"It wasn't the first time she's allowed herself to be... abducted. I can't keep on going off to the ends of the Earth to get her back, it...it makes me a laughing stock."
Achilles and Hector are fighting on the plains of Troy. Hector is a great big monkey man of a warrior and Achilles is what would be referred to as a punch and judy hitter in baseball. Achilles has next to no chance against the superior Hector, but manages to keep himself alive by running out of reach when the going gets too tough. The two are trading insults, barbs and mild exposition.
The TARDIS materializes in the midst of this. The two warriors are too caught up in their battle to pay it any heed. Inside the TARDIS the travelers look on the scene with some curiosity. The Doctor thinks that they might be Greeks based on their outfits. He decides, over Steven's and Vicki's protests, to go out and talk to the two men.
The conversation between the Greek and the Trojan has turned to the gods. Achilles claims that Zeus will come down and help the Greeks. Hector says that if Zeus tries to help the Greeks than he'll trim his beard.
As if on cue the Doctor walks out of the TARDIS. Hector kneels in supplication at the arrival of the presumed deity. Achilles takes advantage of the situation and runs Hector through.
The Doctor isn't thrilled with this slaughter and wants to return to the his "temple," but Achilles isn't going to let Zeus go that easily.
While they are going back and forth Odysseus arrives. His initial reaction to seeing Hector's corpse is that the muscle-bound Trojan died of plague. When Achilles claims to have beaten him, Odysseus can only believe that Achilles (or Lightfoot as he calls him) out ran the Trojan and induced a heart attack.
Odysseus doesn't buy the story that the Doctor is Zeus. He figures that he's a Trojan spy and wants to bring him to Agamemnon to deal with.
Odysseus is a dick. You can't hear this one without thinking that he deserve to take the long way home.
Agamemnon and Menelaus are deep in conversation as the Doctor, Achilles and Odysseus are returning.
This conversation offers a fun deconstruction of the Trojan War. Instead of two figures of myth and legend, they come off as two brothers tired of ten long years of war over a woman and some trade routes. As Menelaus says, this wasn't the first time that she was "abducted." His brother's response is that Menelaus knew what kind of woman that she was when he married her.
The Doctor doesn't make the best of impressions on Agamemnon when he tells him that he has divine knowledge and offers the Greek ruler's wife's adultery as an example.
It's finally decided to put the Doctor under a sort of house arrest. If he is a god, then they haven't shot themselves in the foot.
Steven leaves the TARDIS to find the Doctor. He forces Vicki to stay behind, claiming that her twisted ankle wasn't up for the trip. She's not thrilled with that; she had hoped to meet the heroes.
Steven is caught entering the camp by a one-eyed man named Cyclops and Odysseus. Steven feigns ignorance of the Doctor and Odysseus means to put that to the test.
The Doctor pretends to not care about Steven's life, suggesting that a Trojan spy should simply be killed. When Odysseus draws his sword, the Doctor reveals his true feelings. The Doctor does manage to cover by saying that he didn't want the Trojan's blood to dirty Agamemnon's tent.
The Doctor proposes that the Trojan would be a fitting sacrifice and tells them that he will demonstrate a miracle tomorrow morning on the plains where his temple is.
Then the other shoe drops and we discover that the plain is clear; the TARDIS is gone.
Up next: Small Prophet, Quick Return
Monday, October 31, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Ep. 86 Mission to the Unknown
"This is Marc Cory, Special Security Service, reporting from the planet Kembel. The Daleks are planning the complete destruction of our galaxy. Together with the powers of the outer galaxies, a war force is being assembled..."
Back at the beginning of the second season it was decided that the final two parts of The Planet of Giants serial would be edited into one episode. From what I'm led to understand this created a gap that had to be filled by the creation of a single episode story.
I've also been told that the regular cast wasn't available.
And thus Mission to the Unknown was conceived. The series was already planning on doing a massive twelve part Dalek serial and it was decided that this would be a teaser episode for that huge story.
The action takes place on the planet Kembel in the far future. One character refers to the Daleks as having invaded Earth 1,000 years ago.
Marc Cory, or Space James Bond, is this intergalactic special agent who is looking into reports of Dalek activity in the area. He decides that the planet Kembel is an ideal place for the Daleks to operate unobserved in our neck of the woods and takes a couple guys in a rocket to investigate.
Of course Space James Bond can't be counted on to take the basic precautions such as telling his superiors that he's going to nip off to the most dangerous planet in human space because he has a hunch that the Daleks have set up a secret base there. Or getting a reliable rocket ship that can land on a planet without breaking up. No, Space James Bond laughs at those wussy concepts and throws caution to the wind.
Once they crash land on Kembel they soon have their proof that the Daleks are about the place. One of the men gets stung by a Varga plant. Varga plants, Space James Bond explains, are genetically engineered by the Daleks to act as guards for their facilities. Their stings turn people into homicidal maniacs before turning them into more Varga plants.
This is probably the best idea from this episode. The idea of the Daleks bioengineering an aggressive plant creature to guard their facilities is a good idea. It's a weapon that can't be turned on them; the Dalek's casings make them immune to the Varga thorns.
The Daleks are putting together an alliance of evil to beat down Earth. The Daleks have added six galactic powers to their evil cause. This is something that we haven't seen the Daleks do before. Diplomacy. Not a bad idea and I'm hopeful that the it adds to the plot.
Space James Bond and his pilot pal end up getting killed. SJB managed to make a warning message before the Daleks got them. A message that will be discovered during the Dalek Master Plan.
For an episode that was 100% padding it wasn't that bad. Regular fans of the series were probably confused when they tuned in next week and saw the Doctor outside the walls of ancient Troy.
Next up: Temple of Secrets
Back at the beginning of the second season it was decided that the final two parts of The Planet of Giants serial would be edited into one episode. From what I'm led to understand this created a gap that had to be filled by the creation of a single episode story.
I've also been told that the regular cast wasn't available.
And thus Mission to the Unknown was conceived. The series was already planning on doing a massive twelve part Dalek serial and it was decided that this would be a teaser episode for that huge story.
