This was my favourite Dalek story for much of my childhood. As an adult,
I picked up a secondhand copy of the two-movie DVD set on a market
stall - always a slightly worrying way of buying such easily-damaged
items, though this time both disks were fine - and enjoyed it again.
Very much so, in fact; I rated it 8/10 (as opposed to the 2/10 I gave
the TV version in 2006, when I watched it over two evenings). Watching
it this week I didn't expect my opinion to have changed much over the
last few years, but it has. Quite a bit.
Let's start at the beginning, though. We have a quite un-spacy opening,
with a policeman dreaming of far-away lands while a robbery is about to
take place and some classic piano music setting the tone. There's an
effective explosion, some thuggery, and another "down the rabbit-hole"
moment, this time for policeman Tom Campbell. I like the echoes of An Unearthly Child,
here - in another reality it could have been the bobby from that first
episode who found his way into the TARDIS - and this time, appropriately
for the film that concludes the series, there's also a matching "back
to reality" moment. We have a reprise at the very end, but not quite as
before because Tom gets his reward, and his dreams have changed. It may
be a feelgood ending, but it's not without its issues: if he prevents
the events that caused him to enter Tardis in the first place, what
happens? Are there now two Toms running around London? Shades of The Time Travellers!
Tackling this paradox isn't in the purview of the film, though - it's
just a bonus for people like me who enjoy thinking about such things.
For me, it takes a step down in enjoyability immediately after this
opening, when the random passer-by tries to lean against the
dematerialised Tardis and breaks the Fourth Wall by shrugging at the
audience. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for this particular style of
humour - I'd been busy at school helping out with SATs in the morning
(with more to come next day), and was looking to escape into another
world; but that's not really what you get. Oh, Tom is a lot less
pratfally than the Pete's World version of Ian, but there's still quite a
bit of basic humour - the "blending in with robomen" and "food machine
on fast forward" scenes in particular.
Ah yes, Ian. This film was originally intended to use the same main cast as Doctor Who and the Daleks
but neither Roy Castle nor Jennie Linden were available, so we got Tom
and Louise instead of Ian and Barbara. Has there ever been a more
pointless character than Louise? I complained about Barbara last time,
but I think I'm right in saying that her successor gets nothing to do
that affects the plot at all. There's no way to tell how good or bad an
actress Jill Curzon is, beyond the fact that she can deliver lines,
doesn't look awkward and can fall over! This isn't a good film for
Roberta Tovey's Susy, either. She still gets to show off her brains a
little, but is in all other ways disempowered. It's a darn good job
Bernard Cribbins is a good actor, then, because he - even more than
Peter Cushing - has to carry the film.
Still, it's an action movie rather than a character piece, and needs to
be viewed in that light. Unfortunately, the bigger budget for the TV
version (plus the fact that we've seen colour Daleks before so the wow
factor from that is reduced) makes the contrast less marked - the
fights, for instance, are only a little better than the TV version. This
is compounded by some unfortunate design choices, such as the clean and
clean-cut rebels in their well-organised hideaway. In fact, the whole
effort is more... sanitised. There's a lack of grim and grimy
desperation that really should be there, and it looks more like 1950s
England than ever. The music doesn't help, with the scene of the van
charging the Daleks undermined by the jolly tune accompanying it. I
still really like Dalek/Roboman march, though, and the theme music is
better than in the last film.
There's a lot to like. Some of the set-piece scenes very work well - the
destruction of the van, for instance - and the saucer is wonderful. The
robomen look and sound a lot better, though again the loss of their
zombie nature reduces the horror factor (almost certainly deliberately).
The robotiser is snazzier, even if the head covering does look like a
hairdryer, and we have Daleks with proper voices using their claws. The
mineshaft is vastly improved, with some great pulsing lights, and the
bomb looks like one.
On the other hand the direction is largely flat and static. Gordon
Flemyng seems to think that a Dalek rolling down a ramp is interesting,
and he lacks the eye of Richard Martin (though he also has a higher
baseline of quality).
What of the script? David Whitaker does some good things here. The
Doctor's escape from the cell on the saucer is much less contrived, the
aforementioned bomb doesn't have a stupid person-holding area, and the
way he mixes up the characters to keep those aspects that are most
important to the plot is skilful. David becomes more interesting having
ditched the Zeppo-style romantic lead aspect: he has a bit of an edge,
and is the crack shot instead of Tyler (whose film alter ego Wyler has
more compassion to make up for it). David's line "I always did prefer
the country" is a nice nod to the end of the TV version. In contrast,
Dortmun is far less interesting and has had the heart of his story
ripped out. Jenny, being a woman and therefore by definition useless,
has disappeared entirely.
There are other women, of course: the clothes menders. And look who's
there! Old Mother, from the tribe of Gum! She's been appearing regularly
on the Gallifrey Base alternate history thread,
working with the Daleks, so now is an appropriate time for me to be
watching this. My review is getting long, though, so I don't have time
to say much about Philip Madoc (who we'll see again - but why did the
Daleks shoot him here?), or the Sugar Puffs adverts that appear because
the company that made them sponsored the film, or the even-worse-than-TV
technobabble, or the rubbish volcano. Though I can't help mentioning
the revelation that Daleks go to sleep when you put a cloth over them.
Genius!
It's Thingy, from That Other Program, Part 4: Bernard Cribbins and Ray Brooks
I'm well over my word count, but I also can't resist the temptation of
combining these two. Or rather, two programs for which they provided the
voices.
I only remember seeing Brooks in this movie (though I might have seen
him in guest roles in other shows I watched), but his voice is instantly
recognisable to me. He was the narrator of Mister Benn, another of my favourite children's TV shows from the early 1970s. It's much like Who
in some ways: the eponymous hero visits a costume shop run by a
mysterious, magic-using shopkeeper and then is sent to other worlds,
times and genres where he sorts out problems before returning to the
changing room. Fans of the show who also watch The Sarah Jane Adventures
may well have spotted a tribute in the fourth series. I bought the DVD
for my children, but am quite happy to watch it without them!
Meanwhile, one of the many things Cribbins was famous for three decades before his return to Who was The Wombles, which aired a couple of years later than Mister Benn.
