This is the second short story by Justin Richards that I've reviewed in
this marathon, and neither of them have featured William Hartnell's
Doctor. The first was a "Dr Who" story based on Peter Cushing's
filmography; this one is a character piece featuring Ian Chesterton.
Coincidence? I think there's more to it than that.
Richards is a prolific writer who has a long history of association with
the book line. Since 1994 he has written more than 25 novels, at least
24 short stories, 16 audios, several non-fiction books, and two graphic
novels - and that's not including a number of items due to come out
later this year, or his non-Who work! He has also acted as BBC
Books editor (as well as editing two of the Virgin Decalog books), and
is currently creative consultant for the line. In all that time he has
not written for the first Doctor. I think this must be down to
preference: he's not written for the third Doctor either, and his only
seventh Doctor piece was Theatre of War, his first novel (and so the book that got his foot in the door at Virgin).
Fair enough. Everyone has their favourites. But if so, why write this? I
am particularly puzzled because I have always found Richards to be a
solid writer and this is, frankly, not very good.
The thing is, if you're going to write a character piece featuring Ian
Chesterton, the main character needs to feel right. He doesn't. It's set
before An Unearthly Child and people change, but not like this.
Ian is willing to see a fortune-teller (unlikely), and when he doesn't
like what she tells him he decides to withhold payment (more unlikely) -
but she grabs the money, so he steals her crystal ball (out of the
question)! It is also implied that he later becomes more open to the
supernatural.
Barbara, meanwhile, appears briefly as the animated hostess of a party,
with a reputation for never keeping still. Possible, I suppose, but it
doesn't match up with my picture of her.
I can only find one way of reading this and making it fit at all with
the characters I have in my head, and that's making use of the idea of
the unreliable narrator. Even there, it would require Ian to be going
through a period of depression (I almost said "self-loathing"), since
the flaws he describes in himself make him sound like an insensitive
git. And while he isn't perfect, even in my mind, a git he most
certainly isn't! What could have brought about this foul mood? I've one
thought, virtually incompatible with a statement in The Sarah Jane Adventures. But more on that in my next review.
Sadly, I only thought of this after I'd finished the story; and its
power in retrospect was too little to improve my enjoyment. On the plus
side, I found the prose well written, and there are some nice images.
But I can't help thinking that they are the wrong images.
Published:
Date: March 2003
ISBN: 1-84435-006-1
Rating:
2.5/10.
Next Time:
Hopefully the next part of Ian's Tale, though there might be a short delay.
Monday, 29 April 2013
Friday, 26 April 2013
Ian's Tale, Part 1
Come in! Sit yourself down. You'll have to forgive the mess, I'm in the middle of marking papers.
Marking. If anyone had told me when I entered teaching that I'd still be doing that all these years later, I'd either have laughed in their face or run a mile! Nowadays, I actually enjoy it. I'm happy to be helping new generations of students, and there's something quite calming about the process. It's the opposite of tutorials, really, which serve to keep me on my toes. No matter how the fashions, slang and politics change, people are just the same underneath; and they can always surprise you.
To be honest, I'm just grateful to the college for not trying to get rid of me - I don't produce many papers of my own any more! But I suppose I've become something of a fixture. In fact, there was a joke going around some years ago that I never changed, never aged. That was back when Barbara -
But you didn't come to hear an old man rambling on about his quiet life here in Cambridge, did you? You're here for a story from my travelling days. A story about the Doctor.
Well. I remember one occasion, when we landed in a valley in the middle of a vast tropical rainforest, or "jungle" as we'd say back then. At first we thought we were in a town, but the "streets" turned out to be the remains of tunnels created by some creature. This was when Susan - the Doctor's granddaughter - was still travelling with us. The two of them had gone off a little way to explore, while I went back to the ship with Barbara. It was hot - hot and sticky, because it was so very humid. I still had my jacket and tie on, and was sweating hard. It all seems a bit silly now, but at the time I felt that, unless there was a really compelling reason not to, dressing in clothes appropriate for a teacher from Coal Hill school was important, almost an act of defiance. I was making a statement about where I was from, that I would maintain my standards until we got back home. Sometimes, though, I took it a little too far; and Barbara had persuaded me that this was one of those times.
As we stepped through the door cool air hit me, and I felt a sudden wave of relief. I shrugged out of my jacket and hung it on the hatstand; my shirt was stained with sweat, dark patches under my arms and (from the feel of it) on my back as well. I looked at Barbara apologetically. "Sorry," I said, "I should have listened to you earlier."
"Oh, I don't know," she replied, "It looks quite manly."
She had that little smile she used when she was teasing me. Or half-teasing - I could never quite tell how much was a joke, and it always threw me off-balance. She was still doing it years later, but I grew wise to her ways: after a few decades of married life she'd only catch me out, oh, two-thirds of the time?
Anyway, I muttered something about changing my shirt and she said she'd start getting a hamper together. I forgot to mention, our main reason for returning to the TARDIS had been to prepare a picnic. We should have known that something so normal just wasn't going to happen! I'd barely stepped through the inner door of the control room when the whole ship started to shake. I braced myself against the wall; Barbara, just behind me, held on to the doorframe. It only lasted a moment and wouldn't have done anything worse than rattle a few ornaments, but we both knew the picnic was off.
"Come on," I said, "let's fetch the others and get out of here."
We stepped back out into the oppressive heat and headed after the Doctor and Susan, walking quickly but carefully so that we wouldn't trip on the rubble scattered about, the remains of the papery tunnel roof whose collapse had opened this alley to the sky.
"At least we know why this place is in the state it is," I observed. "Trust the Doctor to land us in an earthquake zone!" As if on cue the ground shook again, no mere warning this time but a full-fledged quake. Memories of the Richter Scale came to mind, unbidden, and I found myself thinking that this must be a 6 or 7 when the last one hadn't even made a 4.
Barbara grabbed hold of me, but I wasn't any more stable myself. "Get down!" I shouted, and we lowered ourselves to the ground - again, quickly but carefully. No sooner had we done so than the air was filled with a huge roaring, cracking sound, and a cloud of dust appeared at the end of the alley - from around the corner where the others had gone.
"Susan!" yelled Barbara, and she staggered to her feet, stumbling forward. I had no choice but to follow. Fortunately the quake was subsiding already, and we managed to avoid injuring ourselves.
The scene as we rounded the corner took me back to my teenage years, growing up during the Blitz. As the dust cleared and I could make out the full extent of the damage a sense of dread filled me: I was sure we'd lost them this time. Still, we moved forward, searching and calling, until - joy of joys - Barbara heard an answering cry.
"Susan! Are you alright? Is the Doctor with you?" I could just make out the hole through which they'd fallen.
"What did she say, Barbara? I couldn't hear."
She turned, and I could tell from her expression that she felt the same sense of relief as I. "Susan says they're both fine. Ian, they're okay!"
"Well! They've certainly had a lucky escape. If they'd still been up here when that roof came down they'd have been flattened."
"I don't suppose they'll be feeling too lucky right now," she replied. "They are stuck down there, after all."
I sighed, theatrically. "Some people just don't know when they're well off. I'd better fetch some rope from the ship."
"And be quick about it, my man," added Barbara in her best Lady Muck voice, arching one eyebrow.
I started happily back towards the TARDIS as Barbara called out to reassure the others; but almost immediately there was another tremor. It wasn't too severe, but everything was still shaken up from the main event. I turned, and saw a pile starting to slide just behind Barbara, who was still squatting by the hole.
"Look out!" I cried, and she threw herself to the side. I grabbed her, pulled her away, and we both dived for the ground and covered our heads with our arms as the world fell away behind us.
"Well, well," said a gruff voice. "What have we here? Runaways?"
I looked up into the business end of a high-tech rifle, held by a tall figure in grey armour. A second armoured figure stepped up beside him, prodded me in the leg with a boot, and made a swift gesture to his colleague.
"Kill them," he said.
Next Time:
A glimpse of Iananbarbara's past in The Splintered Gate.
Marking. If anyone had told me when I entered teaching that I'd still be doing that all these years later, I'd either have laughed in their face or run a mile! Nowadays, I actually enjoy it. I'm happy to be helping new generations of students, and there's something quite calming about the process. It's the opposite of tutorials, really, which serve to keep me on my toes. No matter how the fashions, slang and politics change, people are just the same underneath; and they can always surprise you.
