The Time Meddler

Dorney
(2/19/04 4:14 pm)

The Time Meddler 1:
After the rambling rubbish that was the Chase, it now seems to be back to normal. This is a rather fine episode. It's not particularly pacey or spectacular, but after the forced melodrama of the previous six weeks this is a nice change. It's relaxed and comfortable. The opening scenes continue the fallout from the departure of Ian and Barbara (watched back to back the phrase 'I shall miss them' seems overused, but this is a minor quibble, and I suppose it is the only way this can be expressed). It's lovely to see a clear bond between Vicki and the Doctor there, playful and sweet. And the proper incredulity of Steven to the whole concept, his refusal to accept that they've travelled in time and space, reminds you of how easily latter companions accepted the ridiculous. Again Steven seems a hugely likeable and promising character - utterly stubborn, rash and thoughtless, and a wonderfully crap fighter in comparison to Ian. His relationship with Vicki is interesting; sort of like the older brother who thinks he knows best, and Vicki doesn't put up with this - her breaking down and ordering him about and his cowed response are fantastic.The story is quite leisurely, using only the faintest glimmer of a plot to keep us intrigued, at least to start with. The main grabber is the Monk - his reactions and virtually wordless appearances are odd and intriguing - mainly because they appear to have no particular point or meaning, but are given much weight. Obviously, we have the blatant problem that we know who and what he is now, but we can see that he is very much an enigmatic figure.Secondarily, there's an intriguing central question - what is the meaning of the wristwatch (clearly belonging to the Monk due to his earlier gesture) and the gramaphone. Again we are in a position to know what this means, but it must have been confusing for the initial viewers - is it a faked 1066?Hartnell's delicate conversation with the Saxon women is rather sweet - his gentle interest and subtle information gathering are great. The cliffhanger with his laughter being curtailed and replaced by that of the Monk is rather good too.So rather a pleasant episode. No vast fireworks, just solid tight writing with interesting people and a little bit of intrigue. A terribly mature bit of writing. After the last story, one grown-ups can be pleased to watch.

Dorney
(2/23/04 7:04 am)

Sorry to be a bit behind on the old Day by Day. I've had a bad cold, and whilst I could watch a couple of episodes, I really felt disinclined to actually write them up. As a result the review is probably going to cross both episodes.

The Time Meddler 2-3
I really like this story. It's gentle and slow, more concerned with intelligence and thought than action. This is a story about detail, minor little things. It explores the relationship between Steven and Vicki more than the plot, for example.The Monk is one of the most intriguing characters the series has yet produced - not wholly comic, not wholly menacing, something of a mixture. Peter Butterworth's performance is delightful, portraying the Monk's frustrations at his various interruptions brilliantly, and having a slight underlying menace at times (like his requests for the torches in part three). There's also something joyously sarcastic about his Monk persona, especially when dealing with the Doctor. He still keeps the trappings despite both of them knowing that he obviously isn't a real monk, almost to mock. The relationship between the two is cheeky and entertaining. And he's just an utterly watchable figure, filling his performance with detail, business and mannerisms so you can barely take your eyes off him. Hartnell comes into his own when playing against him too. There's a commanding quality to him which hasn't been there for a while - the Doctor's up against a foe he knows isn't vastly dangerous or murderous (at least not in cold blood), a villain who has no obvious physical advantages against him, so it becomes all about who has the more commanding brain, the more forceful mind, who can out-think the other. The battle of wits of the title. It's nice to see that they do seem a match for each other in terms of wile and guile.The abscence of the Doctor for the second episode does slightly prevent the plot from progressing much (and to be honest, when it does progress it really is little more than a series of trips between the village and the Monastery, with the occasional stopping off at the clifftop - damn fine cloudy skies, btw.). This prevents any real explanation of what the monk is up to until part four (though you can get a sense of what he's doing from a read of his wall chart). However it does have an advantage that, like the Space Museum, it uses the Doctor's non-appearance as a dramatic point.The people giving themselves away by over elaborating trick was awful in Keys 6, but here is acceptable as there's the inference that the Monk's done it deliberately. This scene is rather nicely done - you get the impression that Steven takes the lead, and ever so slightly bullies Vicki into submission. He's rash and impetuous. However, Vicki is clearly the brains of the operation, never trying to be smarter than she is, but clearly on the button all the time in a way Steven never is.One other thing I rather like about this story is the way it's in two distinct halves - we have the Viking's versus Saxons plot, and the Monk plot. The Doctor, the Monk, Steven and Vicki aren't really all that bothered by what's going on outside their little sphere, but it's becoming clear that this is a mistake. It could be argued to be a central theme of this story. That no matter how smart you are, there's always an element of chance when you're dealing with real people. The primitives keep upsetting the plans of the intellects. The whole storyline of the main plot is obviously simple and would have the potential to be wrapped up terribly quickly and simply - if the saxons and the viking's didn't keep messing things up. Possibly my favourite moment in the story so far is when the Doctor makes his elaborate reasoning about what to do regarding the people knocking at the door. He goes into a full and detailed plan that will stop the Monk from taking advantage, but then gets hoist on his own petard, to use the cliche. The entire story is about best laid plans going awry.To be honest, the meandering nature of the story and structure doesn't really bother me. It doesn't have any pretensions to be more than that. It wants to be gentle and light, and mild. It has no interest in overcomplicated plotting or epic scope. It merely wishes to entertain, and it easily does. That said, it is no slouch in the plot department. There are several instances of suprising little twists - the Doctor hanging around to club Sven rather than use the secret passage most obviously, the Doctor's sudden disappearance in part two, and what must be the greatest cliffhanger in Who history. OK, it's value is blunted by our foreknowledge, but imagine the impact it must have had when it first happened. This is the only cliffhanger in the series history that completely turns not just the story, but the entire series on its head. It's barely been any time since the Doctor was saying he built the TARDIS in episode three of the Chase, and here we have another one.The only other element to mention is the legendary implied rape of Edith. I don't think I've watched this story since I was fifteen or so, whenever it got repeated on BBC 2, and I was pretty wet behind the ears, so I completely failed to notice this. However, I'm going to get on my high horse and say that it isn't as strongly implied as people say. We know she's been raped more due to knowledge of the Vikings behaviour rather than anything in the episode itself. Vikings rape and plunder, so knowing that suggests the interpretation. However if you don't then I don't think you'd realise a thing - heck, I'm not sure I'd think it was a rape today if it wasn't for people constantly banging on about it (possibly a bad choice of word, but I digress). This is especially true because she seems right as rain what can only be an hour or two later when speaking to the Doctor in part three (she's subdued, yes, but not traumatised).So generally, quiet and calm, violent but strangely lacking in action (it all takes place away from the regulars, so it seems less important somehow), but utterly engaging and enjoyable. Brilliantly frothy light entertainment drama. Nothing serious, nothing political, just fun. And that's no bad thing.

Dorney

The Time Meddler 4:
All tv series these days tend to end with the big season finale spectacular. Something always happens that's big or that shakes the series up a bit. Every series has its grand finale.For example the first (and thankfully only) series of the mediocre Crime Traveller ended with the revelation that there was another scientist with the same type of time machine as Chloe Annett. And he was barkingly evil, etc etc. It was scaled up and a finale.It sounds staggeringly similar in basic premise to the Time Meddler. And that's what's interesting. We know from the various things that Andrew Pixley et al have discovered that, like series one, two stories were bumped back into series three, so the second year of Who should have ended with Mission to the Unknown. The first, of course, should have ended with DIOE. Now whilst Dalek Invasion makes logical sense as a climax (bring back the best foes in a noticeably more expensive script, write out one companion, etc.) the idea of Mission as the climax, a one parter with none of the regulars, even as a teaser, sounds weird. (After all, what's so exciting about a Dalek episode so shortly after one other?)Content wise, the major paradigm shift in the series occurs with the Time Meddler, as we all know. The Doctor is no longer a lone traveller, the TARDIS isn't something he made himself. Our entire conception of what the series is changes at this point. And what's really bizarre is the fact that no-one seems to have attached much weight to this, or even noticed.The Time Meddler plays itself as a quiet little inconsequential tale between the epic of the Chase, and the start of the Masterplan cycle. It's treated, bizarrely, with exactly the same weight as Galaxy 4 which follows.And you know what? That's why I think it works. The Chase, for example, really wants us to be impressed. It throws everything it can into the mix - horror legends, recurring villains, climactic battles, companions joining and departing - but makes a hash of it. It tries too hard. Whereas the Time Meddler in contrast doesn't want us to sit there open mouthed at its epic scale or spectacular set-pieces - it just wants us to be entertained for four weeks. It has no ideas above its station.The gentle intimate nature of the piece means that there's less to go wrong. The drama of the script is defined by the interaction of a couple of middle aged men, rather than by ultimately soul-less 'big' moments. And only Doctor Who could treat something so major so offhandedly.The episode, where almost all the revelations take place, is sublime. Hartnell and Butterworth interact brilliantly, each getting the best out of the other. It's a shame Butterworth didn't return after the Masterplan, but I doubt he'd have worked as well with the more tonally and physically similar Troughton.Interesting to see that the Doctor states the Monk is fifty years after his time, which would seem to suggest that they didn't know each other before - I've always wondered precisely what Borusa taught that so many of his students became renegades. Make one hell of a page on Friends Reunited.The minor cut, the Viking's being stabbed, doesn't really bother. It's slightly more in keeping with the mischevious light air that most of the rest of the story has - the story is nonetheless slightly schizophrenic, with the rather more brutal subplot of the Vikings and Saxons only briefly interacting with the main plot. The two threads don't really connect until the end, though as I said earlier - without the interference of the locals this story would be terribly easy to rap up. The higher intellects getting messed over by the human factor. It's worth adding that the Monk rather callously sets up the Vikings for capture to aid his escape, that rather belies his fan reputation as ultimately harmless (bear in mind too he's planning a massacre - Butterworth is so cheeky and likeable we almost forget this. All right, so it's a bunch of Viking's fated to die anyway, but it's still mass murder).I like the way that Steven is slowly losing his pomposity and coming back to the real world. He's still got a degree of it - and that's great, it does aid the characterisation superbly. But he's willing to accept when he's wrong now, less self-righteous. Vicki is still appealing, ballsy, smart and fun.So, to sum up, a wonderful story. It has no lofty ambition, and understates the massive shifting of the series' concepts. It doesn't want to impress us, it wants to entertain us, which is no lesser thing. It pulls this off expertly and without fuss. Sure, it's not a particularly 'worthy' piece, not gothic or grim - but it's hugely enjoyable and pretty damn perfect Doctor Who.