The action takes place on the planet Kembel in the far future. One character refers to the Daleks as having invaded Earth 1,000 years ago.
Marc Cory, or Space James Bond, is this intergalactic special agent who is looking into reports of Dalek activity in the area. He decides that the planet Kembel is an ideal place for the Daleks to operate unobserved in our neck of the woods and takes a couple guys in a rocket to investigate.
Of course Space James Bond can't be counted on to take the basic precautions such as telling his superiors that he's going to nip off to the most dangerous planet in human space because he has a hunch that the Daleks have set up a secret base there. Or getting a reliable rocket ship that can land on a planet without breaking up. No, Space James Bond laughs at those wussy concepts and throws caution to the wind.
Once they crash land on Kembel they soon have their proof that the Daleks are about the place. One of the men gets stung by a Varga plant. Varga plants, Space James Bond explains, are genetically engineered by the Daleks to act as guards for their facilities. Their stings turn people into homicidal maniacs before turning them into more Varga plants.
This is probably the best idea from this episode. The idea of the Daleks bioengineering an aggressive plant creature to guard their facilities is a good idea. It's a weapon that can't be turned on them; the Dalek's casings make them immune to the Varga thorns.
The Daleks are putting together an alliance of evil to beat down Earth. The Daleks have added six galactic powers to their evil cause. This is something that we haven't seen the Daleks do before. Diplomacy. Not a bad idea and I'm hopeful that the it adds to the plot.
Space James Bond and his pilot pal end up getting killed. SJB managed to make a warning message before the Daleks got them. A message that will be discovered during the Dalek Master Plan.
For an episode that was 100% padding it wasn't that bad. Regular fans of the series were probably confused when they tuned in next week and saw the Doctor outside the walls of ancient Troy.
Next up: Temple of Secrets
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Ep. 85 The Exploding Planet
"Importance lies in the character and to what use you put this intelligence. We respect you as we respect all life."
When I was reviewing the first Daleks serial I was critical of the (unintended) message that good equals blond and beautiful and that evil equals shriveled up and ugly. At the time I pointed out that a future story would turn that idea on it's head.
This is that story. The Drahvin are blonde and beautiful and have no mercy. They are as xenophobic as the Daleks though they can be more subtle about it. The Rills are ugly and noble. If their ship can't take off in time they want the Doctor to get away in his ship.
At it's heart this is a well intentioned episode. The moral is don't judge by appearances. It seems a bit simplistic, but it's good that Who put this one out there. All too often the ugly alien turns out to be evil; this approach makes for a nice change of pace.
I would have to say that The Sensorites did a better job of it though. This is a morality tale and the sides are drawn in distinct blacks and whites. The Sensorites had more grey tones. Not every human or Sensorite was entirely on the same ethical page.
This episode does come close to being preachy and I do have problems with the way that the "beautiful" race is portrayed. They may have flipped the evil/good dynamic, but they accidentally kept may have accidentally left in a beauty equals dumb message. Both the Thals and the Drahvin are technologically inferior to their ugly counterparts.
I'm also not thrilled with the way that Maaga and the Drahvin drones were dealt with. Did they get what they deserved? Yes. Did it need to happen that way? Probably not. I'd like to have seen the Rills make a further offer to the Drahvins. Something along the lines of "throw away your weapons and surrender, and we'll drop you off on the next inhabitable world."
At this point we're not too far from the departure of Vicki. Something that snuck up on me. Since the departure of Ian and Barbara I think that Vicki has shone. Seeing her depart in another five episodes seems like bad timing to me.
Next up: Mission to the Unknown
When I was reviewing the first Daleks serial I was critical of the (unintended) message that good equals blond and beautiful and that evil equals shriveled up and ugly. At the time I pointed out that a future story would turn that idea on it's head.
This is that story. The Drahvin are blonde and beautiful and have no mercy. They are as xenophobic as the Daleks though they can be more subtle about it. The Rills are ugly and noble. If their ship can't take off in time they want the Doctor to get away in his ship.
At it's heart this is a well intentioned episode. The moral is don't judge by appearances. It seems a bit simplistic, but it's good that Who put this one out there. All too often the ugly alien turns out to be evil; this approach makes for a nice change of pace.
I would have to say that The Sensorites did a better job of it though. This is a morality tale and the sides are drawn in distinct blacks and whites. The Sensorites had more grey tones. Not every human or Sensorite was entirely on the same ethical page.
This episode does come close to being preachy and I do have problems with the way that the "beautiful" race is portrayed. They may have flipped the evil/good dynamic, but they accidentally kept may have accidentally left in a beauty equals dumb message. Both the Thals and the Drahvin are technologically inferior to their ugly counterparts.
I'm also not thrilled with the way that Maaga and the Drahvin drones were dealt with. Did they get what they deserved? Yes. Did it need to happen that way? Probably not. I'd like to have seen the Rills make a further offer to the Drahvins. Something along the lines of "throw away your weapons and surrender, and we'll drop you off on the next inhabitable world."
At this point we're not too far from the departure of Vicki. Something that snuck up on me. Since the departure of Ian and Barbara I think that Vicki has shone. Seeing her depart in another five episodes seems like bad timing to me.
Next up: Mission to the Unknown
Ep. 84 Airlock
"It may be that we shall kill neither the Rills nor these Earth creatures. Not with our own hands, that is. It may be better for us to escape in the Rills' spaceship and leave them here. And then...when we are out in space, we can look back. We will see a vast, white, exploding planet...and know that they have died with it!"
Vicki is separated from the Doctor and taken to speak to the Rills by a Chumbly. The Doctor goes into sabotage mode and begins to mess with the equipment needed to create the Rills exotic ammonia atmosphere.
Vicki is kept apart from the Rills. They claim that their appearance is so far removed from human that it would be too upsetting for her. Based on some of the still photos of the creatures, I can see their point.
The Rills claim that it was the Drahvins who fired first, they only acted in self defense. They claim to be a peaceful people who acted to save the life of one of the injured Drahvin soldiers after the crash only to be driven off by a gun toting Maaga. They further claim that Maaga herself killed the soldier.