To be honest, I'm just grateful to the college for not trying to get rid of me - I don't produce many papers of my own any more! But I suppose I've become something of a fixture. In fact, there was a joke going around some years ago that I never changed, never aged. That was back when Barbara -
But you didn't come to hear an old man rambling on about his quiet life here in Cambridge, did you? You're here for a story from my travelling days. A story about the Doctor.
Well. I remember one occasion, when we landed in a valley in the middle of a vast tropical rainforest, or "jungle" as we'd say back then. At first we thought we were in a town, but the "streets" turned out to be the remains of tunnels created by some creature. This was when Susan - the Doctor's granddaughter - was still travelling with us. The two of them had gone off a little way to explore, while I went back to the ship with Barbara. It was hot - hot and sticky, because it was so very humid. I still had my jacket and tie on, and was sweating hard. It all seems a bit silly now, but at the time I felt that, unless there was a really compelling reason not to, dressing in clothes appropriate for a teacher from Coal Hill school was important, almost an act of defiance. I was making a statement about where I was from, that I would maintain my standards until we got back home. Sometimes, though, I took it a little too far; and Barbara had persuaded me that this was one of those times.
As we stepped through the door cool air hit me, and I felt a sudden wave of relief. I shrugged out of my jacket and hung it on the hatstand; my shirt was stained with sweat, dark patches under my arms and (from the feel of it) on my back as well. I looked at Barbara apologetically. "Sorry," I said, "I should have listened to you earlier."
"Oh, I don't know," she replied, "It looks quite manly."
She had that little smile she used when she was teasing me. Or half-teasing - I could never quite tell how much was a joke, and it always threw me off-balance. She was still doing it years later, but I grew wise to her ways: after a few decades of married life she'd only catch me out, oh, two-thirds of the time?
Anyway, I muttered something about changing my shirt and she said she'd start getting a hamper together. I forgot to mention, our main reason for returning to the TARDIS had been to prepare a picnic. We should have known that something so normal just wasn't going to happen! I'd barely stepped through the inner door of the control room when the whole ship started to shake. I braced myself against the wall; Barbara, just behind me, held on to the doorframe. It only lasted a moment and wouldn't have done anything worse than rattle a few ornaments, but we both knew the picnic was off.
"Come on," I said, "let's fetch the others and get out of here."
We stepped back out into the oppressive heat and headed after the Doctor and Susan, walking quickly but carefully so that we wouldn't trip on the rubble scattered about, the remains of the papery tunnel roof whose collapse had opened this alley to the sky.
"At least we know why this place is in the state it is," I observed. "Trust the Doctor to land us in an earthquake zone!" As if on cue the ground shook again, no mere warning this time but a full-fledged quake. Memories of the Richter Scale came to mind, unbidden, and I found myself thinking that this must be a 6 or 7 when the last one hadn't even made a 4.
Barbara grabbed hold of me, but I wasn't any more stable myself. "Get down!" I shouted, and we lowered ourselves to the ground - again, quickly but carefully. No sooner had we done so than the air was filled with a huge roaring, cracking sound, and a cloud of dust appeared at the end of the alley - from around the corner where the others had gone.
"Susan!" yelled Barbara, and she staggered to her feet, stumbling forward. I had no choice but to follow. Fortunately the quake was subsiding already, and we managed to avoid injuring ourselves.
The scene as we rounded the corner took me back to my teenage years, growing up during the Blitz. As the dust cleared and I could make out the full extent of the damage a sense of dread filled me: I was sure we'd lost them this time. Still, we moved forward, searching and calling, until - joy of joys - Barbara heard an answering cry.
"Susan! Are you alright? Is the Doctor with you?" I could just make out the hole through which they'd fallen.
"What did she say, Barbara? I couldn't hear."
She turned, and I could tell from her expression that she felt the same sense of relief as I. "Susan says they're both fine. Ian, they're okay!"
"Well! They've certainly had a lucky escape. If they'd still been up here when that roof came down they'd have been flattened."
"I don't suppose they'll be feeling too lucky right now," she replied. "They are stuck down there, after all."
I sighed, theatrically. "Some people just don't know when they're well off. I'd better fetch some rope from the ship."
"And be quick about it, my man," added Barbara in her best Lady Muck voice, arching one eyebrow.
I started happily back towards the TARDIS as Barbara called out to reassure the others; but almost immediately there was another tremor. It wasn't too severe, but everything was still shaken up from the main event. I turned, and saw a pile starting to slide just behind Barbara, who was still squatting by the hole.
"Look out!" I cried, and she threw herself to the side. I grabbed her, pulled her away, and we both dived for the ground and covered our heads with our arms as the world fell away behind us.
"Well, well," said a gruff voice. "What have we here? Runaways?"
I looked up into the business end of a high-tech rifle, held by a tall figure in grey armour. A second armoured figure stepped up beside him, prodded me in the leg with a boot, and made a swift gesture to his colleague.
"Kill them," he said.
Next Time:
A glimpse of Iananbarbara's past in The Splintered Gate.
A Callback to Susan's Tale
For anyone who wants to read or reread Susan's Tale before moving on to Ian's, here are the links:
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4a Part 4b Part 5 Author's Notes
It's not essential, because they are independent stories; but they are also heavily interconnected, working together to describe one adventure. Basically, if this were a televised serial the stories would be interleaved, cutting between the two strands. I haven't written it like that because at first I was mostly interested in Susan's inner dialogue - and as I write this I am getting more involved with Ian's, too, though his half is still focused more on the action.
You will eventually notice that they don't quite fit. I hadn't planned Ian's role when I wrote Susan's, and there isn't enough time there to fit in everything that will happen here. That's the peril of serialised writing without an overall plan! If all goes well I will revise it all at the end and post them in The Land of Fiction.
I know most of my readers don't like the fanfic, but some do - and I will be interleaving with some reviews. Enjoy or ignore as you will.
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4a Part 4b Part 5 Author's Notes
It's not essential, because they are independent stories; but they are also heavily interconnected, working together to describe one adventure. Basically, if this were a televised serial the stories would be interleaved, cutting between the two strands. I haven't written it like that because at first I was mostly interested in Susan's inner dialogue - and as I write this I am getting more involved with Ian's, too, though his half is still focused more on the action.
You will eventually notice that they don't quite fit. I hadn't planned Ian's role when I wrote Susan's, and there isn't enough time there to fit in everything that will happen here. That's the peril of serialised writing without an overall plan! If all goes well I will revise it all at the end and post them in The Land of Fiction.
I know most of my readers don't like the fanfic, but some do - and I will be interleaving with some reviews. Enjoy or ignore as you will.
Wednesday, 24 April 2013
Newspaper History
The second week of the Easter holiday was a busy, emotional time for my
family. When my father-in-law died 2½ years ago, Alison and her brother
decided to keep his house (where they had grown up, and where my family
lived for a year before moving to Sheffield). We set it up as a holiday
cottage so we could still go down and stay occasionally; and it worked
for a while, but we were all too far away to make a proper go of it. In
the end, we decided to rent it out to someone we knew who wanted to live
in Chew Magna. As a result of this we needed to clear it out properly.
We combined the clearance with a final family holiday there; the fact
that it coincided with two birthdays (and almost a third) was a bonus.
The reason I'm bringing this up is that we found some old newspapers in the garage. Some very old newspapers. To be precise, two dated 21st July 1969 - and one from 23rd November, 1963.
Wow. These are covering the two events that are, to me, the iconic moments of the 1960s: the assassination of JFK and the first Moon landing. There's much more to the decade than that, of course - some movements have changed the face of society - but if I were to pick the two minutes that had the biggest impact I would choose these. What's more, it's fascinating looking at how reporting, advertising and cartoons have changed, or in some cases stayed the same.
Of course, as a Doctor Who fan, these have another significance as well - particularly in this anniversary year. The two dates nicely bracket the black and white era of the show (tightly at the beginning, and with one month clearance at the end). The world of news began in horror, and ended with optimism as our horizons expanded; while the show started out as "a mild curiosity in the junkyard", and ended with the Doctor falling to Earth, exiled "on one primitive planet, in one century in time."
