THE AMBASSADORS OF DEATH
7 episodes
Or, 'The Ambassadors...' whooosh - BOINGGG '...OF DEATH' as the opening credits would have it, in a unique version where the title sequence grinds to a halt each time to reshow the cliffhanger, before kicking back in for the story title, writer and episode number... of which there are a lot, but in fairness the leisurely pace of this story rarely equates to a drop in interest. There is a slightly surreal fading in and out of monochrome depending on whether the colour footage still exists for a given episode or scene, but this detracts surprisingly little from the presentation. That there are no clear-cut villains means there are an atypically high number of shades of grey (no pun intended) characterwise: the 'alien menace' are merely trying to retrieve their missing ambassadors, General Carrington is heroically misguided, Taltalion a pawn of Reegan, Quinlan an adjunct of those two, Reegan trying to exploit the existing situation for financial gain... Even the 'good guy' scientist Cornish seems as if he may suddenly turn on the Doctor and friends for substantial periods, without this ever actually happening - possibly from his early friction with the Doctor (although this is mostly the irascible Doctor's fault), and possibly this is just the aura that Ronald Allen gives off, considering his superb turn in 'The Dominators'. That the Doctor allows General Carrington to leave with dignity intact at the end, saying he "understands" his actions as they arose from his prior experiences on Mars, speaks volumes about the shading of motives and actions present here. Reegan fills the 'evil' role the most, manipulating his colleagues, the 'ambassadors' and the Doctor and Liz, and killing off opponents, but possesses an undeniable roguish charisma that makes him oddly likeable. When he is trying to thwart the Doctor's space mission and safe return, the sequence of him clambering on the huge industrial rigs of Space Centre is among the best location work yet seen in the series, with some superb camerawork in the 'puddle reflection' shot that enables us to follow his progress upwards without shifting the viewpoint. The spacecraft model shots are likewise the highest-quality seen to date, the alien mothership's surreal backdrops are used sparingly, which keeps their efficacy high, and the fact that the aliens themselves are never named, almost totally kept under wraps and largely sidelined means they are far more effective - the faceless, silent spacesuits are more spookily unnerving than any conventional 'monster' makeup and constume would have been. They are obviously incredibly powerful and can kill with a touch, but it is clear that they do so only because they are being controlled and not through their own volition.
One thing I also really liked was the weirdly wonderful incidental music, where violent action scenes with the aliens and gun battles are soundtracked by ethereal, atmospheric sweeps of melody in an inexplicably effective manner. Lastly, the use of the John Wakefield character to literally narrate the action onscreen is a brilliant device, as not only does he look and sound like a quintessential '70s TV presenter, but his 'telecast' pieces to camera are a very clever way of providing plot exposition bluntly but without seeming forced. That he is played by Michael Wisher means that, as Geoffrey Beevers crops up as a UNIT private, we have both a future Davros and future Master in this story!
7.5/10
Episodes watched: 163
Episodes still to watch: 559
Actually watched the first four episodes last night, but was so tired by that stage I couldn't be bothered to post an entry here then - hence this is one overarching view rather than two half ones!
Friday, September 30, 2005
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
'Doctor Who and the Silurians' episodes II - VII
DOCTOR WHO AND THE SILURIANS continued
He's not called Doctor Who, and they're not Silurians - the production gaffe that enabled this story to go out under the kind of hack title normally reserved for Target novelisations is on a par only with the shoddy paleontological chronology that infects the plot like the Silurian's germ warfare infects commuters. But, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised: the story kept up the pace and interest very nicely considering the large number of episodes involved, not least thanks to the vivid characterisation - Dr. Quinn (despite his surprisingly early exit), Dr. Lawrence, Major Baker, Masters, the Young and Old Silurians... All have distinct personalities established, and the length of the story means that they all have time to play out their own mini stories without this seeming forced or rushed. There is an interesting morality play at work here: more than almost any other occasion I can think of, the villains are presented in shades of grey rather than being outright evil or insane, the two stock shorthands for 'bad person' in Doctor Who. The Old Silurian's touching connection with the Doctor seems to offer hope of peaceful coexistence before he is violently usurped, while even the Young Silurian, whose bratty attitude, adolescent voice and exaggerated movements bring to mind nothing so much as Harry Enfield's Kevin the Teenager, grows up a little at the very end as he decides to sacrifice his own hibernation to save his species.
The notion of the 'alien' race not only being from Earth but in some ways having a greater claim to it than the human race is explored nicely, with the conflicting views of those who wish to coexist with them and those who wish to blow them off the planet staying within their established characters, e.g. Miss Dawson's fire-and-brimstone hard line after her beloved (?) Dr. Quinn has been killed. Geoffrey Palmer's likeably flexible civil servant/politician Masters proves pivotal to the plot, as he first juggles the conflicting requests of those around him and then forgets to quarantine himself and returns to London, unwittingly spreading the virus/bacteria and dying himself. These scenes are fantastic, with the Brigadier frantically manning every phone he can reach intercut with a white-coated Doctor testing antidote adter antidote and with a sickening Masters weaving his way around London, with his fellows from Marylebone and elsewhere collapsing in the streets. The makeup for those 'infected' is great and helps bring a grotesque touch to the sudden proliferation and to individual deaths such as Lawrence's particularly tortured one. We alse see the Doctor and the Brigadier have their relationship pushed to the limit, with a great deal of mutual distrust culminating in the famous ending where the Brigadier detonates the Silurian's caves hideout to the Doctor's abject horror and disgust. That this takes place againsgt the backdrop of a 'comedy' scene with the Doctor giving the debuting Bessie a novel jumpstart only strengthens the impact and reinforces the theory that not all 'evils' are there just to be destroyed utterly by the Doctor and chums at the end of the last episode - the ending on display here is surely one of the bleakest of all Whos.