I didn't like this quite so much, but it was still a lot of fun (and
with a breakthrough theme song by Mike Batt). I can't see much of a
connection with Who, though, other than the narrator, so I'll leave it there. See you next time.
Rating:
4/10.
Next Time:
A brief step back in time for The Exiles.
Saturday, 19 May 2012
Friday, 11 May 2012
Serial K: The Dalek Invasion of Earth
For once, I'll let my son have first say on how this serial went:
Isaac's Corner
It was good, but much too long - and the book was better, because it explained more. The best moment was Barbara driving the truck through the Daleks; the bit with Ian in the spaceship was fun too. The original spaceship model looked rubbish but the CGI one was much better, and the scenery worked well, particularly the mines and ruined London. They did a very good job with Susan leaving.
The Book
Ah yes, the novelisation. I don't own any of the Target adaptations, but my children do; and as a result I was able to read along. After each episode (occasionally a day or two after) I'd turn to the corresponding section of the book. This is the second novelisation I've read, and they've both been written by Terrance Dicks based on other writers' scripts. Elizabeth Sandifer has written at length on Dicks' books, and from my more limited experience I have to agree with her general opinion; so rather than repeat a lot I'll point you there. I will say, though, that Dicks has an engaging, breezy style which makes the books very easy to read; but they are short, and adapting a six-parter doesn't offer a lot of leeway. So I agree with my son that it explains more - or, more accurately, explains things better - and some of the dialogue is sharper; but the necessarily sparse writing means that we lose a lot of the nuances that come from the actors' performances as well. And William Hartnell's famous speech at the end is cut to shreds. There are some great passages, though, often conjuring up a much better visual image than the TV serial could achieve; and (although it's repeating an endorsement from the above-linked page) I really do want to emphasise the brilliance of the opening line:
Through the ruin of a city stalked the ruin of a man.
Brr. It sends shivers down my spine.
Firsts and Lasts
Meanwhile, on TV this is a bit of a landmark. The final serial of the first production block is also the original script editor's final story - though we will be seeing much more of Whitaker wearing his writer's hat, so I don't need to give him a proper farewell. I find it hard to assess the contribution of the script editor without another to contrast him with, so I'm not going to try at this point.
It's also the first story with extensive location shooting, the first to use a quarry, and (as discussed already) the first shot in Riverside studios. The list goes on - the first Earth invasion story, the first return to England, the first future Earth setting... and, of course, the first time a 'monster' returns. Indeed, the Daleks are the only returnees in the entire Hartnell run, other than a certain monk who appears for a couple of episodes alongside the pepperpot moneyspinners.
Its influence is hard to overrate, despite its flaws. Journey's End, more than 40 years later, is a blatant tribute show - right down to direct quotes and the "someone tried to move the Earth before, but that was a long time ago" comment.
Another first, of course, is the departure of a regular - and I will soon be devoting a whole post to Susan (and Carole Ann Ford). But there are a few other matters to attend to first.
Rating:
Single Sitting: 2/10.
Episodic: 4.5/10. The average would be 5.5, but the weak episodes still drag it down further than that for me.
Novelisation: 5/10.
DWM Mighty 200: 79.21%, 44th.
2011 Gallifrey Base Non-Dynamic Rankings: 7.84, 50th out of 222.
Next Time:
Crossing the void once again, we revisit Pete's World on the big screen for an alternative take in Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150AD!
Isaac's Corner
It was good, but much too long - and the book was better, because it explained more. The best moment was Barbara driving the truck through the Daleks; the bit with Ian in the spaceship was fun too. The original spaceship model looked rubbish but the CGI one was much better, and the scenery worked well, particularly the mines and ruined London. They did a very good job with Susan leaving.
The Book
Ah yes, the novelisation. I don't own any of the Target adaptations, but my children do; and as a result I was able to read along. After each episode (occasionally a day or two after) I'd turn to the corresponding section of the book. This is the second novelisation I've read, and they've both been written by Terrance Dicks based on other writers' scripts. Elizabeth Sandifer has written at length on Dicks' books, and from my more limited experience I have to agree with her general opinion; so rather than repeat a lot I'll point you there. I will say, though, that Dicks has an engaging, breezy style which makes the books very easy to read; but they are short, and adapting a six-parter doesn't offer a lot of leeway. So I agree with my son that it explains more - or, more accurately, explains things better - and some of the dialogue is sharper; but the necessarily sparse writing means that we lose a lot of the nuances that come from the actors' performances as well. And William Hartnell's famous speech at the end is cut to shreds. There are some great passages, though, often conjuring up a much better visual image than the TV serial could achieve; and (although it's repeating an endorsement from the above-linked page) I really do want to emphasise the brilliance of the opening line:
Through the ruin of a city stalked the ruin of a man.
Brr. It sends shivers down my spine.
Firsts and Lasts
Meanwhile, on TV this is a bit of a landmark. The final serial of the first production block is also the original script editor's final story - though we will be seeing much more of Whitaker wearing his writer's hat, so I don't need to give him a proper farewell. I find it hard to assess the contribution of the script editor without another to contrast him with, so I'm not going to try at this point.
It's also the first story with extensive location shooting, the first to use a quarry, and (as discussed already) the first shot in Riverside studios. The list goes on - the first Earth invasion story, the first return to England, the first future Earth setting... and, of course, the first time a 'monster' returns. Indeed, the Daleks are the only returnees in the entire Hartnell run, other than a certain monk who appears for a couple of episodes alongside the pepperpot moneyspinners.
Its influence is hard to overrate, despite its flaws. Journey's End, more than 40 years later, is a blatant tribute show - right down to direct quotes and the "someone tried to move the Earth before, but that was a long time ago" comment.
Another first, of course, is the departure of a regular - and I will soon be devoting a whole post to Susan (and Carole Ann Ford). But there are a few other matters to attend to first.
Rating:
Single Sitting: 2/10.
Episodic: 4.5/10. The average would be 5.5, but the weak episodes still drag it down further than that for me.
Novelisation: 5/10.
DWM Mighty 200: 79.21%, 44th.
2011 Gallifrey Base Non-Dynamic Rankings: 7.84, 50th out of 222.
Next Time:
Crossing the void once again, we revisit Pete's World on the big screen for an alternative take in Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150AD!
