The Reviews
On this page I have included reviews of Doctor Who stories after they
came out on video or cable TV. Many of them have been printed in Data Extract,
the august organ of the Doctor Who Club of Australia. Enjoy. If
you have comments, send them here.
This Page: Jon Pertwee Reviews. Stories in Green have yet to be reviewed
.
Spearhead from Space, Doctor
Who and the Silurians, Ambassadors of
Death, Inferno,Terror
of the Autons, The Mind of Evil,
Claws of Axos, Colony in Space, The
Daemons, Day of the Daleks, The
Curse of Peladon, The
Sea Devils, The
Mutants, TheTime Monster,The
Three Doctors,
Carnival
of Monsters,
Frontier in Space, Planet
of the Daleks, The Green Death,The
Time Warrior, Invasion
of the Dinosaurs, Death
to the Daleks,
Monster
of Peladon, Planet
of the Spiders
DOCTOR WHO INDEX
SPEARHEAD
FROM SPACE
In Doctor Who circles, the BBC Unions
have been responsible for so much anguish. Strikes scuttled Shada
halfway through production, the original Dalek climax to season twenty,
caused much of Invasion of Time to be
recorded on (technically inferior) OB equipment. But in mid 1969, when
the Beeb's unions went on strike for whatever reason, it meant that the
Television Centre would not be available for Spearhead from Space,
Jon Pertwee's debut and the first story made in colour. Fortunately
Producer Derrick Sherwin's solution of filming the four parter on location
actually improved the look of the episodes immeasurably.
The most stylish story of the Pertwee
era, it is probably the only story made before 1980 that I would show to
a cynical non fan and not be too embarrassed by.
The acting is impeccable without
a single duff performance (Hugh Burden as Channing a stand-out), the direction
like something out of the Sweeney, paced better than any story this close
to the War Games has any right to be. The script might seem ambitious
but if you look at it, the Auton menace could have been dealt with in three
episodes. As a regeneration story, only Castrovalva has come close
in terms of dealing with the change of actor and providing a good story
all in one fell swoop. Jon Pertwee provides one of his best performances
as the Third Doctor, not as serious as the rest of this season, nor as
flippant as the tenth season. Caroline John was, in my opinion, perfect
for the show, but maybe was a too difficult for writers to deal with back
when women's lib (as it was then known) was a scary prospect for some.
Still, had the effort been made to get a handle on her character we might
have been spared some of Jo's goofiness (Jo was very good, but Liz was
better). Nick Courtney's Brigadier in this serial is probably the
most balanced handling of the character ever seen in the series. The Brig
is actually in a position where he is able to intimidate the Doctor. The
script helps here but as outlined in later reviews, his development from
here does follow a certain logic. Sets are minimal, mostly dressed locations
and costumes are mostly stock, a saving grace of being exiled to Earth
is we are spared from the horrors of BBC costume designers' imaginations
when it comes to alien civilisations. Make up effects here are limited
to making Auton replicas seem shinier that real humans.
The script is rather unambitious
when it comes to effects requirements meaning everything could be accomplished
simply on film. With smoke flashes and backwards film being the only effects.
The Auton costumes may look plasticky but picking on that is a little bit
fussy. The Octopus may have been a slight disappointment but nonetheless
effective, despite Jon Pertwee's outbreak of Ham.
No cheap special effects but what effects
there were wouldn't have come across too bad in the studios and all of
the scenes where film helped the flow, such as action scenes would've probably
been filmed anyway. One would have loved the series as a whole to have
been totally filmed from here on in, but we would have had to put up with
less imaginative scripts as the BBC would never have copped for the expensive
opticals required for shows like Claws of Axos, The Daemons or the Mutants.
A nice oddity production-wise but a great
help to the series at a time when it faced cancellation, the last time
it would do so for the next 15 years. As someone would say later in the
series. "Serendipity!"
P.S. Only Doctor Who fans used to know
what that word means.
DVD
The DVD version, being the third story
to be released is perfect. Get it now.
DOCTOR
WHO AND THE SILURIANS- Recolourised
The only story in the series television
history to have a Target-style title and the book version still got changed
to the rather lame Cave Monsters. After the fast pacing of the season opener,
this story progresses more sedately. For years, this story was only available
in a Black and White version which actually helped by masking out the production's
deficiencies and lending the proceedings. With the black and white prints
combined with an off air colour recording from America off NTSC U-matic
tape, we know have colour restored to three Pertwee stories and thankfully,
it actually looks better than the original tape!
With the bright colours toned down
and blue screen halos, well, a thing of the near future, this first story
to made on colour videotape in the studios is in many ways an object lesson
in how to do a long story. Perhaps Mac Hulke's best story, end product-
wise with story and production values both excellent, Dr Who and the
Silurians is typical of season 7 with its sober tone. The acting is
uniformly excellent, with stand out performances by Nicholas Courtney,
Fulton McKay, Peter Lawrence and Norman Baker. And yes, that is Avon (Paul
Darrow played Capt. Hawkins).
The special effects in this story
aren't overly ambitious and hence, most of them work. The Silurian eye
is perhaps the least impressive effect, especially when somebody is supposedly
killed. Jon Pertwee gets to go cross-eyed ( as he tends to do in these
sorts of situations- see Spearhead From Space (Nestene tentacles)
and Terror of the Autons (killer phone cable). With only sound effects
changing to indicate which eye function is in action, things get silly
when the dubbers get things mixed up in later episodes, Silurians
seemingly attacking UNIT personnel with the 'house keys.'
The Silurian suits are only one
step up from the fish people. Although the masks are impressive, the rubber
jump-suit and gloves approach is wholly unconvincing. This is the sole
area where the creatures seen in Warriors of the Deep are superior.
The T-Rex is perhaps the surprise packet. It won't challenge Jurassic Park
in terms of realism but urinates over every other representation of the
dinosaur in the series. Except perhaps for the ones in Earthshock.
All in all, one of the better long stories.
But here's the trick. In the old days, these stories were annoying to watch
on TV when they were shown 5 nights a week as they tended to have two weekends
breaking up the narrative flow. Then when the videos came along, people
tended to watch whole stories in one go. Hence, they tended to pick out
flaws as time dragged on. Watch the story in two or three parts over a
day or two. Works for me.
INFERNO
Inferno- the only true parallel universe
story in the series, is the last Pertwee story before the cosy atmosphere
of the UNIT 'family' came into play. Season Seven was noticeable for experimentation
with the opening titles with episode titles against stock footage of
flowing lava in a manner similar to many Troughton stories, a nice flourish
which was lost to the series after this.
Directed by Douglas Camfield and
producer Barry Letts (after the former collapsed on set), Inferno
sees Jon Pertwee get the Doctor's character down Pat (pun intended), joking
in the face of adversity and always ready with an insult. Liz Shaw, the
thinking mans' Jo Grant and holder of the "not a skirt but a belt" record,
along with the pre-buffoon Brigadier work well but really shine in the
parallel universe. There's not a duff performance to be seen; even the
walk-ons leave the ham (overacting) and wood (underacting or David Duchovny)
at home, helping three hours fly by enjoyably. It does seem, however, that
episode six is 22 minutes too long, almost like the episode of the Daleks
where
25 minutes is spent jumping a pot-hole.
The effects all work nicely and there
aren't any of the cheap and shoddy bits that really mar 90% of the 70's
adventures (even the good ones)- Except for the spinning alfoil-covered
ball that indicates the change between realities. The scenes in which the
Doctor dans console are shunted sideways through dimensions are
rather interesting, looking for all the world like U2's Mysterious Ways
clip and utilise the fourth favourite effect in the Dr Who FX arsenal after
dissolve, blue screen and negative- Mr Mirrorlon.
"Who moves in
mysterious ways?"
The Benton Primord transformation
is handled well, as are the chase scenes and indeed the production overall
. With six better than average cliff-hangers, enough alter egos to fill
a whole roman numeral of Red Dwarf and a spooky atmosphere, this story
keeps up the consistent quality of the 1970 season. In fact this story
is actually better than the 60's film it was based on (A Crack in the Plumber's
Arse)
Rating: Not Tubular
Bells but better than Orchestral Tubular Bells- Tubular Bells II
TERROR
OF THE AUTONS
A much underrated
story. To me, this is one of the finest Pertwee stories. Flawed, yes,
but thanks to the
recolourisation process, this story benefited most from the BBC's
policy of junking
master tapes.
