, absolutely as typical an ‘alien’ environment as the series has and yet constantly bumping into water coolers and worktops. It’s a gorgeous juxtaposition of the quirky and the mundane. . The best example of this is their discovery of Doctor Tyler, idly standing in the middle of nowhere muttering through the mathematics of his situation in a perfect parody of the man so dull and science obsessed he’s too busy looking at the minutiae and misses the biggest and most important fact of all (he’s not on Earth).<br /><br />OK, there’s only so long the episode can sustain itself on charm alone, and sure enough it does eventually have to resort to the blatant padding of Tyler’s escape attempt to fill in the time (though in many ways you do have to admire the gall of the story to have his first words when he rejoins the Doctor and Jo as: ‘Well, that was a waste of time’). But even then, the general sense of style carries the show through so you can’t help but be charmed.<br /><br />There’s not much else to add. Bit of a giggle, really. That's all. <br /> <br />#710 18 May 2008, 4:55 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Three Doctors 3:<br /><br />OK, whilst I’m still enjoying this… it’d be nice if there was a bit more to the plot, wouldn’t there?<br /><br />After a good couple of episodes messing around, we finally meet the proper villain of the story, and he’s the king of exposition, and that’s sort of a problem.<br /><br />We’re once more dealing with the famous writing maxim ‘don’t tell, show’. Now, meeting a famous character out of legend is an exciting and intriguing prospect – unfortunately it’s less so when your audience have no idea whatsoever who this bloke is. Because then you’ve got to spend a good few minutes telling the audience who he is, why he’s important and going ‘he’s a legend you know’ over and over again.<br /><br />It simply lacks impact. To us, Omega is just some bloke in a big mask (and whilst I’m there – the mask is lovely… but it’s so oversized that it actually makes the not exactly tiny Stephen Thorne look oddly squat and short, therefore ordinary). He just wanders around all the time being grumpy and telling us he’s going to have his revenge, but he never really does anything (gloriously, he seems to expect the Doctor to be afraid of him – why? He’s not killed anyone or anything. Walk into a room and be confronted with a sequined Darth Vader, fear’s not going to be the first thing that comes to mind, now is it?)<br /><br />There’s just not very much threat. In a similar way to Tyler’s blatant plot criticism last time, this week we get a fairly damning statement from Benton – when the other characters break free of the cell, he turns to Jo and says ‘we can’t let them have all the fun’. It comes back to fun again. This is an action adventure series. We’re the one’s that should be having fun. If your characters are having fun, then there’s nothing at stake. It just means no one really does anything. They get told the plot, get locked up, escape. Only the Brigadier gets anything interesting to do – whilst it’s true enough to suggest that his character has been dumbed down by this point, his attempts at an almost single handed rescue of everyone else is brilliant, if ultimately a pointless diversion.<br /><br />There’s too much wit and swagger in the script for this to be actually painful to watch. All the amusing banter is present and correct… but you do wish it had a stronger plot to hang off. <br /> <br />#711 20 May 2008, 11:23 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Three Doctors 4:<br /><br />It’s slightly damning how easy it is to forget this story. I watched episode four yesterday morning, got distracted by various things since, so have only got the chance to write it up now. And it’s hard to remember the first thing about it. It’s like a Chinese meal. Very enjoyable on the surface, but not really all that satisfying in the long run.<br /><br />It’s not a major shock. Upon starting the episode I realised a bit I’d forgotten to mention last episode – the utterly atrocious cliffhanger. But that’s the beauty of the cliffhanger isn’t it? You can talk about it the next episode as well, and no one will know you forgot it the last time.<br /><br />I remember vividly watching The Three Doctors as a young boy during the Five Faces of Doctor Who season, and recalling the cliffhanger as Omega removing his helmet. And I still don’t get why it isn’t. That’s the perfect spot – a striking image that also works as an act break, signalling a shift in Omega’s purpose.<br /><br />But no, they decide to throw in a random fantasy sequence, the Doctor fighting the dark side of Omegas mind (whatever the hell that means – I mean it’s not like his general mental state is sweetness and light), because the iconic helmeted one is a bit grumpy with him. This despite him talking about how he needs the Doctor. And this whilst also ignoring the second Doctor (I mean, what’s he doing during the entire fight?). With bizarre repetition of the images and sound cues within moments (which almost makes the DVD mastering error an episode earlier look like part of the official edit). And then it’s completely dismissed in about an instant (always a good sign to tell whether a cliffhanger’s good or not, look at it and the resolution – does it change the plot? Does it have repercussions? Could you cut it completely without affecting the overall story? If the first two are answered no, and the third yes, congratulations – you’ve a rotten cliffhanger).<br /><br />In the next few minutes, Omega explains his scheme, which is logical enough, though you can’t help wondering why he hung around and waited so long. Especially when the moment he imparts it, the Doctor’s pretty much instantly realise that he can’t follow it through and he starts to go barking. Yes, once again, we’re dealing with a story where people talk a lot about what they’re going to do, but never actually do it.<br /><br />And it’s a shame, because the moment Omega sees he lives on only as a force of will (probably the most striking concept the story has in its armoury) is probably the point where it kicks back in. It really should be the cliffhanger for the previous episode. It raises the stakes, changes the direction. As it is, part three is another exercise in wasting time, and so is the first few minutes of this episode. When the twist occurs, suddenly we’re back in exciting territory. The last ten minutes or so are suddenly about something, there’s an actual threat as opposed to just the vague possibility of one in the distance. Something we understand is at stake. This could easily sustain a full episode, and also present the opportunity for a proper tragic feel (imagine if Omega was a little saner before the realisation, and that’s what truly tips him into evil? The whole ‘dark side of my mind’ thing just paints him as a panto baddy)<br /><br />It’s a real shame. Because you do get the sense that everyone’s come up with a lot of ideas, great dialogue and scenes – they’ve just not really got a story to hang them off. Look at the characters, for example. What exactly are Tyler and Ollis for? At best plot devices in the first episode, they don’t seem to do anything at any point beyond that, only there because the script hasn’t figured out a way of removing them. They just wander around with the regulars. And for that matter, what do the regulars do? Yates is inexplicably absent throughout, Benton just hangs around with everyone else as much as Tyler and Ollis, and the Brigadier – despite getting all the best character moments, such as his ever so slightly emotional goodbye salute to the Doctors – doesn’t fare much better, his only activity being organising a raid that never actually takes place.<br /><br />But even then… I can’t really bring myself to dislike it. It comes back to the whole ‘fun’ thing. There’s always something entertaining happening, even if it’s ultimately a waste of time, and the Doctor banter sequences are on a completely different level to anything we’ve seen in a good few seasons. The plot’s rotten, but… does it always have to be about the plot?<br /><br />I think there’s this story had the potential to be a classic. If they’d worked just as hard on the story as they do on the set pieces and fun bits. If there wasn’t a sense that those bits were so enjoyable that they didn’t realise they were carrying the entire thing. As it is, it’s good and entertaining… but you do have to focus on the good stuff. Fortunately, there’s a reasonable amount of it.John Dorneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00043867565471251131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755686396354348154.post-49365947849622325432009-07-28T06:34:00.000-07:002010-02-13T04:00:55.097-08:00The Time Monster27 Apr 2008, 11:06 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Time Monster 1:<br /><br />I dunno. This is a toughy.<br /><br />You see, it’s not actually ‘bad’ yet. There’s some nice enough work at building tension, the performances are generally fine, but… it just seems to me that beyond the surface there’s not much going on.<br /><br />Firstly, the whole episode is about something that’s going to happen, and as a result we have that rare thing – a first episode that’s heavily padded. Witness the Master being pointlessly found out by the head of the institute and then just hypnotising him again. You see, it wouldn’t be a problem if there was some sort of threat attached – it’s basically the same opening as the Daemons, let’s be honest – but for the most part there’s no reason to be worried. OK, the Master’s up to something, but that isn’t that menacing as of itself, especially when the machine he builds seems to work fine and dandy half way through the episode (‘yes, we must stop the Master switching on this device that doesn’t seem to do anything threatening’ is hardly a strong driving motor for a show). And throwing in a portentous dream is just a cop out. There’s just no tension.<br /><br />Equally, whilst we’re on the dream, that does rather emphasise the further problem with starting up before the plot really starts – you have to find a way to get the Doctor involved when there’s nothing for him to investigate. And this episode takes the laziest way imaginable, with the Doctor having a precognitive dream out of precisely nowhere. It’s deeply annoying and screams plot device. And even then, they still foist a coincidence on the plot, with the UNIT mob just happening to be going off to visit the Master’s next project anyway. Though to be fair, this is sort of the problem of having a regular arch enemy anyway, as it’s far easier for the Doctor to stumble into something. It requires coincidence for him to stumble into the work of someone he already knows. It’s even harder when you don’t have the luxury of time and space travel, as bumping into the Master requires him to behave like a bit of an idiot.<br /><br />There’s also one other problem, though it comes from a positive. After far too long we have the UNIT mob back again, especially worthwhile for Nicholas Courtney being charming… but they really have turned into comedy soldiers, haven’t they? And that’s the problem – there’s a degree to which this episode is scripted like a bad 70s sitcom. A really bad one. Consider the sequence of the Brig trying to figure out who to take with him to TOMTITT, as all the regulars count themselves out. ‘Who am I going to take’ wonders the Brig – and at that precise moment, in walks Benton all ready to go on leave. It feels like a joke, it has the structure of a joke – it just isn’t one. In deed, that’s the tone all the way through. Lots of times people make what appear to be attempts at jokes, none of which quite work – most noticeably the Brigs nice enough line about the Doctor consulting the entrails of a goat, which is suddenly made to look awful by the inexplicable decision to make Jo hoot like a demented harpy at it (not only is it a massively disproportionate response, it isn’t helped by the fact that no one else at all finds it funny).<br /><br />This extends to the guest cast, with Stuart and Ruth being weirdly characterised – her as an annoyingly one note women’s lib cliché (which ironically manages to come over as far more sexist – cos that’s all feminism is about, complaining every time a man says something patronising) and him as a prat (it’s worth pointing out that Ian Collier’s performance is at least fairly likeable, which disguises this a touch, but it still beggars belief that this man is actually a professional scientist). Even the Master loses it – his ‘don’t worry your pretty little head’ line is deeply out of character, and only makes sense when you realise he’s only saying it as a setup for Ruth’s sexism stuff.<br /><br />The only real saving grace here is that, by and large, the director doesn’t seem to notice that the script is as silly as it is, and is treating it with the same seriousness as the previous stories this season. And to be fair to the story as a whole, there are nice moments - the dream is good, the absorption of inertia is fun, the falling window cleaner too, even if it does seem odd that he finds himself as fascinated as he is by some scientists not doing very much in a room. The Master’s lightning quick response to the arrival of UNIT is plausible and amusingly ironic (lifelong pacifist indeed) and I do find the comedy accent amusing (if inconsistent).<br /><br />But ultimately, nothing’s really happened at the end. It’s all competent enough, but really it’s all about moving the various pieces into position in order that the story itself can start, so it’s hard to judge yet. <br /> <br />#695 28 Apr 2008, 12:42 am <br />The Secretive Bus <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ah, Stewart and Ruth. Possibly the most irritating guest characters in a Doctor Who story, certainly up till this point. Is it this episode that has the "We've done it! We've done it! We've done it!" dance complete with comedy music? One of the most dire moments of Who ever, surely?<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#696 28 Apr 2008, 10:04 am <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by The Secretive Bus <br />"Ah, Stewart and Ruth. Possibly the most irritating guest characters in a Doctor Who story, certainly up till this point. Is it this episode that has the "We've done it! We've done it! We've done it!" dance complete with comedy music? One of the most dire moments of Who ever, surely? "<br /><br />Absolutely.<br /><br />Up until that point, I'd almost liked Stewart (as I say, Collier's putting in a performance that's a heck of a lot more charming than the character as scripted), but that sequence is just so dumb and forced it immediately made me think 'oh, he's crap'. Scientist as naughty schoolboy. Please. <br /> <br />#697 28 Apr 2008, 6:38 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Time Monster 2:<br /><br />Yes, it’s the second episode of the Time Monster – gasp in amazement as the villain spends the entire episode sat in an office checking through his maths homework. Applaud as the Doctor destroys all mystery by explaining the entire plot within twenty seconds of arriving on the scene. Be amazed that the old age make up effects in the last season of Who aren’t significantly better than these made over thirty years previously…<br /><br />I mean, honestly. Did anything actually happen in that episode? <br /><br />Once again, a reasonable technical sheen tries its best to disguise the shortcomings of the story. But, it’s just dull. After a first episode that’s tries to be about the Doctor racing to prevent a catastrophe, and fails, it’s somewhat underwhelming that pretty much nothing happens when the Master switches on his machine. In deed, if anything, it makes the Master’s plan look more ludicrous. He spends ages building this machine, and then decides to test it in a needlessly high profile manner (why not run a test on it – why does he need to summon Kronos in front of the funding body). As a result, he just draws attention to his plans before he can actually implement them. It’s like he wants to make it harder for himself. It’s one of those stories where people behave in an odd way, because to do otherwise would screw the story up.<br /><br />We’re also feeling the lack of threads. Because the Master wants to summon up an all powerful evil being (and he can’t) there’s really not much else the story can do without extra elements to the plot. Everyone’s on the scene, every one knows what’s going on… where can we go? And I’m sorry, but the Doctor’s massive info dump of exposition ten minutes in is one of the sloppiest bits of writing we’ve seen. OK, it’s an attempt to add some threat, but without some physical evidence of what the hell a Chronovore is, it’s just words, and words that, crucially, destroy a lot of the mystery that might keep us watching. Compare with the careful building up and resolving of the various questions in the Mutants. Here we know exactly what the Master’s planning to do. But because we know that, the only real tension left is in whether he can do it or not – and that in itself isn’t interesting. Because that’s just a cat and mouse game of whether the Master can get back into a room and switch a machine on, which is hardly the most engaging plotline. They’ve basically written themselves into a corner, and added a bucket of telling not showing. Stop the Master doing something not terribly interesting otherwise a Gobbledegook monster will come along and destroy us. Yes, that’s a hook, isn’t it?<br /><br />It’s not all bad though. There are some nice bits – the Doctor’s slow mo run to save the day, the Brig’s dialogue – and particularly the Benton/Master scene which is a properly nice moment for the former. He get’s to show resourcefulness, but the manner in which the Master outwits him, partially down to his own slight sense of victory leaving him to drop his guard is glorious (‘No, Sgt. Benton, that is the oldest trick in the book’ is probably my favourite bit in the story so far!), and is so nicely done that you actually miss the fact that the whole sequence is blatant padding.<br /><br />But when push comes to the shove, there’s just nothing in here that’s particularly interesting or gripping. <br /> <br />#698 29 Apr 2008, 5:12 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Time Monster 3:<br /><br />This story is just a lot of sound and fury, isn’t it? Nothing’s going on.<br /><br />For the first two episodes we’ve had the Master followed around by the University bloke as standard underling to talk to – and the story’s really confused about how he interacts with the Master, frankly – within a few minutes of this episode starting, he’s killed off… and replaced by an Atlantean standard underling to talk to. Neither of them do anything, and the death of one for replacement by the other is a distraction – an illusion of progress and change… whilst nothing happens. Slowly. It’s symptomatic of the entire story.<br /><br />We’re half way through, and there’s really no plot. The story, what it amounts to, is the Master trying a series of increasingly successful attempts to capture a time monster (hence the title) whilst the Doctor wanders off and distracts himself and let’s the Master get on with it. There’s a sequence half way through when they retreat to a cottage on the grounds, and the Doctor says all they can do is wait and orders up tea and cake. Really? Is that the best this story can do? The Master’s taking over the world, and you just wander off saying ‘well, we can’t do anything yet, how about a cuppa.’ The Doctor doesn’t wait. He shouldn’t wait. And yet this entire episode is about filling in time until the Doctor can do something.<br /><br />And why can’t the Doctor do anything? Because it’s all too small, that’s why. The plot is hinged on one simple device – the Master summons a monster with a machine. That’s it. The moment the Doctor’s on the scene, it should be a piece of piss for him to defeat that. So they’ve got to invent way to distract him or stop him from actually doing anything – be it dangerous time eddies that people can’t get through, or, more prosaically, just not doing anything about it when he has the chance (‘yes, the Master wants to use this machine to take over the world – tell you what, let’s just wander off and do something fundamentally less important for the moment, shall we? Give him a chance to pop by.’).<br /><br />The story needs more threads. It’s odd, but for a story so epic in scope (with a neat sci-fi concept and Atlantis jostling for position) it feels so small. There’s only about two sets, and two groups of people (all of the goodies just hang around together – that’s six people, and as a result no-one gets to do anything worthwhile or memorable on any level). And it has to work its damnedest to keep them apart (because that would switch off the story) but unless they meet there’s nothing much that can happen. It’s all exemplified by the Doctor’s contraption. The Doctor building up a jammer from all manner of household rubbish is such a delightful (and quintessentially Who-ish idea) that it’s easy to miss the fact that it’s a pointless distraction and waste of time. The moment it operates, the Master over-rides it in about three seconds. <br /><br />And then, after having half the episode be about the Doctor not quite doing anything yet, the Master joins in! The Master, in contrast, has almost looked like he’s doing something in this episode (he hasn’t, he’s just got a little bit closer to actually pulling off what he’s been trying to do for – or more accurately, he’s got a little bit less unsuccessful this time). And then, just when he can trot off to Atlantis to sort it all out, he decides to hang around and try to destroy the TARDIS (which he must know is rather pointless).<br /><br />Good things in this episode… Well, the Brig gets all the nice lines (same as usual). And the idea of the Master plucking random elements of the past to attack the UNIT convoy is quite fun (although, much like the Doctor’s device, fairly pointless sideshow distractions). Beyond that, still dull. <br /> <br />#699 30 Apr 2008, 12:31 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The only amusing thing I can remember about the first half of the story is the cliffhanger to part 2. The Atlantean chappy appears (not exactly a cracking cliffhanger in itself) and just watch the university guy's reaction. He jerks his entire body round with his arms held out as if holding an invisible teatray and with the most comically aghast face since the monkey bastard from The Wheel In Space. <br /><br />Other than that, I can't remember a decent reason for watching this. It's just a series of silly performances, bad dialogue and upskirt shots (male and female). Which I'm sure, all things considered, is targeted at a niche audience somewhere.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#700 30 Apr 2008, 6:37 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Time Monster 4:<br /><br />There’s something almost heroic about the determination of this story to get worse every single episode. ‘Hey, you thought last week was boring? Wait til you get a load of this!’<br /><br />After an episode that included lots of detail to disguise the fact that there isn’t actually a story going on, this one is fairly open about it. It doesn’t even try to pretend there’s anything going on. The major action of the episode is the Doctor trying to give the Master a bit of a talking to, and the Master not listening to him. That’s as dramatic as it gets. I’m not exaggerating.<br /><br />You see, you really do get the sense that they’ve had a lot of cool ideas for set-pieces here… they’ve just forgotten that they need a plot to back it up. Look at the cliffhanger, and it’s resolution. The Master’s all ready to hop off to Atlantis, but then discovers that the Doctor’s TARDIS is heading their way. Ah, says he, I don’t want any one to follow me, so he sends various historical people to attack the UNIT convoy. All well and good. Until the resolution, where his pointless Atlantean chum (only purpose – someone for him to explain the plot to, that’s all the character does) asks ‘so have you destroyed it then’, and the Master says ‘no, it’s indestructible’. So the deeply tenuous justification for the Master deciding to put a temporary halt to his plans in order to provide a cliffhanger (oh and more time for the Doctor to catch up) is just changed overnight. The Master then says that people can be destroyed, but what’s the point of that? He’s about to destroy the world, why worry about getting a few soldiers who can’t possibly stop him? Oh, and whilst we’re on the cliffhanger, it’s disappointing that the reprise drops the nicest bit of it. The previous episode ends with the Brigadier urgently calling for Yates on the radio, and in gorgeous touch that’s underplayed to the degree of being easy to miss, he stops calling for ‘Yates’, and starts calling to ‘Mike’. A lovely genuine human moment. Whereas in this episode, this bit is dropped, and replaced to a shot of Benton trying to get in touch back at the cottage. Where his immediate response on not hearing anything is saying ‘I think they’ve copped it’ in a tone of mild concern (and then to add insult to injury, the scene is rendered utterly pointless when the Brig phones him up a minute or so later and, in the same nondescript tone, Benton replies ‘oh good. We thought you’d copped it’. We know. You said it about thirty seconds ago. Grief).<br /><br />And it just gets worse. The Master then proceeds to waste as much time as possible playing around with a few control buttons (as if he hasn’t had enough time to do whatever he needs to in the two whole episodes he hasn’t moved from the lab in) in order to give the Doctor a chance to catch him – oh and for the unfunny comedy troop of Benton, Ruth and Stewart to try a raid based on little more than suicidal idiocy. I love the way that upon deciding to launch a planless attack on the Master, Stewart picks up a spanner, the implication being that the ‘lovable’ foolish scientist’s only plan to stop the Master, who let’s remember hasn’t done anything evil in front of him, is to smash his head in. Family fun, eh? And even if it wasn’t, these three decide to attack a man who has a machine that controls time with one gun and a spanner? No, there are four spanners here by my count. And once again, it’s pointless – as the Master gets away in a really badly done move within about twenty seconds. Actually, what’s most depressing about this is that a mere two episodes after the script credits Benton with a degree of resourcefulness and intelligence, the vacuous desperation of the script requires him to become a cretin again - ignoring everything he’s been told by a man he trusts to go along with the witless bravado of a self-righteous lunatic. All for the sake of filling in a bit of time (oh, and before I forget – Collier’s lost it by this point. The character’s so badly, clunkily written, that he’s lost all the charm I initially talked about – it’s all so self-consciously ‘funny’ that you just want to smack him).<br /><br />Next, we have the Doctor’s ship landing inside the Masters (and vice versa). The Russian doll TARDIS thing is a corker of a concept… but once again, it’s not attached to anything in the plot. It’s simply there as a device to stop anything from actually happening. (And even then, we once more have the Doctor announcing his entire plan as being ‘waiting’ - if the hero can't be arsed to do something, why the hell are we watching?)<br /><br />Likewise, the frozen UNIT and baby Benton are nice enough ideas – but all they’re actually doing is filling in time and giving the impression that something’s actually going on. And fair enough, something is going on… but it’s progressing a, by this point, irrelevant sub-plot that has no need to be there at all.<br /><br />And then, as I said above, we have the entire plot stalling whilst the Doctor tries to give the Master a lecture. The Doctor’s so desperate to do this that he actually steps out of the TARDIS to face possible destruction. It beggars belief. This is ten minutes of an adventure show featuring the good guy trying to talk the villain out of doing something – such a pompous, school teacher-y way of behaving that, combined with the natural pomposity of the Pertwee Doctor, we actually root for the Master, a fact not helped by the fact that we initially view the sequence through his eyes. When he says ‘I could throw you out into the vortex’ your first thought is ‘well go on then’.<br /><br />Nothing happens. At all. We’ve had four episodes now, four episodes which consist of nothing more the Master trying over and over again to do the thing he did at the end of part one and get it right, and the Doctor hanging around at the sidelines going ‘well, I can’t really do anything.’<br /><br />Tedium, thy name is ‘The Time Monster’. <br /> <br /><br />#701 2 May 2008, 8:23 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Time Monster 5:<br /><br />There’s only one major thing wrong with the fifth episode of The Time Monster. And that’s the fact that it’s the fifth episode.<br /><br />After two episodes that were basically a masterpiece of procrastination, we finally reach Atlantis – and suddenly the story gets good. Which does rather beg the question of why it’s taken so long to go there.<br /><br />OK, so we’ve had a few brief visits there in episodes two and three. But that’s not what I mean. This is basically the moment that the actual story starts. Everything suddenly seems so much better and more interesting. There’s something going on, as opposed to avoiding something going on. Suddenly the heroes and villains don’t just have to wander around a computer with a furrowed brow. Honestly, why does it take until episode five before we come here? Ancient Greece and a Minotaur versus a woman’s libber and a prat hanging round a university looking at dials. There’s no contest, surely?<br /><br />The episode isn’t entirely perfect – the resolution to the fairly definite and eerie cliffhanger is depressingly feeble (Jo simpy presses a handy ‘in event of cliffhanger’ button on the console), Hippias is one of the strangest performances in the series and the Master’s mate remains utterly irrelevant (although, bizarrely, recognised by the Doctor despite never having actually met him). But in comparison to the previous couple of episodes it’s dazzling.<br /><br />There actually seems to be the making of a plot, in the most literal sense. Rather than a series of remote control attempts to fool each others plans, tinkering, maths and waiting, both the Master and the Doctor are actually doing something. The Master in particular has a ball, all manipulative and Machiavellian, finding who to side with, lying, hypnotising, trying to get what he wants. Actively trying. His scene with Galleia is beautifully plotted. Which leads me on to my next point. There are actual characters not one note ciphers. Galleia, for example, is genuinely interesting and multi layered – far from being anything as simple and straightforward as just an evil cheating queen, she’s complicated (witness her telling the Master that she wants nothing to happen to her husband, and Hippias’ genuinely sad lament for the loss of the girl she was). Likewise, everybody in Atlantis just seems to be so much better written, so much more real. Dalios is witty and wise, and genuinely likeable. Even Susan Penhaligon’s maid is given more scope. The dialogue sparkles, full of lovely jokes and wit (‘what did Poseidon have for breakfast’ Dalios asks the Master, before answering for him ‘fish, I suppose).<br /><br />All of which is all well and good and entertaining, but it does lead to one fairly obvious point. Why haven’t they bothered doing this before now? If you can create good characters, write funny dialogue, and have interesting plots… why have you made us waste our time for four episodes? Why make us put up with a plotless runaround filled with crass caricatures? It seems obvious to me that this is the bit of the story that inspired the whole thing. They seem to have saved up their best writing for this section, and that could explain the lacklustre feel of the earlier stuff (it must be dispiriting wasting time before you get to the fun bit). So why structure it that way? One of the writers was in charge of the series, so why? Why? <br /> <br />#702 2 May 2008, 8:31 pm <br />Liberty Hall <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />...awww, I like this story. I like the relationship between Benton and Stewart. I like to think maybe, after Benton got his nappy off, they met up for a few jars & a game of darts - maybe they even went on a "Carry-On" style caravan holiday to the south coast to try (and fail) to "pull" some "birds".<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br /><br />#703 5 May 2008, 6:47 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Time Monster 6:<br /><br />If there’s ever a story I want to do a ‘Phantom Edit’ on, it’s this one. You see, it all comes together in such an epic and mythic way that you can almost forget how pants the first four episodes are. A good strong edit would remove the fluff and leave the strength of the story behind. As it is, there’s been far to much irrelevant action, too many disposable cliffhangers for this to be anything other than a low, low watermark.<br /><br />Much the same as the last episode, this story’s finale is so entertaining that you wonder why it took so long to get here. Particularly because a lot of the detail in this segment is rushed – the route to getting hold of the crystal of Kronos should be harsh, difficult. As it is, it takes about two minutes to get past the world’s most rubbish guardian and straight at it. There’s potential here –a good episode’s worth of questing, all sort of danger and adventure… but the need to get to the end of the story as quickly as possible scuppers it. And that’s frustrating, because the story has been about a quest – the Master trying to release Kronos, but rather than a quest full of danger, it’s a quest that just seems to involve him doing a lot of sums. It should have been a series of battles with the Doctor desperately trying to prevent the Master passing the next obstacle. And as it is, the Doctor is at his most ineffectual in this story. Always hanging around the fringes, waiting. Only right at the end does he do something proper to defeat the villain – the Time Ram – up until then, he just sits around ‘waiting’ and ballsing things up. Heck, even then he doesn’t do anything – he needs Jo to make the decision.<br /><br />That ending is massively right though –it tells us about the compassion of the Doctor and the bravery of Jo, and feels like a suitably epic gesture to bring the story to an end – considering the tale is, almost entirely, a game of cat and mouse between the Doctor and the Master rather than about an actual scheme, you couldn’t really end it any other way and you’ve just got to love a noble sacrifice ain’t ya? The sudden appearance of the god-like Kronos to save everyone doesn’t really feel like the cop-out it could seem. After all, we’ve already had an ending to the story, this is just shifting that ending so it can work as a series. Of course, this is the first spot where the script really goes poor in this episode, with the Master’s pleading so generic and out of character that even the mighty Delgado can’t do it convincingly. And it does go downhill from there somewhat, firstly with the Master’s pathetically easy escape (no matter what situation he’s trapped in this story, they can all be answered with a good shove, it would seem), and then the return to Cambridge for the Scooby-Doo ‘everybody laughing at not terribly good joke until the credits roll’ ending.<br /><br />But I’m rushing ahead of myself. There are loads of incidental details I love, although not always for the best of reasons. I love the Doctor’s offhand dismissal of Hippias death (he says ‘he’s dead’ without going to check – last time I checked, being chucked through a window wasn’t necessarily fatal – and following his announcement I was half expecting Hippias to turn up in the background saying ‘actually, I’m all right’ whilst they ignored him and continued lamenting his demise…). It’s also hard not to mention the ‘dasiest daisy’ speech. There’s a degree to which it’s quite self consciously the ‘arty’ bit (you can almost hear Letts and Sloman’s saying to each other: ‘this is lovely, isn’t it? You’re great you are – they’ll be quoting this for years!’) and that almost takes the shine off it… but it’s such a nicely written moment that you’d have to be far more of a stone cold cynic than me to dislike it. Finally, the whole Atlantis subplot is wrapped up impeccably, with each character (bar the ever pointless Krassis) getting a beautiful tragic resolution – all destroyed by the Master’s treachery before the Chronovore brings the house down, even though he’s not directly responsible for any of the deaths, the man bringing death in his shadow. Which only makes the eventual return to wet caricatures in Cambridge all the more disappointing.<br /><br />Overall then – a good enough idea ruined by not actually determining what the story is til too late in the day. A desperate series of plot stretching distractions almost, but not quite, redeemed by the two episodes somebody actually bothered to write. <br /> <br />#704 7 May 2008, 8:53 am <br />AlMiles <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Good assessment of the Time Monster. I believe it is very well-received by children, especially the Doctor and Master spiting each other as well as nonsense like the minotaur bullfight, "Jojo Grant" etc, and it has some lovely design, including nearly-accurate Minoan-Crete stuff (though to be strictly accurate, the women should be topless).<br /><br />It's a bit of a rewrite of "The Daemons" really (Master fails in attempts to resurrect and control ancient deity), before Sloman and Letts found their feet with "The Green Death".<br /><br />As I watch DW mainly with an eye to the design and look of the thing (as a child, I rarely understood the entire plot - handy in the Hinchcliffe era, since so many of those were just knock-offs from cinema films anyway, so little was lost) it is the "moments" of imagination and strangeness and nice design that catch my eye (and imagination).<br /><br />Laurence Miles latest blog entry* speaks elowuently of what Dr Who is really about - surprise (mystery) - and Time Monster provides plenty of surprises. Not least in its total change of pace, story and setting when it gets to Atlantis!<br /><br />* http://beasthouse-lm2.blogspot.com/2...-surpriii.htmlJohn Dorneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00043867565471251131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755686396354348154.post-75933178918917291692009-07-28T06:33:00.000-07:002010-02-13T03:55:52.845-08:00The Mutants22 Mar 2008, 3:48 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Mutants 1:<br /><br />Deciding which Doctor Who stories you like is all a question of what bothers you. At what point your bother threshold is crossed.<br /><br />One of the unfortunate aspects of most great Doctor Who stories is that there’s always at least one thing that you have to pretend isn’t there. Something that bothers you. Giant rat, giant clam, giant snake (it’s often a giant animal of some sort), Magma Beast, David Graham acting with none of the subtlety of everyone else. But it’s relatively easy to ignore because it’s just one thing – in the greater context of the story it doesn’t bother you.<br /><br />The more things there are in a story that bother you, the harder that story is to like. Most of the stories everyone tends to hate are jam packed with bothering things.<br /><br />However, things don’t bother you equally at all times. Take The Sea Devils as a case in point. Only a few things - lack of a plot, minor oddities in what happened, crap lip sync - all minor league problems and as a result, the story is still watchable. Whereas take it up to the level of the Space Pirates, say, with atrocious acting, ludicrous plot, tedious pacing. It’s only really a couple of things again, but for me personally, they’re much more troubling, and as a result the story is much much worse. A stupidly insane plot bothers me more than an insanely slight one.<br /><br />This is further compounded by the fact that different fans find different things troubling. For me, it’s almost always about the plot. If the plot’s good, I’ll forgive anything. But for others, they can’t forgive a story with ropey effects. Or poor production design. Whilst it would be mad to say that I don’t look at a crap set and think ‘oh, I wish that looked a bit better’, it simply isn’t a make or break issue for me.<br /><br />So what has this to do with The Mutants – well, one episode in it’s clear that this story is going to be filled with bits that are potentially bothering. The ruling classes (the Earth Imperialists) look more like fetish lords than the overlords they’re named as. The natives dialogue is written almost entirely in cod sci-fi balls. And worst of all, it takes literally less than ten seconds before you realise that one of the cast is probably the worst actor in the series to date.<br /><br />And as result it’s a somewhat derided story. But my initial thoughts, albeit based on one episode alone, is that it’s not actually uninteresting.<br /><br />It’s probably too early to judge. Certainly, this episode is helped by the legend that is Geoffrey Palmer, but he’s clearly not in the rest of it (why is it that this obviously class actor has never had a major role in Who? Even with the new series, his only real post-becoming acting royalty role in Who, he’s still out of the story before the plot starts). Nonetheless, I like a lot of it.<br /><br />Firstly, rather like Peladon and Colony, it’s interesting to note that the outer space stories of the Pertwee era to date are the straight ones. Troughton goes into space and it’s all pulp fiction and nutso alien invaders. Whereas the three Pertwee outer space adventures to date are all political. Admittedly, Curse is a bit more of a romp than the others, but it’s fairly clear which are the boys own adventures, and which are the thoughtful pieces.<br /><br />I think it’s something of a shame that this leaves Colony and the Mutants regarded as dull. The comparative lack of action and thrills is another thing to be bothered by, sure, but are we really unable to cope with anything different? I’m not sure whether I really like the story yet, but this episode seems interesting in a way that the fun, but shallow, Sea Devils isn’t.<br /><br />Like Curse, this story is rooted in individual weakness and tragedy rather than simplistic monsters with guns. The plot is entirely derived from human beings making selfish choices for small outcomes rather than big invasion plans. The petty self-interest of the Marshal is a gloriously banal motive for a villain, which makes him a thoroughly unpleasant villain, as it’s much more accessible to us. The natives so caught up in their own prejudices they don’t give Palmer the opportunity to give them what they actually want is the very definition of dramatic irony. And the moments of violence and horror are clearly about something – the obvious racism and homophobia allegory with man turning against man for being different. Characters could become the enemy instantaneously and this resonates with the witch hunts we’ve seen in history, where people can become the enemy of overnight and for the weakest of reasons (and isn’t the first sign of the mutation, the spine bursting out of the back, one of the most grotesque images the show’s had?) . It’s all close to home, and so whilst it might not be the most exciting thing ever, it’s certainly adult. Now, let’s be clear here – I’m not saying that all of this is necessarily better, just that it’s an interestingly different approach. It simply gives the story a moral grandeur that has to make it worthwhile as a watch. And that has to compensate for a few dodgy sets and Rick James doesn’t it? <br /> <br />#682 22 Mar 2008, 7:32 pm <br />Stahlman <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Glad to see you like it so far, I just did a review of it in my thread recently. This has always been in my personal Top 20/30, never understood why everyone dislikes it so much. Like you say, there's a lot more going on in one episode than there was in the whole of The Sea Devils. <br /> <br />#683 22 Mar 2008, 8:05 pm <br />Jeffster <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Stahlman <br />"Glad to see you like it so far, I just did a review of it in my thread recently. This has always been in my personal Top 20/30, never understood why everyone dislikes it so much. Like you say, there's a lot more going on in one episode than there was in the whole of The Sea Devils. "<br /><br />Not everyone! I like it too! <br /><br />And I don't find the acting that bad in this story, certainly not noticeably worse than many others.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#684 24 Mar 2008, 1:21 pm <br />Dorney <br />-------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Mutants 2:<br /><br />A couple of years back I was in a production of The Revengers Tragedy (an odd play - no one can decide which of two authors it’s by). And for some reason, it just didn’t seem to work. It took me a long tim to put my finger on why. The acting seemed fine, heck, even very good in parts. The design worked, the atmosphere. And the director was a well regarded up and coming talent who dealt in a lot of new plays with big names, so that could hardly be it. Could it?<br /><br />Eventually I realised that it could. You see, a modern play is easier to direct than a classic piece. A modern play does all of its work for, it connects to the audience directly. Whereas a classical piece doesn’t have that direct connection.<br /><br />The director, for my money, simply didn’t have any idea what to do with the play beyond telling the story competently and well. There was no vision, nothing he wanted it to say. You can pull that off in a modern play because scripts today are written for the audience today, and say something directly. Classical plays are written for audiences hundreds of years ago, and are, usually, story rather than thematically based. You’ve a good story well told – but unless you want to do more than just tell the story, what’s the point?<br /><br />You see, for me that’s something missing in the direction of The Mutants. I don’t often mention direction in these reviews, because I only really notice at the extremes. But, simply put, there’s something… uninspired about Christopher Barry’s helming of this episode. As I say above, he doesn’t seem to want to do anything other than tell the story, to get from a to b.<br /><br />It’s not that I want him to go nuts or anything – just there’s the sense that he’s gone for the easiest option each time. One of the bits that leapt out at me in this episode was Stubbs and the Doctor discussing the Marshall’s duplicity. This occurs with them walking down the corridor, chatting amiably about it. There’s no sense of urgency, no sense of secrecy, no sense of danger. It’s as if all that they’ve been directed to do is say the lines and make sure the audience hears them. There’s no attempt to do anything more with the scene – say, generate tension.<br /><br />Likewise, the end of the episode (with Varon attempting escape as the base goes mad) should be exciting… but it just isn’t. Once again, the Doctor and Varon are just walking everywhere in plain sight (not even checking around corners or anything you’d expect someone to do when they’re attempting to leave a place surreptitiously). The only threat represented is one guard who shoots a blast at Varon – but even then, said guard is off screen, and he then, mystifyingly, fails to follow the man he can quite clearly see. Again, no urgency. It’s underwhelming.<br /><br />And that’s a shame, because the script is really rather interesting. After a lot of fairly padded stories, I was quite pleased with how fast moving these first two episodes are. OK, the attempt to turn the box inside out is a little bit of a sideshow distraction, but it’s less obvious than usual and, because it is a natural offshoot of the Marshall’s established characterisation and the Doctor’s very reason for being there, at least feels like part of the plot (although like the civil servant swap-over in Sea Devils 4/5, the arrival of scientist Jaegar feels less like a natural progression and more like they can afford another actor now they’ve written out Geoffrey Palmer). Everything else, however, feels like it’s going at quite a lick. Certainly, having not seen the story in years, I was genuinely surprised at the pace. Given where we were at the end of episode one, by the time the credits roll on this one we’ve got a lot more progress than in a lot of other stories. Notice, for example, how the story deals with the missing Jo. The Doctor is misled one way very quickly, then told the truth ten minutes later. Likewise, the search for Varon initially made my heart sink. The thought that went through my head was ‘oh, we’re going to have a pointlessly extended chase to fill the episode, aren’t we’. So the fact that it’s over in about ninety seconds is rather cool. Furthermore, pretty much every relationship has progressed and developed over the twenty five minutes – the Marshall betrays Varon, Stubbs and Cotton realise the Marshall’s the baddie and side with the Doctor, Jo and Ky develop a certain trust. Most importantly, the Doctor uncovers what the villain’s up to. Now, unusually, we’re ahead of him on this, but I would, nonetheless, have expected at least another episode before the Doctor figured it out and the plot shifted on. It’s all fast, but it’s not rushed, and in a six parter that’s a blessing. <br /><br />Good so far then, shame about the direction. <br /> <br />#685 24 Mar 2008, 3:57 pm <br />Sir Anthony Eden <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Interesting review. This certainly is a big beast of a thread. <br /><br /><br />#686 30 Mar 2008, 11:26 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Mutants 3:<br /><br />Crikey, I really do have to write these reviews up a bit more promptly. I watched this episode about three days ago. Just haven’t had the opportunity to drone on about it yet, and as a result haven’t had the option to watch episode four!<br /><br />OK, first off – I may have been a little unfair on the direction last time. It’s still not great, but there are a few obvious flaws with the writing – the resolution of the cliffhanger is really rather weak (mainly due to it being a contrived set up in the first place, but also because the Doctor seems to be grabbed outside the teleport initially, then is inside it the next) but particularly we have the fact that the Doctor and Varan can land on the surface and just chat for two or three minutes. There were two guards literally seconds behind them. Why aren’t they following?<br /><br />Equally, it seems, frankly, suicidal as a scripting choice to write a world where people have to wear masks at all times. Yeah, that’s going to make your dialogue easily comprehendible for every one.<br /><br />But generally I think the writing is solid, if a touch workmanlike and uninspiring. At worst, everyone speaks like a sci-fi cliché, but once you get into the pulpy mindset of the story, this is hardly a problem. What works about it, works well.<br /><br />For example, the script deals with the mysteries well. It’s the difference between something like Babylon 5 and Lost. I recall that when Sky got the rights to show Lost, I reckoned that they thought they’d get loads of viewers switching over desperate to find out what happened next – in reality I think people reacted like me: first thought, ‘Thank the Lord, I’ve a reason not to watch it now.’ And the reason for this? Because the mystery just got boring. Two years in, fundamental questions of the show weren’t answered. Questions get dull. Whereas in contrast, most of the questions posed by the initial episodes of Babylon 5 were answered by the start of series 2. But to keep the audience interested, they were replaced with new questions, developments of the others.<br /><br />That’s what The Mutants is doing terribly well, in my opinion. Look how every episode teases you. The initial episode sets up the mystery of the strange box and who it’s for (and we get the answer to the latter at the end of said episode, the former held off til this). But rather beautifully, the opening of the box, the event we’ve been waiting three episodes for, leads on to new questions. What are these mysterious tablets that no-one can understand. It’s hard not to wonder why the Timelords have made passing a message on so bloody tough (no name, nothing obvious) but it’s impossible to deny the dramatic effect it has. But it’s not the only hook. The story is always moving on, adding new elements. It’s very easy to overlook, for example, but with this episode featuring the first appearance of the full scale Mutt monsters (and excellent they look too), you’ve still been given a neat hook in the last – familiarity makes it easy to miss, but we’re given the brief silhouetting of one of the creatures as a fairly portentous image. This episode does it best though with the strange cave and suited figure that Jo encounters – a very real indication that the story is going to go somewhere odd and unexpected. Up until this point you sort of feel you know where it’s going. Something new and disjointed implies there is more to this story than you’d assumed. OK, it’s fairly easy to guess who the man is – partially due to Ky’s somewhat over-emphasised story, but mainly due to them putting his name in the sodding credits.<br /><br />In addition, the story remains in fairly constant motion. There are constantly shifting alliances – The Marshall breaking from Stubbs and Cotton, Varon and the Doctor’s on/off partnership. It’s great to see a story that’s really progressing. That’s really a story, in fact.<br /><br />Good fun. <br /> <br />#687 1 Apr 2008, 12:31 am <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Mutants 4:<br /><br />After cutting Christopher Barry some slack last time round, I’ve got to get back on his case again. There’s potential for quite an exciting episode here, but he keeps fudging it. <br /><br />The episodes earliest set piece features the Doctor and his friends in an imminently collapsing mountain. But much as with episode two, there’s just no urgency. Jo, Ky, Stubbs and Cotton all head off looking for the sole escape route – and they’re just ambling along like they’re on a particularly dull nature trail. This leaves the whole collapsing mountain thing deeply unconvincing. Without any real sense of danger, you’re left with a camera wobble and a sound effect whenever they remember to do one. You never get the sense that anyone’s in danger.<br /><br />There are other things that are badly done – the first appearance of Sondergaard, for example, has all the characters saying ‘what is that thing’ or words to the effect, and then acting all shocked when he reveals himself to be human. This would be fine, if he doesn’t blatantly look like a man in a radiation suit from the second you see him. Then there’s a weird special effect camera that’s designed to have an elongated angle that’s put on straightforward shots for no clear reason.<br /><br />Most annoyingly of all, there’s the cliffhanger. Now, I find Family Guy much more annoying than My Family, because the former has the potential to be good, even great, and doesn’t really do it – the latter’s just not something I like from the get go. And it’s the same with this cliffhanger – it’s annoying, because it’s about an inch or two away from greatness. With a countdown in the background, and the Marshall’s men lurking in the background, there’s a genuine sense of it all rushing to a head… and then it’s just fumbled. The staging of the Marshall ambushing Varan’s rebels is so ineptly staged it resembles nothing less than an amateur company’s desperation improvisation. They all seem unsure what to do, cramming themselves up next to each other in the tiniest space, with no one quite timing it right. Then we have Varan finding his mark and attacking unconvincingly, much as the Marshall does in response. It’s only at this point that it gets good again, with the slow motion effects of Varan getting sucked into space, set against the struggles of the others and the launch of the missiles, has a genuinely powerful impact. It’s just a shame it’s a mess getting there.<br /><br />Equally, though, there are writing problems. The revelation of what the Doctor’s tablets mean in particular. Not because of what they say, but the sense that this otherwise well put together hook for the story seems stupidly illogical in hindsight. The box is intended for Ky – but for no obvious reason, as he can’t read the tablets. They’re then taken to Sondergaard who gives the Doctor a few hints – because he can’t really understand them either. Eventually the Doctor figures it out. Great. Wouldn’t there have been an easier way to pass this message on? Surely the message is for the Doctor himself. And is there any reason why it had to be in the form of a code? Unless the Timelords just wanted to give him an adventure (I suppose it could be viewed as a loophole in the ‘no-interference’ thing – when pressed the claim can be made that no help was sent, just a couple of Sudoku’s and a Codebreaker).<br /><br />But I still think it’s outweighed by the good. The cast are, almost, pretty good to a man. OK, sometimes the characters are a little one note (I’m looking at you Marshall) but the actor’s do what they need to do. I like John Hollis as Sondergaard, though the part’s a little generic. The Afrikaans accent is a nice touch, if a little disconcerting – apparently there was an attempt to have different accents in order to make it feel multi-cultural. But up until this point, we’ve only dealt with accents we regularly hear in the show anyway – heck, even Jaegar’s Germanic tones feel like standard mad scientist.<br /><br />And I think the story remains strong. It seems to me that one reason this story isn’t popular is the fact that it isn’t a plot driven story, per se. The villain doesn’t really have a grand plan or objective, there aren’t any real plot markers being switched on and off. What it is instead is character driven. The story has a vague premise (mutation as part of a natural cycle) against which is sets a wide range of warring factions and just sets them off. It sees how various characters – all of whom have believable and comprehensible motivations, ordinary motivations rather than domination of the universe – impact on each other. The closest story I can think of to it in structural terms is, amazingly, Caves of Androzani. The Mutants isn’t as complex as that script, but it’s storyline is propelled by the interaction of its cast in the same way, and as a result it has the same epic tragic feel – every character’s fate is determined by who they are, by actions and decisions on a very personal level. This is why I think suggestions this story is padded are missing the point. Because it’s not a case of random fight scenes and characters fill out a painfully thin plot – The Mutants is a story where the plot is merely a hook to get a lot of disparate characters to come into conflict. The padding is the point. <br /> <br /><br />#688 1 Apr 2008, 3:55 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />An enjoyable and well written review, as always. I've always had a liking for The Mutants. Sure, it looks cheap and a bit murky but it rattles along at a good pace. There's certainly nothing objectively terrible about it compared to aspects of The Time Monster.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#689 2 Apr 2008, 11:56 am <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Mutnts 5:<br /><br />It’s an odd episode here. A lot of things the previous episodes did badly, this does well. And a lot of things the previous episodes did well, this does badly.<br /><br />The central set piece of the episode is Jo and her gang escaping the Marshall’s imprisonment and being chased through the ship. And hallelujah, it’s actually directed with a sense of urgency and pace. It’s exciting, it’s fun… but, four episodes in, it’s the first bit of clear padding, standard capture/escape/capture stuff. And it’s not the only bit.<br /><br />For example, I’m struggling to see what the point of Sondergaard is, other than to give the Doctor someone to talk to. When he was introduced, it felt like he was going to be a device to push the story off somewhere new, but in reality he’s just a sounding board. And that’s a shame.<br /><br />You see, we’ve kind of figured out where the story’s heading now, and this episode’s only real function is to mark time until the conclusion and confrontation can be reached. For most of the time it’s concealed relatively well (the sideplot of the Doctor working to clear Solos of poison is a logical step given the circumstances), but we’ve got to the point where we really need to be moving into the endgame now – all the questions are answered, let’s finish this. I suppose it had to happen eventually, but it’s a shame to see the writing slide this close to the finishing line. <br /><br />Still, some of the rest of it’s still going well – the plot remains interesting and low-key. It was good to see the old line about ‘only obeying orders’ mentioned here, because it does emphasise what’s going on (much as does Stubbs basically having to hold off his mates during the fire fight). The story is driven by politics and character. The Marshall is nothing more or less than a political tyrant clinging to rule, motivated by simple greed and ego. If I’m honest, I think he could do with a touch more menace. He’s so clearly barking mad, and what he’s asking people to do is so clearly evil, that you kind of wonder why people are obeying him. Blind obedience seems to be the answer implied, but I’m not totally convinced that’s enough. Either the Overlords have to agree with him, or they have to be afraid, and there’s no real sense of which they’re motivated by. Still, there is at least historical precedent, which could be the point.<br /><br />It’s still fun, then, but I’m glad there’s only one episode left, cos I don’t think it can sustain much more. <br /> <br />#691 24 Apr 2008, 1:34 pm <br />ianzpotter <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />It's been a while since The Mutants for me, but one thing I recall is that like some other Baker and Martin shows it's really well geared up to the series-serial format. The episodes pretty much stand up as being about one thing every week as well as joining up to make a larger whole. For example the whole Earth judges bit (with their Acheson proto-Time Lord look) is, as I recall it, a one episode job.<br /><br />The most obvious example is the Invisible Enemy which is pretty much a different situation every episode- Titan/Bi Al and its attack/Inside the Brain/ Oh hang on back to Titan, blow it all up.<br /><br />They're much better shows if you watch the episodes one at a time, and probably much better for the general audience as a result, even if it does sometimes mean the cliffhangers and resolutions can be a bit on/off.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#693 25 Apr 2008, 12:02 pm <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Mutants 6:<br /><br />Crikey, it's been ages since I watched this one. Hope I can remember anything...<br /><br />Well, firstly, it's a gloriously crammed episode. I've said before, probably in this very thread, that sometimes final episodes can write themselves - all you need is to put enough threads in the previous episodes that you just have to tie them all off and resolve them. Amazingly, the Mutants tries to squeeze in a few more - with the Doctor first blackmailed to back the Marshall, then free to speak the truth, then the Mutt's arrival changing the Investigators position, then the Investigator himself is betrayed... it's jammed to the gills. OK, the story did tread water a little in the last episode, but it's making up for that now. The plot shifts in new directions practically every scene, and once again, it's all rooted in the themes of the story - politics and perception. You get the sense that Baker and Martin are really pulling out the stops. This episode is all hell breaking loose - albeit, in a quiet and restrained manner. Everything is reaching a head, which is exactly how a story built around character should end. There's a genuine sense of it all coming together, leaving it quite an exciting episode - though again, a quiet and restrained exciting episode.<br /><br />Particularly of note are the fate of Jaegar and the Marshall. Both are hoist on their own petards, which is always a dramatically satisfying result. Jaegar is killed by his own unpleasant experiments and the Marshall by one of the Mutants he tried to destroy - just think how dull it would have been if someone had just rocked up and shot him. In deed, this entire episode is almost about the Marshall pushing it too far and effectively asking to be killed off. It's the episode in which he switches from misguided nutter to just 'nutter'. His betrayal of the Investigator is entirely about his increasing lack of perspective and judgement. It's something of a shame that the character never really is quite rational as I think this would have a greater impact - again, going back to the classical tragedy motif, it would be the story of a man who's fatal flaw was a lack of perspective. Who starts with the best of intentions and increasingly forgets why he's doing anything, misses that he's actually turned evil (something I've often felt is potentially true of the most legendary dictators and tyrants of our time - the who 'absolute power' thing). As it is, he's always fairly mad, which does weaken the credibility of the story (as I said last time, why do people follow him? Heck, how did he even get the job in the first place?)<br /><br />There are problems - Sondergaard feels as redundant as ever, there's a little too much escape/capture going on, the Doctor solves the mystery far too easily and the Marshall getting his enemy to work for him remains a daft idea... but generally speaking, it's a superb episode that answers every questions it's posed, and ups the stakes til it reaches a gorgeous ending that works in a beautifully inevitable and neat manner, ultimately resolved in the way it's been told - by the interaction of character. The whole thing comes together ending in a glorious whole.<br /><br />Recommended.John Dorneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00043867565471251131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755686396354348154.post-78016405621759166532009-07-28T06:31:00.000-07:002010-02-16T15:57:32.860-08:00The Sea Devils23 Feb 2008, 12:32 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Sea Devils 1:<br /><br />One of the pleasures of working your way through the series is the way it surprises you. I don't think I've watched the Sea Devils since it was repeated on BBC2 some where in the mid nineties. In my head it was a lame, over-extended rewrite of the Silurians that added nothing new. It might still turn out like that, I suppose, but to my great surprise and delight episode one of this story is properly excellent.<br /><br />The charm of this episode is, mainly, in the mass of incidental detail. There's an awful lot of plot to get through, yet the script constantly takes the time to add throw away lines that enrich the episode. For example, there's a lovely moment at the start when Trenchard complains that the Doctor and Jo are late, and Jo says they were held up with a little glance at the Doctor. It's not explained, it's just thrown away. But these sort of moments manage to imply that the story exists in its own world. There's a school of thought in writing that every sentence, every word, has to have a point. It's very true, but to my mind it's often misunderstood. People will cut anything that isn't neccessary to tell the story, and it leaves something shallow and rushed. Sometimes the entire point of a line or action is that it doesn't have a point. It's there to improve pace, to give the script colour and life. Cut everything but story and you end up with something that has no life beyond that. This little reference to something unseen implies clearly that the story has been going before we join it, meaning that we feel we've entered into an actual world, involving us, rather than dipping into a shallow pool. And the episode is full of little moments like this. Incidental characters like the boatman are given nice little parts. It all adds up. Even sequences that appear to merely be jokes add, most noticeably in the Clangers sequence. It immediately tells us that Trenchard underestimates the Master, and the Master over-estimates Trenchard (his contemptuous reaction to Trenchard missing his joke also underlines his lack of contrition more than his slightly contrived laughing fit when the Doctor leaves). Furthermore, there's also some lovely characterisation, with Trenchard being the most deftly sketched three dimensional figure the series has had for a while.<br /><br />That's not to say the surface isn't good either. The initial mystery of the story is subtly laid in, after the slightly obvious opening sequence, built carefully, first as an aside from Trenchard that the Master then emphasises the importance of, with the eventual investigation turning up shortly afterwards. It's low key, which is fair enough given that we already have a good idea what's happened to the boats, but it still hooks you in, proving that a story doesn't need grand theatrics to grab the interest. The episode is a definite slow burner, but it firmly establishes premise and character. And the dialogue is gorgeous - the scene between the Master, the Doctor and Jo is an absolute delight, witty and fun, probably the best scene the Master's had to date. The casual bonhomie is a nice touch, and I think it's these sort of scenes that cements the Master as the Doctor's arch-enemy. <br /><br />A corker. <br /> <br />#662 23 Feb 2008, 2:19 pm <br />Jeffster <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Good to see you're back on the review trail! I agree with you about Sea Devils 1. Great episode, and to me the story stays good and gets even better in the final part. <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#663 24 Feb 2008, 6:21 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Sea Devils 2:<br /><br />Well, another rather enjoyable episode. Once again, the joy is in the detail - Trenchard is coming over as a nicely well rounded character (his golf obssession, in particular, is such a pointless bit of information that it hugely grounds him as a real person), the episode is filled with neat little gags (such as the Doctor's gizmo exploding seconds after he praises it). All irrelevant, but all much to the benefit of the story. If you're looking for a way to cut a script down, dropping the gags is one of the first thought that crosses your mind, because they're inevitably not related to the plot. It's equall inevitably a mistake to do, as humour remains a vital factor in getting the audience on your side. We warm to Trenchard more than the similar characters in stories like The Silurians, because he's a little bit daft, a little bit silly, a little bit real. You'd be happy enough to spend time with him in real life (albeit rolling your eyes on a regular basis) which is more than can be said for a lot of Who characters.<br /><br />There are a couple of flaws with this episode however. Firstly, I can't help but feel it misses a trick with the fort sequnces - a nicely claustrophobic environment, anda set up that feels like it could be the basis of a mini adventure all of its own - the Doctor and Jo trapped in a building with an aggressive armed monster, having to rely on their wits to survive. Whilst there's an element of this, it's rushed through (an oddity for a six parter), with the Sea Devil dealt with in about two minutes. Given that they're supposed to spend the night on the fort, this seems an odd choice. Rather than a tense drama of survival, they're only obstacle is the lack of a boat - a mild annoyance at best. Still, this sequence does give a lovely funny moment with the Sea Devil and the Doctor giving each other a mutual double take when they first meet. Though on the downside, there are logic problems with this: Firstly, the Sea Devil is aggressive enough to fire on sight - yet at the start of the episode it's clearly following the Doctor and co. around. When we next see it, it's casually wandering around the fort as if it doesn't have a care in the world and seems surprised to see him. The logic here's more than a little unclear. Is it attacking if it's afraid and has been seen? Does it just want to kill? Heck, what's it even doing on the fort anyway? If it's planning on killing everyone on board, why's it nip off? Needed a quick loo break (actually, that would fit the 'caught out' feel of the meeting).