Sunday, 6 May 2012
Episode 51 (K6): Flashpoint
It's Boxing Day - and we've got Daleks at Christmas again! This time, of
course, Dalekmania is in full swing. Look at those ratings: 12.4
million, the joint highest to date. And this is a bit different from the
last Dalek climax, The Rescue, which fell apart for so many
reasons. This time, the team attempt an epic conclusion and succeed,
which is probably why this story is so highly regarded despite such a
weak middle section.
Of course, it's an episode of two parts, and the conclusion to the main conflict only takes up the first two thirds; so I'm going to split up the review.
V.E. Day: Victory in England
Let's get this clear: I don't believe blowing up the mine and saucer is the end of the conflict. Daleks are the masters of India, after all, and they're not going to manage that with one ship based halfway around the world! The humans have a long struggle ahead of them. Which isn't to diminish the scale of the victory here.
So, hyperbolic claims apart, how was the story? We open with Ian in the bomb capsule, using his brains to escape (though it admittedly looks more like pulling out random wires); then we switch to the control room and some good shots of well-choreographed Daleks. Barbara's hilarious (in a good way) history-based distraction is brilliant, and she gets to come up with the plan that will eventually defeat the Daleks. It should have been Susan, of course, but Jacqueline Hill deserves the moment too, and she was the most sidelined of the regulars in the last Dalek story. This is followed by a nice pan and cut to the Doctor's group, and even if the task he gives David and Susan isn't well explained the scene works well - mostly.
Its the sets and props that let this part down, at least a little. The returning appearance of the offscreen shaft, the wobbly rock as the Doctor climbs down, the magnetic neck clamps that have to be held in place - these take the edge off. Still, it's not a big deal, and there's a decent helping of character-based material even in the midst of the action; this is, in fact, what makes the scene with the Doctor's group worthwhile. It's interesting how Tyler has taken centre stage from the guest cast when one might expect that role to go to David, but the latter has been set up as a "nice kid", and that gives both writer and actor less to work with than the more ambiguous and intense Tyler. Jenny, meanwhile, has fallen off the radar. She was initially given an interesting background but this was never developed further, leaving her as Barbara's grumpy sidekick.
Back in the mine, Ian's falling and blocking the shaft scenes are fun (and this is the most ruffled we've seen him for a long time). The way he straightens his tie and looks pleased with himself as he walks away in a suit ripped right down the back is a nice touch. In fact, this episode gets the balance just right between urgent action, humour and quiet moments. Even at the climax we have Iananbarbara's reunion.
Speaking of the climax, it's certainly full of action. Much of this is made up of prefilmed sequences, and again it's impressive just how many extras they've hired. The quarry shots are very effective, and the studio-based aftermath with the escapees looking past the camera doesn't bother me at all. Perhaps it's because we do see what they are looking at for once, with the stock footage used to show the explosion working surprisingly well. And the stillness after the thunder leads us nicely into the second part...
A Farewell to Susan
The final section of the story is directed in a very different style to that which has come before. Earlier we were treated to a variety of tricks like tilted cameras and Dalek viewpoint shots, along with lots of noise; here it is very quiet, and very simply done. There's nothing more complicated than slow pans and zooms, and this is a good decision: the contrast changes the tone completely. Indeed, the first shot of Susan is so framed and static that it looks like she is posing for an oil painting. The actors' movements are stagelike, and combined with the lack of background music (until the final moments) this focuses our attention on the matter at hand: whether Susan will stay or go. I complained about lack of eye contact in an earlier episode, but here it's put to good use.
The writing is spot on, with one small piece of humour (Ian chatting to David while Barbara tries to get Susan some space) used for pacing, and to get everyone where they need to be for the final scene. William Hartnell's speech is famous, of course, but all the dialogue works together.
The first few times I watched this story I was shocked by the Doctor's high-handedness. This time, having read The Time Travellers (and also having spaced out the episodes), I was able to see it slightly differently. It's still a fairly dodgy decision, but I can see more what he was thinking.
It's a shame Susan is in "throw herself around in despair" mode, but it's also appropriate (for once); and Carole Ann Ford gets as good a send-off as could be hoped for.
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 26th December 1964
Viewers: 12.4 million
Chart Position: 12
Appreciation Index: 60
Rating:
7/10.
Next Time:
At last! Serial K as a whole.
Of course, it's an episode of two parts, and the conclusion to the main conflict only takes up the first two thirds; so I'm going to split up the review.
V.E. Day: Victory in England
Let's get this clear: I don't believe blowing up the mine and saucer is the end of the conflict. Daleks are the masters of India, after all, and they're not going to manage that with one ship based halfway around the world! The humans have a long struggle ahead of them. Which isn't to diminish the scale of the victory here.
So, hyperbolic claims apart, how was the story? We open with Ian in the bomb capsule, using his brains to escape (though it admittedly looks more like pulling out random wires); then we switch to the control room and some good shots of well-choreographed Daleks. Barbara's hilarious (in a good way) history-based distraction is brilliant, and she gets to come up with the plan that will eventually defeat the Daleks. It should have been Susan, of course, but Jacqueline Hill deserves the moment too, and she was the most sidelined of the regulars in the last Dalek story. This is followed by a nice pan and cut to the Doctor's group, and even if the task he gives David and Susan isn't well explained the scene works well - mostly.
Its the sets and props that let this part down, at least a little. The returning appearance of the offscreen shaft, the wobbly rock as the Doctor climbs down, the magnetic neck clamps that have to be held in place - these take the edge off. Still, it's not a big deal, and there's a decent helping of character-based material even in the midst of the action; this is, in fact, what makes the scene with the Doctor's group worthwhile. It's interesting how Tyler has taken centre stage from the guest cast when one might expect that role to go to David, but the latter has been set up as a "nice kid", and that gives both writer and actor less to work with than the more ambiguous and intense Tyler. Jenny, meanwhile, has fallen off the radar. She was initially given an interesting background but this was never developed further, leaving her as Barbara's grumpy sidekick.
Back in the mine, Ian's falling and blocking the shaft scenes are fun (and this is the most ruffled we've seen him for a long time). The way he straightens his tie and looks pleased with himself as he walks away in a suit ripped right down the back is a nice touch. In fact, this episode gets the balance just right between urgent action, humour and quiet moments. Even at the climax we have Iananbarbara's reunion.