Jon Pertwee
is pitted up against Roger Delgado and aided by the whole
UNIT family for
the first time. It's also the start of Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks'
era proper, as they now had total control over the series' destiny (Most
of season seven had been put in place by their
predecessors). There
are few things to criticise (Wait till I get to Claws of Axos) as the
recolourising this
story has softened the source of most of the criticism- the overuse of
CSO. With any scene
requiring a set that would be seen for less than a minute (i.e.- the
museum, research
area of the factory and the Farrel's kitchen) being recorded against
blue-screen back
drops and out of focus photographs, this story must have looked
pretty unconvincing
to anyone who had a colour set in the early 70's. I saw this story
many times in Black
and White, so for me the CSO was never an issue. The
recolourised version
is actually better than than the original.
The Autons,
to me at least, should have been brought back after this appearance,
though the controversy
over having dolls and policemen turning out to be killers probably
had some bearing
on the situation. Given the fact that Robert Holmes never used his
tenure as script
editor to bring back some of his creations (he would have been paid
royalties), methinks
the Beeb but the kibosh on the Nestenes.
Michael Wisher's
first appearance in the series proves he was one of the series major
guest star finds,
along with Phillip Madoc, Bernard Horsfal, Dennis Lill, etc.
A Psychiatrist studying
this story would find out a lot about Bob Holmes'
psyche. IE- as a
child, he tripped over a phone wire, asked a policeman the time
and was rebuffed,
and was savaged by a rampant daffodil. Either that or often he ate biscuits
in his pyjamas. Still, if that's what's
needed to write a taut, crackingly good Doctor Who story featuring renegade
Timelords, they hand me my Dalek Time machine and point me in the direction
of Pip and Jane's circa 1984 with a packet of Milk Arrowroots.
Baz Letts himself directed and of the several stories he directed, this
is still perhaps the best. Despite the CSO distractions that will never
bother anyone again now that the recolourised and B&W versions are
all that exist
Hey Katy Manning
and Richard Franklin also make their debut. Jo Grant is at her Jo Grantiest
in this story- bubbly, bumbly and like a little lost bunny, plastic, of
course. Mike Yates makes a lesser impact, but proves Ricco was not at all
suited for action scenes as he minces about during the battle with the
Autons.
All in all,
Terror of the Autons is the best "Terror of" in the show's history.
THE
MIND OF EVIL
Don Houghton's second and last script
for the series is a disappointment after Inferno with so much going on
and more padding than an empathy belly. Director Tim Coombes overspent
badly on this one and hence was banned from working on the series again
but despite the impressive fight sequences (HAVOC!),
the whole thing is a bit of a limp fish with the Keller Karpet Kleaner
wibbling around like a poor relation to the Liberator's teleport. We've
got the Thunderbolt, the peace conference, prison breakouts, The Master,
the Keller Machine, etcetera, and so forth. The
script is fuller than Colin Baker after, well, any meal.
And just like Colin Baker in season
23, bigger is not necessarily better. Houghton's scripts always seem to
contain a rather grouchy Doctor, managing to get on any other scientists'
tits within seconds. Maybe that's why Liz scarpered. The story is so very,
very dull.
Of course, it's not all bad. It
has some of the best battle scenes this side of Remembrance
of the Daleks and the acting is top notch all the way. But things got
a little vicious with too many deaths. I mean the UNIT soldiers shoot a
number of prisoners at close range when its likely they would have surrendered.
And Barnum being killed so easily by being hit by the van is both laughable
(that such a big fella would be killed by a van bunny-hopping) and sad
at how the producers thought it necessary he be killed.
A bit boring. And now as one of only a
dozen or so black and white Pertwee episodes, it stands out like a sore
thumb. And the thumb's stuck up someone's bum. Pull it out, fellas.
CLAWS
OF AXOS
From the previous review, it would seemMind
of Evil was the worst Pertwee story ever. It's not, despite my rather
vague recollections of both Ambassadors of Death and Time Monster
(I missed both on cable and haven't seen 'em since the ABC last showed
'em in 1986, hence reviews of either aren't likely to surface until the
turn of the century). Claws of Axos is the
biggest pile of shit to come out of the Pertwee Era since Terrance Dicks
had a particularly nasty curry one night in 1973.
From the felt pen
'top secret' on the manilla folder (strange how such a country like the
Philippines could have become so influential on the development of modern
office supplies), to the avant garde visual effects, to the almost Naked
Gun style parody of the proceedings, the new lighter tone of the season
has descended into cartoon buffoonery. Chinn (Chinns would be more appropriate)
is straight out of Scooby Doo. "That crazy Doctor!"
The sets of
the Nuton power complex are more than adequate but Axos itself is so utterly
pathetic, despite the attempts to cover it up with every conceivable video
effect. The story, the first from the Bristol Boys, Bob Baker and Dave
Martin, is definitely their worst, their imaginations getting the better
of them. The 'ganglia' that Bill Filer shoots at are nothing more than
garden hoses. You can still see the printing on the side!
Bill Filer, or President
Clinton as he is now known, is actually not the worst element of the story.
But not a single aspect of this production is impressive and is easily
one of the most embarrassing Pertwee stories ever.
The final
episode is the earliest surviving colour episode (Apart from Ambassadors
of Death- but this seems to be hoarded by the BBC) to be on UK
standard PAL tape and not one either shot on film then recolourised or
reconverted from NTSC. Why's this important? It means we can see this story
at its best without the degrading effects of standards transfer or film
grain. In the end, however, it shows up even more flaws.
COLONY
IN SPACE
After 10 rather excruciating episodes
of Doctor Who, it's finally back to Quality Street. That's not to
say this Mac Hulke script is perfect- it exhibits all the flaws that the
next few Hulke scripts would suffer from- padding. But it is entertaining,
thought provoking, imaginative and above all, rather well made.
It was nice to see Jo's reaction
to the TARDIS but having been through three stories with the Doctor, survived
two attempts at alien conquests and seen a lot of things that defy description,
her resolve that the Doctor had been bluffing all this time seems out of
place, especially considering the TARDIS dematerialised before her eyes
in Claws of Axos. And that Jo would not have been
in the TARDIS before is also a bit hard to swallow. Having said that- Katy
Manning shows she can act. Jo's disbelief is utterly believable.
Once we get to Exarius, we see a
well thought- out set of motives for all concerned, and a great degree
of imagination has gone into the design of this serial. The Colonists,
Primitives and IMC are all well realised, though some fixtures are a little
shoddy, particularly the waiting room aboard the miner's ship in episode
two.
The colonists and miners take turns
at being prisoners but the miners are nasty pieces of work. One of the
few times financial greed is the motivation for the main villain (Sunmakers
is another), Colony in Space is still entertaining, but makes you
really hate the miners rather than the company itself. The acting is of
a high standard, particularly Bernard Kay, Morris Perry, John Ringham,
but I can't say Jon Pertwee's performance is anything spectacular. Since
Mind
of Evil, he's been on auto pilot and although here he's improved slightly
over the last story, it's not the image we would have liked. Another
point was that the rather murderous character of Morgan, played by Tony
(Young Ensor) Caunter, was originally a woman with an actress already cast
until the Department Heads decreed having a woman in Kinky boots would
frighten people. These BBC types obviously get
turned on by certain things they like to keep hidden from the rest of us.
Kinky Devils!
Despite it being a SF story, the
design, with a few exceptions, is marvellous, from the costumes to the
sets to the make-up effects for the Exarians (the Doomsday Weapon's control
room is a disappointment). The changing of the TARDIS effect for this story
(doing away with the roll back and mix) is pointless and the Guardian is
not as effective as it could have been
It would have been a killer four
parter
Rating: You
like this story the same reason (most) men like silicon-enhanced breasts-
you know there's some unnecessary filling but that doesn't stop you from
loving it less.
THE
DAEMONS
I used to think
this story overrated but looking again at practically everyone's favourite
Pertwee story (including the great silver powder puff himself), I think
this is the story that best epitomises the 3rd Doctor. The story is second
to none for a Pertwee serial and features some of the best production values,
second only to Spearhead from Space.
There is some slightly
dodgy blue screen but then if that were a crime, Underworld would
have been shot years ago. Er, that is if it was a human being. The Daemons
is a story that has everything we think of when we think of Jon Pertwee's
tenure, but in a good way. The Recolourisation of this story has masked
90% of the flaws (apart from episode 4, which was the only surviving PAL
episode) and given it a classy look all round.