In honour of the occasion I finally got around to reading Who Killed Kennedy, which I had downloaded (legally) from the New Zealand Doctor Who Fan Club quite a long time ago; and, spookily, I had just finished Apollo 23. (The book I'd brought with me for holiday reading was Seeing I, whose relevance to this article escapes me.)
It's funny. I was dreading the thought of continuing my marathon into the Troughton era, because of the vast swaths of missing episodes (I have some trouble with both narrated soundtracks and recons). This discovery makes me want to see out the black and white period, which is much more of a distinct entity than the Hartnell era on its own. And I have a plan to make it easier if I get bogged down: a second marathon, interleaved as necessary.
I didn't want to do another marathon chronologically by Doctor, since in theory this one will eventually do all that; nor a history-based one, like deltaandthebannermen's A History of the Universe, because I like more variety of setting. Then I realised that I have almost all of the first 60 Big Finish releases (there's three I sold and will have to buy again, but that's doable). So, since audio is my favourite medium, and I won't get to Doctors 5-8 for many years, why not do a Big Finish marathon? Most main range stories will give me five reviews, and I might slot in the occasional short story featuring an audio TARDIS team as well. That might keep me sane while my main marathon is crawling through seasons 3-5.
I might well change my mind in the couple of years it'll take me to get there, but I would now be surprised if this marathon doesn't continue past The Tenth Planet...
Next Time:
Remember Susan's Tale? A story which was in one sense complete, but also only half of an adventure? Stick around for the beginning of the other half, in Ian's Tale...
The reason I'm bringing this up is that we found some old newspapers in the garage. Some very old newspapers. To be precise, two dated 21st July 1969 - and one from 23rd November, 1963.
Wow. These are covering the two events that are, to me, the iconic moments of the 1960s: the assassination of JFK and the first Moon landing. There's much more to the decade than that, of course - some movements have changed the face of society - but if I were to pick the two minutes that had the biggest impact I would choose these. What's more, it's fascinating looking at how reporting, advertising and cartoons have changed, or in some cases stayed the same.
Of course, as a Doctor Who fan, these have another significance as well - particularly in this anniversary year. The two dates nicely bracket the black and white era of the show (tightly at the beginning, and with one month clearance at the end). The world of news began in horror, and ended with optimism as our horizons expanded; while the show started out as "a mild curiosity in the junkyard", and ended with the Doctor falling to Earth, exiled "on one primitive planet, in one century in time."
In honour of the occasion I finally got around to reading Who Killed Kennedy, which I had downloaded (legally) from the New Zealand Doctor Who Fan Club quite a long time ago; and, spookily, I had just finished Apollo 23. (The book I'd brought with me for holiday reading was Seeing I, whose relevance to this article escapes me.)
It's funny. I was dreading the thought of continuing my marathon into the Troughton era, because of the vast swaths of missing episodes (I have some trouble with both narrated soundtracks and recons). This discovery makes me want to see out the black and white period, which is much more of a distinct entity than the Hartnell era on its own. And I have a plan to make it easier if I get bogged down: a second marathon, interleaved as necessary.
I didn't want to do another marathon chronologically by Doctor, since in theory this one will eventually do all that; nor a history-based one, like deltaandthebannermen's A History of the Universe, because I like more variety of setting. Then I realised that I have almost all of the first 60 Big Finish releases (there's three I sold and will have to buy again, but that's doable). So, since audio is my favourite medium, and I won't get to Doctors 5-8 for many years, why not do a Big Finish marathon? Most main range stories will give me five reviews, and I might slot in the occasional short story featuring an audio TARDIS team as well. That might keep me sane while my main marathon is crawling through seasons 3-5.
I might well change my mind in the couple of years it'll take me to get there, but I would now be surprised if this marathon doesn't continue past The Tenth Planet...
Next Time:
Remember Susan's Tale? A story which was in one sense complete, but also only half of an adventure? Stick around for the beginning of the other half, in Ian's Tale...
Monday, 22 April 2013
Serial R: The Chase (The Pursuers)
I'm really behind on these - I'm writing my part of this review
immediately before posting. As a result, it's not as polished as I would
like. Still, this is my son's DVD, so let's give him his say first:
Isaac's Corner
Another one of mine. The Chase! This is one of my favourite first Doctor serials, having both the Daleks and the Mechanoids (Mechanoids are one of the things i want them to resurrect in the new series). I love it that on the Mary Celeste it's the one time the Daleks aren't trying to kill people and actually want information from them. But the humans ran away and jumped over board whenever the Daleks came near. So there's a lesson for you: if you become machines designed for killing you won't get much help from people. Great story-line, very funny. Very, very, good. 9.75/10
I am really glad he enjoys it so much, although I can't agree regarding its quality (except for the last 10% or so). But that's one of the wonderful things about the show, that every serial has its champions and almost everyone can find some story to love.
The Chase has always been in the background of my revised interest in Doctor Who. The first issue of Doctor Who Magazine I read was #390, the one with Kylie and a Dalek on the front - and inside was a "Fact of Fiction" article about The Chase which sparked nostalgia because of my past experience of Mechanoids. That magazine, given to me by some friends for Christmas 2007, marks the point where people outside my immediate family noticed I was a fan again - for the first time since the 1970s. (Or was it the '80s? No, definitely the '70s.</UNIT-Dating>) On my next birthday I was given the Davros box set (which included the Big Finish audios featuring him), and the following year Isaac and I clubbed together to get a copy of The Dalek World.
I can't remember whether Isaac had heard The Juggernauts before then. Either way, the combination of comic story and audio got him interested in Mechanoids, so that when the DVD was released in 2010 he decided to buy it. I wasn't complaining!
Actually, the links continue to this day. Just before I started watching the serial as part of this marathon I listened to another Big Finish story for the first time. I won't say which one because of spoilers, but it features a character who stowed away on the DARDIS and then secretly entered the TARDIS sometime during The Chase - kind of a mirror to Vicki's time machine swap in Journey into Terror.
The experiment with Daleks and broad comedy in this serial was not a great success. Terry Nation actually forbade them from being portrayed as figures of fun after this.
There are few extras on the DVD. I've mentioned the commentary, which is much better than the one for The Space Museum; I don't do production notes, and the only documentary is a short film of a visit designer Ray Cusick made to the Cardiff studios - which was mostly noteworthy because of how much more interested the new designers were in him than he was in them. And speaking of Cusick:
Raymond Cusick, 1928-2013
Normally I'd take a look at someone with a connection to the show on the occasion of their final story in the marathon, but because of Cusick's recent death I wanted to say something now. Obviously he's most famous for his Dalek design, which is wonderful in its surprising effectiveness. Of almost equal fame is the way he was royally shafted in terms of payment: Nation became rich (and the BBC still have to negotiate with his estate when they want to use the Daleks), while Cusick got a bonus of about £100. Oh, and a Blue Peter badge. Rankled, he left the program in 1966, partway through the next Dalek serial, having acted as production designer on 42 episodes in just over two years. Afterwards he stayed with the BBC and worked on many other shows, including The Duchess of Duke Street, though his passion was the military history of the Napoleonic era.
For me, in this marathon, his design work has often been instrumental in helping me become immersed in a story; more broadly, his Dalek design is one of the key elements that mean the show is still around today.
Rating:
It's hard to choose a single rating for a serial that is all over the place, like this one. Sadly I can't really overlook its flaws despite its moments of brilliance.
Mine: 4/10.
DWM Mighty 200: 60.17%, 157th.
2012 Gallifrey Base Non-Dynamic Rankings: 6.08, 170th out of 234.
Next Time:
A brief aside about something found in my late father-in-law's garage.
Isaac's Corner
Another one of mine. The Chase! This is one of my favourite first Doctor serials, having both the Daleks and the Mechanoids (Mechanoids are one of the things i want them to resurrect in the new series). I love it that on the Mary Celeste it's the one time the Daleks aren't trying to kill people and actually want information from them. But the humans ran away and jumped over board whenever the Daleks came near. So there's a lesson for you: if you become machines designed for killing you won't get much help from people. Great story-line, very funny. Very, very, good. 9.75/10
* * *
I am really glad he enjoys it so much, although I can't agree regarding its quality (except for the last 10% or so). But that's one of the wonderful things about the show, that every serial has its champions and almost everyone can find some story to love.