Speaking of the climax, it's certainly full of action. Much of this is made up of prefilmed sequences, and again it's impressive just how many extras they've hired. The quarry shots are very effective, and the studio-based aftermath with the escapees looking past the camera doesn't bother me at all. Perhaps it's because we do see what they are looking at for once, with the stock footage used to show the explosion working surprisingly well. And the stillness after the thunder leads us nicely into the second part...
A Farewell to Susan
The final section of the story is directed in a very different style to that which has come before. Earlier we were treated to a variety of tricks like tilted cameras and Dalek viewpoint shots, along with lots of noise; here it is very quiet, and very simply done. There's nothing more complicated than slow pans and zooms, and this is a good decision: the contrast changes the tone completely. Indeed, the first shot of Susan is so framed and static that it looks like she is posing for an oil painting. The actors' movements are stagelike, and combined with the lack of background music (until the final moments) this focuses our attention on the matter at hand: whether Susan will stay or go. I complained about lack of eye contact in an earlier episode, but here it's put to good use.
The writing is spot on, with one small piece of humour (Ian chatting to David while Barbara tries to get Susan some space) used for pacing, and to get everyone where they need to be for the final scene. William Hartnell's speech is famous, of course, but all the dialogue works together.
The first few times I watched this story I was shocked by the Doctor's high-handedness. This time, having read The Time Travellers (and also having spaced out the episodes), I was able to see it slightly differently. It's still a fairly dodgy decision, but I can see more what he was thinking.
It's a shame Susan is in "throw herself around in despair" mode, but it's also appropriate (for once); and Carole Ann Ford gets as good a send-off as could be hoped for.
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 26th December 1964
Viewers: 12.4 million
Chart Position: 12
Appreciation Index: 60
Rating:
7/10.
Next Time:
At last! Serial K as a whole.
Thursday, 3 May 2012
Episode 50 (K5): The Waking Ally
What does that mean, "the waking ally"? Who is waking? Whose ally are
they? The episode titles for this serial have generally been rubbish,
either meaningless like this one or atmospheric but general: "Day of
Reckoning", "The End of Tomorrow". The only two I like are at the start:
"World's End", which is both atmospheric and descriptive; and "the
Daleks", which is just good advertising.
This episode is unusual because it was shot entirely on 35mm film. This was a purely practical decision, and came about because there were no available videotape machines at the BBC! Happily, there was one available William Hartnell this time around.
This is an improvement on last episode, but there is still a sense that everyone involved is tired. The script is 90% padding, the actors have upped their game only slightly from last time, the direction is still lacking much of the verve shown at the beginning of the serial - and I still don't have much enthusiasm for writing about it. Still, let me make a start.
When last we left our heroes Ian and Larry were being threatened by the slyther, but found it impossible to jump off the bottom of the set because the drop was too deep. The slyther looks more effective, but still works best in extreme closeup or when seen partially. Richard Martin makes a better attempt at this, but his efforts are rather sabotaged by the obviously fake mining bucket. This scene doesn't leave me in a hopeful mood...
...but then we see that William Hartnell's back - and involved in probably the best fight scene of the serial so far. This is a far more sensible use of the sewers, and even manages to expand on the character of David and (particularly) Tyler. Susan is pretty ineffectual; but you can't have everything, and this scene is followed by another corker as Barbara and Jenny are betrayed by the women in the woods.
Unfortunately we then go back to the mine, and writing this I realise that it's these scenes that drag the episode down. The robomen work best when they don't speak (which certainly isn't the case here); the plot's meandering; and the action is overly-melodramatic. It looks good, with plenty of extras as slave-workers; but none of it is necessary. Ian could have gone straight to the Dalek HQ from the saucer, Barbara and Jenny could have been taken to see the black Dalek when they were captured. Cut out the back-and-forth in the sewer last time and that's a whole episode saved.
Again unfortunately, the scenes of Ian and the bomb are necessary - and silly. Why would the bomb casing have a convenient man-sized space, and why would it be kept in two parts like that? It's got Plot Device written all over it. At least the model shot at the end is effective.
I've saved my favourite scene for last, though I suspect it's my son's least favourite! The bit with David, Susan and the fish is very well written and played; and the Doctor's line "I could tell something was cooking" rounds it off nicely. These quiet character moments work well as a contrast to the big action plot, and everyone (writer, actors, director) seems to take care with them.
All in all, a mixed bag. The weak parts are as bad as last time, but there are also more strong moments to enjoy.
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 19th December 1964
Viewers: 11.4 million
Chart Position: 18
Appreciation Index: 58
Rating:
3.5/10.
Next Time:
Will I summon up more enthusiasm for the concluding episode, Flashpoint? With luck Friday will provide the answer...
This episode is unusual because it was shot entirely on 35mm film. This was a purely practical decision, and came about because there were no available videotape machines at the BBC! Happily, there was one available William Hartnell this time around.
This is an improvement on last episode, but there is still a sense that everyone involved is tired. The script is 90% padding, the actors have upped their game only slightly from last time, the direction is still lacking much of the verve shown at the beginning of the serial - and I still don't have much enthusiasm for writing about it. Still, let me make a start.
When last we left our heroes Ian and Larry were being threatened by the slyther, but found it impossible to jump off the bottom of the set because the drop was too deep. The slyther looks more effective, but still works best in extreme closeup or when seen partially. Richard Martin makes a better attempt at this, but his efforts are rather sabotaged by the obviously fake mining bucket. This scene doesn't leave me in a hopeful mood...
...but then we see that William Hartnell's back - and involved in probably the best fight scene of the serial so far. This is a far more sensible use of the sewers, and even manages to expand on the character of David and (particularly) Tyler. Susan is pretty ineffectual; but you can't have everything, and this scene is followed by another corker as Barbara and Jenny are betrayed by the women in the woods.
Unfortunately we then go back to the mine, and writing this I realise that it's these scenes that drag the episode down. The robomen work best when they don't speak (which certainly isn't the case here); the plot's meandering; and the action is overly-melodramatic. It looks good, with plenty of extras as slave-workers; but none of it is necessary. Ian could have gone straight to the Dalek HQ from the saucer, Barbara and Jenny could have been taken to see the black Dalek when they were captured. Cut out the back-and-forth in the sewer last time and that's a whole episode saved.