All-in-all they present themselves as just a little TOO perfect for my tastes. Sure they have vastly more effective technology and could have destroyed the Drahvins at any time that they wanted to, but if they are so peaceful then why did the Chumblies try to blow up the TARDIS? The question isn't asked, probably because there is no good answer.
The Rills are an interesting race that get one story and are never seen again in Doctor Who. I recall the Drahvins getting a mention in The Brains of Morbius, but nothing more about the Rills. Most of Hartnell's monsters are one show beasties. Only the first and last Hartnell monsters returned.
The unexplained attempts to blow up the TARDIS aside, the Rills turn out to be quiet friendly. They are willing to help get Steven away from the Drahvins even before the Doctor offers to help them with their power problems.
Things aren't going well back on the Drahvin ship. The drone soldiers are getting mouthy and Maaga is getting frustrated at their inability to think. Maaga is the living embodiment of the Peter Principal (yes I am aware of the irony in that statement); she has risen to her current rank, but I really don't see how she could have done so given the skill set that she is clearly lacking. She motivates her crew with fear and anger, she seems to have few, if any technical skills, she will betray anyone for any reason that crosses her mind and she may have killed her own crew member for propaganda purposes.
Steven makes an attempt to escape after covertly listening in on Maaga's conversation with the drones. He makes it all the way outside with a stolen weapon when he encounters a Chumbly. He races back inside and finds himself stuck in the airlock. Maaga begins to drain the air out, giving him the option of suffocating, getting caught by a Chumbly or being recaptured.
Steven is near death when the episode ends.
This is another example of a character inheriting lines from a previous companion. Originally this story was written with Ian and Barbara in mind. Ian's part was rewritten for Steven. Which leaves us in the odd situation of having a space pilot not knowing what an airlock does.
This one was decent. The interactions with the Rills was fun to hear and Maaga, while not the greatest leader ever has some decent lines and is well acted for what she is.
Next up: The Exploding Planet
Vicki is separated from the Doctor and taken to speak to the Rills by a Chumbly. The Doctor goes into sabotage mode and begins to mess with the equipment needed to create the Rills exotic ammonia atmosphere.
Vicki is kept apart from the Rills. They claim that their appearance is so far removed from human that it would be too upsetting for her. Based on some of the still photos of the creatures, I can see their point.
The Rills claim that it was the Drahvins who fired first, they only acted in self defense. They claim to be a peaceful people who acted to save the life of one of the injured Drahvin soldiers after the crash only to be driven off by a gun toting Maaga. They further claim that Maaga herself killed the soldier.
All-in-all they present themselves as just a little TOO perfect for my tastes. Sure they have vastly more effective technology and could have destroyed the Drahvins at any time that they wanted to, but if they are so peaceful then why did the Chumblies try to blow up the TARDIS? The question isn't asked, probably because there is no good answer.
The Rills are an interesting race that get one story and are never seen again in Doctor Who. I recall the Drahvins getting a mention in The Brains of Morbius, but nothing more about the Rills. Most of Hartnell's monsters are one show beasties. Only the first and last Hartnell monsters returned.
The unexplained attempts to blow up the TARDIS aside, the Rills turn out to be quiet friendly. They are willing to help get Steven away from the Drahvins even before the Doctor offers to help them with their power problems.
Things aren't going well back on the Drahvin ship. The drone soldiers are getting mouthy and Maaga is getting frustrated at their inability to think. Maaga is the living embodiment of the Peter Principal (yes I am aware of the irony in that statement); she has risen to her current rank, but I really don't see how she could have done so given the skill set that she is clearly lacking. She motivates her crew with fear and anger, she seems to have few, if any technical skills, she will betray anyone for any reason that crosses her mind and she may have killed her own crew member for propaganda purposes.
Steven makes an attempt to escape after covertly listening in on Maaga's conversation with the drones. He makes it all the way outside with a stolen weapon when he encounters a Chumbly. He races back inside and finds himself stuck in the airlock. Maaga begins to drain the air out, giving him the option of suffocating, getting caught by a Chumbly or being recaptured.
Steven is near death when the episode ends.
This is another example of a character inheriting lines from a previous companion. Originally this story was written with Ian and Barbara in mind. Ian's part was rewritten for Steven. Which leaves us in the odd situation of having a space pilot not knowing what an airlock does.
This one was decent. The interactions with the Rills was fun to hear and Maaga, while not the greatest leader ever has some decent lines and is well acted for what she is.
Next up: The Exploding Planet
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Ep. 83 Trap of Steel
"I noted, observed, collated, concluded... and then I threw the rock!"
Seconds after the Doctor makes his "two dawns" prediction the Chumblies return and try to blow up the TARDIS. They fail, but the force of the explosion carries over to the interior and throws the Doctor and Steven around.
They quickly make it back to the Drahvin ship. Just before going back inside, the two critique the poor quality of the ship both in design and the metals used.
Vicki has not been a happy camper while the menfolk were away. Maaga tries to get her to eat some of her "leader food." Apparently the leaders get fed leaves while the drones get food pills.
The Doctor lies to Maaga about the time frame. She calls his bluff by ordering her soldiers to kill Vicki if she doesn't get the truth. The Doctor relents.
Maaga decides to send the Doctor and Vicki to capture the Rill ship for them. Actually she wanted to send the Doctor and Steven, but Steven decided that it was his turn to play hostage. That sounds like a brilliant plan.
The Drahvin are really not shown in a good light at all. The drones are dumber than stumps and their leader thinks that two people that they were able to capture will be able to capture the Rill ship. They are one dimensional at best. Emms is setting something up, but I wish that the beautiful blond race had been both male and female, because this is coming off as an anti-feminism script.
The big saving grace of this episode are the companions. Vicki and Steven continue to shine. Steven has a good scene where Maaga offers him his freedom if he takes her away in his spaceship. He has a knack for sarcasm.
Vicki has a surly streak in this one. She's had the Drahvins pegged as loons from minute one and isn't going to waste her time being polite to them. She also figures out the way to sneak into the Rill ship undetected. Even throwing the Doctor's own words back at him.
The episode ends with a Rill confronting the Doctor and Vicki. Vicki screams. I rolled my eyes.
