TV21 47-51: Eve of War

The Comic

Let's start with something that is a definite improvement for me, although it may not have been such a good thing in 1965: this story is "written for the trade". Now, that's a phrase from the US comic scene meaning that the story is designed to work best when read in one sitting, rather than issue-by-issue. Normally I'd be a bit more ambivalent about it; but as I've commented in my reviews of the last two stories, the constraints of a single-page-per-week format have been actively harmful recently. This story trusts that the reader will be sufficiently intrigued to keep reading even without a cliffhanger - indeed, the only cliffhanger in the whole story is at the end of the first episode - and that allows for more natural pacing. The result is the best storyline in a long time.

Of course, plot is only one aspect of a comic story, and the art goes though by far its biggest change in the series between episodes 49 and 50: Richard Jennings leaves, to be replaced by Ron Turner. This is not something you'd be likely to see in a written-for-trade comic! Turner has a more cartoon style, with thick, dark lines and deeper shadows. The results are mixed, and neither artist does the Mechanoids justice, with the worst point being a panel with the Dalek Emperor talking about their "powerul arms" beneath an image where those arms look like flimsy plastic. I do prefer Turner's spaceships but his Daleks are vastly inferior, looking as if they are sliding around in giant sardine tins. Comparing the space battles, Jennings' final panel - showing the Mechanoid ship exploding - has much more energy than the corresponding panels on Turner's first page (which also feature molten metal from a doomed saucer dripping down towards the bottom of the page, despite the absence of gravity). Overall, at present I feel that this is definitely a change for the worse.

Turning next to the dialogue, I'm afraid I have to continue my run of snarks about the over-reliance on technobabble. This really goes into overdrive here, which is a shame as it damages my ability to take the story seriously. People complain about the technobabble in Star Trek, but that show put it to much better use than David Whitaker does here. For example, the Emperor helpfully explains precisely how they scan a Daleks' mind to find out about the Mechanoids:

"This hypnotic cloud is made up of thought patterns. They make indelible pictures, stored by this Dalek in its memory retina. We have added substance particles and dimension atoms to that cloud. Watch the result on the visualiser."

Thanks, yer highness! That makes it so much clearer! </sarcasm> Never mind that it is so full of nonsense phrases as to be meaningless, or even that it doesn't explain how a Dalek who has never seen a Mechanoid can remember what one looks like. The most annoying thing is that it isn't needed at all. A sentence like "scan this Dalek's brain for useful information" would do the job just as well, probably better.

Despite these flaws, the plot makes me excited for what is to come next. After all, it's the Mechanoids! Of course that revelation was going to please me, as I've known them as the Daleks' nemesis since before I saw either on screen. But more on that later...

Rating:
Comic: 4.5/10.

Published:
Dates: 11th December 1965 to 8th January 1966

Next Time:
Altered Vistas' take on Eve of War.

AV07: The Menace of the Monstrons

(I'm posting this a bit early because the weekend's busy and then on Monday I'm going into hospital for another back operation, but I don't want to risk leaving it for ages between the two reviews of the same story! Fingers crossed this'll be the penultimate op!)

The Animation
Between writing the previous review and this, I went and read Delta's review - and was struck in particuar by his observation about the resemblance between this story and The Dominators. My, it's quite some parallel, isn't it? Other than the minor detail of the Daleks not being a bunch of Pathetic Hippy Pacifists (tm), of course - I'm sure Mssrs. Haisman and Lincoln would consider Yarvelling's creations much better role models for today's youth.

So, what have AV made of this story? For one thing we've got the best humanoid animation yet (not counting the version of Genesis of Evil I watched, which was redone towards the end of the series). There are also some lovely little effects, including the scanner patterns (very 60s) and the night flight, which was wonderfully atmospheric.

In adapting the story for video AV added a great deal of humour and several references, all of which enhanced the experience for me. There are two door jokes: in one, the engibrain robots stream through a doorway in pretty much the same way as the Daleks when they were on board the DARDIS in The Chase. In the other, there's a doorway that has a big circular cut-out at the top to allow the Emperor Dalek to pass through! I bet some of the more irreverent Daleks snigger and make "I'm not saying the Emperor's got a fat head, but..." comments.

Still, my favourite joke has to be when the Monstrons are scanning for similar lifeforms. As well as Whoniverse creatures such as Sensorites and Zarbi we get the Mekon, the creature from the Black Lagoon, and more.

Which is not to say that it's entirely humourous. The tone is more like that of the 60s Dalek movies, in which genuine tension is cut with comedy. Let's face it, we're watching a fan-made animation of a weekly single-page comic aimed at preteens. Treating it in a po-faced manner isn't going to give much leeway for the inevitable imperfections, and the occasional nod-and-a-wink jest really does help. As I say, I'd rather watch most of these than Dreamland, despite the fact that the latter (presumably) had a much higher budget, and I think this is part of it.

Still, not all of the continuity nods are jokes anyway. We get a shot showing us the Black Dalek still being rebuilt, which fits this into the larger ongoing story; and a discussion of the Magnetiser which protected their city in a previous story plugs a plot hole I hadn't even noticed! Lastly, the body of water from the panel in the comic where the surviving Daleks emerge is here named the Lake of Mutations; which, well, of course it is.

This is the second story in a row where the animation has improved on the original comic. I'll be interested to see if this trend continues.

Rating:
Animation: 6/10.

VCD Extras
The only extra on the disk is the trailer for the next Dalek Chronicle animation. I don't know about anyone else, but it certainly excited me...

Published:
Dates: 2nd September 2005

Next Time:
Eve of War.

TV21 40-46: The Menace of the Monstrons

By complete coincidence (although I must admit I cheekily added the last line of my previous review after I found this out), in the Iris Wildthyme audio I am listening to on Spotify - Series 3 - Iris and her companion Panda are menaced by the Monstrons! I wonder if it's the same Monstrons?

The Comic

Okay, maybe I'm feeling hyper-sensitive today, but I can't help feeling awkward looking at the portrayal of the blue-skinned aliens attacking the Daleks in this story. The thing is, in an attempt to make them look alien, artist Richard Jennings has given them slanty eyes and thick rubbery lips. Which kind of seems like an ugly mashup of how people of African and East Asian background used to be portrayed by us White Europeans. The original "aliens", in fact. Ah, don't you just love a touch of racism in your Doctor Who?

Putting that to one side and turning to the plot, we come to the start of the spoilers!

This is a curiously uneven serial. Taken overall it's a massive, epic tale with huge consequences and a startling death toll. So let's look at that side of it first.