The Chase

The Chase 1:

Anyone who complains that not a lot happens in the Space Museum should be forced at gunpoint to sit down and watch this exercise in tedium. Over and over again.As with his previous three scripts, the first episode has very little happening at all. However those all worked by a slow build up of mysteries and tension - what is this new planet? What's happened to London? etc. - this episode fills the time with - sod all.It's all a cheat really. The episode starts with the Daleks straight away, promising the kiddies action. And then we cut away and watch the story come to a dead stop for fifteen minutes.Some aspects of these scenes are nice - it's fab to see what the regulars do when they're 'off-duty' so to speak. It seems so amazingly banal - Ian reads rubbish novels, Barbara is an amateur seamstress and Vicki sulks cos she's got no-one to play with. It's kind of sweet, but ultimately lacking in drama. However, it's endearing quality is soon overtaken with the utter drivel of the time-space visualiser sequence.If we ignore Ian's somewhat barking delight ('Have you ever seen anything like it?' Well surely every time the TARDIS lands, or on the scanner!) this scene is still pretty mad. It has nothing whatsoever to recommend it (apart from the Beatles clip - which rather wonderfully holds it back for DVD release). All the little vignettes are utterly pointless and overlong, and the Shakespeare one deeply patronising - I hardly think we needed to see him stop and say 'Hamlet - Prince of Denmark' to get the joke...None of it has any dramatic purpose or direction. After the false start you can imagine the kids at home wondering whether this episode was going to be about anything at all. A friend of mine and I used to write a story for a fanzine in several parts, and as a joke once subtitled an episode 'Jo Grant goes shopping', with the plot stopping because Jo wanted to go to a supermarket. This episode is that extreme - it has no drama, no plot, no discernable point. The tension should be building until the Daleks appear as a dramatic highpoint - but we find ourselves wishing they'd turn up just to put an end to the tedium.When they land on Aridius things do pick up, as it looks like the episode might be starting properly and we might have an adventure rather than an utterly dull way of life piece. There are major problems here too though - there's several ludicrously long shots of Ian and Vicki on the sand dunes, and Vicki's mad story about the Ring in the Field comes completely out of left field screaming 'I AM BADLY WRITTEN PADDING!'. Still no tension, sense of threat, conflict or drama. You could film me going for a coffee with my mum and have something more Whoish and exciting than this.Now, we should remember that it is quite refreshing to pair Vicki with Ian - which has never happened anywhere else in the show. Just a shame their not given any interesting material, made to look mad and a bit stupid (would Ian really just tug away at any random ring in the sand?).Barbara and the Doctor get a better deal - there's some witty dialogue between them, and they obviously get something to play off against to gain their thread some narrative drive and tension - the Daleks. Obviously their appearance on the time-space visualiser is monstrously contrived and, ultimately, it doesn't really affect the plot, so you can't really see why it occurs. But, as I say, it is the only sense that this episode has that this is an adventure and a drama, so it's ok by me. (Though that wonderfully cheap looking sequence of the same three Daleks going round and round on the entrance way to the SIDRAT to look like an army is hilarious and boring simultaneously, which is quite a feat).The difference between this and the Space Museum is clear - that's padded as hell, but it has a solid dramatic core, a tension, a dilemma. This episode has none - take it away and what's the point. I can watch people sunbathing/reading/watching tv in my own life, why would I want it in Doctor Who. We should be aware of the Daleks plans as the main characters relax, watch them get closer - that would rack up the tension and make this episode have a dramatic raison d'etre.As it is, whilst I love the main cast, you almost want the Daleks to turn up and kill them and get it over with.

Dorney

The Chase 2:
Ian takes the piss in this episode. He nicks Barbara's perfectly pleasant cardigan and the Doctor's rather dapper coat to make a trap for a Dalek - however, he completely fails to make use of his own rather hideous blazer.I try to avoid talking about production woes that often, but this has to be one of the most ineptly staged episodes ever. The cut in's to film when the airlock is blown up and the Dalek falling into the hole are abrupt and don't entirely match up with the rest of the footage. There are loads of awkward moments, but the strange moment when Barbara flings herself against the wall to knock it down when the mirebeast is clearly breaking through is the most blatant amateurish @#%$-up the series has had to date. It's hard to tell what was supposed to happen, but at a guess I'd imagine that the wall was supposed to collapse and it doesn't, and Jacqueline Hill improvises madly.The Daleks themselves - hmm. Obviously they've suddenly gone stupid, for no clear reason, but some of this is wonderful (one Dalek giving orders, then having to turn round and say 'Well, do it then!' is genuinely funny). My only real problem is that they don't really seem powerful or threatening. The few instances designed to show them as ruthless are trite and rather contrived (the gunning down of the Aridians who dig out the TARDIS and the one just ambling along minding his own business). In fact, it weakens the characterisation of the Daleks as it makes them gun-happy nutters rather than cold calculating killers. Of course, the further weakness is clear when we realise that they've built themselves a time machine, travelled across the universe to attack the TARDIS crew - and then they just ask the Aridians to do it for them. The Daleks of the first two stories would have broken straight in and exterminated their way through the city - but this lot are happy just to sit back, hang around, do nothing - watch how little they actually do this episode. They arrive, and that's it. Hang around, then let the regular cast escape. They are on the fringes of the episode, which is slightly more concerned with the Mire Beasts and the Aridians. They're not really trying, they're terribly casual and unconcerned, not making any effort. How can we feel a sense of threat from monsters who just can't be bothered?The Aridians are ok, but they're not really a species of their own, they're just a way of marking time. It's quite nice that they go from sympathetic to traitorous very quickly, but it does make them rather a characterless, ill-defined race. The Mire Beasts are OK when kept to the shadows, but they're full body appearances distract and their tentacles are just rubbish.A few other nice lines here. Vicki's 'you great nit' to Ian is so mad and broadly out of character in terms of the situation that it's hilarious. And Barbara's dismay at losing another cardie is lovely. But it's all so slow and lacking in drama or purpose that it's impossible to take the story as a fun romp it might otherwise be. Nation feels bored, he's just filling in time with whatever easily disposed threat he needs this week (he couldn't really care less about the Aridians, for example). It's not funny or pacey or dramatic enough to be enjoyable on any level. Not even so bad it's good. Just poor poor tv.Still the episode does at least appear to have a story of its own, albeit slight, so it's an improvement on last week.And the next one if memory serves - I have a vague recollection that episode three is my least favourite episode ever.
Edited by: Dorney at: 2/15/04 4:02 pm