<br /><br />Secondly, you have another in the long line of scenes where the Doctor magically figures out who he's up against. He sees one turtle faced psycho, and immediately is able to pinpoint that they're relations of the Silurians/Eocenes/Aggedor, what woke them up and what they want. It's an impressive skill, but it's mystifying.<br /><br />The only other problem with the episode is that it doesn't really make an effort to link the Sea Devil half and the Master half of the story. Sure, the Master is aware of the sunken ships in the first episode, but that was one line quite some time ago. As it is, there's no real sense in this episode that the two threads are linked, and that leaves it looking a little restless. One moment the Doctor's all concerned about the boats, then he's rushing off to Trenchard. What it needs is a little line from the Doctor indicating that he's realised this all happening at the same time isn't coincidence. Then it would tie together a bit better.<br /><br />But it's easy to ignore these points because the episode as a whole is just so much fun. The Master's at his diabolical best (it's becoming clear how he's manipulated Trenchard) even if his hypnotic powers are getting more and more useless by the day. There's some good monster action, lots of humour and it ends with a witty swordfight. What more could you want? <br /> <br />#664 27 Feb 2008, 6:00 pm <br />AlMiles <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />"The biggest problem remains a complete lack of an explanation for what he was doing inventing the Keller Machine in the first place (it plays absolutely no part in the missile capture, and only features in the Masters plans when he kills the two delegates… "<br /><br />Having recently rewatched it, it struck me that the Master's reaction on being told about the revolt at the prison seems one of being taken slightly aback. He hasn't recruited Mailer at that point, and indeed has a slightly hard time proving his bona fides in support for the revolt when he arrives (apparently in a rushed change of plan).<br /><br />Thus, it seems to me that disrupting the peace conference by killing the lead delegates was his sole plan at the start of the story. The missile doesn't figure until he learns of it during, or just before, the phone-tapping we see him perform outside UNIT temporary HQ (something he'd be doing to check his disruption of the conference was going to plan. Hearing about the missile, and finding that its movement route runs close to the prison, is a coincidence and a bonus).<br /><br />A Master of improvisation, then, or at least of adapting his initial plans after the Doctor and the prison revolt - not to mention the Mind Parasite's newly found independence - rendered it useless!<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#665 27 Feb 2008, 11:24 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Sea Devils 3:<br /><br />Huzzah! An episode entirely composed of padding!<br /><br />That's not necessarily a bad thing though. As I've said before, there are many different types of padding in this world. There is good padding and there is bad padding. And most importantly of all, this episode takes the time to make the padding fun. And for an episode in which practically nothing happens, it passes the time remarkably quickly.<br /><br />Not to sound like a stuck record, but the devil is once more in the detail (what an apt cliche). Loads of tiny character moments add up to make the episode speed by - the cheery 'time for a quick one' from Trenchard to Hart, the Doctor and Jo politely offering each other the chance to head out of the cell. And some more great acting from Delgado. Whilst I'm not always the biggest fan of Pertwee as an actor (well, as the Doctor, really, love him in most other things) it's hard to deny that RD gets the best out of him, and their confrontation scene, whilst pointless, is great fun to watch. And it's really nice to see Jo being put in the position of rescuing the Doctor, especially when it's played with such an appealing Boys Own joy. There are problems (the final revelation of what Trenchard thinks the Master is doing is, frankly, ridiculous - it's unthinkable that they'd put someone that credulous in charge of someone so dangerous. And I really can't imagine how the Master brought it up in conversation) but by and large this is engaging and funny. Heck, even the insanely long cliffhanger reprise that's clearly that length to fill in time is a sequence you're perfectly happy to rewatch!<br /><br />It's just a shame that the story doesn't really seem to have started yet. For something called 'The Sea Devils' there's been precious little Sea Devil activity in it so far. From half way through episode two, their plotline has been kind of ignored in favour of Master based hijinks. Bar a couple of mentions here and there, you don't really get the sense that there's actually a plot here. This becomes particularly obvious with the debut of the submarine Hart sends to search for the creatures (a naval vessel seemingly only manned by people who are going to be famous-ish actors in the future). When they get attacked, it's very reminiscent of the opening moments of the story. It's a standard hook. The plot simply hasn't arrived yet.<br /><br />The stuff on the fort is, effectively, a mini-adventure that doesn't really relate to anything else in the story. And we've now spent an episode and a half focusing on the subplot, the Master. But there's no real sense of what the actual 'story' is. What's it about? Where's it going? Nowhere yet. The submarine stuff feels like the opening, and you do get the sense that it's going to start doing something soon. And that's obviously a good thing, as whilst the padding is fun, there's only so much we can take!<br /><br />Incidentally, it does strike me that this episode's cliffhanger's iconic status in kid's memories does it massive favours. It seems to me to be just as nonsensical as the legendary Dragonfire 1, but no one ever says so. The Doctor and Jo run onto a beach with some rope, despite the fact they should clearly be able to see a car of guards approaching from one side and a mine field on the other. Are they planning to swim for it, or what? Very odd. <br /> <br />#666 29 Feb 2008, 11:51 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Sea Devils 4:<br /><br />One problem that turns up occasionally in Doctor Who fiction is the concept without a plot. Someone’s had a strong idea for a setting, or a monster, or a sequel. And one of the problems with having one of these ideas is that they don’t inherently lend themselves to a plot. It’s all very well thinking ‘wouldn’t it be great to set a story in an alien launderette’ or ‘I know how I can have Yartek survive’, for example, but when you actually come to write the story you’ve got to have more to it than that. It’s a problem with concept based ideas rather than story based ideas – once you have a stunning location you’ve got to fit a storyline to it. And that’s easier said than done (mind you, if you think about it, everything is easier to say than do – even saying something as simple as ‘I walk around a bit’ is easier than walking around a bit. But I digress). I recall that a lot of the NA’s suffered this problem. They tended to throw in a murder mystery, a solid non-location-specific type of storyline, but it’s always a little unsatisfying.<br /><br />So it is with The Sea Devils, a concept story. The concept at the heart of the story is ‘let’s have underwater Silurians and do ocean stuff with the navy’. But, as with a lot of sequels, it’s hard to add in a plot to that. Because the obvious plot was done two years go in The Silurians.<br /><br />That’s not to say there’s not a lot to enjoy here. This episode in particular features a corking action set piece with the Sea Devil raid on the prison. It’s genuinely tense and exciting (though it does help that the story’s held off on using the monsters heavily for quite a while) and does feel like it’s finally kicking the story off. But as I say, it’s a set piece. The story is extremely well remembered, and I think that’s because it’s got an excellent way with the set piece. In this episode alone we have Sea Devils rising, iconically, from the sea, both singly and in groups; the Doctor and his mine field gambit; and the Sea Devil looming into view through the Doctor’s porthole. All striking, memorable images, but none of them tied to a really striking and memorable script. <br /><br />I don’t want to suggest it’s style over substance. With the Sea Devils violent from the get go, it’s a less smart and sophisticated beast than Silurians in terms of issues and morally complexity, sure, but that shouldn’t be taken to suggest it’s a dumbed down version of the former. I’d argue that the script itself, the characterisation and the performances are easily superior to the former. More than anything else, the direction excels, clearest in the way the sequence involving the death of Trenchard is handled with admirable subtlety and restraint. His off screen demise is a wonderfully mature touch for an action series.<br /><br />No, the best comparison is another sequel that abandons the original’s psychological take for dumb but fun action – Aliens. I may have said this before, but there’s a school of thought that a good sequel has to tread a different path to the original. Nah, if you’re going to do something totally different, why do a sequel? It has to be something both the same and different. And to its credit, The Sea Devils does that. I just wish it had a bit more of an actual story to justify it.<br /><br />I realise I haven’t talked about the actual episode much. That’s cos not much goes on. Much as with the last one, it gets to the end astonishingly quickly when you consider how little actually goes on. Some of it’s blatant padding (just how much diving bell action do we need?), but as before it’s fun padding. I'm enjoying it. <br /> <br />#667 1 Mar 2008, 2:40 am <br />The Secretive Bus <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />"but that shouldn’t be taken to suggest it’s a dumbed down version of the former. I’d argue that the script itself, the characterisation and the performances are easily superior to the former. " <br /><br />Explain yourself, sir!<br /><br />Watched The Sea Devils recently for the first time in a few years and found it really rather dull. Trenchard's good fun but otherwise the supporting characters are a bland sort and the set pieces cry out "set pieces" more those of The Silurians, IMO. And I don't know why but the Sea Devils really leapt out at me as being really rubbish monsters. They're just so obviously rubber and fake. Maybe it's the googly eyes or the fact that they can't lip-synch, but the Silurians looked immeasurably better.<br /><br />Shame, really, as it's filmed in my home city and I've been to a few of the locations...<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#668 2 Mar 2008, 1:41 pm <br />AlMiles <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Before I start, a big thank-you to Dorney for restarting his reviews - I look forward to rewatching the Sea Devils in its shiny new shiny disk form (shiny) very soon! Day of the Daleks to get through next for me; I hope it doesn't take me a year!<br /><br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by thot gor <br />"You're going through hell! & I thought I was the only one I started with the Ice Warriors (which isnt bad but remained unloved in my collection for years!) then I watched the Sea Devils all in one night which comes as a surprise since it too was unloved for years!"<br />I have recently finished Inferno in just a couple of nights but the real challenge is yet to come......episodes 3 & 4 of Android Invasion! <br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by thot gor <br />"I've watched the War Games in entire sittings on more than one occasion, can't get enough of it "<br /><br />That's why I can't believe you say Inferno is one of the "most hated" stories (hated by fandom that is). It's one of the most-loved stories actually. Watching in order, War Games and Inferno are both weighty, suspenseful classics that could teach many a modern drama series about what "grittiness" really means.<br /><br />Oh, and Ambassadors of Death is actually the least-liked-by-fandom story from Season 7, and The Space Pirates the most-hated story from around that time. I love both - all the stories from 1969-1970 have superb atmosphere and mature, appealing characters, only Spearhead From Spaceis a bit of a duffer but at least it has Pertwee doing a marvellous Troughon impression for 3 or 4 episodes.<br /><br />Android Invasion is a superb Avengers pastiche, as is Seeds of Doom. I'd rate them both far above drivel like Planet of Evil (saved only by the superb Frederick Jaeger) or Pyramids of Mars (not really saved by anything). Though the Hinchcliffe will always be a favourite of mine. Eldrad must live!<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#669 2 Mar 2008, 1:57 pm <br />AlMiles <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by AlMiles <br />"I prefer "Wheel" before Moonbase not only because the humans in Moonbase have been taught about the Cybermen (and those in Wheel haven't) but also because the technology is much clunkier in Wheel (note the bulky spacesuits compared to Moonbase) "<br /><br />I've just noticed that they're the same spacesuits from The Tenth Planet! Old tech. My placing of Wheel a few decades earlier than The Moonbase seems vindicated <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#670 2 Mar 2008, 2:23 pm <br />AlMiles <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />"Day of the Daleks 3:<br /><br />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."<br /><br />Got to admit the Brigadier is a laugh at the stripshow in Spiders, though.. (Brig: "Very athletic. Must adapt some of those moves for the men." Doctor (drily): "They'll take some adapting.")... Ahem. Anyway, Secretive Bus (I think it was) wanted you to let him know the exact point at which the Brig changed from competent military commander to amusing(?) buffoon, having just reached Day of the Daleks I think I've decided where it falls for me. <br /><br />In the final scene of Inferno (this could have been done to contrast him with the Brigade-Leader. However somehow the buffoonery stuck. Was it the departure of Camfield or the influence of Letts, or both? <br /><br />There's a tiny resurgence of commanding competence for a few brief moments in The Mind of Evil (the planning and execution of the invasion of Stangmoor Prison, not to mention the "nick [courtney] of time" saving of the Doctor's life) but it's a last gasp. In Terror of the Autons, Claws of Axos, Colony in Space 1&6 and The Daemons he is worse than useless and accomplishes nothing but disgruntled huffing and bellicose barking - Blackadder's General Melchett looks like Monty in comparison.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#671 2 Mar 2008, 4:22 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by The Secretive Bus <br />"Explain yourself, sir!<br /><br />Watched The Sea Devils recently for the first time in a few years and found it really rather dull. Trenchard's good fun but otherwise the supporting characters are a bland sort and the set pieces cry out "set pieces" more those of The Silurians, IMO. And I don't know why but the Sea Devils really leapt out at me as being really rubbish monsters. They're just so obviously rubber and fake. Maybe it's the googly eyes or the fact that they can't lip-synch, but the Silurians looked immeasurably better.<br /><br />Shame, really, as it's filmed in my home city and I've been to a few of the locations... "<br /><br />Well, I do agree on the set pieces, as I think I've implied - I reckon the reason they feel like set pieces is because they simply aren't tied to a plot.<br /><br />I suppose what I mean about the characterisation is that it's smaller and more realistic than Silurians. The guest cast in that story are all hugely entertaining, but they're all arguably cut from the same action/adventure cloth, and are larger than life scenery chewers. Hart and the submarine crew all come across as real people in an adventure scenario, underplayed. They're less fun, though, sure.<br /><br />The main problem with this story remains the lack of an actual plot though. <br /> <br />#672 2 Mar 2008, 10:45 pm <br />AlMiles <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Got Day of the Daleks on now. 22 year old BBC videotape release, has pinsharp picture despite numerous plays (the cassette weighs about as much as a housebrick). Haven't spotted Bus's "F... yes" at Jo's knickerflash yet, but I do recall the most blatant knickerflash as if it was yesterday - that was when I discovered my VCR's slow motion control, all those years ago... <br /><br />The Daleks may be a bit un-Daleky but that's an occupational hazard of 5 years of neglect - in any case, with their primitive "time machines" and rubbish plans these are clearly from an even earlier era than those in "The Chase" and the other Hartnell and Troughton stories where they can stride the timelines in their DARDIS and bamboozle the Doctor with their spectacularly accurate android duplicate or their silver-beaker-bedecked conker-of-death. About the only thing they did right with their primitive TT machines is get hold of some BBC publicity stills of the 60s Doctors - they're too inept to even capture the Missing Episodes!<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#673 10 Mar 2008, 3:55 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Sea Devils 5:<br /><br />First of all, five episodes in, I suppose I do have to mention the music. One of the most notorious aspects of the serial… I dunno, I like it. It’s quirky, it’s not actually bad, it’s just different. And I like that. It gives the story a genuine identity of its own. You wouldn’t want it every week, sure, but fairly obviously you don’t get it every week. So what’s the problem. Moving on.<br /><br />OK, I suppose I’m just going to have to resign myself to the fact that this story really isn’t going to have much of a plot – well, not more than the slightest breath of one. More a series of confrontations and attacks based around a central premise.<br /><br />To be fair, that’s not necessarily a major problem – that’s basically the plot of Zulu right there – but there does still need to be more to it than the odd confrontation. There needs to be escalation, and variation. And most importantly, a sense that it’s going somewhere. We’ve finally got this to a degree in this episode, but it doesn’t quite excuse the previous four’s lack of purpose. What we have is much like the first Spider-Man film, where I couldn’t help but want the Green Goblin to have some sort of actual purpose, some goal. I suppose the Silurians didn’t really have much story (other than the general fight against humanity) but the story constantly shifted, what with the internal power struggle of the Silurians themselves, the shifting tensions between them and the power station staff, and the tensions between that staff, an escalating series of mini-plots. Whereas the Sea Devils are disappointingly one note. They start off killing humans, they end killing humans. We know they’re behind everything and what they are straight away. There’s never any real reason for anything they do (why does it escalate in this episode? Why only attack now, what were they waiting for? Why don’t the kill the submarine crew?) So where it’s go. Even their relationship with the Master isn’t clear – for all their talk of him being their friend, the relationship basically amounts to him getting them to rescue him, after which he does seemingly nothing at all other than hang around their base and say ‘kill all the humans’ once in a while. Why do the Sea Devils give a stuff? What do they owe him? <br /><br />Of course, it’s only when I write that that I wonder if I’ve been viewing the story incorrectly. You see, the other way to look at it is that maybe the story isn’t really about the Sea Devils at all, or at least the first four episodes. I know that’s the title and everything, but if you view it as a story first and foremost about the Master suddenly it makes a lot more sense. A four part story about the escape of the Master, followed by a related two parter – or maybe a three part Master escape story in the middle of a three part Sea Devil story… oh, what the heck, it doesn’t really work. It just can’t make up its mind about what it wants to be. It’s a lot of ideas and narrative functions, it just doesn’t have a plot to hang it on.<br /><br />That’s a shame, because now we’ve finally got to the end of the story, there is suddenly a bit more purpose and plot – albeit a remarkably simple one. Monsters are annoyed with humans. They decide to kill them. And that’s pretty much it. You can’t help but wonder if this story could have worked a bit better with a bit more going on upstairs.<br /><br />There’s a lot of nice stuff in the incidentals – the Sea Devils look gorgeous and dramatic during their advance (though they’re embarrassingly bad at opening and closing their mouths whilst talking). It’s becoming the tiniest bit clear with the appearance of the civil servant Walker that Hulke’s using a bit of a cheat on characterisation – giving each new person one specific characteristic and using that as an identifier (in Walker’ case, food). But it does work quite well. Walker does feel less of a one note caricature than previous civil servants such as Chorley and Masters, though again I think a lot of that is down to sympathetic direction from Briant pitching these people as more real than a lot of the stock figures of the Pertwee years (this seems to be something of a stock in trade for Briant – only his second gig on the show this, and his first – Colony in Space – has a similar honest quality). Equally solid is Donald Sumpter’s Ridgeway – a nicely drawn take on a fairly stock figure, managing to feel individual despite their being little to the part, and heroic even when shooting down a Sea Devil against the Doctor’s orders (and in a similar touch to Walker, having a nervous twitch that turns up once an episode, adding the inference that a lot of his bravery is bravado). And I rather love the submarine crew, who only get about six lines between them, but get proper personalities and identities. They’re never generic.<br /><br />Nonetheless, it’s a generally flawed tale, which simply doesn’t have a story. But somehow – I still kind of like it. It’s well written and performed, full of effective images and it’s hard to actively dislike. Something of a style over substance story, the good work on the surface stuff is so enjoyable you kind of forget it’s covering up for a gaping emptiness below (that’s almost an ocean metaphor). Is that a bad thing? I don’t know. It doesn’t feel like a bad story. The devil’s in the detail. <br /> <br />#674 12 Mar 2008, 12:56 pm <br />AlMiles <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I didn't notice Walker's nervous twitch, more complete physical cowardice, and a strangely bloodshot eye from halfway through his appearance!<br /><br />On to part 6:<br /><br />Does the Master always carry a mask around with him, and why on Earth is he left pretty much alone in the hovercraft, even if he appears to be collapsed? At least he gets a soaking in the end, as the 'craft turns round and water blasts throuogh the open cockpit door in front of him - teehee.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#675 13 Mar 2008, 12:45 am <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by AlMiles <br />"I didn't notice Walker's nervous twitch, more complete physical cowardice, and a strangely bloodshot eye from halfway through his appearance! "<br /><br />Ah, I didn't mean Walker had a twitch - I meant to compare Ridgeway (who has the twitch) to Walker also having one distinct trait (food obsession) and in deed Trenchard (golf). <br /> <br />#676 13 Mar 2008, 6:44 pm <br />Dorney <br />------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by AlMiles <br />"Does the Master always carry a mask around with him, and why on Earth is he left pretty much alone in the hovercraft, even if he appears to be collapsed? At least he gets a soaking in the end, as the 'craft turns round and water blasts throuogh the open cockpit door in front of him - teehee. "<br /><br />To be fair, he isn't left alone - there's clearly someone else with him, because that's the person he uses as a replacement.<br /><br />To be less fair, he doesn't always carry a mask around with him - he has to be carrying two. One of his own face, and one of somebody else's. One to put on the unconscious man, one to wear himself. <br /> <br />#677 13 Mar 2008, 7:28 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />The Sea Devils 6:<br /><br />I dunno – for such a fun story, this doesn’t half fall apart in its last episode.<br /><br />Practically everything is a little bit daft. The big set piece – the fight between the navy and the Sea Devils seems to be a competition to see who can fall over in the silliest way (I mean, one of the Sea Devils literally somersaults to death – what the hell?). And even if that wasn’t there, we’d be left with the spectacle of the rather contrived attempts to get in as much of the stuff they’ve borrowed off the proper Navy as often as possible (couple of random boats, an overused hovercraft, the strange weapon Hart has a go with).<br /><br />But beyond that, the plot has it’s moments of silliness too. We’re expected to believe that the Master has planned a device to resurrect the Sea Devils – and then seems to believe that the Doctor’s genuinely going to help him make it, without sabotage? And then when the Doctor does sabotage it, he stands around and waits for a few minutes as the Sea Devils writhe in agony, not barging past to switch it off as soon as possible, instead holding on until the goodies have escaped. And even then, believing the Doctor’s excuses about a minor problem with the wiring. Honestly, he’s behaving like a total idiot (and just how many times does he need to be betrayed by whoever he’s helping out before he realises it’s not the best way to approach these things?).<br /><br />But that’s all right, because the Doctor’s just as much of an idiot at points here. When he’s rescued, he just leaves the Master in the hands of a random sailor with a gun. Cos there’s no way the Master can escape that one. It’s like he wants the challenge (it would also explain his moronic behaviour at the end of the episode).<br /><br />Furthermore, after five episodes of good character work, we suddenly have the all round weirdness of Walker’s sudden cowardice. I don’t have a problem with the idea, more the way it just seems so forced and – well, I don’t want to say ‘hammy’, but I just have, so there you go.<br /><br />I’m sorry, I really am, but it all falls apart. OK, it’s still well made enough to be enjoyable. But because the whole story’s had so little going on, there’s really very little it can do to finish. There’s no major plot to tie up, there’s no moral argument to resolve. It just sort of stops.<br /><br />As a result, we have the really strange situation that after the famously tragic ending of Silurians, we get the Doctor taking the Brigadier’s role and just blowing the monsters up. It seems such a come down. Sure, the Sea Devil’s are much more shoot first ask questions later than the Silurians, but surely Walker’s supposed to have been in the wrong last week? Where’s the questioning, the regret? Surely the Doctor should be doing it reluctantly. I suppose we do get the faintest moment of that with the Doctor only switching the bomb on after the Sea Devil says it won’t back down (he does say ‘I’m sorry) – a very Tennant moment, it seems to me – but it feels like an afterthought. The Doctor doesn’t seem that fussed afterwards, and barely reacts to the blowing up of the base. It sort of works viewed only in its own context, but as a sequel to Silurians it feels a little underwhelming.<br /><br />I suppose that sums up the story, really. Good enough fun, but nowhere near as interesting as its predecessor. It’s usual poll rating being higher than the prequel is surely indicative of how fandom picks the stories it likes – big moments, memorable images, that sort of thing. But rarely on strength of story. <br /> <br /><br />#678 13 Mar 2008, 7:35 pm <br />Jeffster <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I think you're nuts on this one, Dorney. The Sea Devils Episode Six might be the best concluding episode of any story that I've seen thus far. I dubbed it "The Shootout Followed By The Speedboat Chase Followed By Reversing the Polarity of the Neutron Flow Just In Time To Destroy The Sea Devils Base Before The Nuclear Strike By The Hungry Idiot Parliamentary Secretary But Let The Master Escape Using A Terrible Mask Trick" and frankly I don't know what more you could possibly want out of a conclusion! <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#679 13 Mar 2008, 7:47 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Jeffster <br />"I think you're nuts on this one, Dorney. The Sea Devils Episode Six might be the best concluding episode of any story that I've seen thus far. I dubbed it "The Shootout Followed By The Speedboat Chase Followed By Reversing the Polarity of the Neutron Flow Just In Time To Destroy The Sea Devils Base Before The Nuclear Strike By The Hungry Idiot Parliamentary Secretary But Let The Master Escape Using A Terrible Mask Trick" and frankly I don't know what more you could possibly want out of a conclusion! "<br /><br />Oh, I'm not denying it's fun. It's just empty. <br /><br />And odd. To quote: "Reversing the Polarity of the Neutron Flow Just In Time To Destroy The Sea Devils Base Before The Nuclear Strike By The Hungry Idiot Parliamentary Secretary". So the Doctor blows them up - before someone else can blow them up? For all the story portrays Walker as a fool, doesn't he just want to do what the Doctor does?<br /><br />I dunno - just after six episodes, I kind of want a better ending than 'he blows them up'. Though I may reverse this for Seeds of Doom. <br /> <br /><br />#680 14 Mar 2008, 5:16 pm <br />AlMiles <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I found it terribly lame that the Sea Devils (at the Master's behest - or was it the Doctor?) cleverly make it look like the depth charge attacks detroyed their base - sending debris and even two dead Sea Devils (volunteers, or accidentally killed earlier?) to the surface, convincing Walker et al that the attacks have succceeded and thereby cancelling the bombardment. Then, 2 minutes later, at the Master's behest, the Sea Devils send in a commando to raid HMS Seaspite - totally blowing their cover and proving their base is intact.<br /><br />The Navy appear to forget where the base is, though, in the intervening ten minutes, thus preventing them from resuming the bombardment.<br /><br />Just finished The Mutants - superbly paced, nice characters, situations and proper peril, and a beautiful-looking design classic. Music a bit "radiophonic" but nowhere near Malcolm Clarke's Sea Devils madness. So good that even my girlfriend sat down to watch it and said she "wanted to know what happens next" (perhaps she was just making sure it was going to end? Nah)...<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------John Dorneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00043867565471251131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755686396354348154.post-65192662083440173422009-07-28T06:30:00.000-07:002010-02-16T16:01:02.692-08:00The Curse of Peladon10 Jan 2008, 9:49 am <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Lets see if I can do more than one story in a year for 2008, eh?<br /><br />Curse of Peladon 1<br /><br />I’m not a big fan of movie remakes. The problem is a fairly obvious one – if something’s a recognised classic as it is, what can you gain from remaking it? If it’s rubbish, why would you want to? There’s an argument that remaking a black and white film in colour (heck remaking any significantly old film) can work as a means of making the film more accessible to a modern audience, but then you’re basically pitching the film to morons who can’t quite cope with the idea of monochrome. (To be fair, it’s not that much further than remaking foreign films in English, which I find more acceptable, oddly – though that might have something to do with the fact that by and large the remakes in those cases come out okay). Even worse is remaking reasonably recent English films with American actors – The Long Good Friday set in America? Get out.<br /><br />The only time remakes work for me is when the remake is intended to say something new. It’s like a song cover – ideally you don’t want another version with the same feel, you want something different, like the way the Stranglers turn the formerly heartbreakingly sad Dionne Warwick Bacharach and David song Walk on By into a bitter snarl of rejected fury. It’s rare in film, where they just tend to want to nick a good idea, but it’s noticeable that the remakes that do work tend to take a different take on the material (The two versions of the Fly, for example, one pulpy fun, the other grotesque body horror). Most noticeably, the almost remake proof Invasion of the Body Snatchers, which managed two decent covers (before this years critically derided Craig/Kidman take) simply by virtue of letting the story reflect the paranoia of each specific time.<br /><br />The reason I mention this in relation to Curse, is because I can’t help but feel this is one of the few old Doctor Who stories that could easily stand a remake today. Famously metaphorical in its day, with it’s UN based overtones, it’s interesting to see that viewed in the cold light of 2007 everything shifts. It now appears less about countries growing up and joining the world stage, as a debate on ignorance versus superstition. In this age of religious based terrorism, it’s hard to see Hepesh as anything other than a dangerous fundamentalist. He’s killing people because of his beliefs, not because of anything remotely resembling fact. (Apologies if you read this unaware of his villainous ways – but it’s pretty comprehensively blown at the end of the episode, so you should have been paying more attention to the episode anyway). Furthermore, the opening scenes explicitly reveal conflict between church and state (in the form of high priest and chancellor), both battling over the crown.<br /><br />As a result, a modern remake would pitch this story at a slightly different level, and be saying a subtly different thing. Of course, whether it would need to be remade to do this is another point, seeing as the original pulls it off anyway.<br /><br />It achieves this by virtue of being a very nicely written piece. The episode is jam packed with concepts and characters, and each gets swiftly delineated. Everyone’s properly real and interesting already, which is rare. It’s this depth of characterisation and world building that enables it to reflect our own (and I’d guess the conscious reflections are partly why it’s able to have such a detailed world in the first place). It’s all slightly let down by the sets, if I’m honest, which are nowhere near as grand as the script wants them to be. It’s all a little… well, close, I suppose. All a little too small for a royal palace – most noticeably with the throne which gets this huge reverence and yet looks like a bit of lawn furniture.<br /><br />There are minor level problems – the Ice Warrior shift is a gloriously unique idea, great at wrongfooting the audience and keeping them intrigued (and wondering if it’s a double bluff) – but at the moment it feels like an addenda to the plot rather than a strong and vital part of it. Their first appearance is almost a throwaway, rather than impactful, and they’re left with little to do in the episode itself. Still, early days, and I hope it’ll balance out a bit in the remaining three. More of a problem is the fact that in order to concentrate on establishing the planet and the myriad aliens, the Doctor and Jo are shunted aside into a fairly implausible mountaineering subplot that gets tidied up with unconvincing haste when the plot needs the Doctor to appear. Though again, parts of that look to be being saved for later, so I’ll give it a chance. And to be honest, it’s so minor that it doesn’t detract from the excellent scripting and performance elsewhere.<br /><br />So very good. Just time to mention my favourite daft bit, though. Grun manages to tell everyone that Aggedor’s around by pointing vaguely in the direction of the tiniest representation of the beast in the entire citadel. Everyone else manages to psychically know what he’s on about. Hilarious. <br /> <br />#653 10 Jan 2008, 11:45 am <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Curse of Peladon 2<br /><br />If there was one thing I always had a problem with in English Literature classes at school, it was discussion of themes. Every book we'd talk or write about, it was always the central question. What's it about? What's its theme?<br /><br />Now I can talk and argue about themes all day if you want. About my contention that any worthwhile theme has to be a nebulous thing (I prefer stories where the answer is a lot of vague words - 'love, loss, memory' that sort of thing, and not something you can sum up in a direct sentence). But the problem I've always had is how well the people writing the stories actually know what the hell it's about. Because we can say 'this is a story about X', but the writer might turn around and say 'sod off, it's got nothing to do with X, I can't stand X, it's clearly about Y'.<br /><br />I bring this up because Curse of Peladon seems, to my eye, to have themes. But I'm not entirely convinced Brian Hayles genuinely knows what he's doing.<br /><br />You see, one of the problems with reviewing a lot of old stories is hindsight. I know who the villain is. I know what they want, and so on. But it strikes me watching this story that sometimes that actually helps. If you have a twist that's delivered weakly, you don't necessarily notice it because you already know that twists coming.<br /><br />Take the Ice Warriors in this story. We know they're the goodies. And you find yourself thinking 'but it must have been a shock when you first saw it'. And you know something? I don't think it is. You never really get led down the road of believing the Ice Warriors are doing anything wrong. From the end of episode one, it's made explicit that Hepesh is behind the attacks. Now, there may have been a throwaway bit I missed saying 'our alien ally' or something (which makes most of this redundant if there is) but what's the point of that.<br /><br />One reason could be the theme. Cos it seems to me that this is a story all about prejudice. The Doctor immediately thinks the Ice Warriors are behind it because of prejudice (to be fair, he's given some leading and obvious clues towards them, but he's clearly distrustful of them already). Likewise the Ice Warriors are clearly prejudicial against humans. And finally, Hepesh himself is the very definition of prejudice.<br /><br />The only problem with this is that making the Ice Warriors innocence blatant isn't a vital component of exploring that at all. In fact, keeping them suspicious and then revealing it would give the message more weight, because the audience would also be prejudicial towards them. All it would require is a line like the one I mentioned earlier - Hepesh implying one of the aliens is an ally.<br /><br />A further thought I had was that maybe it was to avoid making them too suspicious. You know what I mean. In a whodunnit there's often a character who has 'I'm an evil guilty bastard who likes to kill people' branded on their forehead. (There's a particularly hilarious example of this in the Mousetrap. A swarthy foreigner - always untrustworthy in Christie - enters and spends the entire play talking in phrases like 'Ah, this is a good night for it. A very good night for it indeed.' He's not the killer, and, of course, nobody ever explains why he talks like that, or why he wanders around acting as suspiciously as he can.) And you know it can't be them (if it is, it's incredibly disappointing. Trust me. I've seen it happen - an episode of Lovejoy, if you're interested. Oh, the shame). So maybe Hayles felt that having a whodunnit with the Ice Warriors in it wouldn't exactly work. But again, there's a way round this. Focus on proving they did it, not on the question of whether they're guilty or not.<br /><br />That's not to say what we have isn't interesting (structurally, it reminds me of Glengarry Glen Ross - yes, I know I'm going a bit mad with cross cultural references this time, but bear with me - basically a whodunnit, resolved with the cheapest trick available, that you don't realise is a whodunnit because you think you already know who actually did dun it, when you don't), just that I'm not sure how much of it has been thought through. It leaves the episode a curious lack of tension, as most of the script is about the Doctor and Jo trying to prove something we, the audience, already know isn't true. As a result, it does descend into a series of capture/escapes (there's blatant padding with Jo's abortive escape, the Arcturus attack, and the way every one goes straight back into the throne room to restart the debate they aborted in order to have the cliffhanger straight away the moment that's done - oh, and whilst we're at it, how the hell does Jo know about the secret passage behind the throne?) which is sort of a shame. I don't doubt it wouldn't anyway, but there'd be more a sense of threat, of mystery, of the story going somewhere rather than filling in time. I mean, why should we be worried when Jo gets trapped in the Ice Warriors room?<br /><br />That's not to say there isn't a lot to like here. The guest cast are excellent to a man, the alien design is great (and whilst the story doesn't really give the impression of an entire world, the design and odd haircuts do at least go some way to identifying it all as something other than Earth). It's good enjoyable fun. I just feel it's good enjoyable fun by accident, rather than design. <br /> <br />#654 10 Jan 2008, 12:12 pm <br />AlMiles <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />2Originally Posted by Dorney <br />"Famously metaphorical in its day, with it’s UN based overtones, it’s interesting to see that viewed in the cold light of 2007 everything shifts. "<br /><br />I thought it was inspired by Britain (finally) being allowed to enter the Common Market?<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#655 10 Jan 2008, 1:38 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by AlMiles <br />"I thought it was inspired by Britain (finally) being allowed to enter the Common Market? "<br /><br />Very possibly - history ain't my strongest point! <br /> <br />#656 16 Jan 2008, 2:14 pm <br />AlMiles <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />"Want the other piece of evidence that suggests Wheel has to take place after Moonbase. Look at the photo sequence when the Cybermen are trying to identify who knows them. They recognise the Doctor, so one Cyber-story has to take place before this one. Now, I know what you're thinking. It could be The Invasion. But if this group of Cybermen are affiliated to that group, they recognise Zoe. And they don't. So they have to know him from the Moonbase. "<br /><br />I've just watched this; but saw "The Invasion" DVD when it came out. In that story, the Cybermen recognise the Doctor from an unseen adventure on "Planet 14". It's possible these Wheel Cybermen saw him at the same time/place.<br /><br />I prefer "Wheel" before Moonbase not only because the humans in Moonbase have been taught about the Cybermen (and those in Wheel haven't) but also because the technology is much clunkier in Wheel (note the bulky spacesuits compared to Moonbase) - and the Cybermen in Wheel look like a halfway house between those in The Invasion and their sleeker design in Moonbase and Tomb.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#657 24 Jan 2008, 11:09 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Curse of Peladon 3<br /><br />You know something odd? In a long long time of wading through stories, this episode presents me with something unique. So many third episodes are the padding episodes. Where they've run out of plot. Usually they're nothing but capture/escape scenarios over and over again, pretending to be meaningful plot advancement. Weirdly, it seems to me that Curse 3 is actually a bit of meaningful plot advancement that pretends to be nothing but capture/escape.<br /><br />I can sense your incredulity, but go with me on this. You see, at first glance this episode would appear to be the epitome of padding. The end of episode two is the Doctor being sentenced to death, altered to trial by combat in the initial moments of this part, and the last five minutes of the episode are taken up with that very trial by combat. So the trap is to think that this episode is mainly filling in time before concluding with the Doctor in basically the same position he was twenty five minutes ago. And that’s just not true.<br /><br />This episode is the most plot advancing we’ve had so far. The problem is the show format. We’ve already seen that the end of episode one cliffhanger is arbitrary at best, and it seems to me that it’s the same with episode two, though it’s disguised better. This episode is entirely about the Doctor roving free to investigate the plot – it’s only the necessity of having the story interrupted by cliffhangers every twenty five minutes that means the story has to contrive a way to get him in jeopardy either side of this. Hence the Doctor’s random visitor to the temple, and the contrived law that sentences him. <br /><br />Compare with Hepesh helping the Doctor to escape with a map of the catacombs. It looks like a simple escape diversion to fill in time. But that’s ignoring what happens when he’s in those tunnels. The Doctor finds Aggedor, and starts to investigate the beast. It’s a scene that needs to be in the story. In most bog standard capture/escape formats, the capture is the important part, and the escape is used to postpone the resolution of that capture. Here the capture is the distraction, the escape is the plot.<br /><br />There are further examples. Hepesh’s visit to the cell is entirely about explaining the villain’s motives, and emphasising he has help. Both vital plot points. But again, because of the structure, it looks like it’s just another scene postponing the climactic fight. It’s a shame, cos it’s also a cracking bit of character work.<br /><br />There’s a lot of that in the episode, and in most cases it’s riffing of the situation. Peladon’s attempted proposal to Jo gives a lot of depth and complexity to the character, but it’s the actions of Izlyr that offer the most interesting rewards. It’s with this episode that we do get a real confirmation that the Ice Warriors are goodies, and a sense of their fan beloved code of honour.<br /><br />It’s not a perfect episode though. The structure is all over the shop, and some of the plotting a little off. Hepesh admits to having help approximately one episode too late, and with the mystery preserved for about five minutes before Arcturus behaves suspiciously. And the cliffhanger itself is hideously botched, with it being broadly speaking incomprehensible (literally in some cases – it took me ages to figure out what Alpha Centauri was saying). And when you do get it, it’s a little too clear. It’s clearly scripted for a Mind of Evil 5, who’s shooting who vibe – but ultimately, it’s all pitched a little too directly, so you can tell the Ice Warriors aren’t shooting at the Doctor (that’s if you really have the time to register it’s the Ice Warriors shooting at all!). And there are other weird moments – Hepesh blatantly cheats in the fight by dropping Grun a sword, but no one seems to complain.<br /><br />Generally though, it’s good fun, and the ending with the big fight is worth the build up and enjoyable. <br /> <br />#658 10 Feb 2008, 2:15 pm <br />AlMiles <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by supervoc <br />"It’s taken me a while to read through your review of the War Games, so I am going to backtrack a bit and offer some comments.<br /><br />The ‘German sniper’ bit at the start of episode two is a bit oblique. The OG guide is completely wrong in this respect.<br /><br />There are quite a few differences in the tv version. Ransom just shouts “Sniper!” The sniper is in the grounds of the chateau HQ and is actually firing from a barn and not from the trees. <br /><br />The sniper is actually a confederate soldier from the American Civil War Zone, you can see the crossed swords on his hat (the restored DVD will be perfect like the Mind Robber, these grabs are from the recent WH Smith version).<br /><br />I would also add that the music is usually greatly underrated. The constant barrage with gunfire in the background of episodes one and two in particular, is excellent. If you are listening on headphones it really does provide a great atmosphere that is much better than most war movies. It is jarring when it suddenly stops, as Jamie noted at the end of episode 2 when they entered the Roman zone. An excellent piece of sound design that few people ever notice, perhaps one of the best in the series, and not least for its subtlety. <br /><br />The American soldier seems to be using a flintlock rifle, too - is this the best the Resistance could manage? Is it contemporary with the American Civil War?"<br /><br />Also, though not mentioned in Dorney's review, my viewing last week reminded me of the lovely strange "warbling" background noise in the War Lord base/science area, and the War Room (control room) sounds which exude menace and power. Did Brian Hodgson do the sound for this story? It's superb at creating the feel of an advanced, otherworldly scientific base.<br /><br />I'm up to "Doctor Who And The Silurians" now - I've been watching from Serial A since last July. Soon be caught up!<br /><br />---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#659 10 Feb 2008, 5:09 pm <br />Borgduck <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I already mentioned that the sniper was a Confederate soldier... <br /> <br /><br />#660 18 Feb 2008, 12:24 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Curse of Peladon 4:<br /><br />I'm a bit unsure about this episode.<br /><br />First off, it feels like one of those David Fisher scripts where he pretty much resolves everything three episodes in and has to fill the remaining episode with a brand new plot. However, this is a fairly superficial resemblance. Yes, the episode starts with the death of Arcturus and the unravelling of the scheme, leading to Hepesh having to take a new tack - but this ignores the fact that the previous three episodes haven't really been about Arcturus. Hepesh has been the lead villain throughout, so the plot has to follow him - the linked scheming of Arcturus is incidental in the most literal sense - it feels like a pointless afterthought designed to get a bit of mystery and a cliffhanger, rather than a well layered part of the plot.<br /><br />The problem is that whilst the story is correct to focus on the high priest's next move, it can't really figure out what that next move is. There's talk of a political solution (with Hepesh claiming the Ice Warriors assassinated Arcturus) which is interesting - but nothing really comes of it. As it is, Hepesh just gets a lot of soldiers together and raids the throne room. It's a little blunt.<br /><br />And that's a shame, because if you skip the flimsiness of the plot in this episode, there's some really nice stuff. The Doctor gets a daft expository speech at the beginning (filled with lots of detail he really can't know), and buried away in there is a detail that's a little lost - the Doctor says that Hepesh still believes what Arcturus told him. Brushing aside the fact that, as I say, the Doctor has no way of knowing what happened between them, this is a really interesting point, and it's a shame it doesn't get more treatment in the story (where it could have replaced the fairly lukewarm whodunnit plot). Because looked at that way, what we have is a fairly major scale tragedy - we have a Who equivalent of Othello, in plotting at least if not in stature. Hepesh becomes less an irrational figure, blinded by prejudice, but more a relatively rational man blinded by lies - the famous fatal flaw, and said flaws are always more tragical when the figure has the best of intentions (hence why Macbeth, whilst listed as a tragedy, never feels as tragic as Lear or Othello - because Macbeth seems like a murderous nutter all the time). Arcturus has an ulterior motive, mineral wealth, and manipulates a naive man to get it. It's such a rich concept you wonder why nothing's really done with it. You do get faint echoes of it in the dying words of Hepesh, but generally the tragical overtones are ignored in favour of standard monster runaround #1.<br /><br />There are other great bits though. The ultimate fate of Hepesh, gored by Aggedor, is a great instance of just deserts. The Ice Warriors menacing Alpha Centauri into voting is lovely (though, as with a lot of the stuff in this episode, said vote never goes anywhere). And finally, the long sequence rounding off the story is a decent bit of character work, particularly the Peladon/Jo scene, which is genuinely quite touching (and rather nicely acted by both participants).<br /><br />So all in all, a fun piece, but not quite the sum of its parts, not quite the story it could have been. But a pleasing diversion, nonetheless.John Dorneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00043867565471251131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755686396354348154.post-35791879172731393392009-07-17T08:01:00.000-07:002010-02-16T16:30:58.763-08:00Day of the Daleks7 Feb 2007, 11:17 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />And we're back...<br /><br />Day of the Daleks 1:<br />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).<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.’<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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).<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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. <br /> <br />#560 8 Feb 2007, 8:46 pm <br />jacka <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />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..."<br />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.... <br />Later the Dalek (minus it's extermination gun) tries to "fire" at a shocked Doctor...<br /><br />At the end of the story after the Tardis dematerialises...a "dead" Dalek is seen lifeless....<br />Then chillingly it's eyestick rises slowly up....and the credits rolled....<br /><br />A brilliant debut by Pat Troughton <br /><br />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.<br /><br />I enjoyed your review...brought back a lot of old memories...of a "classic" story... <br />----------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#562 9 Feb 2007, 12:29 pm <br />Raveen <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Interesting thoughts there Dorney, good to have you back and posting (now I've spent several happy days catching up ).<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />The Rememberance part 1 cliffhanger is so perfect that I'll happily take the low impact Dalek reveal in exchange for it. <br /> <br />#563 10 Feb 2007, 12:34 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Raveen <br />"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. "<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><br />Quote:<br />"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. "<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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. <br /> <br />#564 10 Feb 2007, 4:30 pm <br />Raveen <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />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 <br /><br />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.<br /><br />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). <br /> <br />#565 12 Feb 2007, 10:26 am <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Raveen <br />"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. "<br /><br />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. <br /> <br /><br />#566 12 Feb 2007, 4:51 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />Day of the Daleks 2:<br /><br />This second episode demonstrates a further problem of bringing in the Daleks too early before they really need to be there.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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. <br /> <br />#567 13 Feb 2007, 5:32 am <br />Jeffster <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />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! <br /><br />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. <br /> <br />#568 16 Feb 2007, 12:33 pm <br />NyssaOfTraken <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />"Day of the Daleks 2:<br /><br />This second episode demonstrates a further problem of bringing in the Daleks too early before they really need to be there.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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. "<br /> <br />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.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#569 16 Feb 2007, 1:16 pm <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by NyssaOfTraken <br />"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. "<br /><br />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. <br /><br />#570 9 Mar 2007, 2:41 am <br />Jeffster <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I've officially caught up to Dorney, as I just watched Day of the Daleks Episode Two tonight. <br /><br />My immediate thought is, this is why I think 4-parters are too short. We're halfway through and nothing's happened yet!<br /><br />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?<br /><br />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.)<br /><br />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. <br />#587 23 May 2007, 12:22 am <br />Thot Gor<br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />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? <br /> <br /><br />#589 25 May 2007, 9:52 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by thot gor <br />"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? "<br /><br />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). <br /> <br />#590 26 May 2007, 2:19 am <br />codywillis1 <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />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.<br />I'm lovin' my marathon, personally.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br /><br />#603 2 Jun 2007, 6:39 pm <br />fortmap <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I did the whole series in order, right up until the first new series. It was really, really good.<br />Particularly the Hartnell ones.<br />Troughton suffered a lot with the repetition of storylines though.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#604 9 Jun 2007, 2:13 pm <br />Michael S Collins <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />moving back on topic<br /><br />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.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#605 25 Jun 2007, 9:32 am <br />colonel_masters <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />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 <br /> <br /><br />#606 25 Jun 2007, 9:32 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I've already got the VHS. Not sure how easy they'll be to come by. But it's worth doing, I promise. <br /><br />At least, it's worth doing when I get round to it... new updates in a month. <br /> <br />#607 28 Jun 2007, 10:49 pm <br />colonel_masters <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />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 <br /> <br />#608 29 Jun 2007, 1:49 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />"What do you do about missing episodes"<br /><br />Dorney's reviewed every missing episode amongst his 60s reviews, using either fan reconstructions or the official BBC Radio Collection releases. <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#609 29 Jun 2007, 11:56 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by colonel_masters <br />"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 "<br /><br />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. <br /><br />#613 11 Jul 2007, 2:13 am <br />colonel_masters <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />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! <br /> <br />#616 23 Jul 2007, 10:32 am <br />Phil W <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />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.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#632 4 Oct 2007, 1:09 pm <br />Dorney <br />-------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Day of the Daleks 3:<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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. <br /> <br /><br />#633 5 Oct 2007, 12:58 am <br />Jeffster <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />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!<br /><br />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.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#636 6 Oct 2007, 2:21 pm <br />ianzpotter <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Yay. Curse of Peladon by Christmas, I reckon! Please, everyone stop employing Dorney, it takes his mind of his work.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#637 6 Oct 2007, 2:41 pm <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by ianzpotter <br />"Yay. Curse of Peladon by Christmas, I reckon! Please, everyone stop employing Dorney, it takes his mind of his work. "<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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. <br /> <br />#638 6 Oct 2007, 3:26 pm <br />ianzpotter <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />They'll fit in very nicely for panto indeed...<br /><br />I'm finishing listening to 100 today, and seriously considering starting from the beginning again...<br />Must get life or convincing substitute.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#640 20 Oct 2007, 9:55 am <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Day of the Daleks 4:<br /><br />Well, it's a corking episode. With reservations.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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. <br /><br />1 Nov 2007, 10:40 am <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />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...<br /><br />http://www.bigfinish.com/32-sapphire...r-me-544-p.asp<br /><br />... so apologies for the semi traditional delay.<br /><br />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. <br /> <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />#647 21 Nov 2007, 11:23 pm <br />colonel_masters <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />"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. "<br /> <br />#648 7 Dec 2007, 9:34 am <br />AlMiles <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Going back a bit to The Moonbase which I'm on now...<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />"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. "<br /><br />Fifth out of seven - there's Dwight Whylie as the radio announcer in The War Machines.<br /><br />I agree with you and Jac Rayner that it is also weak that in 2070 it's an all-male crew on the Moonbase!<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#649 24 Dec 2007, 12:24 am <br />VanHusen <br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />"Day of the Daleks 4:<br /><br />Well, it's a corking episode. With reservations.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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. "<br /><br />It has some shots of Jo Grants underwear which the director obviously missed during editing that make it one the kids can't watch <br /> <br />#650 29 Dec 2007, 11:06 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by VanHusen <br />"It has some shots of Jo Grants underwear which the director obviously missed during editing that make it one the kids can't watch "<br /><br />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.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br /><br />#651 10 Jan 2008, 12:56 am <br />AlMiles <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />"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 "<br /><br />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?<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------John Dorneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00043867565471251131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755686396354348154.post-8214082210936329862009-07-17T07:59:00.000-07:002010-02-21T13:35:21.206-08:00The Daemons6 Nov 2006, 3:40 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Daemons<br /><br />One of the main reasons I decided to do a run through of the entire series in order was a thought I had at a convention in about 2002.<br /><br />The opening to the convention was, if you can believe it, a compilation of clips set to music from Moulin Rouge. And at some point in the compilation, a clip from the Daemons popped up. It was, if I recall correctly, from this episode - Miss Hawthorne trying to calm the supernatural wind that errupts around her (insert your own joke here), just before the policeman picks up the rock. And I, sat in the audience, watched the screen and thought ‘You know, I really wouldn’t mind watching the Daemons.’<br /><br />Now the reason that this was important was because I couldn’t actually remember the last time I’d watched it. In fact, I’d a sneaking suspicion that I hadn’t seen it again since the repeat transmission in 1992 (if I did, it wasn’t too long after). <br /><br />Precisely why this was I’m not sure. I was in the first flushes of a dislike for Pertwee, which can’t have helped. But perhaps more so was something that people who’ve bothered to read my witterings on a regular basic might find familiar.<br /><br />I’ve always had a theory that a lot of the stories we call ‘classics’ were decided by the older fans (the ‘elder statesmen fans’ as they were somewhat self-aggrandisingly known, sometimes to this day), and less on the basis of how good the stories were than other factors. So the ‘classics’ tend to be ones that would have looked really cool as kids, or the ones that fit an idealised template of perfect Who.<br /><br />In the past few years this has turned around somewhat - the increasing popularity of Power of the Daleks over Evil, for example, a clear swap of the old position that held the latter to be the all time best - and if anything was a poster boy for my contention, it’s the Daemons.<br /><br />For a long time, this was regarded as the best Pertwee. But the more people talked, it was hard to see why. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not bad - but as good as Inferno? <br /><br />The only explanation for its fan popularity, it seemed to me, was the fact that this story was almost universally regarded as the Pertwee team’s favourite. Asked for a favourite story at conventions, it was always the Daemons. And the authorisation of the makers made some fans think we had to agree (the same principal that means the badly plotted and not very funny Red Dwarf episode Gunmen of the Apocalypse is regarded as a classic of that show).<br /><br />So I suppose I was prejudiced against the Daemons, and didn’t really rewatch it. Maybe I confused ‘not as good as people say’ with ‘not good’. I dunno. <br /><br />But the fact was that seeing that clip in Sydney four years ago interested me. It looked good. <br /><br />You see it seems to me that there are stories we all forget to watch. I can think of loads where I would never really get around to slipping in the tape, not because I didn’t like it, but because there seemed no reason to watch it. The Daemons was one of these for me. So too are the Sea Devils and, heaven help me, the Mutants. Stories I kind of liked but never got round to looking at.<br /><br />So a full run through helps as it forces you to watch every story. And it’s great. There are some that surprise you (Myth Makers most clearly for me). Some that disappoint you. But it’s a good journey to go on.<br /><br />Suffice to say I was quite excited when I sat down this morning to watch this story. What would it be like? It was, bizarrely, almost like watching a new story.<br /><br />1<br />Episode one has a lot of pluses - but a handful of negatives.<br /><br />Firstly, the UNIT set up is now delightfully warm. Benton and Yates sitting down to watch the rugby is a human touch that reminds you they’re supposed to be real people as opposed to just a permanent cavalry. Pertwee is treating them with respect, rather than as an encumberance. It all feels pleasingly cosy, meaning it’s a group you want to come back to. Also, it does give a sense of a real world, connected to ours.<br /><br />Secondly, this episode has noticeably fine characterisation. Everyone in the village is a beautifully drawn individual that appears to have some time spent being written. The most obvious examples of what I mean are Professor Horner and Alastair Fergus - two bit part characters who don’t go beyond this episode. The former is a plot device, the latter pure exposition. Yet both have well defined personalities and identities - Horner doesn’t suffer fools gladly, is gruff and no nonsense (his last words before death are ‘I’m not daft’). And Fergus is vain and self important. Compare him to the similar character played by Michael Wisher in Ambassadors and you’ll see how much more noticeable and memorable Fergus is (it’s a safe bet that no one would remember the Ambassadors character if it wasn’t for the actor playing him!). All this adds to a nicely dry sense of humour to the episode.<br /><br />On the problematic side, this episode is curiously lacking in tension. I’m not sure why this is - the threat of demonic forces about to be unleashed coupled with a ticking clock should rack up the suspense. But it just doesn’t have that much impact.<br /><br />Possible explanations that come to me are the lack of any real urgency to the countdown (we’re never really clear how much time Jo and the Doctor actually have to get there, so the ticking clock is underused). Also there’s the fact that the demonic forces seem a little unimpressive - knocking over fairly small trees, spinning a signpost. Hardly Omen-like acts of nastiness. The closest we get to it doing anything unpleasant is the (somewhat tacked on ) opening death - which is at worst from fright and no actual contact - and the attempted killing of Miss Hawthorne (which she, a somewhat dotty woman in late middle age seems to have no problem defeating, so it hardly seems a massive threat).<br /><br />This combines with the vagueness of the actual threat. For all the talk of doom and destruction, we really have to take it on trust, as no one ever explains why the opening of the barrow should be seen as dangerous. The Doctor decides that Miss Hawthorne’s fears are accurate with no real explanation of why. In other words, it’s telling and not showing. There’s no sense of a building danger, a crisis that must be averted. It might help if it was implied that the opening would unleash devils and demons - but, unfortunately, the Doctor spends the first five minutes rubbishing such concepts. Not only that, but the humour of the episode doesn’t entirely help, as it should be used more to offset atmosphere, but with no real feeling of impending doom, it actually just takes the edge off the threat. Hawthorne is a lovely character, but the script does need someone terrified of what will happen, and that’s not her. How can we be scared of what’s going to happen if no one else is?