The directorial skill thus shown is also evident elsewhere - the unfortunate dinosaur model is used only fleetingly in bluescreen-style back-projection inserts (a first) after its initial appearance, while the merely average Silurian costumes are kept in subterranean gloom for the most part. The first view of the wounded Silurian surfacing against the sun is just ravishingly gorgeous, and the use of tripartite 'monster's-eye-view' camera shots in episodes 2 and 3 is a great touch. The Doctor, usually so elegant and dapper, is clad in a white T-shirt in the final episode, which besides being unsettling, combined with his expressed sentiments helps make him seem sufficiently 'different' for the Brigadier to doubt his motives. As I mentioned, the chronology is way off, though - Quinn's map showing the continents 200 million years ago depicts a world only half as old as the Silurian Period itself (that dating would have made them Triassics, give or take, I believe), while the reptiles' talk of apes would, if applied to proto-hominids, make them far far more recent than this again. Oh well - the rest of their science is up the spout too, since they (and Liz) believe that the Van Allen belts (Earth's magnetic field, if I'm correct, not part of the atmosphere) keep out UV rays rather than the ozone layer. Still, you can't have everything.
His name's still The Doctor, though...
8/10
Episodes watched: 156
Episodes still to watch: 566
He's not called Doctor Who, and they're not Silurians - the production gaffe that enabled this story to go out under the kind of hack title normally reserved for Target novelisations is on a par only with the shoddy paleontological chronology that infects the plot like the Silurian's germ warfare infects commuters. But, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised: the story kept up the pace and interest very nicely considering the large number of episodes involved, not least thanks to the vivid characterisation - Dr. Quinn (despite his surprisingly early exit), Dr. Lawrence, Major Baker, Masters, the Young and Old Silurians... All have distinct personalities established, and the length of the story means that they all have time to play out their own mini stories without this seeming forced or rushed. There is an interesting morality play at work here: more than almost any other occasion I can think of, the villains are presented in shades of grey rather than being outright evil or insane, the two stock shorthands for 'bad person' in Doctor Who. The Old Silurian's touching connection with the Doctor seems to offer hope of peaceful coexistence before he is violently usurped, while even the Young Silurian, whose bratty attitude, adolescent voice and exaggerated movements bring to mind nothing so much as Harry Enfield's Kevin the Teenager, grows up a little at the very end as he decides to sacrifice his own hibernation to save his species.
The notion of the 'alien' race not only being from Earth but in some ways having a greater claim to it than the human race is explored nicely, with the conflicting views of those who wish to coexist with them and those who wish to blow them off the planet staying within their established characters, e.g. Miss Dawson's fire-and-brimstone hard line after her beloved (?) Dr. Quinn has been killed. Geoffrey Palmer's likeably flexible civil servant/politician Masters proves pivotal to the plot, as he first juggles the conflicting requests of those around him and then forgets to quarantine himself and returns to London, unwittingly spreading the virus/bacteria and dying himself. These scenes are fantastic, with the Brigadier frantically manning every phone he can reach intercut with a white-coated Doctor testing antidote adter antidote and with a sickening Masters weaving his way around London, with his fellows from Marylebone and elsewhere collapsing in the streets. The makeup for those 'infected' is great and helps bring a grotesque touch to the sudden proliferation and to individual deaths such as Lawrence's particularly tortured one. We alse see the Doctor and the Brigadier have their relationship pushed to the limit, with a great deal of mutual distrust culminating in the famous ending where the Brigadier detonates the Silurian's caves hideout to the Doctor's abject horror and disgust. That this takes place againsgt the backdrop of a 'comedy' scene with the Doctor giving the debuting Bessie a novel jumpstart only strengthens the impact and reinforces the theory that not all 'evils' are there just to be destroyed utterly by the Doctor and chums at the end of the last episode - the ending on display here is surely one of the bleakest of all Whos.
The directorial skill thus shown is also evident elsewhere - the unfortunate dinosaur model is used only fleetingly in bluescreen-style back-projection inserts (a first) after its initial appearance, while the merely average Silurian costumes are kept in subterranean gloom for the most part. The first view of the wounded Silurian surfacing against the sun is just ravishingly gorgeous, and the use of tripartite 'monster's-eye-view' camera shots in episodes 2 and 3 is a great touch. The Doctor, usually so elegant and dapper, is clad in a white T-shirt in the final episode, which besides being unsettling, combined with his expressed sentiments helps make him seem sufficiently 'different' for the Brigadier to doubt his motives. As I mentioned, the chronology is way off, though - Quinn's map showing the continents 200 million years ago depicts a world only half as old as the Silurian Period itself (that dating would have made them Triassics, give or take, I believe), while the reptiles' talk of apes would, if applied to proto-hominids, make them far far more recent than this again. Oh well - the rest of their science is up the spout too, since they (and Liz) believe that the Van Allen belts (Earth's magnetic field, if I'm correct, not part of the atmosphere) keep out UV rays rather than the ozone layer. Still, you can't have everything.
His name's still The Doctor, though...
8/10
Episodes watched: 156
Episodes still to watch: 566
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
'Doctor Who and the Silurians' episode I
DOCTOR WHO AND THE SILURIANS
7 episodes
Bloody hell - there had only been six stories with seven or more episodes in the series' history to this point, but now there's three in a row! They'd better be good...
First reports say... interesting. This looked like being a trial to begin with: after a slow start, with not a huge amount happening, memories of the slick, expensive-looking 'Spearhead From Space' are instantly wiped out by a rubber prop dinosaur. But, after this it really begins to reel you in to the extent that you forget it ever seemed inferior. Tried three times to get through episode 2, but after falling asleep twice decided I'd be better off trying again tomorrow!
The characters are all well-drawn, with future Porridge stalwart Fulton Mackay's surprisingly pleasant and likeable Dr. Quinn (not the medicine woman) stealing the show in the early going, plus we get a pre-Blake's 7 Paul Darrow as Captain Hawkins, who has recently turned up in several guest roles in Little Britain. Which is of course narrated by the Fourth Doctor...
Anyway, I look forward to seeing what comes next...
Episodes watched: 150
Episodes still to watch: 572
7 episodes
Bloody hell - there had only been six stories with seven or more episodes in the series' history to this point, but now there's three in a row! They'd better be good...