The Monstrons are scientifically advanced (particularly in the arts of war) and methodical. They capture a Dalek and analyse its capabilities before devising a strategy of conquest, protecting themselves behind an unbreakable force field while they do so. Then they soften up the Dalek city with missiles before sending their robotic troops in to finish off the inhabitants, and finally burying the city in liquid metal! I mean, talk about scorched earth policies - these guys could have taught the Romans a thing or two. And that's just the Monstrons' advanced party. Almost all the Daleks are dead, and the only reason the invaders lose is because the captured Dalek manages to temporarily escape and sacrifices its life to activate the volcano atop which the Monstron ship has landed.

Chilling? Well, actually, not entirely; and that's where the other side of the story comes in. Unfortunately, the tone is often in distinct contrast to what I have just described. The robots are called Engibrains and resemble the robot from The Day the Earth Stood Still; the missiles feature anti-invisibility thrusters; and two episodes are taken up with a subplot wherein the Emperor falls into an underground river and pleads for help while being threatened by a giant electric eel. The solution? Another magnet, this time a 10' tall horseshoe magnet of the sort we were all familiar with as children, complete with red-painted handle and metallic poles. What is it with the Daleks and magnetism at the moment? This one, once again, needs power in order to work, which the rescuing Daleks have to provide from their own casings, and then they use the eel to provide power until they can recharge. It's bizarre. As the TV series moves towards the feel of the early comics, the comics seem to be moving more towards the feel of The Chase.

Overall, then, it's exciting, but it's terribly old-fashioned (including the particular form of racism), and the tone is frustratingly inconsistent. At this point I'm wanting more: stories like Duel of the Daleks or The Amaryll Challenge feel very far away at the moment.

Rating:
Comic: 5/10.

Artwork: Richard Jennings
In the 50s and early 60s Richard Jennings was probably best known for his artwork in the celebrated British comic The Eagle, or possibly his work advertising Bovril alongside his better-known Eagle colleague, Frank Hampson (of Dan Dare fame). From 1964 onwards he became associated with the Daleks, both in the Dalek Annuals and the early Dalek Chronicles. While not one of the giants of the industry this later work had an influence on a generation of children: I should know, because I was one of them. And so, as Elizabeth Sandifer has pointed out, was Russell T. Davies. There is a direct line from here to The Parting of the Ways.

Only part of his career was spent on comics, and he also worked as fisherman, lorry driver, and painter and decorator.

Published:
Dates: 23rd October to 4th December 1965

Next Time:
Altered Vistas' take on The Menace of the Monstrons.

AV05: Plague of Death

The Animation

Well, this being a story with no organic life on-screen, I thought it would be ideally suited to animation; and, indeed, this turns out to be the case. I enjoyed this much more than the original comic.

Still, let's start with sound rather than vision. One minor annoyance is the presence of some irritatingly slow Dalek voices, as there used to be in some of the previous stories. I notice that this one is actually an earlier release than The Pentaray Factor, where the problem didn't occur; so I'm hoping this is the last time we'll have to deal with it.

In contrast, the voice of the Brain Machine was fun; and the music and sound effects from Empire 639 were great! The recording quality of all the sound is as crisp as I could want, which hasn't always been true. All of this really helps the experience.

Visually it's a strong release too. There's a lovely shot where the camera is pointing through a sheet of metal, which is gradually eaten away to reveal the scene behind. In fact, several of the rust attack shots impress, as does a first-person view of the Black Dalek seen through the eyestalk of a plague victim. The landscape of Skaro is also pretty spectacular - it looks like it might be taken from photographs, but if so I'm uncertain where on Earth they were snapped! The only significant flaw is a glitch where the Emperor's saucer disappears behind a strip of "sky", which is a shame.

Sound and vision also work together well to support the characterisation. They really show how scared some of the Daleks are, and I also found that the Black Dalek's personality comes through even more strongly than in the comic.

Another aspect of the adaptation that raises this above the comic is the pacing. Various events are compressed or expanded, creating more tension and putting back some of the structure that was absent from the comic. To be fair, this is taking advantage of the fact that there doesn't have to be a cliffhanger every page; but regardless, it's a carefully judged move which is a vast improvement.

There's not much humour here that wasn't present in the original comic (scaredy-Daleks take a bow), but two moments are particularly worthy of note. First, I loved the restrained and disarmed "volunteer" Dalek, poor thing; and second, the moment when opposing Daleks are told "Do Not Fight In Here!". I wonder if the Emperor's throne room is known as the war room? It would certainly be appropriate.

VCD Extras

Surprisingly, there are no extras this time around. The disc didn't really need them, but I was slightly disappointed. Ah well, I suppose I'd better just cut this short and go drown me sorrows - or at least listen to an Iris Wildthyme audio, which is pretty much the same thing...

Rating:
Animation: 5/10.

Next Time:
The Menace of the Monstrons.

TV21 33-39: Plague of Death

The Comic

First, a note about the dates of publication. Mission to the Unknown went out on 9th October 1965, which means that the Dalek Chronicles (which began before The Chase was broadcast) are now overtaking the point I've reached in the TV strand of my marathon. And what's noticeable is that, in terms of tone, the TV series is only just catching up with the comic. Anyone who enjoyed Mission will have done so largely due to the sight of Daleks being both implacable and deadly, with additional variety provided by other alien threats. Basically, you have to possess a fascination with fear and death (as many humans do), a sense of horror that is at the heart of the comics' appeal as well. This, however, was almost entirely absent from The Chase, and to be honest not a major component of The Dalek Invasion of Earth after the first episode. No, you'd have to go all the way back to their debut as the title monsters of serial C to watch this mode of storytelling in action, and in that story the Daleks were confined to a single city and therefore in some way "safe". Like dinosaurs. Now they are out in the universe.

But enough of that - what of this serial? Structurally it's very interesting. Up until now the stories have been entirely linear, but most of this adventure takes place on Skaro while The Penta Ray Factor is happening elsewhere. What's more, the next serial begins before this one is fully resolved! It definitely adds something to the series.

[Spoilers all the way.]

Unfortunately I'm not so enamoured of the content. I'm not one to complain about dodgy science usually - oh, OK, I suppose that's the opposite of true, but generally I'll do so in passing and move on. Here, though, I find it particularly silly. The problems start with an explosion of dalatomic radiation, which fortunately exits in a column through a hole in the roof, leaving the laboratory area uncontaminated. Now, in a genre where we have energy beam weapons I can imagine that happening with a controlled process, but in an explosion? I mean, one of the things about radiation is that it, well, radiates. But it gets better. The beam strips the rust off the metal roof on the way out, creating a radioactive cloud of rust, the one thing Daleks fear.

(Incidentally, this leads to one of my favourite scenes, with Daleks running away from a wall while their leader yells at them to stop panicking. Very Monty Python and the Holy Grail...)