Despite the
glow of success, there are a few niggles such as the horrible music. This
season's music is all synthesised and while it worked well on Terror
of the Autons, by Claws of Axos, it had outstayed
its welcome like an incontinent grandparent at Christmas time. By the
Daemons, it was even worse than the Prodigy (It's that bad).
Roger Delgado in
this story seems less imposing than before and despite the fact that there
is no reason to believe the story was rewritten to include him (Guy Leopold
was a pseudonym for Robert Sloman and producer Barry Letts), it does at
times feel like the character of Mr Magister didn't have to be the Master.
Aside from
that, the characterisations are spot on all round with every character
brought to life by the cast. The locals are portrayed realistically, especially
Miss Hawthorne but it's the UNIT personnel who get the best developments,
especially Benton. Letts obviously knew these characters better even than
Terrance Dicks. Jon Pertwee gets into the spirit of things and its really
only Katy Manning who seems not to bring much to the party, in that Jo
really doesn't have much to do until the final episode. She was spared
because she was a virgin. "Oo-ar. Don't
get many of them down these parts. Fancy city girls and their new fangled
ways."
The best comedy
scenes in Doctor Who are the ones played 100% straight rather than the
intended jokes accompanied by a Dudley Simpson backing of a clarinet. We
have the slights at TV folk in episode one, Jo's brown-nosing of the Doctor
coming a cropper and the interaction between Miss Hawthorn and, well, everyone.
Quiquaequod!
In dealing with
the video effects in this story, it's necessary to divide scenes into those
featured in the recolourised episodes (1, 2, 3 and 5) and ep 4, which still
exists in its original form. The FX are pretty extensive but are carried
out to a particularly high standard. Azal's final manifestation isn't perfect,
with some 'aero barring' around the edges but compared to a similar effect
in Robot, parts of Azal were less likely to disappear if the actor moved.
But in the final (restored) episode, the effect is seemless. Also worth
mentioning where the simple physical effects used to represent the heat
barrier but for my money, Bok stole the FX show. Underused, the costume
was excellent, not at all looking like a costume. It's weapon effect was
well executed and the scene where it explodes and reforms is beautiful.
In short a special effect that was just that. And judging by the way Bok
runs, its apparent John Inman needed some spare cash inbetween eps of Are
you being Served.
"Are you free,
Mr Bok?"
"I'm free"
The Daemons is
probably the best season closer til season 14, a story that simply improves
with age (and recolourisation). If only the Beeb could recolourise Claws
of Axos and The Mutants.
DAY
OF THE DALEKS
It's 1972 and the Daleks are back in the
series for their first story since 1967's Evil of the Daleks. Louis
Mark's original script originally didn't feature the metal meanies but,
like Keeper of Traken and Silver Nemesis, the scripts were
rewritten to allow already popular creations to return. Large scale changes
weren't made, as evidenced by the fact the Daleks don't do much but that
doesn't matter. Unlike Frontier in Space,
which tried too hard to create a look for the future but forgot about updating
much technology, Day of the Daleks succeeds in giving us a look
at the world of the 22nd Century, much better than The Daleks' original
invasion of Earth in 1950 back in their first try in season 2.
The costume/ set designs are better
than most sf/ futuristic stories with rather good video effects though
perhaps a 60's style Dalek extermination slows the pace right down, probably
why they only shoot twice. The laser weapons of the rebels/Ogrons are nicer
than the usual reliance on sound effect and acting alone, although as is
usual when there is more than one group using various laser weapons, the
sound effects denoting each are confused in episode four. The Ogrons obviously
weren't meant to replace the Daleks in dialogue scenes (like Davros) but
they do provide much better scope for action. The Daleks look good
(all three of them), but one of the voice artists (in his only appearance)
is not suited to Dalek vox, brea-king up ev-e-ry word in-to each sy-lla-ble
so that the spee-ch en-ding epi-sode one took two days in the stu-dio to
c-o-m-p-l-e-t-e. Tammy Wynette must have done
a bit of script editing in her spare time.
A tight script by Marks and
fluid direction by Paul Bernard meant this was a stylish action adventure
with brains. The ambitious special effects are usually well executed though
they are mostly simple. The Dalek attack on Auderly is a little flat, despite
the soundtrack. Even though it's almost completely electronic (apart
from some real percussion), it's much better than the incidental music
from season 8.
Even after the last two seasons
of playing around with opening titles and cliff-hanger stings, this story
features something rather odd. During the recaps, the 'sting' from the
end credits would appear as usual but cut off or merge with the incidental
music at the right time. Its as if the recaps were just the previous episode's
cliff-hanger, but from the master tape rather than an earlier edit. It's
strange and off-putting and thankfully, this 'innovation' didn't continue.
It also means that the edited version on the video seems even more disjointed
than usual.
Jon Pertwee gives one of his best
performances as the Doctor. In fact, the whole cast is excellent. Aubrey
Woods' Controller is one of the best realised guest characters seen in
the series, though the guerillas are mostly well thought-out, with the
single-mindedness of purpose and ruthless ability to kill anyone whatever
their sympathies. Ah, Carlos the Jackal- you've
done it again.
This story is underrated and I think
that the rather flat ending (no matter how hard they tried, there are only
three Daleks) is the root of this particular fan evil.
Day of the Daleks is one
of Pertwee's best.
THE
CURSE OF PELADON
The Ice Warriors
return, but not as the story's villain, a masterstroke in their first appearance
in colour. After some nice film work at Ealing, the story is almost entirely
confined to the citadel and tunnels, marking a change from all previous
Pertwee stories in that it features no location work at all.
Lennie Mayne,
one of many Australians involved with the series over the years, directs
this story with aplomb, perhaps not with the same fluidity of the previous
story but as Curse is a much talkier piece, it's not surprising
that the direction isn't more spectacular. The Pels as voice by King Peladon
and Hepesh (David Troughton is Patrick's son) bring to life the sorts of
anxiety over a similar situation (Britain's entry into the then EEC). Geoffrey
Toone brings such conviction to a character that could just have easily
gone OTT. Troughton the younger's performance is also worthy of congrats.
Congrats. You were a bastard in Drop the Dead Donkey last week.
Katy Manning gets
to do a lot of mushy stuff and most of the time the scenes seem familiar.
Even though it's only a four-parter, it's still padded in places.
After the
court intrigues, the aliens are the main draw card for this story and after
the Ice Warriors, we have two new designs in Alpha Centauri and Arcturus,
one of which is fairly successful and one which really isn't. Arcturus
is another case of, well maybe we can invent a new "dalek" and on this
occasion it didn't work. The head is so utterly gross as to give kids nightmares
if they thought too hard about it. Alpha
Centauri was originally designed sans cape until the director commented
on the phallic symbolism. Apparently, it looked like a dick. Comical
it may have been but Centauri was a genuinely original character and design
and as a founding member of the Residents the high pitched voice can be
classed as arty. (if you know who they are, you know they suck too)
The special
effects in the story are mainly limited to the props and the aliens
though what video effects there are, are excellent, particularly the two
laser effects. If Sorg's laser effect had been used a few times in the
Dalek story then that story might have a better reputation these days.
The fight scene with Grun is well handled as is the sword fight in episode
four (using stuntmen for studio mounted fight scenes is always better than
using actors). A tasteful music score and well considered sets and costumes
means that the Curse of Peladon relates to story elements rather
than a Variety-esque dig at production problems.
For North Americans-
Cool
For Brits- Really
rather good.
For those in the
Pacific- It's shit-hot!
P.S.- One of the
working titles for this story was The Curse. Is it possible it was changed
for the same reason that the Australian Women's Weekly kept its name when
it became a monthly?
THE
SEA DEVILS
A sort of sequel
to Doctor Who and the Silurians but not
a sequel. More of an equal. Remember how Shock Treatment was billed as
the equal to the Rocky Horror Picture Show? Despite coming from the same
author, the two stories are so different they are like two pea-like creatures
in some sort of alien pod thingies. The Sea Devils (another case of an
alien being named by the first people to see them yet everyone, including
the aliens themselves use this moniker) are altogether more dynamic than
the Silurians, and on the whole, more original in design, even if their
motivations are more cliched.