<br /><br />So something of a mixed opener, but it’s a well written piece with a classy central premise, and it looks well made for about the first time this season, so promising. <br /> <br />#500 7 Nov 2006, 11:32 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Well I don't know about you but the sight of the Master in a pair of Ronnie Barker spectacles sure gave me a fright...<br /><br />The Dæmons is a story I've hardly ever seen either. I think I've watched it twice and it's really not one of my favourites. Actually, it's pretty wretched, for reasons I can't quite define. Certainly I know for a fact that I've watched The Mutants at least three times, and enjoyed it more.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#501 8 Nov 2006, 2:06 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Daemons 2<br /><br />It struck me whilst watching this episode that the scenario of ‘open sealed tomb, unleash a devil equivalent’ is done elsewhere in Who - Pyramids of Mars. Yet, in clear contrast to the Daemons, depending on your point of view, it either gets its equivalent of the barrow opening out of the way three minutes in, whereas this story spends an entire episode building up to it, or uses it as the climax. In a way, it does both.<br /><br />Both these versions emphasise a few of the problems with this episode. The first is that by placing the opening at the end of part one, with the Doctor aware of the problem and arriving too late to save the day, you don’t really leave him much to do in week two. He can stand around and try to close it. He can investigate further. But the story already has him knowing what’s going on, and needs to get him out of the way, so a large proportion of this episode is spent on keeping him away.<br /><br />Now visualise a version of the story as a four parter that started with the dig, to get what I mean. You’d have it unleash hell on the TV screen, and then the Doctor and Jo (possibly with Benton and Yates) would fly down to investigate. The basic events of the episode wouldn’t really change. (Sure, there’d be some difference to the Benton/Yates plotlines, but they’re only given stuff to fill in time anyway - most noticeably in the Garvin/Benton confrontation which is all very effective, but completely negated when the bad guy is blown away by Azal the moment they step outside). The story puts the Doctor on the scene - but basically needs him not to be there. So the Doctor’s major plot function this week is not to get involved.<br /><br />But this does pale next to the more significant problem - the story’s already had its finale. The Master’s achieved his objective, and the tomb is opened. As a result, the story looks like it’s going to be a sequence of attacks and resolutions disconnected from the central thrust of the plot. In other words, the Master’s going to spend the next three or so episodes coming up with ways to distract the Doctor, rather than the story having a plot per se. The Doctor doesn’t have a scheme to foil, so the story’s just going to be about keeping him busy for the next few episodes. Already here he knows what’s going on, who’s behind it (the Master), who the Master is disguised as and where he’s likely to be. Where’s the story got to go? With Pyramids, the story’s entirely about stopping the event that the villain’s trying to make happen - whereas here, it’s all about investigation of the thing that’s already happened, and finding pretty ways of keeping the regulars busy whilst the Master hangs around not doing much.<br /><br />Now that’s not to say it’s a bad episode. It’s got an air of quality and maturity about it that a lot of its season eight contemporaries can’t match (even the stories I like - the closest is probably Mind of Evil), and it’s rather enjoyable. It’s filled with great moments, images and set pieces - the giant hoof marks, the fight in the crypt, the heat barrier. There’s a genuine sense of scale to Azal - (it’s an interesting choice, keeping him unseen - with a lot of the unseen foes, such as the Daleks in the original appearance, the mystery is about what the creature is - here, we know pretty much exactly what everyone sees - a giant devil figure with hooves and horns). There’s a sense throughout that everyone’s putting in a bit more effort than usual this time. Still, it does remain a flawed episode that slightly lacks tension (a story about the Devil should be scarier, surely?).<br /><br />A few final words - once again, the characterisation is impeccable. Whereas the first episode concentrated on filling in the background characters (who for the most part make little or no impact here) this episode takes time out to deal with the regulars. Now, there’s a case to be made that this is pretty much the point where the series completely embraces portraying the UNIT crew as figures of fun rather than a credible force. Certainly, the Brigadier is clearly more of a bumbling buffoon this time round, more concerned about his helicopter than his personnel. However, I’d argue that it’s less the fault of this story as such, and more the fault of stories that copied its style with none of the wit or insight (in the same way that Star Wars didn’t destroy intelligence in the cinemagoing public as much as films that aped it). The Brigadier is funny because he’s being human, rather than because he’s being an idiot. Similarly, it’s great to see Yates and Benton being given something to do as actual characters for a change, and not simply identikit blokes with guns.<br /><br />However, there is one massive exception to the rule. Just as the production team seem to have warmed up the UNIT team, they’ve done something horrible to the Doctor. Maybe it’s the contrast to the gentle humanity and new likeability of the other regulars, but the Doctor’s turned into a right jerk this week. He loudly berates others opinions (crying ‘nonsense’ at anything he disagrees with), and watch Jo’s face after he puts her down (‘Did you fail Latin as well as science?’). It’s a truly horrid moment and if you don’t want to hit him after it, you ain’t human. <br /><br />Now, I’ll be the first to admit that the third Doctor has been pretty smackably smug at times (at the Keller demonstration, to the scientist in Axos, most memorably) - but there was always a sense that he was attacking worthy targets. At this point, it’s almost like he feels superior to everyone. I don’t like it.<br /><br />And it’s not like he can’t be a total cretin himself either. This episode contains a great example of dodgy dialogue that I’ve never heard mentioned before: The Doctor, upon being woken by the heat, says that it is ‘the final confirmation of my suspicions.’ Jo asks him to explain, but he puts her off, saying ‘No, I’ll wait until I’m certain.’ Eh? How many more ‘final confirmations’ are you going to need before you’re ‘certain’ then? Surely the whole point of a ‘final confirmation’ is that it’s conclusive proof! Sanctimonious git. <br /> <br /><br />#502 8 Nov 2006, 4:34 pm <br />The Polar One <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by The Secretive Bus <br />"Actually, it's pretty wretched, for reasons I can't quite define. "<br /><br />Morris Dancers. <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#503 8 Nov 2006, 7:43 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Doctor was a git back in part 1. "Would you believe... magic?" "No, of course not." "Well Jo would. HA HA HA HA!!!" And the scene where he rushes into a pub and starts insulting everybody when they don't immediately give him full attention, as opposed to acting politely which would get things sorted out much more quickly...<br /><br />And as a side note, today I bought a green velvet jacket. Some friends I was with pressured me into buying it. I'm aware I won't be able to wear it anywhere without being beaten up but it's still nice to have, in a way.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#504 9 Nov 2006, 11:26 am <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Good point Bus.<br /><br />I got a blue velvet jacket about a year back. It's the tiniest bit too tight, which is a shame, but it's wearable and it was only £15 so worth it (as opposed to 40 for a green one that fit perfectly). Don't wear it out too often, though it did accompany me to a Divine Comedy gig as it was appropriate. <br /> <br />#505 9 Nov 2006, 1:41 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Yeah, this jacket was £20 and is too tight really, but wearable. Reckon it could go down well at some theatrical gigs at Bedlam.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#506 9 Nov 2006, 3:49 pm <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Daemons 3<br /><br />There are a number of stories that prove conclusively that atmosphere and direction can hide all sorts of story faults. The recent DVD release The Invasion is one such example. The Daemons is another.<br /><br />You see, three episodes in nothing’s really happening. This story actually doesn’t have a plot. I wish I was exaggerating when I say that. But, as I predicted in the last episode, the story is entirely about keeping the characters occupied so we don’t hit the climax in three minutes flat, rather than it actually going anywhere. <br /><br />This episode is something of a case in point. The Doctor knows who is behind the scheme, he knows everything about the monsters, but does he actually do anything to deal with either of them? Does he confront the Master? Nope, he hangs around in the pub putting on a slide show, and is more concerned about helping the Brigadier get through the heat barrier than iminent apocalypse. He really should be making actual moves to stop the threat, otherwise it doesn’t feel like he’s concerned - and if he isn’t we won’t be either. It’s all very well the script constantly telling us that the end of the world is nigh, but we’ll only feel that if the characters show us that.<br /><br />And the slide show is another massive problem - the Doctor has somehow managed to figure out absolutely the entire plot from nowhere. It seems he must, at the very least, know the Daemons of old, but it does lead to the ultimate ‘tell not show’ scene, where we just get a massive info dump. He tells us who the Daemons are, what they do, what the Master wants with them, even the fact that Azal will manifest three times. All this from seeing a minute or so of a TV broadcast and a wander up to the hump. (And precisely when does he get the opportunity to source the slides for the slide show anyway? He’s clearly still wasting time when he should be in action).<br /><br />The Master doesn’t do much better - having summoned a massively poweful demonic creature, he ignores it and his new project is getting the locals to help him. Again, this is entirely about keeping the Doctor occupied, rather than there being a good reason for it in the script.<br /><br />Now this could have been dealt with fairly easily. Had the barrow opening not unleashed Azal proper, but opened the way to a ceremony that would be able to unleash him after some time, then you’d have a reason for the Master to need to distract the Doctor. As it is, it’s just filling in time. The plot’s gone about as far as it can go, and everyone’s just twiddling their thumbs until it’s time to wrap up the story - half the cast seem to spend all the time in the pub with no real sense of threat or urgency (Good as Miss Hawthorne initially is, she seems to have vanished from the plot completely).<br /><br />Despite all this, it’s still pleasantly watchable, entirely down to the drily witty script and the atmospheric direction. The helicopter chase is shameless padding (and a clear attempt to fit at least one vaguely exciting bit into the episode), but it manages to be more enjoyable than similar time fillers in Colony. The UNIT team may be constantly set a series of distractions, but at least they’re well shot and enjoyable distractions. Shame the Doctor’s still a rude jerk (this weeks put down to Jo - demanding she show the Brigadier some respect is hypocrisy of the highest order).<br /><br />A triumph of visuals and performance over content then.<br /><br />Weird cliifhanger though. <br /> <br />#507 9 Nov 2006, 8:06 pm <br />bingo99 <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by The Secretive Bus <br />"And as a side note, today I bought a green velvet jacket. Some friends I was with pressured me into buying it. I'm aware I won't be able to wear it anywhere without being beaten up but it's still nice to have, in a way. "<br /><br />One of the great tragedies of modern life is we'll all be 150 before velvet jackets and capes come back into fashion. No idea why, I love the Pertwee lo<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#508 10 Nov 2006, 12:08 am <br />The Secretive Bus <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I've never quite understood why people don't like the episode 3 cliffhanger. "It's got the villain in danger! How stupid!" But isn't it supposed to make us even more afraid of Azal, showing how he's far more powerful than the show's main villain? Of course, this aspect is diminished by the fact that we've seen the Master getting trounced 4 times in a row but I'm sure that's what they were getting at (similar to one of the cliffhangers in Big Finish's "The Mutant Phase").<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#509 10 Nov 2006, 10:43 am <br />SecondDoctorWho <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by The Secretive Bus <br />"I've never quite understood why people don't like the episode 3 cliffhanger. "It's got the villain in danger! How stupid!" But isn't it supposed to make us even more afraid of Azal, showing how he's far more powerful than the show's main villain? Of course, this aspect is diminished by the fact that we've seen the Master getting trounced 4 times in a row but I'm sure that's what they were getting at (similar to one of the cliffhangers in Big Finish's "The Mutant Phase"). "<br /><br />I think that’s exactly what it’s supposed to represent. I’ve never had a problem with that cliffhanger either. <br /><br />Rob <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#511 13 Nov 2006, 11:13 am <br />Dorney <br />----------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Daemons 4<br /><br />One of the difficulties of reviewing a series on an episode by episode basis is the fact that occasionally stories will turn up where you might as well cut and paste the same review over and over again. I’m finding myself stuck with the same problem again. Once more we have an episode that doesn’t really go anywhere.<br /><br />It’s particularly frustrating with this one though as for a change it initially looks like it might be doing something more interesting. With episode two being about keeping the Doctor away and episode three being him explaining the plot, episode four should be able to free itself of narrative shackles. And initially it looks like it might. Azal demands to speak with the Doctor, and you immediately think that’ll change the focus of the storyline with the Master having to involve his enemy, not keep him away.<br /><br />But it just doesn’t. Within seconds, the Master has reverted back to random assassination attempts on the Doctor - attempts he doesn’t really need to do, as none of the goodies are really doing all that much to stop him. <br /><br />If you look at the episode, no one is really doing anything throughout. Yates and Jo head for the chapel - and then don’t really do anything when they get there, hiding around until Jo decides to risk her life for the sake of a chicken. Benton and Miss Hawthorne hang around in the pub making tea. The Brigadier is still working on a machine outside the barrier. The Doctor spends the entire episode getting back to the pub. Even the Master ends the episode in pretty much the same place as he ended part three.<br /><br />No-one’s really going anywhere, and all that happens are temporary diversions rather than plot developments. Entertaining diversions though - Osgood in particular is a nice touch, even if he’s the victim of the Doctor’s jerky nature this time (with no Jo around). The Morris Dancing scene is quite entertaining - a properly creepy exploration of the ‘Yeti on the toilet’ thing, with the contrast between unimaginable evil and the quaint village background manifesting itself in an unnerving and Wicker Man pre-empting sequence that plays on deep fears of sacrifice. Combining simple innocent pleasures and murderous threat is always a striking touch, and so it is here. It is a touch flawed in execution though, as it does seem to me that the villagers have gone from scared thralls of the Master to superstitious nutjobs with no qualms about burning a man at the stake and believing in witches (I don’t really care how many gargoyles attack you, surely you wouldn’t embrace paganism quite that quickly? Surely you’d at least appear vaguely regretful?). And also strangely underplayed (watch the villagers throughout - they’re just standing around like this is all perfectly ordinary). The resolution is an entertaining touch - finally, Miss Hawthorne actually gets something to do - even if the Doctor probably shouldn’t admit that he has no magical powers in earshot of the villagers and whilst still tied up.<br /><br />Having said that, it does still illustrate a real problem with this story. It’s a great image, well made – but it makes no sense. The Master’s been perfectly happy using a sniper seconds before, so surely getting masses of villagers to put on a big dance isn’t the most logical plan? Not least because it relies on the Doctor – who has just had two people attempt to kill him – wandering through the village without a care in the world. The only possible reason that the villagers have to attempt to kill/capture him that way is that they know they’re in a tv show and it’ll look quite cool.<br /><br />You get the feeling that this story is almost entirely a collection of good scenes and images that the production team thought up – but without a story to hang them off. <br /><br />The upside of the messy plotting is that the characterisation is still strong - it has to be to fill in the time. Yates and Benton in particular come off well, looking like co-leads rather than sidekicks. They have their own threads for a change, rather than simply responding to the Doctor’s.<br /><br />And finally Azal does come across as quite an impressive foe, properly powerful and menacing, which does give the story extra weight.<br /><br />Still fun then. <br /> <br />#512 13 Nov 2006, 11:18 am <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by The Secretive Bus <br />"I've never quite understood why people don't like the episode 3 cliffhanger. "It's got the villain in danger! How stupid!" But isn't it supposed to make us even more afraid of Azal, showing how he's far more powerful than the show's main villain? Of course, this aspect is diminished by the fact that we've seen the Master getting trounced 4 times in a row but I'm sure that's what they were getting at (similar to one of the cliffhangers in Big Finish's "The Mutant Phase"). "<br /><br />Fair point - I suppose the problem I have with it is that it feels tacked on - as if they couldn't come up with an alternative cliffhanger. There's no real build up, it's resolved quite quickly, and it doesn't tell us anything that the exposition scenes with the Doctor haven't (we know it resembles the Devil, is thirty foot tall and massively powerful - what new information is added?) <br /> <br /><br />#513 13 Nov 2006, 11:58 am <br />The Secretive Bus <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />"Fair point - I suppose the problem I have with it is that it feels tacked on - as if they couldn't come up with an alternative cliffhanger. There's no real build up, it's resolved quite quickly, and it doesn't tell us anything that the exposition scenes with the Doctor haven't (we know it resembles the Devil, is thirty foot tall and massively powerful - what new information is added?) "<br /><br />Ah, well I'll give you that, sunshine.<br /><br />I remember a long while ago when you said that you were looking forward to reviewing The Dæmons. The only bit I really enjoy in this story is that poor sod who gets out of his van just in time to see it bursting into flames. I can't help but wonder if the story would have been better in the Hinchcliffe years, with villains and acolytes seeming truly dangerous. A Hartnell version would have been a nicely thoughtful affair...<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#514 13 Nov 2006, 4:51 pm <br />Scibus <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Hi!<br /><br />New to the forum but love chatting about the Classic Series! I am working my way through every episode, but full time day job and night school make me more sporadic - not the discipline you've managed! In about a year, I have made it to Horror of Fang Rock, though.<br /><br />Anyway, I'd love to tag along with some comments here.<br /><br />You made a point about Jo "risking her life to save a chicken." It raises an interesting issue I've noticed in watching the series in order - some of my favorite companions get very annoying when you watch their episodes in order! Victoria suffers the worst - I could not stand the constant whinging, "What about Jaaaaamie??" every time he was not in immediate sight. But Jo - still one of my favorites, mind you - comes a close second. Once we get to "The Daemons" some of the hysterics - like the chicken here - start to get to me. <br /> <br />#515 14 Nov 2006, 12:57 am <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Daemons 5<br /><br />The most frustrating thing about this part of the story isn’t the episode itself. It’s the four preceding it.<br /><br />You see, this is a cracking season finale. The Doctor and the Master arguing with a God like creature in order to save the world? What’s not to like? It’s filled with great contrasts – it’s properly huge in scope, but played out in small scale (it’s about two men talking), unimaginable power against the background of a tiny village, a finale of debate balanced with a gunfight. Everything’s at threat, the stakes have never been higher (making it tense as hell).and only the Doctor’s wits can save us (or can they? More later…) This is how every story should end (well, actually, that might overdo it – but it’s certainly how every season should end).<br /><br />It’s also a smart script. As I’ve said before, characterisation is strong – the Brigadier in particular gets a good run here. Shame that it’s pretty much impossible to take ‘Chap with wings there, five rounds rapid’ as a line in its own right any more. It’s so iconic that I seriously couldn’t tell you whether it’s a good line, or overly silly… I think it’s the former, but it’s so hard to tell. I still can’t help but feel that Miss Hawthorne doesn’t really do anywhere near as much as people think (fans sometimes suggest a faint romance with Benton which seems to be based more on them talking to each other a bit than anything that’s actually in the script). But for giving the regulars individual personalities and moments of resourcefulness (remember, episode 4 has Benton being smart enough to rescue the Doctor) it’s hard to beat.<br /><br />With the final capture of the Master, and the beautifully filmed epilogue sequence of dance and drinking, it’s generally a cracking episode (with one slight exception). And it just makes me regret the fact that the story as a whole doesn’t entirely work.<br /><br />This is, like Terror, still the story of hanging around. A story that spends half it’s running time, a full two and a half episodes, focusing on getting the Brigadier through a forcefield. A story where the Doctor doesn’t meet the main villain until the last fifteen minutes of the story (despite having known who he is and where is he is for the previous hour). Heck, none of the regulars meet the Master til the last few seconds of episode four. Everyone is miles away from events. Even in this episode, the Doctor basically says ‘let’s not attack any one for the moment – all we can do is wait for the Brigadier – which does rather beg the question of why he even considered wandering back to the village in part four at all).<br /><br />Yes, it does feel like Letts and Sloman had the idea, and just nothing to fill the story. I just can’t understand why the entire story needs to be about the multiple appearances of Azal – surely that’s what it should have built to. And it’s not like there weren’t plenty of ways to fill in the intervening time. The Doctor should have spent some time deducting the Masters plan, or trying to prevent it, or, as I suggested earlier, having Azal only scheduled for one appearance, but the Master actually has something he needs to do throughout to make this happen. But it’s all just been time filling. It’s telling that from the moment the Doctor meets the Master and Azal, everything is tied off in ten minutes. Does keep making you wonder: ‘why didn’t he do that in part two?’ What does the Master actually do for the story apart from send people to kill the Doctor or mooch about in a cellar.<br /><br />Of course, he doesn’t do anything at all. The notorious finale of the story is the self sacrifice of Jo for the man who’s been belittling her for the past twenty four hours. There was an interesting observation in the DWM Third Doctor special that the Devil is defeated by love. It’s a fair point, and the method for dooming the Daemon is perfectly appropriate. What it misses is that the problem isn’t the idea, but the execution. If there’d been some proper attempt at a rationale for it, it might have worked (couldn’t they have set up the weakness in the faffing about of the earlier episodes?). There’s a faint element of this in the suggestion that the Master’s rituals created some vaguely psychic energy that drew Azal forth – surely, an inference that a powerful positive feeling could have caused him harm would have worked? Unfortunately, that’s not they way it’s represented – it’s presented as confusion, and the Doctor backs this up. Perhaps most heinously of all, it’s the speed with which everything changes – you’re all hyped up by the dramatic to and fro (the Doctor’s agonised shout of ‘But I don’t want it’ is a brilliant moment), and then it’s all over in four lines, as if they’ve simply run out of time.<br /><br />There is, however, enough good stuff here to make this a good episode though. It’s fun, and has a beautiful atmosphere (as I said above, the maypole dance at the end is exillerating, and the Brigadier and Doctor’s respective last lines are things of beauty, full of positivity and good nature). And that, in contrast to my statement for episode four, is the good thing about reviewing on an episode by episode basis. Sometimes you’ll get episodes that transcend the rest of the story. And this is just such an episode. Were the rest of the story like this (bar the defeat of Azal) it’d be about as good as the show could be. Unfortunately, someone forgot to bring a story. <br /><br /><br />#519 18 Nov 2006, 4:01 am <br />Korvin <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />A splendid review of Daemons5 there; since before it fell from favour in the 90s I think, the story has suffered from the weakness of the sacrifice endgame with Azal - but I liked the way you brought out the love as relevant - perhaps this makes the Doctor's gittishness seem relevant too - while critiquing the execution, in script and performance, of the denoument.<br />On Miss Hawthorne, her part in the drama you miss out is her non-action: the wu-wei figure, as she advises Benton at one point - the Dr will come, or else he won't.<br /><br />The ending is as lovely as you describe.<br /><br />Quote:<br />"as I said above, the maypole dance at the end is exillerating, and the Brigadier and Doctor’s respective last lines are things of beauty, full of positivity and good nature"<br /><br />I agree, as is Hawthorne's line: the May day miracle.<br /><br />It's the first of the Lett/Sloman magic/science Bhuddist season closers isn't it? A sense the ideas are undeveloped I guess.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#520 19 Nov 2006, 5:25 pm <br />Dingdongalistic <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by codywillis1 <br />"I turned off Terror last time I tried to watch it a few years back. Though it's partly to do with the fact I'd just watched Inferno the week before and the contrast between the sheer grittiness of that and the camp comic-strip of Terror did not do the latter any favours...<br /><br />Love Jo, though. Adorable." <br /><br />I love Terror. It's got its faults, but in reality I don't think a bit of lightness and camp does Doctor Who any bad within reason.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />5 Dec 2006, 3:17 am <br />Spade Aceman <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Huzzah, good sir Dorney!<br /><br />Was home sick from work today, and spent most of my time resting by the computer and reading your reviews here. I've not visited OG much lately, but this thread got me hooked very quickly, and, foolhardy as it may sound, I've read it all in one go.<br /><br />Overall, very well written and insightful. You've clearly watched (or listened to) these stories with a lot of thought and attention to detail, going beyond the surface to the underlying story. I particularly like how you focus on plot development and progression, which helped me better understand what it is about some stories that works better than others.<br /><br />And the many observations (why Inferno's parallel-world plot works where others fail, the best "padding" being characterization, true drama needing more time to build than today's attention-deficit-minded TV makers seem to allow, reasons why fans choose certain stories as their favorites, and many others) have given me much to think about. Which is always a good thing.<br /><br />Very much looking forward to reading more! <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#523 11 Dec 2006, 6:25 pm <br />Michael S Collins <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />just to let you know, Mr Dorney, that I am still keeping tabs on your wonderful reviews. Looking forward to the next season of Pertwee as it contains one of my favourites, Curse, and one of the my sisters faves, Sea Devils, as well as two I've never seen because fandom has scared me off (Mutants, Time Monster).<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------John Dorneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00043867565471251131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755686396354348154.post-32119762608132670362009-07-17T07:58:00.001-07:002010-02-21T13:42:03.174-08:00Colony in Space17 Oct 2006, 11:26 am <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />Colony in Space 1:<br /><br />There's plenty to like about this episode.<br /><br />For a start, it's a refreshing change to see how much of the first five or six minutes deals with the shock of the show's own concept. We've got very used to Jo, and it's entertainingly jarring to see how surprised and shocked she is by the basics of TARDIS travel. Surely she should know all about it by now, you think, forgetting that there's been no travel in ages.<br /><br />Whilst it's tempting to suggest that this does highlight how little wonder most companions since, what, Ian and Barbara have had, that's somewhat unfair. Realistically you can't replay the same scene over and over again without boring the audience (bear in mind that over the first six years there's quite a turnover of companions), and so sometimes it has to be treated as a given. Still, a proper restating of the premise is rather lovely, and Jo's reactions are fun. Of course, given what she's experienced over the past fourteen episodes, she's probably the least appropriate companion to give this sort of incredulity to, but that's being picky.<br /><br />If you get past that, you've got a story that is equally refreshingly different. In an era that's a little too excited about being in colour, this is pleasing monochrome in style. The Pertwee years have, by and large, dealt in large characters, big name people. Top flight scientists, politicians, etc. It's kind of cool that this story is essentially about ordinary people, with ordinary problems. The main narrative drive the guest cast have is getting food on the table - not difficulties with some technobabble heavy made up piece of technology.<br /><br />Of course, this does make people think the story is dull. Only one episode in it's hard to tell, but it does have unique charm to it so far that suggests it's only dull if you can't cope without monsters and laser fights.<br /><br />It's a well constructed episode, which takes plenty of time to set up the location carefully and walk the viewers in (explaining the usage of Jo). There are a few dodgy elements in the set up (the Doctor knows the name of an uninhabited planet on sight of it's hardly idiosyncratic image? The rather contrived way he decides to examine a random rock just so he can be snuck up on) but the scale and simplicity of the world we're arriving on means that for once we get a sense of the entire place. In most alien planet stories, the story simply can't cope with getting a sense of scale across (which is why most of them might as well only be a single city).<br /><br />And it features my usual favourite element of an opening episode - a slight mystery. If anything, this is where the episode falls down, as it seems determined to give you too many clues and possible answers too early. Jane Leeson's surprised look and question to camera when someone clearly human enters her hut would be deeply intriguing, if it wasn't for the fact that the opening of the episode has suggested that it's the Master (okay, so it isn't in the long run, but even giving the audience the impression that they know the answer can kill the power of the question). If you haven't thought of him, you're probably going to think of Norton, which is closer. <br /><br />It's a shame, because this ain't a bad episode. It works hard to be realistic, and as a result is a little slow and grey - but it remains relatively smart.<br /><br />Colony in Space 2:<br /><br />There's a poll elsewhere on OG as I write this review where people are asked to name their least favourite story of season 2. It depresses me beyond measure that the current winner is the Web Planet.<br /><br />Granted, it's a story that no-one is ever going to name classic of the year. Certainly, it's not top of my list from that season. But the general complaint seems to be that it's boring. Not that the script or the performances are bad, but that it's boring.<br /><br />Now, I'll still advocate the suggestion that watching a serial for two and half hors in a row (as its makers never intended it to be viewed) makes anything boring. But surely the fact that it's got some nice ideas, and properly epic scope should count for something? It's up against the Chase, for crying out loud - a story that practically reeks of being knocked off in an afternoon, where the makers have clearly just knocked out any old crap and thought 'that'll do'. And clearly they were right.<br /><br />Because what matters to a Who fan is excitement, it seems. It's not about smart scripts, or decent characters, or the faintest semblance of an imagination, oh no, it's about dumb fun. The Chase may crap, but it's entertaining crap. The Web Planet is worthy, but dull.<br /><br />There are lots of stories throghout the history of Who that seemed to get slated as 'bad' or 'less interesting' when all they are is 'low key'. In my opinion, one of these is coming up very soon (and is for my money one of the top two Pertwee stories along with Inferno). Mysterious Planet strikes me as another . And, to justify in a roundabout way what I'm saying here, so is Colony in Space.<br /><br />It generally has a poor reputation amongst fandom. Maybe not rated as a turkey, but not far off. And this seems, to me, to be massively unfair. Two episodes in, and I'm struggling to find anything vastly wrong with it. The acting is uniformly good, it has a neat little premise, and, most of all, a good script. How this can be rated below something more traditionally Who-esque, but dumber, I don't know.<br /><br />You see, it's a rather richly written piece. This episode is a particularly good example. In the analysis, very little happens in this episode. The vast majority of it focuses on the Doctor visiting the IMC spacecraft and then returning to where he was at the start of the episode (to an almost literal degree as the new cliffhanger is only every so slightly different from the climax to part one). For about five minutes we rejoin Jo and her dome acquantainces, but the rest is simply the Doctor and three IMC blokes. <br /><br />But it still doesn't manage to feel padded. OK, there's an utterly spurious fight with the primitives half way through that seems only to have been included in order to get a bit of action into the episode, but that's about it. In deed, looking even deeper, the Doctor spends most of the episode sat in a room (or, inexplicably, driving the IMC car), so the focus ends up on the baddies themselves. The majority of the episode is spent exploring the psyches of the villains, and the morality of their plans. We're being asked to look at these characters as real people, which I always like. Sure, it slows the story down, but I'd take the studied characterisation of Dent and Caldwell over the two dimensional approach of Rex Farrell or Mailer.<br /><br />. And, to justify in a roundabout way what I'm saying here, so is Colony in Space.<br /><br />It generally has a poor reputation amongst fandom. Maybe not rated as a turkey, but not far off. And this seems, to me, to be massively unfair. Two episodes in, and I'm struggling to find anything vastly wrong with it. The acting is uniformly good, it has a neat little premise, and, most of all, a good script. How this can be rated below something more traditionally Who-esque, but dumber, I don't know.<br /><br />You see, it's a rather richly written piece. This episode is a particularly good example. In the analysis, very little happens in this episode. The vast majority of it focuses on the Doctor visiting the IMC spacecraft and then returning to where he was at the start of the episode (to an almost literal degree as the new cliffhanger is only every so slightly different from the climax to part one). For about five minutes we rejoin Jo and her dome acquantainces, but the rest is simply the Doctor and three IMC blokes. <br /><br />But it still doesn't manage to feel padded. OK, there's an utterly spurious fight with the primitives half way through that seems only to have been included in order to get a bit of action into the episode, but that's about it. In deed, looking even deeper, the Doctor spends most of the episode sat in a room (or, inexplicably, driving the IMC car), so the focus ends up on the baddies themselves. The majority of the episode is spent exploring the psyches of the villains, and the morality of their plans. We're being asked to look at these characters as real people, which I always like. Sure, it slows the story down, but I'd take the studied characterisation of Dent and Caldwell over the two dimensional approach of Rex Farrell or Mailer. Both establish their respective personalities quickly, without feeling forced.<br /><br />Similarly, even if we only get five minutes or so of it, the dome subplot does equally stirling work (though, mainly in episode one). There are always nice touches (the consistency of Norton's performance, for example, jumping at every primitive he meets)<br /><br />Problems? Well, it's a shame that the gaffe is blown a little too early and we know who’s doing what almost straight away, but it would probably have needed to get a reveal at the end of the episode to advance the plot on anyway, and it isn't like it isn’t fairly guessable anyway. The episode being broken into long continuous chunks of the same locations does lead to an uneven feel, and as a result you do miss Jo quite a bit But it's properly interesting so far, so a qualified 'good' from me.<br /><br />Colony in Space 3<br /><br />There’s one moment in this episode that really sums up why I kind of like it. As Jo and Winton are wandering through the IMC spaceship we see a large, paper covered board behind them. Yep, IMC – the evil villains of the story – have a notice-board. Presumably this announces the next meeting of the amateur theatrical society, or the Fish and Chip quiz night.<br /><br />You see, the villains here are gloriously banal. There are loads of lovely little touches emphasising this. When Dent wants to know who is guarding Jo later in the episode, Morgan doesn’t know straight off. He looks at his clipboard to check the rota. <br /><br />I just think this is all rather fun. It’s a cracking idea to have the bad guys be capitalists rather than fascists for a change. You see, it defines the personalities as much as the plot. Dent in particular is a gloriously selfish individual (when he lands the spaceship almost on top of the colony his justification is the beautifully funny ‘I’ve never liked walking’). These aren’t power mad nutters – they’re just deeply unscrupulous greedy individuals. That’s simultaneously funnier and nastier than the norm. Killing someone in order to make yourself a bit of money just seems so much unpleasant than killing them in order to take over the universe to me, simply because it’s such a small reason to take a life. It’s all summed up by the moment when Dent is asked if he wants Winton back alive, and he doesn’t need to say a word.<br /><br />The plot does keep developing nicely here as well. The sudden attack by the primitives (albeit one with an attempted justification from Ashe) shifts the balance and hints that there’s more to this plot than we’ve seen so far - as does the rather wonderfully ignored prologue of the whole story. Whilst some may argue that all the Timelord scene simply blows the surprise of the Master’s appearance (surely not that much of a shock this season?) I think it actually intrigues and obfuscates more than it reveals. If you remember it two weeks down the line, the thought going through your mind has to be ‘hold on, what has the Master got to do with this? And what was this ‘Doomsday weapon?’ All the time you are left with an extra hook of mystery, that this episode is the first to hint towards. <br /><br />There are some flawed elements. The capture of Jo and Winton is resolved a touch too quickly, giving the impression of padding. However, as with the rest of the episode it’s written and directed with enough conviction for this not to matter (the chase through the dunes in particular is rather good). It also works well developing Winton, who changes noticeably across the episode. <br /><br />The other problem is that it’s hard to see how the subplot of Norton works. Whilst it’s true enough that he’s basically just done the same thing as the Doctor – turning up out of nowhere with a faintly dodgy story – it’s impossible to see how his position is tenable after the Doctor’s revelation at the top of the episode. He’s kept insisting that he’s been chased by the creatures, but he’s got no proof beyond his word. Whilst it might be a bit of a stretch to imagine him being completely distrusted on no more than the say so of the Doctor, it does seem fairly clear that one of them (at least) has to be lying, and the Doctor has (at least) done things to help the colony, and stated a story that fits the evidence better than Norton’s, which would seem to favour him. How on Earth does he manage to remain completely trusted? <br /><br />But all in all, there’s at least the feeling that we’re three episodes in and this is still going somewhere. Sure, it ain’t all spaceships and laser guns, but it’s interesting. I know that’s damning with faint praise to some people, but it’s true. <br /> <br /><br />#482 17 Oct 2006, 7:44 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Great to see you back, though you're on dodgy territory by going out of your way to insult those who reckon The Web Planet is one of the worst stories ever. I'm one of those who would put it in their bottom 10 stories, you see; and, yes, I do so because it's boring. It has Hartnell in it, so it can't be all bad, but just because a script has a couple of nice themes doesn't make it inherently intelligent, nor are characters interesting because they're a little bit different. The Web Planet might have an ambition to present us with a truly alien society but then so did countless B movies from 1930 to the present day. I just don't like The Web Planet. <br /><br />For the record, the only stories I can think of off the top of my head as definite "I hate the bloody thing," material are The Edge of Destruction, Battlefield, Ghost Light, World War Three and Love & Monsters. Attack of the Cybermen comes close, too.<br /><br />But, on a nicer topic, I've always had a sneaking fondness for Colony in Space. A gunfight does tend to break out twice per episode but I still enjoy it overall. Dent and Morgan are fantastic.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#483 17 Oct 2006, 11:45 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by The Secretive Bus <br />"Great to see you back, though you're on dodgy territory by going out of your way to insult those who reckon The Web Planet is one of the worst stories ever. I'm one of those who would put it in their bottom 10 stories, you see; and, yes, I do so because it's boring. It has Hartnell in it, so it can't be all bad, but just because a script has a couple of nice themes doesn't make it inherently intelligent, nor are characters interesting because they're a little bit different. The Web Planet might have an ambition to present us with a truly alien society but then so did countless B movies from 1930 to the present day. I just don't like The Web Planet. "<br /><br />I think that's fair enough. Certainly, I'm not suggesting it's a classic... just that it at least tries. The Chase really is much much worse for not even attempting that, but it is, I suppose, a bit more watchable. The main annoyance I have is that I really wish people hated the Chase more than they hated Web Planet.<br /><br />But heck, it's always fun being on dodgy territory. Who wants to tow the party line?<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#484 18 Oct 2006, 1:00 am <br />codywillis1 <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Web Planet is f*****g awful. Colony in Space is very good. No resemblance whatsoever!<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#485 18 Oct 2006, 10:20 am <br />The Secretive Bus <br />-------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />"I think that's fair enough. Certainly, I'm not suggesting it's a classic... just that it at least tries. The Chase really is much much worse for not even attempting that, but it is, I suppose, a bit more watchable. The main annoyance I have is that I really wish people hated the Chase more than they hated Web Planet. "<br /><br />And, to irritate you further, I've always rather like The Chase. In fact it was one of my favourites for some time. The last few times I've seen it it'd lost much of its sparkle (episode 1 is godawful whichever way you look at it) and it's nowhere near as enjoyable as it was before. But, well, it just generally entertains me more than The Web Planet.<br /><br />Of course, why bother thinking about them when we can praise The Time Meddler, The Myth Makers, Marco Polo, The Gunfighters, The Sensorites (yes, you heard me)...<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#486 19 Oct 2006, 1:29 am <br />codywillis1 <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I rather like The Chase, too...<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br /><br />#487 20 Oct 2006, 10:51 am <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by codywillis1 <br />"The Web Planet is f*****g awful. Colony in Space is very good. No resemblance whatsoever! "<br /><br />Absolutely.<br /><br />I suppose the point to emphasise is the difference between 'favourite' and 'best' (and similarly 'least favourite' and 'worst'). <br /><br />It's possible for a piece to be objectively well made and written and for it to be rubbish. I'm currently reading 'Gould's Book of Fish' which is probably extremely well written, but deathly dull.<br /><br />So I have no problem at all with people having Web Planet as a lest favourite, due to it being boring. I do feel that people shouldn't confuse that with it being the worst made story of the season. Similarly, I have no problem with people having The Chase as a favourite. As long as they don't try to suggest it's well made. <br /> <br />#488 26 Oct 2006, 1:32 am <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Colony in Space 4:<br />I think I said this with Axos, maybe even Mind, but it bears repeating. The best thing the Master does is kick a story in the arse.<br /><br />There's a real sense of heightened stakes when he turns up. Having him in the thick of things from the start (a la Terror of the Autons) does nothing. The best thing to do with him is place him in the middle of a story that's already got a bit of momentum. It takes the story to a new level. Just when you think you know where it's going - the Master turns up.<br /><br />Colony is a perfect example of this. His arrival's not exactly unexpected, obviously, but it basically gives the whole story a new bunch of mysteries to tide us over. Just as the Colony storyline appears to be closing up shop, we've suddenly got a whole new batch of questions. What the hell is going on?<br /><br />Now, there's a degree to which this doesn't entirely work. It was made more obvious for me by coming back to the second three parts of this story after a week off. It really does feel like a completely different story for the first half of the episode. The primitive stuff comes a little too much out of nowhere to not be slightly jarring when combined with the sudden appearance of the Master. It might perhaps have been a better idea to stagger the reveals so there's less of a sudden lurch, but never mind. <br /><br />Generally, however, it does work. The Master joining in on the IMC vs Colonists debate is fun (if massively contrived - he's done a heck of a lot of homework), and it's this tying together of the old and new threads that make it work. The important question is not wondering what the Master's up to - anyone with long memories can remember the opening scene of the story - but how is the already established set up going to affect and be affected by that? Four episodes in, and we're hooked already. As I say, the Master has raised the stakes of the story. It goes from a small local legal dispute to something with wider implications. Suddenly this minor little skirmish seems important, and we want to know the next twist.<br /><br />The primitive city is less successful, mainly because it's hard to connect to it. WIth the best will in the world, they're a lot of odd looking people wandering around an odd looking place with little to connect it to us, and little real tension, or mystery (the faint oddness of the artwork being closest, but that's overshadowed by the Master's presence).<br /><br />There are a few plotting problems with this episode - Caldwell has blatantly betrayed his crew (even faking the murder of someone they've seen alive) and yet is still well regarded by the IMC staff. Equally, Norton's entire story has been discredited - yet he's not been kicked out of the dome (almost as if the writer's forgotten how he was introduced into the dome and thinks he's a straight plant). And why is the Master so swift to threaten the Doctor and Jo with murder at the end of the episode? It's barely ten minutes since he promised that he wouldn't have the Doctor arrested if he didn't interfere. Make your mind up. <br /><br />Generally, however, a good episode that keeps you interested. <br /> <br /><br />#489 1 Nov 2006, 12:32 am <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Colony in Space 5<br /><br />Well, it had to run out of steam eventually.<br /><br />Even with the additional subplot of the Master and the Doomsday Weapon, the story gives in to its length in this episode. For the first time in the story, you get the sense that there isn't enough plot. <br /><br />Now to be fair, this process started in part four, as the plot had roughly hit crisis point, with everyone knowing what everyone else is up to, and some sort of reckoning required. Unfortunately, the demands of the format mean that the climax has to be postponed, and as a result we have an episode and a half of fights as the colonists and the miners alternate control. It wouldn't be so obvious if it wasn't always sneak attacks, and if the battles weren't always turned by one person on one side holding a gun on the other leader (obviously, these characters aren't yet expendable). By the time we reach the end of the episode, the colonist plotline is allowed to progress - but it is in almost the exact situation we left them in about an episode ago.<br /><br />It doesn't help that the plot has to swing over to the Master. And, if I'm honest, it's not the most comfortable fit. His plotline has barely any connection to the main one, in both actual content and tone. The primitive plotline doesn't really need the IMC war, and it seems more fantastical in tone than the character based storyline we've been following. It's a shame, because it certainly isn't as dumb as, say, Terror of the Autons - but the contrast makes it look dumber. Putting a cartoony sci-fantasy plotline into the middle of a relatively gritty and straightforward drama of personal politics does neither any favours. Poison gases and booby traps just seem so out of place.<br /><br />Also, with all the regulars tied into this plotline, it means that we shift focus - the colony aspect seems to shift into subplot in this episode, as the leads are all off on an away day. This is jarring, as for four episodes this is the storyline we've been asked to invest in, so sidelining it is discomforting. And even then, it's hard to see that it's progressed that much since the end of part four. <br /><br />There doesn't feel like there's much else to say really. Something of a nothing episode, really. A few nice moments (Dent's reaction when Caldwell explains the rocket may explode on the ground is priceless, deft humour). But generally treading water for the final episode. <br /> <br />#490 1 Nov 2006, 10:12 am <br />The Secretive Bus <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />A typical episode 5, then?<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#491 1 Nov 2006, 11:39 am <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by The Secretive Bus <br />"A typical episode 5, then? "<br /><br />Gaargh! The Bus manages to say in five words what I took five paragraphs to say! <br /> <br />#492 2 Nov 2006, 1:05 am <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Colony in Space 6<br /><br />Everyone always talks about the word 'Time' in a title making the story rubbish. It strikes me that titles featuring the word 'Space' are invariably rubbish titles. I mean: 'The Wheel in Space'. It's a wheel. It's in space. Is that supposed to excite anyone?<br /><br />It's telling that it's used a lot in the Pertwee era, yet the novelisations change it every time to something a bit more exciting.<br /><br />But, with this story at least, it misses the point - in the same way that this final episode sort of does too. The story really isn't about a 'Doomsday Weapon'. It's about a 'Colony in Space'. That's the interesting part. That's the different thing.<br /><br />You see, Doomsday Weapons aren't that interesting as of themselves. Now, I'm going to contradict that straight away, because I remember that one makes up a very fine episode of Star Trek (not a phrase I often use). But even then, that's entirely due to a bit of thought and excellent character work.<br /><br />Here, however, you can't help but feel that it's been tacked on in an attempt to justify the Master's presence. It certainly doesn't help that it arrives practically out of nowhere, but a bit more explanation of what it does and how it does it wouldn't go amiss. As it is, the Master just says 'it destroys suns!', without really exploring anything about it. The minimum possible amount of thought has gone into it. It keeps telling us it's a big and important thing, but we never actually see that. The very name of the device is show not tell. It's so cartoony and lacking in any real drama.<br /><br />And that's such a shame because there is interesting stuff going on in the story, just a bit further away, and it's the plotline we've been following for five episodes. The colony plotline deals in proper drama derived from the interaction of character in a quasi-realistic way (this must be the only Who story that doesn't kill a single villain!) and is so much more absorbing than the Master storyline (that it ultimately doesn't really connect with). As with the last episode, taking the Doctor and Jo away from this plotline doesn't exactly help the story. That's where the story has been going, that's where the climax should take place. The script expects us to find the destruction of a city and people we barely know more dramatically exciting than the end of the story that we've actually been involved with. Removing the Doctor gives the ending of the colony plot a distance that isn't good. Not having the Doctor involved makes it feel like it's somehow less important - the Doctor doesn't have to trouble himself with that, it's small fry, no he needs to deal with the primitives and the Master. That short changes the audience. He effectively stops bothering about the colonists in episode five, and that does unconsciously suggest to us that we should stop bothering about them too.<br /><br />The colony ending does work though. The sacrifice of Ashe is surprisingly affecting for a series used to people making the noble gesture. I think it's down to him coming across as quite a real person throughout - and the clear effect it has after his death. And Winton has a fight scene that I can't quite figure out if I like or not. It's surprisingly well choreographed for this period, and as a result quite exciting - but it does feel a little like padding. I think I'm going to go down on the side of it being 'good'. The padding thing is probably only a result of the sidelining of this plotline. So, yep, it does work. Another sneak attack ambush is a bit unfortunate, but generally, it does. <br /><br />So overall? An enjoyable, adult tale for the most part. Very character driven and lacking in sci-fi thrills, but the only people who can complain about that are those who want every episode the same. Generally an interesting mature piece. Shame they kind of forget what makes it unique and interesting in the last few episodes though. <br /> <br />#493 2 Nov 2006, 9:23 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />It helps that Ashe is played by John "Tlotoxl" Ringham, a rather great actor.<br /><br />Surprised you didn't mention the questionable two-burly-chaps-rolling-over-in-the-mud bit.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#494 3 Nov 2006, 12:33 pm <br />fortmap <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by The Secretive Bus <br />"It helps that Ashe is played by John "Tlotoxl" Ringham, a rather great actor.<br /><br />Surprised you didn't mention the questionable two-burly-chaps-rolling-over-in-the-mud bit. "<br /><br />Er. He did mention it though.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#495 3 Nov 2006, 4:51 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by fortmap <br />"Er. He did mention it though. 2<br /><br />OK, Mr Pedantic, he mentioned Winton having a fight. But I was expecting a Dorneyish satirical raising of the eyebrow at the rather saucy content of the fight itself.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#496 3 Nov 2006, 5:03 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Fair point. It did leap out as odd, but I forgot to mention it. In my defence, I was more than a little tired when I was writing the review (I was trying to get it done before leaving my folks place).<br /><br />And, yep, it is a little obviously dodgy. The way they seem to deliberately pick the marshiest bit of ground. Though the question has to be asked: who's it supposed to be turning on? Terry Walsh and a bloke with a killer tache aren't exactly the most attractive sorts. <br /><br />#497 4 Nov 2006, 1:50 am <br />The Secretive Bus <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />You took what you could get back then, one supposes. Flashes up Jo Grant's skirt, two burly chaps dry-humping in mud etc. etc.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />#498 5 Nov 2006, 1:36 pm <br />Llama Roddy <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Nice to see a more balanced review of CiS than most.<br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------John Dorneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00043867565471251131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755686396354348154.post-56034505513987062492009-07-17T07:55:00.000-07:002011-02-18T04:00:09.815-08:00The Claws of Axos26 Jul 2006, 4:16 pm <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Finally getting hold of an, admittedly fairly knackered, old computer means I should be able to knock the rest of this season off fairly quickly.<br /><br />Having said that, the test then becomes tracking down season 9 onwards - boxed up in storage at my folks place.<br /><br />Still, let's get on with it whilst we still can.<br /><br />The Claws of Axos <br /><br />1:<br />There’s so much to like about Claws of Axos. It’s sort of a shame that it’s all unintentional -but then, if it was intended it’d lose everything.<br /><br />After the false security of the monochrome and over spent glory of Mind of Evil, this story immediately takes us back to the cheap childish crassness of Terror. The intentions are signalled pretty much straight away with the bumbling civil servant Chinn being introduced reading a folder with the words ‘Top Secret’ unsubtly filling the cover, followed on by some over acting and a comedy twatting by the door as the Doctor enters.<br /><br />Chinn is definitely one of the big flaws of the story. He’s a cartoon bureaucrat, not a real person at all. He shoots missiles at the UFO because that’s what cartoon bureaucrats do, not because there’s any logic to it. And he’s not alone. All the characters seem to have been defined by one personality element. Bill Filer for example just seems to have the sole trait of being American (hence his gratuitous reference to the movies by mentioning Errol Flynn - a joke that is fairly incomprehensible. I’ve researched Flynn and I’ve no idea what he’s supposed to be saying). The research complex representatives turn up at the end, and are characterised as a scientist (dressed with a complete lack of imagination in roll neck jumper and glasses and rather self righteous for no clear reason, because that’s his one personality trait) and some posh bloke. None of them have any personality at all. When Filer gets captured by Axos halfway through the episode, we’re supposed to care, but we simply don’t. It’s as if the only reason the story thinks we need to like a character is because he isn’t Chinn. But not being unlikeable is not the same as being likeable. He’s just some guy who we’ve barely met. Speaking to Jo in a friendly way doesn’t make someone one of our heroes. Why couldn’t it have been someone like Benton, we have history with him, something at stake? Why should Filer matter to us more than Pigbin Josh?<br /><br />Ah, Pigbin Josh. The cult character who, like the Bandrils, is routinely praised by fans in a desperate attempt to show how ‘ironic’ they can be. Actually, that’s a little unfair. There’s a lot to enjoy in Josh. Firstly, the very fact that he has a name, and such a name - can you imagine spotting that in the credits if you didn’t already know who he was? You’d never guess. Also, the way the meteorite is described as heading for the south coast - and then we cut to a shot of a tramp on a beach as if that’s an iconic image that says ‘south coast’ in most people’s heads. Most of all though, there’s the fact that the story doesn’t need to have him in it at all, at least to this level of detail. Any old bloke could have seen Axos land, and get swallowed up with roughly the same effect. It’s a surprisingly nice idea to try and give this guy a past, a daily life so we get to see the death as more than collateral damage. It’s another life. Shame they mess it up by sort of giving the impression that they haven’t really worked that hard on it. If anything, it looks like it’s just made up on the hoof (and it’s rather amazing that it isn’t!).<br /><br />That sort of sums up Axos. Good ideas done badly. You see, if you can ignore the wafer thin characterisation and fairly broad acting (which I suppose is quite hard to avoid considering the material) the plotting is quite nicely done. For a start, we know that Axos is evil before the characters find this out. Before the regulars have arrived we are aware that something fishy is going on due to the death of Josh and the kidnap of Filer. No, admittedly, this is not exactly a massive shock (it’s hardly a surprise that aliens are the bad guys is it?) but it is quite a nice change to have the audience having more knowledge than the characters. As a result, there’s a corking sense of intrigue in this episode, with the major question being how it all links up. The recent DWM review of the story suggested that blowing the real identity of the monsters at the top of part one is a mistake, but that’s surely a misinterpreation. It’s something of a leap of logic to realise just from this episode that the two creatures we see are actually the same thing. The opening tells us nothing we don’t really already know - it doesn’t even imply the ugly creatures are baddies (remember the period of the show we’re in - ugly rarely equals evil at the moment). All it does is offer contrasts. The big questions of this episode are ‘who are the big spaghetti things’ in the same way as City of Death - having them appear and then vanish until the cliffhanger is an exercise in unsettling the audience. Adding a factor that seems to be ignored throughout the rest of the episode adds intrigue. Imagine this episode without them - the alien ship would land, we’d get the sense that the aliens are bad (through the Doctor’s distrust and the series set-up). You’d sort of figure out where the plot is going fairly quickly (or at the very least, you’d think you had). But by including the monsters at the start, we’re forced to consider what precisely what’s going on. It’s less clear. There’s the clear implication of something else happening within the ship that we’ve had no clues to. <br /><br />The appearance of the Master adds to this sense of curiosity. I must confess that getting into this episode, and with his appearance late in the day, I’d actually forgotten the Master was going to turn up by the point he did. I’d thought, in advance, that this was about the point I’d get fed up with him. After the last episode ending with his ‘up yours’ farewell to the Doctor, I’d thought that bringing him straight back could have felt daft. As it is, it just adds another level of ‘what the hell is going on?’ to the story. Maybe as the story progresses I’ll find the overuse wearying, but as of now it’s no big deal.<br /><br />However, the appearance of the Master does show one of the other problems of the story. It’s really oddly directed and written. His first appearance is in a brief scene with Filer, when the camera pans across and catches sight of him. Cue dramatic music sting. Then a few minutes later, another brief scene has him chatting with Filer and announcing himself as ‘the Master’ cue another dramatic sting.<br /><br />And that’s what I don’t get. Surely the whole point of the first dramatic sting is that we already know it’s the Master. We recognise him. So why is him announcing his name afforded the same treatment as if him saying it is equally dramatic. It only makes sense if we don’t immediately recognise him. Are the audience supposed to say ‘oh hell, it’s the Master’, and then a few minutes later say ‘oh hell, he’s introduced himself’?<br /><br />For that matter, why have two scenes at all? It’s not as if there’s too much information to fit in one scene. And this is something that recurs throughout the story. Precisely how many shots of Pigbin Josh acting like a tramp do we need before the audience realises he’s a tramp? Four the makers think. (There’s a glorious one in the cut scenes on the DVD - after the Brigadier announces the UFO is heading for the south coast, we should have had a shot of the Doctor wandering over to the map and a close up of the south coast, because clearly the audience couldn’t figure out what those words meant without a helpful aide memoire).<br /><br />The story is insanely bitty. It can’t stop cutting away to new scenes as if that somehow makes it pacey. It is impossible to believe that this is the work of the man who made the impeccable Ambassadors a year earlier. Now the DVD shows that the desperate gallop through introducing the characters the story’s going to need in the first few minutes is partially due to a couple of scenes being unusable - but we have to judge the show we get not the one we might have got. And as it is, it’s just lacking in focus.<br /><br />And that’s a real shame, cos there’s some great design work (both varieties of Axons look amazing, with the less celebrated humanoid form demonstrating the value of simplicity in their rather uncomfortable just off-human feel, and the ship is wonderful)<br /><br />Mind you, can you hate a story which opens with two technicians clearly written as cockney and inexplicably being played by a couple of posh blokes? I’m not sure you can.<br /><br />2:<br />After the at least intriguing plotting of episode one, episode two is a definite turn for the worse.<br /><br />This story begins to have the feel of being over re-written. The script has lost a sense of what the plot actually is. The clearest example of this is the duplication of Filer. It’s a problem in so many ways. If we ignore the way it seems to occupy a fairly self contained five minutes (set up, developed and resolved stupidly quickly) it really does feel like it’s wandered in from another plot (probably the Autons). This incredibly useful ability is never used by the Axons again (say, when they need to send someone to make sure Axonite goes global. Why do they need to use the Master?). And if they can replicate human beings so well, why do they go for the ping pong ball eye look when they’re trying to blend in. Perhaps most gloriously of all, the Filer duplicate gives himself away within five seconds flat by trying to use force, instead of stealth which surely has to be the major selling point of the idea (it’s not like they’re afraid of getting spotted - they’re completely blase about sending in full spaghetti creatures overland in the cliffhanger). In deed, they love drawing attention to themselves. They’ve managed to infiltrate Earth and endear themselves to the authorities - so why send someone to attack the Doctor and rather blatantly reveal your nefarious agenda?<br /><br />It’s a shame, because the basic storyline is kind of good. The Greeks bearing gifts idea is interesting, and it leads to an intriguing conflict for the Doctor (he’s used to being the lone voice of reason, but it’s rare to see that reason being dissent). Having to fight against positivity as opposed to negativity is a lovely idea. The plot itself in its simplest form is about invasion by PR, and as a result contains some nice elements of unconscious satire on our modern world. Perhaps the best expression of this is the greed of Chinn - ready to blow up any outsider until the point when he realises that the outsider can offer him something, then he’s all smiles. In that sense it’s a counter-piece to Ambassadors, offering the same situation almost in reverse. The disquieting message is that we’ll accept anything if it’s got the right image. And we won’t accept anything that’s presented badly. Trust is not earned, it is bought. It’s a fab idea, and the story is paced well to develop this (a first episode of intrigue, a clear development into obvious threat in the second, and a few answers). Unfortunately the script can’t keep to this lovely central idea and has to chuck in ideas that could be interesting elsewhere, but just don’t mesh here. Filer’s double is one, and the Master’s plotline is as well. They distract from the story’s fine concept. <br /><br />The intrigue promised by the Master’s appearance in part one is brought back by this episode when it becomes clear that it’s just another one of his dodgy schemes. His entire plan here is almost sensibly motivated - for a moment or two it seems that he simply wants to be set free - but unfortunately the script seems desperate to tag on his ‘evil mastermind’ tag, by his demands to Axos including the destruction of the Doctor and the extinguishing of all life on Earth (the former I can just about buy, petty revenge… but it’s hard to see what he gains from the latter).