[This review has been much delayed because Isaac wanted to keep up
Isaac's corner, but school has been a bit crazy lately. Still, I've
written the three following reviews while waiting for an opportunity, so
there shouldn't be any more delays for a little while.]
Every year, a friend who lives further down our street organises the
Cheap Thrills Zero Budget Film Festival. People submit videos they've
put together on a shoestring, these are edited into an evening of
entertainment, and the show premieres in the chapel of the cemetery that
lies beyond the bottom righthand corner of our garden. It's been very
successful: it started out local, went national, then international...
This year is the first time that there has been an entry from offworld;
specifically, a zero-gravity performance of David Bowie's Space Oddity,
courtesy of the International Space Station. I don't know about you,
but I think that's wonderful! Nevertheless, it points out quite
effectively what a different world we live in now, compared to the one
that existed when this episode was broadcast - a world where humans had
barely ventured into space at all, but where it was assumed that we
would keep on travelling further and further.
Of course, it was also a time when James Bond could be seen as an
unambiguous hero, fighting the good fight for Queen and Country
alongside his fellow (not-quite-so-) superspies. The character of Marc
Cory is, basically, James Bond in space, combining two of the nation's
fascinations. Ably played by Edward de Souza in a cut-glass accent, he's
cool, calm, and callous. Human life means little to him, compared to
his mission.
And, like Cory himself, this is an incredibly confident script. Not only
is the Doctor absent, Nation makes the canny choice of withholding the
Daleks from the screen for nearly a third of the runtime - which does a
lot to help build up their menace after the comedy of The Chase.
Meanwhile, there are the Varga. All we have, of course, are recons, so
it's hard to judge how effective they actually were; but the concept, at
least, is horrifying. I remember watching the transformation in The Ark in Space
as an eleven-year-old, and the image stayed with me: never mind the
bubble-wrap, that was true horror right there! Perhaps for those born a
decade earlier, the same would have been true of the Varga
transformations. We may never really know: Loose Cannon have once again
done a lot with very little, but without any surviving clips that
atmosphere is impossible to capture.
I said that all we have are recons, but thanks to Rick Lundeen that's no
longer quite true. In later posts I'll go into more of the background
to his graphic novel adaptation of The Daleks' Masterplan, but
for now I'll concentrate on just this first chapter. The first thing to
say is that it is very nicely done, the best-looking comic of this
marathon so far: interesting layouts, varied camera angles, consistently
recognisable characters, and a good use of colour to set the mood. His
adaptation of the script is pretty faithful; he takes some liberties in
order to make the story work as a comic, but if anything perhaps he
sticks too closely to the original, resulting in some very wordy pages
full of Nation's dialogue. That's a minor fault, mind you; it's a great
read, and sets the scene nicely for the story to come. And some of the
technology looks far more appropriately futuristic than would have been the case if he'd stuck with 1960s designs, such as Cory's recorder!
Getting back to the element that is common to both comic and recon - the
story - this builds very well, with the quieter scenes of the Great
Alliance (where the main interest would have been seeing all the aliens)
interspersed with the action sequences of Cory and Lowery fleeing from
the Daleks. There's a lot of exposition, but it doesn't feel
overwhelming because it's tied so well into the worldbuilding. I have no
hesitation in declaring this to be Nation's finest script for the show
to date.
But by golly, it's bleak! All the way through you get the impression
that something drastic will have to happen to save any of the humans, or
even allow them to complete the mission. It doesn't happen; the beacon
never gets activated, and everyone dies.
The Daleks have finally taken their place as the ultimate threat.
Isaac's Corner
Although the reconstruction was very clever, I still found it very hard
to follow and only got a fuzzy idea of the story. It was much clearer in
the comic. This episode really reminds me of the stories from the Dalek
annuals of the time, with its Doctorlessness, and with a lot more
action and extermination! The normal Doctor Who stories generally
focus on defeating the large-scale Dalek plans rather than the
small-scale battles. I didn't particularly like it but I didn't
particularly dislike it either. I think I might have been a bit more
decisive if we could get a proper idea of the acting, because the
soundtrack is fuzzy and that's all we have to go on for acting. The
illustration on the comic was good - he seemed to have put a lot of
effort into it. Overall I would give it a 6.5/10.