The Letts/Dicks
era of Doctor Who can be characterised by civil servants who are either
obstructive, ignorant, self interested or all of the above. Not as the
main villain, but often on the same side as the Doctor in theory if not
practice. There's Dr Lawrence, Chinn, The Controller and now Trenchard
and Walker, the latter being the slimiest and most detestable character
ever shown in the series. Trenchard was simply a fool who was appointed
a prison governor more by having the right contacts rather than any particular
talent. Walker's just an arsehole.
This story,
despite being the season's most expensive serial, isn't much better than
the season stinker, The Time Monster. The story isn't very good,
simply being a framework to use a naval base, helicopter, hovercraft, diving
bell and lots of stock footage. A high degree of effort has been put into
this story both in terms of imagination and resources but the results,
like Claws of Axos the previous year, don't justify
the sweat. The Sea Devils, quite dynamic in film sequences (they were played
by stuntmen), are extremely flaccid in the studio, not helped by the fact
only one speaks. The voice of the single leader is better than the Silurians,
as is the design of the creatures themselves. It's just that the Sea Devils
only work well in filmed actions scenes. Their weapons are impressive,
despite the change of sound effects between studio and telecine.
The Master
has outstayed his welcome, but at least we were shown him in captivity
rather than just hearing the Brigadier tell the Doctor he escaped in the
epilogue of a story. Roger Delgado is excellent as usual but the story
does his character no justice.
Composer Malcolm
Clarke, whose later work in Earthshock was
fantastic, quite obviously got mixed up when he was hired to provide incidental
music,
because in the end he supplied Director Michael Briant with experimentalmusic.
There is no difference between the sound effects and music. Frankly, it
sucks.
It just proves how
bad Warriors of the Deep really is
when this disappointing show is better than the season 21 opener,
THE MUTANTS
Here's one I've
been waiting to see again for over ten years. Bob Baker and Dave Martin
have (from this story on) provided some of the better scripts over the
years and I would put them at around number six on my list of favourite
writers for Who with their ambitious scripts. The Mutants looks
a little cheaper after the epic nature of shows like The Sea Devils
and Day of the Daleks, and has a weird but imaginative atmosphere
rather like the writing duo's later effort, Invisible Enemy. Another
unfortunate constant to their stories is they all look cheap. These guys
just wrote for a budget that was far in excess of anything the BBC ever
offered to anything but their biggest failures (El dorado and Rhodes, to
name but a few).
At the beginning
of part one, The Doctor is sent as an intergalactic courier by the Time
Lords instead of the usual realisation of what's going on in episode three.
Assuming the role of a courier, the Doctor is rude to all and sundry, has
no idea whose parcel it is and tries to palm it off on to anyone but the
intended recipient. Jon Pertwee walks through the role, but casual though
he may have been, he never looks bored and never makes you think he'd rather
be water-skiing. Katy Manning is Katy Manning
as only Katy Manning can be Katy Manning. K-K-Katy.
The story is one
of the 'message' stories of the Letts/Dicks era paralleling contemporary
events in the same way Optus and Foxtel parallel their resources (parallel
lines are identical but never meet). But unlike similar Star Trek stories,
the message isn't hammered home like Joel Shumacher and a gerbil. Paul
Whitshun Jones, is almost, but not quite over the top as the Marshal. He
never gets as silly as Graham Crowden in Nimon or Richard Briers
in Paranoid Towers, but on
the other hand, he's only two steps from the bully-boy Police Chief
he played in the Goodies' first season. Garrick Hagon (Biggs in Star Wars)
does a very good turn as Ky and compared to similar characters throughout
the series' history (Gareth Hunt, Jason Connery, etc) he's the best young
rebel leader ever to turn into a butterfly. Either that or he was in a
Queen video clip. Seriously, he's good. John Hollis, (whose credits include
Blake's 7, Blofeld in For Your Eyes Only and Sheriff Lobot in Empire Strikes
Back) makes Sondergaard a real character as opposed to a vessel of exposition
but when you put him alongside George Pravda as Jaeger you have to ask
yourself, is it really necessary to have
scientists
in the one story and give both of them European accents? If Doctor
Who showed a physicist called Khamel Khan and a mathematician named Yu
Chung, they'd both sound like they're from the outer suburbs of Stockholm.
The model work is
of a high standard and the video effects are, well, effective. The story
works and the design is slightly better than average. So what's wrong with
it? The ending to episode four. Up until that point, the story is an enjoyable,
meaningful romp, and then, all of that goes out the window when the plasterboard
Skybase wall collapses and starts sucking people ever so gently into space.
And then the Marshal's escape has to be seen to be believed. But then,
there is NO explanation at all. He miraculously walks invisibly passed
the others while they are struggling to avoid being hoovered out into space.
After that things improve slightly but obviously the budget was smaller
than it could have been.
Perhaps a little
too long, The Mutants is a good Pertwee story that could have done
with a few more pounds to smooth out the ambitious plot.
THE
THREE DOCTORS
10 years of Doctor Who is celebrated by
this story, despite the fact it was originally broadcast only six weeks
after the ninth anniversary. The idea of having all three Doctors in one
story was a common one, it just happened to get a look in during the production
team's search for a gimmick for the 10th season opener, just as the Master
and Daleks had done in previous years.
Bob Baker and Dave Martin return
with a good script and a fairly simple story with scope for characterisation
over set pieces. Look at it, it doesn't have expensive location work (though
what little there is, is nice), a large cast, extensive stunt work or anything
else to increase the overheads. The thing is, the design department let
the side down in two important aspects that mar an otherwise well-executed
serial. The sets for Omega's domain are utterly appalling- sticking bubbles
on flat arches and expecting them to pass for an organic corridor doesn't
really cut it with this viewer. Or any other viewer other than a bed-ridden
Dennis Potter. The Gel guards are the worst featuredmonster
in the Pertwee era and the less said about them, the better.
Despite these two major drawbacks,
the not so ambitious script (rather subdued for the Bristol Boys) is really
entertaining. The lack of imagination designs does accentuate the positive
aspects though. The cast is first rate and on the whole directed well,
though Jon Pertwee's dialogue lacks much sparkle in any scene where he
is not addressing his former selves or at least discussing them. Pat Troughton,
who'd only been away 3 years slips back into character, more or less, with
ease. The on screen tension between the Second and Third Doctors was apparently
matched behind the cameras as Pertwee memorised his scripts verbatim (or
at lest scribbled the tricky bits on the console) and Troughton tended
to paraphrase a lot of dialogue. For Pertwee, a newcomer to drama, this
was infuriating as he relied on the exact line for his cue. Pertwee's ego
as the current Doctor also came into play (understandably) when all
publicity photos had him towering over his predecessors- and not just from
his natural height advantage over the others.
The score by Dudley Simpson is of
the deadly variety, the almost totally synthesised compositions working
in some scenes but when Simpson tries cues written for real brass and strings,
he fails abysmally. Even today it is difficult to realistically recreate
these sounds on the majority of modern synths. On another musical note,
this story was to have seen the debut of the so-called "Delaware"
version of the theme tune provided by the BBC Radiophonic workshop, though
this time it was created using multi-track recorders and synths playing
the parts in real time as opposed to individual tones on pieces of tape
spliced together. Barry Letts was the only one who liked it and was persuaded
quite near to transmission that the new version, well, sucked big time.
The older version, was hastily redubbed onto the finished episodes, hence
the picture and music weren't always synchronised. A few episodes fell
through the net, hence a few instalments of
Carnival of Monsters and Frontier in Space
still contain the 'updated' version.
Benton, a character who usually
seems to get more to do than Captain Yates ( though this will change soon),
really does shine in this story accepting everything because there's no
point in denying the evidence, as does the Brigadier who does the exact
opposite at first. He resolutely refuses to accept the situation, this
story really is the source of the Brigadier's undeserved reputation as
a buffoon (I consider myself open-minded to the possibilities of interstellar
travel but if I work up one morning to find my house in a black hole, I
think I would freak out, too). But once transported to Omega's world he
takes charge of the situation, a fact fandom should take note of. Ollis,
on the other hand, is pointless, adds nothing but at least he isn't killed
off for the usual no good reason. Terry Nation's series Survivors was criticised
because its Producer, Terence Dudley (K9 and
Company, Meglos, Four to Doomsday, Black
Orchid), couldn't stand anyone working class, hence the heroes where
all middle class and everyone with a regional accent was either dead or
rabid. Barry Letts was a completely different man but if he wanted to appear
more egalitarian, he shouldn't have gone the token character route.