Dorney
(2/16/04 4:32 am)
Well watched the Chase 3 late last night and episode 4 this morning, so it's time for a special DOUBLE EDITION of Day by Day.The Chase 3:Well it's not as dreadful as I remember but it's still pretty damn poor. The main problem is there is literally no plot - by the end of the episode the story hasn't gone anywhere. Take this episode out and I doubt you would notice anything was missing. This episode is nothing but padding. You can almost hear Terry Nation knocking this one off quickly one afternoon, rushing through it first draft... The first scene for example, with the TARDIS crew all merrily chatting and reminiscing about their Aridius adventure for two or three minutes is boring as hell. There's no point to it.In contrast to the Keys of Marinus, which had a similar rambling style, this episode's vignettes don't have any point or story in their own right. The regulars arrive on the Empire State Building and meet a tourist. Then the Daleks arrive and meet the tourist. That is a plot summary of ten minutes worth of screen time. As you can guess the padding is horrendous - there's a minute or so of tour guide talk at the beginning that serves no dramatic purpose, for example.Peter Purves isn't dreadful, he does one or two bits of fine comic business (there's a double take and a start in there that are sublime). He does, however, feel like he's in a different production, possibly a stage performance. And especially considering the fact that it's all being played as if its a comedy, it's amazing how few laughs there are. There are no noticeably funny lines at all. It's just ten minutes of self-indulgence really.The second half is mildly better as it does have a vague, very vague, plot, but again it's so rushed it ain't worth bothering with. The Daleks arrive and the sailors just jump off (and the fact this is their death is rather glossed over). Completely lacking in tension.You see, all this might be ok if there was ever any sense of danger or threat - the regulars don't seem to care that the Daleks are chasing after them trying to kill them - they chat merrily away on the Empire State Building, and then Barbara completely loses all the sense she's had in every single other episode and just decides to nip out and explore the Mary Celeste. Then Vicki knocks out Ian, despite surely being able to clearly see him, in a much less funny take on the similar incident in the Romans. But still they're all farting around and wasting time as if they've not got arch-enemy killing machines right behind them. If there's no dramatic tension, what the hell are we watching for?The dumbing down of the Daleks is annoying too - the 'well, see to it' line in part one was funny, but the 'um...err...' Dalek isn't. It's not witty like the former, it's mocking the villains, demeaning and undermining them, making them less of a real threat. And the one who just throws himself off the Mary Celeste - well maybe he was just trying to kill himself and get away from all these other idiots (Seeing as DIOE establishes Daleks can survive under water, maybe he's travelling the globe for years, until he emerges at the end of DIOE part 1? Maybe not...)And they're terribly pleased with themselves about the whole Mary Celeste thing aren't they? So much so they do the big reveal twice...The Chase 4:To be honest, I don't feel I should have all that much to add to the last episode. It has practically all the same faults - the regulars still don't seem to find the Daleks advance all that scary (yet are rendered completely immobile by bats - I mean, that's ridiculous, especially for Barbara who's proved herself braver and more resilient than this one makes her out to be). The whole plot is once more a underwritten vignette that's too slight and pointless to raise any real interest (one or two mildly amusing comedy coward moments from Ian and the Doctor but that's it). And the Daleks themselves are still completely useless - they've travelled across the galaxies in search, and they don't recognize Ian on sight? What sort of plan is that?But in general the biggest fault of this episode is monumentally sloppy direction - there's no pace in any of the 'action' scenes, there are vast gaps where things are clearly cocking up (the fireplace eyes takes too long to happen, Dracula waits a long time for his first cue, for example), and then there are bits that are just badly shot - Frankenstein's monster's first attack on a Dalek from it's point of view just looks rubbish. The marying of the last two shots - The Daleks with Edmund Warwick, then with Hartnell - just don't join together. When the Daleks finally track down the regulars, they just hang around - all these opportunities to exterminate and they just don't! It's so ineptly and awkwardly staged, one wonders if Richard Martin and Terry Nation just took the money and ran, really, going off to the pub all week or something. Missed cues, blocked actors, enormous pauses, these are all uncomfortable to watch. The whole show looks amateurish and under-rehearsed.The only vaguely nice idea this episode is Vicki's stowing away with the Daleks, which at least changes the circumstances a little. However this is thrown away by the slightness of the episode meaning that there's still ten minutes or so of padding left to go - with the regulars running around the point and filling in time until the episode reaches it's apointed length.Just dreadful.

Dorney
(2/17/04 10:19 am)

The Chase 5:
Well more of the same really. Obviously the Hartnell duplicate is desperately unconvincing, but I try, as I always do, to suspend my disbelief. It's a nice try at something different. I suppose my biggest problem with this is the constant dubbing of his voice, the make up and the switching between him and the real Hartnell depending on how convenient it is. These things are a pretence at making us think their identical, but all this does is remind us of the differences between the real one and the fake one. Far better surely to let Warwick use his own voice and do all the scenes himself and sell the duplicate on the reactions of the others - it's no different from the way the monsters are sold to us. It's like seeing a widescreen format movie on tv, or a rehearsed reading - the black bars/hand-held scripts are distracting initially but you get used to them very quickly. It's only when attention is drawn to them that you remember they're there.Once again the episode seems to have been made in a rush - the direction really is ham-fisted here and lacking in tension. Loads of messy cues and effects, and a complete lack of pace, with only the dual Doctor fight being of any interest.The Daleks are sidelined again, doing very little apart from getting attacked by plants. It seems amazing that Ian and Barbara are still prepared to joke about their defence, Babs making 'comedy' gun noises. Don't they care? If they're not all that bothered, why should we be? Where's the tension?Once more Terry Nation runs out of plot very quickly and has to mark time for the rest of the episode - for the last ten minutes nothing happens: Ian and the Doctor deciding who goes to sleep, the Daleks going on for ages pointlessly detailing their attack plan ('you go there, and you go there, then you there'), the Doctor trying to imitate his duplicate in a quickly discarded and utterly pointless moment. You can really hear Nation straining away to get the script up to length, treading water and just wasting time. And that's still due to the main problem - these little stories go nowhere at all. Brief threats get dealt with and forgotten. (Notice how the whole 'missing Vicki' subplot doesn't concern the others in the least at the start of this episode). No new characters join them on the journey, nothing changes for them, the story doesn't go anywhere, twist or change - the whole serial is filling in time rather than being about something or having any fun. It is the thinnest of ideas, Doctor Who as pointless procrastination. This is a story without imagination or effort - there because of the popularity of the Daleks not because there's an interesting tale to tell, or anything new/exciting/different to say.The sudden appearance of the Mechanoid at the end is quite cool though, and seems promising. Odd that this episode ends with the regulars finding their way out of a tight spot rather than leaving us hanging - but the mystery of who/what this new creature is has to be a good hook.

Dorney

(2/18/04 4:46 am)

The Chase 6:
Well what a change. After five epiosdes of dreary meandering mess, this is actually a terrific episode. Suddenly there's some pace, some purpose, direction and commitment. It seems like an episode from a completely different story!Steven is an instantly engaging character, likeable, fun, sparky. It goes to show how good Purves is that we don't recognize this as being the same actor as Morton Dill just three episodes ago (more than just the stubble goes into this - it's the way he walks, moves, talks, everything). He's immediately ballsy and brave and his retuning to the city to rescue his mascot is sweet and human. It's quite an odd trick that we don't see what happens to him this episode (obviously we know now). Must have been quite disappointing when the episode was originally screened.The Mechanoids are immediately striking too - a rather fine bit of design if you can ignore the rather awkward arms. Can't quite see how they could have made much of a recurring foe for the Daleks though - we'd just have had lots of scenes of baffling dialogue (what are they saying half the time?)The big fight sequence is a bit odd, but wonderfully staged. Considering all the miscueing throughout this story (notice one particularly weak bit where the reprise ends this episode) and the rest of the poor direction, it's seems as if Richard Martin put all his effort into this sequence. It's faintly surreal and balletic, not really seeming like a real battle at all, more a representational impression of one, telescoped and combined. It's rather impressive, and it's non-realistic nature gives it a grander and more epic scope than a rather more naturalistically shot sequence of the Daleks and the Mechanoids bumping into each other would have done. This feels like a giant clash of the titans, frankly, in a way that, judging by the awkwardness of Martin's staging of other battle here and in DIOE, any realistic take would have completely failed to put over.Once more the story proper ends well before the episode, but as with DIOE there's very good reason for it. Say what you like about the early years, but they sure knew how to write out the regulars. I've a sneaky feeling that we drop into the slightly rushed dumpings with Vicki and Steven, but for now it's been done with as much care as Susan's was. Barbara and Ian are given a genuinely solid, believable reason to leave, and the consequences of their decision are shown to matter, and to affect the other two. The argument that covers the Doctor's hurt and affection is a triumph of subtext and performance, from all involved. In deed, it really is Hartnell, more than the others, who shines in this episode - coming over as saddened and dignified (His slow walk away from the Dalek time machine when it leaves, and his 'I shall miss them' are models of underplaying - so moving and touching through their subtlety).Ian and Barbara's return to London is joyously done and hugely heartening. OK, so there's no way they could see White City tube from where they land, but that seems a heartless critique. It's just hugely sweet to see them having a whale of a time, and you really feel happy for them. Utterly wonderful.So all in all, five episodes of dross, followed by one that's just terrific. The final episode just about saves it, but it is still probably the weakest story so far.