<br /><br />Still, he does manage to get a few good scenes - the action sequence when he leaps onto a truck and hypnotises the driver whilst he’s driving by use of the wing mirror is glorious extravagant fun. Although the follow up scene in the UNIT corridor where he orders his puppet to nick the TARDIS is somewhat undermined by the fact that the second half of the scene reveals that another soldier has been stood within plain sight of his evil dealings throughout.<br /><br />To be brutally honest, it’s another example of the awkwardly shonky direction. There’s a lot of this throughout (there’s a particularly awkward bit of blocking for Katy Manning when she’s locked up in the hut and is getting angry that just looks like we’re at the level of the school play). It’s really hard to tell why this should be. Maybe Ferguson had less time. I don’t know, but he’s simply lacking in anything worthwhile this time round.<br /><br />The acting is a bit better this episode, with Tim Piggot Smith managing to do quite a bit with his couple of lines (and rather clearly looking better than Richard Franklin at the very least). Perhaps it’s cos he’s not been asked to move around all that much. Also Bernard Holley’s nastier Axon leader has a genuinely chilling edge at points. But otherwise, it's still a little too broad throughout. <br /> <br /><br />#457 26 Jul 2006, 8:30 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />and some posh bloke. None of them have any personality at all. <br /><br />I really liked that character, mainly as he's played by the Colonel from "It Ain't Half Hot Mum". <br /><br />Good analysis going on there and I agree with all of it - it's a moderately enjoyable story but one that doesn't really know what it's doing. I'd never considered how pointless the Filer thing was before now. And your assessment of those that like Pigbin Josh IS jolly unfair. I don't like the character myself, but will you also mock me for my maniacal liking of that infamous Welshman Mullins?<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#458 27 Jul 2006, 11:19 am <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by The Secretive Bus <br />"I really liked that character, mainly as he's played by the Colonel from "It Ain't Half Hot Mum". <br /><br />Good analysis going on there and I agree with all of it - it's a moderately enjoyable story but one that doesn't really know what it's doing. I'd never considered how pointless the Filer thing was before now. And your assessment of those that like Pigbin Josh IS jolly unfair. I don't like the character myself, but will you also mock me for my maniacal liking of that infamous Welshman Mullins? "<br /><br />Actually, not at all. Mullins is played by the ever entertaining Talfryn Thomas and is a brilliant cameo. There's nothing 'ironic' about loving him. Odd perhaps, but not ironic. <br /> <br />#459 28 Jul 2006, 10:36 am <br />The Secretive Bus <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />"Actually, not at all. Mullins is played by the ever entertaining Talfryn Thomas and is a brilliant cameo. There's nothing 'ironic' about loving him. Odd perhaps, but not ironic. "<br /><br />Then have a beer, friend. I don't drink them so you can have it.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br /><br />#460 29 Jul 2006, 4:47 pm <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br /><br />"Ah, Pigbin Josh. The cult character who, like the Mandrils" <br /><br />Of course, it would have helped if I'd said the 'Bandrils'. <br /> <br /><br />#461 30 Jul 2006, 3:16 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />"Of course, it would have helped if I'd said the 'Bandrils'. "<br /><br />I think with the Bandril Ambassador it's just the fact that it's a great big plush puppet thing and yet is a better actor than anybody else in "Timelash". Just gander at its first scene when it looks away and shakes its head at the end in a really sad and "Those crazy fools..." sort of way. Almost majestic. Larry Olivier would have been proud.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br /><br />#462 31 Jul 2006, 5:14 pm <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Claws of Axos 3:<br /><br />You know, I’m kind of enjoying this. I know that’s terribly unfashionable to say, but Axos is really kind of fun.<br /><br />It’s flawed, definitely - but it’s the first time in this season that the dog has wagged the tail. For the first time we don’t have a central conceit that doesn’t need a plot to go with it. This story has a plot at its heart for a change, not a concept.<br /><br />There’s still the massive problems of focus. For a start, the Doctor and Jo are all but written out of the episode when the Axons capture them in the first few minutes - leaving Filer behind, somewhat inexplicably; he was good enough to be a hostage an episode ago, and rather than recapture the escapee with the massive insider knowledge of their evil(now bolstered by the Doctor’s scientific evidence), they decide to leave him alive and in a heap for no obvious reason, and then (with their brilliant flair for self-publicity) point him out to the authorities in case they miss him. With the Doctor out of the way (in an admittedly brilliant psychedelic sequence of flashy visual effects within Axos)the Master is left to carry the fort. <br /><br />Now, there’s a degree to which the story has felt like the Master is just forced into a story that doesn’t actually need him. Certainly, it’s not like we need him to lead the Axons to Earth (it’s not like hundreds of aliens haven’t been able to find it perfectly well off their own bat) And the subplot of his escape to alert the authorities (which the Axons could do on their own) is just a mechanism to get him involved in his own TARDIS nicking subplot (notice how the Axons seem to forget he exists the moment he nips out the door). However, this episode, he’s the main focus. As the Doctor spends most of this episode having a fairly uncomfortable sit down, the Master carries the bulk of the audience entertainment, getting to wander around being charismatic and leading the goodies. For the first time in the story, it’s really a bonus that he’s around. In deed, it’s tempting to think that if you showed this episode to someone who knew nothing of the show, they’d think he’s the hero.<br /><br />Plotwise, the story does still feel like it’s filled with loads of offshoots from it’s earlier, longer drafts. Last episode’s Filer duplicate was the clearest element, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that Filer himself is as well - just what is the point of him? What is the point of having a random American around (one pretty much 100% heroic cliché)? He adds nothing to the story, and he’s just not as likeable as the makers seem to think. Maybe he performed some of the Master’s role in the original version (and miraculously curing both of the borderline pointlessness) but he shows every sign of being a character left over from earlier draft when the authors can’t bear to part with him.<br /><br />Likewise, the PR invasion aspect of the story is quietly shunted aside in this episode. It progresses a little with the putting down of Chinn and the Brigadier’s release… but then the story shifts towards the more technobabble heavy attempts of Axos to take over time. This would make considerably more sense in a longer story (where it could be a switching of a plan A to a plan B - look at the Silurians for the sort of thing I mean), but in the context of a shorter story this is a little unfocused. The first plot hasn’t run out, and they’re already bringing in another. It would probably work in heightening the story if it was presented in parallel with the other, but they do seem to forget the older story.<br /><br />But as I say, in spite of all this, it’s fun. The monsters are glorious (in both forms), with the Axon rampage through the complex being particularly memorable - in deed, with sequences like this and the mentalness of the interrogation, you can actually see the previous quality of Michael Ferguson’s direction (which does rather beg the question of why so much of the rest of the story seems choppy and disjointed and weirdly cut together). The Axons are cool villains - properly nasty and powerful, articulate and unnerving (Holley really is unsung for this story). It does feel like the Doctor’s got an enemy that’s properly dangerous on a large scale, which Pertwee hasn’t had to face off with before (for once the threat is bigger than Earth, and the villains have a clear desire other than generic ‘invasion'). Finally, the protagonists, whilst as two dimensional as they come, have obvious and logical aims. If anything, it’s biggest problem is it has too much plot. But that’s pretty much the only time in the Pertwee era to date that you can say that. It may be childish, but that’s only because it wants to be fun.<br /><br />The Claws of Axos 4:<br /><br />Did you know that there’s a sequence at the end of this episode where the cast hide from a nuclear explosion in a ridiculous way, and then return to the newly destroyed power station with no fallout whatsoever?<br /><br />Of course you do. It’s one of those criticisms and observations everyone makes. Okay, for once it’s true (unlike, say, the common comment that the title of Robots of Death gives away the answer to it’s whodunnit). But, really, isn’t there a bit more to the story than that?<br /><br />As always, the major problems are important if people don’t like the story, and invisible if they like it.<br /><br />You see, as stories go - it’s great fun. OK, there are still elements of the over plotted nature of the story showing up - the sequence with the death of Hardiman, for example, seems to do nothing of any real interest (the character’s been so pointless up til now that you know he’s dead the moment he speaks up!) and Filer remains utterly pointless throughout. But this is about as good a final episode as you can get. <br /><br />For a start, it’s packed to the gills. After abandoning the PR invasion plot in the second half of the last episode, it becomes clear that the control of time subplot from the last episode was just something to do with the Doctor to fill in time as the overall plot kicks into high gear.<br /><br />As the Axons attack, there is a genuine feel of everything falling apart. This is helped by the Doctor’s convincing abandonment of the planet, but also down to the slow motion attacks of masses of Axons (who seem to be everywhere) and a proper sense of desperation and cost (such as Benton and Yates blowing up a jeep in order to escape). With the goodies trapped in the reactor at the end, they feel properly overwhelmed (and they absolutely are, with no way out). That works as a contrast to the last episode of Mind of Evil (which has already thrown away it’s biggest set piece, and has the villains with the weaker hand). This does feel like a properly structured story, with only episode three not really fitting as an ideal example. The story started mysteriously, developed the threat, and now the stakes are raised to their highest level as the villain seems evil and unstoppable. It’s a constant upward curve of energy. All of sudden, the story kicks into high gear. <br /><br />As I said, the Doctor’s fake abandonment is the icing on the cake. With even the Doctor seeming to give up, this story pushes the characters to the brink of disaster even further. It’s nicely performed from all involved, with Pertwee managing to look convincingly ruthless pretty much right until we figure out what he’s up to. Obviously, we know it has to be a bluff, but it’s a damn good one, and it gives the episode a welcome air of darkness. For once, the story really manages to look like it could almost end badly and it has a doom laden air that almost reaches Inferno heights.<br /><br />There’s a degree to which the story never really decides what it wants to do with the Master - but that’s kind of a strength too. Without being the main antagonstic element in the story, we get the Master as player, selfish and amoral, purely out for himself. It’s rather more interesting than the meaninglessly ‘evil’ figure of the previous two stories, with no real logic. Simply, this is a Master with motivation for a change, and he’s at his most fun - always trying to please whoever he can use, ready to sell anyone out for himself. It’s a trait that returns to the series occasionally, and is usually the sign of the best Master stories.<br /><br />So, all in all - a good story badly told. The acting and characterisation leaves a lot to be desired (Chinn is badly acted throughout, Hardiman and Winser well acted but without any scripted character worth mentioning), the direction is frustratingly inconsistent, and there’s too much going on in most of the middle sixty minutes or more. But it tells a rattling yarn with enough good ideas to keep going. I rather liked it. <br /> <br /><br /><br />#463 6 Aug 2006, 10:21 pm <br />Broton <br /><br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I very much enjoyed watching the whole of Claws of Axos recently, viewing it through two doorways whilst having a bath. Not a bad story at all, though the bath was quite cold by the end.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#464 13 Aug 2006, 7:37 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />So when do we get...<br /><br />"... the DOOMSDAY MACHINE!..."<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#465 16 Aug 2006, 3:22 pm <br />Dorney <br /><br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Next week probably. I hoped to type it up last week, but I kind of ran out of days. I want to keep reviewing stories only when I can watch them as a whole, otherwise it sort of misses the point, and I wouldn't have been able to do all the episodes before leaving town for a week.<br /><br />For what it's worth, I'm looking forward to it. I feel it is sort of underrated, or have done in the past. But opinions can change... <br /> <br />#466 16 Aug 2006, 5:35 pm <br />Tom Payne <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />You have alot of free time...<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#467 17 Aug 2006, 3:19 pm <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Tardis Ville <br />"You have alot of free time... "<br /><br />Not exactly - it wouldn't have taken me nearly three years to do the first eight seasons if I did! There's a reason why it was more regular in the old days... <br /> <br /><br />#468 17 Aug 2006, 5:14 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />"There's a reason why it was more regular in the old days..." <br /><br />You were 14 when you covered the Hartnell era, admittedly.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br /><br />#469 18 Aug 2006, 10:44 am <br />SecondDoctorWho <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Broton <br />"I very much enjoyed watching the whole of Claws of Axos recently, viewing it through two doorways whilst having a bath. Not a bad story at all, though the bath was quite cold by the end. "<br /><br />I enjoy watching 'claws'. The story is original and there are some fantastic location scenes.<br /><br />Plus it stars JP, NC and KM. <br /><br />Rob <br /> <br /><br /><br />#470 20 Aug 2006, 5:02 pm <br />AlMiles <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I have nothing to add to this thread but encouragement. Your in-depth reviews and intelligent description of your own thoughts and reactions are a great companion to any viewing of the episodes - please keep it up!<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#472 10 Sep 2006, 5:50 pm <br />Dorney <br /><br /><br /><br />#473 14 Sep 2006, 10:19 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Damn it, man, you've got to! Men out there, young men, are dying for it!<br /><br />And I'm now a temporary 4 year resident of Edinburgh, so if you're ever up here again perhaps we could hold a conversation in a surprisingly spacious cafe?<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#474 15 Sep 2006, 11:20 am <br />Dorney <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Will do, in deed. I'm going to try to start the review tomorrow if my girlfriend will let me. Colony isn't neccessarily the best one to show an intelligent woman. Though, my new avatar should give a clue that I'm trying to get back into the habit. Been carrying the sodding tape around for weeks. <br /> <br />#475 17 Sep 2006, 3:06 am <br />The Secretive Bus <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Girlfriend, eh? You saucy fellow. Well done.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#476 26 Sep 2006, 11:33 am <br />fortmap <br />fool's gold<br /> <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by The Secretive Bus <br />"but will you also mock me for my maniacal liking of that infamous Welshman Mullins? "<br /><br />If you liked him, you might very well love series one of Survivors. It's very good, you see.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#477 26 Sep 2006, 1:29 pm <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />And he does of course feature heavily in the episode 'Law and Order', probably the most harrowing piece of television I've ever seen. <br /> <br /><br /><br />#478 29 Sep 2006, 12:32 pm <br />kimwong <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />which episode is that? <br /> <br /><br /><br />#479 2 Oct 2006, 5:55 pm <br />Dorney <br /><br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Girl raped and murdered at a party by Mullins.<br /><br />Then it gets worse. <br /> <br /><br />#480 10 Oct 2006, 6:20 pm <br />Dorney <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />OK, finally got started on Colony. The episode one review is typed up. The others will be following. I'll post the lot in about a week.John Dorneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00043867565471251131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755686396354348154.post-30955429878665333472009-07-17T07:54:00.000-07:002009-07-17T07:55:28.694-07:00The Mind of Evil2 Jul 2006, 2:14 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 3:50 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,645 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Rather ironically, I've discovered two episodes in that this story is so episodic, the old format may work better this time. So here we are.<br /><br />The Mind of Evil 1:<br /><br />As opening episodes go, this ain’t bad. But there is a flaw. The best way to start a story is usually the hook – offering up an intriguing situation, and asking the audience to guess what’s behind it.<br /><br />Sure enough, Mind of Evil takes that route. The opening episode presents us with two distinct halves – the Doctor and Jo at the prison (a wonderfully different and dangerous setting), and the Brigadier and UNIT at the Peace conference. The question the audience is left asking is ‘how are these two threads connected?’ Even in the last five minutes or so, when we are given a blatant link with Chin-Lee, the two plotlines seem so vastly different in terms of place and content, that it muddies the waters further. One storyline isn’t going to impact on the other – the two plot lines are directly connected. I’m instantly reminded of the Usual Suspects, where you spend the vast majority of the film wondering how the plotlines converge.<br /><br />The problem is that this is the only area of intrigue. The only surprise is outside the story itself, in the structure of the plot. The internal storyline isn’t really initiating any mysteries of its own.<br /><br />For example, the Keller Machine. The moment it is used, and well before anyone dies, the Doctor starts talking about how he knows that the machine is evil. Well, where’s the intrigue there? The moment someone dies, we know that the machine is responsible. If the Doctor is pointing at the villain saying ‘look, him, he’s an evil bastard, isn’t he’, before anything has actually happened, it does rather take away some of the intrigue.<br /><br />Think about how it could have been done. When Kettering dies, Michael Sheard’s character uses the memorable phrase ‘he drowned – in a perfectly dry room.’ Immediately, that’s an intriguing idea, and it’s completely nullified by the fact we actually see the death happen. <br /><br />Surely it would be more interesting if the Doctor came down to Stangmoor to investigate a series of mysterious deaths. As it is, the motivation for UNIT needing to come along as visitors is never really explained properly, but this would give them an interest. Once there, he becomes intrigued by the Keller Machine, and only at the cliffhanger would it be definitively proved that the machine was dangerous, with it attacking the Doctor.<br /><br />Likewise, the Chin-Lee storyline would be about a million times more interesting if she wasn’t wandering around with the words ‘possesed slave of the villain’ printed in felt tip across her face. Then the Brigadier realising that she’s a traitor at the end would be so much more exciting, and the link with the prison so much more intriguing.<br /><br />It’s a shame, because the parallel stories are quite a rare trick for Who, and they work quite well (though I think they needed a scene with the Doctor leaving UNIT and the Brigadier at the beginning – by presenting two completely different threads, the episode does feel a little unfocused. Maybe opening with the Doctor in the background of the ‘missing papers’ scene might have helped to make it feel a bit more planned. It sort of needs to let the audiene know that the plots are part of the same show a bit earlier than it does). It would just help if they weren’t treating it as the only hook. Structure either of the storylines properly, and this would be perfect.<br /><br />The Doctor is on form – his personality shifts from happy go lucky child arsing around for Jo’s amusement to moral crusader and sarcastic anti-authoritarian. Odd that Pertwee always seems so much more establishment than the first two Doctors, despite the fact that he’s almost always being rude to them. I’m not sure how it works, to be honest – at points in the show, he’s sipping wine and champagne and talking about his friends in high places, but he’d slag off anyone who behaved or said the same to him. Is it that he wants to undermine the establishment – or is that he thinks he is the establishment? Perhaps more accurately, above the establishment? If nothing else, it feels like a logical response to being trapped on Earth amid humans.<br /><br />The humans fare less well in this episode. After being surprisingly charming in Terror of the Autons, Jo has nothing to do in this episode apart from following the Doctor around and giving him someone to talk to (not so much to ask questions as to listen – a character always needs an audience, otherwise why should they talk? That’s the main reason Robert Holmes wrote so many double acts). I watched the episode last night, and already I can’t remember anything she does.<br /><br />The Brigadier is a different kettle of fish entirely. We get to see him on his own for a change, in a practically solo adventure. And he doesn’t do too bad. Given the chance he’s resourceful and intelligent, and a worthy ally. Yates, on the other hand, comes over as wet – ‘quite a dolly’ indeed. <br /><br />The Mind of Evil 2:<br /><br />The problems with the first episode are slightly magnified here.<br /><br />With the Keller Machine thoroughly identified as a bad thing, the Doctor immediately has it locked away, and all but ignores it (for all his complaining when Yates brings him back to London, he’s quite happy to sit around having tea with the Chinese ambassador). This bit of the story has run out of plot. And the Brigadier is having Chin-Lee followed, so that’s pretty much done there too.<br /><br />With the two threads of the story all but tied up, the story has to find new things to keep it moving. As a result, we gain the missile convoy and the prison escape. <br /><br />It’s all far too messy and unfocused. There’s a lot going on, but what’s the story? I’m not sure which plotline is supposed to be the main one. Should I care about the prison? The Keller Machine appears to be important, but the Doctor ignores it. The conference? Why, exactly – only one person is messing it up, and we know who she is. The escape? Again, why? We’ve only met this bloke two minutes ago and we don’t know who he is.<br /><br />This is all clearly illustrated by the rotten cliffhanger to this episode. The American delegate thinks he sees a dragon. Well, bully for him. Remind me why this matters? A bloke we’ve not met before this scene, no more important than the already dead Chinese delegate is under threat (and due to the preceding scene with the Doctor and the Brigadier, it’s already fairly clear how he’s going to escape). Why should we care? <br /><br />The best kick in the pants the episode gets, though, is the Master. It’s obviously going to get a bit wearying as time goes on, but his appearance here is exactly what you need. Here, he’s like a substitute in a football match, brought in to shore up the flagging show. In more literal terms, his appearance is a promise to the audience that something’s actually going to be happening at some point (I mean, the Keller Machine appears to be involved in something, but it’s a box in a room, it’s not exactly the scariest villain the series has ever had!). Considering the fact that he doesn’t really do anything in this episode other than wear a desperately unconvincing mask and sit in a car, it’s tempting to think he should have been held off a bit further until he had something to do, but I’d argue that his worth is in the potential. He shores up the episode by using our anticipation. His appearance is designed to make us think ‘ooh, something interesting is going to happen’, whereas if he simply turns up, it’s just a sudden shock moment (in deed, maybe that’s the reason for the bad mask – so we’re aware there’s something wrong with the engineer… what is it with the Master and telephone engineers, anyway?). A shock is good, but it’s not what this story needs – purpose.<br /><br />I’m rather liking UNIT here. Yates still makes no impression at all, but Benton comes over as extremely likeable (though he’s a little rubbish as a soldier, if we’re honest). The scenes where he’s lectured by the Brigadier are witty and clever, without insulting the characters. The further the show goes on, the more the ‘family’ element of UNIT is played up, with all of the regulars overly sentimental and fond of each other to the show’s detriment (I seem to recall that The Time Monster is particularly guilty of this) but here the levels are just right. The UNIT characters are treated with respect. They’re not friends so much as colleagues, all behaving realistically. There’s guarded respect, bit always the sense that that respect has to be earned. There’s a lovely bit of contrast when the Brigadier berates Benton, running rings around him – and ten minutes later finds himself on the other side, being dismissed by the Doctor. The point is that no-one is acting like an idiot – Benton loses Chin-Lee for understandable reasons, and the Brigadiers response is measured and correct (and very funny). His behaviour with the new Chinese delegate is equally correct – but in a different context, he’s outsmarted by the Doctor. But none of the mistakes are made through stupidity. We’re encouraged to like these smart people, with the smarter ones besting the less smart ones in battles of verbal dexterity and wit. <br /><br />After having had a fairly dull first episode, Jo gets a bit more to do this week when left to her own devices, and demonstrates the warmth and friendliness that made her so appealing in her first story. Her plotline still doesn’t seem to be going anywhere though. In deed, it’s something of a missed opportunity that the cliffhanger doesn’t focus on her. For the last ten minutes of the episode, the Stangmoor scenes seem to forget she’s there. It’s kind of hard to get excited about the escape of some random thug, or about the generic wardens he attacks and threatens. Surely we’re only going to be nervous if he threatens someone we know and care about? We can only be scared if we’re scared for someone. And we’re not going to be scared for characters we don’t know – be they wardens, or diplomats. The cliffhanger really should be Jo getting in danger. That way, it all connects with the main characters, and the central story (whatever that is). Heck, even if Mailer only attacked Michael Sheard it’d have been a better cliffhanger. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#437 2 Jul 2006, 10:42 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Yay! You're back! <br /><br />I must admit, "Mind of Evil" is a story I really quite like - it's certainly my favourite of the season - though I don't know why. Certainly it doesn't leap out as the sort of Who story I'd like; it's a sort of cross between The Man From U.N.C.L.E and Quatermass in the setting for Porridge. But I still find it quite an involving story. Your review's as classy and incisive as ever, though.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#438 3 Jul 2006, 2:59 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 3:50 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,645 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Mind of Evil 3:<br /><br />A lot of the same criticism’s as last time, I’m afraid.<br /><br />Mind of Evil is desperately unfocused. Actually, that’s not entirely true. It’s focused, but on the wrong area.<br /><br />By the end of this episode, it’s clear that the Master’s planning to steal the rocket and destroy the peace conference. But the problem is that up until this point, neither have really got featured all that much. We’ve never seen the peace conference, we’ve only heard the Brigadier talking about it. Likewise, our experience of the rocket is pretty much limited to one of the most hugely embarrassing CSO shots of the series.<br /><br />The emphasis and focus is squarely aimed at Stangmoor prison, and it’s still unclear what the point of these scenes are. Sure, the Keller Machine’s a bit nasty, but it doesn’t seem to be the main plot. The story is concentrating on the subplot, and as a result the story just doesn’t feel conherent. The way the story is told, we’re expecting the Master’s plan to be directly about the prison – but as it is, he just seems to be dabbling in prison reform on the side.<br /><br />It’s a shame, because on the whole, the story ain’t too bad in terms of execution. The cast are giving it their all, and the script is full of decent lines and ideas. One of the great unanswerable questions of fandom is whether or not the black and white helps the story. It’s impossible to tell, obviously, because it’s impossible to visualise what a colour version could look like. My instincts suggest that it might help, though. Certainly, the surviving colour clip matches the outrageous gaudiness of the two stories either side – but perhaps more definitively, I’m reminded of my initial viewing of Terror of the Autons, which was in black and white. The colour version just seemed over excited in comparison, over reliant on pinks and yellows.<br /><br />As it is, the black and white gives a gritty, serious edge to the already intelligent scripts (to be more accurate, I’d say it fails to take away the gritty edge to the scripts, as colour may have done).The Brigadier and the Doctor come across well, and Jo gets one of her best moments ever (single-handedly defeating the prison riot in a cracking act of bravery – I recall liking her less in her latter days in the series, but on current form, it’s hard to see why).<br /><br />It’s something of a Master episode though, this one. His collaboration in the riot leads to a couple of nicely callous deaths, and a delightful rapport with the Doctor. In deed, considering that this episode features some of the most blatant padding ever (with the prisoners in charge, then neutralised, then in charge again within five minutes – clearly only there to give Jo something to do; and the Doctor captured by the Master, escaped, and then captured again within even fewer minutes) it’s good to see a fine dualogue between the two.<br /><br />So, it’s enjoyable enough because it’s got a bit of a brain, I just wish someone had bothered to structure the script. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#439 3 Jul 2006, 5:02 pm <br />genesisrockz <br />Time Lord<br />Guildford, UK<br />Joined April 6, 2006<br />Last On: 11 Aug 2007 7:09 pm<br />Posts Here: 29 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I don't like the cliffhangers in this one. 4 cliffhangers all involving the Keller machine. They get far too predicatable <br /> <br /><br />genesisrockz <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to genesisrockz <br />Send email to genesisrockz <br />Visit genesisrockz's homepage! <br />Find More Posts by genesisrockz <br />Add genesisrockz to Your Contacts <br /><br />#440 3 Jul 2006, 6:49 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ah, but the Doctor gets menaced by Slaar, War Machines and Koquillion! A wonderful line-up of foes guaranteed to strike terror into the heart of many a viewer.<br /><br />What's Dorney's view on the use of old enemy cameos (or, rather, photos of them whirling around a screen)? A good touch or completely pointless?<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br /> <br />4 Jul 2006, 3:46 am <br />codywillis1 <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />South Australia<br />Joined April 23, 2004<br />Last On: 6 Jul 2009 5:33 am<br />Posts Here: 4,546 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I really like Mind, I think it's a cracking yarn, def my fave of season 8.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />"The McCoy era is the brilliant, magical, eternally under-rated, Indian summer of classic Who." - Hawksmoor <br /> <br /><br />codywillis1 <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to codywillis1 <br />Find More Posts by codywillis1 <br />Add codywillis1 to Your Contacts <br /><br />#442 4 Jul 2006, 11:20 am <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 3:52 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,645 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by The Secretive Bus <br />Ah, but the Doctor gets menaced by Slaar, War Machines and Koquillion! A wonderful line-up of foes guaranteed to strike terror into the heart of many a viewer.<br /><br />What's Dorney's view on the use of old enemy cameos (or, rather, photos of them whirling around a screen)? A good touch or completely pointless? <br /><br />Oh, there's nowt wrong with a good cameo. I did think that it seems a bit mad to use dodgy photos when they've probably got the actual costumes lying about... but on rewatching, it's kind of cool. There's a faintly camp air to the Keller Machine, a lack of realism, that they suit. It's more nightmarish, as it's surreal (it's telling that the least successful of the nightmare realisations is the dragon, the only one that's actually 'live'). Shame they pick some rubbish monsters though...<br /><br />The one problem I have is with the idea of the Doctor's greatest fear being these monsters. Surely that's nonsense? If he's that scared, why's he fight them, why does he explore? Surely being trapped is his greatest fear. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#443 4 Jul 2006, 11:43 am <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />Oh, there's nowt wrong with a good cameo. I did think that it seems a bit mad to use dodgy photos when they've probably got the actual costumes lying about... but on rewatching, it's kind of cool. There's a faintly camp air to the Keller Machine, a lack of realism, that they suit. It's more nightmarish, as it's surreal (it's telling that the least successful of the nightmare realisations is the dragon, the only one that's actually 'live'). Shame they pick some rubbish monsters though...<br /><br />The one problem I have is with the idea of the Doctor's greatest fear being these monsters. Surely that's nonsense? If he's that scared, why's he fight them, why does he explore? Surely being trapped is his greatest fear. <br /><br />Well, we've got the fear of fire at least...<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#444 4 Jul 2006, 12:04 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 3:52 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,645 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Oh, by the way, on 'Master' watch - it's noticeable that Jo is prepared to call him that in part four, but the Doctor refers to him (in a face to face situation) as Professor Keller. It's noticeably jarring, but it would feel weird if he didn't... <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#445 4 Jul 2006, 12:15 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 3:52 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,645 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Mind of Evil 4:<br /><br />I think I’ve got this story figured out.<br /><br />Occasionally, if you’re trying to come up with an idea for a script or whatever, you come up with a cracking concept – but no story. Several years back, I had an idea about Walt Disney’s mythically frozen head being revived at a time when animation was in crisis in part of a Robocop style cyborg scheme. Unfortunately, I wasn’t really sure where to take it from there. Where’s the story? What happens? The initial idea’s nice, but once you’ve covered that, what can you do with it?<br /><br />Mind of Evil strikes me as being a bit like that. The basic concept is an absolute corker – a machine that can suck the evil out of criminals minds – but where does it go from there? Houghton doesn’t really seem to have any ideas on how to use it, with the whole Keller Machine subplot being completely irrelevant to the Master’s plan. I mean, what’s the point of it exactly? Why does he have it? Is it because he wants touse it on the conference, to kill the delegates? If so, why does he have it miles and miles away in a prison? Is it because the missile is going to be passing by that prison, and he wants it as a base of operations? Well then, if so, why’s he even bothering to kill off a couple of random delegates – he’s planning on pointing a huge missile at them anyway! There’s the faint suggestion that he wants to infiltrate the prison to get himself a team to steal the rocket – but again, that seems to be a bit mad. He got an entire circus to back him up in minutes in the last story, and even if it has to be criminals, surely there’s an easy way of infiltrating than capturing an alien parasite, spending time building a machine round it, testing it for months on end and using it in two countries (incidentally, how exactly does stealing the rocket mean that the strangely jolly hockey sticks prisoners – watch the scene in the yard where the Master tells them what they’re going to do – get a free pardon? Is the Master taking over the world? How exactly does he sell the idea to them? With no one to raise the alarm, how exactly would they get picked up overnight?)<br /><br />The story is a concept in search of a plot. It’s telling that the plot we eventually get (peace conference held hostage, missile hijacking) is a Bond film and not Doctor Who. It’s a desperate ‘can’t think of anything’ gambit.<br /><br />And it’s a real shame, because it genuinely is the only thing that’s holding this story back – the lack of a clearly defined strong plot. The prison setting is strong and unusual, and the characters interesting (though there aren’t really any interesting goodies – Sheard’s doctor is just someone to act noble around Jo when the Doctor isn’t there, and the potentially deeply interesting character of Barnham is forgotten entirely this episode. I suppose this is the major drawback of the UNIT set up). The direction is at least mildly inventive (there’s a nice cross fade from the Doctor to the Master that is, admittedly, a somewhat tokenistic flourish, but it’s a start).<br /><br />This episode itself is still something of a filler though. Beyond the big set piece with the theft of the missile (which seems about a million times less exciting than you’d expect) nobody really does anything. The Doctor and Jo spend most of the time in a cell, doing little. Then, they escape rather easily (the prisoner who overhears a commotion and then enters to investigate without looking around the cell the second he gets in is ridiculous), only to go to the office and sit around there doing nothing. When Jo suggests they leave, the Doctor says he’s thinking – but in reality, they’re just waiting around for the cliffhanger to turn up, because they’ve got nothing else to do this episode. This all ties in to the lack of a strong central narrative. If you don’t have an engine driving the plot along, everyone’s just sitting around waiting for something to happen. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#446 4 Jul 2006, 4:25 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />The Mind of Evil 4:<br /><br />I think I’ve got this story figured out.<br /><br />Occasionally, if you’re trying to come up with an idea for a script or whatever, you come up with a cracking concept – but no story. Several years back, I had an idea about Walt Disney’s mythically frozen head being revived at a time when animation was in crisis in part of a Robocop style cyborg scheme. Unfortunately, I wasn’t really sure where to take it from there. Where’s the story? What happens? The initial idea’s nice, but once you’ve covered that, what can you do with it? <br /><br />God, i always get that. At the moment I've got 2 months of nothing to do until I get my A level results, and ideally I'd like to spend that time writing. I'd like to write a comedy play, just to get into practice, but I have few stage-worthy ideas and certainly nothing beyond mere concepts.<br /><br />I did start writing a Survivor Wars sequel a while ago but it's a bit dispiriting to write a long comedy script that only 12 people will ever read...<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#447 5 Jul 2006, 11:49 am <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 3:52 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,645 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Mind of Evil 5:<br /><br />Now I beginning to let the odd plot mechanics wash over me a bit more, I’m kind of liking this story.<br /><br />Sure, it makes very little sense, and appears to have been made up as it goes along (there’s an appalling resolution to the cliffhanger here – the Keller machine’s hopping around everywhere, and then it just stops, and everyone’s acting exactly as they were five minutes from the end of the last episode – and just how many one minute long escape attempts do the Doctor and Jo need to make exactly?) but overall, it’s rather good. <br /><br />It manages, for example, to do something proper with each of the regulars. OK, Jo’s been reduced to listening to the Doctor for the last couple of episodes, but her riot halting and the attempted escape at the end of the episode are quite ballsy. And Yates finally gets something to do, with a good little scene with the Master and his own escape attempts. It does have to be said however that he lacks the roundness of Benton and the Brigadier – his only characteristic seems to be being terribly proper and brave and noble, which makes him rather dull.<br /><br />Benton, most noticeably, gets a proper storyline all of his own, journeying from failure to redemption. He still comes across as a corking character, when he’s allowed to be: not terribly bright, but loyal and committed, a decent sort. His question to the Brigadier (about whether there’s any news of Yates) in unexpectedly touching in its care.<br /><br />Similarly, the Brigadier is allowed to demonstrate his ingenuity and intelligence (well, he hasn’t had the Doctor around for two and a half episodes), and he plays a warm and human part in Benton’s redemption as well. This is where the character works best – when we get to see the strong military intelligence, and then catch the human being underneath. Not pitching him as a buffoon, as the series eventually does.<br /><br />The Doctor gets little to do in this episode, bar some technobabble nonsense, but even then he gets some nice padding in a scene where he has a gentle chat with Jo in the cell.<br /><br />And the whole thing’s just played and written very well. There are nice little touches throughout (Mailer mimicking a kiss at Jo as he leaves the cell, for example – it’s got no need to be there, but it’s a nice little bit of detail that tells you so much, and adds verisimilitude).<br /><br />In particular, the fight at the end is superb, with some genuinely nasty close up deaths adding to the gritty feel. For once, the raid does seem actually dangerous, and violent.<br /><br />Shame about the plot. It’s all the story needed to be a classic. It just doesn’t have one. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#448 5 Jul 2006, 1:00 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br /><br />Shame about the plot. It’s all the story needed to be a classic. It just doesn’t have one. <br /><br /><br />No, YOU don't have a plot! Nyeurrrrgh!<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#449 5 Jul 2006, 6:11 pm <br />AlMiles <br />Stay warm<br /> <br /><br />South Gloucs<br />Joined March 4, 2006<br />Last On: 13 Jul 2009 11:37 am<br />Posts Here: 10,078 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by The Secretive Bus <br />God, i always get that. At the moment I've got 2 months of nothing to do until I get my A level results, and ideally I'd like to spend that time writing. <br /><br />You're so lucky. I got about 2 days after my last exam until I was frogmarched to the job centre by my parents.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Ryback <br />Watching all these stories in the context of the marathon I realised how much variety there was in Hartnell's performance. His Doctor could do anything, support any kind of story, but at the same time he never lost his mystery. The show could never have become as flexible as it did without him as leading man. <br /><br />A collection of great DVD covers (click for album).<br />Quote:<br />Gordon Brown, 16/04/09: "I take full responsibility for what happened. That's why the person who was responsible went immediately." <br /> <br /> <br /><br />AlMiles <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to AlMiles <br />Find More Posts by AlMiles <br />Add AlMiles to Your Contacts <br /><br />#450 5 Jul 2006, 9:22 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by AlMiles <br />You're so lucky. I got about 2 days after my last exam until I was frogmarched to the job centre by my parents. <br /><br />My family keep nudging me but it doesn't get beyond that!<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#451 6 Jul 2006, 12:22 am <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 3:52 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,645 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Mind of Evil 6:<br /><br />Easily the best episode out of the six, the final twenty five minutes of this story demonstrate how good the rest of the story could have been if it had had any coherency.<br /><br />With the death of Mailer in the opening minutes (in a great trick resolution to a solid cliffhanger), the story no longer has a subplot to treat as the main plot, and has to concentrate on the central dilemma of the overall storyline – the Master and the missile. <br /><br />Suddenly, it all works. The story has a focus, and a purpose, and it all seems to be going somewhere. Each scene is moving the story on, and pushing the story towards the conclusion. Now it’s got the emphasis right, it feels like it’s actually telling a story, rather than a series of vaguely connected scenes. <br /><br />In some cases, this is a little too late. The revelation of Barnham’s power of the machine is a little late in the day and should probably have been done earlier. It’s noticeable (especially considering he’s been basically sitting around doing nothing since episode one) that his entire storyline is contained in this episode. I always thought that the tragedy of the character was a major factor in this story, but it really is just this bit. It’s a shame he hasn’t had a more active role in the rest of the story, because whilst his fate is rather sad (and beautifully explored by Manning and Pertwee in the aftermath), it is underlined by the faint feeling that the character’s only really been brought in to provide an air of tragedy.<br /><br />In deed, there’s a general sense that the story’s entire plot has been pushed into this episode. The Master’s scheme is revealed here, and manages to be simultaneously barking and humdrum (which is quite an achievement), and does make nonsense of his promises to Mailer and the prisoners (but to be fair, it’s not like it’s ever worth trusting the Master). The biggest problem remains a complete lack of an explanation for what he was doing inventing the Keller Machine in the first place (it plays absolutely no part in the missile capture, and only features in the Masters plans when he kills the two delegates… but it’s not as if he needed to do that for his overall plan – it’s a thread that’s forgotten pretty much the second episode three starts – and it’s not as if he couldn’t have killed them pretty easily off his own bat – if you’ve got a possessed slave inside the building, can’t she just shoot them?) In deed, if anything, this story reveals the potentially biggest problem with the Master. He’s delightfully entertaining (the teasing banter he has with the Doctor, especially his sarcastic rejoinder to the Doctor’s car mime, are so much more stimulating and colourful than the usual bland mannered villains) but he’s completely lacking in motivation. His schemes can be utterly mental because he’s ‘evil’. Not because he wants anything particularly sensible, but because that’s pretty much his job (his ultimate aim here is to take over a planet that’s just been demolished by a nuclear war…probably not the most desirable rulership you could get. Just imagine the administration work and the forms you’d have to fill in). He is, I’m afraid, the first step in the dumbing down of the series, simply by virtue of making the rules cartoon like.<br /><br />And it’s a shame, because the set up is otherwise properly grown up. The Master is clearly intelligent and allowed to be as witty as the Doctor (if not more so), and the treatment of the other four regulars is equally grounded in a grown up feel. All of them are bright and resourceful (possibly excepting Benton, but even then that’s a little unfair) and the whole thing has the feel of a drama treating it’s audience with respect. We’re only ever laughing with the characters, not at them.<br /><br />So, to sum up – not a bad story, but mainly in terms of its script, acting and direction. Plot wise it’s a mess, and that’s a genuine shame, because had it not got confused about where it should be concentrating, had it found itself a strong central thread that everything else related to, it would have been a classic just for those elements. As it is, it’s just good, but hollow. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#452 6 Jul 2006, 12:30 am <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 3:52 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,645 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Just to keep everyone informed, Axos shouldn't be too hard to squeeze into my empty schedule, so hopefully I'll have it posted within a couple of months.<br /><br />Colony might be trickier, but we'll see... <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#453 6 Jul 2006, 11:04 am <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I've never been overly keen on the Master myself. Though Delgado is wonderfully entertaining to watch, th character is a bit rubbish; at least the Daleks and Cybermen seem to have ultimate goals (of survival) whereas the Master just doesn't seem to be trying to do anything. It's like he's there just to annoy the Doctor and probably does nothing else in his spare time besides making keller machines and forging fake passports. In fact my favourite version of the Master is the decayed one of "The Deadly Assassin" since he's a bit frightening and at least has hatred of his own people as a reason for existing.<br /><br /><br />Oh, but you didn't mention the slapworthy Major Cosgrove that the Brig's got working for him in the last few episodes. "It's rather like making a film, isn't it sir?" And that actually brilliant scene where the Master's worst fear is Jon Pertwee laughing at him. The only really worthwhile bit of the story, that.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />Last edited by The Secretive Bus; 6 Jul 2006 at 11:15 am. <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#454 6 Jul 2006, 2:27 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 3:52 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,645 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by The Secretive Bus <br />Oh, but you didn't mention the slapworthy Major Cosgrove that the Brig's got working for him in the last few episodes. "It's rather like making a film, isn't it sir?" And that actually brilliant scene where the Master's worst fear is Jon Pertwee laughing at him. The only really worthwhile bit of the story, that. <br /><br />I really should make notes sometimes... both of those are things I'd thought about. Cosgrove is a real irritant, and only serves to emphasise how smart and likeable the regulars are, and the laughing Doctor is one of the great images of the entire series. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#455 6 Jul 2006, 2:35 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />What about that bit where Pertwee slaps Jo on the arse when running out of the lab? I remember raising my eyebrows at that bit.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- SparacusJohn Dorneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00043867565471251131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755686396354348154.post-32735064079964108222009-07-17T07:53:00.001-07:002009-07-17T07:53:28.709-07:00Terror of the Autons12 May 2006, 12:41 am <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 3:50 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,645 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Terror of the Autons 1<br /><br />One of the great things about Doctor Who being back on is the reappearance of a phenomenon I’d sort of forgotten.<br /><br />At the end of New Earth, in some of the more negative posts, people were saying ‘but Tooth and Claw looks fantastic’. And think back – whenever polls were being done, marking series one out of five, there was lots of talk of ‘I’ll have to save my 5/5 mark for episode N’.<br /><br />It was one of the joys of being a fan in the old days – deciding what you were going to think of a story before you’d seen it. It’s in the same ballpark as deciding how good stories were on the basis of other fans opinions (a regular bugbear of mine), but we sort of did it to ourselves.<br /><br />It’s surprising how many of these opinions stick around. For example, there are still people who think that The Happiness Patrol is worse than Silver Nemesis and is on the level of season 24 style stories, simply because of what it sounded like in advance. <br /><br />The reason I bring this up is because I’ve done it myself. And once was about Terror of the Autons. You see, as a young fan, I knew I was going to love this one. I knew it was going to be the best story ever. Because it was going to be violent. Because that was all I knew. Not scary, violent. That’s why it was regarded as being quite cool. <br /><br />I’m less keen now, if I’m honest. There’s a school of thought that suggests that Robert Holmes finds his feet with Spearhead from Space, and everything before is rubbish. I’m not convinced. The more I watch these stories, I think it takes a little bit longer before he figures out what he wants to write. Up til now, he’s writing what he thinks he ought to in stead. Terror of the Autons isn’t a man having fun. It’s a man writing by numbers. <br /><br />Occasionally, you get glimpses of the Holmes we grow to love (mainly in gloriously witty flashes of dialogue). But whilst Spearhead is efficient, there’s no real personality to the writing (if you didn’t know, would you be able to tell who’d written it?), and Terror of the Autons… well…<br /><br />Part One:<br />For a season opener, a very bitty episode. Scene comes after scene like lightning, the production team throwing everything at you in the hope something will grab you. We’re in a circus, we’re in a museum, we’re in a radio telescope, we’re in a plastics factory. <br /><br />All this would be well and good if there was a sense of progression. But the clues are right there at the start. The Master lands at a circus (clearly deliberately as he knows the owner’s real name). And then it’s just ignored. It’s just there to look colourful and exciting and different. The episode lacks a structure. Lots of action, sure, but without any sense of coherency. Where’s it going?<br /><br />This is even clearer in the radio telescope sequence with its bomb. There’s a lot of criticism of the trap itself (and fair play, it’s a dumb trap and makes no sense), but more to the point – it’s dealt with so quickly, you wonder why it’s there at all. There’s no time for tension, there’s no time for suspense. The Doctor just jumps to catch it – a desperately dull and un-Doctorish solution (why would hitting the floor set it off when hitting his hand doesn’t anyway?). It’s just another in a lot of set pieces filling in time, and hoping that one of them will lead to a plot. <br />In fact, if anything, it’s things to keep the Doctor occupied. This episode is really about the Master, and if anyone’s driving the story it’s him. He’s the first character we meet, and he’s moving the plot along whilst the Doctor does very little active investigation.<br /><br />The Doctor is purely reactive in this episode, and I’m not sure I like it. There’s something deeply annoying about the plot turning up within ten minutes (the Doctor all but says ‘Ah, the Autons are invading again). Not only does it mean there’s not very far the Doctor can go (he knows who it is, and what they want, he’s just got to stop them), it’s weak for a sequel too, because it’s offering an extension rather than an elaboration. For all the characters, they know what they’re dealing with, making it all feel a little easy (they’re off searching through plastic factories already!). It also offers little for the viewers to get hooked on – we’re told, not shown. . The need for the exposition and investigation phase of a story is emphasised here. This story just starts too quickly. We haven’t had anything to grab us and draw us into the story, nothing to hook us.<br /><br />Furthermore, none of this is helped by the short and scrappy scenes and the odd editing style: the vast majority of scenes, particularly towards the end of the episode, seem to cut in halfway through, and there appear to be whole chunks of story missing. What with the increased use of CSO and cramped sets this means that the whole episode has a very cheap look about it.<br /><br />The biggest annoyance is the end of the episode, when having trod water for most of the first twenty minutes, there’s an undignified scramble for the finishing line (Jo finds the villains base/gets hypnotised/tries to bomb her new friends within five minutes – if those five minutes focused on her, then that’d be hard to buy, but they intercut it with scenes of Harry Towb getting annoyed!).<br /><br />That’s not to say there’s nothing to like. Some of the incidental detail is fab (the technician’s conversation about eggs is lovely) and the unnamed Time Lord is great (his and the Doctor’s hints about their linked pasts are demystifying the Time Lords even here). There’s probably the most breathtakingly awkward camera shot in the show’s history (trying to get Jo in shot through the Doctor’s apparatus is harder than it sounds, apparently). Furthermore, Jo Grant is surprisingly loveable straight off, offering a direct contrast to the seriousness of the previous year, and more importantly, the Doctor’s pomposity. Her warmth warms us to him.<br /><br />The other new regulars fare a little less well. Yates does nothing worth noticing in this episode. Just as surprisingly as with my liking for Jo, I find the Master a bit uninspiring so far. He just feels a little too generic. It probably doesn’t help that the costume and look are so determined to tell you how villainous he is – once again, told not shown. There’s an obviousness to it all, a dumbing down about him. We know he’s the bad guy because of how he looks rather than because of what he does.<br /><br />Still – the episode’s enjoyable enough. If you’re twelve.<br /><br />Part Two:<br />If confirmation were needed that this story is just about set pieces, you just have to look at the start of this episode. The Master is hounded by one of the staff of the plastics factory, and disposes of him. Within five minutes he’s got another one on his back, and he sets a trap for him as well. If you watch closely, it’s like Holmes has written the two characters as one (there are no other Master scenes between the two). I’d guess he might have had one character – and then couldn’t pick between two entertaining ways to kill them. Similarly, he describes his bomb as a gesture on the eve of battle (wonder what the volatiser was then?). The story doesn’t have a plot, a progression. It just recycles itself.<br /><br />Furthermore, a lot of details just seem to be there to fill in time. Phillips is kidnapped and controlled for no obvious reason (and the moment he does something, the Doctor overcomes him annoyingly quickly). And the circus, once again. For all it being portrayed as part of the Master’s plan, it’s all terribly convoluted. It’s just there to look cool, and it barely manages that (where are all the best looking things about a circus – clowns, stilt-walkers, etc?). The whole redundant storylines would be easy to take down, but they’re so obvious it would feel like a waste of time. <br /><br />The problem is that the story has no plot. No one seems to be doing anything. The Doctor sits in his workshop fart-arseing around like he’s got all the time in the world (notice how, when the circus news comes in, he’s working on the dimensional circuit from his TARDIS, not actively doing anything to help figure out the invasion, he’s leaving that to the proles). The Master just seems to sit in an office plotting overly complex ways of killing people (or hypnotising them – oddly he can’t seem to make his mind up. Sometimes he leaps straight to killing them: Goodge, McDermott; and hypnotises others: Phillips, Farrell Snr–attempted. Why he can’t be callous all the time it’s hard to tell. Maybe for the same reasons he’s phobic about killing people the same way. He’s always keen on variation…). The Master isn’t doing anything to further his plan; he’s just playing with himself.<br /><br />Sure, stories are usually based around a series of obstacles for the protagonists, but these have to be on the route to a goal. They have to progress. The Doctor and the Master keep meeting the same obstacles. Over and over again. The story, having blown all its mystery straight off now has to actively straitjacket its protagonists with minor problems. It’s got nowhere to go, so it goes nowhere. There needs to be investigation or progression. There needs to be change. Events in a row don’t make a plot. <br /><br />And for a story called ‘Terror of the Autons’, they ain’t in it much. The story, what it is, is a series of stand offs between the Doctor and the Master – and it’s only at the end of this episode that the Master uses Autons for the trap. Generally though, they’re just his bitches, and off-screen bitches at that (we’ve seen the proper mannequin versions for approximately twenty seconds in the two episodes to date!) It simply isn’t about an invasion on any level. The regulars are more focused on the diversions than anything else). Why on earth has he bothered with making Autons so far, as he’s getting all his dirty work done by other people (which seems mad – ‘yep, I’ve got myself some bullet proof warriors with inbuilt weaponry. I’ve got an enemy I want dead – shall I use my invincible killing force, or shall I use a hypnotised dizzy wench, a hypnotised Michael Caine impersonating scientist with all the will of a crayfish, a fat ringmaster and a strongman. Yep, that last lot’ll do!’).<br /><br />Once more, it’s not all bad. The traps are admittedly fun, and there are plenty of cracking jokes (Holmes’ wit clearly marks him out from the regular writing team – they’re always portentous, he’s a gags man, and his flip, casual Doctor under pressure seems to define a lot of how we view the character, certainly roots a lot of the current series). I should also mention the first proper role for Michael Wisher, easily a match for Delgado’s easy charm). And the cliffhanger looks great (though precisely why the Auton’s aren’t moulded with a face in the first place is unclear).<br /><br />Generally fun, but generally shallow. <br /><br />Part Three:<br />I think I’ve figured out the little bit of ongoing plot this story has. There’s a hint in part two that the Master is filling in his time trying out the death traps for his invasion. After the death of McDermott he observes that the use of plastic is uneconomic. A bit later, he kills Farrell Snr with a smaller device. Slowly but surely he’s experimenting, trying to figure out the best way to take over the world.<br /><br />Wouldn’t it have been better to figure this out before sweeping the invasion plan into action? Arriving on Earth, getting all the attention, and then spending all your time figuring out what to do next hardly seems a sensible idea. You’ve given your enemies more time to come and get you, whilst you’re wasting yours trying to decide what colour to make your army’s suits (‘green? Or canary yellow?’)<br /><br />Anyway, it at least makes a nice change that he seems be getting somewhere at last. As the script explicitly states (in the Brigs briefing) everything so far has been distractions, and with the Master finally plumping for daffodils he’s got something to do. Just a shame it’s taken so long (and it’s further evidence of the shoddy construction of this story – be that in terms of directing/acting/writing. One second Farrell hasn’t seen the flowers, the next he’s already booked a coach, and there’s been a swathe of deaths). And the Doctor’s at least found something out, and seems to be making progress. The story is picking up, three episodes in. It’s now concerned with what the Master is actually trying to do, not the distractions (though, to be fair, it manages a fair few of them as well!). One problem is that it’s really only about a plan to wipe out humanity. Not really about an invasion. The Auton’s are sidelined in favour of (yes) fun traps, and are clearly not the focus of the story. The Auton’s aren’t really doing anything (all of the traps have to be set off in some way – they’re not really alive in the Nestene sense).<br /><br />How crap are the Autons in this episode anyway? Impervious to bullets, but not to a quick smack from Pertwee. Then there’s their frustrated inability to open a car door (less a problem because of what it is, more the fact that the seem really annoyed about it, the way they rattle it, then look up – they’re impassive killers, you shouldn’t be able to imagine them shouting ‘d’oh!’) Then, four stories after they were able to track down Ransome from miles away with his body data – here they can’t track down the Doctor and Jo when they’ve laid down behind a bush. And finally, not one of them can shoot straight – they can’t even hit the Brigadier with direct line of site across six foot of room! Honestly, it’s like Delgado’s gone to the pound shop branch of the Nestene homeworld and got all the really cheap ones. (Though, I’ll admit to thinking that the design of the basic model is an improvement, that the happy face versions are cool, and that the way the police Auton starts to climb up the slope instantly when it’s been smashed off by a car is chilling in the extreme).<br /><br />The trouble with this story is that it has nowhere to go, in every sense. There’s no centre to it. It isn’t really set anywhere. You have the villains lair and the goodies lair, but nothing else. There also aren’t really any guest cast worth mentioning, meaning that it’s curiously detached from our world. The story is reduced to a battle of wills between two people in different rooms. The story doesn’t go anywhere because there’s no where else to go. They can only hang round the lab with the same people (up until the Doctor wants them out of the way so he can put his life in danger at the cliffhanger, anyway). The story lacks a context, and for an alien invasion story, lacking in scope. If you wanted to do a budget stage version of Who, this would be the script to pick. You never get the sense that any of this is connecting with the world outside. As a result, it lacks tension. I never feel that this could affect anyone I know or care about. <br /><br />Part Four:<br />I really really hate the yellow and pink swirl around the episode caption in the titles. It’s too garish, and it makes the titles hard to read. It’s kind of appropriate for the story though. Multi-coloured and noticeable, but not exactly a good piece of work.<br /><br />Actually, that’s a touch unfair. This episode belatedly offers us something half decent. Here we have something like an entire four parter in one go, as the Doctor figures out the scheme and defeats it in twenty minutes flat. This condensing of plot means that, for once, everything in this episode is related to a central developing plotline, and as such it feels like a story rather than a sequence of events. It’s not distracting from the plot any more, it is the plot.<br /><br />This compression does mean that the story doesn’t quite work as well as it could. Holmes uses a surprisingly common trick when a writer can’t think of answer to a questionable bit of plot – he vocalises the question (Having the Doctor ask how the Master got into the base) and then doesn’t give the answer. I’ve seen this tried a few times, and it always annoys me. But it’s not as annoying as the major flaw of the episode – the resolution, with the Doctor persuading the Master to drop his entire villainous scheme in ten seconds flat. It’s ludicrous to think that the Master, clearly intelligent as he is, hasn’t already considered that the Nestenes might betray him. (Though he doesn’t seem to have thought a lot of the plan through – it’s never entirely clear what he gets out of the deal). And the defeat of the monsters is piss poor, defeat by meaningless technobabble as in Spearhead.<br /><br />But equally there are some corking moments. The face off between the Doctor and the Master is superb, with the changing stakes keeping the tension high, and the plotting surprisingly ingenious (the Doctor using the brake pedal to signal is a lovely idea). Perhaps most noticeably, after the shallow entertainment value of killer dolls, chairs and telephone flexes, we get something a lot nastier and scarier. The simplicity of the daffodils, combined with a panicked performance from Katy Manning makes them horribly real. Notice, in contrast to the previous traps, the focus is on the suffering victim rather than the device itself – marking the difference between a cool image and something scary. Added to the nasty way the Master disposes of Farrell, you’ve got a surprisingly nasty episode, in contrast to the basically comic violence of the previous three. <br /><br />I remember reading an old Virgin Who novel, The Shadow of Weng-Chiang. In the intro to it, David A McIntee talked about how it was said that the best sequel took a different path to the original. Now, I don’t think this is true – otherwise, Halloween 3 would be the best sequel ever, and it isn’t. <br /><br />However, it can’t be exactly the same. That’s basically what Terror of the Autons is. The reason there is no plot, is because Holmes used it all up four stories ago. It’s hard not to understand why the great man hated using recurring monsters – where the hell can you go? How long can you legitimately make the Doctor miss the bleedin’ obvious?