If it wasn't for the repartee between
the Doctors, Omega would have walked away with this show. Stephen Thorne
returns and gives a performance rather different than Azal. Just as big,
yet still different enough that you wouldn't immediately recognise the
voice.
The Two and a bit Doctors is a good
entertaining story with a tight plot and generally decent production values
(with two important exceptions). A classic simply because of the characterisation.
CARNIVAL
OF MONSTERS.
In my opinion, Barry
Letts has made one of the biggest contributions to Doctor Who. That said,
Carnival
of Monsters isn't his best work. While I wait for the knife sharpening
device to finish, let me explore the ways I adore this story.
It features Virtual
Reality years before William Gibson ever got beaten up at school. In fact,
Robert Holmes' first use of this plot device (he'd re-use it later in Deadly
Assassin and Trial of a Time Lord),
is innovative, yet manages to retain the naive atmosphere of the late 60's.
It also predates The Truman Show by 25 years.
The acting
is of a high calibre with several stalwarts of the series such as Peter
Halliday and the late Michael Wisher joining Ian Marter and his stiff upper
lip. The set design is quite good and the special effects much better than,
say, Planet of the Daleks later
the same season (that wouldn't be too hard). The blue screen set-ups are
quite ambitious and work better than similar attempts in Claws
of Axosand the Letts' directed Terror of
the Autons. The scene where the Doctor and Jo are nearly skewered
by a giant tool (no, not Tom Baker) is brilliantly executed while the shot
of the Drashig breaking through the deck of the SS Bernice (No gratuitous
NA references please!) is also notable (70% success).
But, and this a
big butt- more early Ricki Lake than Kate Moss, the studio direction
is appalling, particularly in episode one. The lighting is so bright it
makes everything look utterly cheap but if that was a crime, British prisons
would have dozens of BBC lighting directors under deathwatch. The sets
look incredibly tatty under such harsh lighting as do the costumes, further
degrading the look of the show to sub-TOP OF THE POPS visual bubblegum.
Vorg's suit looks as if it's made up from a fabric adorned with rolled
up contraceptives (perhaps leftovers from The
Green Death?). The Lovely Shirna (Cheryl Hall, married to Robert
Lindsay when they were both in Citizen Smith) is another fashion victim-
her loud leotard makes her look like Tonya Harding in a radioactive waste
dump. Lastly, the Inter Minor bureaucrats would have looked better with
more attention paid to the lighting. Bloody BBC!
And another
thing, the vision mixer misses every cue by about two seconds. The effect
is engender an amateurish feel to the program (more than usual). People
might say all TV was like that in 1973, but Barry Letts' and Terrance Dicks'
Moonbase Three from only a few months later doesn't look anywhere near
as tatty and dated as Carnival. All this aside, it has to be said
Carnival is far more entertaining than the first five episodes of Moonbase
Three combined. It also says much about how the BBC always strangled the
show's resources (a polyp on the anus of the BBC which took another 16
years to lance).
The Drashigs, the
story's villains, are the most unimposing monsters this side of Snakedance.
The problem is, the muppets are just too small to have any on-screen presence
(They do, however, cause much off-screen tittering and guffawing). The
Drashigs are also a randy lot, for in one scene in episode three, I swear,
two of them are snogging while a third gives Jo the eye (why do you think
she screamed?). When blue screen was first used in Doctor
Who and the Silurians, the production crew kicked themselves for making
a man-sized dinosaur when they could have just used a hand puppet. They
used puppets here, in Invasion of the Dinosaurs
and Terror of the Zygons. S'funny - you hear lots of negative comments
from viewers about those mini-dinos yet none about the T-Rex in the 1970
story. Go figure. (Figure what, you crazy fool?). Letts did feel the Silurian's
pet didn't work if the camera lingered and quick flashes of Drashigs weren't
on the cards.
We are lucky in
that this is an extended release with a longer version of episode two and
an edited version of episode 4. But the episode two was an earlier edit
still containing the aborted version of the theme tune (abortion is an
apt description of the "Delaware" version of the signature tune). Oohhhh,
that Hell-aware version sends shivers down my spine making even Dominic
Glynn's 1986 arrangement seem palatable (a big ask). It makes you go all
wibbly. This Death-knell arrangement has the ability to send sane individuals
into the pit of unenviable madness, polluted by... I think you get the
point. And thank heavens Barry Letts did in 1973 when he reinstated the
Delia Derbyshire arrangement.
Marks out of ten
for the ambitious nature of the production, acting and script- 9.9
Marks out of Spencers
for the shoddy studio cameras and lighting- 1.8
RATING-The same
as Deep Space Nine until they fire Avery Brooks. (P.S) This review was
written before DS9 started to get good with season 4)
FRONTIER
IN SPACE
FIS is a
grand space-opera in the best Troughton-era tradition but with all the
benefits of colour and blue screen, and all the disadvantages of colour
and blue screen. There are some really cool designs, such as the space
ships, the costumes, the Draconians and the hand guns; a look of things
to come that generally impresses. The Earth soldiers with all their padded
sections and wonderbra/earmuffs look menacing and the Draconians deserved
a second outing more than the lumbering Ogrons. But for some reason, the
most interesting part of a space-ship to design- the flight deck- looks
plain with an early digital clock and an office chair complete with pathetic
seatbelt that would cause whiplash just during docking manoeuvres. Conversely
the cargo deck set (redressed about 16 times) is a nice design that wouldn't
look out of place in one of today's science fiction series. But four walls
would have sufficed in return for a better flight deck. The variation used
for the Ogron ship still holds up well.
There is some
unforgivable usage of silver space suits which must have caused severe
retina damage to the production crew at the time. At least you'd never
get lost in space in one of those things. The Doctor nearly does, twice.
In fact, he seems to do everything more than once. He is captured and imprisoned
several times, interrogated and disbelieved several times, escapes or is
rescued on a number of occasions and just tends to repeat himself several
times and just tends to repeat himself several times and just tends to
repeat himself several times. It's a bit of a let down from author Malcolm
Hulke, who wrote some of Pertwee's better stories, as this is Roger Delgado's
final appearance as the Master. The Master really isn't a baddie here,
just a little in over his head. But then, the black hat shouldn't be a
teddy bear, should he? Delgado's performance is his best since the
Daemons.
Some of the story
details are wonderfully quaint here in the 90's. Prison cells without any
form of surveillance device, high-security cells opened by big keys and
woefully inadequate ship-to-ship communications. Surely in 1000 years time,
the ships' scanner would be able to identify other ships, but to pay attention
to these points makes the story unbelievable. The last episode seems a
little cheaper than the others, with an off screen landing by the Dalek
ship, that monster and the cobbled together ending caused by a remount.
The Ogrons and Master suddenly vanish without explanation and the Doctor
sets the ship in motion but his weakened state only manages to perform
"doughnuts" in the TARDIS. (go
to Planet of the Sh*t-St*rrers)
.I
I do wish the BBC didn't have to keep using army radio sets in their high
tech sets. The model effects are the best you'll see in the Pertwee era,
although that's not hard. The acting is pretty average with no one doing
a really good job but no one is spectacularly afflicted by Ham and Wood.
Peter Birrel as the Draconian Prince is almost dreadful while the Ogron
actors seem to have been cast for their intellectual similarity to the
'characters' they portrayed. They sound like Gumbies from Monty Python.
Frontier in Space
is different from just about every other Pertwee adventure and it becomes
just that- high adventure.
To Sum Up- It's
repetitive, dated, but fun. Rating: 3.5
1998 update- Hey
I watched it again, two years after this review was originally published,
and I enjoyed it a heck of a lot. The trick is never to watch more than
two episodes at a time and a maximum of four a day. This is how Blake's
7 would have looked had it been made five years earlier.
PLANET
OF THE DALEKS
POTD was
Terry Nation’s first Doctor Who script since the Dalek Masterplan in
1966. And even though many consider Frontier
in Space and Planet of the Daleks to be one big storyline,
Planet
of the Daleks comes across as a shabby relation one has chained to
the boiler in the basement whenever company comes 'round.
It's not due to
the script. Although Tel reuses many minor plotlines and concepts, like
strange jungles and invisible creatures and girls masquerading as Daleks,
this script is quite good compared to Nation’s reputation as a greedy hack.