The Crusade

The Crusades 1:

Perhaps the episode from the series I've watched the least - I'm pretty certain I've only watched it once at the time of its release five or whatever years ago, whereas everything else is at least twice.It's still rather cool to watch this, so long after its finding. There's still a faint air of novelty. As a bit of an odd thought - I'm pretty certain the DWM Time Team only started roughly around the time of its recovery. I start my own chronological journey - and another episode turns up. Can we make certain everyone on these boards starts to watch the series this way, and reports on it, soon. Maybe we'll get the set that way!As for the episode itself - well this has to be the quickest start to an episode so far. No sooner have the TARDIS crew stepped from the ship than they're under attack and Barbara's captured. After the time it took for anything of any real import to happen in the Web Planet this is rather jolting. The rest of the episode doesn't take the story a vast distance beyond this point - but it doesn't need to. It's all about establishing the world and the relationships between the characters.The guest cast are all nicely drawn, coming over as human and real. Nice to see that the Saracen's are not portrayed as barking psychos, with Bernard Kay's Saladin being underplayed rather charmingly. Shame they're all so obviously white men blacked up (how is it that people are so willing to ignore this, but can't ignore the odd sfx of the Web Planet - surely one takes you out of the story as much as the other?)The first major major guest star turns up in the form of Julian Glover and he dominates his scenes.It does make you realise how uninspiring or average a lot of performances in the show to date have been when someone like Glover comes in and plays with heart and conviction. No wonder this really does feel like a king.The Doctor is again showing his massive mood swings. From barking old loon to elegant refinement in Web Planet, and now to cheeky thief. He's emminently likeable and loveable now, the genuine grandfather figure, fun and naughty, but intelligent and serious when he needs to be. And he still likes getting involved in fights, getting his share of the action. Shows the Doctor was quite a violent figure at the start, not averse to some fisticuffs. Vicki doesn't make much of an impression (after a good start, she seems to have quietened down - how she can have had the brilliant moment of initiative of using the altered gold controller in Web, then the stupidity to hide the Isoptope, and now doing or saying practically nothing - like in most of the rest of the Web Planet - shows that the character seems to be being left behind). Ian has a good fights, getting to show his bravery, and is cool enough to take on a King at the end of the episode. And Barbara has some good scenes of similar bravery, risking her life for no more reason than solidarity - though she does get lumbered with another awkward continuity speech. We seem to get far too many of these, for little point. Every couple of stories there's yet another list of where the crew have just been. It's utterly pointless.A good dramatic episode then, full of rich characterisation and performance. Suprisingly low-key for all that, but it does make you want to see what happens next.

Dorney
The Crusade 2:
Wouldn't you be getting bored out of your mind if you were Vicki? Heck, if you were the Doctor too. This marks the third story in a row where these two have been dumped in the background whilst Ian and Barbara have the plot. Still, I'm sort of getting ahead of myself with that as the Doctor is quite the focus of this episode, scheming and manipulating the situation throughout. However, the speedy resolution of the clothing difficulties is thrown away swiftly without much fuss - indicating that DW is more interested in the Barbara/Ian plot; the Doctor scene is filling time, giving him something to do whilst he hangs around - no consequences, no direction. Still, it's beautifully written and clever though. Despite the fact that Ian is the title character of this episode, he doesn't really seem to get much done. Very much in the background until he arrives at the palace.Anyone else get the feeling that Whitaker found himself written into a corner? The start of this episode reminds me of the 2nd and 3rd series of Reggie Perrin - where the previous series' had ended with great climaxes - but David Nobbs had to backpedal furiously and undermine these endings when writing a new story as it left him with nowhere to go (the crossover of Subtle Knife/Amber Spyglass is an alternative example). Richard's captiulation seems unconvincing and speedy to me and the throwing away of Babs' storytelling subplot seems rushed too - as if DW suddenly decided the story wasn't interesting enough and changed it, bringing in a new villain from outside.One of the things I like about this story is the sense that the story itself takes place within history - rather than about it. It lives inside the history we know, adding detail and nuance to iconic historic figures, but without being entirely about the history we know - it's about the regulars. It doesn't contradict but it adds to the truth - I don't think I've explained it very well, have I. Ah, well, I know what I mean. This isn't supposed to be a review as such, more an illustration of my vague thoughts and feelings...It is still a time marking episode though, lacking any clear sense of what this story is going to be about - the Barbara/El Akir plot clearly has the most dramatic potential, but it does seem weird that this is the only one that really seems heading somewhere... Odd also that the Richard/Saladin scenes don't really go anywhere - beautifully written and played, but not exactly progressing the plot - but this is part of the thing I was saying about it being 'inside' history - we know what these people did so the story has to go around them, rather than work through them.So still good, well written and performed, if slightly lacking in drive. But I'm looking forward to the next part.

Dorney
The Crusade Episode 3:
Does this story actually have a plot? Maybe I've missed it. None of the characters, bar perhaps Barbara, have actually connected into the historic events at all. The Doctor and Vicki in particular. At first glance they seem to be involved, but it's only on a superficial level. The scenes in the court connect with them in that they talk about them - but they don't influence or change the scenes to any real degree. We watch history happen with them - rather than watch them interact with history. It is telling that the central emotional and dramatic scene of the episode does, for the first time I can remember, have no direct relation to any of the TARDIS crew. Richard and Joanna's argument is breathtakingly written and acted (it so easily could have been just two people shouting at each other, but there is plenty of nuance and varying rhythms). But the Doctor and Vicki are as much spectators as we are. The court scenes, both here and in the court of Saladin, are brilliantly played and scripted, but always feel like subplots, not realy going anywhere, as if the story can't quite focus on what it wants to be about. This does begin to make me see why the four hand regular cast didn't last too much longer. There just isn't enough to give them in stories like this without diffusing the plot. There's a lack of decision about what this story is actually about - is it the evil Emir, or the court intrigue. Fewer regulars would mean that the script could focus on one rather than splitting itself between two.Ian's brief, non-speaking holiday film insert is so abrupt it doesn't entirely work. It just serves to remind us we haven't seen him for the rest of the episode, taking us out of the reality. And it also shows quite how little he's had to do this story - he's three quarters of the way through, and bar the knighthood and a couple of fights he has little to show. Where did he learn all his fighting skills, incidentally - expert at unarmed combat and swordfighting, he must have liked his extra-curricular work.Barbara gets the best deal, though her segment does feel circular. She escapes and gets captured again - however, the intervening scenes with Haroun and his daughter add depth and colour. El Akir does come across as an extremely nasty piece of work for the show, with his determination to punish Barbara for her mild insult to him showing him as a remarkably petty villain - the season two theme of utter bastards coming to the fore again. I always rather liked the banality of evil thing in fiction: people acting abominably for the tiniest of reasons is real evil (Another favourite for the same reason is Gaston in Beauty and the Beast).Barbara's decision to sacrifice herself if need be - but first to attack the strangley craply acted guard - does remind you that this is a strong, brave, resourceful woman, and probably the most interesting of the companions. Ian is a slightly unreal figure, as I've suggested above, and Vicki has gone from being an interesting character to start to hanging around in the background getting excitable. Hartnell is a good enough actor for you to forgive the fact that the characterisation veers all over the place - from barking mad to straight seriousness and conviction - and makes it all into one believable whole.Now don't get me wrong - the story is beautifully done. The acting, direction and dialogue are sublime, and I love it. I just can't love it wholehearedly as I feel that's all it is - it's great writing, but it's great writing for the sake of great writing, not because it has an equally great story to tell.

Dorney
Crusade 4:
Yep, it's still a classily made/shot/acted/written/designed story that goes nowhere whatsoever. Very weird.Watch how quickly this episode's cliffhangers are resolved - Richard immediately forgives the Doctor without any obvious reason to, and Barbara escapes again instantly. The story, for what it's worth, is a series of disconnected bubbles. The Doctor gets in trouble about his clothes. He gets out. That's it. He gets in trouble about Joanna. And gets out. That's it. Ian gets captured by a bandit. He escapes. That's it. Likewise Barbara. None of the individual bubbles connect on build on each other in any real way. One of the more noticeable effects of this is that the story doesn't really end - it just stops. There's a noticeable abscence of key characters - Saladin, Saphadin and Joanna - and both El Akir and Richard have practically nothing to do here, before exiting the story rather abruptly. El Akir's death, in particular, has no real weight at all, coming out of nowhere and without impact. Richard does fare a little better, but the lack of any proper end to his story is annoying. Yes we get a potted history lesson from Hartnell, but it's a swift glossing over of the details rather than any definite closure. In addition, the exit of the Doctor from the story seems a little pointless - it's as if he knows this story's only due four episodes and he has to get off, rather tha him having any reason to go.And indeed, what have the travellers actually changed in the story? Nothing that I can see. The only real variation in the status quo over the four episodes is the death of El Akir - but he is historically irrelevant, really, and his death isn't really caused by any of the TARDIS crew anyway - it would seem Haroun could probably have killed him anyway. Richard/Saladin/etc are all in roughly the same place they were at the start. It seems that the regulars have hung around the fringes of a non-who straight play about the Crusades, never really getting actively involved or interacting to any real import. It is often said that removing the Doctor and companions from any story is impossible (think of the Romans and see how much their involvement and background influences the story), whereas in this you could take them out with ease.In many ways this story is the anti-Web Planet. It has everything to recommend it in terms of acting/writing/directing, etc. as I said, but the story itself is aimless and unfocused. Web Planet loses out on most of those points, but at least has a clearly defined objective. What is the Crusade actually about? Barbara getting caught and escaping and hiding several times. It has a different plot each week, forgotten the next. I'm tempted to say it's style over substance Who.But of course, anything acted and scripted this well has to be enjoyable on some levels, and it certainly manages this well. Just wish there was more to it, frankly.A few little points - I love the way that at the end, upon realising that they've been tricked, Leicester completely fails to realise that Ian was in on it too. Very funny, a lovely touch.And I really wish we could see the cliffhanger. It'd seem so strange and unusual and unnerving, I think. On sound alone, it's rather obviously just underwhelming.