<br /><br />So what’s he left with? He’s got to fill in the time with every witty death he can think of, and hope no one notices. Ultimately, that’s the script’s problem – it’s been given a set up with no story. You can’t just tell the same story.<br /><br />The way to make a sequel work is to make it the same and make it different. All of the best ones do. They take the basic set ups of the original and put them somewhere new, or twist them a new way. And TotA’s biggest fault remains not really trying to do anything else with the same old parts (or more generously, not being given the opportunity to do anything different – it’s not like you’ve got much else you can do when you’re stuck on Earth – remember the exile only features the Daleks once). It just basically act as an extension, episodes five and six of Spearhead from Space.<br /><br />I remember when I finally watched Terror of the Autons for the first time as a kid, after hearing so much, and knowing it was going to be a classic. I thought it was. I loved it. I would vote it higher than Spearhead in polls. Purely because that’s what I’d decided it was going to be.<br /><br />The reality is wafer thin. Amazing what we can convince ourselves of. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#430 12 May 2006, 10:22 am <br />ianzpotter <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Sheffield<br />Joined April 19, 2004<br />Last On: 6 Jul 2009 9:10 am<br />Posts Here: 122 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I think you'll find what we think of as proper Holmesian Holmes springs forth fully formed in Carnival. On a side point, my day-by-daying has just got me through Logopolis and K9 & Co, but let's not dwell on the latter. The shocker for me in Logopolis is where the Doctor calls the Master "Master" to his face in episode 4. It feels totally out of place, am I right in thinking he studiously avoids doing this in all the Pertwee episodes? It feels like the Doctor accepting the Master's opinion of himself and playing lower status. Could you look out for any other examples of this for me as you yomp through Seasons 8 to 10?<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />My book- <br />The Rise and Rise of the Independents - a television history<br />"Meticulously researched and a compelling read - whether you work in the media or not." - Victor Lewis-Smith.<br /><br />My Unlikely Gig-<br />Presenting BBC Radio 7's Comedy Club 10 pm 'til Midnight, Monday to Friday, 23rd of June to the 10th of July.<br /><br />Currently reading- <br />PROSCRIBED TITLE from PROSCRIBED PUBLISHER. <br /> <br /><br />ianzpotter <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to ianzpotter <br />Send email to ianzpotter <br />Visit ianzpotter's homepage! <br />Find More Posts by ianzpotter <br />Add ianzpotter to Your Contacts <br /><br />#431 12 May 2006, 12:14 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 3:50 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,645 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by ianzpotter <br />I think you'll find what we think of as proper Holmesian Holmes springs forth fully formed in Carnival. On a side point, my day-by-daying has just got me through Logopolis and K9 & Co, but let's not dwell on the latter. The shocker for me in Logopolis is where the Doctor calls the Master "Master" to his face in episode 4. It feels totally out of place, am I right in thinking he studiously avoids doing this in all the Pertwee episodes? It feels like the Doctor accepting the Master's opinion of himself and playing lower status. Could you look out for any other examples of this for me as you yomp through Seasons 8 to 10? <br /><br />Yeah, I was trying to avoid mentioning Carnival too far ahead... now, that's one I'm looking forward to.<br /><br />I don't think that Pertwee used the word 'master' to his face in Autons, it's mainly 'what do you want' or 'how did you get in'. I'll keep an ear out. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#432 13 May 2006, 1:51 am <br />codywillis1 <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />South Australia<br />Joined April 23, 2004<br />Last On: 6 Jul 2009 5:33 am<br />Posts Here: 4,546 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I turned off Terror last time I tried to watch it a few years back. Though it's partly to do with the fact I'd just watched Inferno the week before and the contrast between the sheer grittiness of that and the camp comic-strip of Terror did not do the latter any favours...<br /><br />Love Jo, though. Adorable.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />"The McCoy era is the brilliant, magical, eternally under-rated, Indian summer of classic Who." - Hawksmoor <br /> <br /><br />codywillis1 <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to codywillis1 <br />Find More Posts by codywillis1 <br />Add codywillis1 to Your Contacts <br /><br />#433 13 May 2006, 11:01 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />So, remind me why you're doing "bulk" reviews again? Because you've written as much in that one review as you would have written in 4 separate installments. <br /><br />Now to read it.<br /><br />*scurries*<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#434 13 May 2006, 11:32 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />The Master ... he’s just playing with himself. <br /><br />Ooo-er.<br /><br />Aside from that - or perhaps because of that - a greatly entertaining review and one that I'm in full agreement with. <br /><br />There's a case for saying that Russell T Davies is a lot like Robert Holmes when it comes to Who. Both can write great characters and funny lines, but neither could think up many decent plot resolutions. Think about it: Spearhead, Terror of the Autons, Carnival, Pyramids, Talons - Rose, World War Three, the Bad Wolf Arc.<br /><br />It makes sense!<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#435 1 Jul 2006, 11:55 am <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 3:50 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,645 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by The Secretive Bus <br />So, remind me why you're doing "bulk" reviews again? Because you've written as much in that one review as you would have written in 4 separate installments. <br /><br />Well, it should become clearer with the Mind of Evil (one episode in, at last). The idea is that a lot of the time, especially with the longer stories, I tend to be reviewing how I know the episode fits into the whole, rather than on it's own (it's mad to pretend I don't know the stories relatively well). As a result, it's probably best to review each episode in the context of the whole.<br /><br />So Mind of Evil by the end of next week. If I have any say in it.John Dorneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00043867565471251131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755686396354348154.post-73651553507092798742009-06-29T13:55:00.000-07:002009-06-29T13:57:09.219-07:00Inferno (+Tenth Planet 4)14 Dec 2005, 1:15 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:51 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Inferno 1:<br /><br />You know, if I ever learnt anything from being a Red Dwarf fan, it was that I really hate parallel universe stories. One of the three or four shark-jumping elements that show had was it’s over-reliance on them (along with its alien-less universe getting populated with ‘might as well be aliens’ like simulants and gelfs, its playing to the fans, its increasing belief that it was a sci-fi show and not a comedy). Towards the latter years of the series, all it needed to get a laugh was a vaguely different version of Rimmer to turn up. One that was a woman, one that was in drag, one in a monk’s outfit, a muskateer, a hippy, a tramp. It just went on and on. <br /><br />It just seemed to me to be a fundamentally dull idea. All too often, these kind of stories in Dwarf and elsewhere seemingly have no point beyond the sheer novelty of seeing familiar faces in unfamiliar places, as if that was all that was required to make the stories interesting. Shock value. But beyond a certain point, the visual incongruity becomes dull. Yes, it may look like our regular, but it isn’t our regular. Why should we care? Unless there’s more going on, unless there’s some wit, or some plot, it has no point. Too often the difference seems to be regarded as a point in itself.<br /><br />In Doctor Who terms, the concept has had a rocky time. Spin offs have illustrated the problem – the Unbound series produced by BF in particular. You either drown in the continuity (as He Jests at Scars does) to illustrate how this new world is different, or you divorce yourself from the altered history so much that the story itself could just about take place in the regular Whoniverse. This is not a criticism of the writers, more an explanation of the inherent problem with the formula, you have to go one way or the other, and neither are entirely satisfactory. One of the novels, Blood Heat, always struck me as a dull book, where I couldn’t figure out why I should care about a world that didn’t happen, why I should bother with a world that was just a best of compilation rather than a truly richly created place. A place with no life outside continuity.<br /><br />The final problem is that you can create a completely new world, placing your characters in a dynamic, new and exciting world… but if that world is completely separate from our own, if it doesn’t reflect ours, again, what’s the point?<br /><br />All this is a somewhat overlong build up to a review of Inferno, made particularly odd considering that the parallel universe of this story takes two episodes to turn up. But it’s kind of appropriate. You see, I love Inferno. I hate parallel universe stories, but I love this one. And I think I’ve finally figured out why.<br /><br />You’ll find out why in a couple of episodes time.<br /><br />I was going to do another mini essay on the story’s reputation, but I think I’ll save that for next time. Not least because with seven episodes to go, I’m going to need to fill in the time somehow.<br /><br />As first episodes go, this is a slightly odd one. It certainly doesn’t have the immediate hook you sort of expect from an acknowledged classic. The central threat of the story is, by and large, underplayed. Slocum’s infection and subsequent killings aren’t exactly a rampage or a spree. It’s treated almost casually by most of the characters in the story (the Doctor seems saddened by the initial murder, but not actually concerned – despite some of the obvious oddities of the killing, such as the heat generated by the spanner – and the Brigadier sort of makes a joke about it – saying that trouble follows the Doctor). There’s no actual investigation of the crimes until the last few minutes of the episode, with everyone walking around as if nothing has happened. As well, the whole episode is rather low key. What’s going to drive the actual plot is limited to less than five minutes of the whole, and everything else is treated in exacting detail. The build to Slocum touching the green goo is long enough, and ordinary enough, that it doesn’t really feel like Who so much as an engineering drama. In deed, I’d suggest that the opening shot of the story with Pertwee driving Bessie through the plant and singing, is placed specifically to remind you what show it is you’re watching – to reassure you that this is Who.<br /><br />Now, none of this is necessarily a bad thing. It strikes me immediately that this is a good thing to start a seven part epic. You don’t need to rush in with the plot, especially if the plot is quite sparse. This does lead me onto a few thoughts I should probably save for later episodes though (ah, the perils of reviewing a story you know very well).<br /><br />The strengths of this episode, and why it grips despite a noticeable lack of incident, are in performance, characterization and direction. To go with the last of those first, it’s clearly a beautifully thought through piece. In comparison to a lot of the well directed stories the show has had, the nicest touches are in the incidentals. Pretty much anyone can make set pieces look good. Whereas the two bits that work beautifully here are mere throwaways – the jump cut from Slocum’s initial killing to the hammer thudding into a nail; and the scientist saying how quiet everything is as we see Slocum advancing on him. The second of those is my favourite. I notice how as I type that description it comes across as much more dramatic than the actual shot itself. The moment is underplayed. Slocum isn’t moving menacingly, is barely even in shot. And we cut before he even makes a move to do anything. It’s gorgeous.<br /><br />All of the characters are sketched in beautifully, through conflict and action – we see who they are, rather than get told who they are. No-one needs to say ‘Stahlman’s a bit of a grump’. We see that he is by how he interacts with people – always the best kind of characterization. You do really get the sense of a proper world, populated by proper people – Slocum gets to demonstrate a sense of humour in the few minutes he’s aware, even the trooper outside the Doctor’s hut is blessed with a personality. And for the most part the performances match the detail of the script. Olaf Pooley, in particular, has a fine take on his dialogue, filling it with light and shade. The character could so easily have been a one note aggressive figure, but Pooley correctly plays him as the hero of his own story. He may be the closest this story has to a bad guy, but he doesn’t come across as a one note caricature. Sometimes, his aggression is couched in sarcasm, sometimes it’s just delivered straight. Suddenly it feels like a real person, rather than a villain.<br /><br />Derek Newark and Sheila Dunn are a little more uncomfortable with their own roles, but to be fair, they’ve got a little less meat to chew on. Perhaps the most interesting stuff is saved for the regulars – the Doctor and the Brigadier’s banter is playful and intelligent, and, in another masterful piece of direction, we immediately warm to Benton (a character who has only been in, what, four episodes so far? Five?) His mild amusement at the Doctor’s moustache crack, and the subsequent non-verbal telling off from the Brigadier are extremely well judged. You see, the guy isn’t really a regular yet. But this little detail suggests he’s already part of the family and immediately makes us sympathize with him (who doesn’t think ‘ah’ when they see that?). Whilst there’s a clear degree that this has to be done in order to set up the switcheroo of later episodes of this story, it’s more than any of the other bit part soldiers get, and makes us want to keep him around quicker than a ream of backstory and dialogue could have done.<br /><br />So, all in all, an engrossingly detailed, if not exactly exciting, episode. Well made, intelligent. It might not have you chomping at the bit to tune in next week, but it’s an incredibly well made bit of television.<br /><br /><br />(PS: And now my computer's fouled up, so I'm back to square one!) <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#378 14 Dec 2005, 2:35 pm <br />Jared <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Brush Creek, NSW<br />Joined September 12, 2005<br />Last On: 10 Mar 2007 6:29 am<br />Posts Here: 59 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />All of the characters are sketched in beautifully, through conflict and action – we see who they are, rather than get told who they are <br /><br />Hey, Dorney. I don't think I've posted on this thread before, but I love these reviews. They're so intelligent and thoughtful they're always delightfully written.<br /><br />I just had to highlight that one part of your Inferno review, as it is an incredibly acute observation and, as an aspiring writer myself, something I consider very important. Characterisation is all too often very clumsy and one-note, often we are clearly given the reaction we are supposed to have to a character rather than just being shown the character and letting us decided for ourselves. <br /><br />In particular, an example that bothers me is the DW book author Justin Richards, who, from what I've read, seems to do great plots but poor characters. His characters mostly come across as place-fillers in the story, serving either to get killed or push the story forward one step at a time. When he tries more complicated characters it invariably falls flat on its face because we are given conflicting details about who these people are - all too often I find myself thinking "That guy wouldn't say that!" when reading his books.<br /><br />I don't know if you read DW books at all, but it felt like the best example for the polar opposite of Inferno's effortlessly sublime characters. <br /> <br /><br />Jared <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Jared <br />Send email to Jared <br />Find More Posts by Jared <br />Add Jared to Your Contacts <br /><br />#379 14 Dec 2005, 9:18 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Hurrah!<br /><br />Inferno is one of those stories I love when I'm watching it but I still never put on of my list of favourite stories - I seem to forget it's there, or its reputation puts me off a bit. But I am looking forward to its tentative DVD release next year.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#380 15 Dec 2005, 2:19 am <br />Mr Coxy <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Petersham, NSW<br />Joined June 29, 2004<br />Last On: Yesterday 11:01 pm<br />Posts Here: 627 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Another fine review. I kind of like the fact that your reviews are a little sporadic at the moment Dorney. It makes them just that little more special. <br /><br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by The Bus <br />But I am looking forward to its tentative DVD release next year. <br /><br />Perhaps in a blaze of non-publicity, peeking coyly out fom behind copies of 'The Claws of Axos', the story title in small print and a disc that may - or may not actiually work? (And which for the sake of economy has as its commentary a pertual loop of 'And they were all wearing eyepatches!')<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Those who say 'it was all green bubblewrap' remember it wrong. It was scissors & string too! <br /> <br /><br />Mr Coxy <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Mr Coxy <br />Send email to Mr Coxy <br />Find More Posts by Mr Coxy <br />Add Mr Coxy to Your Contacts <br /><br />#381 15 Dec 2005, 2:46 am <br />bingo99 <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Joined April 25, 2004<br />Last On: Today 3:28 am<br />Posts Here: 650 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />the scientist saying how quiet everything is as we see Slocum advancing on him. <br /><br />I was watching this last night too, and realised that this scene is a rip of the 'Psycho' shower scene. Not the actual killing, just before it, as Janet Leigh is showering, a figure strolls silently towards the shower, no music build up at all, then strikes.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Reviewing every story randomly <br />Currently under review - The Mutants <br /> <br /><br />bingo99 <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to bingo99 <br />Send email to bingo99 <br />Visit bingo99's homepage! <br />Find More Posts by bingo99 <br />Add bingo99 to Your Contacts <br /><br />#382 16 Dec 2005, 11:53 am <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:51 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by bingo99 <br />I was watching this last night too, and realised that this scene is a rip of the 'Psycho' shower scene. Not the actual killing, just before it, as Janet Leigh is showering, a figure strolls silently towards the shower, no music build up at all, then strikes. <br /><br />Of course, if you're going to rip off anyone, Hitchcock's as good a call as any.<br /><br />Inferno 2 review half written now folks. Hopefully should have three remarkably soon on it's heels. I really want to watch this one! <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#383 18 Dec 2005, 5:12 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:51 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Inferno 2<br /><br />One thing I talk about a lot is the fan consensus. There's a certain degree to which the decision making of fandom has passed hands in recent years, and Inferno is one of the best examples. Ownership of classic attributing seemed always to be the province of the older fans. The best story of every era was the one you were told it was.<br /><br />Since then, it's swung around quite a bit. The Daemons was clearly the most respected Pertwee for ages - but its reputation as the best didn't so much stem from its inherent quality, to my eyes at least, as much as it's season position (finale to the Master year) and the fact that the regulars had a really good time making it and said it was their favourite (and we want to think they've got taste, so it's our favourite too - the same process by which, in Red Dwarf's second mention in two reviews, Gunmen of the Apocalypse is hugely overrated for that show). <br /><br />Fortunately, when Inferno hit the underground video dubbing network, and thence the vhs release, everyone suddenly realised it was much better. I recall quite clearly that the burst out seemed to happen overnight around about 1989/1990. It was quite an exciting time. Suddenly everyone realised the older fans could be wrong, and that we could make our own minds up. To this day, I think that Inferno is the one that changed everything. Simply because it was so good, and almost ignored (or at any least not as lauded). The fact that a bona fide classic seemed to have been missed wised everyone up to the fact that no one knew anything. From there on in follows the rediscovery of Ambassadors of Death, Invasion of the Dinosaurs (sort of) - and the devaluation of Planet of the Spiders and so on. Fandom is a freer place, and all the better for it.<br /><br />As for this specific episode... well, it's odd that for a sort of monster story, this episode is very much about power games (literally, I suppose), all but ignoring the overall threat posed by the primords. The monsters run around the place trying to look threatening... but it's like no one cares. The moment the Doctor discovers Wyatt in full mutation, he has to realise that there's some sort of infection going around - and that there's one infected man still on the loose (I'm so excited that this man is called Bromley - my current home). But does he do anything? Does there seem to be any mass search for the missing man? No. The Doctor just nips off to his hut to experiment a bit more. Sure, the Doctor's motivation is always alien and hard to understand, but there's a real degree here where it seems out of character. He is, at least, always compassionate. There's some suggestion that UNIT is investigating off camera, but in terms of what we actually see, the story proper isn't interested in them. They seem to be the main thrust of the plot, but they are relegated to subplot position (it's an awkwardness in the story's construction, to be fair. The story, really, is about the drilling, and the impending apocalypse - but that's all quite a nebulous threat, lacking in presence or identity. So the primords are brought in to add a degree of tension, and direct physical interaction for the 'enemy' - but it's impossible to focus too hard on them, otherwise the drilling would be stopped and the whole of the central thrust would be negated. You either have a story with no dramatic tension whatsoever, or you throw in a secondary threat initially. Notice how other stories similarly lacking in a tangible villain - the Empty Child leaps to mind, as does a lot of Sapphire and Steel - have to replace it with a sort of pseudo-villain to focus the story telling and provide dramatic tension. Stahlman doesn't really fulfill this function yet, as the man isn't actually dangerous). I notice I said much the same thing last time - no-one's too fussed about the main plot yet, it's all a little bit part politics. But, it personalises the characters more significantly - and less stereotypically - than any of the last few stories did (and it's not like their characterisaiton was exactly shabby), so it's hardly a massive complaint - though it's true to say that this episode all but exclusively focuses on the Doctor vs. Stahlman. Greg and Petra, Keith Gold and Liz get very little to do in this episode (though the elegant simplicity of the Benton 'smile' in part one carries through into the writing of the only real Greg and Petra scene in this episode - turning the initial frostiness into a believable warmth within a few lines, and making them both seem lighter, less sexist and cold respecitvely. Due in no small amount to the playing and the direction - Newark resists the temptation to make the 'call me Greg' line as oily as the initial flirtation, and the writing has the character make it as a friendly aside of friendliness rather than a come on by suplimenting it with a non related question - as a result the thaw seems utterly justified - the man goes from looking like a knob to just straightforward, for both Petra and us). The story becomes all about the tension between the two scientists, with us easily siding with the Doctor through tradition rather than exact fairness (There's a moment of glorious hypocrisy with the Doctor complaining that Stahlman is childish, right after calling him a nitwit as publically as possible - but the Doctor's childishness always seems fun, and there's something about Stahlman's that seems mean-spirited).<br /><br />It doesn't help that the monsters are impossible to touch. The confrontation between Wyatt and the Doctor (ending with Wyatt falling over the edge, stupidly) is embarassing - simply because the Doctor has no means at all of fending off or doing anything to the creature attacking him, and as a result the enemy has to dispose of itself, in the most unconvincing way possible. And speaking of unconvincing - why exactly does Liz look at the power switch to check whether the Doctor is experimenting again? She doesn't know that Stahlman cut the power off? <br /><br />Still, it does say something when the only faults you can really pick up on are minor bits of nitpicking. It's a fine episode. Still slightly narratively unsure, to my eyes, probably due to the length, but so well performed and written it hardly matters. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#384 19 Dec 2005, 3:43 am <br />Mr Coxy <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Petersham, NSW<br />Joined June 29, 2004<br />Last On: Yesterday 11:01 pm<br />Posts Here: 627 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />the Doctor's childishness always seems fun, and there's something about Stahlman's that seems mean-spirited <br /><br />This is one to come back to when you get around to reviewing Colin Baker (in around 2012!).<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Those who say 'it was all green bubblewrap' remember it wrong. It was scissors & string too! <br /> <br /><br />Mr Coxy <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Mr Coxy <br />Send email to Mr Coxy <br />Find More Posts by Mr Coxy <br />Add Mr Coxy to Your Contacts <br /><br />#385 22 Dec 2005, 3:17 am <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I've read a lot of reviews that say how rubbish the Primords are and that the story would be better without them but I'd have to disagree entirely, mainly for the reasons you've mentioned. The apocalypse is too big a threat for the characters to deal with and too abstract to fill up seven episodes. The Primords add an extra desperate layer, give the characters a tangible threat to deal with. Plus later episodes work far better - you get a vague feeling that the Doctor could save everybody so long as those bloody Primords weren't getting in the way (which cranks up tension - will the Doctor win through in time?) whereas without the monsters you'd just have everybody sitting about and tinkering with computers for several episodes. <br /><br />Inferno is a story that has a plot in which the characters do precisely nothing - aside from Stahlman's drilling, nothing else of consequence that occurs is tied in with the actions of the characters. They just react to the inevitable. This could have been disastrously boring, but it isn't. Quite a neat trick, that, and full marks to Don Houghton for managing to make the episodes so engaging.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#386 26 Dec 2005, 9:55 pm <br />supervoc <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Merrie England<br />Joined November 25, 2004<br />Last On: 14 Nov 2008 9:39 pm<br />Posts Here: 242 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />Fortunately, when Inferno hit the underground video dubbing network, and thence the vhs release, everyone suddenly realized it was much better. I recall quite clearly that the burst out seemed to happen overnight around about 1989/1990. It was quite an exciting time. Suddenly everyone realized the older fans could be wrong, and that we could make our own minds up.. <br /><br />Yes indeed. It is hard to appreciate these days what a cataclysmic godlike revelation it was. It really was like Binro receiving confirmation at last that his faith was right and not misplaced, that our opinions of various stories derived from various sources was vindicated. Not to mention the confirmation that some older fans were just gasbags with very ropey memories.<br /><br />The new generation can hardly imagine what it was like but anyone who lived through that time will never forget the joy of such revelations <br /><br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />To this day, I think that Inferno is the one that changed everything. Simply because it was so good, and almost ignored (or at any least not as lauded). The fact that a bona fide classic seemed to have been missed wised everyone up to the fact that no one knew anything. From there on in follows the rediscovery of Ambassadors of Death, Invasion of the Dinosaurs (sort of) - and the devaluation of Planet of the Spiders and so on. Fandom is a freer place, and all the better for it. <br /><br />Jolly good <br /><br />We went a different route with a combination of Hartnell, Troughton and a few Pertwee stories but to the same effect. <br /><br />Then Tomb was rediscovered <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />http://www.dieselsweeties.com<br />http://www.hello-cthulhu.com <br /> <br /><br />supervoc <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to supervoc <br />Find More Posts by supervoc <br />Add supervoc to Your Contacts <br /><br />#387 28 Dec 2005, 7:25 pm <br />Alzarian <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Raleigh, NC<br />Joined April 20, 2004<br />Last On: 15 Jun 2009 2:02 am<br />Posts Here: 59 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />My exposure to Inferno is a bit different than the experiences shared thus far. By the time I finally got the chance to see the Pertwees, I was pretty well-versed with the Tom Baker era and the first couple of seasons of Davison. At least initially, only the Pertwee stories in color were made available to the PBS stations here in the US, and Inferno was actually the first story I ever saw from his era.<br /><br />I remember thinking how utterly alien and bizarre the series was, based on this first exposure. The lava fields and exploding volcanos playing under the titles for one thing. The lack of the Tardis, excepting the console. The quite serious and no-nonsense companion in Liz Shaw. The very quality of the filming which almost gave the story a movie-like feel as opposed to a studio-bound television story. Being an unheard-of-to-me epic of seven episodes!<br /><br />I mean, it was just so utterly different from Robot, which up to that point had been my earliest slice of Doctor Who. I was certainly engaged in seeing how the Pertwee era would morph and change over the next five seasons.<br /><br />And... I thought it was quite brilliant too. <br /> <br /><br />Alzarian <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Alzarian <br />Send email to Alzarian <br />Find More Posts by Alzarian <br />Add Alzarian to Your Contacts <br /><br />#388 12 Jan 2006, 3:30 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:51 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Just to keep everyone informed, I should be able to do a massive catch up with Inferno next week.<br /><br />The problem is always getting back into the habit, if anything... <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#389 13 Jan 2006, 12:27 pm <br />ianzpotter <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Sheffield<br />Joined April 19, 2004<br />Last On: Yesterday 6:17 pm<br />Posts Here: 122 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Keep going, sir!<br />I can't wait to see how the Delgado episodes fare with you. I'm just about to start on Monster of Peladon (bloody-mindedness has led me to slot in Ghosts of N-Space first), and I'm now firmly of the opinion that we were fibbed to by the fan elders who say the Master's character was betrayed in the JNT days. He was always preposterous and incomprehensibly motivated (just slightly more amusing, and a closet cockney, in the 70s).<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />My book- <br />The Rise and Rise of the Independents - a television history<br />"Meticulously researched and a compelling read - whether you work in the media or not." - Victor Lewis-Smith.<br /><br />My Unlikely Gig-<br />Presenting BBC Radio 7's Comedy Club 10 pm 'til Midnight, Monday to Friday, 23rd of June to the 10th of July.<br /><br />Currently reading- <br />PROSCRIBED TITLE from PROSCRIBED PUBLISHER. <br /> <br /><br />ianzpotter <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to ianzpotter <br />Send email to ianzpotter <br />Visit ianzpotter's homepage! <br />Find More Posts by ianzpotter <br />Add ianzpotter to Your Contacts <br /><br />#390 6 Feb 2006, 3:27 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:51 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I rewatched episodes one and two on Friday. I'm hoping to get part three done and dusted tomorrow, and then the rest to follow through the week. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#391 6 Feb 2006, 8:35 pm <br />Llama Roddy <br />Bigger than a frog<br /> <br /><br />Hull, England<br />Joined April 19, 2004<br />Posts Here: 1,807 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Hurrah, huzzah and bravo!<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />"If you're normal, I intend to be a freak for the rest of my life." <br /> <br /><br />Llama Roddy <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Llama Roddy <br />Send email to Llama Roddy <br />Find More Posts by Llama Roddy <br />Add Llama Roddy to Your Contacts <br /><br />#392 7 Feb 2006, 10:16 pm <br />Dan Stimson <br />Formerly IceWarrior<br /> <br /><br />Peterborough ..ish.<br />Joined March 25, 2005<br />Last On: 24 Jun 2009 12:51 am<br />Posts Here: 772 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I have just started my own marathon, and wanted to know your experiences of doing one. Were the missing stories really hard going? Were there times when you felt like giving up?<br />What did you do to keep your interest up?<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />'My life ain't nothing like Eastenders' - Dizzee Rascal <br /> <br /><br />Dan Stimson <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dan Stimson <br />Send email to Dan Stimson <br />Find More Posts by Dan Stimson <br />Add Dan Stimson to Your Contacts <br /><br />#393 8 Feb 2006, 1:00 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:51 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by icewarrior <br />I have just started my own marathon, and wanted to know your experiences of doing one. Were the missing stories really hard going? Were there times when you felt like giving up?<br />What did you do to keep your interest up? <br /><br />Well, the missing stories were great for bus or tube journeys. And it's only really the three big batches of thirteen (now reduced to two batches, of course) that are a problem, interest wise. I think the best way to do it could be the way I did. You set yourself a regular time to go through them, and make yourself do it. Get into a habit of it. With breakfast, with dinner, in the car, whatever.<br /><br />Of course, it's slightly easier when you get to the telesnapped stories. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#394 8 Feb 2006, 11:56 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:51 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Inferno 3:<br /><br />Well, sorry for the delay. You'd never guess, but I'd actually travelled over to a parallel dimension. A really weird one where I was an attractive success. The me there was actually much further along (mid way through Ribos Operation iirc). Still, I'm back now.<br /><br />This episode is fairly obviously plot light as it establishes the situation of the parallel world, so it's about time for me to attempt an explanation of why I feel that this parallel universe story works better than all the others I've seen/heard/read. It's simple. It's the only one that underplays it.<br /><br />You see, when you think about it, Inferno barely qualifies as a parallel universe story at all. The story isn't about it in any real sense. This probably sounds a bit bizarre, but analyse it. The actual plot of the episodes doesn't have to take place on an alternative earth. It could take place on any given planet. Heck, it could even take place on ours, without any real changes. The story's only reason to be set on a parallel world is to enable the eventual destruction. For the rest of the story it's not fussed. <br /><br />There's no exploration of the world beyond the walls of the project. We get hints about the nature of the world outside, but the story isn't really interested in looking at them (we hear it's a repulbic, we see what we presume is a leader figure, but that's pretty much it). The story isn't interested in pointing out how different this world is from ours. It's more interested in the specific individual story of a world that is doomed. Even the Doctor has pretty much taken it as commonplace by the end of the episode. <br />Everything else is window dressing. The script is fully aware that it's power has to be derived from the storyline itself and not the novelty value of seeing Nicholas Courtney in an eyepatch.<br /><br />And that's another element. None of the characters are vastly different. In context, remember, the Brigadier is only nine episodes down from blowing up the Silurians. Benton has appeared in, what, five or six episodes with nothing much to say or do. Neither have developed into the warm cuddly figures of the 'family' Pertwee years. The most major differences seem to be a lack of facial hair, and austerity of clothing. Greg and Stahlman in particular seem utterly unchanged (admittedly this is more due to material - it's kind of hard to tell, but I'm pretty certain that Newark's accent is a bit more clipped, a bit posher in this episode). As the story progresses, Liz and Petra join them in the 'broadly similar' camp.<br /><br />The script could easily be set in any random military base, and still tell an interesting story. The Doctor entering a military establishment and being mistrusted is pretty much the entireity of season 5 remember. It could be defined by it's trappings - but it isn't. It's about what could happen to our world (i.e: the drilling) rather than what didn't (the fascist regime). All to often it's hard to care about what happened in alternate worlds that don't exist - 'yes, it may be a fascist regime,' you think, 'but it never happened.' <br /><br />That's why it works better than most others. The 'what if' isn't about the world. We're not asked to marvel at the changes, it's not as interested in them as it is in the ongoing story. They're not the raison d'etre. They're the icing. They're there to add another layer of interest, they compliment, but they are never all the story has. It's fundamentally about a doomsday scenario, rather than about a parallel world. It's a nightmare version of our future, this world, rather than the fascist counterpart. <br /><br />General notes now: This episode is quite a nice little piece, all told. First and foremost, Courtney confirms his reputation by putting in a cracking performance as the Brigade Leader. Compare his take with the new Liz. Section Leader Shaw is generic in a way the B-L never is. Courtney has created a whole new character here, with different body language and an air of arrogance. The character feels new in ways that go beyond the script and the different costume and the eyepatch - it's the physicality, the air of arrogance. <br /><br />The episode does spend its entire length setting up the general premise of the parallel world, giving the viewer plenty of time to get the gist (of course they're probably well ahead of the Doctor on that one). It's a good idea - after plenty of time on the same world, the concept of travel needs establishing. Even then, there are some gorgeous little ideas (the rebirth of Wyatt is a neat riff on the central trick). Beyond this, it still manages to be a surprisingly action packed segment - with Pertwee the only goody in the entire place it gets to play cat and mouse for the entire episode. It's simple chase stuff, but undeniably entertaining and exciting. With multiple threats (soliders and primords) it's pleasingly high staked. So generally, extremely good. Oh and 'well you won't feel the bullets when we shoot you' is one of the best lines the series ever had. Almost certainly the best one not said by the Doctor...<br /><br />The only little niggle I have is how Pertwee manages to recognise Liz from behind when she's in a completely different costume and with new hair. I'm not sure how many of us would be able to do that. Maybe she's got a particularly distinctive arse and the Doctor's been studying it. I dunno. But it's a minor glitch in a simple but intelligent and enjoyable episode. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#395 10 Feb 2006, 5:38 am <br />Max K Wilkie <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Sydney, Australia<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 23 Jun 2009 2:05 pm<br />Posts Here: 54 <br />Posts in OG Forum: 1,175 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />He's back, and it's-*SLAP*<br /><br />Ow. Sorry.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Mind the gap.<br /><br />The Next Doctor - 9/10<br />Planet of the Dead - 7/10 <br /> <br /><br />Max K Wilkie <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Max K Wilkie <br />Send email to Max K Wilkie <br />Find More Posts by Max K Wilkie <br />Add Max K Wilkie to Your Contacts <br /><br />#396 10 Feb 2006, 11:00 am <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I have a distinctive arse. I'll send you a photo some time for comparison.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#397 10 Feb 2006, 2:58 pm <br />ianzpotter <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Sheffield<br />Joined April 19, 2004<br />Last On: Yesterday 6:17 pm<br />Posts Here: 122 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />My suspicion is it looks like the back of a bus.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />My book- <br />The Rise and Rise of the Independents - a television history<br />"Meticulously researched and a compelling read - whether you work in the media or not." - Victor Lewis-Smith.<br /><br />My Unlikely Gig-<br />Presenting BBC Radio 7's Comedy Club 10 pm 'til Midnight, Monday to Friday, 23rd of June to the 10th of July.<br /><br />Currently reading- <br />PROSCRIBED TITLE from PROSCRIBED PUBLISHER. <br /> <br /><br />ianzpotter <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to ianzpotter <br />Send email to ianzpotter <br />Visit ianzpotter's homepage! <br />Find More Posts by ianzpotter <br />Add ianzpotter to Your Contacts <br /><br />#398 10 Feb 2006, 5:17 pm <br />Korvin <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />earth<br />Joined May 24, 2004<br />Last On: 20 Jun 2009 12:44 am<br />Posts Here: 446 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Maybe she's got a particularly distinctive arse and the Doctor's been studying it <br /><br />Sounds plausible to me.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />https://indymedia.org <br /> <br /><br />Korvin <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Korvin <br />Send email to Korvin <br />Visit Korvin's homepage! <br />Find More Posts by Korvin <br />Add Korvin to Your Contacts <br /><br />#399 13 Feb 2006, 3:12 pm <br />brandynigma <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Maidstone, Kent<br />Joined April 21, 2004<br />Last On: Today 6:46 am<br />Posts Here: 1,056 <br />Posts in OG Forum: 1,844 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />As some of you may know, the ABC just finished a near-complete run of the existing stories of Doctor Who. Naturally, some of we Aussies are at a loss after this, so I decided to do something very interesting.<br /><br />I had a 2005 marathon. Rose through to Attack of the Graske, all on a lazy Sunday.<br /><br />It was an extremely emotional journery, and left me more hungry for Doctor Who than ever before.<br /><br />In the same week, my The Beginning box set arrived. As such, I decided, having just finished the latest stuff, why not start from Hartnell? I have a good handul of the recons (must fill in the blanks soon though!), so I set off. For appropriate stories, I'll have a word to say on the extras as well. First up was An Unearthly Child, including the 'pilot' version...<br /><br />Episodes 0/1: An Unearthly Child 5 Stars<br /><br />With so much similarity between the pilot and the transmitted version, I've decided to lump them into a review together. Also, that will give me a chance to compare and contrast the changes. I have to say, I've always preferred the music of the Hartnell titles with the 'thunderclap' effect over the top. Much of a muchness, I know, but it really scary me at 12, and still chills me a bit now!<br /><br />Waris Hussein's camera work is wonderfully effective. The long tracking shot that opens the series, with the music still playing over the top, fills the air with trepidation better than anything else in the episode (and that's not an easy task). Also of interest was the approach to Barbara on her 'nothing in the middle' line is great, and the technique on the flashback sequence (although the performances are technically flawed). I don't know why, but I've always got a kick out of "I can see that red turns to blue" because it's the kind of thing I used to say to my science teachers, and I was a little disappointed not the see it in the initial version. Maybe that one line is why Sydney told them to do it again? <br /><br />I will make no bones about this: Jacqueline Hill is one of my favourite Doctor Who actresses. She captures the part of Barbara here perfectly, being by turns authoritative, open, approachable, intelligent, curious and charming. Hill delivers the line "I get the feeling we're dealing with something that's best left alone" with utter conviction, and it tells us something big is going to happen- and we haven't even met this Doctor Who yet!<br /><br />William Russell is very dishy and just as good as Jacqueline Hill. Until he feels the vibration of the TARDIS, you get the strong impression that while he's suspicious of Susan, he's really just going along to keep Barbara happy. Maybe this is the beginning of their implied relationship? At any rate, the interplay between them inside the ship, with the open Barbara to the sceptical Ian, counterpoints the strengths of their characters and their burgeoning relationship.<br /><br />Carole Ann Ford turns in a strong and yet under stated performance as Susan, really embracing the unearthly aspect of her character. This is undoubtedly strongest in the first version, especially when Susan says "You don't know what you've done coming here" in a voice that sent a shiver down my spine. I thought the ink blot was very interesting, but only as I already knew what the console was- the book was a much better way of getting the idea across in a far more accessible manner.<br /><br />Finally, we come to William Hartnell. From the first moment we see him, looks are deceiving. He enters the yard, coughing and spluttering: an infirm old man. However, as soon as he know he is not alone, he is alert and his senses are primed. This juxtaposition works well for Hartnell. As Verity Lambert points out in the commentary, he was younger than he looked, and so could appear to act 'youthful' for his age. Hartnell rightly commands our attention in every scene he is in. While his 'nasty' first performance is absolutely great, I must agree that the slightly less sinister performance is much much better. We do not warm to the character at all in the pilot version, but are much more ready to understand his reasoning and melancholy in the transmitted version.<br /><br />The professionalism of all four actors is shown brilliantly in the raw studio footage, as they do not react in any way to the doors that bluntly refuse to close, and spend about 3 minutes clanging over their dialogue! It is interesting to note that on the second take, the camera operators take great care to remove the doors from frame as soon as possible. The interplay between the four is instantly involving, with Ian and Barbara connected to but distanced from the Doctor, with Susan acting as intermediary.<br /><br />The set itself is just fantastic, and still has a unique and truly alien feel after all these years. Hussein's original pan and long shot reveals of the room (as well as the fast editing of the entry sequence) add to the authenticity, and the transmitted version is strengthened greatly by the Doctor offering the "television" explanation of fitting a large item in a smaller one. Yes, it's not terribly clear, but it's not supposed to be.<br /><br />Another gripe in the pilot version is that the Doctor and Susan immediately turn to hit their marks after takeoff. Waris' direction fixes this in the second version, which is very good- the earlier movement is very stagey, marring the travel effect. The effect itself is wonderfully eerie, as is the Doctor's nervous face during the sequence, and the prone forms of Ian and Barbara afterwards.<br /><br />Finally, with the ship landed on a stark landscape, a menacing figure overshadows them. OK, the shadow is far too long, but it's still a great ending.<br /><br />Episode 2: The Cave of Skulls 4 Stars<br /><br />This episode serves to join the two stories of the piece: the mystery of the Doctor, Susan and the TARDIS and Ian and Barbara's reaction to them, and the cavemen political drama.<br /><br />The Doctor's total disinterest in Ian and Barbara as he goes off to explore actually helps endear him to us. It makes him not a malignant kidnapper, merely a self-absorbed worried old man. It also allows more information on the TARDIS from Susan, who is far more likely to tell Ian and Barbara (as well as us!) because she likes them.<br /><br />The attack on the Doctor is sudden and frightening, and Ian's motivation for finding the Doctor is starkly pragmatic. There are no need for noble sentiments at this point. Let's face it, Ian has only known the Doctor for about 15 minutes, during which time the Doctor has insulted him, electrocuted him, abducted him and knocked him out. He's lucky Ian needs him at all really!<br /><br />The Cavemen scenes are a lot better than they get much credit for, with Derek Newark particularly captivating. Hur is very intelligent, and Eileen Way as Old Mother is a bit batty (starting a long tradition of eccentric older women in Doctor Who!). While these two women are certainly not treated as well as the men folk, the dialogue and performances are not as misogynistic as they could have been. I can only find any fault with Howard Lang as Horg, who seems to be out of place in a very self-conscious performance. Jeremy Young's Kal is great, desperate to prove himself to the tribe, and also greedy for Za's position. Za and Kal promising the tribe supplies over the Doctor's prone form is wonderfully done, feeling nowadays like Parlimentary Question Time. One wonders if Za would have had so much trouble if he'd just said the making of fire wasn't a core promise?<br /><br />Then, the Doctor wakes up, and he's dropped his matches. The vulnerability of the character again comes to the fore, but is still paired with authority. Kal shows himself to be intelligent, striking the Doctor's hands together to make fire as he had seen done earlier. The melee scene is visually impressive, though as the Information Text points out, not a punch is thrown, just a lot of people pushing and shoving. This is very clever directing on Hussein's part, and works on force of numbers (about 16 people tussling on a small screen). The Doctor's saving of Ian is brilliant as well, finally showing the compassionate and life affirming side of the character we've all come to know and love.<br /><br />In the titular cave, the Doctor apologises to Barbara, further hinting at the humane depths of the character. The travellers are bound and make a shocking discovery- the skulls have all been split open. Another very chilling ending, and it's the second week running where the audience are left without much of a clue what's going to happen next! This is actually rivetting stuff!<br /><br />Episode 3: The Forest of Fear 4 Stars<br /><br />Our heroes are still as tied up as when we left them, bless. The characters continue to develop under duress, the writer's old friend. It is here a slow trust starts building between the teachers and the aliens. The Doctor's advice to Ian (to try a fragment of bone, and also to get himself free first) and Barbara (to memorise the route to the TARDIS tokeep herself calm) builds him up not only in their esteem, but in ours.<br /><br />Old Mother is given a great moment when she frees the prisoners, telling them fire will only bring death to the tribe. While The Daleks is more often and rightly credited, this is probably Doctor Who's first strong message about pacifism. This is further brought to the fore when Za and later Kal both attack Old Mother for effectively denying them fire, and that it also results in her death. Hur again shows her wily side, convincing Za that it is better to expose Old Mother in the act of helping the strangers as it will give him power. It really is very political, innit?<br /><br />Then, the chase is on. The group's morale deteriorates in the night-time forest, with Barbara's inner strength and the Doctor's friendlier side the first casualties. Ian steps up to lead, much to the Doctor's chagrin, but this doesn't make him back down. We know that the group can work together- but whether they want to is another matter, and this adds a very juicy area of complication to an already tense atmosphere. A scream from Barbara brings Za and Hur to them. With our hereos in hiding, the animal that scared Barbara attacks Za- bringing another great character moment.<br /><br />Barbara and Susan force the Doctor and Ian to help tend to Za. Hur's suspicion is wonderfully acted, as is Barbara's indignation at likening Za to an animal. Most interesting the Doctor's reaction to the problem. He initially helps, seemingly intrigued by Za as a scientist would be by a lab rat. However, as carrying Za might be a danger to him, he picks up a rock to do him in! Ian stops him, and there are no words. There is no need. The performances, expression and direction of the actors carry the intent perfectly. This is shocking to us. Although we have seen the Doctor be both cruel and kindly in these episodes, we have never seen him this cold. Ian's interference does prompt an unsure reaction, but this is still a case of showing us that we don't really know our hero just yet.<br /><br />Meanwhile, the rest of the tribe is after them, and they must hurry back to the TARDIS. However, the tribe has beaten them to it, and raise their spears in challenge. Still a good ending, but not as effective as the previous two. More purely functional than stylised. Still, the story is cracking away.<br /><br />Episode 4: The Fire Maker 5 Stars<br /><br />The opening scene is another great political moment, and a defining one for the Doctor. The Doctor chooses to defeat Kal by use of the caveman's own deeds, and it is, in my opinion, the morally right thing to do. True, the Doctor has his life and freedom to worry about and this is part of his motivation- but the Old Woman's death is still avenged. The Doctor and Ian working together is quite a warm moment, and the first real sense of them working as a team because there is a degree of wanting to, rather than having to. This also introduces the tribe to the concept of working together for a common purpose, another theme that would constantly crop up in Doctor Who. And our very first capture-escape-capture! They couldn't go more than four weeks...<br /><br />Finally, someone tries to make some fire. That someone is Ian, and it is for the very good reason that the lives of the four travellers depend on it. Doctor Who again shows its belief in equality when the Doctor and Ian state that everyone should be watching so that everyone is on an equal footing, but Za just can't understand why he would want that. Newark's reaction to the fire is inspired, and he must have gotten close enough to singe his eyebrows! The same is true when Za presents fire to the tribe, and they all hold their hands up captivated. Well, except one little boy who just seems captivated to be on TV, the cute little thing. Bottom right of the shot, I believe.<br /><br />The final fight between Za and Kal is brutal and uncompromising, again down to the fine performances and film direction (handled by Douglas Camfield). The actors conjure a true sense of blood lust, both characters are aware that this is a fight to the death, and Kal's final moments are chilling. The travellers are as shocked as we are. For the timeslot, you'll never see this kind of fight on Power Rangers. Pity really. I could live with seeing Austin St John in animal furs.<br /><br />Of course, Za doesn't let them go, instead 'inviting' them to stay with his tribe. We again see a great gulf in the thought processes of the modern heroes and the cavemen, and this marks a great thing about these scripts. The tribe are not presented as unintelligent. Lacking in 20th Century social conscience sure, but certainly not stupid. Za doesn't understand why they want to leave because he sees his tribe as the apex of what they could want: shelter, food, water, protection and an early form of community. He doesn't know their world, and so doesn't realise why they miss it. As there is no point of reference to explain the TARDIS as there was with Ian and Barbara, it would be pointless even to begin to explain.<br /><br />Instead, the crew decide to turn tribal points of reference against them. Fire is a symbol of power. The skulls also clearly have significance, and Za is aware that a head injury is pretty much fatal. The escape plan is inspired, and once again showcases the desired use of ingenuity over simple solutions in the series. The firey skulls are very effective, but you have to wonder- would the tribe really sit there for half an hour being terrified until one fell over?<br /><br />The chase through the forest mimics that in the previous episode, especially with Ian and Barbara. Barbara has grown noticably in these episodes alone: when she falls here, she is helped up and carries right on, rather than panicking. Finally, as they enter the ship, the pursuing tribe launch their attack. Too late though folks- the TARDIS is off again.<br /><br />The landing is very soon afterwards, and it is importantly established that without the right information and programming, the Doctor has scant control over his ship. This further removes the nastier edges of the Doctor, without destroying his mystery or (as we willl see) dangerous power. However, he's aware of the need for some quiet time after their ordeal, and the group move off shortly after landing. Unknown to them, the radiation is lethal outside- and we have to tune in next time to find out what will happen! Very exciting indeed!<br /><br />Overall Comments: An Unearthly Child/The Tribe of Gum/100,000BC/Serial A 4.5 Stars<br />A great and varied script. More easily viewed as a game of two halves: Episode 1, and the other three. Great performances all around, with the tribe giving it their all, being utterly convincing, and still not getting in the way of the regulars. Definitely the start of something big.<br /><br /><br />Next Time: The Daleks/The Dead Planet/The Mutants/Beyond the Sun/Serial B<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />Last edited by brandynigma; 13 Feb 2006 at 3:17 pm. <br /> <br /><br />brandynigma <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to brandynigma <br />Send email to brandynigma <br />Visit brandynigma's homepage! <br />Find More Posts by brandynigma <br />Add brandynigma to Your Contacts <br /><br />#400 15 Feb 2006, 1:28 pm <br />bingo99 <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Joined April 25, 2004<br />Last On: Today 3:28 am<br />Posts Here: 650 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Wonderful stuff brandynigma. But perhaps you could start your own thread of reviews. The idea of this thread is that it's reserved for Dorney's reviews. <br /><br />Cheers<br />bingo99<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Reviewing every story randomly <br />Currently under review - The Mutants <br /><br />15 Feb 2006, 10:14 pm <br />Llama Roddy <br />Bigger than a frog<br /> <br /><br />Hull, England<br />Joined April 19, 2004<br />Posts Here: 1,807 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />But perhaps you could start your own thread of reviews. <br /><br />Or join this one.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />"If you're normal, I intend to be a freak for the rest of my life." <br /> <br /><br />Llama Roddy <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Llama Roddy <br />Send email to Llama Roddy <br />Find More Posts by Llama Roddy <br />Add Llama Roddy to Your Contacts <br /><br />#402 16 Feb 2006, 1:19 am <br />brandynigma <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Maidstone, Kent<br />Joined April 21, 2004<br />Last On: Today 6:46 am<br />Posts Here: 1,056 <br />Posts in OG Forum: 1,844 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by bingo99 <br />Wonderful stuff brandynigma. But perhaps you could start your own thread of reviews. The idea of this thread is that it's reserved for Dorney's reviews. <br /><br />Cheers<br />bingo99 <br /><br />I don't mean to be rude Bingo, but I did specifically seek out and wholeheartedly receive Dorney's permission to post my reviews here. I didn't see the point in starting what would essentially be a duplicate thread. <br /> <br /><br />brandynigma <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to brandynigma <br />Send email to brandynigma <br />Visit brandynigma's homepage! <br />Find More Posts by brandynigma <br />Add brandynigma to Your Contacts <br /><br />#403 16 Feb 2006, 11:23 am <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Besides, somebody else used to have their reviews running alongside Dorney's all the way back to the original Hartnell review thread, and it worked happily enough. <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#404 16 Feb 2006, 5:54 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:53 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by The Secretive Bus <br />Besides, somebody else used to have their reviews running alongside Dorney's all the way back to the original Hartnell review thread, and it worked happily enough. <br /><br />My theory was that, with my monumental slackness and occassional busyness, it might help if somebody else poepped in to bolster the thread occasionally.<br /><br />I still miss Zpotter, anyway.... <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#405 17 Feb 2006, 9:53 am <br />ianzpotter <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Sheffield<br />Joined April 19, 2004<br />Last On: Yesterday 6:17 pm<br />Posts Here: 122 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Bless you. Just finished Pyramids this morning, see how much quicker it gets when you don't have to share your opinions! <br />Here's a token offering - Exothermic, solenoids, tribophysics (hello Boom Town), Kasterborous, isomorphic and crucible, just some of the great words Holmes gives us here. There's a lovely pleasure in the sound of language in this season generally that's a world away from the 'increase your word power' verbosity of Pip and Jane. <br />Incidentally I have no problem with the Osirian warning message being sent in English the big 'flub' so many people whinge about (it's only just been triggered by the opening of the tomb, and the Osirians seem easily technologically advanced enough to be able to automatically transmit in the dominant language of the culture that opened the tomb.)<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />My book- <br />The Rise and Rise of the Independents - a television history<br />"Meticulously researched and a compelling read - whether you work in the media or not." - Victor Lewis-Smith.<br /><br />My Unlikely Gig-<br />Presenting BBC Radio 7's Comedy Club 10 pm 'til Midnight, Monday to Friday, 23rd of June to the 10th of July.<br /><br />Currently reading- <br />PROSCRIBED TITLE from PROSCRIBED PUBLISHER. <br /> <br /><br />ianzpotter <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to ianzpotter <br />Send email to ianzpotter <br />Visit ianzpotter's homepage! <br />Find More Posts by ianzpotter <br />Add ianzpotter to Your Contacts <br /><br />#406 23 Feb 2006, 12:33 am <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:53 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Inferno 4:<br /><br />Let's start with the end. Like Ambassadors 2, Inferno 4 is, first and foremost, memorable for an absolute corker of a cliffhanger. Once again, we can see that the skill of a cliffhanger isn't in the writing - it's in the direction.<br /><br />The cliffhanger of this episode is all about context, and not about content. On every conceivable level the 'threat' is nebulous at best. What exactly is going to happen when the crust is penetrated? What exactly does it mean when the Doctor says 'the sound of the planet screaming out it's rage'?<br /><br />It isn't clear. It isn't even clear if the Doctor knows - notice the way that, five minutes before the end of the episode, with thirty five minutes left on the countdown, the Doctor is still only bothered about having a kip. He isn't actually trying to escape and prevent the countdown, he has no plan - he's presented with an opportunity, but even when he's broken into the central control, he still lines up with the other guards for a moment before attempting any sabotage.<br /><br />The reason the cliffhanger works is clearly not about what it is, but how it's done. The final five minutes or so are a masterpiece of suspense. They're broadly silent, and broadly lacking in action. We have a sequence of shots that illustrate people filling in time, waiting for something to happen. That's what this section is about - waiting for something to happen. That is what we, the audience, are doing. Seconds of inactivity suggest that something is coming. The vocal ticking clock of the countdown emphasises exactly how long we have to wait. And in deed, the very ambiguity of the set up adds to the power of the sequence - we know something is coming, but we don't know what it is. The air of menace, the constant doom mongering of the Doctor, Greg and Gold add up to an air of wrongness. When Hitchcock made his classic film Blackmail, he talked about the famous sequence with a boy carrying a bomb onto a bus and rightly pointed out that suspense is waiting (obviously, the word is derived from the same root as 'suspend'). 'Apprehensive expectation', according to the dictionary. The longer the period of expectation, the more unbearable it comes. The ratcheting of tension in the last few moments with the threats to the Doctor, all played with the booming voice of the countdown in the background (beautifully underplayed and unemphasised - the numbers are almost incidental to the scene), add to the sense that everything is rushing to a head.<br /><br />The absolute stroke of genius though comes in the end. Hitchcock always said his mistake in Blackmail was letting the bomb go off. It takes the audience off the hook. The suspense dissipates. Here, the masterful gesture is the cliffhanger ending before we know what's going to happen. But when we know it is going to happen, with no way to stop it. Letting the credits start before we've even heard the 'one' properly (and just, if you listen hard, the first sound of 'zero'), makes this one of the greatest cliffhangers ever.<br /><br />This all comes first because, generally, this is a fairly standard mid story episode, and there isn't much to add. What plot there is is just holding off until we hit the last five minutes or so, and before that it's fairly regular interrogation/prison stuff, that doesn't exactly push the story forward (though, unusually, this isn't really a 'plot' story at all - it's about atmosphere, character and context). Watched episodically, the lack of 'parallel world' identity is even clearer - only the brief questioning of Liz at the beginning couldn't take place in some season 5 base under siege story. If you can visualise the characters as seperate from the regulars (and Courtney clearly makes this easy for you), it feels like just another story - albeit, a bloody well made one.<br /><br />Which does make it a touch disappointing that the need is felt to have a brief flashback to 'our' world. It doesn't really add too much to the plot apart from establishing that things haven't really progressed. <br /><br />The only other real point to make is that the Greg/Petra subplot is being nicely developed. Odd to see characters who have little real interaction with the Doctor being given the chance to have a little bit of an arc, but there you go. What's also nice is that the two of them have a subtly different relationship to the one in the 'real' world, but with a similar feel. Quite some subtlety there.<br /><br />So, not much going on, but still excellently made television, with quality performances, but mainly tonnes of atmosphere.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />______________________________________<br />A Ploppycock, a kid's TV show, Spielberg's Alien Admiral Calavicci<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />Last edited by Dorney; 23 Feb 2006 at 12:35 am. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#407 23 Feb 2006, 9:51 am <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />When Hitchcock made his classic film Blackmail, he talked about the famous sequence with a boy carrying a bomb onto a bus and rightly pointed out that suspense is waiting (obviously, the word is derived from the same root as 'suspend')... <br /><br />Following your other reviews in this thread, I have to ask - is this the only Hitchcock film you've ever seen or what? <br /><br />Besides that, looking forward to seeing you complete season 7. <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#408 24 Feb 2006, 9:52 am <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:53 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by The Secretive Bus <br />Following your other reviews in this thread, I have to ask - is this the only Hitchcock film you've ever seen or what? <br /><br />Besides that, looking forward to seeing you complete season 7. <br /><br />I wasn't sure whether I'd mentioned it or not! Poo... that's what you get when it's about three months between each post... <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#409 24 Feb 2006, 11:00 am <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I reckon I'll let you off, just this once. <br /><br />Hope you feel better soon, John.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#410 24 Feb 2006, 12:50 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:53 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Cheers Bus.