I hate Simon Guerrier.* He is in my opinion the best writer of the
Hartnell era, post-1966: other writers may have some stories of similar
quality, but they don't keep churning them out like Guerrier. Even Marc
Platt only has about half as many stories to his name, and their average
quality isn't quite so good (sorry Marc).
So why am I grumbling about him? Two reasons. The first (and most minor)
is that he regularly uses the story title as an episode title, which is
particularly galling in season 3 when the TV series had already stopped
doing that.** I'm mostly going to be bloody-minded about this and
change them, though I'll make the odd exception (I'll keep The First Wave, for instance, where changing the episode title would ruin a pattern).
The second, bigger reason is that he very often ties the frame very
tightly to the inner story - which makes it hard for me to review
without either jumping ahead of myself or waiting until the right
position for the framing sequence. As a result, after listening to just
this one episode I'm beginning to think my plan for the Sara Kingdom
trilogy just isn't going to work.
Still, I'm going to give it a go, and The Founding Fathers - which suffers from both problems - provides a good trial run.
OK, let's get the boring stuff out of the way. As usual, Peter Purves
gives a great performance (and I think his version of the Doctor just
keeps getting better and better). The sound design is spot on - I was
out walking when I heard this, and took my headphones off to see if the
birds were in the woods or in my ears. Later, the thunderstorm made me
want to hurry home. Oh, and whatever Lisa Bowerman does as director
works.
I'm not going to talk about Alice Haig here since her part is restricted
to the framing sequence, except to say that it is also a solid
performance. However, there is a third actor present, since Bowerman
steps in to provide the voice of Abigail Holt, the figure at the centre
of the mystery which is set up to keep the travellers on their toes. She
did the same when directing The Mahogany Murderers, playing a barmaid called Ellie; and Abigail has a similar accent. Or rather, she has a fake
accent that sounds like Ellie's, so I was impressed to note that this
did sound less realistic, somehow, without my being able to put my
finger on why. A fine line to walk.
Speaking of accents, there's a moment in the framing story where
Steven's listeners tease him about his American accent. I don't know if
that was a reference to Morton Dill - the part Purves originally played
in The Chase - but it amused me anyway.
There isn't an awful lot to the story, but it has a cliffhanger that you
might think had been used before, but actually I think it's unique:
someone's first introduction to the TARDIS.
* This is manifestly untrue.
** Yes, yes, the story titles aren't actually a TV thing in this period.
You know what I mean: we don't have titles taken from the episodes
after The Space Museum.
My Soapbox, part 1: A Few Thoughts on Class
There's a coffee shop in this story where people of all classes sit
cheek-by-jowl and discuss matters such as politics. I admire the
principle, but wonder how well it works in practise. You see, I am
solidly Middle Class, and one of the delightful results of this is that I
am utterly useless at talking to people of other classes. Unless I try
really hard - which probably looks just as odd as it sounds - I end up
subconsciously trying to modify my accent when with Working Class people
so that I can fit in. Like that's going to work - I remember once being
(gently) mocked for using the word 'datum' in a casual discussion about
films we'd seen recently. No amount of accent-manipulation is going to
obscure the fact that I naturally use words like 'modify' and 'obscure'
where 'change' and 'hide' would do (note: not an artificial example, I
simply glanced at what I'd just written). Similarly, with Upper Class
people I tend to feel small and go very quiet.
One thing I find sad is that ever since I went to university I have lost
my original accent. When reading out loud I can do a passable Mockney,
Mummerset, et al, but I cannot even remember the voices I grew up with
in Hampshire, let alone mimic them. And my current voice sounds stupidly
posh to me.
As an aside, I realised during the election in May that it has become
very obvious that the interests of the Middle Class - or at least the
lower Middle Class, which is where I sit - now align with those of the
Working Class. While there are still many differences - for instance, I
have savings I can dip into in times of trouble, whereas my Working
Class friends don't - the policies that support them are also the ones
that support me. I would try to stand by them on principle anyway, but
actually enlightened self-interest tells me to do so as well.
But that's quite enough of that.
Rating:
5/10.
Next Time:
Founding Father
DRP
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