Next up: Airlock
Seconds after the Doctor makes his "two dawns" prediction the Chumblies return and try to blow up the TARDIS. They fail, but the force of the explosion carries over to the interior and throws the Doctor and Steven around.
They quickly make it back to the Drahvin ship. Just before going back inside, the two critique the poor quality of the ship both in design and the metals used.
Vicki has not been a happy camper while the menfolk were away. Maaga tries to get her to eat some of her "leader food." Apparently the leaders get fed leaves while the drones get food pills.
The Doctor lies to Maaga about the time frame. She calls his bluff by ordering her soldiers to kill Vicki if she doesn't get the truth. The Doctor relents.
Maaga decides to send the Doctor and Vicki to capture the Rill ship for them. Actually she wanted to send the Doctor and Steven, but Steven decided that it was his turn to play hostage. That sounds like a brilliant plan.
The Drahvin are really not shown in a good light at all. The drones are dumber than stumps and their leader thinks that two people that they were able to capture will be able to capture the Rill ship. They are one dimensional at best. Emms is setting something up, but I wish that the beautiful blond race had been both male and female, because this is coming off as an anti-feminism script.
The big saving grace of this episode are the companions. Vicki and Steven continue to shine. Steven has a good scene where Maaga offers him his freedom if he takes her away in his spaceship. He has a knack for sarcasm.
Vicki has a surly streak in this one. She's had the Drahvins pegged as loons from minute one and isn't going to waste her time being polite to them. She also figures out the way to sneak into the Rill ship undetected. Even throwing the Doctor's own words back at him.
The episode ends with a Rill confronting the Doctor and Vicki. Vicki screams. I rolled my eyes.
 | ||
| A Rill |
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Ep. 82 Four Hundred Dawns
"We have a small number of men... as many as we need. The rest we kill. They consume valuable food and fulfill no particular function."
The female dominated society has been around in pop culture for centuries. From what I've been able to find out, the producers of Doctor Who have thought of sending the time traveler to a reversed gender-role world for nearly a decade before abandoning the idea. This story is the closest that they came to doing so.
The action takes place on a world with no animal life other than the occupants of two crashed space ships.
The Rills send out robots (Vicki names them chumblies) to... do things. It's not quiet clear exactly what they do aside from broadcast messages and take time traveler hostage. They aren't shown yet (this is a missing episode so please stretch the definition of "shown" for my sake), but are described by the other race as being disgusting.
The other race is called the Drahvin. Picture the Swedish bikini team with huge plasma rifles, more clothes and funky studded eyebrows and you pretty much have the Drahvin. Apparently the only "real" one among them is their leader Maaga. The rest are artificial humans created to serve a purpose.
One of the chumblies captures the travelers and is stopped by two Drahvin drones while bringing them back to the Rill ship. Steven is very appreciative of the rescuing Drahvin. I think that this represents the first time that the male companion has demonstrably showed an interest in the ladies that they meet in the course of their journeys.
The Drahvin take the travelers prisoner and bring them back to their ship. Once there they are told that the Drahvin were interested in colonizing this planet. While orbiting they encountered a Rill ship that fired on them without warning. Before crashing, the Drahvin's managed to knock the Rills out of the sky as well. After the crash, the Rills killed one of Maaga's soldiers. Whether this was before or after the point where the Rills warned the Drahvin about the imminent destruction of the planet is unclear.
The Doctor and company are told that the Rills have claimed that the planet will explode in 14 dawns.
Apparently that's how the Drahvins refer to days. The title of this episode refers to the 400 dawns it took the Drahvin ship to make it to the unnamed planet. I like the turn of phrase.
The Doctor wants to check these figures on his own. Maaga will allow him to return to his ship, but only if he leaves someone behind. Vicki, who hasn't liked them from the moment that she first lay eyes on them, volunteers.
Apparently the TARDIS now has a force field. The chumblies try to blast it, but the force is stopped by what the Doctor refer to as a force screen. There was something that protected the TARDIS from Dalek blaster fire back a few serials, but nothing has been said about the Doctor adding this function being added. It sure as hell wasn't there when the Sensorites cut the lock off a year and a half ago.
The Doctor and Steven make it into the TARDIS. A quick consultation with the astral map (last seen in the Web Planet) reveals that the planet has only two dawns left.
This was decent. The regulars provided decent performances and the actress playing Maaga did a decent turn with a limited part.
It concerns me that the female dominated society is portrayed as cold and sterile. It could be taken as "in a world where men aren't important, women become cold and bitter." Possibly this is a backlash at the feminist movement, possibly not. Emms is going to be attacking another trope, but hasn't gotten there in the story. I'll revisit this then.
Next up: Trap of Steel
The female dominated society has been around in pop culture for centuries. From what I've been able to find out, the producers of Doctor Who have thought of sending the time traveler to a reversed gender-role world for nearly a decade before abandoning the idea. This story is the closest that they came to doing so.
The action takes place on a world with no animal life other than the occupants of two crashed space ships.
The Rills send out robots (Vicki names them chumblies) to... do things. It's not quiet clear exactly what they do aside from broadcast messages and take time traveler hostage. They aren't shown yet (this is a missing episode so please stretch the definition of "shown" for my sake), but are described by the other race as being disgusting.
The other race is called the Drahvin. Picture the Swedish bikini team with huge plasma rifles, more clothes and funky studded eyebrows and you pretty much have the Drahvin. Apparently the only "real" one among them is their leader Maaga. The rest are artificial humans created to serve a purpose.
One of the chumblies captures the travelers and is stopped by two Drahvin drones while bringing them back to the Rill ship. Steven is very appreciative of the rescuing Drahvin. I think that this represents the first time that the male companion has demonstrably showed an interest in the ladies that they meet in the course of their journeys.
The Drahvin take the travelers prisoner and bring them back to their ship. Once there they are told that the Drahvin were interested in colonizing this planet. While orbiting they encountered a Rill ship that fired on them without warning. Before crashing, the Drahvin's managed to knock the Rills out of the sky as well. After the crash, the Rills killed one of Maaga's soldiers. Whether this was before or after the point where the Rills warned the Drahvin about the imminent destruction of the planet is unclear.