Now, this rust voraciously destroys any metal it touches, including desert stations and Dalek casings. What's more, when fired upon, it climbs the energy beams to contaminate the attackers. Fortunately the brain machine (remember that?) gives them the answer, and the cloud is stopped using static electromagnets. David Whitaker does love his static electricity, doesn't he? Though I can't see how it can create an electromagnet, which produces a magnetic field with an electric current. Perhaps my school just didn't teach me enough physics.

Anyway, this is when things get really weird. The rust turns into a plague, and Daleks start shooting each other to prevent their fellows getting close enough to pass it on. The Emperor returns to find that it isn't being spread between members of the general population, but only from one carrier Dalek - who just happens to be the Black Dalek, the one whose role means that he comes into contact with more of the populace than anyone else. The poor guy should have learned to delegate. He tries to sacrifice himself, but the Emperor refuses, saying they will build him a new casing. So, a happy ending, after a fashion.

I suppose the problem isn't really that the science is dodgy per se, but rather that each twist feels like a completely random magic-wand way of extending the story. There is no logic to it, and no story progression: each page or two a new way for the Daleks to be threatened by the rust appears. This is the serial, episode by episode: (1) create the cloud, (2) show the effects, (3) now it can climb energy beams, (4) the wind blows it towards the city, (5) it turns into a plague, (6) the Black Dalek is the carrier, (7) conclusion, but an alien ship lands. Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam.

I take it back. Regardless of the way it overlaps with the stories on either side, this serial has no structure whatsoever.

Rating:
Comic: 2.5/10.

Published:
Dates: 4th September to 16th October 1965

Next Time:
Altered Vistas' take on Plague of Death.

Episode CC9.03b: Founding Father

This episode is actually called The Founding Fathers, of course (see my previous review). There is more than one founding father figure in the story, once the frame is taken into account; but I think the singular form still works, just utilising ambiguity rather than inclusivity. Hence I am adopting it as a minimal change.

Big Finish have this to say about CC9.03, The Founding Fathers:

The TARDIS lands in Leicester Square in the summer of 1762. When the Doctor, Steven and Vicki find themselves locked out of the TARDIS, only one man can possibly help them. But the American, Benjamin Franklin, has problems of his own...

Well, the framed story in this episode is, if anything, even sparser than last time, with most of the drama residing in the frame. That doesn't leave me much to talk about, and rather than pad it out I'll leave this as a short review.

Let's talk about characterisation. Most writers seem to "get" Vicki, and Simon Guerrier is, of course, no exception: he has her mannerisms down pat. Cleverer is where he shows us Vicki as seen through Steven's eyes, when he describes her as seeing the world in black and white (another nod to the TV show?) - which is almost true, but with a world-weary twist that is slightly dismissive of youthful idealism.

Steven is a harder character to get a handle on, partly because of the circumstances of Peter Purves' time on the show (which forced him to take on whatever role the plot required, to a greater extent even than William Russell). Here, his finding work as a boatman reminded me very much of Ian in The Library of Alexandria. His anger and sense of justice do come through strongly, but moreso in the frame.

Right, on to the plot. Minor spoilers coming up!

If last time was mainly about the Doctor and Benjamin Franklin, then this one is more about Steven, Vicki, and Abigail (with the Franklin/TARDIS thread dealt with briskly, and mostly offstage). Abigail's story holds echoes of Clara's in The Snowmen (it's obvious when you hear it, so I won't go into detail), but holds up well on its own merits. My favourite moment this time around is a scene where she is picked up by a cab, which is seen from Steven's viewpoint - he is already there. It provides an elegant twist on the classic "heroes get into a vehicle to find their enemy waiting " trope.

(Incidentally, I found listening to this episode to be a particularly visual experience. I pictured a lot of the action in my head in low-definition black and white, and with a definite difference between the outside location shoots and the inside sets.)

Of course, Abigail was never in the history books, and her story is left frustratingly incomplete. That's something which doesn't happen often, because we're dealing with fiction here. Usually, by the time the TARDIS leaves, the main guest cast are either dead or at the end of one chapter of their lives (perhaps journey completed, danger averted, about to start work on rebuilding their world; or thwarted and imprisoned or on the run). Indeed, there's often a "who was that masked man?" moment to underline the end of the story so that we aren't left hanging. There's nothing like that here.

But then, that's kind of the point - in two ways. For one thing, the Doctor and his companions are intruders into other people's lives, and their stories generally begin before the TARDIS arrives and continue after its departure. The Doctor is a transformative force, certainly, but there's no reason that the chapter breaks in the various tales should always match up neatly.

Plus, of course, this isn't the end of the story anyway. The adventure in the past is over, but - moreso than almost any Companion Chronicle not written by Guerrier - that is just one part of a larger tale.

Normally, I'd add a post on the story as a whole next. Instead I'm going to leave that until the framing sequence fits, after Steven's parting from the Doctor, and link back to these.

Huh. Guess I had more to talk about than I thought.

Rating:
3.5/10.

Next Time:
Plague of Death.

Who Is This Blog For? (redux)

Reading my last review, an unknown physician on Gallifrey Base pointed out that I hadn't explained what the audio was about!

Actually, it went further than that, since I'd also forgotten to say what the audio was called. The latter was a simple oversight, but the former was the result of a stylistic decision that has, perhaps, gone too far. Regardless, the question prompted me to think hard about the purpose of the blog, not for the first time.

Let's make one thing clear: this blog is mainly for my own benefit. That's true of all blogs, really, though the authors' benefit can be measured in different ways - money, egoboo, personal satisfaction, a sense of giving something to the community. In my case, it's primarily a writing prompt. It used to have a significant secondary purpose, which was to help me keep going with my marathon through the tricky bits; but that has stumbled anyway.

Still, having said that the blog is targeted at myself, it's a bonus if I can inform, educate, and entertain other people along the way. And I've probably paid too little attention to this lately. I think the solution is to make that part of the writing prompt from now on (and making it slightly more specific than "just write something" is no bad thing).

That doesn't mean it's going to be a review blog like, say, Doc Oho's or Styre's, which people might turn to when deciding which audio/dvd/book they are going to spend their hard-earned money on next. As I said in reply to the question, mine are more like "water cooler" discussions: more "hey, did you notice this interesting thing about last night's episode" than "I have analysed this release carefully and here's why I think you should/shouldn't buy it." It will also continue to avoid giving away much of the plot where possible, and post spoiler warnings where not (except in the case of the TV series, which I tend to assume people dedicated enough to read something like this have seen). And it will continue to include snippets of production info and items of personal importance where relevant.

I hope that this will continue to be of interest to some of you. If there are any suggestions for further refinements, please feel free to comment!

Next Time:
Founding Father

Episode CC9.03a: The Fire in the Sky

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

TV21 25-32: The Penta Ray Factor

The Comic
Well, my first thought on seeing this is to wonder what the animation is going to do with all these humanoids. Still, I have the comic to review first. There will be SPOILERS!