His seventies Daleks scripts are as good as the 1963 original without all
the pointless running around of the Nation-scripted B&W sequels and
his two Dalek-free stories. There is a good deal of emotion with well drawn
characters with more heart to hearts in six episodes than a detective series
starring Jonathan Wagner and Stephanie Powers. The actors do a good job
too, even Prentis Hancock, whose impersonation of smoked ham in “Planet
of Evil” would shame even Richard Briers’ turn as the Caretaker. He
does have one strange scene in episode one where he suddenly snaps and
becomes a font of exposition for no good reason other than Terry Nation
couldn't set the scene a little less clumsily. Jon Pertwee and Katy
Manning get to show a more tender side to their characters, allowing one
to exhibit real feelings when the other is in danger or presumed dead.
Jon Pertwee’s Doctor had become one who took most things in his stride,
became angry in a very comic, Oscar Wilde style, the "You sir, are a quisling"
type deal. Ya. None of that. But when he thinks Jo is dead, he has to wait
a few eps to find out she’s still alive rather than a few minutes. There
was quite a gap between the production of Frontier
in Space and this story (Patrick Troughton's schedule meant Three
Doctors has to be made third). Katy Manning's tan has disappeared overnight
(or immediately, in the case of the climax for Frontier as the remount
was filmed during studio sessions for this story.
This is perhaps
the series most environmentally friendly script, as there is so much recycling
of storylines from Nation's previous story it's almost a greatest hits
story. a greatest hits story, featuring many elements of Nation's previous
stories from the 60's (David Whitaker wrote the two Troughton tales and
Louis Marks handled Day of the Daleks), particularly
The
Daleks with many scenes echoing those in the original- the Doctor escaping
from his cell with whatever happens to be at hand (except instead of a
comb or mud, he uses a portable recorder and his sonic screwdriver), the
Dalek ascending the shaft destroyed by having a heavy object dropped on
top of it, someone inside a Dalek casing, invisible creatures (the Spiridons'
footprints in the dirt is identical to a scene in Daleks' Master Plan).
Even allowing for
some padding here and the odd superfluous action scene there, the story
is a good one. It’s just let down Dalek-supremely by the execution. David
Maloney, usually one of the better directors working on the show in the
70’s, and his team seem to let mediocrity win. The main problem with season
ten is that it looks garish and bright (possibly due to the fact that most
of the colour prints of earlier seasons come to us either via NTSC copies
or Recolourisation, both of which dull the colour considerably.) But everything
is way too bright which accentuates every flaw and unfortunately, there
are many flaws. Unfortunately, it's a problem that afflicts most Doctor
Who's of the era. The Three Doctors and
Carnival
of Monsters had similar problems but still manage to emerge with
some dignity but the production values for this story seem to have slipped
since last season despite a more polished feel. It's a paradox, I know,
but stiff shit. Frontier in Space,
despite its mostly cardboard characters, padding and sometimes 1930's view
of space opera, still looks pretty good for a 1973. Planet of the Daleks
looks like nothing had changed with the transition to colour.
The biggest problem
is that the Daleks themselves are in a wretched condition, even worse than
in Destiny of the Daleks.
They wobble on
the move like skanted Trekkers on an all-fat diet,
look like they were assembled in a Lada factory judging by some of the
fittings like slats and have badly mismatched paint jobs showing very,
very quick and dirty patch-up jobs i.e. metallic paint on top of gloss.
And don’t get me started on the Dalek Supreme with his domestic torch for
an eye stalk. I wish that the dolphin from the battery ad would come and
head butt him to death. This is also the last time the Dalek weapon-fire
would be represented simply by a fairly dull sound effect and a rather
slow switch to negative, though we have to wait for Genesis of the Daleks
for a real effect. Most of the other effects, however, work well and this
is one of the few Pertwees where the blue-screen works well. The model
work is well-executed, from the hordes of Daleks (despite the wrong models
being used) to the landing of the Dalek ship, even if the design does look
like two giant Rolos painted silver. Despite the abomination that would
pass for the Dalek ship in Death to the
Daleks, Doctor Who's spacebound model work had reached a convincing
standard that would only occasionally lap into an amateurish mess (e.g.
the epileptic TARDIS seen in season 13). The music, however, is on the
up with more and more conventional soundtracks, albeit still accompanied
by synthesisers.
After the galaxy
spanning action of Frontier in Space,
you might feel ripped off having six episodes set on one planet with relatively
few characters. But this is more than compensated for by rather fast-paced
adventure, a solid story and a cast than has no weak links. It’s just a
pity than only the colour print of episode three is missing as the Black
and White version manages to hide most of the story’s visual shortcomings
and make it look a lot better. Perhaps someone could combine B&W film
prints with the colour prints. Do that and you'd have a classic.
RATING: Better than
Women’s Day but not as good as TV Week. No Idea.
THE
GREEN DEATH
I really hate maggots.
The sight of them not only makes me want to vomit but they are the principal
reason I don’t watch most episodes of the X-Files anymore (other than the
funny ones and the continuing arc). I look away for a few crucial seconds
whenever I watch Red Dwarf: Holoship or Licence to Kill. But if you looked
away while watching The Green Death, you'd get cramp. Even the fakes
ones move realistically and every shot that features real ones turns my
stomach. That said, it’s a very good Doctor Who and not a chore to watch
all six episodes in one go as most are, apart from the wriggly vomit attractants.
A story with a message,
a story that works on several levels and all of them enjoyable. A good
'un, to coin a phrase. Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning put in some of their
best ever performances, possibly the very best. The Doctor has only been
devastated to the extent shown here by the departure of a companion once
before. And that was his grand-daughter. The only regular who doesn't get
much to do is Benton but everyone else shines here. The Brigadier, as portrayed
in Green Death, may still be a fool but he's no idiot and Mike Yates,
too often an under and/or poorly used character, gets the first of his
last three appearances in Doctor Who and they're all good. Bring on Invasion
of the Dinosaurs...
There are some great
video effects associated with Hugo BOSS and the crystal which turns every
thing into the opening titles to Jason King. But at the same time there
is some of the worst CSO this side of Terror of
the Autons. Curiously enough, the scenes of The Brigadier and Benton
CSOed onto a photo of the location actually works quite well with good
light matching, even if the subsequent cut to film works against the effect.
But virtually other piece of chromakey has a little too much chroma and
not enough key. Worst offenders are scenes supposedly set in a mine shaft
lift and the Doctor and Benton driving though the Rue M'aggot, though the
filmed and seemingly looped attack of the fly is better. The fly also shows
how less frightening a monster is if it's less realistic.
Co written by producer
Barry Letts, The Green Death marks the beginning of the end of the
UNIT era with the first departure of the Pertwee ‘family’. None of the
pfaff of Sarah's departure, Leela's staser-wedding, Nyssa's striptease
or Peri's Kojak complex. The Third Doctor and Jo Grant are one of the better
Doctor/companion teams, like the Second Doctor and Jamie, The Seventh with
Ace, and The Fourth with... anyone. The
'Darth vader' head title sequence bows out, stylishly in the case of episode
six, and upside down at other times and
even though the season eleven opener The Time Warrior
was
made recorded straight away, cosiness would slowly be replaced as a companion
who would epitomise the mid-seventies just as Jo Grant had been 'the' girl
of the early seventies. One last thing, all those wishing to be reincarnated
as a Dalek plunger arm, form an orderly queue.
RATING- Maggotnificent.
THE
TIME WARRIOR
Although this kicks off season 11, it
was in fact made straight after The Green Death
as part of the tenth recording block (Many sixties and mid-seventies seasons
were made this way and indeed Star Trek and Babylon 5 are doing similar
things today). Terrance Dicks forced a reluctant Bob Holmes to set his
story in the Middle Ages and despite the writer's reservations (he didn't
want to research the period), Holmes provides a classic script. Not an
epic story by any means, but the sort of story where the Doctor solves
the problems before they balloon into serious threats- if he failed, the
world wouldn't end today but quite soon.
There's a subtle change in style
that's first seen in this story. Maybe it's just a new director but the
story doesn't seem so floodlit like the previous story. Season 10 wasn't
noted for terrific design, it was either adequate or terrible but never
inspired. Time Warrior is perhaps a small story with large, time delayed
ramifications if the Doctor doesn't succeed, as outlined above.
The design is excellent with everything
appearing as it should (the Middle ages are a little plasticky I suppose)
and the technological aspects are handled well. The Sontaran and its associated
technologies (suit, tools, weapons, ship) are believable in the same way
that many Pertwee foes aren't. Holmes had a full history and culture devised
for the Sontarans which perhaps dealt a little too closely with the reproductive
aspects of their species. Whatever turned him on, I guess.