The Chase has always been in the background of my revised interest in Doctor Who. The first issue of Doctor Who Magazine I read was #390, the one with Kylie and a Dalek on the front - and inside was a "Fact of Fiction" article about The Chase which sparked nostalgia because of my past experience of Mechanoids. That magazine, given to me by some friends for Christmas 2007, marks the point where people outside my immediate family noticed I was a fan again - for the first time since the 1970s. (Or was it the '80s? No, definitely the '70s.</UNIT-Dating>) On my next birthday I was given the Davros box set (which included the Big Finish audios featuring him), and the following year Isaac and I clubbed together to get a copy of The Dalek World.
I can't remember whether Isaac had heard The Juggernauts before then. Either way, the combination of comic story and audio got him interested in Mechanoids, so that when the DVD was released in 2010 he decided to buy it. I wasn't complaining!
Actually, the links continue to this day. Just before I started watching the serial as part of this marathon I listened to another Big Finish story for the first time. I won't say which one because of spoilers, but it features a character who stowed away on the DARDIS and then secretly entered the TARDIS sometime during The Chase - kind of a mirror to Vicki's time machine swap in Journey into Terror.
The experiment with Daleks and broad comedy in this serial was not a great success. Terry Nation actually forbade them from being portrayed as figures of fun after this.
There are few extras on the DVD. I've mentioned the commentary, which is much better than the one for The Space Museum; I don't do production notes, and the only documentary is a short film of a visit designer Ray Cusick made to the Cardiff studios - which was mostly noteworthy because of how much more interested the new designers were in him than he was in them. And speaking of Cusick:
Raymond Cusick, 1928-2013
Normally I'd take a look at someone with a connection to the show on the occasion of their final story in the marathon, but because of Cusick's recent death I wanted to say something now. Obviously he's most famous for his Dalek design, which is wonderful in its surprising effectiveness. Of almost equal fame is the way he was royally shafted in terms of payment: Nation became rich (and the BBC still have to negotiate with his estate when they want to use the Daleks), while Cusick got a bonus of about £100. Oh, and a Blue Peter badge. Rankled, he left the program in 1966, partway through the next Dalek serial, having acted as production designer on 42 episodes in just over two years. Afterwards he stayed with the BBC and worked on many other shows, including The Duchess of Duke Street, though his passion was the military history of the Napoleonic era.
For me, in this marathon, his design work has often been instrumental in helping me become immersed in a story; more broadly, his Dalek design is one of the key elements that mean the show is still around today.
Rating:
It's hard to choose a single rating for a serial that is all over the place, like this one. Sadly I can't really overlook its flaws despite its moments of brilliance.
Mine: 4/10.
DWM Mighty 200: 60.17%, 157th.
2012 Gallifrey Base Non-Dynamic Rankings: 6.08, 170th out of 234.
Next Time:
A brief aside about something found in my late father-in-law's garage.
Friday, 19 April 2013
Episode 77 (R6): The Planet of Decision
Here it is, then: the last episode for Richard Martin, Dennis Spooner
(as script editor), Jacqueline Hill (as Barbara), and William Russell.
It may not be the end of the season, but it certainly feels like the end
of an era. So does it stand up to the pressure of the occasion?
Like Flashpoint, it's a story of two parts; so let's echo the structure of the review I did for that, and tackle the opening 17½ minutes first.
Mechanoid City, Well it Ain't the Same...
I'll start with the elephant in the room - no, sorry, it's a Mechanoid in a lift, and who hasn't had that experience of having to push up against the walls of a lift to fit around something - or someone - enormous? Anyway, once again the BBC were hoping to find an alien to match the commercial success of the Daleks; and as with the Zarbi, they failed. The new challengers look interesting enough, though the thing that pops out of the top is just bizarre, as if they've brought their own executive toy. Or perhaps just Christmas decorations and fuzzy dice. Either way, it's the sink plunger of the design - unless that's the grippers which can barely grip. One wonders how they managed to construct such a beautiful city, built as they are!
I shouldn't mock, though; for all their oddities they look good, and their movement is surprisingly balletic (except for the distant one crossing the bridge in the model shot). Perhaps it was the sounds they make that put people off? They are so hesitant and inscrutable, not the stuff of nightmares like the harsh and oh-so-clear screams of the Daleks. On the other hand, maybe it was simply the Mechanoids' size. As a fairly chunky humanoid I've had to deal with that on occasion, so I sympathise. Poor Mechanoids.
Throughout this discussion I've spelled the name 'Mechanoid' - but in some of the on-screen credits it's 'Mechonoid'. Most people think this was an error anyway - a hangover from the draft scripts when they were called Mechons (and the Daleks still do so) - but in my case the deciding factor is that the first time I encountered the race it was in a comic strip, and spelled with an 'a'. But more on that later in the marathon.
There's more to this part of the episode than one alien design, though. It didn't really grab me at the beginning, mostly because the Mechanoids are a bit too hesitant, Peter Purves' introduction as the barely sane Steven Taylor is a bit too melodramatic, and the scene of the Daleks summoning the lift is a bit too pointless. It soon picks up, though; the interactions between the regulars and Taylor become quite charming, and there is a nice "ooh, what's gonna happen next?" buildup to the Dalek/Mechanoid confrontation. There are slips - the shutters of the zoo failing to close and the too obvious setup of the cable as a means of escape (combined with the unrealistic scale of the drop) - but in general there's a proper heightening of tension. Throughout the episode the music has helped with this, and it all builds to the final battle. Again it's an echo of the early days of the show - in this case, the climax of the second serial - with a battle between two alien factions in the city that belongs to one side.
Unlike last time, however, this is stylish and effective - I could watch it over and over (and have done). This is a great scene, only overshadowed by what follows.
A Farewell to Iananbarbara
On to the final eight minutes, then. William Hartnell was apparently quite angry that Russell and Hill were leaving, and couldn't understand why they would abandon him and the show. He suppresses that anger through most of the episode, giving a fine performance; and then unleashes it at the appropriate moment. Everyone's fired up, here, and aware of their roles. The Doctor, of course, is both devastated and incandescent. Vicki comforts and reassures him by tackling the reasons for his upset rather than the things he says (and Hartnell's one fluff here - about floating around in Spain - is perfect). Iananbarbara are nervous and excited - and we have a proper "can we go home?" conversation, rather than "is this close enough?", though Barbara's "I never really thought about it" is a bit disingenuous, even based on just the TV series.
Then, following the emotional farewell, we have them falling back into the world, landing in a London garage in 1965 and completing the journey they began in a London scrapyard two years earlier, during the opening episode of the show; followed by their prefilmed "victory lap". The stills and the scene on the bus were directed by Douglas Camfield, so this is rather a passing of the baton of go-to directors. And it's all rather emotional. I felt a bit tearful watching this as part of the marathon. It all comes together - and as the camera pulls back to reveal Vicki and the Doctor watching them on the Time-Space Visualiser, and we realise not only that they make it home but also that the remaining travellers know that they do.
Which is how it should be.
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 26th June 1965
Viewers: 9.5 million
Chart Position: 7
Appreciation Index: 57
Rating:
7/10. Low to start with, but on an upward climb reaching 10/10 for the last third.
Next Time:
Serial R as a whole.
Like Flashpoint, it's a story of two parts; so let's echo the structure of the review I did for that, and tackle the opening 17½ minutes first.
Mechanoid City, Well it Ain't the Same...
I'll start with the elephant in the room - no, sorry, it's a Mechanoid in a lift, and who hasn't had that experience of having to push up against the walls of a lift to fit around something - or someone - enormous? Anyway, once again the BBC were hoping to find an alien to match the commercial success of the Daleks; and as with the Zarbi, they failed. The new challengers look interesting enough, though the thing that pops out of the top is just bizarre, as if they've brought their own executive toy. Or perhaps just Christmas decorations and fuzzy dice. Either way, it's the sink plunger of the design - unless that's the grippers which can barely grip. One wonders how they managed to construct such a beautiful city, built as they are!
I shouldn't mock, though; for all their oddities they look good, and their movement is surprisingly balletic (except for the distant one crossing the bridge in the model shot). Perhaps it was the sounds they make that put people off? They are so hesitant and inscrutable, not the stuff of nightmares like the harsh and oh-so-clear screams of the Daleks. On the other hand, maybe it was simply the Mechanoids' size. As a fairly chunky humanoid I've had to deal with that on occasion, so I sympathise. Poor Mechanoids.