When I was young there was a magazine called Look and Learn, a fairly earnest affair I used to pick up occasionally on holiday or in charity shops. It featured an ongoing strip called The Trigan Empire - a massively long-lasting strip which ran from the 60s to the 80s. It was kind of an SF version of Imperial Rome, and the artwork here reminds me of that; I do wonder if there was something in the air at the time. The Roman influence continues with the Cassandra-like seer and his magic future-scrying bowl, which made me think of the eleventh Doctor in The Wedding of River Song.

Now, the Hartnell era is a particularly magical one, with a feeling that anything could happen; but I haven't got the same vibe from the Dalek comics. As a result, this blatant fantasy element (there is no attempt at a pseudoscientific explanation) felt very out of place. I also figured out what the seer's arc was going to be quite early on.

Unlike other aspects of the story. There are some more obvious elements, like the traitor who decides to sell out his people to the Daleks; but this particular plotline goes in a completely unexpected direction. I don't think I've ever seen one of these cowardly traitor characters actually betray the Daleks and win! And then, when the Emperor gets called back to Skaro, the whole story is interrupted by another! Predictable this ain't.

Probably my one complaint about the story is that there isn't a lot to it, and it is in some ways just a rearranging of familiar elements. Still, my surprise at what it does with those elements is a distinct positive.

Rating:
Comic: 7/10.

The Animation
I used to work in motion capture, programming equipment used by hospitals and the entertainment industry, and as a result I am particularly picky about the animation of human movement - which is one reason I am so pleased when we come to stories without humanoids! And, indeed, the movement here is... well... bizarre. There is more of it, and I'm grateful for that; but the scenes with Daleks, vehicles, and architecture work so much better. As usual, many of the panels from the comic are faithfully recreated, and there is even animated water, which surprised me. The comic has suitably unearthly technological design, which gives the animators quite a bit to play with.

The plot has been expanded, and the additions are generally good, giving people a little more character and filling in some of the more egregious gaps (though I still don't understand how the Daleks could manage to smuggle in a giant fake weapon and bring the real one out without anyone noticing). I wasn't so happy about the introduction of a love plot between Mirva and Jareth, though - just because he finally did something selfless doesn't mean he's suddenly likable.
Oh, and one other addition was just boggling. The statues in the throne room all seemed somewhat more, ah, well-endowed than I would expect to see...

Overall, then, still fun but not so good as last time (though for understandable reasons).

Rating:
Animation: 3/10.

VCD Extras
Apart from an advert for the previously-released animations, this disk also includes "I Am the Doctor", a 1972 song by Jon Pertwee. Well, I say song, but he's actually just speaking the lyrics over a version of the theme tune. Although I knew of it I don't actually remember hearing it before, so that was fun; and the run-through of Pertwee's episodes in a diamond window reminiscent of a TV title sequence gave me something to look at. Nothing special, but it made me smile.

Published:
Dates: 10th July to 28th August 1965

Next Time:
Timeslip: The Fire in the Sky.

TV21 18-24: The Amaryll Challenge

Spoilers from the start.

The Comic
Finally, the Daleks make it into space! The first instalment of this serial is a bit like a teaser trailer, concentrating on the Dalek space program. You almost get a sense of the heroism of the early Dalek pioneers sacrificing their lives for a worthy cause.

And this is what makes me think hard about my reaction to these stories. The Daleks are evil empire-mongers, and yet they are undoubtedly the heroes of the comic; which gives me a kind of double vision. I've never understood the attraction of programs like Dexter or Hannibal, where the audience is meant to be, in some sense, attracted to utterly horrible serial killers; and yet, here I am rooting for the Daleks to get into space! Maybe I'm not so different from the fans of those shows after all. My approach to superhero and spy fiction is similar: in real life I would abhor the actions of violent vigilantes and government agencies who put ordinary people's lives at risk, but I can put that to one side and enjoy them on their own terms.

This way of reading is certainly put to the test in the rest of the comic. First we get the thrilling spectacle of Daleks fighting sentient vegetation (no joke - it is thrilling, and my moral sentiments are nowhere to be seen as I enjoy the sight of Daleks being killed in a variety of inventive ways); then the Daleks cause the destruction of the entire planet. I guess spectacle is what it's all about rather than black and white hats, but whatever; it works brilliantly. The only thing that makes it inferior to the previous story is that there is no characterisation on display at all.

Rating:
Comic: 9/10.

Published:
Dates: 22nd May to 3rd July 1965

The Animation
It may be because it was a long time since I last watched one of these, but it felt as if this was a step up. The sound recording quality is still a little subpar, but in general Altered Vistas continue to push against the limitations of what they can achieve. I noted last time how a 'making of' documentary explained why they had to use still shots when Daleks spoke; here, we actually get some shots with speech and character motion, and even the static shots are less noticeable. This is partly due to careful direction, with motion that comes to a natural halt just before the static section; and partly because for some shots they use a scrolling backdrop - an advantage of the Daleks having made it into space.

Speaking of which, the first episode of the comic is expanded to a ten-minute sequence. Again the additional material is mixed. The Emperor's speech at the end is perfectly in keeping with the source material - in fact, it's quite chilling, just as, later, on the speech about "one Dalek is still an army, one Dalek is still an invasion force", set in a beautifully-lit cavern, is a brilliant addition; but the meetings where the Emperor bangs on about how the Daleks are failing seem out of character.

Once we reach the planet, I was pleased to discover that mobile vegetation and lizard-worms don't give the makers as much of a problem as humanoids. Again, the care and attention that has gone into this really shows.

Overall it's nicely done, but rather slow-paced (there was no room for any extra material this time). I would have preferred it if it were five or ten minutes shorter overall, but I still feel getting the whole set of these was a worthwhile investment (especially since it only cost me blank disks, postage, and a little printer ink).

Of course, it's a long time since I've posted one of these reviews as well; so I should point out that I don't make conscious allowances for this being an amateur production. I think there might be an unconscious bias, and the subect matter certainly helps, but even allowing for that they're really not doing bad! For comparison, I rated the BBC productions Dreamland 1.5 and The Infinite Quest 3.5...

Rating:
Animation: 4.5/10.

Next Time:
The Penta Ray Factor.

Turbulence, indeed!

Well, I felt like doing some writing for only the second time in ages but wasn't up to tackling anything important, so I thought I'd have a go at reviving this blog. Which, of necessity, involves saying a little bit about why it's been so long.

Almost two years, in fact - and a pretty grim two years, both personally and politically, despite a few bright spots here and there. We all know about the politics, so I'll concentrate on the personal (which - according to a theory I have a lot of time for - is political, but hey).