Good characters are only good if
the cast can bring them to life and in this case the cast is excellent,
a strength of the Pertwee Era. David Daker (Irongron), Donald Pelmear (Ruebish)
and Kevin Lindsay as Linx (no one's bettered him) are the standouts in
a story where even the walk-ons treated the scenery as an all you can eat
buffet.
Lynx really is one of the better
alien characters seen on the series and the best Sontaran. (Styre looks
like one of those characatures they use to have in the late 70's to sell
Eggs- Kojegg, that sort of thing).
This story also saw the introduction
of one of the series' most popular companions who went on to become so
associated with the 4th Doctor. Sarah Jane Smith started off as a way to
deflect claims of sexism but apart from a few charming scenes about women's
lib (no mention of equality) this storyline seemed to evaporate between
seasons. But they way she put facts together is credible (and like most
journalists, got things horribly wrong to fit in with her own preconceived
notions). These days, this story is perhaps seen as a landmark in that
Sarah and the Sontarans both make their debuts in spite of the story's
overall solidity.
The Time Warrior also sees the
first use of an animated title sequence and I like it better than the Tom
Baker sequence, perhaps because the Baker version was used on 35 odd stories
rather than just 5. But for me, the Doctor's face should always appear
just as the music hits the lead line, as it did for the Troughton, the
two Pertwee versions and the starfield sequences of the 80's. Perhaps I
like the variations in this version and the fact the Doctor doesn't seem
stuck on on the first Baker sequence or the McCoy titles.
The Time Warrior isn't perfect but it
has a cracking script, solid production values better than previous seasons
and a great cast.
Rating: If I could walk that way....
"INVASION"
Good Friday 1997.
If Doctor Who is never made again then today was the last time an episode
debuted on Australian Television. The first time Invasion of the Dinosaurs
was
shown in Australia (1984, I believe. Though If I'm wrong...) it was a five
part story with opening credits transposed by one (Episode two was labelled
"Part One" etc). Why? In order to preserve the nature of the threat, Producer
Barry Letts decided to name part one Invasion. And when the Troughton Cyber-epic
from 1968 was junked, this episode was also burned, baby, burned. But about
ten years ago, a Black and White print was recovered meaning Doctor Who
was intact from The War Games on. But the ABC still showed the five-part
version in '84 and '86. (why not in 83?)
Now that I've seen
part one, I must say that you don't lose much in the way of plot by dropping
an episode. That said, it's a nice episode though it's weird to see the
season 11 titles in B&W, or to see Sarah Jane Smith without the benefit
of Red-Green-Blue. And as with episode 3 of Planet
of the Daleks, the B&W film helps hide the shortcomings of the
eponymous reptiles. For years, I wondered where the original cover for
the novel got its concept, you know, the one with "Klak". It's a scene
from episode one where The Doctor and Sarah are attacked by a small pterodactyl.
The scene is edited together nicely, even though the winged terror is phonier
than the shed of a former Telstra employee. The only problem is that after
such a good and mysterious first episode, you already know what happens
in the remaining episodes...
Episodes
2-5 INVASION OF THE DINOSAURS (because
UK TV got it wrong when they got it right!
The story is one
of the better Malcolm Hulke offerings. While his stories are always well
written, they have a habit of being at least one episode too long and having
lots of padding around episode four- take the endless capture/escape/take
prisoners/prisoners escape/prisoners capture you again of Colony
in Space, The Sea Devils and Frontier
in Space for instance. Here at least, the story changes direction radically
every two episodes so that the story is sustained over the course of the
six parts.
Season 11, while
often being overlooked as the year between the anniversary and Tom Baker,
did have a very high standard of writing without a single bad storyline
and the highest/ most consistent production values of the Pertwee era (The
exceptions being the Dalek ship in the next story and bits of the finale).
But the Dinosaurs as presented here are so god-awful... Well, when they
don't move, they work well and it's the Tyrannosaurus Rex which fails most
as it has to be energetically ferocious but which ever way you look at
it, no amount of lighting tricks will make a two-foot puppet look like
a five-story dinosaur. What is it with Barry Letts and puppet monsters?
First the drashigs and now these monstrosities. (see
Carnival of Monsters) That said, I always thought some of the shots
of the less mobile creatures like Triceratops and Stegosaurs worked quite
well, even the miniatures shot on video, a medium never comfortable with
modelwork. It must be said, that the lighting is noticeably better throughout
the stories this season with out every story (bar the finale) floodlit.
With the recent
events in San Diego of the Net-savvy Hale-Bopp loons topping themselves
after watching too many reruns of ALF, the notion of fanatics going to
extreme lengths to achieve their dreams is all the more poignant. Grover
is so believable as the sort of person who would want to literally turn
the clock back, though it is hard to see the attraction of Operation Golden
Age for General Finch and Butler. Mike Yates is one of the few semi-regulars
to have any sort of character development like this. Benton is a GROPO
who just accepts whatever he confronts while the Brigadier is a man who's
seen a lot and gradually finds it easier to be more and more sceptical
through the years (Unfortunately, this development was more a result of
bad writing rather than any plan, the Brig would have to wait another decade
to grow as a person and as a moustache). But Yates had been traumatised
in The Green Death, co-opted by a
cult and actually forced from UNIT. When was the last time Data was court-martialled
for going mad and taking over the Enterprise? How come B5's command crew
can smash up a bar and break every law bar murder and still be in
a position of responsibility. (oh, I see. They run a military dictatorship)
Of course when you
think about it, the actual goal of turning the clock back as Operation
Golden-Age intend would result in modern civilisation never having existed.
But surely this would also annul Grover, Finch, Butler, Yates and the others
as well since they too would never have existed. I think there's something
in that for all of us. Don't you?
I like Invasion
of the Dinosaurs because, as Terrance Dicks noted "Spielberg had cracking
monsters and a shaky story, while with us it was the other way around,
shaky monsters and a cracking story. By all accounts, the book of Lost
World has more flaws in its logic than Pauline Hanson.
But while it's great
to see part one of this story, someone in UK TV seems to be what I call
a lapsed fan, i.e. he remembers Invasion of the Dinosaurs as a five
part story, not knowing as we all do that the entire serial has been with
the Beeb for a period greater than the age of Roman Polanski's latest mistress.
We saw parts 1-5 and missed out on part six altogether. You can't have
everything.
Rating7/10
because you can't have anything. (PS- UKTV eventually screened the complete
story but I was overseas at the time. D'OH!)
DEATH
TO THE DALEKS
Like the Time Warrior,
this is a little low key though the immediate threat is significant enough.
Terry Nation provides us with something slightly different and while Planet
of the Daleks had a fairly good script with some not so clever plotting,
Death
to the Daleks is a complete cracker, one that was within the resources
of the series at the time put still packed a punch. And Director Michael
Briant has finally made a really good show (his last two suffered from
the odd piece of amateurish production). This story has many of the same
qualities as the Time Warrior, and indeed of the
season as a whole.
The pacing is perfect and the ideas
some of Terry Nation's best. It's easy to write off Terry Nation
as a hack as his work on the series after his initial Dalek story had been
less than inspiring. Though last season's Dalek story was an improvement
(though it was more a greatest hits compilation), it was marred by rather
poorly maintained Daleks and a cheapness to the production. But Nation
got back on track with this story (around the same time as Survivors was
in its gestation period) and it works well, even with considerable use
of CSO. Done properly for a change so there's no huge haloes. The design
is of a high quality from the Exxilons and their city to the MSC uniforms.
But the Dalek ship is pathetic in terms of design and laughable when it's
destroyed (see Revenge of the Cybermen).
Despite that abomination, and the
fact that outdoor scenes shot in the studio are a trifle bright, the production
is a solid and dynamic one. This is helped by the Daleks being highly mobile
and free to move about during battles with their rather nifty machine-guns
(what most casual viewers remember about the story).
The cast, again, is strong with
no obvious weak links. John Abineri, Arnold Yarrow and Duncan Lamont are
excellent in their roles and Joy Harrison is a complete space babe, but
one with a real character and acting ability. As a side-note, John Abineri
replaced Lamont on Blake's 7 at very short notice after Lamont died during
production. I particularly like the Exxilons as they are well thought out
and don't look like palid poms in posing pouches. Sarah is also rather
good in this story, Terry Nation always wrote well for women, but Lis Sladen
gives a performance of someone still trying to get a grip on the insane
situations, vulnerable. Or maybe she was still strun out after sniffing
certain incenses.