<br /><br />I'm sure I'll be fine in time, but at the moment I'm just incredibly fed up with the way life seems to be going. It's annoying because I'm usually positive. The accident was just another kick. Just feeling terribly down.<br /><br />Having said all that, there's the potential for something fab in the next couple of weeks - only now I'm dreading that, cos if it doesn't come off, I'll be incredibly low. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#411 24 Feb 2006, 4:12 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />Having said all that, there's the potential for something fab in the next couple of weeks - only now I'm dreading that, cos if it doesn't come off, I'll be incredibly low. <br /><br />Paul McCartney winning Survivor?<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#412 24 Feb 2006, 6:25 pm <br />bingo99 <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Joined April 25, 2004<br />Last On: Today 3:28 am<br />Posts Here: 650 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by brandynigma <br />I don't mean to be rude Bingo, but I did specifically seek out and wholeheartedly receive Dorney's permission to post my reviews here. I didn't see the point in starting what would essentially be a duplicate thread. <br /><br />Much apologies, never spotted that.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Reviewing every story randomly <br />Currently under review - The Mutants <br /> <br /><br />bingo99 <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to bingo99 <br />Send email to bingo99 <br />Visit bingo99's homepage! <br />Find More Posts by bingo99 <br />Add bingo99 to Your Contacts <br /><br />#413 25 Feb 2006, 2:48 am <br />brandynigma <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Maidstone, Kent<br />Joined April 21, 2004<br />Last On: Today 6:46 am<br />Posts Here: 1,056 <br />Posts in OG Forum: 1,844 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />Having said all that, there's the potential for something fab in the next couple of weeks - only now I'm dreading that, cos if it doesn't come off, I'll be incredibly low. <br /><br />Big hugs for Dorney.<br /><br />In a manly, Australian sort of way.<br /><br />OK, so I can only manage the Australian part...<br /><br /><br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by bingo99 <br />Much apologies, never spotted that. <br /><br />No worries Bingo, is all good. My main problem is that I'm halfway through reviewing The Daleks, but I just finished watching The Velvet Web! <br /> <br /><br />brandynigma <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to brandynigma <br />Send email to brandynigma <br />Visit brandynigma's homepage! <br />Find More Posts by brandynigma <br />Add brandynigma to Your Contacts <br /><br />#414 1 Mar 2006, 6:15 am <br />Max K Wilkie <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Sydney, Australia<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 23 Jun 2009 2:05 pm<br />Posts Here: 54 <br />Posts in OG Forum: 1,175 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by brandynigma <br />Big hugs for Dorney.<br /><br />In a manly, Australian sort of way.<br /><br />OK, so I can only manage the Australian part... <br /><br />Very much ditto!<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Mind the gap.<br /><br />The Next Doctor - 9/10<br />Planet of the Dead - 7/10 <br /> <br /><br />Max K Wilkie <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Max K Wilkie <br />Send email to Max K Wilkie <br />Find More Posts by Max K Wilkie <br />Add Max K Wilkie to Your Contacts <br /><br />#415 1 Mar 2006, 12:45 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:53 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />By the way, I think when I've finished Inferno, I might change the format slightly until I get a new computer. My thinking is that I'd go back to the style of the latter reviews I did of Evil of the Daleks - overview plus individual episode notes. <br /><br />In many ways this is a more interesting way to do it, as it means I don't end up repeating myself with the longer stories (and with plenty of six parters on the horizon that has to be a good thing...) <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#416 1 Mar 2006, 4:29 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Maybe it's just me but I rarely think that you ever repeat yourself. <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#417 31 Mar 2006, 7:50 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:53 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Inferno 5:<br /><br />Well, it's ironic that I've been repetitive with my Hitchcock references, as this time I'm going to use another one. A rather more famous Hitchcock film than Blackmail too.<br /><br />This episode of Who is one of the most plotless ever written. The story only really progresses in two ways - firstly, the Doctor persuading the others to let him escape, and secondly, the transformation of Stahlman etc. into Primords.<br /><br />Now, it's hard not to feel that that kind of progress would take less than ten minutes in most stories. Heck, I'm sure the new series would do it in about a minute and a half. So why is this still a gripping episode that flies by?<br /><br />When you come to think about it, the entire story is fairly plotless. The Doctor has a few arguments in our world, gets transported to another world and has a few more. Or, even more simply, the Doctor tries to stop drilling twice. Once he fails, once he succeeds. Everything else is window dressing. Remember, there's no 'villain' per se in this script (despite their moral ambiguity, the previous two stories have the Young Silurian and Regan at least as villainous focuses, plotting and planning). The closest we get, Stahlman, doesn't have an 'evil plan', he's just a grumpy man, drilling - and we know he's drilling five minutes into episode one. That element of the story doesn't really go anywhere. The Primords are a sap to keep us excited and involved, but that's all. Even the transportation to a parallel world doesn't really change the direction the story is pointed in fairly early on. There are complications, but no real 'twists', in the strictest sense.<br /><br />So how does it fill in the time. One word: detail. The characterisation is a facet of this, but the story is rooted in detail. The story fascinates us by covering every element of the storyline in extreme detail.<br /><br />For example, Sutton and the Doctor's abortive attempt to stop the drill. Though you can tell that this would happen, it's not exactly vital to the storytelling and is the sort of detail that would be skipped in a faster version of the same storyline. Likewise, the Doctor's demonstration of the TARDIS' abilities is uneccesary but logical. <br /><br />Everything is extrapolated logically from the central point. The story reminds me very much of some of the writing of Stephen King. On at least two occasions, King has written novella's that are basically apocalyptic (The Langoliers and the Mist), and the stories focus, not on the global catastrophe, but on the individual trying to survive. But the most obvious and famous comparison is the movie The Birds. All these stories are about survival. And they all work in the same way. It is established early on that the plot is not A to Z, via B, C, etc. It is simply A to B. Going from peril to (relative) safety.<br /><br />All stories are about the struggle for survival. But the tension is derived from the detail. In each, the destination is not as important as the journey. The plot is the journey. The focus narrows down because in a truly desperate struggle, getting from one side of the room to the other is just as difficult as blowing up a spaceship. Every little element, every tiniest piece, is dwelt on and dealt with to make the small journey into something bigger. Focus on the small and the simple journey becomes epic - making this story that rare thing, an epic in miniature. <br /><br />Hence it's rivetting nature. It helps, of course, that there's still time to explore characters through their interaction - the increasing derangement of the Brigade-Leader reminds you of how good an actor Courtney can be, for example. In deed, with the Doctor carrying what little plot there is, being relatively straightforward, the dramatic showboating is left to the Brigade Leader and Sutton, exploring the moral dilemmas and the depths of their characters. It's possible to point to the strength of their characterisation as being more important to this story's success than Pertwee. He roots it, they drive it. Without an active villain figure, the tension of the story, the dramatic conflict is voiced by these two characters. You are involved in the struggle because of the other people, less so with the Doctor. And that makes sense - they're the one's in desperate peril. They're the one's taking risks. <br /><br />Some good bits and bad bits feature in this episode. A couple of cracking shots (the reveal of primord Stahlman is gorgeous - shame the make up's so weak). There's a casual horror about Stahlman shoving technicians head first into goo. But in contrast, we have the weird step of the Doctor telling everyone to escape the monsters by nipping into a room with one door, as opposed to the more sensible 'going outside', the cross world flash to Keith Gold, which is the only part of this episode that isn't detailed and meticulous and as a result is the only part that genuinely feels like padding - and the bizarre sight of the third Doctor fighting ineptly, and getting an ass-whupping. But they can't distract from the whole. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#418 1 Apr 2006, 12:37 am <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Good grief, it's a Day-by-Month review! <br /><br />Glad you're back. <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#419 2 Apr 2006, 1:20 am <br />Xipuloxx <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Belfast, Northern Ireland<br />Joined October 31, 2005<br />Last On: Today 8:58 pm<br />Posts Here: 299 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Aha! He's back!<br /><br />I haven't posted in this thread before, but I was following it and enjoying it, and it's good to see it's not dead. Welcome back, Dorney!<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Fear Me, for I am Quaadzelaan Xipuloxx! All hail Xipuloxx the Unsound!<br /><br />(But you can call me Mark.)<br /><br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by sparacus <br />Of course I'm entirely serious. I teach History. <br /> <br /> <br /><br />Xipuloxx <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Xipuloxx <br />Send email to Xipuloxx <br />Find More Posts by Xipuloxx <br />Add Xipuloxx to Your Contacts <br /><br />#420 13 Apr 2006, 12:54 am <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:53 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Inferno 6:<br /><br />Well, if I thought part five didn't have much plot, it's War and Peace compared to part six.<br /><br />With all the major plot decisions decided by the end of episode five (who's going to do what, etc.) this episode is just about them doing it. It's clear that the actual mechanics required are expanded/complicated until the episode's full rather than through any specific logic (Petra's initial abandonment of the wiring being a clear case in point). The plot of the episode is, by and large, a lot of people doing some wiring.<br /><br />But it's still riveting. Things to remember here are that this remains probably one of only two Who stories without a villain. I've said this before, but I think it's worth reiterating here as Stahlman makes no real impact on this episode. The man is pig headed and bullish, but not evil, and not working to an evil end. Everyone talks about the shades of grey of Malcolm Hulke's villains - but it's not quite accurate. They're still villains, just properly motivated. Stahlman is unpleasant, but not bad.<br /><br />The other story is The Empty Child. The second episode of that story shares some important features with this episode. There are 'monsters' (in reality, mutated humans), part of a more global threat, and the story follows one small band of people trying to save the day. And that explains why it works. The story is about the regular people desperately trying to cope. Not about good vs. evil. It's about ordinary people becoming good.<br /><br />Once again, a long script uses it's extra time to explore character. But here, almost uniquely, the story is the character. Ironically for a story often voted as amongst the very best the series has to offer, Inferno isn't about the Doctor. His role through most of the last two episodes has been to push the occasional button. The heroes of this episode are clearly the humans, Sutton in particular. The story is an exploration of humanity under crisis. How some are pushed to staggering bravery, and others to monumental cowardice. About how crisis reveals our true selves.<br /><br />For once, the humans are the one's braving everything to save the day. The Doctor really isn't. That's why this story affects us. It's absolutely about humanity, about us. Ordinary people trying to save the world, due to the Doctor's influence. It brings home the wisdom of RTD's thought processes in the latest season to have characters save the day because of the Doctor rather than him doing it himself (of course he can, he's an amazing alien - what's uplifting or affecting or dramatic about that?) Sutton and, to a lesser degree, Petra remain two of the most unsung support characters in the history of the show - simply due to their ordinariness. <br /><br />It does help that they have an example of the undesirable to play off in Nicholas Courtney's wonderfully hystrionic, increasingly deranged Brig - a glorious tour de force performance that reminds you how good an actor he is (even if it clearly takes him some time to get into it - the Brigade Leader is clearly more in control in the location shots mid episode than the studio shots at the top and tail). The face off he has with Sutton is pure bully brought down to size, the small man losing his power, and is one of the most high pressure scenes we've scene (good enough that you forgive the slightly shoddy fight that follows). His cowardice is their mainly as a control to remind you just how selfless and heroic the others are.<br /><br />Well, maybe not Liz. It's a shame that Liz sort of get's sidelined, only really still around because she's one of the regular's, rather than her having a role to play in this final episode. She wanders around being sardonic, but only really get's proactive with her killing the Brigade Leader. Whilst this all fits, she's a little redundant - the disabling of the Brig could have been done by Petra.<br /><br />It's a shame, because earlier in the episode (in the real world scene with Greg) Caroline John does some of her finest work - there's a real underplayed sadness to her answers that's genuinely quite affecting. It's the only bit really worthwhile in the flash-sideways, which still seems like desperate padding, and only really serves to break down the claustrophobia and building tension in the other world (fortunately it's early enough in the episode for the momentum to be regained).<br /><br />I'd made some notes for this episode, but they've vanished in an internet **** up, so I'll just finish by praising the music. I don't think I've ever noticed it before. Suddenly, the moment the plot goes into massive high stakes, the music drops down to a quiet menacing level, and it's hugely effective. The cliffhanger for part four and these last two episode in particular benefit. I think someone said it's all stock... somewhat ironic.<br /><br /><br />liz music <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#421 13 Apr 2006, 1:05 am <br />Max K Wilkie <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Sydney, Australia<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 23 Jun 2009 2:05 pm<br />Posts Here: 54 <br />Posts in OG Forum: 1,175 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Hooray! He's back!<br /><br />Again.<br /><br />I really find it fascinating reading your reviews, Dorney - since I don't really think about much of the sorts of things you put into your reviews after watching a story (I'm not critical enough, really), so it really does interest me to see what other people think. And you're so good at it.<br /><br />Keep up the good work!<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Mind the gap.<br /><br />The Next Doctor - 9/10<br />Planet of the Dead - 7/10 <br /> <br /><br />Max K Wilkie <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Max K Wilkie <br />Send email to Max K Wilkie <br />Find More Posts by Max K Wilkie <br />Add Max K Wilkie to Your Contacts <br /><br />#422 14 Apr 2006, 4:55 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:53 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />This will seem like glorious indulgence but...<br /><br />Either nine or ten (can't remember) of my Hartnell reviews got wiped in the Ezboard hacking that happened ages ago. By pure chance, whilst spring cleaning my folks computer, I found one of those existed. Ironically, it's Tenth Planet 4, so I'm going to reprint it here. <br /><br />When Inferno is finished (today, hopefully), to plug the gap until I get computered up (soon, hopefully), I'll repost some of the old Day by Day reviews too...<br /><br />The Tenth Planet 4:<br /><br />Much the same as last time really. The story I am reminded most of is the Crusade – another story that doesn’t actually have a story of it’s own as such. That continues here. Each episode of the Tenth Planet remains a separate individual, a series of riffs on a basic theme, rather than a plot. Hence, despite the Cybermen reappearing, they seem to have changed their plan completely (now they’re just going to blow up the Earth). The thoughts and concerns of episode 3 (the Doctor’s illness, Cutler’s mania) are all resolved terribly swiftly and brushed under the carpet.<br /><br />It is pretty much this lack of coherence that’s the only major flaw of the story. This is, as far as I recall, the first proper base under siege story, a Troughton story in all but Doctor. They’ve just forgotten to give an overarching scheme to the story. The goodies aren’t trying to defeat the Cybermen, they’re just trying to stay alive til the Cybermen defeat themselves. Survival as a theme works quite well, but without a clear overall intention, it just seems to be a series of set pieces, individually resolved, then followed by another, without any build or logic. And ultimately, that’s all this episode is – setting up a few new plots, then switching them off one by one - and giving lip service to some of them too – the sudden arrival in about a minute of a new Cyberman spacecraft allowing them to get into the base is daft, and the suggestion that the Cybermen are all over the world is laughable. We never really feel this, there’s just one hanging around an office in Geneva (what exactly is this Cyberman up to there? How is whatever their plans are require someone to hang around and deal with the bureaucracy?). The story never feels like a global threat (The War Machines at least made it feel like a national emergency). The new Z-Bomb plot is all right, but it’s still just marking time. The characters never really affect the story in any way (they interact with the time wasting set-pieces, Cutler most obviously, but they never affect the overall plot, i.e: the arrival of Mondas). This is especially true of the Doctor, Ben and Polly. It’s sort of legit to have supporting roles fail to affect the outcome of a plot, but to have no character at all affect it, not even the leads is appalling.<br /><br />The Cutler thread is polished off nicely – he’s really gone into barking madman mode, the good man pushed to the brink and over by circumstance. His threatening to kill the Doctor, a threat from a character who is not inherently evil in the series tradition remember, is deeply disturbing. You get the sense that this is echoing themes of the Cybermen – that good intentions do not necessarily equal good results. That we are all just a specific set of circumstances away from being dangerous, or evil, or cruel. What makes it all the more sad is the fact that his son, the threat to whom is the root cause of his increasing fanaticism, survives the story. Had he listened to the Doctor, he’d be alive.<br /><br />The Cybermen of this episode make less impact than in the second. They seem so much easier to defeat now, less intimidating and strong. Now they can’t enter a room because they know it’ll damage them, and they drain away the second Mondas goes up in smoke. They retain interest in their emotionless manner (though Hawkins is not as good at the voices as Skelton), but now they are actively in ‘destroy the world’ mode, they have become something more like a standard baddy, than the amoral figures unaware of how unacceptable their ideas were in part two.<br /><br />The ending eventually turns up – and you can’t help but feel that it’s just there because Davis wrote himself into a hole, or he ran out of filler material – and just decides to switch the story off. In exactly the way the script suggested at the beginning of part three. It’s a terrible climax, to a moderately entertaining, if never great script.<br /><br />Finally, we get to the regeneration. Foreshadowed, seemingly at random, in episode three, it’s a surprise to see the Doctor up and active right at the start of this one – alert as ever (with psychic awareness of the plans that have been made whilst he’s unconscious too!) But he’s drifted again by the time he’s in the Cybership, and he doesn’t really get all the much to do for the last few minutes except stagger around and look tired.<br /><br />It’s weird though. The cliffhanger doesn’t quite have the sudden shock aspect you might expect. OK, it makes you want to see what happens next – but in an era when the Doctor can be seen in danger at the end of any given story, this still could be a regular cliffhanger, mainly due to the lack of weight attached to the moment. For such a seismic shift, it’s treated casually, and comes out of left field. The 1st Doctor’s gone before you know it. As with any such paradigm shift, I doubt I’ll be surprised til a few episodes down the line – the moment when it really will feel like he’s not coming back.<br /><br />So there we are. Hartnell, done and dusted. I don’t think I’d really appreciated his Doctor before, and that’s tragic. He’s one of the most effortlessly likeable leads the series has had. There’s also no clearly definable ‘1st Doctor’ character, with him veering schizophrenically from one extreme to another – the grumpy loner, the wise sage, the giggling nutter, the playful child. It’s all there. But at the same time, somehow, he manages to make them all work (for all my talk, they always co-exist, this is a Doctor of contradictions – watch the grumpy angry Doctor at the start of Edge 2, watch him go to calm thoughtful human by the end of that episode, to giggling away like a maniac at the end of Marco Polo 1, the very next episode). You warm to the character easily, because he’s always in the right, or understandably wrong. He is us as we would want to be, with all our quirks and eccentricities. It’s a multi-layered performance, a fully rounded individual capable of all the extremes that we are. A character that is alive, reacting to the surroundings, rather than being definable by one word. Sweet, lovable, authoratitive… I could go on. Any quality you could want in any lead at all he has. He’s like every great hero rolled into one.<br /><br />Ultimately, favourite or not, Hartnell is the Doctor. What we perceive that character to be is down to him. The sense of fun, the sense of madness, weirdness, the alien-ness. All Hartnell. God bless him. Sir, I salute you. Rest in peace <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#423 14 Apr 2006, 7:29 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:53 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Inferno 7:<br /><br />After my previous comparisons to The Empty Child, there are further ones to be had here. They can be summed up in one word. Hope. Simply put, they are two of the most optimistic and hopeful Doctor Who stories we've seen (I know that must sound odd considering it's one of the few stories to kill off a planet full of people, but read on). Both have no real villains, just misguided men , so are celebrating the basic goodness of humanity (or at least, have no belief in evil per se) and both feature the Doctor witnessing the 'deaths' of many, and then being able to take it all back (note the air of sadness about Stahlman's death at the end - the one significant character from our world who doesn't make it to the end - even he's granted a moment of sympathy from the audience, both here, and his brilliantly anguished expression as he is about to paw himself with green slime, where it's clear he's horrified at what he's doing. No one dimensional bad guy, he).<br /><br />The key line of this episode is the Doctors: 'So free will is not an illusion after all.' It's an odd line for the Doctor to say, if we're being honest, as the alternative to free will (fate) seems to be a little non-scientific for him. If anything, it's the author summing up the message of the piece. <br /><br />Again, somewhat noticeably, the Doctor is in the background of the episode, and the focus is on the humans. This isn't just because the Doctor is unconscious for the first eleven minutes, it's more to do with the fact that he actually does very little. For all his grandstanding in part six, saying that 'the probably wouldn't have listened to me', he doesn't actually put up that good a case. He just turns up with a big spanner and starts smashing things. Rather than trying to explain the situation to the Brigadier and Liz (who in this world would believe him implicitly), he decides that the best route is to act like a demented madman. For goodness sake, he doesn't even go that berserk in the other reality!<br /><br />As it is, he gives just enough information that the humans are able to solve the problem for themselves, Liz fixing the computer, Petra interpreting it, Sir Keith authorising the shutdown. The only part of the process the Doctor is actually needed for (when he saunters in, casually) is to cut out the slowed brakes, and that feels like a tag on just for him - and even then, it's emphasised that he does it with Greg (incidentally, if there's one flaw in this episode, it's that there's none of part fours air of build up to the countdown's conclusion - there's none of the desperate panice, and you only realise how tight it is when there's a minute to go - the last you're aware, it's three hours away!). The Doctor goes off on his own to deal with the one lingering plotline of the infected Bromley (quite a nice shock, because you do forget he's around) but beyond that all the action in this episode is about the human's saving themselves (albeit prompted by the Doctor). And that's the message of hope. We don't need an alien to rescue us, we can do it ourselves. We just need to be pointed the right way.<br /><br />Generally, this air of a theme reaching it's conclusion means that the potentially anti-climactic lurch back to our world doesn't jar. The hope and sacrifice in the previous two episodes leads into it perfectly, and the ten or so Doctor-less minutes merely emphasise this. The simple scenes between Greg and Petra, for example, are light of touch and make it one of the most satisfying romances in the series.<br /><br />There's also a nice sprinkling of humour - the Doctor's comment to the Brigadier about looking better with his moustache is a lovely call back to the first episode and subsequent events, some indication of the level of thought gone into the script. And the comedy final scene manages to be genuinely pleasing and amusing - maybe not as hilarious as Liz finds it, but still, at least it makes you smile. Although, noticeably, in the punchline we are, if anything, on the side of the Brigadier. <br /><br />All over then, a cracking piece of telly. Sure, pretty much nothing happens throughout, but for wit, tension and subtle optimism (andas RTD has said himself, optimism is so much harder to write than pessimism - but pessimism is so schoolyard), this mature story is pretty hard to beat. A glorious bit of Who.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />There now follows a short interval.John Dorneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00043867565471251131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755686396354348154.post-55155738077278908412009-06-29T13:51:00.000-07:002009-06-29T13:54:39.631-07:00The Ambassadors of Death17 Oct 2005, 12:30 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:49 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Well, if ever there's a story that proves some of my theories, it's Ambassadors. I can remember the day when I first heard anything about this story. It was when DWM published the review of the novel. Obviously, I was aware of it before then, with it's name turning up in the Radio Times 20th Anniversary Special, for example. But no one ever talked about it. It was almost a non-story. As you may recall if you've been reading this thread before, I've felt for quite some time that the decisions on which stories were 'classics' were widely decided on the basis of the, at times dodgy, memories of your elder statesman fans. So the darker/scarier/more memorable for kids stories tended to get praised to the skies, and rated as classics. Stories like Ambassadors, which don't exactly fit this archetype, and are a little too smart and subtle for children to really rate, lose out in this pattern (every single other story from Pertwee's first year has a direct hook for the kids to remember - funky monsters, scary stuff, dinosaurs, and parallel universes - like the previous story I feel suffered similarly - which sadly doesn't exist to disprove the perceived 'form' - Enemy of the World - Ambassadors is a straightforward serious drama with little in the way of childish thrills). Fortunately, as the video and satellite repeat era took over, the truth began to emerge, as fans started to judge the story on actual, y'know, merit. Suddenly it became obvious that rather than being the lame duck of season seven, Ambassadors is actually one of the best Pertwee stories. By some way. It's just a shame that a lingering sense of it's dismissal by the old 'uber-fans' still means a lot of fans without minds of their own still forget it. Never mind. We know better, eh.<br /><br /><br />The Ambassadors...<br /><br />OF DEATH<br /><br />1<br /><br /><br />I love the whole feel of this episode, I really do. The oddball broken title sequence that sounds so odd when you hear about it initially works brilliantly. It adds a certain melodramatic weight to the story (as does the addition of the cliffhanger 'sting', the eighties screeching version of which remains one of my favourite things in Doctor Who ever). Beyond that we have the always inventive direction of Michael Ferguson (the establishing shots of the warehouse are framed brilliantly, odd angles without really drawing too much attention to themselves). And the whole thing has a glorious seriousness of tone that belies the gaudiness of its colour dressings (having got used to watching this story in its black and white glory - suprisingly appropriate for its low level grit - the nutsy colourings of this episode are a bit of a shock, albeit a pleasant one). It's as if no one has been told that they're in Doctor Who, but all of them think it's a serious BBC sci-fi thriller, like Quatermass.<br /><br />The Quatermass comparison has to be made, of course, because a lot of this episode seems directly inspired by it. Something of a coincidence, as I got the DVD boxset of the tv shows only recently, so the seemingly direct lifting of this episode's plot from the initial installment of the Quatermass Experiment can only be obvious. Both are about experimental British rockets being sent up and contact being lost. Both episodes take place within the base monitoring and trying to track down the missing ship. And both are about three astronauts (the only difference being that here, one of the astronauts joins after the initial problem).<br /><br />But perhaps more importantly, as I suggest above, it's the tone that seals the deal a bit more. The story takes itself seriously. To give a couple of examples, look at the use of humour in the episode, and compare to the 'liquid passing through Bessie' joke I mentioned at the end of Silurians. The Silurians gag is played as a gag - it's blatantly silly, and Pertwee doesn't look as if he's doing a serious test. The gags with the Doctor in Ambassadors - he and Liz flitting back and forth through time, and his passing around of a cup of tea as he watches tv - are played straight. They don't know they're jokes (Pertwee takes Liz's disappearance very seriously, and the tea gag is a complete throwaway). These are signs of taking the show seriously, whilst not actually being serious. Light, rather than daft. Playful if you like. When Pertwee gets humorous lines, they're derived from how the character of the Doctor interacts with other people, rather than any one planning to be deliberately funny.<br /><br />Similarly, the general performance level is quiet, and again that's signs of a serious production. OK, Taltalian is pretty much the exception, but everyone else is playing their parts fairly quiet and naturalistically (compare once more with the Silurians - Ralph Cornish versus Doctor Lawrence. Even in the early episodes Lawrence is a little arch, sending that story into sci-fantasy/'fun' territory. Cornish seems more like a real human you could meet on the street, rather than a 'drama' human). The story has a down to earth feel that offsets the sci-fi trappings of the story making it seem curiously ordinary and, well, straight. Just like Quatermass, a serial from before the time people decided that science fiction wasn't as worthy as regular drama. Neither script looks down on its genre at all. Again, this leads to the problems for the children in the audience. This isn't a 'fun' story, it's a serious drama. A thriller. That just happens to have the Doctor and UNIT in it.<br /><br />It's a shame that bar one throwaway reference to the Silurians, you wouldn't realise that the Brig and the Doctor had ever been at odds. Here they are chummy as anything. It's something of a fine episode for all the regulars in any case. Liz gets a few nice moments of humour, but the Doctor is really beginning to establish his personality. Not immediately as charming or friendly as Troughton, arrogant, and dismissive of humanity, he's not the warmest take on the character, but he still manages to feel Doctorish (he's certainly got some of the early Hartnell about him). The Brigadier gets to take part in a gunfight (that seems to me a little awkwardly staged, despite all the raves - there are a few too many obviously staged throws for my personal comfort, and a little too much enthusiasm at other times. It's telling that the best moment in the entire fight is the simplest one, performed by the non-stuntman: the Brig casually turning in a circle shooting three people as swiftly and easily as you like).<br /><br />And the episode itself is artfully put together. Lots of intriguing mysteries set up on several different levels, none of which tie together yet (and the sudden betrayal in the last scene, setting up more intrigue, is a surprisingly neat twist, and something of an underrated cliffhanger because people forget that it comes entirely out of the blue). And with the tone in action, we're left with a feeling of unease about these (that eerie shot of the empty spaceship is a neat touch). The story as a whole is discomfiting, and that's what's keeping us in.<br /><br />The only real niggle I have with the entire episode is the fact that there are plans to launch a 'Recovery 8' rocket in three months. Why? Do they know they'll have something they need to recover in that time? Or is the fact that Recovery 7 is so named, and just happens to have to recover something a pure coincidence? (I suppose it could be a specific part of how the ship gets brought back to Earth, and always was in the equation, but I don't think I really buy that).<br /><br />I was going to talk about how, and why, this story always has a reputation for being confusing. But I think I've spoken enough for now, and will save that for a later episode. All of which I'm very much looking forward to. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#328 17 Oct 2005, 12:32 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:49 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Just a couple of extra notes - thanks very much for the re-stickying. Always feels much more pleasingly official that way.<br /><br />And I wanted to add, I will be trying to do that thing with the title for the remaining six episodes... just for a laff. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#329 17 Oct 2005, 3:56 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />You forgot the absolutely ball-bustingly fantastic music! <br /><br />...<br /><br />I just said "ball-bustingly". I feel so wrong.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#330 17 Oct 2005, 4:47 pm <br />ringmodulator <br />Inactive Poster Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by The Secretive Bus <br /><br />I just said "ball-bustingly". I feel so wrong. <br /><br />And so you should. <br /> <br /><br />ringmodulator <br /><br />#331 18 Oct 2005, 8:18 am <br />Max K Wilkie <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Sydney, Australia<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 23 Jun 2009 2:05 pm<br />Posts Here: 54 <br />Posts in OG Forum: 1,175 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />A generally positive review. I salute you, Dorney. Most other people rate Silurians over Ambassadors, and, while everyone's entitled to their own opinion, I really can't see why anyone would think this is the clunker!<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Mind the gap.<br /><br />The Next Doctor - 9/10<br />Planet of the Dead - 7/10 <br /> <br /><br />Max K Wilkie <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Max K Wilkie <br />Send email to Max K Wilkie <br />Find More Posts by Max K Wilkie <br />Add Max K Wilkie to Your Contacts <br /><br />#332 18 Oct 2005, 8:32 pm <br />Llama Roddy <br />Bigger than a frog<br /> <br /><br />Hull, England<br />Joined April 19, 2004<br />Posts Here: 1,807 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Great to see this thread back again. And Ambassadors is rather wonderful. I wonder if its being the last Pertwee story novelised contributed to its being neglected by fandom.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />"If you're normal, I intend to be a freak for the rest of my life." <br /> <br /><br />Llama Roddy <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Llama Roddy <br />Send email to Llama Roddy <br />Find More Posts by Llama Roddy <br />Add Llama Roddy to Your Contacts <br /><br />#333 19 Oct 2005, 7:30 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I'm actually part way through rewatching this story at the moment, a couple of episodes a night, and it's still utterly fantastic. Watching it again, I can see the hard edged "toughness" to it, but it does still court with the ludicrously silly on occasion - any scene with Taltalian's accent, and the flutey "spy" music (which I love - it's the best music track to a Who story with the single exception of "City of Death") turns the camp factor up some notches. I like the fact that the relaxed pace allows us to get more details about the characters and to generally flesh out what's going on - none of it feels like padding, and though some of the action sequences don't seem to go anywhere they're so marvellously done you get caught up in the moment.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#334 20 Oct 2005, 1:31 pm <br />ianzpotter <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Sheffield<br />Joined April 19, 2004<br />Last On: Yesterday 6:17 pm<br />Posts Here: 122 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The music is beautiful, with the exception of that brief sax noodle which I assume is supposed to indicate spy film sophistication, but sounds like we've just watched a young Rank Charm School starlet shimmy past in a tight sweater as Terry-Thomas looks on.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />My book- <br />The Rise and Rise of the Independents - a television history<br />"Meticulously researched and a compelling read - whether you work in the media or not." - Victor Lewis-Smith.<br /><br />My Unlikely Gig-<br />Presenting BBC Radio 7's Comedy Club 10 pm 'til Midnight, Monday to Friday, 23rd of June to the 10th of July.<br /><br />Currently reading- <br />PROSCRIBED TITLE from PROSCRIBED PUBLISHER. <br /> <br /><br />ianzpotter <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to ianzpotter <br />Send email to ianzpotter <br />Visit ianzpotter's homepage! <br />Find More Posts by ianzpotter <br />Add ianzpotter to Your Contacts <br /><br />#335 21 Oct 2005, 12:44 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:49 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />One of the ways the new series of Doctor Who differs from the old is in pace. Russel T Davies has all but said as much when talking about it. 'The old series with a big dash of 2005 thrown in', or something like that. When asked about how 45 minutes could possibly do the stories justice he observed that the pace of modern television means a lot more can be fitted in. Also, when he talks about the strengths he brings to the table, one of the words he uses is speed.<br /><br />Now, I enjoy the new show very much. But I'm not convinced that the pace of the show, and in deed television in general, getting faster is a good thing. Recently, I've been watching quite a bit of archive drama - Edge of Darkness, I Clavdivs etc. - and it does seem clear that drama has dumbed down quite a bit. Pace is one of the many reasons for this. Drama is increasingly being written for the attentionally challenged, and so every story has to move at a fast lick. The oddity is that this acheives the opposite effect for me. Old drama, with long, talky scenes, is much more absorbing than modern drama with it's fast cutting, and as a result, passes much more quickly. The 2005 series of Who kind of echoes this (the seperate halves of the more relaxed two parters both pass significantly quickly than the single episode equivalents). TV has changed, sure, but not necessarily for the better. Doctor Who as a show has, hopefully, changed the landscape for the better (proving that a series doesn't have to be a clone of Casualty/The Bill/Ballykissangel to be a hit), it's just a bit of a shame that it still is a slightly dumbed down version of the show (only slightly, and only in the sense of pace... but more on this in about four years time).<br /><br />The Ambassadors...<br /><br />OF DEATH<br /><br />2<br /><br />The reason I bring all this up now is because Ambassadors 2 has pretty much nothing happening in it. The episode features the landing of the probe, the recovery/capture/recovery of it, and that's it. But it's absorbing as hell.<br /><br />The first clue to this is in the early sequence where the probe's fall to Earth is being tracked. It's a long scene without much in the way of detail. Just some regular people counting it down. But your focus doesn't waver. The scene is gorgeously played and directed, an underlying tension palpable (a friend of mine talked recently about hearing a tape of British Airmen on a bombing raid during WW2 - they talked about German planes zooming in on them in a casual matter of fact tone. It's the same here. Extreme pressure and fear underlying the necessary calmness). You are sold on the drama of the situation by the performances and the conviction of the shooting. The script resists the temptation to diffuse it all by cutting away more than once, or skipping to the end, and as a result you get a wonderful build up of suspense (and following Hitchcock's dictum, the 'bomb' doesn't go off - a reference to a problem he found with his film 'Sabotage' if you want to look it up - nothing bad happens, so we're still left in a tense state).<br /><br />The even clearer example of this is the glorious cliffhanger - one of the strangest and best the series ever had. I remember clearly reading what the cliffhanger to part two was and thinking it <br />sounded a bit rubbish. And it is rubbish. On paper. Filmed, it's a thing of beauty. The menace of repetition, the slow pull in onto Pertwee's face to emphasise the increasing tension and claustrophobia, the edge of the unknown, plus that rythmic ticking in the background, it all builds into a fabulous ending that you just have to follow up. In deed, the very strangeness of it unnerves as well, that inherent sense of, well, wrongness about it, especially compared to the emphasised normalcy and relatively straight drama of the rest of the script, so far.<br /><br />The script still treats itself as a fairly hard espionage thriller (well, hardish), with every one pitching it on that level (it's hard to believe that it's the same Ronald Allen as the rampant ham from the Dominators one year ago, one of the most succesfully chameleonic actors the series had when these two performances are contrasted). There's a very down to Earth feel about the whole story, still. Even with the first mentions of 'aliens'. The fact that the villains are clearly humans and seemingly British emphasises that this is a story focused on us rather than any garish science fantasy. Nothing here really tips towards the fantastical yet (well, apart from the Doctor, who's very strangeness points up how naturalistic the rest of the story is, and maybe the villains stun guns), with everything in the script very real and plausible in our world. It's this very 'grittiness', if you like, that makes the story so heavily dramatic. It's set in our world for once.<br /><br />The Doctor's the only one of the regulars who really gets anything interesting to do, and as I said before, it's usually in mildly fantastical sequences to offset the sense that we've wandered into the Ipcress File (and all well and good - the series is defined more by the central character than the plots for me - in many ways this story is a historical set in a period which hasn't happened yet, like Enemy of the World). The sequences with the recording are a bit daft, though are treated with the seriousness we've come to expect from this story, but there are two glorious further moments of real Doctor-ish ness - the faked bumbling old man impression to set up the burgalry device, and the sudden command to out the prisoner as a soldier. Both are so marvellously inventive and left field they fit the character perfectly. Odd how easy it is to accept this somewhat arrogant and distant figure as the same person as the warmer, cuddlier second Doctor, but that's the way it is. Maybe it's the benefit of hindsight, and the fact I've always had them both around, I don't know. But he does feel like the Doctor. I'll have to have a bit of a think about what defines the character of the Doctor for me... <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#336 21 Oct 2005, 2:28 pm <br />bingo99 <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Joined April 25, 2004<br />Last On: Today 3:28 am<br />Posts Here: 650 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />Recently, I've been watching quite a bit of archive drama - Edge of Darkness, I Clavdivs etc. - and it does seem clear that drama has dumbed down quite a bit. Pace is one of the many reasons for this. Drama is increasingly being written for the attentionally challenged, and so every story has to move at a fast lick. The oddity is that this acheives the opposite effect for me. Old drama, with long, talky scenes, is much more absorbing than modern drama with it's fast cutting, and as a result, passes much more quickly. <br /><br />I was thinking about starting a thread on this on the TV forum, but you've taken the words out my mouth. I don't know if you saw TV on Trial? Where critics talked over classic TV shows for three hours on BBC4. Beautifully judged television of the likes of Steptoe and The Wednesday Play had the likes of Mark Lawson shouting "get a move on!!" over the top of it. You get the feeling that slow pacing is so often derided by modern TV folk as that's the only thing they've got over the more talented people they've replaced. A feeling confirmed when the TV on Trial ended with Peter Bazzelgate (Big Brother head honcho) of all people criticising the quality of Armchair Theatre.<br /><br />If only everyone working in television at the moment were forced to sit through Ambassadors of Death. A monument to slow pacing and building a gradual atmosphere.<br /><br />Maybe, as far as Doctor Who goes now, this need for relentless pace is heightened on a modern saturday night, with Ant and Dec packing in ten different TV formats within the space of an hour on the other side. DW's on such a roll at the moment though, I don't really mind. And I trust the people making it. <br /> <br /><br />bingo99 <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to bingo99 <br />Send email to bingo99 <br />Visit bingo99's homepage! <br />Find More Posts by bingo99 <br />Add bingo99 to Your Contacts <br /><br />#337 21 Oct 2005, 5:11 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />It's strange how the attack on the probe is a long sequence that goes absolutely nowhere - the Doctor gets it back from Carrington almost immediately afterwards - but you don't notice how pointless (in terms of plot, not drama) it is in retrospect. You really get caught up in the moment. Fantastic direction going on, aside from that lapse where the Brigadier gives orders to two men that aren't actually there, which is a bit of an unintentional comedy moment. The Timelash Bloopers list can explain it better than I can:<br /><br />"When the Brigadier is about to climb aboard the truck carrying Recovery 7, he supposedly gives orders to the motorcycle outriders. He gestures off-camera and says, "Keep to the prepared route and clear the way ahead of us". However, Nicholas Courtney's eyes are looking completely away from where he's gesturing – clearly there's no-one actually in front of him (except the camera crew). Then he looks behind him and adds, "You bring up the rear" before climbing into the cabin, whereupon the camera shows there's no-one behind him either!"<br /><br /> Hee!<br /><br />But the story remains gripping despite any potential moments of silliness. I'm having a gander at episode 5 before going out tonight, actually...<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#338 22 Oct 2005, 1:27 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:49 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by bingo99 <br />I was thinking about starting a thread on this on the TV forum, but you've taken the words out my mouth. I don't know if you saw TV on Trial? Where critics talked over classic TV shows for three hours on BBC4. Beautifully judged television of the likes of Steptoe and The Wednesday Play had the likes of Mark Lawson shouting "get a move on!!" over the top of it. You get the feeling that slow pacing is so often derided by modern TV folk as that's the only thing they've got over the more talented people they've replaced. A feeling confirmed when the TV on Trial ended with Peter Bazzelgate (Big Brother head honcho) of all people criticising the quality of Armchair Theatre. <br /><br />My mum got very annoyed once at the director of the second Leonard Rossiter/Joan Collins ad, where he criticised the actor as being difficult, and penickity, failing to realise that this was cause the man was brilliant. This sounds like the same thing.<br /><br />I only saw one episode of TV on Trial - about the eighties, containing a bit on Spitting Image - and I'm glad I didn't see any of the bits you described as I'd have been incensed. I fail to see why speed is inherently a good thing in drama. Anyone who could complain that Shakespeare or Chekov should get a move on deserves to be shot. Speed has become the desired ideal for television purely because that's the received wisdom, rather than because it makes the programme better, and that's because TV is designed to cater for morons these days (though, ironically, it's more a case that this is what the producers think the mass audience will want, than necessarily what the audience will want - it's surprising how popular intelligent drama can be when it's given the chance - the latest series of Who proves this, a massive ratings hit that's actually daring and different. The same way all Disney films were musicals until Toy Story taught them that kids could cope with an hour and a half of plot and didn't need the distraction - tv assumes that it's audience only wants one type of drama, one type of pace, giving every series a soap style relationship base is what the audience want. Assuming that all viewers want lowest common denominator tv because that's all they get, assuming that the audience want happy endings and don't like being challenged. I reckon there's a hunger for proper intelligent drama out there, which the medium just hasn't the courage to go for - TV is becoming as safe and focus grouped as Hollywood). Sure, scenes like those in part three of The Chase are deathly slow and uninteresting, but that's because they're poorly written rather than being because of their pace. And that makes me think - is the speed of modern television simply a smokescreen for poor writing? If Steptoe or Armchair Theatre are too slow for you, that really just shows how shallow your interest in the medium is.<br /><br />Doctor Who 2005 has enough wit and intelligence in the writing for the occasional gallop not to matter so much (as you say, the makers are rather good, so that's got to help). And hopefully it'll lead to a revivial of intelligent drama, as opposed to the 'something for everyone' set up we currently have.<br /><br />Might be worth starting a thread about this in the tv forum... I've suddenly gone all Grumpy Old Man. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#339 22 Oct 2005, 1:57 pm <br />ianzpotter <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Sheffield<br />Joined April 19, 2004<br />Last On: Yesterday 6:17 pm<br />Posts Here: 122 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The TV on Trial shows were much better if you pressed the red button and just watched the show. As I recall, they complained about the illogical and arbitrary introduction of a character in the Life with the Lyons episode because they were talking over the dialogue that actually introduced her. Mind they also failed to realise Mollie Weir was playing Aggie the maid so they'd already lost points for me there!<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />My book- <br />The Rise and Rise of the Independents - a television history<br />"Meticulously researched and a compelling read - whether you work in the media or not." - Victor Lewis-Smith.<br /><br />My Unlikely Gig-<br />Presenting BBC Radio 7's Comedy Club 10 pm 'til Midnight, Monday to Friday, 23rd of June to the 10th of July.<br /><br />Currently reading- <br />PROSCRIBED TITLE from PROSCRIBED PUBLISHER. <br /> <br /><br />ianzpotter <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to ianzpotter <br />Send email to ianzpotter <br />Visit ianzpotter's homepage! <br />Find More Posts by ianzpotter <br />Add ianzpotter to Your Contacts <br /><br />#340 22 Oct 2005, 10:01 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Dorney, have you seen "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" and "Smiley's People"? Sounds like the sort of thing you've probably had a gander at before. Just I was watching a documentary on Alec Guinness earlier today and thought both series looked rather intriguing, so I've jotted them down on me Xmas list. Researching it seems to suggest that they're both good drama series, though extremely lesiurely and slow; like the sort of telly you're campaigning for!<br /><br />I keep thinking that the sort of comedy I'd like to write would be of the Galton & Simpson style - a few characters sitting around and talking. I'm not very good with plots, really, I prefer characterisation and trying to be funny.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#341 23 Oct 2005, 12:00 am <br />supervoc <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Merrie England<br />Joined November 25, 2004<br />Last On: 14 Nov 2008 9:39 pm<br />Posts Here: 242 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by The Secretive Bus <br />Researching it seems to suggest that they're both good drama series, though extremely lesiurely and slow; like the sort of telly you're campaigning for! <br /><br />You are right on both counts. They are well worth watching over the festive season.<br /><br />Bear in mind they are the products of another age. With hindsight, the cold war may seem a bit of a damp squib. At the time it did worry some people rather a lot. It can also be taken on several levels. The more astute and cynical will note the amazing amount of corny contrivances involved - the Circus rather gives the game away <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />http://www.dieselsweeties.com<br />http://www.hello-cthulhu.com <br /> <br /><br />supervoc <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to supervoc <br />Find More Posts by supervoc <br />Add supervoc to Your Contacts <br /><br />#342 23 Oct 2005, 12:01 am <br />supervoc <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Merrie England<br />Joined November 25, 2004<br />Last On: 14 Nov 2008 9:39 pm<br />Posts Here: 242 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />If you love The Avengers you will get even more mileage out of them <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />http://www.dieselsweeties.com<br />http://www.hello-cthulhu.com <br /> <br /><br />supervoc <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to supervoc <br />Find More Posts by supervoc <br />Add supervoc to Your Contacts <br /><br />#343 23 Oct 2005, 3:07 am <br />codywillis1 <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />South Australia<br />Joined April 23, 2004<br />Last On: Today 10:30 am<br />Posts Here: 4,543 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />One of the ways the new series of Doctor Who differs from the old is in pace. Russel T Davies has all but said as much when talking about it. 'The old series with a big dash of 2005 thrown in', or something like that. When asked about how 45 minutes could possibly do the stories justice he observed that the pace of modern television means a lot more can be fitted in. Also, when he talks about the strengths he brings to the table, one of the words he uses is speed.<br /><br />Now, I enjoy the new show very much. But I'm not convinced that the pace of the show, and in deed television in general, getting faster is a good thing. Recently, I've been watching quite a bit of archive drama - Edge of Darkness, I Clavdivs etc. - and it does seem clear that drama has dumbed down quite a bit. Pace is one of the many reasons for this. Drama is increasingly being written for the attentionally challenged, and so every story has to move at a fast lick. The oddity is that this acheives the opposite effect for me. Old drama, with long, talky scenes, is much more absorbing than modern drama with it's fast cutting, and as a result, passes much more quickly. The 2005 series of Who kind of echoes this (the seperate halves of the more relaxed two parters both pass significantly quickly than the single episode equivalents). TV has changed, sure, but not necessarily for the better. Doctor Who as a show has, hopefully, changed the landscape for the better (proving that a series doesn't have to be a clone of Casualty/The Bill/Ballykissangel to be a hit), it's just a bit of a shame that it still is a slightly dumbed down version of the show (only slightly, and only in the sense of pace... but more on this in about four years time).<br />... <br /><br /><br />Good God, you've hit the nail on the head. I'm watching slower paced stuff like the 70s Columbo at the moment, and loving it. I rewatched Rose and TEOTW the other week, and while I enjoyed them, it just seems so ... FAST. There's no time to settle into the story, to enjoy the characters or relish the mystery or the atmosphere. It starts and it's over. I'm only 30, but I feel like an old codger saying this, but it's like the modern viewer has no attention span at all anymore - when, in a lot of classic tv, the slower scenes - even what some people would no doubt call 'padding' - are actually among the best.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />"The McCoy era is the brilliant, magical, eternally under-rated, Indian summer of classic Who." - Hawksmoor <br /> <br /><br />codywillis1 <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to codywillis1 <br />Find More Posts by codywillis1 <br />Add codywillis1 to Your Contacts <br /><br />#344 23 Oct 2005, 12:17 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by supervoc <br />Bear in mind they are the products of another age. With hindsight, the cold war may seem a bit of a damp squib. <br /><br />Well, I like Dr Strangelove! <br /><br />And the Cold War was my favourite topic at GCSE History level. <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#345 23 Oct 2005, 3:45 pm <br />supervoc <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Merrie England<br />Joined November 25, 2004<br />Last On: 14 Nov 2008 9:39 pm<br />Posts Here: 242 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by The Secretive Bus <br />Well, I like Dr Strangelove! <br /><br />Another work of genius!<br /><br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by The Secretive Bus <br />And the Cold War was my favourite topic at GCSE History level. <br /><br />In that case you have no choice - you must get them for xmas and consume them with the mince pies <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />http://www.dieselsweeties.com<br />http://www.hello-cthulhu.com <br /> <br /><br />supervoc <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to supervoc <br />Find More Posts by supervoc <br />Add supervoc to Your Contacts <br /><br />#346 23 Oct 2005, 5:26 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:49 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Oh, I loved Tinker Tailor. Haven't seen Smiley's People, but if it's the same standard, it's easily worth a purchase.<br /><br />Chuffed to discover my views are backed up, and by quite a few smart posts... I almost feel right! <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#347 23 Oct 2005, 5:57 pm <br />supervoc <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Merrie England<br />Joined November 25, 2004<br />Last On: 14 Nov 2008 9:39 pm<br />Posts Here: 242 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />Oh, I loved Tinker Tailor. Haven't seen Smiley's People, but if it's the same standard, it's easily worth a purchase. <br /><br />It is. £10 for 5 hours 37 mins is cheap.<br /><br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />Chuffed to discover my views are backed up, and by quite a few smart posts... I almost feel right! <br /><br />You are right, without a shadow of doubt! <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />http://www.dieselsweeties.com<br />http://www.hello-cthulhu.com <br /> <br /><br />supervoc <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to supervoc <br />Find More Posts by supervoc <br />Add supervoc to Your Contacts <br /><br />#348 26 Oct 2005, 12:38 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:49 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ooh, it's all gone a bit gritty hasn't it? Within a very short space of time Reegan turns up and is running around murdering people left right and centre. It's odd. The killing of the scientists near the beginning (not actually directly commited by him, but certainly on his say so) is strikingly brutal - simply because they're collateral damage. Neither scientist has any real impact on the story, so it's pretty much like they're just there to get shot. Hence suggesting the story is more than a little nasty. Likewise, the deaths of the thugs, whilst treated with the distance you kind of expect from Who, gains added bleakness by their burial in Get Carter esque silt or whatever it is. The story remains keen to avoid the fantastical, emphasising it's real world placement (in how many other stories does the villain take the time to dispose of dead bodies in a fairly nondescript way? This is a story very much set in our, real, world).<br /><br />The Ambassadors...<br /><br />OF DEATH<br /><br />3<br /><br />Once again, a fairly slow paced but absorbing episode (I was rather gobsmacked to realise how close we were to the cliffhanger when it actually happened). Characterisation is top notch which helps, with the two new arrivals for this episode, Reegan and Lennox being deftly introduced - the formers glorious gallows humour, combined with his cold acts of violence work well, and the short sharp sentence from him exploring the latters background (when Lennox mentions his Doctorate, and Reegan replies that he thought that had been taken away) is a neat and subtle bit of work. Fairly instantly we can invisage a backstory for the character, and combined with fairly distinct performances from both actors, we immediately know who we're dealing with.<br /><br />However, there are one or two problems. The story is showing the first signs of its writers losing the plot (quite literally, but more about that another time) with the crossing and double crossing and multiple lies building up, but perhaps more worryingly, the faint sense of repetition sinking in, with the 'astronauts' being kidnapped for the third time in about ten minutes. Perhaps the biggest oddity of the episode is the way the editing all seems to go up the creek halfway through. Scenes cut in and out of each other abruptly for no apparent reason other than, presumably, to add a certain dynamism to a quiet episode. It just seems a bit choppy in the execution, looking like longer scenes have been split up and intermeshed. After the joyous cliffhanger to the previous episode, the success of which is largely in excellent editing, this is something of a disappointment (and especially so when compared to this episode's cliffhanger, which comes with no real build up at all, and is annoyingly jarring).<br /><br />I should really talk about the music. This serial does have something of a distinctive score (less so in this episode, but I'm fully aware I've very little else to say, so cut me some slack). The slow menacing tune that undercuts early scenes with Reegan adds atmosphere without being obvious, and the ship docking stuff is beautifully ethereal. A model score in many ways. It's gorgeous but doesn't try to swamp the rest of the story, except when it needs to. Memorable and hummable, what more can you want?<br /><br />So, I think I'll leave it there for the moment. A thinnish episode, but next time I'll deal with the stuff about 'confusion' (unless something turns up to distract me. Again). <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#349 26 Oct 2005, 3:08 pm <br />bingo99 <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Joined April 25, 2004<br />Last On: Today 3:28 am<br />Posts Here: 650 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />When I watched Ambassadors recently I thought it was the most enjoyable shambles I'd ever seen. In many ways it is a disgrace to professional television. It's unfocussed, bits of it go nowhere and it moves at a snails pace, but somehow, it's a great piece of telly. <br /> <br /><br />bingo99 <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to bingo99 <br />Send email to bingo99 <br />Visit bingo99's homepage! <br />Find More Posts by bingo99 <br />Add bingo99 to Your Contacts <br /><br />#350 27 Oct 2005, 2:11 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:49 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Confusion! It always seems strange that Doctor Who fans complain if a story is confusing, or over-complicated. The public won't get it in bite size chunks, they say. But I disagree. In the real world, confusion and enigma is well liked. Consider, for example, the films of Kubrick. In particular, consider 2001, and The Shining. Both hugely enigmatic films, both broadly speaking incomprehensible. You can't quite tell exactly what's going on in either. But does it matter? Not a jot. The stories are more about evoking a mood, creating images. Sense doesn't matter. In deed, the former has a sequel that gives all the answers, the latter has a remake that is far more straightforward. And both somehow lessen the originals, the former directly, the latter in comparison to it's superior predecessor. The enigma is half the joy of the original. <br /><br />And it's the same in a lot of others - think Donnie Darko, Sapphire and Steel, the plays of Harold Pinter, for goodness sake. In Doctor Who terms there are three stories that I have heard described as incomprehensible. Ghost Light (obviously), Warriors Gate, and Ambassadors of Death. The former is, to my eyes, most like the Kubrick's described above - less interested in total clarity, though about 90% is easy to get. Warriors is hugely dense (rather like it's Dwarf Star Alloy, making it a story including it's own metaphor) and intelligent, and to complain about that seems to be a bit dumb, frankly. Ambassadors is, for my money, the only one that is genuinely confusing, but not really for the right reasons.<br /><br />The Ambassadors...<br /><br />OF DEATH<br /><br />4<br /><br />There's a famous story from Raymond Chandler, that I'm sure I've mentioned in this thread already, but who cares. When Huston was making his film of the Big Sleep, he realised that the book never resolved the murder of a chaufeur to his satisfaction. He telegramed Chandler to find out who killed this character. Chandler replied that he'd sort of got lost on that point himself.<br /><br />Ambassadors strikes me as being written in a similar way. I said for part three that there were traces of the writer(s) losing the plot. It is as literal as that. In order to fill in time (and possibly as a result of the Hulke re-write) extra plot lines are added to the degree that you get the feeling that the authors aren't really sure what the plot's supposed to be. The story itself is fairly straightforward, and fairly clearly laid out. The writer's own confusion is the problem.<br /><br />Examples? First off, there's a weird bit at the beginning of the episode. At the end of part three, the Brigadier returns, and the Doctor realises that the message Liz pursued was a fake. At the start of part four, neither of them seem to give a monkey's. Both just keep going as if nothing untoward happened.<br /><br />That is however merely a signs of things to come. Reegan keeps having one sided conversations with a mysterious 'boss'. Now, obviously we're not supposed to know who this is. At the same time, there's a mysterious truth underlying the actions of Quinlan and Carrington. Now, in theory, these two stories should play out as seperate narrative strands, with Reegan's master being revealed to be Cornish or someone(in deed, I seem to remember reading that the original plot line had Reegan as the main villain of the story). However, it becomes increasingly clear that the two are linked, and that the boss is almost certainly Carrington. Firstly, the idea that Taltalian (of the mysterious English accent in the single location scene he gets) could be seperately recruited by two clandestine agencies is implausible. The rest is more problematic. Firstly, when Carrington hands over the evidence that some foreign agency stole the astronauts, the Doctor's response suggests he doesn't believe them (in particular, his response to the comb seems to suggest he think's Carrington is behind it). In deed, in one of the very next scenes, he's saying that at least part of their story is faked. Now, these could be seperate storylines still for the rest of the story (if the plot ended with Carrington distrustful of the aliens and trying to sabotage them, and Reegan an independant taking advantage of the state of affairs) and could still make sense. That is, until Quinan is killed at the end of the episode, by one of Reegan's aliens, shortly after talking to Carrington about revealing the truth. There's no good explanation for why Reegan, or his 'mysterious' boss would want to kill Quinlan, unless the boss is Carrington. And yet, the story still wants us to think they're not connected. This is how the story is confusing. We can follow what's going on, who everyone is, etc. We're just not sure what we're supposed to be thinking at any given time. In other words, I understand what's going on, I just don't understand why the writers have made choices seemingly at odds with their intention.