And now, because it seems like the most appropriate time, we're going to
be taking a break from the Doctor for a fairly extended period. The
next 52 posts (if I've counted right) belong to the early solo exploits
of the Doctor's arch-enemies: the Daleks...
Daleks conquer and destroy! Daleks conquer and destroy!
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 9th October 1965
Viewers: 8.3 million
Chart Position: 37
Appreciation Index: 54
Rating:
Mine (episode): 9.5/10.
Mine (comic): 9.5/10.
DWM Mighty 200: 64.54%, 133rd.
2012 Gallifrey Base Non-Dynamic Rankings: 6.67, 136th out of 234.
Next Time:
Genesis of Evil.
Showing posts with label Recon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Recon. Show all posts
Monday, 16 November 2015
Tuesday, 20 October 2015
Episode 85 (T4): The Exploding Planet
Something bizarre and annoying happened during the writing of my
previous review. I had three issues of DWM out on the bed for reference,
but needed to go off and do some housework and cook supper. When I came
back they were gone, and nobody knew where they were. We have since
looked fairly thoroughly - I even checked that they hadn't been put in
the recycling by accident! - but they haven't turned up. One was the
issue about the return of Airlock, which is a fairly minor loss
now; one detailed the sale of 60s serials abroad and (I think) the
resultant recovery of some episodes, which is more annoying. Worst,
though, is my copy of The Complete First Doctor, which has been
my constant companion during the TV portions of this marathon and helps
set the scene in my mind, even when none of the info gets into the
review. That I will struggle to do without.
Speaking of struggles: as someone who is not comfortable watching recons, we are really entering a barren stretch. This is the first of an unbroken run of seven missing episodes, matching the earliest ever gap - Marco Polo. Worse than that, however, is the realisation that of the next 22 episodes, only three survive. There were only eleven missing in total over the previous two seasons, and two of those have been animated! Thank goodness for other media, is all I can say.
So, what of this episode? Unfortunately, the phrase that springs to mind is "a bit pants". I didn't bother watching the full recon this time, because (a) it wasn't based on stills from the episode anyway; (b) Peter Purves' narration on the audio release is enough to let me know what's going on when it's not obvious from the soundtrack; and (c) I couldn't be bothered.
There's so much wrong with the script here. Let's take the Drahvins first. OK, so they are a threat to the travellers when they catch our heroes on their own, but are so vastly outmatched by the Rills that they cannot pose a credible threat now that the Doctor-Rill alliance is in place. So that's one source of tension removed. Steven is rescued in the first couple of minutes, and after that nobody is ever really in immediate danger; which just leaves the countdown to destruction. Now, countdowns can work - even though we know they are going to make it, especially in the first serial of a new season - but the interest and tension comes not from the countdown itself but from figuring out how they are going to solve it, and/or watching them overcome obstacles. Here, the Doctor figured out what to do in the previous episode, the Rills make it plain that they want the travellers to abandon them and leave if time runs out, and there is no significant opposition. We are left simply watching them clock-watching, and only Steven's first encounter with the Rills even provides meaty dialogue.
Right, that's the script. Visually we know what most of it looks like, and my guess is that the destruction of the planet and departure of the Rill ship would not have been "oh wow" moments, even with the obviously competent direction of Derek Martinus. The Chumblies make their usual cute noises, so that only leaves the acting.
It's possible I'm projecting when I say this, but based on the soundtrack William Hartnell is really not on good form here. My guess is that his heart wasn't in it, and who can blame him? He's fluffing, and he's falling back on a set of stock Doctor mannerisms to an extent I've not noticed before. Meanwhile, Maureen O'Brien gets hardly anything to say; she's probably doing some interesting things with her facial expressions, but sadly we are now past our last view of her on-screen before her departure. Purves puts effort in, but then he's the new boy and it's likely he still has enough enthusiasm to carry him through a poor script. Stephanie Bidmead steals every scene she's in, but isn't as centre stage as before, while Robert Cartland provides a fairly nondescript booming voice for the Rills.