A musical tangent for a moment. Dudley
Simpson is often thought of as the series' composer in residence during
the 70's but there are a few stories scored by others, particularly if
it was directed by Douglas Camfield, who had a long standing grudge against
Simpson ever since an argument at a dinner party in the 60's. Camfield
usually used stock music or if he had to, another composer. Michael Briant
also seemed to dislike Simpson's approach but not to the extent of Camfield,
he didn't always use others. Briant used Malcolm Clarke for the Sea
Devils and Carey Blyton for this story but Simpson for Colony
in Space and Green Death. This one Simpson,
one anyone but Simmo policy continued with Briant's work on Who but
didn't extend to Blake's 7 as it did with Camfield.
Blyton's score for this story, a totally conventional score to underline
the lack of electrical power but using a saxophone quartet robs the score
of any dramatic power. Blyton's score for
Doctor Who and the Silurians also suffered from poor instrument choice
(it sounds like a kazoo solo in places).
Rating: The Daleks need to get out more. Still Daleks with machine
guns are cooler that Daleks that exterminate victims with a sound effect,
slow change to negative and imagination.
THE
MONSTER OF PELADON
Great. Last seen
in 1986, it's been eleven years since this story was screened and a year
or so since it was released on video in the UK. The telemovie and the recent
change of local distributors has put a kink in the pipeline and thanks
to quite poor timing, the video comes out just after Curse
of Peladon's sequel comes to cable. It's difficult to compare
the two when the original comes to us via the American television system
NTSC and don't listen to all that waffle about how many lines being the
problem, it's the colour that suffers. Monster has crisper colour but at
the same time, more considered lighting so that, gasp, shadows appear.
The lighting in this season is much better than last season and the general
lift in production values can be traced to no particular source, especially
when you consider Time Warrior was recorded during
the 10th season recording block along with Green
Death.
With a new cast
of local humans, we have to come to turns with the thecthy Queen Thalira,
Hepesh lookalike Ortron and of course, the miners. The fuzzy-wuzzies must
have their hair done at the Bride of Frankenstein's salon but, initial
hilarity aside, once you get past them, you realise that no-one on Peladon
is having a good hair day. Performances are adequate all-round here apart
from Gebec and Ettis, the actors involved really bringing the characters
alive. I could list the actors names but "I'm to tired to look". Donald
Gee as Eckersly is a strange, too gawky to be menacing but then you're
not supposed to realise until later eps. In fact, if you didn't know he's
a traitor, he doesn't come across as obviously having his hand in the till,
but if you are cluey, he's shit-stirring from episode one. Alpha Centauri
is back, this time better than ever, with a more subtle performance. Then
there's the Ice Warriors themselves, for the most part played by the same
two actors who've been playing them since 1967. This time around, we do
at least get to see more than one at a time. And the only time you're ever
likely to see the one with the big head in colour. If you look at it closely
it's apparent that it was built around a crash helmet and of varying scale
for whatever reason, my guess that it was a last minute replacement. The
Ice Warriors (or most of it) is now out on video so perhaps an answer
is in the Martian's debut. Alan Bennion isn't as good as he was in Curse
of Peladon, he just seems to be less asthmatic. Apart from the amateur
looking paint jobs with way too-glossy paint, the Ice Warriors seem to
put together very badly with huge joins visible. And although they carry
those too-cool for words sonic rods, they still have the wrist weapons
from Seeds of Death
That brings me to
the special effects. After some lacklustre modelwork spoiled the ending
to Death to the Daleks, Monster has
a big effects budget with bangs aplenty and without doubt, the best use
of mirrorlon in any BBC production. When the Ice Warriors kill someone,
you get the impression the victim is being imploded, unlike the silly effect
from Seed of Death or the stupid use in Blake's 7 whenever they
went though some warp in the Liberator ( I always thought they'd look like
a Picasso when they emerged). Aggedor's faked appearances also effective,
considering the many layers in each manifestation, and remembering the
technology. Eckersly's alarm system in the refinery is another goo effect,
and compared to very amateurish effect in a similar scene in the previous
Dalek story, this one is streets ahead. The miner's flash guns are all
right, apart from the strange trait of sounding very different if fired
on film or on tape (a la Sea Devils) Apart
from some dodgy Blues screen in the cave overlooking the Citadel (Hey,
even the special edition of Empire Strikes back still has some see-through
Blue-screen!), the effects, for once in a Jon Pertwee story, are great.
After having the
Ice Warriors actually turn out to be nice chaps last time 'round, writer
Brian Hayles, in his last Who, turns the viewer's perceptions around and
turns into badly painted baddies. The dialogue is average, but in Doctor
Who in the seventies, average is good anywhere else. Jon Pertwee's performance,
is his usual self, not too emotional, nor worried about anything, but after
five years and in his penultimate story, he would have had much in his
mind...
One last thought.
While I thought the commercials wouldn't bother me, I've found I enjoy
Doctor Who more on video releases than having to cue through a thirty second
break in the action.
RATING- Something
old something new something borrowed and something blue screened. 8/10
PLANET
OF THE SPIDERS
Barry Letts and
Robert Sloman's last story together as writers is also unique as they are
unfortunately the only writers from season 11 still alive. Letts
also Produced and Directed this, his swansong and a personification of
everything he believed Doctor Who could be during his time. It's perhaps
a little sad in that it sees a number of slips in production values in
some areas and leaps and bounds in others.
The philosophical
and spiritual beliefs of Letts drive the story in the way no story had
before or since and that's no bad thing when you ask the writer of some
stories what they wanted out of their four episodes of Doctor Who and the
answer would be "four cheques."
The plot is
interesting and the only padding is the constant fight sequences and the
chase, though they aren't padding in the usual sense to make up time rather
to allow a celebration of the Pertwee Era. The rather large cast is heavily
populated by actors who have appeared over the past five years. John Dearth
was the voice of BOSS, the craven Terence Lodge was in Letts' own Carnival
of Monsters, Kevin Lindsay in the season opener, Yssane Churchman was Alpha
Centauri's voice plus other regular bit part/stuntmen Max Falkner, Pat
Gorman, Stuart Fell and Terry Walsh.
The Brigadier, Yates,
Benton and even Jo Grant via a letter all make an appearance, even Bessie.
The cast is both good and bad, the humans on Earth being very realistic
and those on Metebelis 3 swinging between just adequate and hopeless, Neska
being so wooden as to make Gareth Hunt seem dynamic. Tuar, Rega and Sabor,
however are believable. Dearth is particularly good, though Kevin Lindsay
really doesn't look Tibetan he manages to do a passable impression. John
Kane manages to convey Tommy BC and AD (Before Crystal and After Dimensia)
without resorting to stuttering or going cross-eyed. But did that idiot
policeman need to be in the script at all, or if he did just to allow Lupton
to steal the gyro copter, did he have to be a moron. Perhaps, like Tommy,
he just needed a little blue lovin' from Metebelis 3.
The spiders themselves
are realised decently, much better than the bloody dinosaurs earlier in
the season. And according to Mat Irvine, the original designs were rejects
because they were too realistic. Oh, and Letts managed to stick a clip
of the Drashings in the show. What a shock.
Being a Barry
Letts-directed story there is perhaps too much CSO, used in almost every
scene (Good thing he wasn't about during Underworld, even the TARDIS console
would been stuck against a blue cyc). Many of the scenes with the spiders
use blue-screen seemlessly (or yellow, since there was so much blue in
the story), as does the scene in episode one where a tray floats. But there
is also the blue screen job used to depict the "Whomobile's" ascent, turning
the thing a silvery gold though at least large chunks don't disappear the
way the Giant Robot would (But that's another story). Every scene on Metebelis
3 used CSO backdrops and the cave interior, all with a hard-to-ignore halo.
Was the Doctor about to teleport back to the Liberator?
But there
are also a large number of other video effects in the story and they are
all handled quite well from dissolves people are moving in shot to the
superimposed flares to the lightning shot out of the controlled humans,
the video effects in this story show everything Barry Letts has learnt
during his tenure. The reason Letts used so much CSO was that it was always
the quickest and cheapest method of compositing.
Rating: Conceived as the finale to end the Pertwee era in style,
it's entertaining, serious but tries to do too much spectacularly.
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