<br /><br />I also feel that that last paragraph is probably more incomprehensible than I meant it to be, so I suppose fair's fair.<br /><br />For the rest of the episode - obviously, quite a bit of padding here (Liz's ludicrously short lived escape attempt) and the story doesn't leap forward a great deal, with the story being a very vague shape to hang a variety of mini set pieces around - after being missing last time, this episode is very much about the mini plot of Taltalian, the only really developing/changing plot strand (even Quinlan's mental process of change and murder are dealt with only briefly) offering a distraction from the slowly progressing overall plot (with the Doctor's comprehension of the true location of the astronauts in part three turning the plot, this episode doesn't really take that further, bar a quasi-realistic attempt to depict the political process requiring this). But, as usual with this story, the down to Earth realism is inherently interesting, and the imagery is striking. The space-suited creature, blank faced, unknowable, impassive, is quite a menacing and scary sight (vaguely reminiscent of the Gas Masked 'monsters' of the Empty Child). It's slow march into the base, backlit, and it's outstretched hand over the Doctors back are two striking and brilliant shot images.<br /><br />So, overall, still enjoying it very much. Just wish I knew what I was supposed to be enjoying. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#351 27 Oct 2005, 2:20 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Yeah, but the plays of Pinter are *****e.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#352 27 Oct 2005, 3:24 pm <br />ianzpotter <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Sheffield<br />Joined April 19, 2004<br />Last On: Yesterday 6:17 pm<br />Posts Here: 122 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I like The Lover and Victoria Station a lot, but a lot of the rest leave me cold.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />My book- <br />The Rise and Rise of the Independents - a television history<br />"Meticulously researched and a compelling read - whether you work in the media or not." - Victor Lewis-Smith.<br /><br />My Unlikely Gig-<br />Presenting BBC Radio 7's Comedy Club 10 pm 'til Midnight, Monday to Friday, 23rd of June to the 10th of July.<br /><br />Currently reading- <br />PROSCRIBED TITLE from PROSCRIBED PUBLISHER. <br /> <br /><br />ianzpotter <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to ianzpotter <br />Send email to ianzpotter <br />Visit ianzpotter's homepage! <br />Find More Posts by ianzpotter <br />Add ianzpotter to Your Contacts <br /><br />#353 27 Oct 2005, 3:32 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I've had to study and analyse The Caretaker, The Homecoming, and The Hothouse (and I starred in a mini production of that last one as Mr Roote), as well as having a gander at The Servant. I just find them all to be prententious and predictable. He always has a random act of violence occuring out of the blue at one point which is never referred to again. All characters will be forced to obey their carnal needs by the end of the play - quite often they'll be lolling about on the floor. The characters are all catalysts for the author's voice to say something about society, they never strike you as doing things off their own bat. I just don't like Pinter plays. But then, I often dislike all absurdist stuff as well.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#354 27 Oct 2005, 4:00 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:49 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Lovely call on Victoria Station Mr P, a much underrated gem, imo. And the Lover has the best opening line of any play, anywhere.<br /><br />Generally, I'm a bit of a Pinter fan, mainly for the use of language (characters speak like no-one on Earth, but with beautifully put together phrases). As the Bus says, plotwise they are a touch predictable. Arguably, though, plays are less about plot than imagery and atmosphere (certainly in the theatre of the absurd, which Pinter belongs to). Odd that you should mention the Caretaker (so straightforward in plot it almost doesn't feel like Pinter at all) and the Hothouse (which with its vaguely obvious satire air is somewhat ignored, even by Pinter himself who didn't let anyone stage it for years. The Homecoming is probably the best of the three you mention, though I rather like The Dumb Waiter and The Birthday Party, both of which kind of deviate from the route you mention, and the intrigue of Old Friends and Betrayal (both of which have very clever endings - the former, the very last line).<br /><br />Having said all that, everything he's written since about 1980 has been substantially more overtly political, and substantially less interesting. Almost like he veers to Pinter parody these days. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#355 27 Oct 2005, 4:19 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I suppose in many ways it's because all the characters in Pinter plays are horrid people, and i don't like spending time around horrid people. The only times when it's acceptable is when they're funny, and you can laugh at some dry irony or something, but I've never found anything to laugh at in a Pinter play. I managed to get a few laughs in The Hothouse via some improv and a silly voice on a mocking line, but that was about the size of it, and probably would have made Pinter explode or something.<br /><br />I love "Steptoe and Son". Two characters who are really rather hateful, but for some reason Galton & Simpson make it compelling for me. Perhaps because they seem more natural, and the point of the series is to flesh out some central characters, whereas Pinter uses his "characters" as puppets in some sort of sociological agenda.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#356 27 Oct 2005, 5:19 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:49 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />True. I've heard The Homecoming described as the nastiest play in the English language, simply because the characters are so horrible. It's pretty accurate. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#357 27 Oct 2005, 6:27 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I'll be writing a coursework essay on it this year, comparing and contrasting it with a novel called "Cold Comfort Farm"...<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#358 27 Oct 2005, 6:57 pm <br />ianzpotter <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Sheffield<br />Joined April 19, 2004<br />Last On: Yesterday 6:17 pm<br />Posts Here: 122 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Cold Comfort Farm is wonderful (not quite as wonderful as the radio version the BBC did back in the 80s admittedly but much more wonderful than the BBC film). You may experience a strange sense of deja vu reading it though (akin to discovering all the good bits from Agatha Christie are Shakespeare quotations) as you realise this book has been alluded to and quoted from all over the place like a literary 'Bad Wolf'.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />My book- <br />The Rise and Rise of the Independents - a television history<br />"Meticulously researched and a compelling read - whether you work in the media or not." - Victor Lewis-Smith.<br /><br />My Unlikely Gig-<br />Presenting BBC Radio 7's Comedy Club 10 pm 'til Midnight, Monday to Friday, 23rd of June to the 10th of July.<br /><br />Currently reading- <br />PROSCRIBED TITLE from PROSCRIBED PUBLISHER. <br /> <br /><br />ianzpotter <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to ianzpotter <br />Send email to ianzpotter <br />Visit ianzpotter's homepage! <br />Find More Posts by ianzpotter <br />Add ianzpotter to Your Contacts <br /><br />#359 27 Oct 2005, 8:35 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Actually I'm not really enjoying it that much, probably because it was meant to be poking fun of a certain genre and style of story that I've never read, nor intend to. When it's trying to be funny it comes off as being a bit like sub-par Wilde, though that's probably because I'm reading Oscar Wilde at the moment as well. But CCF certainly hasn't caught my interest. I find the main character exceptionally irritating to boot - she keeps making lots of assumptions ("I bet he's going to fall in love with me, oh how tiresome blah blah,") which seem extremely arrogant... and then they come true! Blargh! I just want to see her proved wrong for once. Or at least have her fall into a ditch.<br /><br />However I am very much enjoying working on Othello. <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#360 27 Oct 2005, 9:29 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:49 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Sorry to interrupt the discussion on literature, just wanted to check whether it's 40 posts a pop usually? If it is, that means this page has all but run out - with only four episodes reviewed. That has to be a record. <br /><br />27 Oct 2005, 9:54 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />80 posts a page for me - but so far there's only 4 episodes on this page, yes... <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#362 28 Oct 2005, 12:44 am <br />ceadge <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Hampshire<br />Joined September 29, 2005<br />Last On: 24 Jun 2009 11:59 am<br />Posts Here: 430 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by The Secretive Bus <br />I'll be writing a coursework essay on it this year, comparing and contrasting it with a novel called "Cold Comfort Farm"... <br /><br />Ooh, I know that one, or at least know the play - my local Am-Dram did a production about 5 years back, where I played both Urk Starkadder and Richard Hawke-Monitor. Not that I understood it or anything. But it does have the immortal line "I saw something narsty in the woodshed...."<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />"They are not real fandom, though, they are a core of mostly men who like to complain. Fandom is bigger and richer than that, and they are only about 1,000 people who give everyone else a bad name and build their life around a show."<br /><br />Russell T Davies interview in The Guardian, 7th July 2008 <br /> <br /><br />ceadge <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to ceadge <br />Send email to ceadge <br />Visit ceadge's homepage! <br />Find More Posts by ceadge <br />Add ceadge to Your Contacts <br /><br />#363 29 Oct 2005, 1:43 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:51 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The phrase that tends to keep popping up in discussion of the season 7 seven parters is about whether they 'sustain their length' or not. This made me think. I'll make no bones about it, I'm finding increasingly hard to find much new to say about episodes of this story. There really isn't a vast amount of actual plot - for all the attempts at twists and turns, they're more designed to obfuscate rather than actually branch the plot off in a new direction. The plot proper is proceeding at a snails pace, and the time is being filled with a succession of action set pieces - with each of the last two episodes having virtually the same storyline (the Doctor wants to launch a rocket - the villains try to stop him, and fail in an assasination attempt - after a pathetically easy escape from the Dr. One of the kidnapped goodies makes a break for it. One of the villains, who has betrayed the plan, is killed). The plot itself doesn't really progress or move, and these dramatic sequences are time wasting sound and fury to disguise that. So on any conceivable level, there is not enough actual plot in Ambassadors of Death to justify seven episodes.<br /><br />The Ambassadors...<br /><br />OF DEATH<br /><br />5<br /><br />But 'justify' and 'sustain' are two different things, aren't they? You see, even if the plot doesn't justify the length, the story itself does. Every episode so far is gloriously entertaining. Sure the set pieces are hollow, but they're always entertainingly done, and the sheer exuberance of them contrasts well with the realistic feel of the rest of the story. These are set pieces that know they're set pieces, acting as showstoppers, appealing to the child in all of us who just wants to see lots of fights and cool stuff (and Ambassadors is always cool). In deed, the repetitive nature is almost part of the fun, with the story turning into one of persistence, a battle of wills between the goodie and the baddie (who so far, have never actually met). In some ways, this story isn't even about the plot (the phrase that leaps to mind is that one about the journey being more important than the destination). To describe the story as being about first contact with aliens all but misses the point. The story is about the Doctor and friends having lots of scrapes. So, yes, the story doesn't justify seven episodes. But it sure as hell sustains it, keeping me entertained time in, time out, without having even a scrap of plot to justify it.<br /><br />The Doctor's been talking about sending up a rocket for the best part of two episodes, and is rather unusually static in this story (He's only left the base, what, once since episode three?). Despite the seismic shifts around the last two cliffhangers, he's nipped straight back to work as if nothing's happened - does he even acknowledge Liz is missing in this episode? I don't think he does. His thread in this story, for parts four and five at least, is about waiting for other people to bring the plot to him. The Doctor is unusually focused on the spaceship, and ignoring everything else - mass murder, kidnap, etc. No wonder poor old Lennox gets bumped off so quickly - the regulars don't really care that much about what's going on elsewhere (you can pretty much see that Liz thinks everyone's desperate to find her - but they mind so little it's no wonder she leaves after Inferno). It's sort of clear that the Doctor has got pretty much the entire plot figured out - his 'Or is that what we're supposed to think?' followed by Carrington backing up the mad plot suggests that he's got it pegged, and in deed Carrington pegged, and his lack of interest in the 'conspiracy' angle seems to fit with this - why would he bother with trivial stuff he already understands.<br /><br />The cliffhanger to the episode is rather a fine one, despite it being CSO based. It suggests yet another strand to the storyline turning up, and despite the story being enjoyable enough, it does really rather need a bit of a kick. The cliffhanger is completely out of nowhere, not seeming to fit anything else seen before, so it does mean the wait til the next episode is particularly gruelling. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#364 29 Oct 2005, 11:28 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />As a matter of no relevance, I reckon I'll be giving Gallifrey: Insurgency a listen tomorrow... and... oh look! It has "John Dorney" in it!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I hope your appearance will fill the gap left by ol' Brax - I was really rather sad when he got exiled, he was one of me faves...<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#365 3 Nov 2005, 12:49 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:51 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by The Secretive Bus <br />As a matter of no relevance, I reckon I'll be giving Gallifrey: Insurgency a listen tomorrow... and... oh look! It has "John Dorney" in it!<br /> <br /><br />Blimey - hope you enjoyed it. For what it's worth, I think I'm terrible in the first couple of scenes, but in the latter stuff I've got into it a bit more. And I love the voice effect so much I haven't got to the end of listening to the whole play yet! <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#366 3 Nov 2005, 12:50 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:51 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I was thinking the other day that whenever people talk about Ambassadors, they always go on about how interesting and multi-layered Carrington is as a villain. I'll probably try and talk about that next time, seeing as that's the only episode where he properly is (depending on whether or not you count one and two, of course). But it seems to miss something that is, for me, a vital point. Carrington is only one of the villains, and at best, only for three episodes (depending on whether or not you count one and two). For the vast majority of the story, the villain is Reegan.<br /><br />I seem to recall reading that Reegan was the main villain in the earlier, Hulke-less drafts of the script. It makes sense (not least because it would make the whole plot considerably less confused). However, with the re-write making him into the henchman, conceptually at least, he's been shifted out of the limelight. And I think that's a shame. Everyone talks about Carrington, no-one talks about Reegan.<br /><br />The Ambassadors...<br /><br />OF DEATH<br /><br />6<br /><br />I can't help but feel this is a shame. Reegan is almost as interesting and original a villain for the show as his boss - in deed, I'd argue that he's probably the only character we can properly term a 'villain' in the story. To start with, I'm not sure if it's ever explained properly exactly who this guy is - a co-opted military man is possible, hired by Carrington, but it feels unlikely (he's clearly too keen on murder, and tends towards sardonic in his response - no moral duty for this man, he enjoys it). No, Reegan has to be a hired thug. A petty criminal who got lucky (to contradict my previous statement, maybe someone dropped from the military for being a sadist). This is why the character interests me. For once, the Doctor's enemy isn't someone bent on world/universal domination, just a nasty little man out for personal gain. The only villains comparable I can immediately think of are The Space Pirates. But whereas their low motives made them feel like small fry, Reegan seems like a genuinely dangerous man, it nastys him up a bit. Part of this must be based on their specific individual plots - the pirates were just into a bit of grand larceny, whereas Reegan is kidnapping aliens - and parts must be based on the context - petty thieves in space seem dull, whereas one on Earth seems curiously realistic. Once again, that word: realistic. Reegan is perfectly symptomatic of the down to Earth nature of the story.<br /><br />This story keeps piling up the memorable moments. Bizarrely, Liz's confrontation with the helmet-less Ambassador isn't one of them (be honest, could you remember that we see one of the creatures faces properly? I couldn't, and I think I last saw this story about two years back!). And I'd also forgotten that Lennox's death is disappointingly off-screen. But the confrontation with the aliens in the spacecraft, and the duping of the astronauts is rather striking. I also love the way that it takes until this episode before the title is explained (I love stories that hold of on this, as Who occasionally does - most memorably a Ruth Rendell novel called Simisola which explains the title in the penultimate sentence). The revelations of the plot are quite interesting, with the ambassadors thing being genuinely surprising as you suddenly realise that you've viewed the entire plot incorrectly. Again, this does add to explaining why the story is seven episodes. If it had been the conventional four part story, this would have been part three, with the Doctor going straight up in the rocket the minute they find the capsule is empty. Imagine how poor that would have been. The whole weight of the story requires the run around element, otherwise there's no mystery, no intrigue. This is a story about something as big as first contact, it needs that epic scale. The story needs to feel like the Doctor is lost in the middle of something bigger and more complicated than he understands, because that's what conspiracies are (so in a way the fact that the story is confused - not confusing - is a practical boon!)<br /><br />Also, as I've said before, the alien subplot is actually almost irrelevant. It's merely a framework to hang a lot of Doctor/thug confrontations on - don't believe me? Notice in particular how little the Ambassadors themselves actually do. They go into action around the cliffhanger of episode 4 - but then just stand around for the next couple of episodes. For all Reegan's talk about breaking into Fort Knox, it's always the humans who deal with problems (he's the one who tries to kill the Doctor in this episode and the last, and it's Carrington who kills Lennox). Furthermore, the new information that the aliens are ambassadors doesn't actually push the plot off in a vastly new direction (the Doctor's sort of believed they weren't evil for quite a few episodes now). As it is, on his return to Earth, he's immediately captured. The story isn't about a bunch of alien ambassadors - the story is about a bunch of humans attempting to pervert first contact, consistently trying to prevent the truth being discovered. The script itself isn't really all that interested in the monsters, it's interested in the perversion of justice. When Who stories are compared Bond films it's usually stuff like Enemy of the World (I may even have done that myself), but this is one that does fit the mould, because the plot isn't padded by extraneous confrontations, the confrontations are the plot. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#367 12 Nov 2005, 12:50 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Is he going to make it? Unghhh.... urghhh....<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#368 12 Nov 2005, 4:11 pm <br />supervoc <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Merrie England<br />Joined November 25, 2004<br />Last On: 14 Nov 2008 9:39 pm<br />Posts Here: 242 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Perhaps he has been affected by the radiation?<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />http://www.dieselsweeties.com<br />http://www.hello-cthulhu.com <br /> <br /><br />supervoc <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to supervoc <br />Find More Posts by supervoc <br />Add supervoc to Your Contacts <br /><br />#369 15 Nov 2005, 11:43 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:51 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Sorry about the delay - watched the final episode on Friday - made notes and half wrote the review - was away Saturday, library closed on Sunday, and then it's internet connection was down for the last two days! Rest assured, Ambassadors will be completed tomorrow.<br /><br />Having said all that, I'm might take a brief break post Inferno, simply because watching the episodes and tottering down to the library is mildly awkward and I feel I may be short changing both reviews and stories. I'm going to look into buying a computer in the New Year (investigating the sales), so if I do, I'll recommence then. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#370 17 Nov 2005, 1:02 pm <br />ianzpotter <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Sheffield<br />Joined April 19, 2004<br />Last On: Yesterday 6:17 pm<br />Posts Here: 122 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />We'll just look at some swirly paterns on our monitors and argue unconvincingly about them as if they were your review.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />My book- <br />The Rise and Rise of the Independents - a television history<br />"Meticulously researched and a compelling read - whether you work in the media or not." - Victor Lewis-Smith.<br /><br />My Unlikely Gig-<br />Presenting BBC Radio 7's Comedy Club 10 pm 'til Midnight, Monday to Friday, 23rd of June to the 10th of July.<br /><br />Currently reading- <br />PROSCRIBED TITLE from PROSCRIBED PUBLISHER. <br /> <br /><br />ianzpotter <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to ianzpotter <br />Send email to ianzpotter <br />Visit ianzpotter's homepage! <br />Find More Posts by ianzpotter <br />Add ianzpotter to Your Contacts <br /><br />#371 17 Nov 2005, 10:17 pm <br />supervoc <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Merrie England<br />Joined November 25, 2004<br />Last On: 14 Nov 2008 9:39 pm<br />Posts Here: 242 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />Having said all that, I'm might take a brief break post Inferno, simply because watching the episodes and tottering down to the library is mildly awkward and I feel I may be short changing both reviews and stories. I'm going to look into buying a computer in the New Year (investigating the sales), so if I do, I'll recommence then. <br /><br />Doing it at a library can't be fun. What a total pain in the neck.<br /><br />PC World do the cheapest computers but their sales are variable in the discounts they offer. Its still the best choice in town though. You could try Currys and Dixons, who are part of the same group. They have almost as cheap or just as cheap systems.<br /><br /><br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by ianzpotter <br />We'll just look at some swirly paterns on our monitors and argue unconvincingly about them as if they were your review. <br /><br />Seems like a good idea.Wiil that be the War Games swirls or the Deadly Assassin swirl? Or some other swirl?<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />http://www.dieselsweeties.com<br />http://www.hello-cthulhu.com <br /> <br /><br />supervoc <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to supervoc <br />Find More Posts by supervoc <br />Add supervoc to Your Contacts <br /><br />#372 18 Nov 2005, 8:04 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:51 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Following on from my previous musings about the ignoring of Reegan, I think I'll start here with a little about his boss, Carrington, and a detail I feel gets ignored with him. He's usually described in summaries and reviews as being a fiercly moral man (his sudden catchphrase - 'moral duty' - backs this up). <br /><br />It's not quite how I take it, though. Carrington is driven by a sense of righteousness, it's true, but his primary character trait seems, to me, to be that he's literally gone mad. The clue to this is in an early sequence, when he explains how the aliens killed his friend. The Doctor points out that they couldn't help this, and Carrington ignores him. Now I've seen this pointed out as a goof in the plotting before (the theory being that Carrington, clearly knowing that their touch is deadly, should realise that the initial death has to have been accidental). This, to my mind, misses the point. If it was simply an oversight of the scripting, it's somewhat odd that the Doctor voices the exact same oversight to Carrington's face, suggesting the writers are aware of the flaw in his reasoning. (How can the writers miss a plot point that they point out themselves?) The only reasonable way to take this is to see that Carrington isn't being rational. The Doctor points out a logical flaw in his reasoning, and Carrington ignores him. He can't grasp the point. Carrington is barking mad. Presumably the initial death of his colleague unnerved him and he's found himself stuck in the same mental position. His initial thought on meeting the aliens has become his only thought.<br /><br />The Ambassadors...<br /><br />OF DEATH<br /><br />7<br /><br />Of course, this is slightly symptomatic of a few problems in the script. Carrington in this episode behaves like a completely different person, and there's a lot of things that should have been emphasised before (gaining a catchphrase out of nowhere is a bit much, to be honest, and there really should have been a set up of the plot point that one of the previous astronauts was killed). It's fairly obvious that this is due to the last minute rewrites, which remain confused (Quinlan not being aware of the main plan and wanting to keep first contact to himself doesn't make any sense when you consider what he actually did). Up until now Carrington has been a sinister, machiavellian figure, but here he's turned into a raging nutcase.<br /><br />Generally, however, the fact that the villains are, emphatically, human (and misguided rather than actually evil) gives the story a beautifully downbeat feel. With the Doctor and Liz under guard, the moment where the Brig is placed under arrest is rather fianl, and you do wonder how they're going to get out of it - simply because unlike being placed under arrest by Autons, he can't simply shoot the buggers without seeming a little callous. It's rather nice that after a story ending with the Brigadier betraying the Doctor, this story ends with him rather definitely saving the day. The Brig is now firmly marked down as one of the goodies, fighting for what's right, mainly on trust of the Doctor (even if the resulting fight sequence is another of those mildly odd ones that doesn't quite work - I can throw a better fake punch than there is here!). In deed, I'd go so far as to say that this is the Brig's best appearance yet.<br /><br />A detail there does remind me of one thing I wanted to mention. One problem this story has, for me, is that it is rather brutal, and not in a nice way. In a lot of slightly crass action movies, I feel a lot of the time the makers aren't really that fussed about collateral damage. The one I most clearly remember is 'Sudden Death', a moderately entertaining dumb action movie. However it was a little too reckless with passers by getting shot accidentally. You see, I always think of the background characters being the equivalent of me. I feel that, in scripting terms, you have to be as careful about killing anyone as you would like any body else to be in terms of killing you (the writer is, after all, the god like figure defining who lives and who dies at all points). So I only tend to go with deaths where there is a good reason for it (the character 'asking for it' in some way, the plot neccessitating it, etc. - the contrast I can think of to 'Sudden Death' is 'Die Hard', where every body who is killed fulfills one of the good reasons above). And somehow, I find it more annoying when it's bit part characters - I think because at least when it's a main part character, we are expected to have had some emotional investment in them. There's something at stake. Killing random extras seems to have less emotional connection for us, and as a result is presenting the killing of innocents as part of the entertainment, rather than something to specifically shock us (unless I'm just getting reactionary in my old age). The long and the short of this somewhat overdetailed rant is that I felt this story has got a little too trigger happy. The sequence where the Ambassadors are taken out to kill a few more chaps (and one security guard who miraculously manages to be the one man who can survive their touch) seems utterly unneccessary (it's hardly the most convincing argument of their invasion) and whilst it does emphasise the grimness of the story, the madness of Carrington and the ruthlessness of Reegan it does grate a touch - especially considering the fact that both of them don't really pay for their actions. It's especially galling that on raiding the villains base, the Brigadier shoots the living c**p out of some random heavy, and then let's Reegan live. The story seems only to like death when it doesn't really matter (or it could just be that I'm bloodthirsty - sometimes you just need the villains dead to satisfy yourself... I'm happy enough that Carrington survives, but Reegan just seems too darn nasty to be left alive).<br /><br />I should add that I don't want anyone to take this as a negative review, as I still absolutely adore this story. The fact that the plot hinges around someone who is basically misguided rather than actually evil gives the whole piece an air of realism and honesty that you rarely get in Who, with a genuinely, properly motivated bad guy, who actually behaves like a genuine human being and not a moustache twirling nut job. This alone would take it into classic territory, but the whole story works beautifully (albeit messily). The climax is as low key as you would expect, with a beautifully put together montage of cutting and music building up the tension (when on paper there is surprisingly little). The story is given a real dynamism and moral weight from this, concluding in brilliant style. Overall the confused scripting really can't detract from the intelligent characterisation and serious tone that turn this into a sci-fi thriller par excellence, worthy of the Quatermass comparisons. Proof that Doctor Who can do hard core gritty sci-fi seriously and well. A much neglected classic, definitely. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#373 18 Nov 2005, 8:42 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I generally don't like random violence in m' entertainment but I have to be honest and say that here it didn't matter for me in the same way that I find the random deaths in, say, "Resurrection of the Daleks" a bit boring. I think it's precisely because it's some extras getting killed off - reaffirming the strength of the aliens - whereas in a Saward story you can see the writer thinking "Whoops, x y and z are still alive, haven't got anything left to do with them, better kill them off." Characters seem to accomplish nothing and are there simply to get killed. In "Ambassadors", every character's death means something and the writers aren't just killing them off because they're bored - necessitating the use of extras, who obviously don't play much of a part in the story and so are "expendable", no matter how bloodthirsty that may sound.<br /><br />At the end of the day, you could also argue that a story called "The Ambassadors of Death" really should have a few Ambassador related deaths in there to avoid false advertising charges. <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#374 30 Nov 2005, 12:48 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:51 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Well, I've managed to blag myself a computer. Still no real internet access, but I think I should be able to at least write the reviews at home, straight after watching the episode, and then take them down to the library. Woo - as they say - hoo.<br /><br />Bus, with regards to the violence discussion above, it just felt a little to me like it was violence for the sack of violence - it didn't really add much to the story for me. By this final episode, we didn't really need them to go off on another tacked on raid to get that they're deadly. Of course, each to their own. And it's still brilliant, so I don't mind. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#375 2 Dec 2005, 10:44 pm <br />supervoc <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Merrie England<br />Joined November 25, 2004<br />Last On: 14 Nov 2008 9:39 pm<br />Posts Here: 242 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Good news on the computer front <br /><br />Regarding the ambassadors violence I expect one justification would be that it solidified the threat in the eyes of children and thick people who would not fully comprehend verbal cues. Which seems a reasonable justification to me.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------John Dorneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00043867565471251131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755686396354348154.post-27224492940060979582009-06-29T13:49:00.000-07:002009-06-29T13:51:34.970-07:00Doctor Who and the Silurians6 Aug 2005, 1:08 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:46 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Silurians 1:<br /><br />I did think for a moment that I’d write out the full title there… but then I thought sod that for a game of soldiers. There’s only so anal I’m prepared to be.<br /><br />The most immediately striking thing about this episode is how different the new format of the show is. The general Troughton format was this: the Doctor arrives, he’s mistrusted but works his way in, then slowly uncovers whatever this weeks menace is. Here the Doctor is very much a figure of the establishment. Rather than the Doctor who stumbles across trouble and finds a way to deal with it, this Doctor is called in as a troubleshooter, making the character much more pro-active than before. He’s looking for adventures now, that’s his job. It’s quite a startling change. Spearhead manages to mask this by having the same basic structure as before, but Silurians is the first to really embrace the new Earthbound set up. I’m not totally convinced yet. It has a few advantages – the Doctor can get straight into the story and, as here, have the set up of the entire story told to him without having to resort to sly exposition. Very swiftly the basic mysteries of the story are established and investigated. On the negative side, it makes the Doctor more of a detective than previously, a sci-fi investigator and specialist, and that feels odd to me. A man actively travelling the country looking for problems to solve seems a world away from the gallivanting adventurer stumbling into them we’ve had before, and it seems a much more conventional character. No wonder Pertwee’s Doctor doesn’t quite feel like a maverick as the others did (the authority also gives him a slightly superior air too, which is hard to warm to) Daresay, I’ll get used to it though.<br /><br />With seven episodes to play with, it’s hardly surprising that this episode doesn’t particularly kick into the plot straight away. It’s about establishing character, and setting up a few mysteries. In order to fill in the time, Malcolm Hulke demonstrates the same technique as mentioned in his last script, the War Games, by concentrating on establishing the personalities of the guest cast, using that to drive events and not really pushing too hard on actual action and events (the power surge sequence is a slight energy boost half way through, not really vital to the plot itself, but useful as a means of establishing the threat and an air of tension and urgency). There’s a particularly fine detail regarding Major Baker – a throwaway line where the Doctor says he’s ‘conscientious’, and the Brigadier replies that he made a mistake once and he’s been trying to make up for it. Hulke’s novelisations were famous for building up the personal histories of the characters (whether he plotted out detailed biogs pre-writing as some writers do, I don’t know ), and this is a faint gesture towards that, almost more successfully. I don’t think we find out exactly what Baker did, but it suggests and hints at the man having a proper past. All too often even the most rounded characters only seem to exist within the tale itself, whereas little throwaway, broadly irrelevant little details colour their world and suggest a life outside the story. There’s a moment in the film ‘Leon’ where the titular assassin is having a conversation with his friend, Danny Aiello, and the latter makes a reference to him having had difficulty with a woman before. It adds shades to the character, adds a sense of an entire life to the man. Curiously, in the extended edition that’s available in Japan, you get another scene explaining precisely what happened with this woman… and it’s substantially less interesting to know, mainly because it ties into the story. Irrelevant information helps round characters and gives a sense of them as real people with real lives. The other characters are similarly finely nuanced, and well cast. Fulton Mackay’s Quinn is another particularly fine piece of work, with the script and the performance playing on the actor’s natural charm and amiability to make him instantly warm, likeable and human, someone you could enjoy a pint with – and then undercuts it by making it clear he’s complicit in the problems of the base. The fact it’s revealed so early is vital too, before we’re really looking for any traitor figure. Using the least likely candidate method, he’d be your first guess if you were looking, but you’re beaten to the punch. His complicity isn’t played for a cheap shock or sensationalism, it’s once again about strengthening and complicating the character. Noticeably, he doesn’t feel like a villain in the scene – I was going to use the word betrayal just now, but it didn’t seem right. He still feels like a good man. As with the other mysteries it intrigues, and hooks you, and hints at a moral ambiguity to the script, again something of a sea change for the series. The episode puts forward oblique unexplained moments – the ill technicians, the cave painting patient, and the mysterious ‘they’ that Quinn talks about – all of which are quite mild as hooks, but are enough to keep you intrigued - especially because none of them really add together, or give more than the slightest hint to what’s going on, and none are really investigated by the end of the episode (the episode basically goes round listing the various mysteries, but doesn’t showing any interest in even moving to solve them, again like the War Games, and again all the more intriguing for it), and it is noticeable that the biggest and most interesting mystery is one driven by personality – the juxtaposition of Quinn’s likeability and his secrets.<br /><br />So overall it’s a fairly fine episode – low on action or incident, but it doesn’t need to rush yet, it’s got time. It establishes plenty of low key mysteries, and hints that the situation may be bigger than it seems, and once again seems driven by character interaction more than overt plotting. The only oddities I can find in the episode involve the dinosaur. Quite why it’s blatantly revealed in the opening scene I don’t know (and what exactly the man who gets killed shouts I don’t know – ‘monster’? ‘mother’?). But weirdest of all, we get a very silly cliffhanger. The Doctor enters a cave with his torch, looks around and finds nothing. Turns, hears a roar, and turns back to find a Dinosaur standing right in front of him. How exactly did he miss that, eh? <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#278 6 Aug 2005, 5:17 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:46 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Silurians 2:<br /><br />Odd episode this one. After all the mysteries are so carefully established in part one, they're pretty much all answered here, fairly swiftly. The Doctor himself barely has to do any investigation before he's cottoned on to pretty much exactly what's going on. As a result, the episode becomes a quite straightforward chase episode. About five minutes in, a Silurian is shot, and the rest of the episode is spent trying to track it. It's interesting and tense, but it doesn't feel particularly specific to this story. As a result we get a relatively tense, if slow, chase. The focus narrows down into a simple hunter/hunted scenario. It's pretty much the first half of a self contained two parter, as the script can't get into the interaction between the main cast and the Silurians this early and with the focus narrowed down, it does rather feel as if the main plot has pretty much stopped (bar some intrigue with Quinn and a mysterious voice). Like in the War Games, Hulke does prove adept at raising the stakes, and keeps his plot involving by adding new layers - the second race in the caves is a nice development, as is the fact that Quinn is actively working with them, rather than just aware of their presence. But it's more on hold than actively advancing, noticeable by the way we don't really return to the other characters in the base til the second half of the episode, with the missing Silurian a distraction for the characters rather than a vital stage of the narrative. <br /><br />However, there remains the focus on characterisation, as most of the supporting cast get their characters developed. Dr Lawrence moves from acerbic to moderately unpleasant (although, as a slightly unhinged base commander, he's not exactly the most excitingly different character the series has had), Quinn is less likeable (he's now clearly an opportunist) and Baker comes across as a little trigger happy (and following my talk about how the narrative is being driven by character rather than plot, his recklessness sparks off the whole plot of this episode). It remains this detailed interest, and the attempts to make the characters all flawed but human (no black and white characterisation here) that keep you involved. The plot itself is fairly slight so far, as I've suggested above, and you can't help but wonder if the move into character driven plotting is a deliberate intent on the part of the producers. Certainly, the Doctor's immediate positivity about the creatures living below them seems an unusual moral stance, both for the character and the series. All too often the series does tend to stick with the ugly=bad philosophy, only veering away when that's the actual moral point of the particular story, and whilst it is understandable, the Doctor's insistence that the creatures might not be deliberately dangerous is a clear indication that the series is going somewhere different. The second Doctor would probably have done the same, but he was never given the chance (bar the Faceless Ones, by the same author unsurprisingly) Characterisation in monsters (as opposed to villains) is something I can't recall much of in the show. Is it a reaction to the closeted environment provided by the new format? In the absence of any space based thrills it looks like the show is trying to pitch itself as a more morally complex series. Or it could just be the influence of Malcolm Hulke. Certainly, my memories of season 7 are that it is broadly speaking more of a straight sci-fi drama (Quatermass style, with at least three of the stories broadly corresponding to the originals - Quatermass Experiment and Inferno, Spearhead and Quatermass II, and Silurians and ...and the Pit) than a family adventure serial, very different in feel to the stories either side. Pertwee's Doctor himself is a much straighter figure who seems to look down on humanity so far, very much a moral absolutist.<br /><br />But I'm getting ahead of myself, mainly because the actual content of this episode is so straightforward it's hard to write too much. So I'll just leave it there I think. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#279 6 Aug 2005, 9:16 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The story is actually very much like "The Sensorites"- but I'll come back to that later... <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#280 7 Aug 2005, 12:24 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:46 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Oh, meant to add: Isn't 'She was found in the barn, paralysed with fear. She may have seen something' one of the funniest dumb lines in the show's history? It predates the similarly ludicrous scene in Species (psychic Forrest Whitaker entering a room covered in blood, guts and assorted organs, taking in the scene and then using his amazing powers to deduce: 'something bad happened here.'). I laughed.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />Last edited by Dorney; 7 Aug 2005 at 12:26 pm. <br /><br />Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I'm glad you reminded me of that line - a friend and I used to regularly spout it at school at least once a week, and he'd never even seen "The Silurians"...<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#282 8 Aug 2005, 12:26 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:46 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Silurians 3:<br /><br />I love Columbo. Recently I bought the DVD boxset of the first series, and have been passing many pleasant minutes working my way through it, and sometimes drifting to whatever episode is getting repeated on Channel 5. Falk is terrific of course, but what always makes it more compelling than your usual Whodunnit is the focus on the villain. Concentrating on the murderer, making them psychologically interesting, sympathetic or hissable, always grabs me.<br /><br />Episode three of Doctor Who and the Silurians is pretty much an episode of Columbo. Following on from last time, the main plot has halted whilst we continue the hunt storyline, but once again the focus narrows down even further. This episode belongs to Fulton Mackay. The episode is a character study from the perspective of the Doctor Who villain, and for once the villain figure (even if that sounds like a weird thing to say in respect to Quinn, one of the most amiable baddies the series ever had) is made morally complex and ambiguous. One of my major frustrations with the villains in Who is their lack of proper motivation. The Master is probably the best example of this, evil just because he happens to be evil rather than for any proper, you know, reason . For once we are allowed inside the head of the bad guy, and can explore the motivation of how a regular human being goes bad - here for the very basic traditional motive of greed. It's utterly absorbing, and is the classical definition of a tragedy: a good man brought down by his fatal flaw. Like your Columbo episodes, it's clear from very early on that the Doctor has got him pinned, playing with him as Quinn backs himself into corners. The scene where the two confront each other in his cottage, each basically knowing what the other is thinking but not prepared to vocalise it, is one of the best scenes I've seen in the show in quite some time, with the Doctor's offer of help to a man obviously doomed but too desperate to go for it a great moment for the show. The story of Quinn, the mini adventure within the story, is a simple morality play, with a good man tempted, succumbing, and then refusing redemption when it is offered, with fatal consequences. I'm not sure there's another character in Who who has such a thorough exploration.<br /><br />It's a fascinating way to structure an episode, and if you're not paying attention you wouldn't notice that it really is just a means to fill out the story before the plot really gets going (as I keep saying, character is the best form of padding, as it stops being padding at all). Quinn takes the vast majority of the screen time here (and when he's not there, he's usually being talked about), to the degree that Baker and Lawrence only get a scene or two each, and barely any scenes within the base that is the nominal focus for the story. As with Columbo, it's pretty much entirely from the 'baddies' perspective, with the emphasis on why he's doing things. As with Columbo, we also feel tense for him when he's nearly discovered, or gets himself in trouble, because we sympathise with him, because we understand him. A lesser script would have taken the story from the Doctor's perspective, uncovering Quinn's betrayal. But that would have been melodrama, pure and simple, and we would have seen Quinn as a villain pure and simple. As it is, he leaves the story a tragic hero, and one of the best guest characters the show had.<br /><br />And that's pretty much all for this episode. The villain, the detective, and one single monster that we don't see (with admirable restraint, as it could easily have finished episode two) The main plot doesn't move a vast amount sure, but the psychological drama is genuinely quite touching, and makes this episode highly recommended. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#283 8 Aug 2005, 12:35 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I suppose we should be thankful that Quinn gets killed off before he can degenerate into a ranting "No, no, the secrets are mine!" type of villain.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#284 9 Aug 2005, 1:10 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:46 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />As I am in Edinburgh, there will now follow a short interval. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#285 9 Aug 2005, 2:29 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Get me an ice cream, wench.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#286 25 Aug 2005, 11:34 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:46 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Nope.<br /><br />The Silurians 4:<br /><br />It's odd coming back to this story after so long away. It barely seems to matter, which reinforces the point that the early episodes are a morality play against the backdrop of the regular sci-fi content. Further to that, it becomes increasingly clear that, yes, this story is similar to a lot of Hulke's work, and driven by character. This will become something of a cliche in my reviews of this story, I feel, but it's important. <br /><br />Notice how no-one actually has a scheme at the moment. The Silurians themselves have no obvious plan, they're just waking each other up. As villains/monsters go they're quite quiet. The story itself is set off by the personalities of the individuals involved. Baker for example isn't lured into a trap - his own reckless need to prove himself pushes him into trouble. And the last minute appearance of Miss Dawson at the end provides the tragic masterstroke of the story, with her own personal bitter take on the death of Quinn pushing the situation into needless agression. The story isn't about villains with plots this time, it's about characters responding to other characters, reacting to the actions of other individuals. The fact that some of these individuals are lizard men seems broadly irrelevant. The characters drive the plot, create the plot, rather than serve as function to it. This is the reason why the story is so effective as a tragic masterpiece - you can't help but feel that if the characters weren't so blunt headed it could all turn out okay. Every character is beautifully written (I love the slightly cheeky scientist), and you kind of get the feeling that Hulke is so involved in their worlds he forgets the plot (there's a lengthy scene between Masters and Lawrence, exploring their characters, that contrasts with the slightly desperate rush to get the Doctor and the army into the caves and trapped at the cliffhanger).<br /><br />The most interesting character development in this episode comes from the Brigadier and the Doctor. The pair of them are somewhat at loggerheads here, and it bodes very well for the Earthbound scenario. The Brig's status as all round decent chap from Web/Invasion/Spearhead develops well into a proper character in his own right. The thing to remember is that the Brigadier is not a companion in the same sense that Liz manages to be (despite not going anywhere). Technically, he could have been pitched that way, but it would have been hard to pull off. The companions, at least since Ian and Barbara, are very much subordinate to the Doctor (the name sort of implies it), usually loyal apart from plot necessity, and always returned to the status quo at the end. Perhaps most tellingly, they usually react to the plot, with the Doctor's lead status defined by his status as major plot mover. The Brigadier upsets this. For the first, and only, time in the shows history, we have a second regular who is allowed to drive the plot (a second lead really), who is accorded as much plot and screeen weight as the Doctor himself, and can be placed in opposition to him. A lot of the later companions, most clearly Ace and Rose, are able to move the plot themselves too, but the Brigadier is the only one whose status gives him any real power to drive events in a way the Doctor might not want. What's also rather effective here is the fact that the Brigadier isn't made to seem an idiot, or villainous. It's a brave move, taking the immediately warm figure from the Troughton era, and using him for a permanent source of conflict, but it works. He could so easily have been treated as the Doctor's muscle, and that would have destroyed the show. As it is, his military outlook defines the Doctor's own for us, and reinforces why he is the hero.<br /><br />The Doctor does feel incredibly Doctorish in this episode too. The cliffhanger resolution (holding out his hand and saying 'Hello' to the monster) is gorgeously done, as is his brusque entrance to the base at the end, announcing his presence quite loudly. All at once you see the alien figure there, brave and reckless and prepared to do the mad thing. The moral core of the character is explored throughout as well - even if his insistence to look on the positive side with the Silurians themselves is a little out of character (he's always in a good mood to blow up aliens usually). And to further the 'driven by character' argument, look at the way he deliberately hides the news of Quinn's death. The Doctor is almost being reinvented before our eyes, as befits the massively different context. He's becoming a moral authority figure, rather than a proactive plot pusher, as befits an alien in a world of the little people. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#287 26 Aug 2005, 12:04 am <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Hurrah! Business is resumed! <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#288 26 Aug 2005, 7:33 am <br />Mr Coxy <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Petersham, NSW<br />Joined June 29, 2004<br />Last On: Yesterday 11:01 pm<br />Posts Here: 627 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />The moral core of the character is explored throughout as well - even if his insistence to look on the positive side with the Silurians themselves is a little out of character (he's always in a good mood to blow up aliens usually). <br /><br />G'day Dorney. I've been reading your reviews pretty regularly recently. They're an engaging and stimulating read, and demand lots of my time and attention. Damn you sir!<br /><br />Regarding the little snippet above, the point is of couse that these chaps are earthlings not aliens with some prior claim to the planet. So the Doctor reacts differently. It would be interesting to let him loose on Israel/Palestine.<br /><br />Mind you, what would the ninth Doctor have done in this situation? 'Sorry lads, your time is up. No moisturiser for you...'<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Those who say 'it was all green bubblewrap' remember it wrong. It was scissors & string too! <br /> <br /><br />Mr Coxy <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Mr Coxy <br />Send email to Mr Coxy <br />Find More Posts by Mr Coxy <br />Add Mr Coxy to Your Contacts <br /><br />#289 26 Aug 2005, 10:45 am <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:46 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by James Cox <br />Regarding the little snippet above, the point is of couse that these chaps are earthlings not aliens with some prior claim to the planet. So the Doctor reacts differently. It would be interesting to let him loose on Israel/Palestine. <br /><br />Does the Doctor know that yet, though? I'm not sure he does. In any case, doesn't that smack of double standards? Bear in mind that his only real experience of them is their wandering around, killing, but he's immediately up for defending them on the basis of them being an intelligent species. <br /><br />In many ways, the problem isn't that he defends them now, it's that he's seldom as keen to defend other species... The Silurians just want to exist, and quite a few other 'monsters' in the show do as well. Certainly, they're not going about it in a way that justifies his faith. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#290 26 Aug 2005, 2:12 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I think it's just that nearly every other alien race we've seen so far has been either obviously hostile, or acting in a hostile manner before we realise that they're actually peaceful (the Sensorites, for instance, whom the Doctor distrusts until he has reason to alter his views). We've never really had the Doctor attempting to aid the "monstrous" aliens before, so yes, it does seem a bit out of character for the Doctor that we've seen so far - but more in character for everything we'd like the Doctor to be.<br /><br />"Doctor Who: From A - Z" has an article that compares "The Silurians" and "Terror of the Zygons", pointing out that they're basically the same story, with the exception that whilst Pertwee wants to make peace between the humans and Silurians, Tom Baker just mocks the Zygons, blows them up, and then actively seeks out Broton so that the alien blighter can get his just desserts as well. But there we're informed by the Doctor, reliably we hope, that the Zygons are "evil" and so to destroy them is justified. <br /><br />As I said before, "The Silurians" has fairly obvious parallels with "The Sensorites" as well..<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#291 27 Aug 2005, 12:38 am <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:46 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Silurians 5:<br /><br />There's a lovely little scene in this episode where the Young Silurian and the Scientist have a chat. Just a chat. They're not plotting, particularly, they're discussing the events that are happening. Think about that for a moment. For once the monsters are involved in a scene where their identity as monsters is broadly irrelevant. For once, we're being asked to look at the monsters as characters first and foremost. The three main Silurians are well defined individuals (even if pretty much walking cliches - the venerable elder, the hotheaded youth, and the weak willed accomplice), and once again this means that the story pretty much veers away from sci-fi into straight drama - that just happens to feature scaly green men. For quite a lot of the time, you almost forget that half of the characters are monsters (honestly), and this is mainly due to good work from the actors inside the rubber costumes who, for all the head wobbling, emphasise the 'humanity' and personality of their characters (watch the Scientist's head fall as he realises he has no choice but to go with the Young Silurian). Watch the physicality as well - the Young Silurians arrogant strut, upright, perhaps even slightly angled back, compared with the hunched Old Silurian. You can always tell which character is which straight off. <br /><br />The whole thing is increasingly played as an almost classical tragedy. Character after character is defeated by their individual fatal flaw - Baker's pride, the Young Silurian's prejudice. The plot remains driven by the reactions of these individuals to the behaviour of others. Up until this episode, with the introduction of the plague, there isn't really an overall plot. And even then, that isn't part of a Silurian masterplan. It's a response. There are some nice surprises in the characterisation too - Masters is quite sensible for a Pertwee era politician for example, and Dr Lawrence's journey in the story is unusually small scale - for once here's a man who actually doesn't care about the monsters, and doesn't actually interact with them. They've come out of nowhere and ruined his career, they're what he couldn't foresee. He's more concerned about how he'll look than what they'll do (his bitter line as Masters leaves speaks volumes). His plot is about how aliens turn up and ruin his day. A further detail there is that this episode practically ignores the original set up - the threat to the research centre has moved into the background, the centre itself becoming a generic base. The story is no longer about a threat per se, but about humans and pre-humans.<br /><br />If anything, the story is about trust. No-one trusts anyone else. If they do (The Old Silurian trusting the Doctor, Lawrence trusting Masters) they are punished (death, and the failure of the plant), which suggests that they're right not to. If the story has a message, it's the fairly downbeat one that whilst trust is a good thing, it is too often unworkable in our modern world. Something of a depressing theme for this most positive of series, but quite a brave one. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#292 27 Aug 2005, 1:06 am <br />supervoc <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Merrie England<br />Joined November 25, 2004<br />Last On: 14 Nov 2008 9:39 pm<br />Posts Here: 242 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Paul Darrow does an excellent job as Captain Hawkins, much better than Richard Franklin would do as Captain Yates. A pity he didn't continue in UNIT for a few seasons.<br /><br />Nice points on trust there, all too true, sadly.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />http://www.dieselsweeties.com<br />http://www.hello-cthulhu.com <br /> <br /><br />supervoc <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to supervoc <br />Find More Posts by supervoc <br />Add supervoc to Your Contacts <br /><br />#293 27 Aug 2005, 11:08 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Happy birthday, Dorney! <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#294 27 Aug 2005, 11:13 pm <br />Carlos R <br />Patron<br /> <br /><br />Melbourne<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Yesterday 5:22 pm<br />Posts Here: 58 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br /><br /><br />Happy Birthday!!! <br /><br /><br /><br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out."<br />Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962. <br /> <br /><br />Carlos R <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Carlos R <br />Send email to Carlos R <br />Find More Posts by Carlos R <br />Add Carlos R to Your Contacts <br /><br />#295 28 Aug 2005, 1:08 am <br />supervoc <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Merrie England<br />Joined November 25, 2004<br />Last On: 14 Nov 2008 9:39 pm<br />Posts Here: 242 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />You deserve a very merry birthday after your Herculean efforts! <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />http://www.dieselsweeties.com<br />http://www.hello-cthulhu.com <br /> <br /><br />supervoc <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to supervoc <br />Find More Posts by supervoc <br />Add supervoc to Your Contacts <br /><br />#296 30 Aug 2005, 7:09 pm <br />ianzpotter <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Sheffield<br />Joined April 19, 2004<br />Last On: Yesterday 6:17 pm<br />Posts Here: 122 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Indeed! Happy Birthday from back here at episode 6 of The Wheel in Space!<br />Ian<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />My book- <br />The Rise and Rise of the Independents - a television history<br />"Meticulously researched and a compelling read - whether you work in the media or not." - Victor Lewis-Smith.<br /><br />My Unlikely Gig-<br />Presenting BBC Radio 7's Comedy Club 10 pm 'til Midnight, Monday to Friday, 23rd of June to the 10th of July.<br /><br />Currently reading- <br />PROSCRIBED TITLE from PROSCRIBED PUBLISHER. <br /> <br /><br />ianzpotter <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to ianzpotter <br />Send email to ianzpotter <br />Visit ianzpotter's homepage! <br />Find More Posts by ianzpotter <br />Add ianzpotter to Your Contacts <br /><br />#297 3 Sep 2005, 7:52 pm <br />Carlos R <br />Patron<br /> <br /><br />Melbourne<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Yesterday 5:22 pm<br />Posts Here: 58 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />What happened to the sticky?<br /><br /><br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out."<br />Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962. <br /> <br /><br />Carlos R <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Carlos R <br />Send email to Carlos R <br />Find More Posts by Carlos R <br />Add Carlos R to Your Contacts <br /><br />#298 3 Sep 2005, 9:23 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />What what what what?<br /><br />Damn it!<br /><br /><br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#299 4 Sep 2005, 1:03 am <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:46 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Blimey, almost missed this! Go away for a week, and get unstickied? Blummey. Went to Europe for four months, and I was pinned throughout.<br /><br />Still trying to squeeze in time for the last two episodes of Silurians, btw. After that, not sure how long it'll be til Ambassadors, as I'm moving and the Internet connection situation is in flux at the mo. Don't know the convenience levels, if you get my drift. I'll try my hardest to keep going at least vaguely.<br /><br />Does still make the choice of title more ironic with every passing day of course... <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#300 4 Sep 2005, 12:21 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />Went to Europe for four months, and I was pinned throughout.<br /> <br /><br />Well those Europeans are very passionate sorts.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#301 4 Sep 2005, 1:05 pm <br />Carlos R <br />Patron<br /> <br /><br />Melbourne<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Yesterday 5:22 pm<br />Posts Here: 58 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Hopefully they left no bruising...<br /><br />Actually, Dorney, you did admit fairly early on you'd be hard pressed to keep to "schedule" - you have a life to lead. I just hope you do continue in some form or other, as I honestly enjoy how you dismantle each episode. <br /><br />*sits back and puts feet up*<br />I'm here to stay!<br /><br />- C<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out."<br />Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962. <br /> <br /><br />Carlos R <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Carlos R <br />Send email to Carlos R <br />Find More Posts by Carlos R <br />Add Carlos R to Your Contacts <br /><br />#302 4 Sep 2005, 6:37 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:46 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Further research suggests I may have less problems than I thought (via a potential free computer), so I'm going to take Ambassadors and Inferno to my new flat tomorrow in a spirit of dangerous optimism.<br /><br />I will try to have finished Silurians by then, btw. <br /><br />Also, should add, thanks for the Birthday Greetings, they were greatly appreciated, even if only recently seen. Particularly pleased to see a visitation from the mighty IanZpotter. Not joining me, sir? Come on, the water's lovely. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#303 4 Sep 2005, 8:24 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />You won't get to these two stories for a while, but what are your general feelings on the two Peladon stories? I just finished watching "Monster", and I've never worked out why it's so hated by fandom, as I rather like it. And "Curse" is my second favourite Pertwee. <br /><br />Probably cos I'm an Ice Warrior fan, me. <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#304 5 Sep 2005, 12:11 am <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:46 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Curse is one of the earliest stories I saw, so I have a fondness too it. And I think Monster is underrated, with a cracking villain. Obviously, more later. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#305 5 Sep 2005, 12:40 am <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:46 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />The Silurians 6:<br /><br />If there's a major drawback to this story, it's its lack of actual proper plot. You know, an ongoing storyline, with threads that are going somewhere. Actually, that's a little over harsh. It does have a plot, for about an episode and a half right at the beginning. But from then on in, with the Doctor swiftly guessing the truth, the story becomes a sequence of explorations of 'first contact' (or something basically similar, to be technical). We have a series of actions from one side or the other, that are then given a response by the opponent - and then on to the next, broadly unrelated, action. (the escapee, the raid on the caves, the poison). Neither side is working to a specific plan, so as a result the story lacks a distinct direction. You get the sense that Hulke is going to keep coming up with confrontations for however long the story needs to be, you don't really feel it's building to a climax.