The Romans

The Romans 1: After the grimness of the Daleks, and the slightness of the Rescue, this is rather a change. It's fab to see an episode that allows the audience to breath - if not throughout, for the majority of its length. The scenes with the TARDIS crew just relaxing are witty and fun, showing the bond between all of them. It's easy to see why people think the Ian/Babs scene is post-coital (considering how desperate every bloke seems to be diddle Barbara, he really seems reserved and not terribly bothered - I'm beginning to wonder if he's her gay best mate...). Generally again they showcase the Doctor and how loveable he's become, becoming a slightly absent minded dotty rogue. He's actively interested in investigating the mystery now, rather than just prevented from escaping.There's some nice slapstick in the Ian and Barbara scenes, lots of playful fun. No-one ever really references how clever the first shot post-reprise is. It seems to be an unconcious Ian, looking injured from the fall. Then he starts to eat grapes, the camera pulls back and we realise we've leapt some distance. It's jarring, but in a good way. The revelation that it's a month later is likewise - its nice to get a sense that the crew have a life outside the adventures.Vicki has become part of the team instantly as a result of this. Her distrust of Barbara is forgotten instantly, for example. This is perhaps the only element that doesn't quite work about the leap forward. The crew clearly know her much better than we do.Not much to add beyond that really, as this is very much a warm up episode - you know the plot's turning up round the corner, it's just a question of waiting. Most of the incidental characters seem to be relatively stock, though one of the slave traders has a ludicrous beard that must have come from a warehouse, and the man who buys Ian has one of the best diabolical laughs I've heard.Generally however, I love it. I've always been for the use of wit in drama. For all the talk of this being out and out comedy, it isn't really. It's witty, and that's more important.


Dorney
The Romans episode 2:Recently I finished watching the greatest tv serial of all time, I Clavdivs. It's a history of the Roman emperors, ish, fro Augustus to Claudius, and ends as Nero takes over. So I can't resist viewing this as a sequel. It's a suprisingly neat segue...Thoughts on the episode itself - the only real weakness is the Ian plot. The whole galley slave subplot is so short and pointless that it might as well have not been there at all. OK, so Ian meets his slave mate, but he could just as easily have done that in his cell (though that could be too similar to Reign of Terror). His plan to escape is wonderfully half-hearted, and executed badly that it does just feel like an attempt to look like something's actually happening in his thread.It's still a bit better than, as was mentioned above, the capture escapes of Reign as it much more clearly aimed and directed - Ian has a clear and definite objective. The whole James Stirling plot didn't really seem to bother him much, whereas here he has a desperate need to escape. And the tone livens it up. All the struggles and his bravado, and he walks straight into a patrol.Barbara/Dr/Vicki fare much better. Admittedly, Babs' thread is fairly basic. Just getting sold. The near misses she has with the Doctor are fun, feeling like a satire on the plot of, say, DIOE, where they can travel half way across England and still just bump into each other.The Doctor and Vicki stuff is fab too. He's living on his wits, and veering wildly between slightly dotty (his inabilty to remember his new name), sly as hell (his outwitting of Nero really nails the character we come to know - living on his wits, outhinking the baddies) and investigating wrongdoings. It's testament to Hartnell that he makes these diverse figures coexist brilliantly.He is getting a bit violent, though. This is his third story in a row with a fight, and it's suprisingly action packed here. Vicki doesn't have much to do but act as the Doctor's foil, but she is proving herself brave and resourceful, and very smart. Immediately more appealing than Susan.All in all, it's not hard to pin down why I like this story. It's the series letting it's hair down, being unafraid to have fun. There's a dull humourlessness to a lot of the first series, and in stories like say Marinus with little else to offer this adds a problem. The Romans is inconsequential, but it delights in that. It's a show that wants to be fun, rather than dramatic or educational. This is something the show has lacked, for the most part. A heart. The warmth that humour brings. It's around the Rescue and here that joy enters the show, the Doctor becoming the essentially humourous central character that defines him from here on in, a sense that one of the primary aims of the series is to entertain. It's been enjoyable so far, but up to now it's been an intellectual enjoyment, a dramatic appreciation. It's mainly worked by stimulating the brain, not the heart. It's the slide to combining the two, the sense of intelligent fun that defines the show for me, and explains it's enduring popularity and accesibility. As the characters lighten up we start to love them, rather than like them, or just enjoy their adventures.It's one of the truths of proper drama that humour is important - one assumes that the word drama implies seriousness, but humour is vital part of that. It accentuates the sadder moments, it gives them something to play against, it allows us to warm to the characters and care for them (anyone who's ever seen Chekov played with humour versus without will attest that the former is much better, the second veers towards tediousness). I Claudius is a good example as it is very comic for such a dark piece. It is this lack of narcissism, and self-importance, but lightness of touch that defines why I love Dr Who rather than just like it. This is a show for your heart and your head, for your soul.And that starts with the Romans.

Dorney
The Romans 3:Watched this one yesterday, but circumstances forced me away from the computer til now.Well, it really is terrific stuff. The Ian plot is still just there to make up the numbers, but it does provide a terrific cliffhanger. (Admittedly, it does mean that the last cliffhanger is a total cheat, with no eventual plot relevance for even one second more than it was on screen).The main comic centre points of this episode focus around the Doctor, Nero and Barbara. And they're terrific. Nero is a hugely entertaining character, probably the best in the guest cast so far (his mid performance critique of 'Maximus' made me laugh out loud, and the death of Tigilinus is rightly praised). It's played for real, and as a result is hysterical. Hartnell easily matches him, mainly in fabulous comic business (there's a beautifully underplayed bit in the spa where Nero keeps switching sides and Hartnell has to shift a sword he's holding - a lovely subtle bit of detail). The interaction he has with Vicki is superb, almost better than his rather cross relationship with his proper granddaughter. They seem like a pair of naughty schoolchildren trying to make their way out of trouble and delighting in the success of their schemes (even as those schemes backfire). Vicki too is still terrific - her terribly casual announcement to the Doctor that she thinks she poisoned Nero is brilliant, and belies the oft-made accusation that she is little more than a Susan clone. She's ballsier, and smarter than that. This is a girl who takes the travelling in her stride and isn't really put out by anything. Still like a teenager, but not in such a self-conscious way. She can't take the universe seriously, and you have to like that.The Barbara subplot is again, a little slight, but the near misses with the Dr and Vicki are beautifully done, and the stuff of high farce. Interesting that she doesn't seem too bothered by Nero fancying her, even rather likes it (she only starts to get riled when he starts to chase her, but she's clearly smiling when he checks her out at their first meeting). Mind you, the girl's been a lust object for someone practically every week, so she might have developed a high opinion of herself.One of the more suprising things about the serial, is its sheer bloodthirstiness. It's not often mentioned in the wake of the comedy - but it's just as bloodthirsty as Reign, for example. Just look, the first episode features the death of an old man, the second has the murder of the centurion, and the Doctor possibly accidentally kills Ascaris (it isn't entirely clear). And in this episode we have the court poisoner (who's a dark enough element without her being dragged off to the circus as a result of Vicki's whim to change the glasses), and the death of Tigillinus. In deed, typing that up it is noticeable that the last three are caused, indirectly, by the TARDIS crew. And they say they're not changing anything.The violence works, and is ignored, because it helps to focus the comedy. Comedy is at its funniest when there's something at stake (see how many great sitcoms are rooted in personal tragedy or dark times). It offsets it. So the story is funnier because it isn't inconsequential. Life is cheap in the palace, where you can be poisoned for being mildly annoying. It makes the Doctor's ploys and the various events mean so much more.Incidentally, he does say that he gave Anderson the idea for the Emperor's New Clothes. I do believe that's our first name drop.