I normally complain about cut-down recons, but the twelve-minute version of this episode on the DVD is actually a much more appropriate length for this - and that includes the trailer for next time...
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 2nd October 1965
Viewers: 9.9 million
Chart Position: 20
Appreciation Index: 53
Rating:
1/10.
Next Time:
Serial T as a whole.
Speaking of struggles: as someone who is not comfortable watching recons, we are really entering a barren stretch. This is the first of an unbroken run of seven missing episodes, matching the earliest ever gap - Marco Polo. Worse than that, however, is the realisation that of the next 22 episodes, only three survive. There were only eleven missing in total over the previous two seasons, and two of those have been animated! Thank goodness for other media, is all I can say.
So, what of this episode? Unfortunately, the phrase that springs to mind is "a bit pants". I didn't bother watching the full recon this time, because (a) it wasn't based on stills from the episode anyway; (b) Peter Purves' narration on the audio release is enough to let me know what's going on when it's not obvious from the soundtrack; and (c) I couldn't be bothered.
There's so much wrong with the script here. Let's take the Drahvins first. OK, so they are a threat to the travellers when they catch our heroes on their own, but are so vastly outmatched by the Rills that they cannot pose a credible threat now that the Doctor-Rill alliance is in place. So that's one source of tension removed. Steven is rescued in the first couple of minutes, and after that nobody is ever really in immediate danger; which just leaves the countdown to destruction. Now, countdowns can work - even though we know they are going to make it, especially in the first serial of a new season - but the interest and tension comes not from the countdown itself but from figuring out how they are going to solve it, and/or watching them overcome obstacles. Here, the Doctor figured out what to do in the previous episode, the Rills make it plain that they want the travellers to abandon them and leave if time runs out, and there is no significant opposition. We are left simply watching them clock-watching, and only Steven's first encounter with the Rills even provides meaty dialogue.
Right, that's the script. Visually we know what most of it looks like, and my guess is that the destruction of the planet and departure of the Rill ship would not have been "oh wow" moments, even with the obviously competent direction of Derek Martinus. The Chumblies make their usual cute noises, so that only leaves the acting.
It's possible I'm projecting when I say this, but based on the soundtrack William Hartnell is really not on good form here. My guess is that his heart wasn't in it, and who can blame him? He's fluffing, and he's falling back on a set of stock Doctor mannerisms to an extent I've not noticed before. Meanwhile, Maureen O'Brien gets hardly anything to say; she's probably doing some interesting things with her facial expressions, but sadly we are now past our last view of her on-screen before her departure. Purves puts effort in, but then he's the new boy and it's likely he still has enough enthusiasm to carry him through a poor script. Stephanie Bidmead steals every scene she's in, but isn't as centre stage as before, while Robert Cartland provides a fairly nondescript booming voice for the Rills.
I normally complain about cut-down recons, but the twelve-minute version of this episode on the DVD is actually a much more appropriate length for this - and that includes the trailer for next time...
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 2nd October 1965
Viewers: 9.9 million
Chart Position: 20
Appreciation Index: 53
Rating:
1/10.
Next Time:
Serial T as a whole.
Friday, 9 October 2015
Episode 83 (T2): Trap of Steel
In late June, during rehearsals for A Battle of Wits, filming was also taking place for Galaxy 4
at Ealing Studios with Mervyn Pinfield, who was to direct the serial.
In the event Pinfield was taken ill, and never had another opportunity
to direct the show; drafted in to replace him was Derek Martinus, who
had just completed his directorial training. He probably had little idea
of the minefield into which he was being parachuted.
Writer William Emms has gone on record as being very happy with the way his script was accepted largely unchanged, in contrast to many he had submitted for other programs. William Hartnell and his co-stars were less happy. Maureen O'Brien complained that some of her dialogue did not sound like Vicki, while Peter Purves - stuck with many of Barbara's lines - considered his character to have been emasculated. Hartnell also wanted changes, and ended up in a loud argument with Emms. This was effectively the first serial produced by Verity Lambert's replacement, John Wiles, while Lambert concentrated on her final episode; Wiles stepped into the fracas, supporting Emms and telling the cast to perform it as written. When Hartnell still objected, Wiles threatened to sack him.