First reports say... interesting. This looked like being a trial to begin with: after a slow start, with not a huge amount happening, memories of the slick, expensive-looking 'Spearhead From Space' are instantly wiped out by a rubber prop dinosaur. But, after this it really begins to reel you in to the extent that you forget it ever seemed inferior. Tried three times to get through episode 2, but after falling asleep twice decided I'd be better off trying again tomorrow!
The characters are all well-drawn, with future Porridge stalwart Fulton Mackay's surprisingly pleasant and likeable Dr. Quinn (not the medicine woman) stealing the show in the early going, plus we get a pre-Blake's 7 Paul Darrow as Captain Hawkins, who has recently turned up in several guest roles in Little Britain. Which is of course narrated by the Fourth Doctor...
Anyway, I look forward to seeing what comes next...
Episodes watched: 150
Episodes still to watch: 572
'Spearhead From Space' episodes III - IV
SPEARHEAD FROM SPACE continued
Hey, that was good... Slick presentation, great new Doctor, a good, sympathetic role for the Brigadier and an able new companion, plus an all-time great Doctor Who moment as the Auton shop window dummies come to life and silently slaughter their way down the High Streets of the UK! The rubber Nestene monster was a bit crap in comparison to the superbly-realised Auton mannequins (I love those guns built into their hands) and 'facsimiles', but even the appearance of that was made tolerable thanks to some first-class gurning from Jon Pertwee. The number of people shot in the back by Autons was quite worryingly high, from Ransome's vaporisation to frantic shoppers, which I thought was surprisingly full-on. The Doctor, once he has shamefacedly stopped trying to escape the planet and turned his full attention to vanquishing the alien threat, is at the forefront of the action, bravely entering the Auto Plastics factory and constructing a device to thwart the Nestenes, with Pertwee turning in a performance full of charm, wit and authority.
I want to go and watch 'Rose' now, just to see the Autons and the Nestene Consciousness in action again! Still, not long to wait until 'Terror of the Autons'...!
8/10
Episodes watched: 149
Episodes still to watch: 573
Hey, that was good... Slick presentation, great new Doctor, a good, sympathetic role for the Brigadier and an able new companion, plus an all-time great Doctor Who moment as the Auton shop window dummies come to life and silently slaughter their way down the High Streets of the UK! The rubber Nestene monster was a bit crap in comparison to the superbly-realised Auton mannequins (I love those guns built into their hands) and 'facsimiles', but even the appearance of that was made tolerable thanks to some first-class gurning from Jon Pertwee. The number of people shot in the back by Autons was quite worryingly high, from Ransome's vaporisation to frantic shoppers, which I thought was surprisingly full-on. The Doctor, once he has shamefacedly stopped trying to escape the planet and turned his full attention to vanquishing the alien threat, is at the forefront of the action, bravely entering the Auto Plastics factory and constructing a device to thwart the Nestenes, with Pertwee turning in a performance full of charm, wit and authority.
I want to go and watch 'Rose' now, just to see the Autons and the Nestene Consciousness in action again! Still, not long to wait until 'Terror of the Autons'...!
8/10
Episodes watched: 149
Episodes still to watch: 573
Monday, September 26, 2005
'Spearhead From Space' episodes I - II
SPEARHEAD FROM SPACE
4 episodes
Oooh - colour! Suddenly, Doctor Who takes a great leap forward - new Doctor, new decade, new titles, new theme arrangement, the first story after the Doctor has finally been given a background and a context, the first story with a wholesale changeover for the core cast - and it's all in full glorious colour for the first time. Immediately, 'The War Games' seems a very long time ago... Incidentally, it's also the first non-'The...' story I've seen since 'Planet of Giants' eighteen days ago!!
Other than the totally fresh feel all the above gives the start of 'Spearhead From Space', the most noticeable thing is how fantastically glossy and 'expensive' it looks - this was the rarest of things, a Doctor Who episode shot entirely (out of necessity) on film and on location, so it automatically looks bigger and better than those shot on sets using videotape. It all helps reinforce the notion that you're watching something of a new dawn for the programme. Otherwise, the most surprising thing about part 1 is how much it holds back from rushing into the plot, or indeed introducing us to the new incarnation of the Doctor. Jon Pertwee's debut in the role sees him spend almost all of his early scenes either unconscious or otherwise less than talkative, firstly following his regeneration and secondly after he is shot (!) by a UNIT soldier. Consequently his doctors and a sceptical Brigadier learn very little about this mysterious figure and we surprisingly learn very little about his characterisation until this first half has all but elapsed. There is a rather grown-up atmosphere to proceedings, too - from the slicker look (the Brigadier's press conference at the beginning has an almost documentary feel) to a more mature 'companion' in Liz Shaw, plus we get blood on the cracked windscreen when a UNIT soldier crashes his Jeep early on, and the Autons are extremely creepy, with waxy skin, hollow eyes and stilted movements. There is humour too, though - the Doctor's antics in hospital with his shoes, the shower and his stolen outfit and 'borrowed' car, for instance. All in all, Pertwee shines as the new incumbent, while he is matched by an excellent Nicholas Courtney, slipping effortlessly back into the role of the Brigadier, and there is a promising start for Caroline John as Liz Shaw plus excellent support turns from Hugh Burden's Channing (staring eyes, looks like he's listening to the voices in his head), John Woodnutt's Hibbert (deeply conflicted) Neil Wilson's Seeley (shifty West Country yokel in Essex) and more.
Looking forward to the adventure proper in the remaining two episodes!
Episodes watched: 147
Episodes still to watch: 575
Damn - so much effort to catch up, and then I only watch one episode yesterday and two today, my worst sequence yet... Nine behind again!
4 episodes
Oooh - colour! Suddenly, Doctor Who takes a great leap forward - new Doctor, new decade, new titles, new theme arrangement, the first story after the Doctor has finally been given a background and a context, the first story with a wholesale changeover for the core cast - and it's all in full glorious colour for the first time. Immediately, 'The War Games' seems a very long time ago... Incidentally, it's also the first non-'The...' story I've seen since 'Planet of Giants' eighteen days ago!!