Again unfortunately, the scenes of Ian and the bomb are necessary - and silly. Why would the bomb casing have a convenient man-sized space, and why would it be kept in two parts like that? It's got Plot Device written all over it. At least the model shot at the end is effective.
I've saved my favourite scene for last, though I suspect it's my son's least favourite! The bit with David, Susan and the fish is very well written and played; and the Doctor's line "I could tell something was cooking" rounds it off nicely. These quiet character moments work well as a contrast to the big action plot, and everyone (writer, actors, director) seems to take care with them.
All in all, a mixed bag. The weak parts are as bad as last time, but there are also more strong moments to enjoy.
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 19th December 1964
Viewers: 11.4 million
Chart Position: 18
Appreciation Index: 58
Rating:
3.5/10.
Next Time:
Will I summon up more enthusiasm for the concluding episode, Flashpoint? With luck Friday will provide the answer...
Friday, 27 April 2012
Episode 49 (K4): The End of Tomorrow
I've been putting up the reviews for this serial in as pure a manner as
possible, given that I've already seen the story: each entry has been
written and posted before I've seen the next episode (and I'm actually
typing this bit before watching The End of Tomorrow, while I wait
for an opportunity to watch it). This isn't by design, and makes for
longer gaps between entries; it's just the way life has worked out. It
also means that I may not pick the best episodes to discuss subjects
that can be slotted in anywhere.
Time passes, calendar pages are blown away... and now I've seen the episode. I'm not in the mood for ripping things apart and don't have a redemptive reading to offer, so this can be one of those times when I fit in some of the general stuff.
Let me top and tail this review with positives. The End of Tomorrow is the episode in which we see Barbara charging Daleks in a truck and driving right through them, a real adrenaline-pumping, crowd-pleasing scene which is handled just right.
Speaking of Barbara, Jacqueline Hill is pretty much the only continuing actor who manages to keep her end up, and even she is a little subdued. (Actually, that's not quite fair: Peter Fraser and Bernard Kay do too, but they're not given much to work with.) Ann Davies as Jenny has slipped over from suppressed and tightly wound into wooden; Carole Ann Ford responds to the fact that she's given nothing but screaming and hysteria by switching off and acting on autopilot; William Russell makes a hash of looking at the vast mining vista and pointing things out; and as for William Hartnell... well, he's not there.
Last time, Hartnell received an injury while being carried out of the spaceship during rehearsals. Against instructions, the robomen and their prisoners had marched down the ramp in step, setting up a vibration that weakened it; and when the Doctor was carried it collapsed and he fell, hurting his back. He required an x-ray and a week off. Edmund Warwick acted as his stand-in for the start of this episode, and most of the Doctor's lines were given to David instead.
This explains a lot, actually: it would have made more sense for the Doctor to figure out how to disarm the bomb. Of course, if Susan hadn't already been written off the unearthly child would have been a likelier substitute, but hey.
Acting and dodgy rewrites aren't the only things wrong with this episode. There's the realisation of the Slyther, a neat idea for a monster that could have worked - the costume's about as good as you could hope for - but it really needed careful handling and limited views, and that's not what the direction gives us. Even the sets are a let-down in the Bedfordshire scenes, and the bit at the end where Ian and Larry are scared of the drop doesn't work at all.
The sewers look better, but Susan and David's excursion feels like pointless padding - and the bit where she is supposedly hanging above the baby alligators is rubbish. It's dysergy again, and having slagged off the acting, script, direction and even some set design I've had enough. Let's have some subheads.
It's Thingy, from That Other Program, Part 3: Nicholas Smith
I suspect that most people growing up in the heady, un-PC days of the 1970s have memories of Are You Being Served?; I certainly do. And for this reason, I instantly recognised the actor who played Wells as the manager, Mr. Rumbold, who Nicholas Smith played for 13 years. While he appeared in other shows it was the defining role of his TV career, but he got his first speaking role in this episode of Who. He does fine - not spectacularly, but still better than most of the other actors - and we'll be seeing more of him, since he persuaded Richard Martin to expand his role!
Quite by coincidence I was reminded of the sitcom last night, as it was referred to (in the form Are You Bean Served?) in the first episode of Peri and the Piscon Paradox, which my wife and I were listening to before settling down...
Monsters!, Part 4: Redesign of the Daleks
Being the show's first serial with a returning foe, it was natural that Martin and designer Spencer Chapman would want to put their own stamp on the metal monsters. Sometimes this is successful (e.g., Russell T. Davies and Edward Thomas' first new series design) and sometimes the results are controversial at best (as with Steven Moffat and Thomas' later New Paradigm Daleks). Most of the changes this time - the dishes on their backs, the enlarged fenders - weren't carried forward, but one change has persisted to this day: colour schemes.
Being filmed in monochrome meant that only choices of colours with good contrast could work, but having the leader - the original Supreme Dalek - be black was a great idea. The striped silver-and-black Saucer Commander wasn't quite so successful, but it was still a useful means of differentiating him from the rank and file. Still, we'll have to wait for the next return to see the Daleks settle into long-term stability...
I said I wanted to end on a positive note. I've got two, actually: the prefilmed and stock-footage mine sequences are good (despite the poor way they were integrated with the studio shots), and although this episode was a low point for me, I was shown how differently people think by my son, who thought it was much better than the previous two! I think it might be to do with the fact that there is plenty of action; I'll try to quiz him more before writing up his mini review of the serial.
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 12th December 1964
Viewers: 11.9 million
Chart Position: 11
Appreciation Index: 59
Rating:
2.5/10.
Next Time:
The Waking Ally.
Time passes, calendar pages are blown away... and now I've seen the episode. I'm not in the mood for ripping things apart and don't have a redemptive reading to offer, so this can be one of those times when I fit in some of the general stuff.
Let me top and tail this review with positives. The End of Tomorrow is the episode in which we see Barbara charging Daleks in a truck and driving right through them, a real adrenaline-pumping, crowd-pleasing scene which is handled just right.