The fallout from all this is going to have consequences quite a way into the future of this marathon, but one immediate consequence is the decline in Hartnell's performance I noted last time. He's pulled himself together a little for this episode, but listening to it I realised that I have never heard him say "hm" so often!
Still, for me Hartnell is probably the highlight of an episode where the plot largely consists of people walking from place to place. The way he tells Maaga "I never kill anything" is great - he's such a liar! Tell that to the Daleks, Doctor.
Maureen O'Brien gets some time in the spotlight, but I do think what she's given is not quite Vicki-like. Her deduction that the Chumblies can only hear in front of them - and how does that work, exactly? - comes out of nowhere, much like the distrust of the Drahvins last time.
As for Peter Purves... well. This is where the fact that he's stuck with Barbara's lines starts to bite. Purves has said that he wishes they'd played up the sexism angle further, that Steven should have wanted to be captured because the Drahvins were attractive women; and you can hear him trying to put a little of that into his performance. It's not enough, though.
This is the first of two episodes which are entirely absent, and that definitely affects my enjoyment. Loose Cannon put a lot of effort into the reconstruction - they had to, because there are no telesnaps available for this serial. The landscapes and cast are composited from various photos (the recon having been completed long before the discovery of the third episode), and a loving recreation of the Chumblies provides much of the motion. This completely distorts the balance of shots, though; if you can create interesting images of cute robots chuttering, chumbling, and jinking about the place, of course you're going to use that instead of the umpteenth repeat of a still showing the actors in not quite the right pose! It's indisputably the right decision, as well as evidence of why I don't personally get on very well with recons. For such a visual story as this, though, I still find them superior to my (generally preferred) narrated soundtracks.
Ironically, Galaxy 4 is probably the last serial to be junked before the BBC changed their policy in 1978...
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 18th September 1965
Viewers: 9.5 million
Chart Position: 22
Appreciation Index: 54
Rating:
3/10.
Next Time:
Airlock.
Writer William Emms has gone on record as being very happy with the way his script was accepted largely unchanged, in contrast to many he had submitted for other programs. William Hartnell and his co-stars were less happy. Maureen O'Brien complained that some of her dialogue did not sound like Vicki, while Peter Purves - stuck with many of Barbara's lines - considered his character to have been emasculated. Hartnell also wanted changes, and ended up in a loud argument with Emms. This was effectively the first serial produced by Verity Lambert's replacement, John Wiles, while Lambert concentrated on her final episode; Wiles stepped into the fracas, supporting Emms and telling the cast to perform it as written. When Hartnell still objected, Wiles threatened to sack him.
The fallout from all this is going to have consequences quite a way into the future of this marathon, but one immediate consequence is the decline in Hartnell's performance I noted last time. He's pulled himself together a little for this episode, but listening to it I realised that I have never heard him say "hm" so often!
Still, for me Hartnell is probably the highlight of an episode where the plot largely consists of people walking from place to place. The way he tells Maaga "I never kill anything" is great - he's such a liar! Tell that to the Daleks, Doctor.
Maureen O'Brien gets some time in the spotlight, but I do think what she's given is not quite Vicki-like. Her deduction that the Chumblies can only hear in front of them - and how does that work, exactly? - comes out of nowhere, much like the distrust of the Drahvins last time.
As for Peter Purves... well. This is where the fact that he's stuck with Barbara's lines starts to bite. Purves has said that he wishes they'd played up the sexism angle further, that Steven should have wanted to be captured because the Drahvins were attractive women; and you can hear him trying to put a little of that into his performance. It's not enough, though.
This is the first of two episodes which are entirely absent, and that definitely affects my enjoyment. Loose Cannon put a lot of effort into the reconstruction - they had to, because there are no telesnaps available for this serial. The landscapes and cast are composited from various photos (the recon having been completed long before the discovery of the third episode), and a loving recreation of the Chumblies provides much of the motion. This completely distorts the balance of shots, though; if you can create interesting images of cute robots chuttering, chumbling, and jinking about the place, of course you're going to use that instead of the umpteenth repeat of a still showing the actors in not quite the right pose! It's indisputably the right decision, as well as evidence of why I don't personally get on very well with recons. For such a visual story as this, though, I still find them superior to my (generally preferred) narrated soundtracks.