<br /><br />Now this isn't, necessarily, a bad thing. This is, despite the epic length, quite a small scale story, about people and the way they behave. The more I think about it, the harder it is to come up with a story that is purely about the character before it is about the plot.<br /><br />This probably isn't the best episode of the story to pitch that though, as it's probably the weakest of the seven. The spreading plague is impressively done (if there was any justice in the world, the mass commuter collapse would be as widely iconic image as the hollow grandstanding of the Invasion 6 cliffhanger), and you do get a sense of it's scale, both through the increasing number, rising tally and the sheer length of time it is concentrated on, but you do begin to lose the sense of the mini-plot that we've been focusing on. By shifting the majority of the drama and risk to London, away from the main cast, the episode becomes curiously static (the Doctor spending most of his time in a lab looking grumpy) and the Silurians, the narrative raison d'etre for the entire story, are broadly sidelined. The lack of any internal pressures on the Doctor and co. mean that there's a surprising lack of tension in the cure hunting scenes. Better surely to have had some blatant Silurian incursion into the base, rather than their back door break in, putting a sense of urgency into the science bits. As it is, the Doctor barely seems to raise a sweat (watch him as he's writing down the cure - doesn't he look more than a little relaxed?). In deed, this is kind of similar to episode 3, with the 'villains' being sidelined in their own show for an episode, losing some real forward drive. It's always clear that the Doctor will find the cure, so you don't feel quite as gripped by this episode as you could do.<br /><br />The best elements for this episode though come from outside the regulars. The deaths of Masters, and Lawrence are worlds away from each other, but both are two of the most memorable moments the show has had. Masters' death is noteable for its direction, with the sequence of him clambering up the railed slope and eventually collapsing beautifully shot and played for great visual effect. In contrast, Lawrence's death is memorable for the sheer demented energy of Peter Miles - his screeching at the Brigadier is amazing, and contrasts beautifully with his angry arrogance to Liz earlier in the episode.<br /><br />It initially feels odd that the deaths of the supporting cast in this episode - Masters in particular, and Baker last time - all seem so much more tragic than usual, but I don't think it is. Firstly, they are clearly collateral damage in a way lots of others aren't (all are basically good people, bar the utterly selfish Lawrence, and can't be seen to deserve death in the way lots of other characters do). Also, it doesn't help that all these deaths are pointless and based on prejudice, rather than as the result of any proper invasion plan (at least when Ransom is killed in Spearhead, it's because it directly helps the goal of the Nestenes). People die because they don't talk. Because they don't think. Obviously it's going to be tragic. So even if the plot is weak, the story is still powerful, because it really does examine people, and is one of the rare stories that's more about engaging us emotionally than exciting us. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#306 5 Sep 2005, 2:16 am <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I think only "Inferno" cracked the seven part plot in this season - both "Silurians" and "Ambassadors" go for long stretches where, at first glance, a lot of action is going on, but in terms of the ongoing plot very little is actually happening. Still, I love "Ambassadors", and "Silurians" is a cracking yarn too - it's the way the characters are written and acted, with a hefty amount of top notch direction too. Sort of distracts your attention from the plot mechanics.<br /><br />However, even though "Inferno" is obviously building to a climax, the nature of the story means that we have to have the climax played out twice... Season 7 really was more about the characters rather than the plots. "Doctor Who", to be fair, rarely strikes a consistent balance between the two.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />Last edited by The Secretive Bus; 5 Sep 2005 at 2:18 am. <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#307 8 Sep 2005, 6:39 pm <br />ianzpotter <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Sheffield<br />Joined April 19, 2004<br />Last On: Yesterday 6:17 pm<br />Posts Here: 122 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I'd love to be back in the saddle, Dorney, and I'd recommend doing this to anyone, you get a much clearer context on the series (I'd never realised just how a rubbish a script editor Gerry Davis was before, until he left and the story logic pinged back into shape. I mean Faceless Ones, eh?), but I haven't time for the critiquing sadly. It has really helped me with my paper for the Manchester University Who book tracing soem of the programme's technical developments, whenever that's out now.<br />I'm doing the stories as audio only at the moment, so I can listen to them on walks as part of an exercise regime and it's interesting feeling the stories change around '68 to include more visual action making that harder (God bless electronic editing!). Seeds of Death episode 1 today. The Space Pirates looms, the only story I've never seen or heard entirely before coming up, I hope it's another pleasant surprise. I'm going to have such a culture shock come Spearhead.<br /><br />Keep ahead of me please, Dorney, give me something to chase!<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />My book- <br />The Rise and Rise of the Independents - a television history<br />"Meticulously researched and a compelling read - whether you work in the media or not." - Victor Lewis-Smith.<br /><br />My Unlikely Gig-<br />Presenting BBC Radio 7's Comedy Club 10 pm 'til Midnight, Monday to Friday, 23rd of June to the 10th of July.<br /><br />Currently reading- <br />PROSCRIBED TITLE from PROSCRIBED PUBLISHER. <br /> <br /><br />ianzpotter <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to ianzpotter <br />Send email to ianzpotter <br />Visit ianzpotter's homepage! <br />Find More Posts by ianzpotter <br />Add ianzpotter to Your Contacts <br /><br />#308 17 Sep 2005, 7:03 pm <br />Llama Roddy <br />Bigger than a frog<br /> <br /><br />Hull, England<br />Joined April 19, 2004<br />Posts Here: 1,807 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />When do we get to episode 7?<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />"If you're normal, I intend to be a freak for the rest of my life." <br /> <br /><br />Llama Roddy <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Llama Roddy <br />Send email to Llama Roddy <br />Find More Posts by Llama Roddy <br />Add Llama Roddy to Your Contacts <br /><br />#309 18 Sep 2005, 4:32 am <br />Joey Doodle <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Manchester<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: Yesterday 8:10 am<br />Posts Here: 606 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Llama Roddy <br />When do we get to episode 7? <br /><br />This review is dragging almost as long as the original broadcast took! <br /> <br /><br />Joey Doodle <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Joey Doodle <br />Send email to Joey Doodle <br />Find More Posts by Joey Doodle <br />Add Joey Doodle to Your Contacts <br /><br />#310 21 Sep 2005, 8:16 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:46 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Yeah, many apologies for the lack of an update - I've been a bit bad at keeping up to date with the reviews at the moment, what with a move and a lack of computer. Hopefully, I should be able to keep a slightly more regular routine (ish) as of next week via my local library, unless I get a proper job (well, you got to keep the wolf from the door, haven't you?). I'm annoying myself, it has to be said, as I don't want to watch Silurians 7 until I know I can review it, so I'm on tenterhooks. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#311 24 Sep 2005, 7:25 am <br />Max K Wilkie <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Sydney, Australia<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 23 Jun 2009 2:05 pm<br />Posts Here: 54 <br />Posts in OG Forum: 1,175 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />As soon as you're back, Dorney, I'll use my magnificent powers of mind-control to try and get the thread re-pinned.<br /><br />Keep up the good work!!<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Mind the gap.<br /><br />The Next Doctor - 9/10<br />Planet of the Dead - 7/10 <br /> <br /><br />Max K Wilkie <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Max K Wilkie <br />Send email to Max K Wilkie <br />Find More Posts by Max K Wilkie <br />Add Max K Wilkie to Your Contacts <br /><br />#312 12 Oct 2005, 2:59 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:46 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Just a brief note - Silurians 7 should be up in the next day or two. I've watched the episode, and made a few notes, it all just depends on how much time I get on my local library's somewhat erratic internet system... <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#313 12 Oct 2005, 3:27 pm <br />Alzarian <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Raleigh, NC<br />Joined April 20, 2004<br />Last On: 15 Jun 2009 2:02 am<br />Posts Here: 59 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Yay!<br /><br />You have been missed. <br /> <br /><br />Alzarian <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Alzarian <br />Send email to Alzarian <br />Find More Posts by Alzarian <br />Add Alzarian to Your Contacts <br /><br />#314 12 Oct 2005, 7:16 pm <br />Carlos R <br />Patron<br /> <br /><br />Melbourne<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Yesterday 5:22 pm<br />Posts Here: 58 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Seconded! You've been missed Dorney.<br /><br />Cheers!<br /><br />C<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out."<br />Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962. <br /> <br /><br />Carlos R <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Carlos R <br />Send email to Carlos R <br />Find More Posts by Carlos R <br />Add Carlos R to Your Contacts <br /><br />#315 12 Oct 2005, 9:33 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />With you in that dress, my thoughts, I confess<br />Verge on dirty.<br /><br />Oh come on, Dorney!<br /><br />...<br /><br />Evenin'.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#316 12 Oct 2005, 11:04 pm <br />Dan Stimson <br />Formerly IceWarrior<br /> <br /><br />Peterborough ..ish.<br />Joined March 25, 2005<br />Last On: 24 Jun 2009 12:51 am<br />Posts Here: 772 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by The Secretive Bus <br />Probably cos I'm an Ice Warrior fan, me. <br /><br />Awwww! I never knew you cared <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />'My life ain't nothing like Eastenders' - Dizzee Rascal <br /> <br /><br />Dan Stimson <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dan Stimson <br />Send email to Dan Stimson <br />Find More Posts by Dan Stimson <br />Add Dan Stimson to Your Contacts <br /><br />#317 13 Oct 2005, 11:36 am <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:46 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Doctor Who and the Silurians 7:<br /><br />It's something of an irony that I've had to review this episode pretty much in isolation from the rest of the story. Because this episode pretty much is in isolation from the rest of the story itself.<br /><br />The problems caused by the episodic nature of the script and the lack of an overall 'plot' become clear here. Within five minutes of the start of the episode, the whole plague plot line is eradicated. In deed, rather disappointingly, the cliffhanger is negated pretty instantly as well: the Doctor is kidnapped before he can transcribe the formula - shock, horror - but then Liz looks at the discarded mass of papers. Now you'd think that the episode would milk the tension here for a bit - Liz frantically searching for the formula as people die around the world, whilst the Doctor tries to talk his way out of danger with the Silurians. But no. Liz finds the sheet of paper on her third go, and the Doctor has one quick chat with the Silurians before being taken right back to the power station. Come on. There's so much room for suspense here, and it's thrown away. Beyond this point, the plague isn't even referred to once. It retains its sense of being a succession of set pieces rather than a plot. You feel that the Silurians will keep coming up with new plans, keep getting defeated, until the allocated time is filled in, without the plot really progressing. It's the laziest type of storytelling in Doctor Who. The stakes need to be raised, the plot needs to develop. There is no plot here.<br /><br />This was all well and good and no particular problem when the story was basing itself in characterisation, and this is really the biggest problem with the final episode and why it seems less interesting than its six predecessors. The story has been so keen to kill off its characters that there are now none left. The regulars are the only good guys we get in this story. Before hand the story was all but pitched as a character study where the personalities interested us more than the events, the personalities and their interaction providing the development that the plot didn't (Dr Lawrence most clearly, but with such elements as the Silurian conflict, Quinn's shifting loyalties). But with them all gone, the story feels so much more straightforward. Even the Silurian's themselves, seemingly so multi-layered before, come across as pretty much straight forward monsters in this part, mainly due to their leaders death. This does cause some problems with the famous resolution to the story, but more on that in a bit.<br /><br />It's very much a shame that the thoughtfulness of the majority of this story descends into something simpler, something, well... 'Who' ish, if you like. All moral ambiguity vanishes, and the monsters turn up with a machine, that the Doctor defeats by technobabble. To be fair, a lot of this criticism can be put down to the fact that it's been a month and a half since I saw the first six episodes. With six episodes of build up this could feel like the natural follow through, with the focus tightening, and the moral and intellectual depth of the previous six hanging over this episode. But I don't know. I just feel this is almost like Hulke can't figure out how to end it. He's painted himself into a corner. The story hasn't really been going anywhere, so it's can't really have an ending, or a climax. The script itself somewhat peters out. After the epic scale, it all seems a little too narrow, and bit too enclosed (the lack of any characters other than the regulars makes it feel less globally threatening). As it is, it almost whimpers out, with the prevention of the meltdown embarrassingly casual, and at the point when the story should be finishing, a bizarre bit of 'comic' padding (the Doctor tracking his magic liquid through Bessie) that feels completely out of place with the downbeat tone, especially since we know what the Brigadier is planning) that just seems to be there to stretch the story out. <br /><br />And the ending... there are a few problems here with this most iconic of moments. One, it's hard not to agree with the Brigadier. With the Elder Silurian dead, they are incredibly dangerous, and have shown no inclination to negotiate (why exactly are they different from, the Ice Warriors say? Another intelligent species. Why does the Doctor get so obsessed with negotiating with creatures who seem to want to kill him? Isn't he just being a bit too liberal?) The other massive problem, for me, is a certain amount of hypocrisy caused by weird behaviour by the Doctor (to the degree that it suggests weak playing on the part of Pertwee, as the line makes no sense as played). When the Doctor investigates the caves to check the Silurians are hibernating at the end, and he is attacked by the Young Silurian, the Brig comes in and shoots it. Quite a lot. It's quite a brutal moment. What's the Doctor's response? A cheery 'well done Brigadier'. Cheery. Not even releived, actual nonchalance. Now, I'd guess that this was written as sarcasm, presumably at the disproportionate nature of the Brigadiers attack. But this isn't how it's played. So we're left with the frankly uncomfortable suggestion that the Doctor's perfectly prepared to play the moral high ground from a safe distance... but when his life's actually threatened, he's more than happy to have 'intelligent' beings killed.<br /><br />However, despite these, the ending does really work. The look on Pertwee's face in that final scene, a sort of horrified sadness, is an incredibly memorable image, and some of his finest acting work in the show. It's this that sells the moment, this and the Brigadiers sneaking around behind him to arrange it earlier in the episode. Something of a shame that the underlying tension this suggests (and the bravery of upsetting the status quo of the new format this early) kind of goes for a burton with the pair of them remaining jolly chums for most of the era, neutered by the transformation of Lethbridge Stewart from hard nosed military man (and companion with equal status) to comic foil. The willingness to experiment is joyfully brave, and it's what gives the story it's power, and explains why the final episode doesn't totally die or ruin the script despite it's structural flaws. The end of the story continues the themes - everyone acting for what they consider their best interests, no one trying to concede. Everyone is right, everyone is wrong, and they all end up dead through their own hubris, their own 'fatal flaws'. The story is quite possibly the most successful tragedy the series ever managed. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#318 13 Oct 2005, 4:47 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />This is where the comparisons to "The Sensorites" come through. Think about it; both stories have an "alien" menace lurking in the shadows that we see glimpses of during the first few episodes before the Doctor goes to their planet/base, whereupon we get lots of info about them and their titles (they're credited as Sensorite and Silurian in the first episodes, and then we get First Elder, Second Elder, Young Silurian, Silurian Scientist etc.); there's a power struggle between the protagonist alien (who has a cowardly scientist helping him) and a person of supreme authority (the second elder or the old Silurian), centering mainly on their opinions to the "humans" (City Administrator and Young Silurian want to destroy them to protect the species, whereas the real leaders feel that negotiation may work), during which the "goody" one gets killed; after a careful build up, the protagonist then appears to be spending several episodes hurling varied problems to overcome the Doctor and co. but doesn't really seem to be building up to any grand plan; and there's an infection in both (though one is started by human astronauts and the other by the Silurians). The major difference is that negotiation in one story actually works, and in the other it ends in needless death. But still really rather similar in both structure and core themes.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#319 13 Oct 2005, 5:34 pm <br />supervoc <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Merrie England<br />Joined November 25, 2004<br />Last On: 14 Nov 2008 9:39 pm<br />Posts Here: 242 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by The Secretive Bus <br />But still really rather similar in both structure and core themes. <br /><br />You are absolutely right. I don't think I have seen anyone draw that particular comparison before. Well observed, Mr Bus.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />http://www.dieselsweeties.com<br />http://www.hello-cthulhu.com <br /> <br /><br />supervoc <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to supervoc <br />Find More Posts by supervoc <br />Add supervoc to Your Contacts <br /><br />#320 14 Oct 2005, 11:37 am <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:46 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Interesting in deed, Bus, and bang on the money.<br /><br />Looking over my reviews for the earlier episodes of the story, it strikes me that I complain that 6 is too focused outside the base, and 7 too focused in side. This makes me think that an ideal last two episodes would have paralleled the plague storyline and the Van Allen belt storyline, with the plague's effects constantly spreading and the Doctor unable to deal with them because the Silurians have dealt with the base. Unlike the slightly contrived touch of the meltdown threat, this gives a plausible reason for a bit of internal tension.John Dorneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00043867565471251131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7755686396354348154.post-134297110448296522009-06-29T13:48:00.001-07:002009-06-29T13:48:51.213-07:00Spearhead from Space1 Aug 2005, 12:35 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:46 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Spearhead from Space 1:<br /><br />It's hard to overstate how vastly different this story feels when watched in order. Even in the context of pick and mix, backwards and forwards watching, it still feels out of place. Watched directly after the War Games, it's like an electric shock. As era change overs go, this is still the biggest sea change of the lot. And that includes McCoy/McGann/Eccleston. This episode truly feels like a completely different series - but at the same time it does still feel Whoish.<br /><br />Now, there is a degree to which this is a false emphasis. The one off film look for this episode immediately places it in a more epic and realistic world, but it is not, of course, representative of the series we are to get. And it doesn't help either that there is no direct link to the preceeding serial, no carry over actors at all, this story starts with a sort of blank slate. Pertwee steps out of the TARDIS and he could be anyone, there's an obvious lack of continuity (in its literal sense). Obviously, the presence of the Brigadier levels it out a bit, but it doesn't really help all that much. I'm reminded of the James Bond relaunching film Goldeneye. Up until that point there had been a clear throughline throughout the stories, with no more than two regulars changing at any given time. Then suddenly it's a complete white wash, bar Q who seems to have been retained for sentimental reasons more than anything else. Whilst it's nominally part of the same series, there is a clear and distinct break. It's the same here. Now the Brig does help, and the fact that the Doctor is clearly the same person even in the short scenes he gets here (Pertwee nails the part pretty quickly I feel), but it doesn't stop the whole thing feeling jarring. The whole identity of the series has shifted. Jarring doesn't mean poor though, just that the sudden change in style, pace (the facility to cut more is noticeable) narrative freedom and, heck, colour, will take a bit of getting used to. Still, Troughton did as well, so the more things change... etc.<br /><br />Precisely how much of this impacts on the general reception of this story, I don't know. It was one of the earliest Pertwee stories I saw, and I loved it very much at the time, but I keep coming and going on it. I recall reviewing the video release and giving it a 10/10 rating, but I don't feel I could in all conscience do the same now. It is, I feel, the only Doctor Who story that works much better as the compilation VHS than as a four part serial. I also have a sneaky feeling that it's probably the weakest serial of season seven (not actually bad, just not as good as the others) and it's reputation as a classic largely hangs on how expensive it looks (this is the one Doctor Who story that doesn't look like it was made for telly - and the compilation helps that feeling). I'll come back to this later in the story though, as I haven't got enough evidence to back this up yet. Hell, I may even change my mind.<br /><br />As for this episode itself... well, it's fun, but a little empty. Pertwee himself is instantly entertaining, and most of the scenes revolving round him are amusing. With the main plot being confined to hints and minor mysteries (none of which really grab you yet, they're all too vague - strange bloke hanging around, bunch of meteorites? They all feel less interesting than the new Doctor stuff, and you can see that the writer think this too) this episode feels like an alien has landed sitcom rather than part one of a four part story, and to be fair it does that rather well. The Brigadier is still likeable and intelligent (as opposed to the buffoon he's to become), with a nice line in dry wit. WIth the other cast members, Holmes' characterisation is subtle, but present, meaning characters like Doctor Henderson come across nicely. Although, it is a little odd to cast Talfryn Thomas and not have him play a spitting demented Welshman (his first lines as Mullins are noticeably poshed up a touch. But that's probably to differentiate from the fact he's just clearly done the voice of the Doctor who examined the blood). Still, he comes over pleasingly too.<br /><br />One character who doesn't is Liz. It's odd that they manage to take a character so broadly speaking similar to the personable Zoe and make her irritating so quickly. Her first scene in this story, only proper scene in the episode as well, makes her come over as prissy, smug and uptight - generally unappealing. I think a lot of this is Caroline John warming her way in, rather than the script, but it really isn't a good start.<br /><br />Overall it's an enjoyable episode, but it's a bit lacking in actual content to hook you. When the BBC repeated this story a few years back, they opened with the first two episodes back to back, and I can see why. This episode lacks incident, depsite its pace, and just comes over as slight. Fun, but slight. The climax with a sudden attack does begin to push the story forward though (even if you do get the wonderfully crap line: 'who told you to fire you stupid...' at the cliffhanger leading to an unintentional laugh). Perhaps that's why it doesn't grab me yet. There's no obvious danger, nothing at stake in the episode, until the end. Strange men and meteorites aren't threatening in themselves, it's only when they do something that you get tension, and neither of them are that obviously threatening in themselves, because the episode does little with either til the final two or three minutes.. Up until then it just ambles along. This sort of pacing would be fine in a feature length film, but feels slightly awkward in a twenty five minute adventure serial. But as a holding episode goes, it's promising. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#257 1 Aug 2005, 3:00 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />A very refreshing review.<br /><br />"Spearhead" is a story that's probably regarded as a classic due to a) it looks expensive and b) it's got "that bit where the Autons break out of the shop windows", which of course doesn't happen for ages. In fact the Autons do far less in the story than you expect. It's the same problem with "Doctor Who" invasions - you've got to show the aliens as being a powerful threat, but you can't have them launch a successful invasion because otherwise the story wouldn't finish; solution - defeat them within minutes of the invasion, before they've gained any sort of foothold. "Spearhead" sort of carries over from "The Invasion", where a superb race of monsters are waiting in the wings, ready to wander the streets of London and to achieve stuff all. The best invasion stories (or at least the ones that present the menace as being considerably threatening) are the ones where the aliens have already launched the invasion before the TARDIS arrives; "Dalek Invasion of Earth", "Web of Fear" etc. Tellingly, "Spearhead" was a story that my 8 year old self taped when it came onto UK Gold, because I thought "It's the one with the Autons - cool!" I ended up watching it once and then taping something else because I thought the story was too boring.<br /><br />I like "Spearhead" now, but it does take a while to get going, and the pacing seems all wrong - since the Doctor's out of it for the first couple of episodes, he's still investigating the situation half way through part 4, whereas he's usually finished all that by the beginning of part 3. Fortunately the guest cast are top notch and hold your interest whilst Pertwee's faffing about with his wheelchair and comedy shower shenanigans. Best to watch it in 2 episode chunks, really - then it feels like two different stories taking place in the same location.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#258 2 Aug 2005, 7:06 am <br />Dr Lorenzo <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Newtown, Sydney<br />Joined August 8, 2004<br />Last On: Yesterday 2:58 am<br />Posts Here: 545 <br />Posts in OG Forum: 2,953 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Great review.<br /><br />Thought I'd mention that I advised a friend who has watched New Who to watch a bit of classic, starting with Spearhead. He really didn't like episode 1, but loved 2, 3 and 4.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Dr Lorenzo <br />+ http://laurencebm.blogspot.com/<br />+ Sleeping beauty awoke at the kiss of a scientist and expired at the fatal puncture of his syringe! - The Illustrated Man [Ray Bradbury]<br /><br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by War Arrow <br />I feel that I can state with some degree of certainty that the first incarnation of the Doctor probably had pretty much everything by the Rollins Band. Just look at that face when his temper starts to slip. You can almost hear Low Self Opinion cranking away in the background. <br /> <br /> <br /><br />Dr Lorenzo <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dr Lorenzo <br />Send email to Dr Lorenzo <br />Visit Dr Lorenzo's homepage! <br />Find More Posts by Dr Lorenzo <br />Add Dr Lorenzo to Your Contacts <br /><br />#259 2 Aug 2005, 9:12 am <br />Max K Wilkie <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Sydney, Australia<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 23 Jun 2009 2:05 pm<br />Posts Here: 54 <br />Posts in OG Forum: 1,175 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Onto the Pertwee era then...I can't wait to see what you think of Ambassadors of Death.<br /><br />I really appreciate/like/enjoy your reviews, Dorney. They're probably the best Doctor Who reviews I read.<br /><br />You've still got Uncle Pat in your avatar, though...<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Mind the gap.<br /><br />The Next Doctor - 9/10<br />Planet of the Dead - 7/10 <br /> <br /><br />Max K Wilkie <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Max K Wilkie <br />Send email to Max K Wilkie <br />Find More Posts by Max K Wilkie <br />Add Max K Wilkie to Your Contacts <br /><br />#260 2 Aug 2005, 2:47 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:46 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Oh, bless you for that. Any praise greatly appreciated. And I do have to change over the avatar...<br /><br />Spearhead from Space 2:<br /><br />You know, it takes the Doctor half this episode to properly appear. Over 12 minutes. That is weird. After a few late arrivals last season – Seeds and Space Pirates most noticeably – this story goes for a slightly different tack. The episodes are about the Doctor, but he remains heavily in the background. I’m not sure I like it. Two episodes in, and we only really get to meet the new Doctor in the last ten minutes or so. He only has one proper scene in the whole of the first forty five minutes. When Pertwee gets to strut his stuff it’s very entertaining, but it just takes so long, and you do wonder if it’s the most sensible way to introduce your new lead.<br /><br />It does also mean that the story still lacks overall coherency. The script is largely made up of a few rather disparate strands, and this does mean it feels somewhat diffuse, and lacking in direction. The Doctor usually acts as the narrative glue for the story, but here he remains on the sidelines (as in deed do UNIT). The rest of the story is developing elsewhere, without really seeming to touch him. (Of course, this is pretty much the same criticism as with Holmes’ last script, The Space Pirates, another story where the Doctor was barely involved by the end of part two). Again, this is less of a problem with the compilation version, as these threads aren’t left separate, but in episodic chunks, the story feels… well, episodic. Suddenly introducing new threads (the plastics factory) and continuing others without really developing them (Seeley – the inexplicably West Country accented Essex inhabitant has a lovely scene with his wife, but it doesn’t really progress his storyline a jot) reinforce this feeling. Lots of separate storylines that aren’t really coming together. Whilst there is a clearer sense of a story, you still don’t really feel it’s actually started yet. Sequences like Ransome’s visit to the factory really need to take place in part one to establish the set up. As it is, we’re just left with the feeling that the story is still getting going. In fact, this episode does feel like it’s a first part. Most of the detail of part one is discarded (do we ever find out why the Autons were interested in the Doctor, and wanted to kidnap him? Or were they just in the area and a bit bored?). Notice how they have to contrive an action sequence with the Auton making the jeep veer off the road (the whole ‘second missing meteor’ sequence lasts, what, a minute? Kind of irrelevant), to at least give the impression that there’s some direct interaction between the goodies and the baddies. Story’s tend to work their best when the antagonists are directly providing obstacles for the protagonists – here, most of the difficulties being experienced by both sides are of sideline characters – Ransome, Doctor Henderson, etc. Drama is about conflict, they say, and but there is a degree of false conflict when there’s no real connection, and the conflict is with minor foes not worthy of the battle.<br /><br />All this does feel terribly rude about the story, but I am still enjoying it. Remember, I’m not saying it’s bad, it’s just a bit over-rated. It’s good, but not quite good enough to deserve classic status. The writing is still rather nice, with a nice line in wit for the good guys. And it’s still impressive to watch. The picture quality is only half of the battle. The direction adds the other half, and that’s why this story still looks beautiful. The shots are beautifully picked (the bloodied windscreen is creepy and memorable), the locations well selected, and the cast pretty much flawless. It’s just I find it hard to get worked up about. It’s pleasing viewing, but not really a grabber yet. It’s just too slight and lacking in incident and drama so far. High on atmosphere and prettiness, just a tiny bit hollow. Still, as I say, it’s only warming up, so I’m hoping I’ll get more into it as the episodes progress. As long as next time they stop setting up threads, and start tying them together. Then I’ll be happy. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#261 2 Aug 2005, 3:06 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />It really is an odd way to introduce perhaps one of the most active Doctors. It's a bit of a hangover from the 60s, where the Doctor could bugger off for a few episodes and nobody really batted an eyelid. Pertwee's Doctor is one who rarely seems to sit around in the background, he's usually "in there" doing something by the end of part 1 at least. The only ones that don't fit the rule, off the top of me 'ead, are "Day of the Daleks" where Pertwee spends part 1 indulging in a cheese and wine dinner and "The Green Death" where he's wandering about Metebelis 3 for a while before deciding to go to Wales. You could argue the case for "Carnival of Monsters", as the Doctor doesn't connect with the "real world" stuff until part 4, but at least he's active for the other three episodes and working things out.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#262 2 Aug 2005, 6:07 pm <br />sephzoni <br />Time Lord<br />Joined April 24, 2004<br />Last On: 19 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 7 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />You know, it takes the Doctor half this episode to properly appear. Over 12 minutes. That is weird. After a few late arrivals last season – Seeds and Space Pirates most noticeably – this story goes for a slightly different tack. The episodes are about the Doctor, but he remains heavily in the background. I’m not sure I like it. Two episodes in, and we only really get to meet the new Doctor in the last ten minutes or so. He only has one proper scene in the whole of the first forty five minutes. When Pertwee gets to strut his stuff it’s very entertaining, but it just takes so long, and you do wonder if it’s the most sensible way to introduce your new lead. <br /><br />Perhaps I can offer an alternative perspective? Imagine if you were a viewer in 1970 who had seen the cliffhanger ending to The War Games. One of the main reasons you'd be tuning in would be curiousity as to what the new Doctor is like. And rather than just give him to you on a plate, the story teases you for a while with only glimpses of what he'll be like. As you say, he's very relevant to what's going on, but more as a presence than an actual character. Thus the Doctor himself becomes the key element in the story's suspense-building - just what can we expect of him? Initially the story is told from the perspective of the Brigadier and Liz which is probably a deliberate tactic - the Brigadier, being the only recurring face from previous episodes, represents the established audience whilst the cynical Liz represents the new audience Sherwin etc. were hoping to win over with the earthbound style. For the first time since the series began, the Doctor is viewed from the POV of ordinary earthlings - it's the first of many attempts to put the 'Who' back in the title. I think the approach makes a lot of sense!<br /><br />I'm loving the reviews by the way, I've just been checking your back catalogue and you give some wonderful insights I had never considered. Thank you! Maybe it's too early to say, but I was just wondering - are you finding the earthbound format at all... disappointing? It's easy for us to look back on it now as a kind of 'arc' with an ending, but at the time there's nothing to suggest the Doctor will ever make it to other planets again. I imagine if you were a particular fan of the "adventures in time and space" aspect of the programme, it must have been a particularly crushing blow. <br /> <br /><br />sephzoni <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to sephzoni <br />Send email to sephzoni <br />Find More Posts by sephzoni <br />Add sephzoni to Your Contacts <br /><br />#263 2 Aug 2005, 6:24 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I must say that "Spearhead" is really a rather good "first story" for people not acquainted with the series. Sets up the whole premise of the Doctor being an alien, about the TARDIS, what the Doctor does etc. whilst giving us some decent characters, a recognisable setting and a classy monster. Which is possibly why "Rose" is basically the same story.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#264 2 Aug 2005, 8:10 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:46 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by sephzoni <br />Initially the story is told from the perspective of the Brigadier and Liz which is probably a deliberate tactic - the Brigadier, being the only recurring face from previous episodes, represents the established audience whilst the cynical Liz represents the new audience Sherwin etc. were hoping to win over with the earthbound style. For the first time since the series began, the Doctor is viewed from the POV of ordinary earthlings - it's the first of many attempts to put the 'Who' back in the title. I think the approach makes a lot of sense! <br /><br />I take your point, but I'm not convinced a four part serial is the best place to try and pull off such a trick. With so little time for the story anyway, you've got to get it going, and keeping the Doctor on the sidelines for so long stalls the script in first gear. Even Unearthly Child has the Doctor a complete part of the first story pretty much the moment he arrives, and is within the context of a one off episode dedicated entirely to his mystery. Here, two episodes in the story's barely started. It's a nice idea, and as the Bus says it leads to the story being a good restart for the show (as it was on BBC 2, albeit not for long), but nonetheless I feel there's only so much teasing you can do before you short change the actual story itself. It kind of works in episode one, but in this part where he's held back and barely referenced it begins to annoy. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#265 3 Aug 2005, 7:27 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:46 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Spearhead from Space 3:<br /><br />I had a moment of terror when I started watching this episode that nothing on screen could match. My DVD player sometimes will start randomly in the middle of a disc for no obvious reason, and it tried doing this this time, by pure fluke with episode 3. Now I wouldn’t have minded this, but for one thing. It was impossible to switch the commentary off. Anyone who’s heard that exercise in tedium (Courtney and John basically describing what’s on screen and then berating themselves, then repeating the pattern for 100 minutes) will understand the terror I felt as I fumbled for the remote and corrected it. I can still taste the fear.<br /><br />The problems with the slow opening of this story are still playing out in this one. The plot’s getting more interesting, and the direct interaction with the villains is a bonus, but it’s still just slight.<br /><br />Having left the investigation proper until this episode, the plot requires the villains to be discovered remarkably quickly, as they heroes have only been left with two episodes to tidy it all up. So rather than the Doctor uncovering what’s going on, other characters turn up and tell him. Ransome in particular is a lucky find for UNIT, stumbling into them by chance and able to identify instantly the source of the invasion. You could argue that with the Auton’s range being incredibly limited, meaning the meteorites have to have landed close to the factory, so him running into the army isn’t too unlikely… but it still requires the story to be built around chance. It’s a narrative short cut that immediately lacks any real drama or tension. The moment the Doctor starts to look at the case, he has it solved instantly. Seeley is a similar figure, turning up just when necessary in order to give the Doctor another piece of the puzzle. <br /><br />There also remains a lack of overall narrative drive. The various different segments of the story don’t really interact, and are merely switched on and off as required, used simply to fill in time. None of them are coming together into an actual plot. So far the villain’s grand scheme is pretty much ‘hanging about’, whilst they wait to locate the final spheres, and the goodies to find them. They’re not really doing anything yet. It’s more a series of episodic riffs on a central theme than all the events being tied into an actual narrative. And it also feels like the Doctor and co. are running around behind events, rather than interacting with them. They’re following the story around, commenting on it, but they’re not really part of it yet.<br /><br />One other point – One of the factors I think enters into the popular status of this story is violence. Doctor Who fans, in general, tend to rate violent stories higher (as if they’re automatically better, more serious, more adult – my ‘rating stories that don’t feel like they’re from a kid’s show, because I’ll feel better’ theory raising it’s head again). Now there are some moments of quite unpleasant violence in this script (the car crash in part two, with its bloodied windshield in particular) and the Autons are genuinely menacing and scary (as Mrs Seeley sees the one raiding her house in this episodes, it’s blank face looking almost melted, you can’t help but feel discomforted) – but underneath all that, it’s strangely wimpy. Sure, Ransome’s death is quite unpleasant, but it’s more to do with the creatures appearance rather than the death itself. Otherwise, they’re not that monstrous or powerful, they radiate strength but do nothing with it – why, for example, do they not kill Mrs Seeley? It’s a slight wimping out (almost as if Holmes is too fond of the character). Similarly, the fact the creature just runs away when UNIT attack is terribly disappointing. And for all the nastiness of the car crash, it’s not directly caused by the Auton. This story is slightly scared of violence. It only really begins to get tense and threatening in this episode, because for all their wandering around and looking creepy, they don’t really do all that much until now… and even then, they only really manage to kill Ransome, and that’s only cause he comes back in range. The last image is wonderfully striking, but once again I’d prefer it if it didn’t take til part three of a four parter before I get any real sense of menace. All too often in the first three episodes, the villains aren’t actually doing anything. They figure out UNIT are on to them, but they don’t follow through. It all feels like the Doctors having it a little easy.<br /><br />This all sounds very negative, but I am enjoying the story. I come from a vague writing background, and so my criticisms are always going to be mainly based on story and structure, and this is clearly a weakness in this tale. But there are going to be other factors too, such as atmosphere. Spearhead doesn’t just look well made, it is well made. The fact that the plot is inherently simplistic shouldn’t distract us from this. I can only think of one other Who story that I think carries through on surface swagger, despite weak plotting (I was tempted to leave that as a cliffhanger, but what the hey – it’s Revelation of the Daleks), and I’d argue that this story is certainly better put together than that one (still good, but more another time). There’s considerable confidence in the making of this story, and it certainly has an air of professionalism to it that is down to more than film stock. Whilst it is easy to suggest that its reputation rests on its appearance, it’s likewise easy to take this too far. There is plenty of good work going on underneath, several arresting ideas and images, plus bags of originality. The new set up and format for the show is promising, and I should add, something of a daring move akin to the first regeneration itself – basically this is a show rewriting it’s own format. I can’t really think of any other tv show that has changed so radically, successfully (in fact, the only show I can think of that tried something similar is ‘Between the Lines’, and that caused the show to fall apart). The Brigadier is dry and entertaining, and Liz has warmed up a bit – she’s gone from uptight prig to naughty schoolgirl and that’s far more appealing. Pertwee is still warming in – he’s good value and grabs the part with both hands, but he doesn’t entirely feel like the Doctor yet to me, but one thing that watching the show in order has taught me is that the Doctor’s actual personality is more flexible than I thought (watched randomly they all seem more like the same man, but the individual attitudes are so clearly distinct it surprises). I’m sure I’ll get used to him in time. The series is thoroughly embracing it’s new freedoms, and feels less studio bound (obviously). Overall, the story’s lack of narrative complexity and tension means it’s the least interesting of season seven, but that hardly makes it poor, does it? <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#266 3 Aug 2005, 11:07 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />Spearhead from Space 3:<br /><br />Now I wouldn’t have minded this, but for one thing. It was impossible to switch the commentary off. Anyone who’s heard that exercise in tedium (Courtney and John basically describing what’s on screen and then berating themselves, then repeating the pattern for 100 minutes) will understand the terror I felt as I fumbled for the remote and corrected it. I can still taste the fear. <br /><br />"Nauddy nauddy!" <br /><br />Do you often listen to the commentaries? I listened to the one for "Dalek Invasion" just recently and enjoyed it quite a bit, actually. <br /><br /><br /><br />Quote:<br />This all sounds very negative, but I am enjoying the story. I come from a vague writing background, and so my criticisms are always going to be mainly based on story and structure, <br /><br />I'd argue that's what makes your Who reviews the best ones out there - anybody can say whether they like the performances or the effects or the general storyline, but it takes a bit more to be able to analyse the story itself. Your reviews usually get me thinking and often point out aspects I'd previously missed or overlooked.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#267 4 Aug 2005, 12:08 am <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:46 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by The Secretive Bus <br />Do you often listen to the commentaries? I listened to the one for "Dalek Invasion" just recently and enjoyed it quite a bit, actually. <br /><br />I try to do all the extras on all my DVDs, to be honest. Way behind at the moment. Spearhead is easily my least favourite Who commentary, whereas most of the others I find good to very good. Always get disappointed that it tends to get positive notices, whereas the commentary for Robots of Death gets slagged (it seems people are more interested in hearing a couple of names arse around than listen to two backroom boys delivering an actual insight into the making of the programme). <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#268 4 Aug 2005, 4:59 am <br />bingo99 <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Joined April 25, 2004<br />Last On: Today 3:28 am<br />Posts Here: 650 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />There seems a hesitancy in quite a few new Doctor stories to give him any dialogue at all. From my memories of watching a recon, Power of The Daleks part 1 has a lot of Troughton ignoring Ben and Polly's questions and just playing the recorder. Even Hartnell doesn't have much to do in the first 15 minutes of An Unearthly Child. You get the feeling later on as well that the recovering from the regeneration idea is being used as breathing space till the writer can work out what the hell the new Doc's character is. We only had to wait five minutes in Rose, but that's a full episode in new series terms.<br /><br />Spearhead From Space was the first old series story I watched after the new series ended. I did judge the pacing a bit more harshly, but there's still an awful lot to like. It's like an alternate world where ITC have been given the contract to make Doctor Who. Especially considering Pertwee ended up as the Beeb's answer to Jason King.<br /><br />I very much approve of your one episode at a time policy. There's some real classic 25 minutes in some ghastly stories. Part ones of Silver Nemesis and The Time Monster spring to mind. But anyway, that's the future, back to a time when Edison Lighthouse were at number one.<br /><br />Enjoying your mammoth efforts, keep up the good work. If I disagree, I'll just jump across to Cute Blaine's thread, hopefully read the opposite and then I'll be fine again <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Reviewing every story randomly <br />Currently under review - The Mutants <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />Last edited by bingo99; 4 Aug 2005 at 5:16 am. <br /> <br /><br />bingo99 <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to bingo99 <br />Send email to bingo99 <br />Visit bingo99's homepage! <br />Find More Posts by bingo99 <br />Add bingo99 to Your Contacts <br /><br />#269 4 Aug 2005, 1:14 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:46 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Spearhead from Space 4:<br /><br />Honest to goodness, this is like a completely seperate serial. With a lot of the continuing elements of the story (Seeley, Ransome) wrapped up by the end of part three, this episode suddenly finds itself bunging in whole new elements - most noticeably the Madam Tussauds scenes - and the whole thing feels somewhat disconnected from the first three quarters of the story. The Waxworks element is particulary weird, because it adds a new plotline for no obvious reason and then doesn't explore it. If we ignore the ludicrous suggestion that a top tourist attraction would want to display sculptures of top ranking civil servants, and the fact that the Doctor learns pretty much nothing new, we still have the suggestion that part of the invasion plan is to replace high ranking figures. Which does suggest an invasion by stealth. Which doesn't go well with the Autons themselves attacking en masse and causing nationwide panic. The only real resons it's there seem to be to justify the duplication of Scobie (which hardly needs an excuse), and to explain how the good guys know he's a duplicate (couldn't they just notice the pallour of his skin?)<br /><br />The reason this is weird is because the episode feels like four episodes compressed into one. The slow pacing of the first half has meant that all the actual plot has go shifted into this episode. All of the usual elements are there - investigation, threat, confrontation, the Doctor being part of the plot (with his influencing of Hibbert, although that doesn't affect the outcome, merely tie up a loose end) rather than a spectator etc., but all are squeezed in. It all feels like the story proper starts in this episode, and the previous three have been sideshows whilst the villains have been waiting for something proper to do. As a result, it does all feel a little full - surprisingly, not rushed though. When you analyse how much happens in this episode, in comparison to the others, it's remarkably packed and suggests it could have been quite an impressive six parter. Each scene is written with the utmost tightness, staying as long as it needs to in order to make it's basic point. This does lend a slightly trivial feel, though. The general ease with which the villains base is discovered and raided is rather disappointing. In deed, imagine the story without the famous shop window dummy sequence - which, crap breaking glass sound effect notwithstanding, is rather wonderfully done, especially in comparison to the rather messier equivalent in Rose. You get a sense of a huge uprising and a massive panic (albeit one that's ignored rather swiftly the moment the sequence is over). This gives huge dramatic weight to the rest of the episode - but without it, the final episode would seem a little inconsequential, and once again, easy. The Doctor's method of defeating the Autons is incredibly annoying, and it's here that the only real problem with the episodes pared down nature causes a problem. A box, that might as well be magic for all the proper explanation we get. After all the build up and genuine menace the Autons exude, to resolve the story with something that equates to an on/off switch is hugely annoying. You do feel that a little more time devoted to figuring this out would have been in order, but unfortunately that's one thing this story doesn't have. As it is, the Doctor pretty much instantly figures out an easy way to destroy the monsters within seconds of having seen one. In any story, if it is this easy to destroy the villains, at your first attempt, there is an obvious lack of tension. Plot is usually about obstacles for the hero, obstacles of increasing difficulty. Here he only has one, and he beats it easily. Where's the threat? Difficulty of solving heightens drama. When you think about the plot, it really does come down to this: 'The Doctor is told that aliens are invading via a plastic factory. He goes to the factory with a magic box and kills the aliens'. That's not even a particularly cut down version of it. It's the sort of storyline you'd come up with when you were eight. There's a lot of promise in the story, and a lot of quality work, but it's all held back by a lack of a properly gripping plot. Too much of the story is sideshows and time wasting and avoiding getting to the nub of it, too little is actual complication and obstacle.<br /><br />It works for what it is though, a slight piece, a two parter that just happens to be four episodes long. The central premise of the Autons is lovely and original. I can't help but wish that a lot more people would pay more attention to the explanation of who the Nestenes are - there's a tendency in spin off fiction for them to be a single entity along the lines of the Great Intelligence, or the Mara, but it's clear if you pay attention that they are a race of individuals (hence 'Nestenes', plural) with a group mind, a group consciousness. The new set up is promising, with the Brigadier in particular coming across well. Pertwee is good for the most part, but he has a few problems in this episode - the gurning and silly noises in the finale is laughable, and whilst his dismissal of money is Doctorish, his coveting of a roadster seems a little petty and out of character. Still, early days, and I was similarly unsure of Troughton. <br /><br />Once again though, I am going to have to reiterate that whilst this review comes over as very negative, it’s more in response to the popular opinion of this story than because I particularly dislike it. It is good, I’m not denying that. The design, the performances, the script, the direction et al are all excellent, and as a whole it’s very enjoyable. I just wish it was supported by a tighter, stronger plot, that’s all. It might be style over substance, to a degree, but in a lot of works you do have to look at all factors, and for the polish alone it does rate above a lot of its contemporaries. Spearhead is an easy going, simple story, that looks great in every department, is enjoyable popcorn enterttainment and is one of the best made stories of its era. Shame it's not one of the best put together scripts of its era too, but then you can't have everything. Ultimately it's lack of plot depth holds it back from absolute classic status, but it still comfortably rests in 'very good'. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#270 4 Aug 2005, 5:03 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Hurrah! Splendid overall review, and probably one of your best. I don't generally find the Pertwee era stories particularly interesting to read about compared to, say, the 60s, but you've revitalised that wane in interest. Can't wait till you get to "Ambassadors", which is one of my favourite stories from any era, though I can't quite put my finger on why.<br /><br />And, for extra marks, try to spot the exact moment in the Pertwee era where the Brigadier turns into "cutting military commander" to "loveable buffoon". <br /><br /><br />Your point about the Autons doing little (they seem to have the same role as the Cybermen in "The Invasion" and even the invasion sequence itself looks roughly the same - and has as much consequence and narrative-affecting properties as that earlier incursion did, too) is quite interesting, as, when you think about it, most Doctor Who stories involving monsters have them doing not very much at all. The Yeti, the Cybermen, the Krotons, even the Dominators and the Ice Warriors - all of them in the 60s had stories where they sat around for a while waiting to do something, but never quite getting round to it. The Cybermen invade London and do nothing with it. The Krotons have spent centuries revitalising themselves, wake up, and then find out that they're going to "exhaust" in 3 hours anyway. The Yeti wander about the London Underground and do nothing that the Web couldn't do more effectively anyway. It's that old problem of giving the monster a power-balance - too little and it looks puny, too much and there's no way that the Doctor could defeat it. That's why most invasions don't happen until the last few moments of a story so that the Doctor can repel it before they get a real foothold (mot notably "Terror of the Autons" in a few stories time), or the monster's plan is to get itself a new form (the Nestenes here, the Krotons in the last season, and the Great Intelligence in the season before that) and either it gets destroyed before it can do so (ie. it gets killed before it really has the power to defend itself) or it gets its new form but doesn't have a plan of what to do afterwards, do sits around doing nothing at all (the Krotons). Only the Daleks ever seem to regularly do anything...<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#271 4 Aug 2005, 7:33 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:46 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by The Secretive Bus <br />Can't wait till you get to "Ambassadors", which is one of my favourite stories from any era, though I can't quite put my finger on why. <br /><br />I'm rather looking forward to it myself. Might be a short while though. I'm off to the Edinburgh festival for about ten days, so there'll be a hiatus. I'll try to get through some of Silurians in advance though, just for the hell of it.<br /><br />Good point on the monsters. It could also be about threat. I seem to recall Hitchcock talking about one of his earlier films (Blackmail, I think) which has a famous sequence with a boy on a bus unwittingly carrying a bomb. It's incredibly tense. But Hitchcock then said that he made a mistake - the bomb goes off. Suddenly, all the tension is defused, as it gives the audience a release. Maybe it's the same thing. Having monsters invade and walk around the streets shooting people looks kind of cool, but it has little drama to it. There's nowhere to go, where's the suspense to keep you watching (unless you put some form of ticking clock on it, with the tension coming from the efforts of the heroes to escape and survive - a good example of this sort of storyline in Who is the Dalek Invasion of Earth). However, contrast with the threat of an attack, the potential for huge violence. The battle to stop a catastrophe has more tension than a battle to stop that catastrophe getting worse. Are children scared by getting smacked, or by the threat of smacking? (Again, a particularly good example of the slow burn suspense monster story is Power of the Daleks).<br /><br />But I argue that in a lot of cases, you're right - it's simply the authors painting themselves into a corner, where they can't have the monsters too powerful. In deed, it's telling that the Autons tell us they're indestructible in this story, even as they're blatantly getting killed. Either that or inept scripting. <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#272 4 Aug 2005, 10:25 pm <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />I'm rather looking forward to it myself. Might be a short while though. I'm off to the Edinburgh festival for about ten days, <br /><br />Performing or spectating? <br /><br />Lucky you, I'd like to go up there for some of that m'self. But lack of funds state that I can't (I also doubt I'll attend any of the university open days for the same reason, even though Edinburgh Uni is top of me list). The fact that I live on the opposite side of Britain makes travelling there expensive. <br /><br /><br />Also, watched three episodes of "The Dæmons" this evening. I've never noticed before, but it's a) the most Hammer-esque story in Who, far more than anything the Hinchcliffe era gave us (it has specific echoes of "The Devil Rides Out", where Christopher Lee sort of played a combo of the Doctor and Miss Hawthorne), and b) it's absolutely rubbish. Laughably bad rubbish. The dialogue is atrocious and the Doctor acts like a total berk throughout. Not to mention the Master in his comedy specs. My favourite bit was some poor sod who casually gets out of his van just in time to see it explode in a fireball. I laughed at that blighter for ages afterwards.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#273 4 Aug 2005, 11:37 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:46 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by The Secretive Bus <br />Performing or spectating? <br /><br />Tiny bits of stand up, and seeing a few mates shows... but I'm probably going to avoid too much of both, weirdly, so I don't blow all my cash in one go. I'll see a dozen or so shows I'm keen on, and just have a laugh. <br /><br />And not too much Daemons info - I haven't seen it in yonks, and it's one of the stories I'm looking forward to! <br /> <br /><br />Dorney <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to Dorney <br />Send email to Dorney <br />Find More Posts by Dorney <br />Add Dorney to Your Contacts <br /><br />#274 5 Aug 2005, 12:39 am <br />The Secretive Bus <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Edinburgh<br />Joined April 18, 2004<br />Last On: 27 Jun 2009 7:02 pm<br />Posts Here: 803 <br /> <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ooo, stand up. I'd like to do a bit of that some day, but I don't know if my jokes are actually funny. <br /><br />I'm just writing comedy sketches to perform at t' college instead, for the mean time..<br /><br /><br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Dorney <br />And not too much Daemons info - I haven't seen it in yonks, and it's one of the stories I'm looking forward to! <br /><br />Ah, in that case I won't tell you about the bit where Jo walks in on Mike Yates giving the Master a bath - oh damn, sorry...<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Ben grins out of the cockpit window:<br />“I am only borrowing this. I’m Ben Chatham” before expertly taking off into the clouds.<br /><br />- "Face of Death" by Sparacus<br /><br /><br />"They laughed at Gallileo once."<br />- Sparacus <br /> <br /><br />The Secretive Bus <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to The Secretive Bus <br />Send email to The Secretive Bus <br />Find More Posts by The Secretive Bus <br />Add The Secretive Bus to Your Contacts <br /><br />#275 5 Aug 2005, 2:35 pm <br />supervoc <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Merrie England<br />Joined November 25, 2004<br />Last On: 14 Nov 2008 9:39 pm<br />Posts Here: 242 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />It’s taken me a while to read through your review of the War Games, so I am going to backtrack a bit and offer some comments.<br /><br />The ‘German sniper’ bit at the start of episode two is a bit oblique. The OG guide is completely wrong in this respect.<br /><br />The book offers a different view entirely to what we saw in the tv version:<br /><br />Before he could utter the word ‘Fire!’ a single shot broke the silence. One of the kneeling soldiers fell backwards. Zoe looked up at the trees. For a second she saw a tattered British army uniform, a grimy unshaven face and the glint of a rifle. Another shot rang out. The sentry holding her fell to the ground. <br />“German sniper!” shouted Ransom. “Fire at will!”<br />Now all members of the execution squad knelt to take aim and fire into the tree. Zoe raced across the grass to Doctor Who (sic). She started to untie his hands. <br />“What’s happening” he said. “Get this stupid blindfold off me, whoever you are. I want to see what’s happening”.<br />Zoe released his hands first. He dragged off the blindfold himself. “Who are they shooting at?”<br />But she didn’t answer. She had already formed a plan of escape in her mind and this was no time for discussions. Grabbing the Doctor’s hand she tugged him with her into dense bushes. (Hulke 1979:20).<br /><br />Whether this comes from the script, a half forgotten viewing of the finished version or his own tangent, I have no idea. <br /><br />I treat the broadcast version as canon.<br /><br />There are quite a few differences in the tv version. Ransom just shouts “Sniper!” The sniper is in the grounds of the chateau HQ and is actually firing from a barn and not from the trees. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The sniper is actually a confederate soldier from the American Civil War Zone, you can see the crossed swords on his hat (the restored DVD will be perfect like the Mind Robber, these grabs are from the recent WH Smith version).<br /><br />Here are some confederate soldiers from episode 3 for comparison.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The sniper is clearly one of the rebels but at this point their existence is, of course, a mystery yet to be revealed. That the rebels harry the various armies in different time zones later becomes vital to the effort to sabotage the aliens war games. The War Games makes great use of unexplained intrigue at times.<br /><br /><br />I would also add that the music is usually greatly underrated. The constant barrage with gunfire in the background of episodes one and two in particular, is excellent. If you are listening on headphones it really does provide a great atmosphere that is much better than most war movies. It is jarring when it suddenly stops, as Jamie noted at the end of episode 2 when they entered the Roman zone. An excellent piece of sound design that few people ever notice, perhaps one of the best in the series, and not least for its subtlety. As I think you have noted there are some marvellous musical pieces in there, with a nice range of atypical instruments and takes on European military music. I much prefer it to the music of the 80s and 00s, not least because it is much more accomplished and luxurious.<br /><br />You really hit the nail on the head with some other points. I really don’t know why many people think it is padded. As you rightly observe, the characterization is not only essential to the plot and sub-plots, it is in itself a reason to watch! I get the impression that some people watch for the plot – if you know what happens, the end of the journey is not the important point, it’s the journey itself!<br /><br />As you said, there is not one weak performance, all of the actors create their characters with superb skill. Edward Brayshaw and the other aliens are excellent, but all the bit actors are also excellent and that’s what makes the War Games the gem it is. Those who complain about James Bree, as the Security Chief, either fail to realize the stilted performance was entirely intentional or just don’t like it!<br /><br />Philip Madoc’s performance also stands out as a totally creepy Master prototype. I am surprised that more people don’t notice that, or appreciate the quality of Madoc’s performance. Doubters should watch it again. I think he was much underrated, though he appears on TV much more these days, especially on Welsh TV, so he is rightly being appreciated at long last.<br /><br />The ending of episode 2 in the Roman zone where the screen goes black and silent before the titles start is IMHO part of the charm of the thing. I hope they don’t change it for the DVD.<br /><br />The sooner this is released on DVD the better!<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />http://www.dieselsweeties.com<br />http://www.hello-cthulhu.com <br /> <br /><br />supervoc <br />View Public Profile <br />Send a private message to supervoc <br />Find More Posts by supervoc <br />Add supervoc to Your Contacts <br /><br />#276 6 Aug 2005, 12:30 pm <br />Dorney <br />Time Lord<br /> <br />Bromley, Kent<br />Joined April 22, 2004<br />Last On: Today 9:46 pm<br />Posts Here: 4,640 <br /> Re: Day by Day <br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Thanks for that. It did seem something of a loose end, and that's clarified it well.John Dorneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00043867565471251131noreply@blogger.com0