Speaking of Barbara, Jacqueline Hill is pretty much the only continuing actor who manages to keep her end up, and even she is a little subdued. (Actually, that's not quite fair: Peter Fraser and Bernard Kay do too, but they're not given much to work with.) Ann Davies as Jenny has slipped over from suppressed and tightly wound into wooden; Carole Ann Ford responds to the fact that she's given nothing but screaming and hysteria by switching off and acting on autopilot; William Russell makes a hash of looking at the vast mining vista and pointing things out; and as for William Hartnell... well, he's not there.
Last time, Hartnell received an injury while being carried out of the spaceship during rehearsals. Against instructions, the robomen and their prisoners had marched down the ramp in step, setting up a vibration that weakened it; and when the Doctor was carried it collapsed and he fell, hurting his back. He required an x-ray and a week off. Edmund Warwick acted as his stand-in for the start of this episode, and most of the Doctor's lines were given to David instead.
This explains a lot, actually: it would have made more sense for the Doctor to figure out how to disarm the bomb. Of course, if Susan hadn't already been written off the unearthly child would have been a likelier substitute, but hey.
Acting and dodgy rewrites aren't the only things wrong with this episode. There's the realisation of the Slyther, a neat idea for a monster that could have worked - the costume's about as good as you could hope for - but it really needed careful handling and limited views, and that's not what the direction gives us. Even the sets are a let-down in the Bedfordshire scenes, and the bit at the end where Ian and Larry are scared of the drop doesn't work at all.
The sewers look better, but Susan and David's excursion feels like pointless padding - and the bit where she is supposedly hanging above the baby alligators is rubbish. It's dysergy again, and having slagged off the acting, script, direction and even some set design I've had enough. Let's have some subheads.
It's Thingy, from That Other Program, Part 3: Nicholas Smith
I suspect that most people growing up in the heady, un-PC days of the 1970s have memories of Are You Being Served?; I certainly do. And for this reason, I instantly recognised the actor who played Wells as the manager, Mr. Rumbold, who Nicholas Smith played for 13 years. While he appeared in other shows it was the defining role of his TV career, but he got his first speaking role in this episode of Who. He does fine - not spectacularly, but still better than most of the other actors - and we'll be seeing more of him, since he persuaded Richard Martin to expand his role!
Quite by coincidence I was reminded of the sitcom last night, as it was referred to (in the form Are You Bean Served?) in the first episode of Peri and the Piscon Paradox, which my wife and I were listening to before settling down...
Monsters!, Part 4: Redesign of the Daleks
Being the show's first serial with a returning foe, it was natural that Martin and designer Spencer Chapman would want to put their own stamp on the metal monsters. Sometimes this is successful (e.g., Russell T. Davies and Edward Thomas' first new series design) and sometimes the results are controversial at best (as with Steven Moffat and Thomas' later New Paradigm Daleks). Most of the changes this time - the dishes on their backs, the enlarged fenders - weren't carried forward, but one change has persisted to this day: colour schemes.
Being filmed in monochrome meant that only choices of colours with good contrast could work, but having the leader - the original Supreme Dalek - be black was a great idea. The striped silver-and-black Saucer Commander wasn't quite so successful, but it was still a useful means of differentiating him from the rank and file. Still, we'll have to wait for the next return to see the Daleks settle into long-term stability...
I said I wanted to end on a positive note. I've got two, actually: the prefilmed and stock-footage mine sequences are good (despite the poor way they were integrated with the studio shots), and although this episode was a low point for me, I was shown how differently people think by my son, who thought it was much better than the previous two! I think it might be to do with the fact that there is plenty of action; I'll try to quiz him more before writing up his mini review of the serial.
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 12th December 1964
Viewers: 11.9 million
Chart Position: 11
Appreciation Index: 59
Rating:
2.5/10.
Next Time:
The Waking Ally.
Monday, 23 April 2012
Episode 48 (K3): Day of Reckoning
There's a lot to write about this time, so I'm going to skip lightly
over most of it (which may therefore get a little disjointed) and pick a
few scenes to tackle in more detail. The sets are great, and we get to
see a bit more of how the spaceship fits together. I particularly like
Ian's hiding place, and the way that the first time we see it, it's shot
as if it could be a different set; but then it's revealed to be
connected.
The big fight scene is an improvement, doing a good job of showing the confusion; but it's still not what Richard Martin (or, indeed, the program) does best. The smaller fight, with Ian and the roboman, also lacks a little something - as most brawls at the time did - and then it ends with one of the good guys stabbing the roboman! Suicide, knives - this serial is providing some pretty good ammunition for Mary Whitehouse's Clean Up TV Campaign, inaugurated earlier in the year.
Meanwhile, back in the rebel base, we have a lovely moment of waiting, of despair. Someone's crying, someone's losing it; the others are sunk. In particular, Alan Judd as Dortmun gives a fine, subdued performance. In fact, this episode is very much his. Third episodes can be tricky; in my First Season roundup they scored second-lowest on average (after fifth episodes), and lowest if you go by director. By focusing so much on one supporting character Terry Nation manages to keep up interest, and in the process shows that he really is pretty good at serial TV.
So let's follow Dortmun's tale. Next we get the impressive whistle-stop tour of London landmarks, with Jacqueline Hill showing off her impressive "pushing a wheelchair at speed" skills. This has got it all - Daleks doing the Nazi salute, Dalek graffiti (which got the designer into trouble), Dalek viewpoint moments and a pounding musical backdrop. This is the "money shot" for this episode, and the sense of scale I mentioned last time is upped another notch. It's also playing up the fear of invasion the British still felt (just as I said when reviewing The Time Travellers) - this is a very 1960s future nightmare.
The story focus zooms in again when we reach the Transport Museum. Judd hits it for six with his portrayal (or knocks it out of the park - choose your idiom), ably supported by Hill (and briefly Ann Davies, before she leaves). This is matched by the finely nuanced script: the way Dortmun handles the others has so many layers. Sending Jenny to check on the Daleks is an obvious misdirection; we just know he's actually doing it to smooth relations between the women. And when he sends Barbara to fetch her this makes sense too, so when we find out that he's actually getting them out of the way it's a real surprise. But the thing is, it makes sense for his personality and feelings at the time - and all layers of the deception make sense, too.