Ironically, Galaxy 4 is probably the last serial to be junked before the BBC changed their policy in 1978...
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 18th September 1965
Viewers: 9.5 million
Chart Position: 22
Appreciation Index: 54
Rating:
3/10.
Next Time:
Airlock.
Monday, 5 October 2015
Episode 82 (T1): Four Hundred Dawns
[Apologies for the delay - it's been longer than I thought, mainly
because of trying to find a time to watch it with my son, added to which
the fact that the official recon combines the first two episodes meant
some untangling was required. Also, life.]
Back to television at last - albeit with the first ever non-historical episode to be missing from the archives. It's not quite missing, of course, as there's a six-minute stretch of actual footage. This exists thanks to its being requisitioned for Whose Doctor Who, a 1977 instalment of the documentary series Lively Arts (which ended up using about half a minute) and then being rescued by Jan Vincent-Rudzki, president of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society, who was acting as an advisor to the show. I'd still call this a "missing episode", though; but I'll postpone saying more about that until next time, as I've a lot of other topics to cover here.
Starting with the episode's status as the beginning of a new season. Last time - with Planet of Giants - the story carried on pretty much directly from the end of season one, making me wince slightly for all those stories shoehorned in between. This time it seems pretty obvious that there is a gap. Steven appears more settled, and the tense mood of the travellers doesn't quite match with the end of The Time Meddler; in addition, the Doctor's comment about 'past experience' adds to the sense that this team has been together for a while. As a polymedial (multimedial?) fan, I give this a thumb's up.
This is pure chance, really. When the script for Galaxy 4 was first written Iananbarbara were still on the team, and mostly for reasons of time (exacerbated by the ongoing change of production personnel) the rewrites made to accommodate Steven's presence were minimal. Of course it's written as if this team has been together for a long time! (Other aspects of this weren't so serendipitous, but we'll get to them later.)
There are a number of continuity references which seem to be included largely to remind viewers of the previous season: in particular, Vicki comparing this planet to Xeros (the setting for The Space Museum), and the return of the astral map. We also have the next instance of Vicki picking a cute name - the Chumblies, this time. (I think this is also the last occasion on TV, though I've only heard The Myth Makers once.) The Doctor also has a signature character moment when he is talking about the impenetrability of "his force barrier", in a lovely, low-key humourous exchange between him and Steven.
When we concentrate on William Hartnell's performance here, it is hard to remember that this is still part of the second production block and being recorded a week after Checkmate. He comes across as particularly prickly, and is getting far more lines wrong than he did last episode - the classic being their "long-deserved, undeserved" break. This has more than a little to do with the troubled recording history of this serial - which I'm also going to leave until next time, since I want to save a modicum of space to talk about the actual content of the episode.
Steven is pretty darn sexist here, referring to the Drahvins as a delightful surprise and commenting that their spaceship has "a few good features" - with the double meaning obviously intentional. As well as explaining what Jacqueline Rayner was drawing on for his characterisation in The Suffering, this is actually really appropriate because of his backstory as a space pilot. In the 1960s, US astronauts were drawn from the high flyers of the USAF, and came from an intensely macho culture. Many (though by no means all) bought into that culture wholeheartedly; and this is the real-life background to contemporary images of "space pilots", while Dan Dare's attitude to Peabody provides an example from popular fiction that is no better.
So, the characterisation is fine, which is actually a pleasant surprise. Less well handled is the central issue of the villains' identity. The TARDIS team are instantly suspicious of the Drahvins for no good reason that I can see (or rather hear), with Steven apparently the only one who is even prepared to consider that they might be telling the truth (Vicki's body language in the main clip is telling, here). Maaga is also presented as almost entirely unsympathetic, so where is the mystery?
On the plus side, there is a pleasing symmetry to the two sides in the conflict. Maaga's Drahvin soldiers being vat-grown and lacking initiative - "not what you would call human" - makes them excellent mirrors of the Rill-controlled Chumblies. And the cliffhanger is both effective and of a style I don't remember seeing so far in this marathon.