The Doctor and company are told that the Rills have claimed that the planet will explode in 14 dawns.
Apparently that's how the Drahvins refer to days. The title of this episode refers to the 400 dawns it took the Drahvin ship to make it to the unnamed planet. I like the turn of phrase.
The Doctor wants to check these figures on his own. Maaga will allow him to return to his ship, but only if he leaves someone behind. Vicki, who hasn't liked them from the moment that she first lay eyes on them, volunteers.
Apparently the TARDIS now has a force field. The chumblies try to blast it, but the force is stopped by what the Doctor refer to as a force screen. There was something that protected the TARDIS from Dalek blaster fire back a few serials, but nothing has been said about the Doctor adding this function being added. It sure as hell wasn't there when the Sensorites cut the lock off a year and a half ago.
The Doctor and Steven make it into the TARDIS. A quick consultation with the astral map (last seen in the Web Planet) reveals that the planet has only two dawns left.
This was decent. The regulars provided decent performances and the actress playing Maaga did a decent turn with a limited part.
It concerns me that the female dominated society is portrayed as cold and sterile. It could be taken as "in a world where men aren't important, women become cold and bitter." Possibly this is a backlash at the feminist movement, possibly not. Emms is going to be attacking another trope, but hasn't gotten there in the story. I'll revisit this then.
 |
| When girl bands go bad. |
Next up: Trap of Steel
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Season Two Overview
Planet of the Giants
Overall this was a good story. I wasn't thrilled with the last episode, but the first two were a visual treat by early Who standards.
The Dalek Invasion of Earth
A very solid story. Nation has a bad habit of ignoring certain details (like how the Daleks can survive without radiation) or only paying lip service to others (the explanation about these being Daleks from before the Thal uprising doesn't work for me.) I also call bullshit on the reasons that the Daleks chose Earth in the first place.
That being said, this story has some excellent acting from all of the series regulars. The dialog is good and the plot keeps moving along steadily. Susan's departure is probably the finest scene in Hartnell's era.
The Rescue
This is a utilitarian story. It needs to introduce Vicki and it does so in a manner that allows the young actress to show her acting chops.
This is also notable as the first time that the Doctor arrives on an alien world that he has already visited.
The Romans
A Funny Thing Happened On the Way To Doctor Who.
Doctor Who experiments with farce. It works, but left me feeling that this was the weakest of the historicals to date.
The Web Planet
ZAARBIIIII!!!!!!!!!
The Crusade
The jewel of the season.
If Susan hadn't left at the end of Dalek Invasion of Earth then this would clearly be the best serial of the season. Susan's departure is so well written and acted that it nudges it past this story for the top spot.
The Space Museum
The first episode is like the best of the Twilight Zone. The rest of the story not so much.
It's almost as if the rest of the story was written as a biting satire of the BBC and was signifiacntly toned down by the time it was filmed.
The Chase
It took me a little while to get into the spirit of this one. Once I stopped trying to take the Daleks seriously, this turned into a fun little romp. Having two designers working on this one probably helped them avoid the pitfalls of The Keys of Marinus.
Ian and Barbara's departure left a bigger hole than the one created by Susan's. While this is an emotional goodbye, it's not the slam to the heart that Susan's was.
The Time Meddler
The series takes a new twist on the old historical. A bit of a mystery combined with some rum humor and fight scenes. Also the first hints as to what the Doctor really is.
Ep. 81 Checkmate
"But that means that...the exact minute...the exact second that he does it...every history book, every...well, the whole future of every year and time on Earth will change, just like that and nobody’ll know that it has?"
Thirty-one years ago today I watched my first episode of Doctor Who.
The Doctor gets the Monk to take him to his TARDIS where they meet up with Vicki and Steven. The Doctor forces the Monk to reveal his plans.
It's pretty simple really. If Harold didn't have to split his attentions between William and the Viking invaders then Harold wouldn't loose. The Monk believes (optimistically) that Harold, with some help will prevent the numerous wars that arose from the aftermath of William's victory. With some more hints than there would be jet aircraft in 1320 and Hamlet would debut on television.
Instead of wanting to enslave the world, the Monk wants to make it a better place. The Doctor tells him that he is breaking fundamental rules and the Monk asks him whose rules.
There is a passing comment that the Monk and the Doctor are from the same place. Based on the advanced nature of the Monk's TARDIS, the Doctor estimates that the Monk left about 50 years after he did.
For those interested in the terms used, the Monk's TARDIS is a "Mark Four" and he wonders if the Doctor's "camouflage unit" was broken. The term "chameleon circuit" hasn't been invented yet.
Thanks to the awakened Vikings the Monk is able to reverse his position and leaves the travelers tied up.
Back at the village, Edith realizes that the Monk has been playing them for fools. Eldred arrives with word that the Monk is hiding Vikings in the monastery. The villagers march on the monastery.
There's a fun bit of chase that manages to be amusing, but doesn't drift into Scooby Doo territory.
Edith rescues the time travelers, but not before Vicki and Steven theorize about what will happen if the Monk succeeds. They aren't experts though; the professional time traveler remains silent throughout their discourse.
The Doctor decides to sabotage the Monk's TARDIS to prevent him from further meddling. It's a very cool bit of work. The Doctor removes the Monk's dimensional whatchamacallit and now the Monk's TARDIS is no longer bigger on the inside. There's something Old Testament meets Twilight Zone in the way that the Doctor maroons the Monk.
I loved it.
Next up: Four Hundred Dawns
Thirty-one years ago today I watched my first episode of Doctor Who.
The Doctor gets the Monk to take him to his TARDIS where they meet up with Vicki and Steven. The Doctor forces the Monk to reveal his plans.
It's pretty simple really. If Harold didn't have to split his attentions between William and the Viking invaders then Harold wouldn't loose. The Monk believes (optimistically) that Harold, with some help will prevent the numerous wars that arose from the aftermath of William's victory. With some more hints than there would be jet aircraft in 1320 and Hamlet would debut on television.
Instead of wanting to enslave the world, the Monk wants to make it a better place. The Doctor tells him that he is breaking fundamental rules and the Monk asks him whose rules.