Health has been a major issue, both mine and my daughter's (as has the underfunding of the NHS which has put a great deal of pressure on my midwife wife Alison). Following a long decline we decided at the beginning of 2017 to make dealing with health issues our absolute top priority, to the extent of raiding savings earmarked for the kids' university education. This has actually marked a turnaround, and we feel there is now a distinct upward trend. We've been on a strict elimination diet to try and identify foods that provoke an autoimmune response, with some success - we would never have realised how badly May reacts to potatoes without it, and we both have some trouble with the entire nightshade family. It's far from a miracle cure, but cutting out stuff has meant we both have somewhat better endurance, and I have managed to reduce my typical daily pain medication by 25%. As a happy side effect, we've both lost quite a bit of weight. May's BMI has just got back into the normal range after years of being overweight or obese, and I've lost over 10kg in four months (though I'm still towards the top end of overweight). This has helped my mood and concentration too, though my memory is still pretty appalling (I used to do most of the cooking, but after a number of accidents with pans boiling dry I am reduced to a primarily supervisory capacity).

Anyway, thanks to all this, we were able to go to the Eboracum Roman Festival as a family last weekend (I simply wasn't well enough to get there last year). Living History is a bit of a thing for us, and it was great - even if I did end up spending Sunday morning at the hospital. May managed to make us all tunics, and she and Isaac put together authentic shoes for the two of them (though mine and Alison's are still anachronistic).

One thing that hasn't improved my mood is the state of my family tree. My last two aunts died in 2016, so there are now no family members of any higher generation. A few weeks ago one of my cousins died of cancer; her sister has dementia and is now blind. I haven't been able to visit either of them because I can't manage the travel.

But enough of that - this is supposed to be a Doctor Who blog, right? So since I last spoke, my son Isaac and I went to meet Matthew Waterhouse when he was visiting Galaxy Four here in Sheffield. That means I've now met every surviving male companion actor from the classic series except for Mark Strickson though none of the female ones (just coincidence, I assure you)! Matthew was very friendly; he was touched that Adric is Isaac's favourite companion and seemed very happy to be working with Big Finish (he responded enthusiastically when I raised the subject of his work on Dark Shadows). The only other bit of writing I've done is a first Doctor original team story submitted to The Doctor Who Project - it was massively over word count, so I may need to do some rewrites. We'll see.

So is this post just a one-off? To be honest I don't know. In case it isn't I've come up with a two-pronged plan. The first thing is that I'm not going to post any more until I have a batch ready. One review (The Amaryll Challenge) is in the bag, and has been sitting there almost complete since just after I last stopped posting, but I won't put that up until I have maybe four more in hand. That way I'll hopefully avoid "false dawn syndrome", which can be extremely offputting to me as a writer. The second is that - since Big Finish haven't taken a two-year hiatus, and I've still been buying some - I'll incorporate timeslipped reviews of audios that should have occurred earlier in my marathon too, to break up the run of comics.

Right, I'm off to vote. Fingers crossed it won't be another two years before you hear from me again...

Christmas Hiatus, and the arrival of the Norwood Institute

I had hoped to avoid this - particularly since I'd already written more than half of my next review before I posted the last one - but there's been no opportunity to watch the animated version of The Amaryll Challenge (partly due to family health problems) and we're now heading into the holidays, when I know I'm not going to have much time for blog writing, because I never do. I'll pick up again here in the new year.

You don't have to go completely without the whitterings of me and my family, though! My children and I (all of whose writing you have already seen here) have just recorded the first two instalments of a new podcast - the Norwood Institute. It's a bit of an experiment, and our web presentation is a little unfinished, but do check us out over at https://norwoodinstitute.wordpress.com/ or on http://norwood-institute.tumblr.com/. You can download the MP3 or play it on a certain tube, and I promise that there is some Hartnell discussion coming up soon.

Next Time:
The Amaryll Challenge (after a couple more announcements).

TV21 11-17/AV02: Duel of the Daleks

Bigger spoilers.

The Comic
The punchline first: this is undoubtedly the story that cemented The Dalek Chronicles' place in history. Almost everyone rates it highly, and in my opinion they are right to do so. Having got that out of the way, then, let's turn to the more interesting question: what makes it so good?

First off, it's just a riproaringly fun adventure serial, perfectly suited to its medium. Pacing is key in something like this: each instalment holds the interest and - six times out of seven - ends on a dramatic cliffhanging moment. (Even the seventh is better than some of Terry Nation's TV efforts, and he's actually pretty good at this sort of thing.)

Oddly enough, in a story that features only Daleks, it's the characterisation too - basically, that there is some. Zeg (the first Dalek with a name, possibly also the last until the Cult of Skaro? I'd have to check) and the Dalek Emperor are contrasted by their personalities, which are broadly drawn but definitely present. Both are confident, but it's a different stripe of confidence in each. Basically, they embody the brash spirit of energetic Youth and the calm wisdom of experienced Age.

Interestingly, Age wins by cheating. The Brain Machine says that Zeg must prove that he is smart, and the Emperor must prove that he is strong; but all along it is the latter setting traps for the former, destruction testing Zeg's casing. He succeeds eventually, ignoring the Machine's dictum in order to do so.

What drives the Emperor is revealed in the final instalment: he genuinely believes that the Daleks can only thrive with him at their head. It's not as visible, but he is just as arrogant as Zeg - and indeed the Black Dalek, making his first appearance here (with an imperiously callous air) as the Emperor's enforcer. Really, it's a key feature of the Dalek psyche, and it's impressive that characters driven by the same basic forces can be made so different.

I haven't said much about the artwork, but it continues to be effective in ways I've already described, and also adds its own spin to the atmosphere. For instance, during the duel Zeg is very prominent, foregrounded or featured on his own three times as often as the Emperor, who tends to lurk around the edges. This really helps to show us that the duellists are not the same.

Published:
Dates: 3rd April to 15th May 1965

Rating:
Comic: 9.5/10.

Terry Nation's The Daleks?
Having talked about the scripting a lot over the last few reviews, it's probably worth saying something about the writer. The logo panel says "The Daleks by Terry Nation". Apparently for some strange reason a few people believed that this meant the strip was written by Nation, though I can't imagine why: it's pretty obvious that Nation had nothing to do with it, and that David Whitaker was the writer (along with TV21 editor Alan Fennell for the first story).

Whitaker needs no introduction to readers of this blog, but this is the first time we've seen him as an actual writer of the Daleks. He had already written some printed Dalek stories - which we'll get to in a little while - and he'll get to write them for TV during Patrick Troughton's time on the show. What he does here is to create much of the imagery that people who grew up in the 60s associate with Daleks, despite much of it not appearing on the show itself - even the Dalek Emperor was conspicuous by his absence until Nation stopped writing the scripts. There are many figures who contributed to the success of the Daleks, and Whitaker is right up there among the most significant.