Throughout this discussion I've spelled the name 'Mechanoid' - but in some of the on-screen credits it's 'Mechonoid'. Most people think this was an error anyway - a hangover from the draft scripts when they were called Mechons (and the Daleks still do so) - but in my case the deciding factor is that the first time I encountered the race it was in a comic strip, and spelled with an 'a'. But more on that later in the marathon.
There's more to this part of the episode than one alien design, though. It didn't really grab me at the beginning, mostly because the Mechanoids are a bit too hesitant, Peter Purves' introduction as the barely sane Steven Taylor is a bit too melodramatic, and the scene of the Daleks summoning the lift is a bit too pointless. It soon picks up, though; the interactions between the regulars and Taylor become quite charming, and there is a nice "ooh, what's gonna happen next?" buildup to the Dalek/Mechanoid confrontation. There are slips - the shutters of the zoo failing to close and the too obvious setup of the cable as a means of escape (combined with the unrealistic scale of the drop) - but in general there's a proper heightening of tension. Throughout the episode the music has helped with this, and it all builds to the final battle. Again it's an echo of the early days of the show - in this case, the climax of the second serial - with a battle between two alien factions in the city that belongs to one side.
Unlike last time, however, this is stylish and effective - I could watch it over and over (and have done). This is a great scene, only overshadowed by what follows.
A Farewell to Iananbarbara
On to the final eight minutes, then. William Hartnell was apparently quite angry that Russell and Hill were leaving, and couldn't understand why they would abandon him and the show. He suppresses that anger through most of the episode, giving a fine performance; and then unleashes it at the appropriate moment. Everyone's fired up, here, and aware of their roles. The Doctor, of course, is both devastated and incandescent. Vicki comforts and reassures him by tackling the reasons for his upset rather than the things he says (and Hartnell's one fluff here - about floating around in Spain - is perfect). Iananbarbara are nervous and excited - and we have a proper "can we go home?" conversation, rather than "is this close enough?", though Barbara's "I never really thought about it" is a bit disingenuous, even based on just the TV series.
Then, following the emotional farewell, we have them falling back into the world, landing in a London garage in 1965 and completing the journey they began in a London scrapyard two years earlier, during the opening episode of the show; followed by their prefilmed "victory lap". The stills and the scene on the bus were directed by Douglas Camfield, so this is rather a passing of the baton of go-to directors. And it's all rather emotional. I felt a bit tearful watching this as part of the marathon. It all comes together - and as the camera pulls back to reveal Vicki and the Doctor watching them on the Time-Space Visualiser, and we realise not only that they make it home but also that the remaining travellers know that they do.
Which is how it should be.
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 26th June 1965
Viewers: 9.5 million
Chart Position: 7
Appreciation Index: 57
Rating:
7/10. Low to start with, but on an upward climb reaching 10/10 for the last third.
Next Time:
Serial R as a whole.
Monday, 15 April 2013
Episode 76 (R5): The Death of Doctor Who
I've occasionally mentioned 'redemptive readings' during this marathon.
It's a term I picked up from Elizabeth Sandifer, though I imagine it's part
of the vocabulary of those whose critical studies continued beyond
O-Level English. I take it to mean "finding a way to enjoy something
which, on the surface, isn't really all that enjoyable." She managed a
redemptive reading of The Chase as a whole: not something I have
achieved, as you can readily tell if you read my previous review. In
fact, my opinion of the story in this episode is that much of it is a
substandard runaround too.
So, why bring up 'redemptive readings' now? Actually, it's to do with the design budget finally running out. The jungle has visibly level floors with the odd cablelike vine running across it, transparent flats with two-dimensional bits of jungle decoration, and humorous giant mushroom creatures. The cave has walls with irregular patterns of parallel lines at odd angles. And above it all is a cardboard city, on impossibly high legs, with long walkways, slopes and towers. When I first watched this, I was disappointed in how it looked. Well, not by the city, which is cool despite being an obvious model; but by all the rest. This time around something clicked, and I was able to see it in a new light.
Mechanus is a world designed by Dr Seuss.
Theodore Geisel is one of America's greatest exports, in my opinion. I loved his books as a child, and when I had children of my own I kept my eye out in charity shops and picked up proper old-fashioned hardback versions of Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?, Fox in Socks and The Sneeches and Other Stories. They were a hit with May and Isaac, thus crossing not just the Atlantic but generations too. Anyway, there's a particular sort of wackiness to his work that matches what Raymond Cusick and John Wood have done here, most obviously in the city but also in the general flatness and strangeness of the world and its inhabitants. And watched in this way, it actually works. For once, the limitations of the design budget (and the "omit" stamps that Richard Martin always mentions in commentaries, whereby detailed designs are reduced to the bare essentials) actually end up creating something rather wonderful.
There's other stuff going on here too, of course - good, bad, and indifferent. The story has finally decided to abandon comedy rather than have the odd mix we've endured for the last couple of episodes. This arc - from outright comedy to outright drama - is something listeners have heard in a few Big Finish stories, notably The Holy Terror and Omega, and there it has worked well; here it feels more like changing horses midstream. Still, the worst is over now.
The acting is better than last time, and the music is spot on. Also, Martin seems to have figured out how to shoot Edmund Warwick better, so the fact that he looks almost nothing like William Hartnell matters much less (and Hartnell also adjusts his movements in the shots where he is playing the robot, which also helps). Warwick got the part as a reward, because he stepped in to cover for Hartnell when the star was injured during the shooting of Day of Reckoning; a nice gesture, though perhaps not the best idea for the show! Still, the fight between them is very well done, ending on a lovely shot from above. The script is good here, too, with the robot revealing itself by calling Vicki "Susan" (because the Daleks assume it's the same group that foiled their invasion of Earth).
Let me pause here for just a moment, because this episode starts to bring us right back round to the beginning of the show, with many echoes and mirrorings of the first serial. The latter include the shot of Ian raising a rock to smash in someone's head and the Doctor acting very bravely to rescue the others; the former, the fact that all the action takes place in jungle and cave. I'll have more to say about this next time.
Goodness, this is getting long already, and I've barely touched my notes! I'm actually going to skip most of them, and just finish off with a random selection of thoughts. The commentary has been good all serial, but I particularly enjoyed it this time. The observations about how William Hartnell used his hands when acting (and the advice he gave others) was enlightening. And, for once, they pointed out a production error I hadn't spotted: the camera visible in the jungle. They also revealed that there were two Daleks borrowed from the movie, shown in the background when they are planning their assault. While I hadn't actually counted them, this had made an impression on me as an impressive scene, with the Dalek force finally feeling like a proper threat.
Then there are the fungoids. I was glad that they were no danger to the Daleks, but what was not so great was the way people were also able to get away from them easily - after the actors had pushed themselves up against them in the first place!
Strangely, my favourite scene was a quiet one - when Vicki is reunited with Ian and the Doctor. Well written and well acted by all involved.
And the Mechanoid/Mechonoid? I'll talk about that next time...
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 19th June 1965
Viewers: 9.0 million
Chart Position: 11
Appreciation Index: 56
Rating:
5.5/10.
Next Time:
The Planet of Decision.
So, why bring up 'redemptive readings' now? Actually, it's to do with the design budget finally running out. The jungle has visibly level floors with the odd cablelike vine running across it, transparent flats with two-dimensional bits of jungle decoration, and humorous giant mushroom creatures. The cave has walls with irregular patterns of parallel lines at odd angles. And above it all is a cardboard city, on impossibly high legs, with long walkways, slopes and towers. When I first watched this, I was disappointed in how it looked. Well, not by the city, which is cool despite being an obvious model; but by all the rest. This time around something clicked, and I was able to see it in a new light.
Mechanus is a world designed by Dr Seuss.
Theodore Geisel is one of America's greatest exports, in my opinion. I loved his books as a child, and when I had children of my own I kept my eye out in charity shops and picked up proper old-fashioned hardback versions of Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?, Fox in Socks and The Sneeches and Other Stories. They were a hit with May and Isaac, thus crossing not just the Atlantic but generations too. Anyway, there's a particular sort of wackiness to his work that matches what Raymond Cusick and John Wood have done here, most obviously in the city but also in the general flatness and strangeness of the world and its inhabitants. And watched in this way, it actually works. For once, the limitations of the design budget (and the "omit" stamps that Richard Martin always mentions in commentaries, whereby detailed designs are reduced to the bare essentials) actually end up creating something rather wonderful.