Other than the totally fresh feel all the above gives the start of 'Spearhead From Space', the most noticeable thing is how fantastically glossy and 'expensive' it looks - this was the rarest of things, a Doctor Who episode shot entirely (out of necessity) on film and on location, so it automatically looks bigger and better than those shot on sets using videotape. It all helps reinforce the notion that you're watching something of a new dawn for the programme. Otherwise, the most surprising thing about part 1 is how much it holds back from rushing into the plot, or indeed introducing us to the new incarnation of the Doctor. Jon Pertwee's debut in the role sees him spend almost all of his early scenes either unconscious or otherwise less than talkative, firstly following his regeneration and secondly after he is shot (!) by a UNIT soldier. Consequently his doctors and a sceptical Brigadier learn very little about this mysterious figure and we surprisingly learn very little about his characterisation until this first half has all but elapsed. There is a rather grown-up atmosphere to proceedings, too - from the slicker look (the Brigadier's press conference at the beginning has an almost documentary feel) to a more mature 'companion' in Liz Shaw, plus we get blood on the cracked windscreen when a UNIT soldier crashes his Jeep early on, and the Autons are extremely creepy, with waxy skin, hollow eyes and stilted movements. There is humour too, though - the Doctor's antics in hospital with his shoes, the shower and his stolen outfit and 'borrowed' car, for instance. All in all, Pertwee shines as the new incumbent, while he is matched by an excellent Nicholas Courtney, slipping effortlessly back into the role of the Brigadier, and there is a promising start for Caroline John as Liz Shaw plus excellent support turns from Hugh Burden's Channing (staring eyes, looks like he's listening to the voices in his head), John Woodnutt's Hibbert (deeply conflicted) Neil Wilson's Seeley (shifty West Country yokel in Essex) and more.
Looking forward to the adventure proper in the remaining two episodes!
Episodes watched: 147
Episodes still to watch: 575
Damn - so much effort to catch up, and then I only watch one episode yesterday and two today, my worst sequence yet... Nine behind again!
'The War Games' episode X
THE WAR GAMES continued
And so it ends - 'The War Games', the Patrick Troughton era, the Sixties era, Doctor Who in black-and-white... The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe manage to gain the TARDIS and make their bid for freedom, but despite the Doctor's most valiant efforts to dodge the dubious justice of his people, they are drawn inexorably to his home planet. The Doctor does a good job here of setting out the truisms which are to become widely accepted facts - the Time Lords forbid intervention in temporal affairs, preferring to sit outside these matters and only observe, while he found this far too restrictive when there are so very many worlds and times to explore, so long ago he just stole away... He notes later that the Time Lords "like making speeches", too; the difference between his endless restlessness and their inert, impassive bureaucracy becomes very clear during this episode, and you could in many ways call it a neat template of the years to come. Watching these stories in order, though, it is easy to almost put out of your mind all thar came after and accept it as if it were new; and, although these programmes were made long before anyone ever thought in 'story arcs', it is extraordinary to suddenly find so much information coming out of the woodwork as if it had been waiting there, carefully buried, to be found all along, sfter holding out for six years of almost totally opaque mystery up to this point.
The War Lord is on trial, and despite his flat refusal to acknowledge the authority of the Time Lords' court and a spirited defence, and even the intervention of his fetish-suited guards and an escape bid using the Doctor's TARDIS, he is found guilty of heinous crimes against those he took out of time and those he would have used them against, and he is dematerialised and himself removed from history as if he had never existed. The Time Lords then turn their attention to the Doctor, who mounts his own impassioned defence of his action in defending innocents against the likes of the Quarks, Yeti, Ice Warriors, Cybermen and Daleks (all of whom we glimpse in action) and indicts the Time Lords for their own lack of action where he believes it is needed. The Time Lord quality of self-righteousness is much in evidence as neither side is willing to change its views, and eventually, following a last-ditch attempt by Jamie and Victoria to spring him from captivity, the Time Lords sentence the Doctor to exile on his frequent destination Earth in the 20th century, without the use of his TARDIS - and in a new body with a new face. For his companions there is only a return to their old lives at the moment they left them, their memories of their adventures gone - so we see Zoe return to the Wheel and Jamie to the Highlands, and there is a real sadness is not only their goodbyes but in seeing all their growth and change in their travels with the Doctor undone, especially Jamie after his never-to-be-equalled three-year stint in the TARDIS. Amusingly, the Doctor rejects all the new visages the Time Lords offer him; their patience runs out, and the last we see of the Second Doctor is him spinning off into a void, his features contorting; no matter how much he may fight it, he is about to change once again...
As I say, watching all the episodes in order you really get the feeling like you're 'discovering' things without being aware of the future history of the programme, and for a second time I found it a wrench to say goodbye to a Doctor who I had come to take for granted. After all these years, it's been great to finally familiarise myself with Patrick Troughton's Doctor, the funny, energetic, wildly anarchic prototype of so much that would define the character in decades to come. I only ever saw him play his famous recorder once, though...
9/10
Episodes watched: 145
Episodes still to watch: 577
And so it ends - 'The War Games', the Patrick Troughton era, the Sixties era, Doctor Who in black-and-white... The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe manage to gain the TARDIS and make their bid for freedom, but despite the Doctor's most valiant efforts to dodge the dubious justice of his people, they are drawn inexorably to his home planet. The Doctor does a good job here of setting out the truisms which are to become widely accepted facts - the Time Lords forbid intervention in temporal affairs, preferring to sit outside these matters and only observe, while he found this far too restrictive when there are so very many worlds and times to explore, so long ago he just stole away... He notes later that the Time Lords "like making speeches", too; the difference between his endless restlessness and their inert, impassive bureaucracy becomes very clear during this episode, and you could in many ways call it a neat template of the years to come. Watching these stories in order, though, it is easy to almost put out of your mind all thar came after and accept it as if it were new; and, although these programmes were made long before anyone ever thought in 'story arcs', it is extraordinary to suddenly find so much information coming out of the woodwork as if it had been waiting there, carefully buried, to be found all along, sfter holding out for six years of almost totally opaque mystery up to this point.