Andy Noax
"Incidentally, he does say that he gave Anderson the idea for the Emperor's New Clothes. I do believe that's our first name drop. "
Surely not - hasn't he already mentioned Henry VIII and Beau Brummel in previous stories?

ianzpotter
Certainly Gilbert and Sullivan at the end of the Edge...

Dorney
You got me bang to rights, I'd forgotten that. (What the Gilbert and Sullivan one?) It is however the first instance of him claiming to have directly influenced history - in the style of him writing out Hamlet for Shakespeare - so that's probably where I made the mistake.

Dorney
One day behind, but I'm back...The Romans 4:Again absolutely lovely stuff. OK, it's become more than a little clear that there isn't really a plot as such - the Maximus Petullian assassin subplot comes to nothing. It's just to provide mystery and keep the viewer hooked, but ultimately it doesn't go anywhere, and does seem faintly barking (that old man in episode 1 hardly seems to be the best choice for an assassin does he?). Likewise the Ian plot is mainly in captivity, and a few badly staged fights. The Babs plot is just running around. Ultimately, it's a series of disconnected and fairly unrelated romps for the TARDIS crew. However, the whole thing is so joyfully done, and pacey (leaping out a mile in this era, as everything up to this - barring the Aztecs maybe - has tended to be drawn out) that this barely seems to matter (and I suppose, considering the 'holiday' framing, it's rather appropriate). It's just damn good fun. The only true moment of significance in the whole thing is a shot I'd never seen before - the lingering shot of the crucifix that indicates precisely who Petullian was working for, and why the bald bloke's been so helpful.The Doctor is playful and dotty in this episode. The Lion puns are delightful, and are an instance of the Doctor playing with someone who wants to kill him. He's on the death list of the Emperor from Rome, and he's cool enough to make fun of it! (Likewise, his joy at having set in motion the fire is interesting - and seems to mark a sea change for the character. He now knows he can influence history).Incidentally, it's great the way that Barbara inadvertantly saves his life in this episode, rather like Vicki saved hers in part three. The not-quite meeting plotlines (everyone else meets the whole set, they just don't realise themselves) is the main conceit, and it's done fabulously. Odd to think how close this is to the regular structure of Who (DIOE and Reign immediately leap to mind as employing a similar split em up technique), but by refusing to have them meet til the end it takes on a whole new dimension.There seems to be a Star Wars style wipe cut at one point in this episode - I suspect it's a trick of the light really, just a straight cut, as I doubt the technology to do that would have existed at the time (and seeing as it's so out of the directorial tone of the rest of the story).The darkness is still there. Delios burns a guy in the face (possibly the slave master, it's hard to tell in the way it's shot), and Nero has gone from being an entertaining comic figure to dangerously mad. As life gets cheaper he becomes steadily less funny, and one cannot help but admire Derek Francis for combining so many levels into one person, demonstrable versatility.There's another DIOE like long epilogue, with the last ten minutes or so all dealing with the travellers return. Ian and Barbara are really flirtatious with their chasing each other and gentle mocking (and Spooner almost seems to be writing for the video age: would anyone have realised in 1965 that Ian references one of Barbara's lines from the first episode?). The whole scene, and indeed their confrontation with the Doctor and Vicki, is delightful, witty and charming. OK, so it's all a bit superficial, but its one of the great joys of the series - its versatility. We've just had an ecodrama; an epic, nihilistic tragedy; a chamber piece thriller; and a comedy romp. Name me another series that could experiment like that. People talk about BF's playing with the form last year. Season 2 was there before all that. And we haven't even got to the madness of the Web Planet yet! All in all, a terrific little piece. A relax and have a good time romp. Superb.

Dalek Invasion of Earth

Dorney
Dalek Invasion 1:Well, this is a bit fab - eerie and disquieting. The first proper location work in the series really grounds this story in reality. The bridge and warehouse sets combined with this look very real, and suddenly we feel less of an need to suspend the imagination. Of course, this does mean that sets and models that would have been ok elsewhere (the underground set, and, yes, the saucer) leap out a bit more when they turn up.But in general, the atmosphere and imagination work wonders - there's a lovely shot of the advancing Robomen from high above them which is incredibly creepy. The running sequence is pacey and tense. The direction and the music work hand in hand to make this possibly the most succesful episode yet - we feel we're in a different league now. (The music is smashing - and the location filming has real energy).Oddities - Ian and the Doctor see a flying saucer and then completely fail to be bothered by it, mentioning it only in passing. Very strange.It's a typical Terry Nation part one - split the travellers up, and have virtually nothing happen for the whole episode, bar a racking up of mystery and tension. It's more effective than either of his previous openings for me. The Daleks 1 was good, but still slightly straining for length, whereas there doesn't seem to be an ounce of fat here.Watched the info text with my mum and she told me that she knew the designer, Spencer Chapman. She was an actress several years ago and worked with him. Apparently his pregnant wife developed a craving for housebricks. They had to go out to building sites in the middle of the night to get some.That's what I like about doing this Day by Day. There's always something new.
Dorney
Dalek Invasion 2:Well, it's still pretty terrific. The common question about 'Why is the Dalek in the thames' doesn't matter a bit, it's a wonderful cliffhanger. The Doctor is clearly more of a proactive hero here. His berating and belittling of the Daleks seems to be misplaced considering he has no information about what's going on at all, and the little he knows would seem to suggest that the Daleks are in control. The 'I think we'd better pit our wits against them and defeat them' line is ridiculous, but it does sum up where the character is now. Previously he's been indifferent, or selfish, or mainly interested in keeping the good safe, rather than actively seeking out evil to defeat, just for the sake of it. Seems a desperately contrived nonetheless. The Doctor turns into voiceover man, stating his every intention for no clear reason. (And at no point do Ian or The Doctor express any concern at the disappearance of Susan and Barbara - wouldn't you be panicking?)The rest of the episode is excellent. The illustration of the Invasion is superb - cutting between two explanations and then into a thematic illustration outside the saucer (with the characters all entering just as their description starts). Brilliant, inventive direction. In fact, virtually the entire episode is directed effectively, only losing its footing in the battle at the end of the episode, which suddenly loses drama and coherence - its hard to tell what's going on. Do the bombs do anything? When David etc. duck, did the wall ripple, I wasn't sure. Were they fired on? It isn't clear.The character's seem based rather more in reality than last season. There's depth here, with the heroes being grumpy or bitter, or slightly barking, and not just the black and white stereotypes of the earlier stories. The performances are terrific.The cell test is both bollocks and clearly padding, but as with all of this story it's fun. In fact, a lot of this episode is padded, but its intelligently written, pacey and fun, so it hardly matters.This is right there with the Aztecs as the best stories so far, so the dvd releases are rather appropriate. This is all drama and conviction, pace, realism and grit. That's not to say these things are inherently better than say lightness (I love the Romans as much as the next man), just that after the slghtly relaxed style of season one, the slight air of children's show, this is turning into family drama. Not afraid to be thoughtful, or nasty.

Dorney
Just wanted to add - I sincerely hope that Daleks Masterplan 2 will be out before I get to it here!And I want the moon on a stick!

madame president
Your plan is an ambitous one. Dorney's Master Plan? Anyway, I've read your comments about each episode with interest and will continue to do so.

odoru tardis
Enjoying reading your reviews. Keep up the hard work.As much as I love Doctor Who, I can't imagine going throughthem all as quickly as you are, and reviewing them to boot.You'll have to speed it up though, if you want to finish in timefor the new series.