There's other stuff going on here too, of course - good, bad, and indifferent. The story has finally decided to abandon comedy rather than have the odd mix we've endured for the last couple of episodes. This arc - from outright comedy to outright drama - is something listeners have heard in a few Big Finish stories, notably The Holy Terror and Omega, and there it has worked well; here it feels more like changing horses midstream. Still, the worst is over now.
The acting is better than last time, and the music is spot on. Also, Martin seems to have figured out how to shoot Edmund Warwick better, so the fact that he looks almost nothing like William Hartnell matters much less (and Hartnell also adjusts his movements in the shots where he is playing the robot, which also helps). Warwick got the part as a reward, because he stepped in to cover for Hartnell when the star was injured during the shooting of Day of Reckoning; a nice gesture, though perhaps not the best idea for the show! Still, the fight between them is very well done, ending on a lovely shot from above. The script is good here, too, with the robot revealing itself by calling Vicki "Susan" (because the Daleks assume it's the same group that foiled their invasion of Earth).
Let me pause here for just a moment, because this episode starts to bring us right back round to the beginning of the show, with many echoes and mirrorings of the first serial. The latter include the shot of Ian raising a rock to smash in someone's head and the Doctor acting very bravely to rescue the others; the former, the fact that all the action takes place in jungle and cave. I'll have more to say about this next time.
Goodness, this is getting long already, and I've barely touched my notes! I'm actually going to skip most of them, and just finish off with a random selection of thoughts. The commentary has been good all serial, but I particularly enjoyed it this time. The observations about how William Hartnell used his hands when acting (and the advice he gave others) was enlightening. And, for once, they pointed out a production error I hadn't spotted: the camera visible in the jungle. They also revealed that there were two Daleks borrowed from the movie, shown in the background when they are planning their assault. While I hadn't actually counted them, this had made an impression on me as an impressive scene, with the Dalek force finally feeling like a proper threat.
Then there are the fungoids. I was glad that they were no danger to the Daleks, but what was not so great was the way people were also able to get away from them easily - after the actors had pushed themselves up against them in the first place!
Strangely, my favourite scene was a quiet one - when Vicki is reunited with Ian and the Doctor. Well written and well acted by all involved.
And the Mechanoid/Mechonoid? I'll talk about that next time...
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 19th June 1965
Viewers: 9.0 million
Chart Position: 11
Appreciation Index: 56
Rating:
5.5/10.
Next Time:
The Planet of Decision.
Friday, 5 April 2013
Episode 75 (R4): Journey into Terror
Like many other children, I went through a phase of loving comedy horror. The British comic Shiver and Shake came along when I was nine, featuring Addams Family-style
characters and situations that I adored (and I used to design monsters
like the ones on the back page) - at the time it was my ideal reading
material. The intensity faded over time but I still have a soft spot for
the genre, and am more willing to forgive flaws in movies like Love at First Bite (or, indeed, The Addams Family) than films from other genres. As a result, Journey into Terror had the opportunity to hit my sweet spot.
It didn't. In fact, this episode is the worst by far of this marathon (to date). There are a couple of good things about it but I'll save them for later, just to break up my string of complaints.
Let's start with the acting. Most obvious is the mess of Billy-fluffs near the start, but it isn't just William Hartnell struggling: Maureen O'Brien and even Jacqueline Hill are flat, looking tired and as if they are going through the motions. Only William Russell keeps the side going, and he isn't exactly stretched by the material. Which also applies to the guest cast, who are playing Daleks, holograms or robots - and mostly malfunctioning ones at that, who either don't need to speak or are supposed to lipsync badly. The exception to this is the robot Doctor, who is supposed to lipsync well but doesn't (though it's an impossible ask in one take). Then again, he's supposed to look like the Doctor, too - but more on that next time. Other than to say that to have him so obviously played by someone else but then have a closeup of Hartnell at the end compounds the problem.
And speaking of compounding problems, the direction and script do this one no favours. The way Vicki is cut off from the TARDIS is (a) unbelievable and (b) dull, like the scenes in the DARDIS. The dialogue is generally weak and almost all the intentional humour seems to have slipped away, leaving (I think) just the stammering Dalek and a comment about Daleks being unable to go upstairs; while what we do have is an abundance of plot-holes. Why didn't they use the Fast Return Switch to go back for Vicki? How did the Dalek get upstairs? Why did the robots attack the Daleks? All these can be explained away, but they niggle. Still, there are some good points too: I liked the Doctor's explanation about the collective unconscious of the human psyche, and the fact that they never discover he's wrong. I also like the way they debate whether they are in Central Europe or South America, when in fact they are in Ghana (though the reference to Peking is... odd).
There's nothing wrong with the sets, either. The castle looks a bit of a jumble, but the explanation of it being a mothballed haunted house excuses that. Similarly, the bat on a string makes perfect sense. It's well lit, too. Against that, the ghost effect doesn't quite work, and there's a Dalek clearly visible in the lab before the DARDIS arrives. Furthermore, Vicki and Barbara comment on something they are hearing - probably a bell - which is completely inaudible to the audience. All of which were noticeable to me, not just things I picked up from DWM or the commentary.
In short, the few good things cannot rescue this. I really, really hope things improve next time...
Next week I will be on holiday, away from the Internet, so there won't be any updates until the new school term has started. Have fun everyone!
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 12th June 1965
Viewers: 9.5 million
Chart Position: 8
Appreciation Index: 54
Rating:
1/10.
Next Time:
The Death of Doctor Who.
It didn't. In fact, this episode is the worst by far of this marathon (to date). There are a couple of good things about it but I'll save them for later, just to break up my string of complaints.
Let's start with the acting. Most obvious is the mess of Billy-fluffs near the start, but it isn't just William Hartnell struggling: Maureen O'Brien and even Jacqueline Hill are flat, looking tired and as if they are going through the motions. Only William Russell keeps the side going, and he isn't exactly stretched by the material. Which also applies to the guest cast, who are playing Daleks, holograms or robots - and mostly malfunctioning ones at that, who either don't need to speak or are supposed to lipsync badly. The exception to this is the robot Doctor, who is supposed to lipsync well but doesn't (though it's an impossible ask in one take). Then again, he's supposed to look like the Doctor, too - but more on that next time. Other than to say that to have him so obviously played by someone else but then have a closeup of Hartnell at the end compounds the problem.
And speaking of compounding problems, the direction and script do this one no favours. The way Vicki is cut off from the TARDIS is (a) unbelievable and (b) dull, like the scenes in the DARDIS. The dialogue is generally weak and almost all the intentional humour seems to have slipped away, leaving (I think) just the stammering Dalek and a comment about Daleks being unable to go upstairs; while what we do have is an abundance of plot-holes. Why didn't they use the Fast Return Switch to go back for Vicki? How did the Dalek get upstairs? Why did the robots attack the Daleks? All these can be explained away, but they niggle. Still, there are some good points too: I liked the Doctor's explanation about the collective unconscious of the human psyche, and the fact that they never discover he's wrong. I also like the way they debate whether they are in Central Europe or South America, when in fact they are in Ghana (though the reference to Peking is... odd).
There's nothing wrong with the sets, either. The castle looks a bit of a jumble, but the explanation of it being a mothballed haunted house excuses that. Similarly, the bat on a string makes perfect sense. It's well lit, too. Against that, the ghost effect doesn't quite work, and there's a Dalek clearly visible in the lab before the DARDIS arrives. Furthermore, Vicki and Barbara comment on something they are hearing - probably a bell - which is completely inaudible to the audience. All of which were noticeable to me, not just things I picked up from DWM or the commentary.
In short, the few good things cannot rescue this. I really, really hope things improve next time...
Next week I will be on holiday, away from the Internet, so there won't be any updates until the new school term has started. Have fun everyone!
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 12th June 1965
Viewers: 9.5 million
Chart Position: 8
Appreciation Index: 54
Rating:
1/10.
Next Time:
The Death of Doctor Who.
Wednesday, 3 April 2013
Episode 74 (R3): Flight Through Eternity
This serial is certainly a rollercoaster ride! And I'm not thinking so
much about the travellers, here; it's that the rules seem to change
every week.