The War Lord is on trial, and despite his flat refusal to acknowledge the authority of the Time Lords' court and a spirited defence, and even the intervention of his fetish-suited guards and an escape bid using the Doctor's TARDIS, he is found guilty of heinous crimes against those he took out of time and those he would have used them against, and he is dematerialised and himself removed from history as if he had never existed. The Time Lords then turn their attention to the Doctor, who mounts his own impassioned defence of his action in defending innocents against the likes of the Quarks, Yeti, Ice Warriors, Cybermen and Daleks (all of whom we glimpse in action) and indicts the Time Lords for their own lack of action where he believes it is needed. The Time Lord quality of self-righteousness is much in evidence as neither side is willing to change its views, and eventually, following a last-ditch attempt by Jamie and Victoria to spring him from captivity, the Time Lords sentence the Doctor to exile on his frequent destination Earth in the 20th century, without the use of his TARDIS - and in a new body with a new face. For his companions there is only a return to their old lives at the moment they left them, their memories of their adventures gone - so we see Zoe return to the Wheel and Jamie to the Highlands, and there is a real sadness is not only their goodbyes but in seeing all their growth and change in their travels with the Doctor undone, especially Jamie after his never-to-be-equalled three-year stint in the TARDIS. Amusingly, the Doctor rejects all the new visages the Time Lords offer him; their patience runs out, and the last we see of the Second Doctor is him spinning off into a void, his features contorting; no matter how much he may fight it, he is about to change once again...
As I say, watching all the episodes in order you really get the feeling like you're 'discovering' things without being aware of the future history of the programme, and for a second time I found it a wrench to say goodbye to a Doctor who I had come to take for granted. After all these years, it's been great to finally familiarise myself with Patrick Troughton's Doctor, the funny, energetic, wildly anarchic prototype of so much that would define the character in decades to come. I only ever saw him play his famous recorder once, though...
9/10
Episodes watched: 145
Episodes still to watch: 577
Sunday, September 25, 2005
'The War Games' episodes IV - IX
THE WAR GAMES continued
Phew - this is a long haul, but I'm really enjoying it. The knowledge that you're working up to a pivotal moment in Who history means that the leisurely pace the story is taking in getting there doesn't feel tiresome. It would admittedly be an understatement to say that there are repetitive elements, with the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe getting caught in an almost endless cycle of capture and recapture, and there are a huge number of firefights, brawls and other skirmishes - but then, these are war games, after all. Our heroes manage to infiltrate the alien base from where the games are being manipulated and we find out all the combatants in the various zones have been lifted wholesale from their own times and placed here, brainwashed, to eliminate each other until only the elite are left to form an unbeatable fighting force to use in galactic conquest. The truly creepy scarred German general von Weich turns up again as a Confederate general, whose use of his monocle to focus his hypnotic suggestions is really unnerving, and and there is later on a glimpse of Patrick Troughton's son David as a nervous private holding him prisoner immediately before von Weich thankfully suffers an abrupt demise. Likewiase does the nasty 'British' general Smythe, as Jamie leads a band of control-resistant freedom fighters from the various zones to form a resistance base at the 1917 chateau, and despite the best efforts of the aliens back at the command centre to rout them out.
During this we get to see a lot more of the War Chief and the Security Chief, the two main controllers of the experiments, who delightfully happen to hate each other. The former, with magnificently sculpted facial hair, is a joy as he schemes with a seemingly-duplicitous Doctor to take sole control of the project, and it is revealed that he is the first person we've seen since the Meddling Monk who is of the same race as the Doctor. The powerplay between the Chiefs is highly enjoyable, although the Security Chief has a bizarre, slightly-Germanic accent and delivery reminiscent of Von Smallhausen in 'Allo 'Allo at his most pompous... The shifting dynamic between the two is thrown into sharp relief, however, by the arrival of their superior and ultimate commander the War Lord. A brilliant performance by Philip Madic (making a swift return after 'The Krotons'); what might have been expected to be a raving dictator is portrayed as a quiet, unassuming figure, whose pronouncements only seem more emphatic for being so softly delivered. The fued between the War Chief and Security Chief ultimately results in the latter's death at the hands of the former when the resistance - comedy Mexican and all - storm the base sector via the SIDRAT (silly name!) travel devices, the Doctor's easy use of which makes him rather uncomfortable to explain. Oddly, these seem to have replaced conventional control panels with fridge magnets. It is a real shock to see the War Lord suddenly snap and order the execution of the War Chief for his devious actions - maybe it's just the odd magnifying spectacles, but there is momentarily a bug-eyed lunacy floating dangerously close to the urbane surface.
Meanwhile, the Doctor is finally forced to admit he cannot resolve the plight of all the displaced fighters. We discover the seminal truth that the Doctor is of a race of people known as the Time Lords, but exactly who are they and what is it about them that is worrying the Doctor so much? He summons them only with the greatest reluctance; Troughton's portrayal of the Doctor's total terror at the thought of running into his own kind is tremendous from here on in. He promptly flees in a SIDRAT for the safety of his TARDIS - and the nebulous power of the approaching figures is wonderfully conveyed by the airborne throbbing sound that follows, and the War Lord's almost-awed, foreboding "They're coming...". The cliffhanger is superb, as the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe stumble as if through treacle towards their ship, the Doctor desperately reaching in slow-motion for the keyhole, and at the very last his fingers slip from the key...
Episodes watched: 144
Episodes still to watch: 578
Phew - this is a long haul, but I'm really enjoying it. The knowledge that you're working up to a pivotal moment in Who history means that the leisurely pace the story is taking in getting there doesn't feel tiresome. It would admittedly be an understatement to say that there are repetitive elements, with the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe getting caught in an almost endless cycle of capture and recapture, and there are a huge number of firefights, brawls and other skirmishes - but then, these are war games, after all. Our heroes manage to infiltrate the alien base from where the games are being manipulated and we find out all the combatants in the various zones have been lifted wholesale from their own times and placed here, brainwashed, to eliminate each other until only the elite are left to form an unbeatable fighting force to use in galactic conquest. The truly creepy scarred German general von Weich turns up again as a Confederate general, whose use of his monocle to focus his hypnotic suggestions is really unnerving, and and there is later on a glimpse of Patrick Troughton's son David as a nervous private holding him prisoner immediately before von Weich thankfully suffers an abrupt demise. Likewiase does the nasty 'British' general Smythe, as Jamie leads a band of control-resistant freedom fighters from the various zones to form a resistance base at the 1917 chateau, and despite the best efforts of the aliens back at the command centre to rout them out.