When I first saw this I thought it was cheesy the way Dortmun stands and throws away his sticks when facing the Daleks, but this time around I can see it for the big, defiant gesture it is. A fine end for the character, and - despite a rather too pathetic explosion - for the subplot too.
The other key character this week is Susan. As usual when given decent material, Carole Ann Ford shows what she can do - and here she is helped by Martin's direction, which works better in small, intimate moments. Considering she spends almost the entire episode hiding under a small, leafy twig, the fact that this part of the story is so good is quite an achievement!
This subplot concentrates on two of her relationships: her longest-lasting and her newest. She and David are thrown together by circumstance, and crouch together listening to someone being exterminated in the distance (a truly scary moment). I wonder what it would be like to watch this and not know that Susan is going to leave at the end? It's impossible to say, but David is certainly being set up as a nice guy, and we are getting plenty of hints here that Susan's travelling days might be coming to an end. There's the whole discussion about moving on, about running away (and it's amusing that David mentions going to see what it's like on Venus, when that will be the TARDIS's very next port of call). The talk of Susan's real identity and of her finding somewhere to finally stop may be a little heavy-handed, but when you've got four episodes to set up something this important - and when those episodes are each a week apart - I think it's pitched right. To be honest, only one other companion gets anything like this amount of focus on a relationship before leaving with someone.
I mentioned last time how little eye contact there was; here Martin gives Ford plenty, first with Peter Fraser's David and later with William Hartnell. There's a lot of affection between Susan and the Doctor, and the actors manage to bring this out in little ways. It's not that they are completely comfortable with each other - part of the point is that Susan has grown, and that phase of their travels is past - but they obviously know and like each other, even when they disagree. Once again it's a combination of script, acting and direction that brings the people to life. The Doctor tests Susan, making his authority clear while prodding around in her skull; but then, when David returns, gives her what she wanted. We see Ford in closeup, and as we watch the emotions playing across her face it is emphasised once more just how wasted she's been in the scripts to date.
There's a lot to like about this episode. The direction means that there isn't quite as much tension as there should be in some parts, and the fights are lacking; but the smaller moments are spot on.
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 5th December 1964
Viewers: 11.9 million
Chart Position: 10
Appreciation Index: 59
Rating:
6.5/10.
Next Time:
The End of Tomorrow.
The big fight scene is an improvement, doing a good job of showing the confusion; but it's still not what Richard Martin (or, indeed, the program) does best. The smaller fight, with Ian and the roboman, also lacks a little something - as most brawls at the time did - and then it ends with one of the good guys stabbing the roboman! Suicide, knives - this serial is providing some pretty good ammunition for Mary Whitehouse's Clean Up TV Campaign, inaugurated earlier in the year.
Meanwhile, back in the rebel base, we have a lovely moment of waiting, of despair. Someone's crying, someone's losing it; the others are sunk. In particular, Alan Judd as Dortmun gives a fine, subdued performance. In fact, this episode is very much his. Third episodes can be tricky; in my First Season roundup they scored second-lowest on average (after fifth episodes), and lowest if you go by director. By focusing so much on one supporting character Terry Nation manages to keep up interest, and in the process shows that he really is pretty good at serial TV.
So let's follow Dortmun's tale. Next we get the impressive whistle-stop tour of London landmarks, with Jacqueline Hill showing off her impressive "pushing a wheelchair at speed" skills. This has got it all - Daleks doing the Nazi salute, Dalek graffiti (which got the designer into trouble), Dalek viewpoint moments and a pounding musical backdrop. This is the "money shot" for this episode, and the sense of scale I mentioned last time is upped another notch. It's also playing up the fear of invasion the British still felt (just as I said when reviewing The Time Travellers) - this is a very 1960s future nightmare.
The story focus zooms in again when we reach the Transport Museum. Judd hits it for six with his portrayal (or knocks it out of the park - choose your idiom), ably supported by Hill (and briefly Ann Davies, before she leaves). This is matched by the finely nuanced script: the way Dortmun handles the others has so many layers. Sending Jenny to check on the Daleks is an obvious misdirection; we just know he's actually doing it to smooth relations between the women. And when he sends Barbara to fetch her this makes sense too, so when we find out that he's actually getting them out of the way it's a real surprise. But the thing is, it makes sense for his personality and feelings at the time - and all layers of the deception make sense, too.
When I first saw this I thought it was cheesy the way Dortmun stands and throws away his sticks when facing the Daleks, but this time around I can see it for the big, defiant gesture it is. A fine end for the character, and - despite a rather too pathetic explosion - for the subplot too.
The other key character this week is Susan. As usual when given decent material, Carole Ann Ford shows what she can do - and here she is helped by Martin's direction, which works better in small, intimate moments. Considering she spends almost the entire episode hiding under a small, leafy twig, the fact that this part of the story is so good is quite an achievement!
This subplot concentrates on two of her relationships: her longest-lasting and her newest. She and David are thrown together by circumstance, and crouch together listening to someone being exterminated in the distance (a truly scary moment). I wonder what it would be like to watch this and not know that Susan is going to leave at the end? It's impossible to say, but David is certainly being set up as a nice guy, and we are getting plenty of hints here that Susan's travelling days might be coming to an end. There's the whole discussion about moving on, about running away (and it's amusing that David mentions going to see what it's like on Venus, when that will be the TARDIS's very next port of call). The talk of Susan's real identity and of her finding somewhere to finally stop may be a little heavy-handed, but when you've got four episodes to set up something this important - and when those episodes are each a week apart - I think it's pitched right. To be honest, only one other companion gets anything like this amount of focus on a relationship before leaving with someone.
I mentioned last time how little eye contact there was; here Martin gives Ford plenty, first with Peter Fraser's David and later with William Hartnell. There's a lot of affection between Susan and the Doctor, and the actors manage to bring this out in little ways. It's not that they are completely comfortable with each other - part of the point is that Susan has grown, and that phase of their travels is past - but they obviously know and like each other, even when they disagree. Once again it's a combination of script, acting and direction that brings the people to life. The Doctor tests Susan, making his authority clear while prodding around in her skull; but then, when David returns, gives her what she wanted. We see Ford in closeup, and as we watch the emotions playing across her face it is emphasised once more just how wasted she's been in the scripts to date.