Including what's good and what's not. The direction has become duller again, though it is at least competent (and the camera moving up and down to indicate motion on the sailing ship is a really nice touch). The designers give us an odd mix of the effective and the "Oops! We've run out of money." And the script...is interesting. Which is more than can be said for last time. It's a sketch show, basically, so let's look at the sketches in order.
Via the Vortex
Okay, so this is the framing device, really; but it's front-heavy, so it makes sense to tackle it here. I mentioned the budget running out, and this is most evident with the Daleks' time machine - the DARDIS, according to fans, although some believe this was also its name in the original scripts. The inside looks cheap and tatty (though the swirly things add a bit of colour); the outside is just too plain. In general appearance it does remind me of the Genesis Ark, from much later in the show, which would have worked much better here.
The vortex shots are also inferior. The one at the beginning is vaguely passable, the one at the end is atrocious! It's doubly annoying because it isn't even needed. The episode is over 25 minutes long, and there was a good cliffhanger in the internal shot just before. Sigh.
Inside the TARDIS, there are lots and lots of lights. Another sign of a cheap set, though not so bad as the DARDIS. As for the story, we get some whimsy - guava flavoured food bars (yum) and a mumbling Dalek (err).
We also get the bit about the TARDIS being 12 minutes ahead of their pursuers. Now, some reviewers think this is ridiculous - that the Daleks should just jump ahead and be waiting for our heroes when they arrive. Presumably they think the opening of The Empty Child doesn't make sense either. But really, such a solution depends on the Daleks knowing where and when the TARDIS is going, and that's not necessarily the case: a tracker may have to follow a spoor for days even if the prey quickly doubles back so that waiting would have been a better option. If you happen to spot their arrival by some other means, sure, you can lie in wait; but not if you are simply tracking them. And going back once you've arrived and become part of events is generally strictly forbidden. In addition, 'speed' in the vortex is the subject of an entirely different physics, and all the visual references we've seen make it analogous to speed through a spacial medium, so overtaking is only possible with better manoeuvring or a faster vehicle. What happens here makes as much sense as any other theory of time travel. There - rant over.
Looking Down on the World
The first stop plonks us down on the Empire State Building (floor 102 according to the guide, but with a set matching floor 86 according to Alan Barnes in DWM). Here we are subjected to some very dodgy American accents, but because this is broad comedy it doesn't bother me in the slightest. There's a good variety of tourists, milling about interestingly; and we get our first look at Peter Purves as Alabama hick Morton Dill.
Ah, Dill. We've already seen national and racial stereotypes, but Dill is the first in a long line of regional stereotypes, and he's a controversial figure among fans. Purves' performance is, of course, completely over the top; but it is very deliberately so, a case of a good actor playing a fool rather than an amateur hamming it up. For me, it just about works, but only because the performance is as finely nuanced as it can be in such a cartoon role. That, and the fact that I expect stereotypes in such broad comedy.
Some people comment on Iananbarbara not even considering getting off here, since it's their own time - but how can they with the Daleks in hot pursuit? And speaking of those nasties, this is of course the second time (historically) they have visited the Empire State Building; and Russell T. Davies has stated that he believes they got the idea for their emergency temporal shift in Doomsday from this visit!
Nothing of importance happens in this scene, and yet it's my favourite. There's good direction of the actors/extras, and the comments about Hollywood in an episode which feels a bit Keystone Cops provide a nicely 'meta' angle; but it's mostly how everyone reacts to Dill and his world. This starts with the other tourists, where it quickly becomes obvious that he's an outsider in that group. The Doctor gives him the brush-off, too, Iananbarbara are polite, and Vicki is open and interested. The Daleks quickly realise he has nothing to offer, roll their eyestalks and leave; while he reacts to them just the way anyone would who had never heard of Daleks, as silly things, laughing at them and talking into a plunger. It's just full of nice touches.
Sailors on the Seas of Fate
The next scene is more problematic. To start with, why does Barbara insist on going sightseeing on the ship? Ian pointing out how silly this is raises the question of why they did it on their last stop, too, even though his main reason for trying to dissuade her seems to be that he is feeling seasick.
Poor Ian; he gets hit on the head as well, a victim of 'friendly swing'. Still, at least he doesn't get assaulted like Barbara - and as Barnes points out, it is in extremely bad taste to portray a real historical figure of good repute as the perpetrator of attempted rape! Ian can also count himself lucky that he didn't end up drowning in the sea with his child, along with everyone other human on the ship (and one unbelievably incompetent Dalek).
It is possible to extract humour from this level of violence and tragedy, but it can't just be treated as a bit of fun like the New York stopover - and unfortunately that's what the script does here. Oh, the production team do their best, and there are some good points. Other than the model ship it looks fine, and having people actually fall or jump into the water is impressive; the creaks and camera movement mentioned earlier really set the scene; and the hints to the ship's identity are subtle and effective. But none of that matters in the face of a script that has Iananbarbara delightedly discovering the name of the ship and sparing not a thought for the deaths of everyone on board. Ugh.
What is interesting about this episode is the way it treats the Daleks. Contrast the way Dill reacts to them - as a real-world person might, despite the fact that he's a cartoon - with the way the sailors are affected. They are taken from real history, but their total, unreasoning panic is how we expect people to behave in-universe.
And that's it from me on this curate's egg curio.
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 5th June 1965
Viewers: 9.0 million
Chart Position: 12
Appreciation Index: 55
Rating:
4/10.
Next Time:
Journey into Terror.
Including what's good and what's not. The direction has become duller again, though it is at least competent (and the camera moving up and down to indicate motion on the sailing ship is a really nice touch). The designers give us an odd mix of the effective and the "Oops! We've run out of money." And the script...is interesting. Which is more than can be said for last time. It's a sketch show, basically, so let's look at the sketches in order.
Via the Vortex
Okay, so this is the framing device, really; but it's front-heavy, so it makes sense to tackle it here. I mentioned the budget running out, and this is most evident with the Daleks' time machine - the DARDIS, according to fans, although some believe this was also its name in the original scripts. The inside looks cheap and tatty (though the swirly things add a bit of colour); the outside is just too plain. In general appearance it does remind me of the Genesis Ark, from much later in the show, which would have worked much better here.
The vortex shots are also inferior. The one at the beginning is vaguely passable, the one at the end is atrocious! It's doubly annoying because it isn't even needed. The episode is over 25 minutes long, and there was a good cliffhanger in the internal shot just before. Sigh.
Inside the TARDIS, there are lots and lots of lights. Another sign of a cheap set, though not so bad as the DARDIS. As for the story, we get some whimsy - guava flavoured food bars (yum) and a mumbling Dalek (err).
We also get the bit about the TARDIS being 12 minutes ahead of their pursuers. Now, some reviewers think this is ridiculous - that the Daleks should just jump ahead and be waiting for our heroes when they arrive. Presumably they think the opening of The Empty Child doesn't make sense either. But really, such a solution depends on the Daleks knowing where and when the TARDIS is going, and that's not necessarily the case: a tracker may have to follow a spoor for days even if the prey quickly doubles back so that waiting would have been a better option. If you happen to spot their arrival by some other means, sure, you can lie in wait; but not if you are simply tracking them. And going back once you've arrived and become part of events is generally strictly forbidden. In addition, 'speed' in the vortex is the subject of an entirely different physics, and all the visual references we've seen make it analogous to speed through a spacial medium, so overtaking is only possible with better manoeuvring or a faster vehicle. What happens here makes as much sense as any other theory of time travel. There - rant over.
Looking Down on the World
The first stop plonks us down on the Empire State Building (floor 102 according to the guide, but with a set matching floor 86 according to Alan Barnes in DWM). Here we are subjected to some very dodgy American accents, but because this is broad comedy it doesn't bother me in the slightest. There's a good variety of tourists, milling about interestingly; and we get our first look at Peter Purves as Alabama hick Morton Dill.
Ah, Dill. We've already seen national and racial stereotypes, but Dill is the first in a long line of regional stereotypes, and he's a controversial figure among fans. Purves' performance is, of course, completely over the top; but it is very deliberately so, a case of a good actor playing a fool rather than an amateur hamming it up. For me, it just about works, but only because the performance is as finely nuanced as it can be in such a cartoon role. That, and the fact that I expect stereotypes in such broad comedy.