During this we get to see a lot more of the War Chief and the Security Chief, the two main controllers of the experiments, who delightfully happen to hate each other. The former, with magnificently sculpted facial hair, is a joy as he schemes with a seemingly-duplicitous Doctor to take sole control of the project, and it is revealed that he is the first person we've seen since the Meddling Monk who is of the same race as the Doctor. The powerplay between the Chiefs is highly enjoyable, although the Security Chief has a bizarre, slightly-Germanic accent and delivery reminiscent of Von Smallhausen in 'Allo 'Allo at his most pompous... The shifting dynamic between the two is thrown into sharp relief, however, by the arrival of their superior and ultimate commander the War Lord. A brilliant performance by Philip Madic (making a swift return after 'The Krotons'); what might have been expected to be a raving dictator is portrayed as a quiet, unassuming figure, whose pronouncements only seem more emphatic for being so softly delivered. The fued between the War Chief and Security Chief ultimately results in the latter's death at the hands of the former when the resistance - comedy Mexican and all - storm the base sector via the SIDRAT (silly name!) travel devices, the Doctor's easy use of which makes him rather uncomfortable to explain. Oddly, these seem to have replaced conventional control panels with fridge magnets. It is a real shock to see the War Lord suddenly snap and order the execution of the War Chief for his devious actions - maybe it's just the odd magnifying spectacles, but there is momentarily a bug-eyed lunacy floating dangerously close to the urbane surface.
Meanwhile, the Doctor is finally forced to admit he cannot resolve the plight of all the displaced fighters. We discover the seminal truth that the Doctor is of a race of people known as the Time Lords, but exactly who are they and what is it about them that is worrying the Doctor so much? He summons them only with the greatest reluctance; Troughton's portrayal of the Doctor's total terror at the thought of running into his own kind is tremendous from here on in. He promptly flees in a SIDRAT for the safety of his TARDIS - and the nebulous power of the approaching figures is wonderfully conveyed by the airborne throbbing sound that follows, and the War Lord's almost-awed, foreboding "They're coming...". The cliffhanger is superb, as the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe stumble as if through treacle towards their ship, the Doctor desperately reaching in slow-motion for the keyhole, and at the very last his fingers slip from the key...
Episodes watched: 144
Episodes still to watch: 578
Friday, September 23, 2005
'The War Games' episodes I - III
THE WAR GAMES
10 episodes
Well, here we are already at the end of the Troughton era, with a real epic to finish with. At ten episodes, 'The War Games' will be my longest complete story yet, and in the whole history of Doctor Who only 'The Daleks' Masterplan' and 'The Trial of a Time Lord' are longer.
The TARDIS lands in a truly dicey bit of human history, a front-line British trench in the First World War. Through the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe getting captured by first the British and then the German forces we learn that not all is as it seems, as both generals are acting rather strangely, possess some anachronistic communications devices and seem to exert an almost hypnotic influence over their subordinates, none of whom can remember exactly where they came from or how long they've been here. We also learn that the Doctor's sonic screwdriver can actually unscrew and screw screws...! Most of this opening run takes place in the British trench or at their general's chateau, and the settings and the various soldiers' manners are so extraordinarily evocative of the peerless Blackadder Goes Forth you almost feel like you're watching Blackadder, George, Darling and Melchett at times, which not only helps demonstrate what a good job both series did of recreating that world, but how close the latter's comedy strayed to genuine drama.
So well are these early scenes done, it is almost regrettable that this is not a genuine Doctor Who historical, these alas done away with after 'The Highlanders'. There is actually a reminder of that earlier story, with Jamie constantly aggravated by his would-be captors to the extent that he even teams up with an enemy from his own time, a lost Redcoat, to fight their way out of military prison. (Incidentally, Patrick Troughton has one of his best moments as the Doctor bluffs his way into the same place as a 'War Office inspector' through sheer force of bluster that would have done the First Doctor proud.) 'The War Games' does a superb job both in terms of effects and direction: the muddy trench underfoot where the TARDIS lands, the barrage of gunfire that erupts when the TARDIS crew try to leave the trench, the enormously evocative dawn scenes when the firing squad are setting up, ready to execute the Doctor - which leads to a fantastic cliffhanger for the end of part 1. Part 2's is almost as good, as with the aid of a sympathetic Lieutenant Carstairs and field ambulance driver Lady Jennifer Buckingham they manage to escape, and to their surprise pass through the encircling mist into a totally different bit of country where they face a force of oncoming Roman legionaries! Scurrying back to the '1917 zone' they discover that this place is divided into a whole host of adjacent but discrete time zones where different wars are going on, and manage to get separated in the American Civil War zone when Carstairs holds back to draw off some of the 'indigenous' combatants, and the Doctor and Zoe investigate something strangely analogous to a TARDIS that promptly disappears. Meanwhile, somewhere else altogether, we are treated to the surreal sight of the opposing generals conferring in a futuristic-looking war room as to how they are going to manoeuvre their respective forces next to best test the other's resolve. Curiouser and curiouser - I look forward to seeing what happens next!
Episodes watched: 138
Episodes still to watch: 584
Marvellous - only ten episodes today, but I have finally caught up with my quota... i.e. if before I started I had worked out where I'd be after 23 days at a rate of six episodes a day, I'd have located my progress at this point as being episode 3 of 'The War Games', which is precisely where I have got to!! Onwards and upwards, then...!
10 episodes
Well, here we are already at the end of the Troughton era, with a real epic to finish with. At ten episodes, 'The War Games' will be my longest complete story yet, and in the whole history of Doctor Who only 'The Daleks' Masterplan' and 'The Trial of a Time Lord' are longer.