The Animation
The sound quality here is much better, which is a relief; and Stuart Palmer has reduced the number of times he pro-noun-ces each syll-a-ble se-pa-rate-ly, though he still does so on occasion. The fact that this story features no humanoids also means that it is ideally suited to animation. It's still very primitive compared to the remastered Genesis of Evil, and in a way I'm sorry I watched that one first; but I did enjoy it. Given that this is AV02 and the previous story was AV04, I'd expect this one to be the less advanced; but for the reasons given above it feels like a slightly later effort. At the moment the comic is still considerably better, though!

VCD Extras
This disc has a "making of" documentary, which was really useful for helping me understand quite how much work goes into an animation like this. I can see why almost all the shots featuring speech (and hence flashing lights) were done as basic, 2D animation, and boggle at the hours that go into producing the sets. Worth a watch.

Rating:
Animation: 4.5/10.

Next Time:
The Amaryll Challenge.

TV21 4-10/AV04: Power Play

Only minor spoilers this time.

The Comic
The first thing I notice is that, within the comic series itself, there appears to be nothing to mark the break between one story and the next. Rather like the original program itself, in fact! Still, as with the TV series, there are definitely serials (or perhaps chapters), so it makes sense to give them names. This second chapter in the sequence is over twice as long, at seven pages, which becomes fairly standard - seven out of the next ten stories are this length.

The story itself is not as strong as the first, but then origins are always a good hook (which is why superhero comics and film series reboot so often). What is clever here is that for a long time it feels like a simple incident, one that doesn't progress the overall narrative; but then, in the final instalment, something key happens that expands the canvas on which future chapters can work.

The Daleks are well-characterised. They are clever and devious, but also limited in key ways (although how they have managed to rebuild a city without slaves is not explained, despite this being a key point last time). There is a nice nod to The Chase, and the various betrayals that happen meant the story held my interest.

Unfortunately, the heroes of the piece are - once again - young, attractive, white humans (or at least indistinguishable from humans), while the villain is ugly and purple. This feels less extreme than last time - it's not something we've escaped in the half-century since, after all - but it still rankles a little.

One welcome artwork change is that the Daleks are now portrayed with their correct proportions (the title panel changes to reflect this partway through the story). The continuity-obsessed part of me can easily justify this, happily: the first, overly-tall Daleks were prototypes, and they have now improved the design. The Mark 2, perhaps.

A less happy change is that the inking on the fourth through sixth instalments is much lighter and less detailed. This makes everything look sketchier, and definitely takes away from the atmosphere. Fortunately the original inker is back for the finale, a very nicely done page in which the climactic event - the launch of a spaceship - distorts not only the panel where it happens, but bends the next row up as well! A simple trick that gives a sense of enormous energy.

TV Century 21
Time for some background. The first comic to feature anything from the world of Doctor Who was the venerable TV Comic, which had already lasted 673 issues before the Doctor came on board. TV Century 21 was a different beast, and had the Daleks - in colour! - out of the gate. The new comic was focused mainly on Gerry Anderson's stable of shows, and cleverly pretended that they all fitted together when they were clearly not designed that way - something us Whovian continuity obsessives would know nothing about, of course.

Throughout much of the 1960s, Anderson's shows (Fireball XL5, Stingray, Thunderbirds, and so forth) were massive - in fact, for a while, TV Century 21 (later simply called TV21) was by far the biggest comic on the stands. It took a unique tack, dating the issues a century in the future and presenting itself more like a newspaper, as if reporting on events in the world of the future. More details can be found in Stuart Palmer's narration of The Story of TV Century 21, an extra on the remastered Genesis of Evil VCD, which is accompanied by a slideshow of covers from issues featuring the Daleks.

Published:
Dates: 13rd February to 27th March 1965

Rating:
Comic: 4/10.

The Animation
One of my problems with the story in the comic was that the Daleks had apparently built their city on their own despite claiming to need slaves for handiwork. The VCD addresses this straight away, with a narrated series of still shots showing the Daleks' extermination and capture of survivors of the neutron bomb. It's just what was needed to set the scene.

Unsurprisingly, this is a much less sophisticated animation than the previous one. The sound quality is poorer (I had to really concentrate to make out some of the dialogue), Palmer hasn't quite got the pacing of the Dalek voices he was to develop later, and some of the scenes are not cut at quite the right point. More importantly, the human characters have no lip sync at all, and are often shown in still shots. It feels much more like a recon than the last!

At just over half an hour for a comic that is more than twice the length, this is a faster-paced adaptation. Some of the cuts are neat, using techniques such as zooming in on the emperor's eye, and I can see the seeds of a very good director in Palmer's work here. In a way I would be much more impressed if I hadn't just watched what he produced later on!

VCD Extras
Dalek Cutaway is an animated guide to the Dalek machine. There have been a number of these published in books; this one is based on Terry Nation's Dalek Special (1979) and The Doctor Who Technical Manual, which I haven't seen. I mostly like it, but the teletype-style text comes up at too slow a pace for me (I'm a fast reader), which means I spent some of the time waiting for the next word to appear. Still, a good effort.

Rating:
Animation: 3/10.
(I should note that I am judging the animations by pretty much the same standard I use for professional work; 3/10 is therefore not as bad as it might sound!)

Next Time:
Duel of the Daleks.

AV20: Genesis of Evil

Spoilers again!

The Animation
There have been two versions of the VCD; I've got Genesis of Evil Remastered, which was released in 2009, near the end of the time these discs were being produced. I suppose the creators weren't satisfied with their original offering, but this release is certainly impressive.

3D computer modelling is used for the animation, and let me start with an area that always gives difficulties: living beings. The characters here aren't good enough for TV (though to be fair I thought that was true of the tenth Doctor adventure Dreamland as well). They are stiff, lacking the little movements that characterise real people. There is also a problem with hair, which tends to sink, ghostlike, into the body. The lip sync, however, is very good indeed.

A great deal of care has been spent on the sets, which are lovingly recreated from the comic and then expanded. These and the true Daleks are the highlight of the animation, and - except for resolution - they are TV quality. From the initial view of Skaro in space (with the hateful opening text scrolling, Star Wars-like, in the foreground) to the final rising crane shot of massed Daleks chanting, they are a delight. It's only when there are people in shot or pyrotechnic effects (such as the destruction of Dalazar) that I am reminded that this is effectively an amateur production. Even then, it's a very good one.

The actors do a decent job. Stuart Palmer (who also voices the true Daleks) plays Zolfian very much in the Richard III tradition, reminding me strongly of John Ringham's Tlotoxl from The Aztecs - in fact there's little subtlety in any of the performances, but then that's not what's wanted. A bit of ham suits the pulp SF mood. Richard Dadd's Yarvelling and Paul St. Marter's Drenz join in willingly. The sound quality is great, with effective music and effects from Empire 639.