Some people comment on Iananbarbara not even considering getting off here, since it's their own time - but how can they with the Daleks in hot pursuit? And speaking of those nasties, this is of course the second time (historically) they have visited the Empire State Building; and Russell T. Davies has stated that he believes they got the idea for their emergency temporal shift in Doomsday from this visit!
Nothing of importance happens in this scene, and yet it's my favourite. There's good direction of the actors/extras, and the comments about Hollywood in an episode which feels a bit Keystone Cops provide a nicely 'meta' angle; but it's mostly how everyone reacts to Dill and his world. This starts with the other tourists, where it quickly becomes obvious that he's an outsider in that group. The Doctor gives him the brush-off, too, Iananbarbara are polite, and Vicki is open and interested. The Daleks quickly realise he has nothing to offer, roll their eyestalks and leave; while he reacts to them just the way anyone would who had never heard of Daleks, as silly things, laughing at them and talking into a plunger. It's just full of nice touches.
Sailors on the Seas of Fate
The next scene is more problematic. To start with, why does Barbara insist on going sightseeing on the ship? Ian pointing out how silly this is raises the question of why they did it on their last stop, too, even though his main reason for trying to dissuade her seems to be that he is feeling seasick.
Poor Ian; he gets hit on the head as well, a victim of 'friendly swing'. Still, at least he doesn't get assaulted like Barbara - and as Barnes points out, it is in extremely bad taste to portray a real historical figure of good repute as the perpetrator of attempted rape! Ian can also count himself lucky that he didn't end up drowning in the sea with his child, along with everyone other human on the ship (and one unbelievably incompetent Dalek).
It is possible to extract humour from this level of violence and tragedy, but it can't just be treated as a bit of fun like the New York stopover - and unfortunately that's what the script does here. Oh, the production team do their best, and there are some good points. Other than the model ship it looks fine, and having people actually fall or jump into the water is impressive; the creaks and camera movement mentioned earlier really set the scene; and the hints to the ship's identity are subtle and effective. But none of that matters in the face of a script that has Iananbarbara delightedly discovering the name of the ship and sparing not a thought for the deaths of everyone on board. Ugh.
What is interesting about this episode is the way it treats the Daleks. Contrast the way Dill reacts to them - as a real-world person might, despite the fact that he's a cartoon - with the way the sailors are affected. They are taken from real history, but their total, unreasoning panic is how we expect people to behave in-universe.
And that's it from me on this curate's egg curio.
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 5th June 1965
Viewers: 9.0 million
Chart Position: 12
Appreciation Index: 55
Rating:
4/10.
Next Time:
Journey into Terror.
Monday, 1 April 2013
Episode 73 (R2): The Death of Time
There's been an odd shift from last episode. The Daleks only joined in
the comedy right at the end, but now - like passing a baton - everybody
else seems to have abandoned it! Instead, what we get from the others is
over-the-top melodrama, but not really humour. Except when Daleks are
around. We have wobbling Daleks, the panting one in the recap who got
buried in sand, a hesitant Dalek who has to be prompted to obey his
orders, the one with the tea-strainer/gyroscopic compass detector
thingy; if it wasn't for the exterminations they would be entirely
figures of fun. I don't mind the humour, but it's a bit basic here, not
as good as the balance Terry Nation found last time. One thing which did
make me laugh, although it was possibly unintentional, was the TARDIS
being completely buried - then next time we see it the captive Aridians
are brushing the last few specks from around the base, and it's standing
in the middle of a flat sandy plain! Wow, they did a lot of unnecessary
work! Still, it'll help when our heroes run off and leave them to be
exterminated.
It's rather sad that the script lets the side down so badly, because there's a lot to like here. Okay, the Aridian costumes are only passable; but they look good when I examine them through the wrong part of my new varifocals, which is closer to how the original viewers would have seen them. And I have very few other complaints.
The best thing is that Richard Martin has got some of his mojo back! He's still not keeping the cameras moving like he did in his previous serial, but even with relatively static viewpoints he knocks Mervyn Pinfield's efforts into a cocked hat. Take, for example, the scene where Vicki is talking over their captivity with Iananbarbara. It starts as a long shot, but the actors move closer so that it becomes a tight three shot, of the sort Pinfield seemed to love. Cut to the Aridians, and when we cut back it's to a view of the same grouping, but from behind! Those two little things add so much more dynamism, and there are a lot of other, similar moments of imagination: the scene where Vicki is captured as she runs almost past the camera before being grabbed and carried back; the low shot of Ian and the Doctor laying their trap for the Dalek; the TARDIS dematerialising in negative as it is bathed in the energy from the Dalek guns. Great.
Martin is well supported by the rest of the production team. The mire beast is an awesome creation, and it is never lit too harshly. The underground chambers look good - certainly better than if they had attempted Nation's vision of a huge glass city of lights - and although the collapsing wall has a certain inevitable tang of polystyrene, the earlier explosion is tremendous. The music and sound work well, and the actors are on fine form. Jacqueline Hill stands out, as is often the case (notably for her performance when Barbara and the Doctor are being held captive - she almost makes falling asleep sitting on some steps believable, though that wasn't my main criterion); but everyone holds their own, regulars and guests alike.
I will end with one defence of the script, and one great thing about it. People often comment on the name Aridius, pointing out that it's inappropriate for a former waterworld. It seems to me, though, that this isn't the planet's literal name, which would be something meaningless and quite possibly unpronounceable. The TARDIS translation circuits have to pick something, so in this case (and in many of Nation's stories) they've gone for a descriptive word. Simple.
The great thing? The TARDIS being invulnerable to Dalek weapons. It's totally awesome! Cheers from the sofa here.
Oh, and before you comment, I know mojo isn't the right word - but I'm using it in the way I originally thought it meant and it fits the vibe, so I'm sticking with it.
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 29th May 1965
Viewers: 9.5 million
Chart Position: 12
Appreciation Index: 56
Rating:
3.5/10.
Next Time:
Flight Through Eternity.
It's rather sad that the script lets the side down so badly, because there's a lot to like here. Okay, the Aridian costumes are only passable; but they look good when I examine them through the wrong part of my new varifocals, which is closer to how the original viewers would have seen them. And I have very few other complaints.
The best thing is that Richard Martin has got some of his mojo back! He's still not keeping the cameras moving like he did in his previous serial, but even with relatively static viewpoints he knocks Mervyn Pinfield's efforts into a cocked hat. Take, for example, the scene where Vicki is talking over their captivity with Iananbarbara. It starts as a long shot, but the actors move closer so that it becomes a tight three shot, of the sort Pinfield seemed to love. Cut to the Aridians, and when we cut back it's to a view of the same grouping, but from behind! Those two little things add so much more dynamism, and there are a lot of other, similar moments of imagination: the scene where Vicki is captured as she runs almost past the camera before being grabbed and carried back; the low shot of Ian and the Doctor laying their trap for the Dalek; the TARDIS dematerialising in negative as it is bathed in the energy from the Dalek guns. Great.
Martin is well supported by the rest of the production team. The mire beast is an awesome creation, and it is never lit too harshly. The underground chambers look good - certainly better than if they had attempted Nation's vision of a huge glass city of lights - and although the collapsing wall has a certain inevitable tang of polystyrene, the earlier explosion is tremendous. The music and sound work well, and the actors are on fine form. Jacqueline Hill stands out, as is often the case (notably for her performance when Barbara and the Doctor are being held captive - she almost makes falling asleep sitting on some steps believable, though that wasn't my main criterion); but everyone holds their own, regulars and guests alike.
I will end with one defence of the script, and one great thing about it. People often comment on the name Aridius, pointing out that it's inappropriate for a former waterworld. It seems to me, though, that this isn't the planet's literal name, which would be something meaningless and quite possibly unpronounceable. The TARDIS translation circuits have to pick something, so in this case (and in many of Nation's stories) they've gone for a descriptive word. Simple.
The great thing? The TARDIS being invulnerable to Dalek weapons. It's totally awesome! Cheers from the sofa here.
Oh, and before you comment, I know mojo isn't the right word - but I'm using it in the way I originally thought it meant and it fits the vibe, so I'm sticking with it.
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 29th May 1965
Viewers: 9.5 million
Chart Position: 12
Appreciation Index: 56
Rating:
3.5/10.
Next Time:
Flight Through Eternity.
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