The TARDIS lands in a truly dicey bit of human history, a front-line British trench in the First World War. Through the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe getting captured by first the British and then the German forces we learn that not all is as it seems, as both generals are acting rather strangely, possess some anachronistic communications devices and seem to exert an almost hypnotic influence over their subordinates, none of whom can remember exactly where they came from or how long they've been here. We also learn that the Doctor's sonic screwdriver can actually unscrew and screw screws...! Most of this opening run takes place in the British trench or at their general's chateau, and the settings and the various soldiers' manners are so extraordinarily evocative of the peerless Blackadder Goes Forth you almost feel like you're watching Blackadder, George, Darling and Melchett at times, which not only helps demonstrate what a good job both series did of recreating that world, but how close the latter's comedy strayed to genuine drama.
So well are these early scenes done, it is almost regrettable that this is not a genuine Doctor Who historical, these alas done away with after 'The Highlanders'. There is actually a reminder of that earlier story, with Jamie constantly aggravated by his would-be captors to the extent that he even teams up with an enemy from his own time, a lost Redcoat, to fight their way out of military prison. (Incidentally, Patrick Troughton has one of his best moments as the Doctor bluffs his way into the same place as a 'War Office inspector' through sheer force of bluster that would have done the First Doctor proud.) 'The War Games' does a superb job both in terms of effects and direction: the muddy trench underfoot where the TARDIS lands, the barrage of gunfire that erupts when the TARDIS crew try to leave the trench, the enormously evocative dawn scenes when the firing squad are setting up, ready to execute the Doctor - which leads to a fantastic cliffhanger for the end of part 1. Part 2's is almost as good, as with the aid of a sympathetic Lieutenant Carstairs and field ambulance driver Lady Jennifer Buckingham they manage to escape, and to their surprise pass through the encircling mist into a totally different bit of country where they face a force of oncoming Roman legionaries! Scurrying back to the '1917 zone' they discover that this place is divided into a whole host of adjacent but discrete time zones where different wars are going on, and manage to get separated in the American Civil War zone when Carstairs holds back to draw off some of the 'indigenous' combatants, and the Doctor and Zoe investigate something strangely analogous to a TARDIS that promptly disappears. Meanwhile, somewhere else altogether, we are treated to the surreal sight of the opposing generals conferring in a futuristic-looking war room as to how they are going to manoeuvre their respective forces next to best test the other's resolve. Curiouser and curiouser - I look forward to seeing what happens next!
Episodes watched: 138
Episodes still to watch: 584
Marvellous - only ten episodes today, but I have finally caught up with my quota... i.e. if before I started I had worked out where I'd be after 23 days at a rate of six episodes a day, I'd have located my progress at this point as being episode 3 of 'The War Games', which is precisely where I have got to!! Onwards and upwards, then...!
'The Space Pirates'
THE SPACE PIRATES
6 episodes: 1 surviving
I have to say, slightly contrary to what I said at the end of the last entry, from what I hear this is perhaps the only story other than 'The Underwater Menace' where I'm quite glad there isn't more surviving! The model work of spaceships etc. is particularly good for the era, even if set against oddly blank backgrounds, but really nothing much happens and takes ages to not happen too. And that's only one-sixth of the serial! The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe don't even get a look in until thirteen minutes have elapsed, and proceed to spend the rest of the episode sitting in a small capsule (part of some fragmented space beacon) slowly running out of oxygen, while the rest of the cast talk boringly to each other in not-terribly-good American accents. I'm actually hoping that General Hermack wasn't supposed to sound American, because if he was then that was the worst accent in history... The one good thing is Gordon Gostelow as Milo Clancey, an iconoclastic spacefaring loner (sound familiar?) who has more personality than the rest of the support cast put together, gets an amusing introduction where he is interrupted relentlessly while trying to just eat a boiled egg, and shows an admirably total lack of respect for Hermack and his ilk. Nothing else to see here, move along please...
4/10
Episodes watched: 135
Episodes still to watch: 587
6 episodes: 1 surviving
I have to say, slightly contrary to what I said at the end of the last entry, from what I hear this is perhaps the only story other than 'The Underwater Menace' where I'm quite glad there isn't more surviving! The model work of spaceships etc. is particularly good for the era, even if set against oddly blank backgrounds, but really nothing much happens and takes ages to not happen too. And that's only one-sixth of the serial! The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe don't even get a look in until thirteen minutes have elapsed, and proceed to spend the rest of the episode sitting in a small capsule (part of some fragmented space beacon) slowly running out of oxygen, while the rest of the cast talk boringly to each other in not-terribly-good American accents. I'm actually hoping that General Hermack wasn't supposed to sound American, because if he was then that was the worst accent in history... The one good thing is Gordon Gostelow as Milo Clancey, an iconoclastic spacefaring loner (sound familiar?) who has more personality than the rest of the support cast put together, gets an amusing introduction where he is interrupted relentlessly while trying to just eat a boiled egg, and shows an admirably total lack of respect for Hermack and his ilk. Nothing else to see here, move along please...
4/10
Episodes watched: 135
Episodes still to watch: 587
'The Seeds of Death'
THE SEEDS OF DEATH
6 episodes
Strangely compelling stuff, which without ever breaking out into true greatness drags surprisingly little considering its length. We get a substantial setup sequence to introduce the setting, the concept of T-mat and all the supporting characters, although the identity of the villains is kept in the dark until the end of the first episode by clever use of shooting their point of view instead of letting them into the frame. The TARDIS crew take a full eight minutes to arrive, turning up in a space museum (not that one) that houses amongst other things the TARDIS astral map prop from 'The Web of Fear' (shudder) and the Dominators' drill. Funny the Doctor doesn't seem to recognise them...