So, what about the story? This is 20 minutes long, and the first instalment of the comic, in particular, has been expanded significantly - it now takes almost half the runtime. This is a mixed blessing: it lacks some of the punch of the original and some of the new dialogue is a bit flat, but we get to see more of the world (which, as mentioned above, is pretty darn impressive). I was less happy with the alterations than I was with the expansions. The addition of the mutos in the wilderness seems like an intrusion from the later Genesis, as does the way that the original Daleks (now human in shape, presumably because of the availability of 3D models) have been at war with the Thals for a long time, which sits oddly with having a peace-loving leader. On the other hand, putting rational arguments into the mouth of Yarvelling just feels wrong - I think it would have been better to keep the two Daleks focused on Thal annihilation and trusted the audience to figure out that there was an argument against continuing war against scattered survivors! Still, these are minor complaints.

I could say more - about the in-joke of a bomb with the registration DVRS-75, perhaps, or the effective "Stripped for Action" style title sequence - but this review has already been split once because of it turning into a monster, and there's one more thing to cover.

VCD Extras
There are three extras on this VCD, and I'll cover The Story of TV Century 21 next time. The Chronicle Years is a tour through the music and news of the two-year period when the comic strip was being published. It's put together well, with a soundtrack comprising extracts from the number one chart singles playing in order (and identified in a strip at the top of the shot) while the main part of the screen shows images of current events (described in a band at the bottom). During weeks when the TV show was being broadcast, a small image of the current story is displayed bottom left. The month and year is on the right. It took a little while for me to get used to this layout, but after that it worked well - with one caveat. It goes on too long. My brain was divided between interest in how everything fit together (shades of Elizabeth Sandifer's psychochronography) and mental clock-watching. Cutting it into two and having the second half on the Archives of Phryne disc would have worked much better for me. Then, right at the end, there's a delightfully bizarre 1960s BBC "Interlude", showing an invasion of rolykins toy Daleks being fought off by a crawling baby doll. Ah, the 1960s!

That just leaves I'm Gonna Spend My Christmas with a Dalek, to which that last comment could also be applied. This was a single released by the Go-Gos which is, shall we say, not the greatest piece of pop music ever produced, even if we restrict our attention to novelty releases. Enlivened by a very simple, tongue-in-cheek animated "pop video", it's fascinating. Like a car crash.

Rating:
Animation: 7/10.

Next Time:
Power Play.

TV21 1-3: Genesis of Evil

OK, last post I reviewed a TV episode which now exists only as a recon but has been adapted into a comic; next I am journeying 8½ months earlier in 1965, to review a comic which has been given an animated "recon" of its own. Which, I suppose, requires some context; but since I've got 17 of these reviews to fill, I'm going to space that out. And, since everything is new here - which means I've so much to say I'm splitting it anyway - I'm just going to concentrate on the content. With major spoilers!

The Comic
Genesis of the Daleks this isn't: rather than six slightly bloated 25-minute TV episodes we have three single-page comics. The economy of storytelling on display is impressive, with the entire war happening on page 1 and feeling surprisingly unhurried. Unfortunately, this instalment also has enough space to be rather problematic.

Those of you with total recall may remember that when I reviewed serial B, back near the beginning of this marathon, I complained about the racist and (particularly) ableist themes, with the idea of the Daleks as Nazi analogues being undercut thanks to them being the horrifying mutants and the Thals being noble, physically-perfect Aryans. Unfortunately the beginning of this story is, if anything, even worse, with the "tall, handsome" Thals petrified of being assaulted by the "short, ugly" Daleks - even though the current Dalek leader, Drenz, is a pacifist! And, of course, the Thals are right, because nature will out: the Dalek Minister of War Zolfian assassinates his ruler and takes control once his ultimate weapon is prepared. You can't trust nasty little blue trolls like these even to get war right, though, and a natural disaster sets off their neutron bombs early, wiping out all civilisation on Skaro.

I'll tell you what's short and ugly: this instalment of this comic. But you know what? When I was a child I wouldn't have blinked an eye at that. So I'm going to swallow my privileged, righteous 21st Century anger and move on. 'Nuff said, in the words of an unpleasant character who I used to really admire.

Ahem. Anyway, there are a couple of continuity issues you might have noticed mentioned in passing. Yes, the Daleks (not Dals, not Kaleds) are blue, and humanoid but not quite human in shape. Fair enough; nobody has to pay for makeup here, so why not turn them into a cross between the Mekon and the Smurfs? And I'll tell you what else is different: the machines that will house them are built by chief scientist Yarvelling. Not Davros. The other Genesis is a long way in the future.

I've only covered one-third of the story, so let me plough on. The second instalment opens two years later, with the only two Dalek survivors (Zolfian and Yarvelling, naturally) coming out to explore their dead world. The phrases 'neutron bomb' and 'cobalt bomb' probably don't have the same resonance with people of younger generations that they do with me, but this doesn't strike me as an unrealistic image - it feeds into a fear that most of us had growing up in the 60s and 70s. This was quite possibly how the world would end.

Life hasn't quite ended, though, because there's the traditional final-panel reveal of a "proper" Dalek, encased in a travel machine (sorry, "war machine"). Well, I say proper; the artist hasn't got it quite right. It's too tall and thin. Perhaps it's a Mark I. Nevertheless, this is what we have been waiting for - and in the third instalment Zolfian and Yarvelling work hard to fulfil their sick ambitions before dying of radiation sickness. And we get to witness the creation of the golden emperor!

So: well-written, well-painted, with some unpleasant politics. Oh, and a continent called Darren: that has to be worth something.

Published:
Dates: 23rd January to 6th February 1965

Rating:
Comic: 6/10.

Next Time:
Genesis of Evil revisited.

Episode 86 (DC): Dalek Cutaway

[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.

Episode 86 (T/A): Mission to the Unknown

Yikes, a bit of a long break before this one! Never mind; here at last is the first of two posts on this strangest of episodes - in which I don't review the content at all.

There's a reason for this, which is that I found it impossible to come at the story with an open mind. There is just so much mythology and trivia flying around concerning Mission to the Unknown that it clutters up my ability to appreciate it simply for what it is, so I decided to get that out of the way first.

Let's start with the reason it exists, which is, basically, scheduling. Towards the end of the previous recording block the last two parts of serial J (Planet of Giants) were combined into one because there wasn't enough content to warrant a four-parter, but this meant that the team had effectively produced one week's worth of Doctor Who less than planned. Sydney Newman decided to tack an extra episode on the end of the second recording block to make up for it.

Of course this meant that the episode needed to be fairly cheap, and also ran into the problem of the regular cast having to work an extra week. Verity Lambert came up with a solution that solved both of these issues at once, and in the process produced something quite unique.