There is a passing comment that the Monk and the Doctor are from the same place. Based on the advanced nature of the Monk's TARDIS, the Doctor estimates that the Monk left about 50 years after he did.
For those interested in the terms used, the Monk's TARDIS is a "Mark Four" and he wonders if the Doctor's "camouflage unit" was broken. The term "chameleon circuit" hasn't been invented yet.
Thanks to the awakened Vikings the Monk is able to reverse his position and leaves the travelers tied up.
Back at the village, Edith realizes that the Monk has been playing them for fools. Eldred arrives with word that the Monk is hiding Vikings in the monastery. The villagers march on the monastery.
There's a fun bit of chase that manages to be amusing, but doesn't drift into Scooby Doo territory.
Edith rescues the time travelers, but not before Vicki and Steven theorize about what will happen if the Monk succeeds. They aren't experts though; the professional time traveler remains silent throughout their discourse.
The Doctor decides to sabotage the Monk's TARDIS to prevent him from further meddling. It's a very cool bit of work. The Doctor removes the Monk's dimensional whatchamacallit and now the Monk's TARDIS is no longer bigger on the inside. There's something Old Testament meets Twilight Zone in the way that the Doctor maroons the Monk.
I loved it.
 | ||
| Submitted for your approval.. |
Monday, October 24, 2011
Ep. 80 A Battle of Wits
"Listen, they always have them in castles and monasteries and things in case of siege or...fire, or...something."
Vicki decides that the only way that the Doctor could have gotten out of his cell was via a secret door. Steven is skeptical, but is soon proven wrong by the puckish orphan.
I have to say that Vicki has really had a chance to bloom in this one. Going from three companions down to two is probably the main cause; more than three people in the TARDIS and someone becomes the third wheel.
I suspect that the script was originally written with Ian and Barbara instead of Steven so Vicki has ended up inheriting some of Barbara's lines.
They follow the secret passage down into the earth and travel well away from the monastery.
The Monk treats Eldred's wounds with penicillin and wishes that a blood transfusion were possible. He's reluctant to keep the injured man there, but relents in the end.
He heads back to check on Steven and Vicki whom he left wandering about the place when the villagers arrived at his door. He sees no sign of them, nor of the Doctor. He does a few things that would have been clever had the Doctor been hiding in the room so I have to give him full points for effort, but since the room is empty he ends up scratching his head.
Vicki and Steven come to the end of the tunnel and discover that the Doctor is not waiting for them. They decide to check back at the TARDIS.
Meanwhile, the Doctor has made it back to the village and meets up with Edith. She seems to have recovered nicely. She tells him about his friends coming into the village and being sent to the monastery. She also warns him about the Viking scouts that her husband and his men fought off. He tells her of a great Viking fleet that will land in Umbria. He assures her that King Harold will be victorious and then (turned away from her) fall to William.
The two surviving Vikings decide that the best way to save their skins is to hide out in the monastery until the main fleet lands.
The Doctor beats them to the monastery. He manages to trick the Monk into thinking that he has a Winchester '73 pressed against his spinal column instead of a stick that he picked up in the woods. The Monk soon figures out that he's not under the threat of being blasted in two. The Doctor still holds him under threat of a good smacking.
The interplay between the Doctor and the Monk is quiet fun. In the 80's someone started the theory that the Monk is an earlier incarnation of the Master. The evidence is flimsy at best. If it is the case, then he definitely got darker with age. The Monk isn't evil. He uses people, but his motives (which we'll find out next episode) are far from those of the Master.
The Vikings show up and capture the Doctor. They throw him into the cell that he was previously held in.
The Monk deals with one of the two Vikings, while the Doctor takes out the other. Both by hitting them over the heads with a piece of wood. Must be a Time Lord thing (not that we know that yet.)
Vicky and Steven find that the tide has come in and that the TARDIS is submerged. Vicki despairs that the Doctor moved it to save it from the sea. She feels a great sense of lose at the TARDIS and the Doctor. Steven insists on going back to the monastery to see what is going on there. Vicki is reluctant to go until they find a futuristic cannon aimed out to sea.
They walk back through the secret door and find the viking that the Doctor knocked out. They begin to search the monastery. During their search they discover that a power cable runs from a sarcophagus. They find an entrance and walk into the Monk's TARDIS.
Next up: Checkmate
Vicki decides that the only way that the Doctor could have gotten out of his cell was via a secret door. Steven is skeptical, but is soon proven wrong by the puckish orphan.
I have to say that Vicki has really had a chance to bloom in this one. Going from three companions down to two is probably the main cause; more than three people in the TARDIS and someone becomes the third wheel.
I suspect that the script was originally written with Ian and Barbara instead of Steven so Vicki has ended up inheriting some of Barbara's lines.
They follow the secret passage down into the earth and travel well away from the monastery.
The Monk treats Eldred's wounds with penicillin and wishes that a blood transfusion were possible. He's reluctant to keep the injured man there, but relents in the end.
He heads back to check on Steven and Vicki whom he left wandering about the place when the villagers arrived at his door. He sees no sign of them, nor of the Doctor. He does a few things that would have been clever had the Doctor been hiding in the room so I have to give him full points for effort, but since the room is empty he ends up scratching his head.
Vicki and Steven come to the end of the tunnel and discover that the Doctor is not waiting for them. They decide to check back at the TARDIS.
Meanwhile, the Doctor has made it back to the village and meets up with Edith. She seems to have recovered nicely. She tells him about his friends coming into the village and being sent to the monastery. She also warns him about the Viking scouts that her husband and his men fought off. He tells her of a great Viking fleet that will land in Umbria. He assures her that King Harold will be victorious and then (turned away from her) fall to William.
The two surviving Vikings decide that the best way to save their skins is to hide out in the monastery until the main fleet lands.
The Doctor beats them to the monastery. He manages to trick the Monk into thinking that he has a Winchester '73 pressed against his spinal column instead of a stick that he picked up in the woods. The Monk soon figures out that he's not under the threat of being blasted in two. The Doctor still holds him under threat of a good smacking.