The Ice Warriors, as they are revealed to be, make impressive monsters again and cement their status in the upper echelons of Doctor Who bad guys, with their leader Slaar being almost unspeakably sadistic in his treatment of Fewsham throughout and in his desire to kill the Doctor by T-matting him into space instead of just having him shot. The seeds of the title are really quite impressive, with absolutely mountains of foam pouring out from them and smothering the landscape. There are some odd plot elements, like the fact that Radnor and co. happily send the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe to the moon in a rocket despite having only just met them and knowing nothing about their trustworthiness or suitabiility to fly, and that the three are sent up without so much as a spacesuit let alone any training! Then there is the fact that the seeds' gas kills by cutting off people's oxygen supply and the characters worry that releasing this into the atmosphere could harm the entire world's population, yet we have already seen that only a person who has a seed explode right in their face will suffocate while those behind them will just cough and splutter for a minute. Then there is the glaring error that presumably arose because the makers were all used to thinking in Fahrenheit back in the day, where we see the Ice Warriors incapacitated by the moonbase's temperature being turned up to a blisteringly hot 60 degrees Centigrade, which would surely have killed the humans present as well... Then, Zoe knows Ice Warrior Slaar's name despite having no way of doing so. And then there's that glowing-lights panel on the wall of the moonbase - although it creates very cool silhouettes of people throughout, does it actually have any other reason to be there besides this??
Still, it is easy to criticise, so I'll try not to pick out any more! There is some good model work, with the takeoff and landing of the moon rockets especially impressive. The T-mats are a nice new concept to introduce into the Whoniverse, and the Ice Warriors make good use of them to spread their killer gas and fungus all over the globe. Radnor, Miss Kelly and Eldred make a good treble-act down on Earth, although I was often distracted by Ronald Leigh-Hunt's uncanny resemblance of Bill Pertwee (brother of the future Third Doctor Jon, and Dad's Army stalwart as ARP Warden Hodges) and Philip Ray's odd facial similarity to Davros!! The unwilling traitor Fewsham is also an interesting role, as he alternates between helping and hindering the Ice Warriors in the moonbase at the risk and ultimate cost of his life. Talking of which: you get so used to Who villains using the kiddie-friendly, somewhat bowlderised expression of "destroying" someone every time they mean to dispatch them gruesomely, it was genuinely chilling to hear Slaar simply state "Kill him" when Fewsham's aiding of the humans is uncovered.
The Doctor is, despite the code of his (still unnamed) people, at his most proactive here, as he wastes no time in wading into the conflict with every intention of righting the perceived wrong and helping out the humans. It is quite surprising to see him rig up a makeshift weapon and kill (sorry, destroy) Ice Warriors, as later especially you get used to his pacifistic stance. Regardless, it is another excellent turn from Patrick Troughton, and with only a single episode plus one complete story left to come I can't help wishing we had so many more of his Doctor's serials still available to enjoy today. At least he made the effort to come back for the Three, Five and Two Doctors adventures in later years!
7.5/10
Episodes watched: 134
Episodes still to watch: 588
6 episodes
Strangely compelling stuff, which without ever breaking out into true greatness drags surprisingly little considering its length. We get a substantial setup sequence to introduce the setting, the concept of T-mat and all the supporting characters, although the identity of the villains is kept in the dark until the end of the first episode by clever use of shooting their point of view instead of letting them into the frame. The TARDIS crew take a full eight minutes to arrive, turning up in a space museum (not that one) that houses amongst other things the TARDIS astral map prop from 'The Web of Fear' (shudder) and the Dominators' drill. Funny the Doctor doesn't seem to recognise them...
The Ice Warriors, as they are revealed to be, make impressive monsters again and cement their status in the upper echelons of Doctor Who bad guys, with their leader Slaar being almost unspeakably sadistic in his treatment of Fewsham throughout and in his desire to kill the Doctor by T-matting him into space instead of just having him shot. The seeds of the title are really quite impressive, with absolutely mountains of foam pouring out from them and smothering the landscape. There are some odd plot elements, like the fact that Radnor and co. happily send the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe to the moon in a rocket despite having only just met them and knowing nothing about their trustworthiness or suitabiility to fly, and that the three are sent up without so much as a spacesuit let alone any training! Then there is the fact that the seeds' gas kills by cutting off people's oxygen supply and the characters worry that releasing this into the atmosphere could harm the entire world's population, yet we have already seen that only a person who has a seed explode right in their face will suffocate while those behind them will just cough and splutter for a minute. Then there is the glaring error that presumably arose because the makers were all used to thinking in Fahrenheit back in the day, where we see the Ice Warriors incapacitated by the moonbase's temperature being turned up to a blisteringly hot 60 degrees Centigrade, which would surely have killed the humans present as well... Then, Zoe knows Ice Warrior Slaar's name despite having no way of doing so. And then there's that glowing-lights panel on the wall of the moonbase - although it creates very cool silhouettes of people throughout, does it actually have any other reason to be there besides this??
Still, it is easy to criticise, so I'll try not to pick out any more! There is some good model work, with the takeoff and landing of the moon rockets especially impressive. The T-mats are a nice new concept to introduce into the Whoniverse, and the Ice Warriors make good use of them to spread their killer gas and fungus all over the globe. Radnor, Miss Kelly and Eldred make a good treble-act down on Earth, although I was often distracted by Ronald Leigh-Hunt's uncanny resemblance of Bill Pertwee (brother of the future Third Doctor Jon, and Dad's Army stalwart as ARP Warden Hodges) and Philip Ray's odd facial similarity to Davros!! The unwilling traitor Fewsham is also an interesting role, as he alternates between helping and hindering the Ice Warriors in the moonbase at the risk and ultimate cost of his life. Talking of which: you get so used to Who villains using the kiddie-friendly, somewhat bowlderised expression of "destroying" someone every time they mean to dispatch them gruesomely, it was genuinely chilling to hear Slaar simply state "Kill him" when Fewsham's aiding of the humans is uncovered.
The Doctor is, despite the code of his (still unnamed) people, at his most proactive here, as he wastes no time in wading into the conflict with every intention of righting the perceived wrong and helping out the humans. It is quite surprising to see him rig up a makeshift weapon and kill (sorry, destroy) Ice Warriors, as later especially you get used to his pacifistic stance. Regardless, it is another excellent turn from Patrick Troughton, and with only a single episode plus one complete story left to come I can't help wishing we had so many more of his Doctor's serials still available to enjoy today. At least he made the effort to come back for the Three, Five and Two Doctors adventures in later years!
7.5/10
Episodes watched: 134
Episodes still to watch: 588
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