This, then, is the first ever Doctor-lite story. It's so lite, in fact, that the Doctor doesn't appear at all (which is not quite true of any others, not even the 1960s episodes when William Hartnell was on holiday). His companions don't appear, either. Nor the TARDIS.

It's impossible to imagine the impact this would have had on viewers at the time (though Elizabeth Sandifer gives it a go in her review) - it's almost as if the program had been invaded by another show altogether.

And, in a way, it had. Without the regular cast to hold people's attention, Lambert turned to that other great attraction of the program, the Daleks. (In fact, it could be argued that they were even more popular: the first Dalek film came out in the summer, the stageplay Curse of the Daleks was announced at the end of September, and the second Dalek annual was due to go on sale two days after broadcast. Dalekmania indeed!) Lambert asked Terry Nation to produce a 'teaser' episode for the forthcoming Dalek epic, and Nation decided to use the opportunity to test out the viability of an independent Dalek program.

So, how successful is the only single-episode story of the classic series? You'll have to tune in next time to find out what I thought...

Behind the Scenes: Verity Lambert
Before she disappears from the show I need to say something about Doctor Who's first producer. This was Lambert's final episode before following Sydney Newman out of the door to produce The Newcomers with him, followed by Adam Adamant Lives! (a show my mother remembered fondly). Lambert went on to have a glittering career, which is detailed in the usual places, so I won't reiterate it here. Other people have also said plenty about her contribution to Doctor Who - see Sandifer again for an eloquent example. I just want to add one thing.

When I got properly back into the show (after a long break) in 2006 I decided to investigate some highlights of the eras I had missed first time around, as well as revisit some old favourites. Being new to fandom I defined eras by the most obvious method (the actor playing the Doctor), and the highlights by fan consensus (since I hadn't had a chance to form my own opinions). It took me by surprise quite how off target my expectations were, and in particular quite how much I enjoyed the Sylvester McCoy and Hartnell eras, neither of which had been suggested as highlights.

As time passed and I grew more knowledgeable I could refine that a little more: what I loved was actually the Andrew Cartmel and Lambert eras. Oh, there are plenty of joys still to come before we reach the end of The Tenth Planet, and there have been a smattering of clunkers already; but this has been a real golden age. And it set up the show to run and run, for another fifty years so far. So I am very glad that she lived to see the show successful once again in a new millennium, under Russell T. Davies.

Next Time:
Dalek Cutaway.

Serial T: Galaxy 4 (The Chumblies)

What went wrong with Galaxy 4? Part of it is certainly down to circumstance. Given that Airlock is by far my favourite episode mainly due to the direction I suspect that the rest of the serial would benefit similarly from not having been junked. This was John Wiles' first story as producer (although Verity Lambert was still technically in charge, her attention was elsewhere) and the first script-edited by Donald Tosh that wasn't written by a former script editor who knew the ropes. Nobody could have predicted director Mervyn Pinfield falling ill, creating disruption (although the direction itself benefits), and writer William Emms had to rework the script for a different TARDIS team at quite short notice.

Nevertheless, there's also some blame to be apportioned. William Hartnell acted very childishly, taking out his genuine upset over Lambert's departure on the production team, and the inexperienced Wiles badly mishandled the conflict. Tosh should have done more to rescue the script (particularly The Exploding Planet, where boosting the Drahvins as a threat - for instance, by letting them find a way to neutralise the Chumblies - could have made all the difference and been a relatively easy change).

Because it's the script that is the biggest problem. There are some fascinating and worthwhile ideas here, not least the demolishing of the way that ugliness generally equals evil - a fallacy that Doctor Who has struggled with throughout its history, from The Daleks right through to the current Capaldi season. But these ideas needed a framework in which to flourish, and what we got barely worked as an adventure serial.

Of course, I am not the target audience. Back in 1965, this was better received than The Time Meddler, with a higher average AI and better viewing figures for every episode - in fact, Airlock reached more people than any episode since The Web Planet!

Let's talk about the DVD release. This was an odd one. A cut-down version of the Loose Cannon recon had been prepared for The Time Meddler DVD, appropriately, but in the end it wasn't used. The discovery of Airlock meant the BBC wanted to get the new episode out there, and it was spliced into the recon; but what DVD could it go on? The only sensible possibility was The Aztecs Special Edition. Because of the lateness of the decision, artwork had already been prepared; so the only indication that it also contained Galaxy 4 was a sticker.

Even ignoring the fact that we have an existing episode, this is a much better effort than the Marco Polo reconstruction in The Beginning box set. There is enough, here, to get a good feel for the story; and if I want to experience it again I'll certainly be happy with it.

Right, I should also say something about the tie-in to The Suffering. Ignoring real-world broadcast and release dates, it does seem odd that neither Steven nor Vicki note the likelihood that the Drahvins came about because of events recapped in the audio, especially since they were thinking about it (and recounting it) just before Steven's haircut. Still, it does fit well, and Jacqueline Rayner's story adds some depth to the villains of the TV serial.

It's Thingy, from That Other Program, Part 5: Angelo Muscat
One name jumped out at me from the credits: Angelo Muscat, playing one of the Chumblies. I didn't recognise him, of course; but I knew who he was, because I'm a fan of The Prisoner, where he played the butler. Galaxy 4 was his first TV credit and he was fairly successful for a few years thereafter, also appearing in Alice in Wonderland and The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour; but after The Prisoner work dried up. Maureen O'Brien said that she spent a lot of time with the actors who were inside the Chumblies, and that because of their height they were treated as youngsters, much as she herself was. Muscat's last role was as an Oompa-Loompa in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory; he died poor, five years later.

Isaac's Corner
We've all been struggling with bugs this half term; and, although his most recent virus has now passed, Isaac has been left with limited breath. He needs to use an inhaler and spacer device for the moment, otherwise he has virtually no energy. I'm grateful the holidays are coming to give everyone a chance just to rest! Anyway, he wasn't feeling up to writing Isaac's corner this time, but told me a few thoughts which I shall try to get down faithfully (as always, he focused mainly on the positive, a trait I really like):

The different societies presented in Galaxy 4 were interesting, and it was particularly good to see differing points of view on the same situation. Having said that, the story wasn't clear enough in showing people's motivations - for instance, why did Maaga shoot one of her own soldiers? It came across as something she did just because she was EVIL. Overall it was a nice, simple story - I wasn't wowed by it, but I did like it. And the Chumblies were cute!

Rating:
Mine: 3/10.
DWM Mighty 200: 55.51%, 172nd.
DWM 50th Anniversary: 57.98%, 210th.
2012 Gallifrey Base Non-Dynamic Rankings: 5.15, 210th out of 234.

Next Time:
Mission to the Unknown.

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.