I've rattled on for a while. Hopefully the next review will be up in not four hundred dawns, not even fourteen dawns - but four dawns.
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 11th September 1965
Viewers: 9.0 million
Chart Position: 23
Appreciation Index: 56
Rating:
4/10.
Next Time:
Trap of Steel.
Back to television at last - albeit with the first ever non-historical episode to be missing from the archives. It's not quite missing, of course, as there's a six-minute stretch of actual footage. This exists thanks to its being requisitioned for Whose Doctor Who, a 1977 instalment of the documentary series Lively Arts (which ended up using about half a minute) and then being rescued by Jan Vincent-Rudzki, president of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society, who was acting as an advisor to the show. I'd still call this a "missing episode", though; but I'll postpone saying more about that until next time, as I've a lot of other topics to cover here.
Starting with the episode's status as the beginning of a new season. Last time - with Planet of Giants - the story carried on pretty much directly from the end of season one, making me wince slightly for all those stories shoehorned in between. This time it seems pretty obvious that there is a gap. Steven appears more settled, and the tense mood of the travellers doesn't quite match with the end of The Time Meddler; in addition, the Doctor's comment about 'past experience' adds to the sense that this team has been together for a while. As a polymedial (multimedial?) fan, I give this a thumb's up.
This is pure chance, really. When the script for Galaxy 4 was first written Iananbarbara were still on the team, and mostly for reasons of time (exacerbated by the ongoing change of production personnel) the rewrites made to accommodate Steven's presence were minimal. Of course it's written as if this team has been together for a long time! (Other aspects of this weren't so serendipitous, but we'll get to them later.)
There are a number of continuity references which seem to be included largely to remind viewers of the previous season: in particular, Vicki comparing this planet to Xeros (the setting for The Space Museum), and the return of the astral map. We also have the next instance of Vicki picking a cute name - the Chumblies, this time. (I think this is also the last occasion on TV, though I've only heard The Myth Makers once.) The Doctor also has a signature character moment when he is talking about the impenetrability of "his force barrier", in a lovely, low-key humourous exchange between him and Steven.
When we concentrate on William Hartnell's performance here, it is hard to remember that this is still part of the second production block and being recorded a week after Checkmate. He comes across as particularly prickly, and is getting far more lines wrong than he did last episode - the classic being their "long-deserved, undeserved" break. This has more than a little to do with the troubled recording history of this serial - which I'm also going to leave until next time, since I want to save a modicum of space to talk about the actual content of the episode.
Steven is pretty darn sexist here, referring to the Drahvins as a delightful surprise and commenting that their spaceship has "a few good features" - with the double meaning obviously intentional. As well as explaining what Jacqueline Rayner was drawing on for his characterisation in The Suffering, this is actually really appropriate because of his backstory as a space pilot. In the 1960s, US astronauts were drawn from the high flyers of the USAF, and came from an intensely macho culture. Many (though by no means all) bought into that culture wholeheartedly; and this is the real-life background to contemporary images of "space pilots", while Dan Dare's attitude to Peabody provides an example from popular fiction that is no better.
So, the characterisation is fine, which is actually a pleasant surprise. Less well handled is the central issue of the villains' identity. The TARDIS team are instantly suspicious of the Drahvins for no good reason that I can see (or rather hear), with Steven apparently the only one who is even prepared to consider that they might be telling the truth (Vicki's body language in the main clip is telling, here). Maaga is also presented as almost entirely unsympathetic, so where is the mystery?
On the plus side, there is a pleasing symmetry to the two sides in the conflict. Maaga's Drahvin soldiers being vat-grown and lacking initiative - "not what you would call human" - makes them excellent mirrors of the Rill-controlled Chumblies. And the cliffhanger is both effective and of a style I don't remember seeing so far in this marathon.
I've rattled on for a while. Hopefully the next review will be up in not four hundred dawns, not even fourteen dawns - but four dawns.
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 11th September 1965
Viewers: 9.0 million
Chart Position: 23
Appreciation Index: 56
Rating:
4/10.
Next Time:
Trap of Steel.
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