Ultimate Foe
I think I'm going to have to start watching DIOE again now! (last time was the UKGOLD day). I have the DVD (form Jan. Sales), but have yet to watch it.Keep it up...it gives me soemthing new and interesting to read everyday, and your views are enjoyable (maybe as for the stories I've seen, I agree with them)

Dorney
Thanks for that chaps! Much appreciated. You know, I wasn't sure if anyone was actually reading these at all - but now I've started I ain't stopping. Especially since I've got into the habit of doing what I'd wanted to do at the start - go over each and every single episode.OK, then, Dalek Invasion 3:This is a sort of filler episode. There's a temptation to say the word 'padding' again, but this is extremely well written 'padding', showing the way to fill in time effectively. If you watch the episode, very little actually happens - the bombs and the raid fail, and then everyone spends a bit of time getting away. Susan, The Doctor and Campbell spend the entire episode in someone's back garden, Barbara, Jenny and Dortmun run around London without obvious purpose.But, and this is the important part, it's all beautifully well written. The extra time is used to develop the world, show you how things work, deepen the characterisation - the burgeoning romance for Susan is truly believable. The shots of abandoned London and the random deaths all establish the reality of the situation. In deed, the realism is still the key factor here - its all about the bleak effects of domination and oppression, to a degree that is rarely done in Who. It's about fear (the scenes of running through London), horror (the offscreen screaming man's death is bleak beyond belief) despair (Jenny and Tyler's reactions to the whole situation are brilliantly real and human - they're not noble or heroic - they're people like you and me put in extraordinary circumstances). One of the most interesting moments occurs early on in the rebel base - in the background in one shot, we see one other rebel, unnamed, unreferenced, sat huddled in the floor, obviously half mad with despair. He's easy to miss, but rather a chilling detail. Especially since it's clear that everyone else is ignoring him as they know he can't be helped.Occasionally it goes a bit mad - Dortmun's death was always coming, but it seems rushed and a little dramatically pointless. Likewise the death of Baker - very casual and quick, unremarked elsewhere and serving no real dramatic purpose as he was going anyway. But of course, the lack of dramatic point is arguably exactly the point. This is the first real horror story in the show. Nation always compared the Daleks to the Nazis, and that's most true here. The random killing, meaningless and agonizing, reminds me of films like The Pianist. Obviously, its a slightly trite comparison, as this is entertainment drama, but it's grim and adult. Of course, this new, real brutality to the Daleks is totally at odds with their logic and seeming rationality of the first serial. This is the true beginning of the Daleks as they were to become. Nasty cold blooded killers, not just moving blasters, or henchmen. Shame it's a side so rarely seen later (and seeing as they feel little like the original Daleks in tone and action, and the attempts to reconcile this story with that fail miserably, its almost a shame that the two are connected at all. These are true monster in a way the original serial ones weren't.) The nastiness and sadism all add to the effect. This is no longer fun adventure fiction - this is adult drama.Also, the 'padding' has the same effect as some in Marco Polo - to give the real appearance of an epic. This is a story of scale, it takes place over time, over distance. The only slightly odd note in the episode is one brief moment. Ian hides in the spaceship. Daleks all around. He waits til it takes off - then decides to pop out of hiding? Why? He likes to take risks? On a dramatic level, it's purely to meet Larry and see the Robotised Craddock. But he's never given any good logical reason to leave. Hmm.But it hardly matters. God I love this story!edited to add:(incidentally, couple more thoughts - it's worth praising the location work. A very obvious point, it must be said, but it's one of the most memorable sequences in the series to date - for the first time ever, this is a threat to people and places we know. Saying the Daleks are in London is different to seeing them, in a creepy deserted Trafalgar Sq.And nice to see Pat Gorman as a slave! Haven't spotted him before in the show, apart from episode two, when I forgot to mention it - why exactly do the Daleks take exception to that girl in part two anyway? Cos she's the most photogenic? You can tell the Daleks don't read FHM.)

Dorney
Dalek Invasion 4:Precisely what has to happen to Ian before he loosens his tie, undoes his top button, and unbuttons his blazer? It’s fair enough wanting to look smart, but really. There's a time and a place for everything.I know everyone always goes on about the Slyther and the Saucer - yep, they're bad, but they're not a vast deal worse than any of the other effects seen to date - it's a testament to the strength and realism of the script that these seem to impact on this story rather more than the others.Its still an episode of marking time, in a way, but that's what this story is. It's about the journey, an epic, a quest if you like. Simple, everyday tasks become matters of life and death. Whilst Reign of Terror was a series of capture/escapes, and this is a series of obstacles, the difference is that there's a clear goal here. The travellers need to get to Bedfordshire - and in order to get there, they have to find a route, and suffer whatever obstacles they encounter. The reason the story works so well is that these obstacles appear realistic (I know I'm using that word a lot, but this is the first story that really exists in the same world we do - if anything, what with the enjoyable petty villainy of Forester in Planet of Giants to add to this, that's what this season seems to be aiming for - a more down to Earth feel). Jenny and Barbara have to pump up the truck wheels, Ian has to deal with the ugly face of the human factor in the form of Ashton the black marketeer. Only the breaking ladder that Susan steps onto, suspending her above loose alligators seems contrived, and out of keeping with the rest of the story's tone. Especially considering that it takes David a stupidly long time to come to her aid, leaving it, almost as if he knows Tyler's going to appear. And the fact that the alligators look like babies... Its important with quest/journey movies that the quest itself looks strenuous or complex or difficult (which is a problem I have with AI and Saving Private Ryan - the individual quests are solved too easily. Contrast also the novel of Cold Mountain with the film: Inman's journey in the novel is long, agonizing and painful - in the movie he ends up with one cut on his forehead, strolling along hands in pockets). Therefore, the journey in this story HAS to be long and strenuous, and at cost. The travellers have to cross half the country, against several different obstacles, in order to reach the objective.Ashton and Wells provide the centre of the episode in many ways, and illustrate the stories themes. Whilst this story is named after the Dalek's, it isn't really about them. It's about living under oppression, again dealing with World War II. Its about how people respond to this, for good and bad. Ashton exploits it for his own ends, and Wells is selfless. The story is essentially about human capacity for good and evil, if you like. About survival. It's a shame Ashton is disposed of as quickly as he is, and one can't help but think of Phillip Madoc's rather more memorable exit in the movie version.Thinking of the movie does rather contrast the difference between this tale and its Dalek predeccessor. The original doesn't seem to lose much in the translation - it gains pace at the expense of not much, really. The DIOE film is hugely entertaining, and again pacier than its tv equivalent - but loses the depth and horror, really. With no Jenny/Larry, there's no real bitterness - even Tyler becomes quite cuddly. (Though it has at least enough sense to realise that the grimness is the story - killing of Dortmun, the only time in either film any goody we've got to know well dies)Nice direction abounds - the framing of Jenny and Barbara's escape from behind Dortmun's corpse in particular. Ah, I love this. Favourite so far, easily. Even with the Slyther.(incidentally, how come every time I think I've got nothing to say about an episode I write a vast amount?)

madame president
You're making me really want to watch this story... Can I? Is this available in the US? I hope so!

Dorney
I believe the DVD has just come out there - the extras are good so far (only really done the info text - stunningly good for a seemingly simple extra), and I can wholeheartedly recommend it.

madame president
I'm off in search of it then. This is one of those few stories people don't talk about much.

Dorney
A friend of mine, not a full on fan as such, and I were talking about my episode by episode journey. He liked the show, but has never really got any merchandise, or watched videos. He's decided to borrow the episodes when I've finished with them - today I have lent him the entire first series. I've asked him to email me his opinions on these stories too, on the basis that as someone outside of fan lore, but with an interest and knowledge of quality drama, his opinions on the stories will be worth hearing - he won't know that story x is supposed to be better than story y, will have no pre-knowledge of suprise monsters or regenerations, companions joining or leaving, etc. etc. so will hopefully have a fresh, unbiased interpretation of what's good and what isn't. I will post these answers in this thread in addition to mine.

Dorney
Dalek Invasion 5:Just managed to squeeze this one in today...It's more of the same, but I was trying to wonder why this story feels very different from the previous ones. And I think I may have done. This story has a cost, something at stake. Arguably, only the Aztecs has done that before.This struck me most with Larry. Up to this point in the series he does seem the only real good character to die (well, him and Dortmun, and Baker, but he crystalised this for me). Now, I'll have to qualify that. As far as I can recall, most of the deaths so far are bad guys - very rarely does a truly good guy die. The obvious exceptions are the Thals and the Second Elder (and Farrow I suppose). But the Thals never seem quite real - they're all slightly one note in characterisation, the noble one, the coward. We don't really get to know Farrow, so his death isn't a vast shock. DIOE is the first story were good likeable real people like you and me die after we take time to know them. And die in agony. (the Sensorite's death is quick, like Farrow - in deed, the death's are all but brushed aside, as if they aren't really there). Larry's death, machine-gunned by his brother, whilst strangling him back, is nasty. And tragic, too (the last word the dead Phil says is 'Larry'.) This script has an emotional cost for the viewer that we don't really get with stories before this. Up to now, it's been fun adventuring, and no-one really dies, not anyone important, or if they do they deserve it.To compare it once more to the original Dalek tale - this story seems to have a literal cost to the characters too, emotionally, physically, in a way that the journey into the city doesn't (and that has the faint air of contrivance - looters, oppurtunists, etc. seem logically derived from the setting in a way that chasm's and sea monsters aren't - they're more derived from Dan Dare stories, and cliche.) Watch Jenny's despair in the mine - it's believable and understandable. She isn't being a wimp, she is us. Also the death of Larry/Phil really does define the series. It's a reminder of the central evil, that the Doctor now seems to be determined to fight (the fact he can't enter the TARDIS is immaterial - it's ceased to be important. This is a man who fight's the villains now.)The Doctor states his beliefs here, quite clearly - he never kills unless his own life is threatened. The amount of people who complain about the 2 Drs and Shockeye's murder, when there's precious little difference. Of course, can't quite see why the Dr objects to the killing of a Roboman - it is after all well established that they are walking corpses, so it would be a mercy.Rather amazing that this grim, nasty tale can find the time for a believable and rather sweet romance. The fireside scene is lovely and unforced - I love David gently stroking Susan's hand, it's simple but true. And the Doctor clearly knows what's going on, which is equally sweet.Another fine moment of direction is when Ian sees Barbara in the mines. We only see the back of her head as she passes by, but she is unmistakeable. Again, subtle and unshowy.One minor niggle is the complete lack of tension in the two main fight's - the Slyther vs Ian, and the sewer scene. Obviously the difficulties of 1960s tv make it difficult to edit or control the camera as much as would be good, but these sequences could have done with some music to cover the awkwardness.I do see what they mean about Dalek's being boring communicators - the scenes with just them expositing the plot are very weak. It's ok for a while, but they are monotonous and you find yourself drifting. Shame their plan's seemingly barking. Let's hope they know a good reason to want to pilot Earth around the galaxy (yeah, we don't find out, but that doesn't mean they don't have one... er, yes...) Not quite clear why it had to be Earth, as Hartnell suggests.Fabulous cliffhanger - Ian trapped inside a bomb about to be dropped down a mine shaft. Well get out of that!Cannot wait til the final part.
Dorney
Eternal(1/18/04 4:55 pm)
Re: Day by Day
Oh, and a minor extra - everyone always wonders who or what the Waking Ally is - I dunno, but some thoughts:I think it could be Phil - he clearly knows who he is just at the moment of death. Not sure he could be described as an ally though...The Doctor returns at the beginning, could be him. Or possibly it means the Dalek that Barbara tricks (who seems to use his eyestick to indicate he's talking, rather than the lights - this leads to a wonderful bit where, after another blatant load of crap from Babs, his eyestick points straight up. It's clearly meant to suggestion he's in communion with his superiors, but to me it looks like he's rolling his eye up to heaven, and saying good grief).And finally - it really does beggar belief that Babs and Jenny stay with the mad old women who are clearly up to no good...