The interplay between the Doctor and the Monk is quiet fun. In the 80's someone started the theory that the Monk is an earlier incarnation of the Master. The evidence is flimsy at best. If it is the case, then he definitely got darker with age. The Monk isn't evil. He uses people, but his motives (which we'll find out next episode) are far from those of the Master.
The Vikings show up and capture the Doctor. They throw him into the cell that he was previously held in.
The Monk deals with one of the two Vikings, while the Doctor takes out the other. Both by hitting them over the heads with a piece of wood. Must be a Time Lord thing (not that we know that yet.)
Vicky and Steven find that the tide has come in and that the TARDIS is submerged. Vicki despairs that the Doctor moved it to save it from the sea. She feels a great sense of lose at the TARDIS and the Doctor. Steven insists on going back to the monastery to see what is going on there. Vicki is reluctant to go until they find a futuristic cannon aimed out to sea.
They walk back through the secret door and find the viking that the Doctor knocked out. They begin to search the monastery. During their search they discover that a power cable runs from a sarcophagus. They find an entrance and walk into the Monk's TARDIS.
 | |
| The Master or just fanwank? |
Next up: Checkmate
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Ep. 79 The Meddling Monk
"Indeed, we’re all searching for something. Some like myself seek it in the peace and solitude that repose behind these monastery..."
Between episodes the Doctor has been moved to a cell. Aside from the recap of last episode we don't see Hartnell in this one; just his voice (prerecorded) calling out from his cell every once in a while.
Vicki and Steven wake up after having slept in the woods. Steven has managed to gather some blackberries. Neither is thrilled at having spent the night in the woods. Steven is rubbing the existence of the wrist watch into Vicki's face when the hunter from last episode returns with some friends.
The four men are able to overcome the two travelers and the pair are quickly brought back to the village.
Edith, the woman who befriended the Doctor last night/episode, visits the monastery to deliver some food. She interrupts the Monk from spying on a viking ship with a pair of 20th century binoculars. There is a little bit of chit chat before the monk sends her off so that he can return to his meditations.
Edith returns to the village to find her husband, the Headman of the village, arguing with the hunter over the fate of Vicki and Steven. Wulnuth (the Headman) believes that they are travelers like they claim to be, while Eldred (the hunter) thinks that they are viking scouts.
Edith and Vicki soon have the men sorted out and it's decided that the strangers are just travelers and Wulnoth has Edith give the two some food for their journey.
Steven seem genuinely touched by this generosity. It's a rather nice turn of acting on Purves' part.
Edith tells Vicki that the Doctor went to the monastery last night. She volunteers to show her the way, but Vicki declines. I like Edith. She's a genuinely nice person and those are few and far between in Who.
Vicki and Steven head to the monastery. The Monk feeds them some BS. There is something about the way that he dances around the conversation that reminds me a little of the Doctor back in Totter's Lane.
When the Monk goes back inside to confer with his fellow monks Steven tells Vicki that he doesn't believe the monk and that he has a plan to deal with him. The Monk overhears this from the other side of the door.
Steven tricks the Monk into giving a description of the Doctor; a description that the pair didn't provide. Steven says that it proves that the Monk is lying about the Doctor. They'll have to break in and rescue him.
Vicki thinks that it was very sloppy of the Monk to give himself away like that and believes that the Monk is trying to trick THEM. She thinks that he means to trap them as well. Even knowing this, the two don't have a better idea for how to deal with the situation; they'll break in after dark.
While this is going on a viking scouting party makes it's way up the cliffs. They will be traveling through the area for intelligence to provide their King for a major attack.
During there recon, they encounter and injure Edith. When Edith is found by her husband she tells him that Vikings attacked. He takes a band of men to track them down.
The villagers manage to ambush the Vikings. The fight is nasty and Eldred (not to be mistaken for Eldrad) gets a nasty axe wound from a one-eyed hulk of a Viking. Wulnuth decides that the monastery is closer to the village and takes the injured hunter there for treatment.
Vicki and Steven break in to the monastery. The Monk has set up the same trap for them that he used to catch the Doctor. Unfortunately for him Wulnuth and Eldred arrive before he can spring it on them.
Vicki and Steven find the victrola. The look on Vicki's face is priceless. They find their way to the cell where the Doctor is being held. Steven uses his pocket knife to jimmy the door. They find the room empty. The Doctor used his cloak to make some straw look like his sleeping form.
There were several moments in this episode where the characters just moved in silence. I approve. Many a fine scene can be ruined by having someone constantly spouting unneeded exposition. It shows a faith in the writer and the actors. Neither side let us down.
Next up: Battle of Wits
Between episodes the Doctor has been moved to a cell. Aside from the recap of last episode we don't see Hartnell in this one; just his voice (prerecorded) calling out from his cell every once in a while.
Vicki and Steven wake up after having slept in the woods. Steven has managed to gather some blackberries. Neither is thrilled at having spent the night in the woods. Steven is rubbing the existence of the wrist watch into Vicki's face when the hunter from last episode returns with some friends.
The four men are able to overcome the two travelers and the pair are quickly brought back to the village.
Edith, the woman who befriended the Doctor last night/episode, visits the monastery to deliver some food. She interrupts the Monk from spying on a viking ship with a pair of 20th century binoculars. There is a little bit of chit chat before the monk sends her off so that he can return to his meditations.
Edith returns to the village to find her husband, the Headman of the village, arguing with the hunter over the fate of Vicki and Steven. Wulnuth (the Headman) believes that they are travelers like they claim to be, while Eldred (the hunter) thinks that they are viking scouts.
Edith and Vicki soon have the men sorted out and it's decided that the strangers are just travelers and Wulnoth has Edith give the two some food for their journey.
Steven seem genuinely touched by this generosity. It's a rather nice turn of acting on Purves' part.
Edith tells Vicki that the Doctor went to the monastery last night. She volunteers to show her the way, but Vicki declines. I like Edith. She's a genuinely nice person and those are few and far between in Who.
Vicki and Steven head to the monastery. The Monk feeds them some BS. There is something about the way that he dances around the conversation that reminds me a little of the Doctor back in Totter's Lane.