There's a lot to like about this episode. The direction means that there isn't quite as much tension as there should be in some parts, and the fights are lacking; but the smaller moments are spot on.
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 5th December 1964
Viewers: 11.9 million
Chart Position: 10
Appreciation Index: 59
Rating:
6.5/10.
Next Time:
The End of Tomorrow.
Friday, 20 April 2012
Episode 47 (K2): The Daleks
The action starts again with a recap of the cliffhanger, by the
riverside - which is actually highly appropriate. Production of the show
officially moved from Lime Grove to Riverside Studio 1 with this
serial, though they had been able to use Television Centre Studio 4
since A Bargain of Necessity. Despite having originally been
built for industrial purposes this had been a film studio for many years
and was a much better location for Who, far less cramped and
with less antiquated equipment. It was the Daleks that allowed the move,
as Sydney Newman and Verity Lambert were able to exert more pressure on
the BBC thanks to the monsters' enormous popularity.
The space afforded by the new studio allowed much more freedom for the designers and directors. Spencer Chapman, stepping into Raymond Cusick's shoes as production designer, talks on the DVD extra "Future Visions" about how the extra space enabled him to design sets on multiple levels and allow wide-angle shots that gave more of a sense of scale. Richard Martin ran with this, with the high heliport shots being a particularly fine example. Couple this with the large numbers of Daleks and robomen and you get a serial that feels truly epic.
Everything starts off really well, with the backstory being delivered in a not-too-blatant manner and good cutting between the rebels' base and the riverside. The way the Doctor flounders, muttering about "the middle period of Dalek history" while refusing to acknowledge that he is out of his depth is spot on. The characterisation of the (speaking part) rebels is enough to distinguish them and make them feel like individuals, which is all that we need. Jenny seems the most complex - I thought she was poorly acted at first, but the revelation about her brother made me realise that she is someone who is holding in a lot of her emotions too tightly, and the combination of suppressed anger and blankness is entirely appropriate.
The direction is confident, with some fine camera moves. Take, for example, the moment when we zoom in on Susan and then cut to a closeup of Ian and the Doctor. There's plenty of opportunity for this to go wrong when the edits have to be so limited, but it works really well. The only real negative (other than the robomen voices) is the way the Daleks wobble back and forth. I reckon they need a pee and can't keep still.
There is a different sort of negative when we get to the first extermination (though the Daleks are still saying "kill him", rather than using their eventual keynote phrase). The effect used in the first Dalek serial still does the job, and I get a frisson of (un-PC) excitement when it happens.
Unfortunately, the good run isn't sustained. The idea of an intelligence test for robotising is ludicrous, and watching the Doctor solve a puzzle box doesn't make for thrilling television. "X equals gamma", indeed! Curiously, the audio Solitaire does something very similar years later, but it works because the story focuses on the relationship between the characters and the puzzle itself becomes a backdrop, an excuse for them to interact.
It's not just the script, though. Richard Martin's forte is not to be found in big battles, and the climactic confrontation is shot nearly as badly as in the last episode of serial B. There is also a marked shortage of eye contact between the actors, which makes the thing feel less personal, less engaging. Couple that with a fade too soon at the end, before we can see the Doctor really threatened by the robotiser, and we have an episode that ends with a whimper.
In fact, this is (IIRC) only the third time on TV that the second episode has failed to surpass the opener. Let's hope this isn't the start of a trend...
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 28th November 1964
Viewers: 12.4 million
Chart Position: 10
Appreciation Index: 59
Rating:
6/10.
Next Time:
Day of Reckoning.
The space afforded by the new studio allowed much more freedom for the designers and directors. Spencer Chapman, stepping into Raymond Cusick's shoes as production designer, talks on the DVD extra "Future Visions" about how the extra space enabled him to design sets on multiple levels and allow wide-angle shots that gave more of a sense of scale. Richard Martin ran with this, with the high heliport shots being a particularly fine example. Couple this with the large numbers of Daleks and robomen and you get a serial that feels truly epic.
Everything starts off really well, with the backstory being delivered in a not-too-blatant manner and good cutting between the rebels' base and the riverside. The way the Doctor flounders, muttering about "the middle period of Dalek history" while refusing to acknowledge that he is out of his depth is spot on. The characterisation of the (speaking part) rebels is enough to distinguish them and make them feel like individuals, which is all that we need. Jenny seems the most complex - I thought she was poorly acted at first, but the revelation about her brother made me realise that she is someone who is holding in a lot of her emotions too tightly, and the combination of suppressed anger and blankness is entirely appropriate.
The direction is confident, with some fine camera moves. Take, for example, the moment when we zoom in on Susan and then cut to a closeup of Ian and the Doctor. There's plenty of opportunity for this to go wrong when the edits have to be so limited, but it works really well. The only real negative (other than the robomen voices) is the way the Daleks wobble back and forth. I reckon they need a pee and can't keep still.
There is a different sort of negative when we get to the first extermination (though the Daleks are still saying "kill him", rather than using their eventual keynote phrase). The effect used in the first Dalek serial still does the job, and I get a frisson of (un-PC) excitement when it happens.
Unfortunately, the good run isn't sustained. The idea of an intelligence test for robotising is ludicrous, and watching the Doctor solve a puzzle box doesn't make for thrilling television. "X equals gamma", indeed! Curiously, the audio Solitaire does something very similar years later, but it works because the story focuses on the relationship between the characters and the puzzle itself becomes a backdrop, an excuse for them to interact.
It's not just the script, though. Richard Martin's forte is not to be found in big battles, and the climactic confrontation is shot nearly as badly as in the last episode of serial B. There is also a marked shortage of eye contact between the actors, which makes the thing feel less personal, less engaging. Couple that with a fade too soon at the end, before we can see the Doctor really threatened by the robotiser, and we have an episode that ends with a whimper.
In fact, this is (IIRC) only the third time on TV that the second episode has failed to surpass the opener. Let's hope this isn't the start of a trend...
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 28th November 1964
Viewers: 12.4 million
Chart Position: 10
Appreciation Index: 59
Rating:
6/10.
Next Time:
Day of Reckoning.
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