Dorney
Dalek Invasion 6:Bad stuff out of the way first - the defeat of the Daleks is slightly led by technobabble, frankly, but it at least seems quite logical. Not sure if they have saved the entire world, but it is implied that 'saucers', i.e: in the plural, have been caught in the explosion, so maybe they all popped back to watch the end! And it's very strange that the Robomen don't just attack the Daleks - they seem to turn back into humans - they're running along, gleefully battering the cases. Shouldn't they still be mindless zombies - albeit ones now working for the goodies.Really, that's about it for the bad stuff for - well, practically the entire serial. This episode abounds with lovely moments. Barbara gets to show her resourcefulness with her wonderful history speech, improvising and just generally being fab. Ian gets to defeat the Daleks (nice to see that his jacket is giving up with the strain, though I can't quite see why he doesn't use all the wood to block the bomb, just three rather measly planks. He succeeds, yes, but you can't help but feel he got lucky). Ian also gets the episodes funniest moment - his complete obliviousness to David/Susan's awkwardness, even when Barbara tries to subtly get him to go, before having to drag him away physically. Great. It's tempting however to think the best actor in the entire thing is one of the extras - just after the Robomen are instructed to attack the Daleks a whole load of slaves/robomen run into a corridor. First it's two Robomen. Keep an eye out for the guy who comes out right behind them - he's really going for it, it's hysterical!The episode does, however, really belong to Hartnell. Great performances, great lines, great characterisation. His instructions to David and Susan get amended with the beautiful line 'and don't go stopping to pick dasies', which he almost (but not quite, showing the master craftsmanship) throws away. Then his eccentricities, stopping mid invasion overthrow to stop Tyler calling him Doc. Then, the dramatic iconic figure as he stands waiting for the Dalek to close in on him. It has no real story purpose other than simply being a great shot, but damn it's a fabulous moment. This is the Doctor as icon, finally the character we've come to know writ large - the hero, good who defeats evil, with all the dramatics, wit and courage we've come to know.And of course, then we have the final scene. It's breathtakingly good, genuinely moving. I know a lot of people rave about the last scenes with Evelyn in Project: Lazarus, but for my money they're not even remotely moving. Sure, they're emotionally charged, but that's a different thing. The difference is the P:L wants to move you, whereas DIOE actually does. Compare and contrast - Evelyn screeching and wailing like a harpy - to Susan. From the moment she knows the Doctor's mind is set she does not say a word. Doesn't even react. Its more real (when traumatic personal events happen, in my experience, people don't run around wailing, it's always more shocked, frankly). Likewise Hartnell underplays the scene, allowing the moment to do its work. He doesn't oversell it - there's the faintest inkling of a tremor in his voice at the end of his speech as he says goodbye - but that's it. All the emotion is focused. We are moved because it is dignified, it is real, it is true.Of course, it is a bit odd to be sad that Susan's going - up to now she's been a bit annoying for the most part. Always getting hysterical seemingly instantaneously (I think the Velvet Web cliffhanger leaps to mind most clearly for that), seeming a bit stupid and childish, and always prone to act before thinking, only vaguely coming close to character in the first story and the Sensorites. All a bit odd for an alien time traveller, who you'd think would be harder to shock. But it's a testament to this story that she does seem to have grown up. The romance is believable and sweet, touchingly awkward (it's great that David can only ask her to stay when they're both pointedly not looking at each other). So farewell, Susan. It's an end of an era, a cliche, obviously, but true. You'll be missed, funny to say.All in all, probably my favourite story so far. Would have made the perfect finale if they'd had to stop at the end of the first recording block. Just brilliant, and thoroughly recommended.

Planet of Giants

Dorney
Well, season 2. Planet of Giants 1: I quite like the way that it only takes five minutes for the Doctor to figure out what's going on. The story doesn't try to stretch out a twist that's fairly obvious to the audience (who have twice the information, and the title to go on, so anyone who complains that the audience knows before the characters - of course they do!)I thought the music was weird - but in a good way. Melodramatic and odd. Suprised to see it's the first Dudley Simpson score. Very nice.It's easy to forget that Forrester's quite an unusual villain. Terribly normal. Everyone else in the show has grand universe controlling schemes, so the individual deaths are completely lightweight to them. Forrester in contrast is just a plain murderer. I'm not saying this as a criticism, it's a very interesting change from the norm. It's great to have a villain whose motivation is simply monetary greed.Rather an odd little story so far, but quite a nice opener. The focus on the crew alone for the first ten minutes or so helps us get to know them again. A low key way to start a season, but the breaks were shorter then, obviously.

Dorney
Planet of Giants 2:Still good fun - Forrester really is a cold bastard, and to my amazement it is possible to hear of a character called Smithers without immediate associations! (Incidentally, its tempting to view Smithers as a goody, at the very least a misguided one - but it's worth remembering that he is perfectly happy to be an accessory to murder)The cliffhanger resolution's a bit trite - they stand still and the cat goes away. Well that's all right then.Forgot to say last time that the back projection is really rather lovely. The close up of Farrow's dead face is possibly my favourite special effect to date. In deed, most of the larger than life stuff is very good - the ants and flies all looking effective, if never actually really real.Ian comes over a bit dim - he gets trapped in a matchbox, gets hurt, and then hides in a briefcase. And gets hurt. He berates himself for that, talks about making sure they hide behind rather than in things - then the next time he needs to hide, it's straight back to the briefcase. Idiot. (And then he wastes a lot of time with a plan to open the case that goes nowhere)And why keep the briefcase at all - ok, the report needs to get sent in, but you just take that out. Keeping the briefcase when you go off to dispose of the body is evidence!The stuff with Babs touching the poison is nicely done. It's done subtly and cleverly so that Ian doesn't notice, and her growing panic is rather nice. Yeah, sure, she keeps it to herself, but she doesn't want to worry anyone. Ahh. Can't help wonder why it kills the fly instantly, and not her.Could Susan and the Doctor really have climbed all that way? Ah, who cares, it's fun. Lovely cliffhanger, such a banal action translated into massive threat. Fab.

Dorney
Planet of Giants 3:A couple of lovely weird bits in this one - that bit of Ian and Barbara in the reprise isn't anywhere near what happens at the end of the last one is it? It's clearly just exposition.Another fun moment is at the end - when the Doctor's explaining to Ian what's happened to the seed he isn't even looking at him - he's clearly mugging for the camera.Overall, quite a nice episode, if a little rushed, for obvious reasons. The only major casualties of the cuts are that the TARDIS crew are suddenly very determined to defeat DN6, when they'd been fairly indifferent moments before - and there's also no real sense that they impact on the main storyline at all - it would have been good if Hilda and Bert had overheard something over the raised phone, for example - but as it is, they get suspicious independently. The travellers only impact is to get bits of metal in Forrester's eyes.Still, its extremely well done and you can't tell that its two episodes compressed at all.