When the Monk goes back inside to confer with his fellow monks Steven tells Vicki that he doesn't believe the monk and that he has a plan to deal with him. The Monk overhears this from the other side of the door.
Steven tricks the Monk into giving a description of the Doctor; a description that the pair didn't provide. Steven says that it proves that the Monk is lying about the Doctor. They'll have to break in and rescue him.
Vicki thinks that it was very sloppy of the Monk to give himself away like that and believes that the Monk is trying to trick THEM. She thinks that he means to trap them as well. Even knowing this, the two don't have a better idea for how to deal with the situation; they'll break in after dark.
While this is going on a viking scouting party makes it's way up the cliffs. They will be traveling through the area for intelligence to provide their King for a major attack.
During there recon, they encounter and injure Edith. When Edith is found by her husband she tells him that Vikings attacked. He takes a band of men to track them down.
The villagers manage to ambush the Vikings. The fight is nasty and Eldred (not to be mistaken for Eldrad) gets a nasty axe wound from a one-eyed hulk of a Viking. Wulnuth decides that the monastery is closer to the village and takes the injured hunter there for treatment.
Vicki and Steven break in to the monastery. The Monk has set up the same trap for them that he used to catch the Doctor. Unfortunately for him Wulnuth and Eldred arrive before he can spring it on them.
Vicki and Steven find the victrola. The look on Vicki's face is priceless. They find their way to the cell where the Doctor is being held. Steven uses his pocket knife to jimmy the door. They find the room empty. The Doctor used his cloak to make some straw look like his sleeping form.
There were several moments in this episode where the characters just moved in silence. I approve. Many a fine scene can be ruined by having someone constantly spouting unneeded exposition. It shows a faith in the writer and the actors. Neither side let us down.
 | ||
| Steven and Vicki break into a monastery. By their facial expressions, I'd say that they have smelled something not too nice. |
Next up: Battle of Wits
Ep 78 The Watcher
"That is the dematerialising control and that, over yonder, is the horizontal hold. Up there is the scanner, those are the doors, that is a chair with a panda on it - sheer poetry, dear boy! Now please stop bothering me!"
The Doctor and Vicki share a moment after returning Ian and Barbara. At least the Doctor is trying to share a moment with Vicki. She's busy imagining what New York was like and how it wouldn't have been too bad if it weren't for the Daleks while the Doctor wants to make certain that she really does want to stay with the Doctor in the TARDIS.
Just as Vicki is reassuring the Doctor that she wants to be with him and that Ian and Barbara needed to go, the pair of them hear something moving around in the living quarters.
Vicki is convinced that it's a Dalek. She and the Doctor await the visitor armed with a jacket and a shoe. Out of the living quarters stumbles a disheveled Steven. It turns out that he found the TARDIS in the confusion of the jungle and managed to get inside and ended up going deeper into the ship.
He's seen some pretty impressive space craft in his day, but nothing that compares to this. He draws the line at believing that it's a time machine. Vicki explains the acronym of TARDIS (she says "Dimensions" instead of "Dimension") and he replies with IDBI; I Don't Believe It.
The Doctor realizes that Steven will find out the true nature of the ship soon enough. Steven's skepticism and his habit of calling the Doctor "Doc" have Hartnell on the edge of another harangue.
The TARDIS materializes on a craigy beach.
A lone monk observes the time ship land.
The travelers leave the ship and do some exploring around the immediate vicinity. Vicki finds a slightly rusty viking helmet. The Doctor estimates that it is 10th or 11th century, Steven thinks that it might be part of a costume. Hartnell has a great line about a space helmet for a cow.
There is some dialog between Steven and Vicki that covers some of the basic ground of the series; the Doctor can't steer the TARDIS, the disguise ability is broken etc. Reasonable questions on Steven's part and a nice way of catching up fans who weren't watching from episode one.
The Monk from earlier is seated at the base of the rock that Vicki and Steven are leaning against. It's a precarious place to spy, but he does manage to catch every word.
The Doctor decides to walk along the beach until the ground rises to the level of the craigs. Steven wants to just climb straight up, but the Doctor makes it clear that he isn't a mountain goat. He instructs them to stay with the ship while he goes forward.
Five seconds after he's out of earshot Steven is dragging Vicki up the side of the cliff.
The Monk tries to access the TARDIS, but finds that it is locked. He listens to the hum that it makes. He looks to his wrist as if he's going to check his watch, but finds the wrist bare. A quick search doesn't reveal it.
Some of the locals have noticed the box that must have washed up on the beach. A few of them go to investigate it before the tide comes in.
The Doctor makes it to the outskirts of a local village. The conditions are very primitive. He is initially accosted by the lady of the hut, but she turns into a hospitable host once she realizes that it's a harmless old man and not some viking invader. Through questioning he discovers that he is in North Umbria in the summer of 1066. He also discovers that a group of monks have recently taken residence in an old abandoned monastery. When the chanting of the monks artificially slows down, only the audience and the Doctor recognize it as a record player malfunction. He goes to explore the monastery.
Vicki and Steven end up lost.
They spot a local hunter. Steven is all for making contact, but Vicki says that they should follow him and find out if he's a threat to them before exposing themselves. Steven starts to go forward and the exasperated Vicki forces him back down.
The hunter stops and picks up something. Steven asks Vicki if she dropped anything. She says no, but Steven is on him in a flash. The hunter is startled by a stranger coming out of the woods. He makes to go and Steven tackles him. I strongly suspect that two years of isolation in a Mechanoid zoo has greatly retarded Steven's people skills.
They struggle for a while before the hunter knocks Steven out and bolts. Steven recovers quickly and shows Vicki his prize-a wrist watch that is very much not 10th century in origin.
The Doctor makes his way inside the monastery with some unseen assistance by the Monk. He soon finds the source of the chanting, a victrola. The Doctor turns to leave looking very pleased with himself when a portcullis falls trapping him in the room that he was in.
This is one of the good ones. It's a Dennis Spooner script which raises it a bit above the rest. It features a major subversion of the series. Up until now the TARDIS and her crew were the only science fiction elements in an historical serial. This story breaks away from that by having other science fiction elements (in this case a rival time traveler) existing alongside the history. It proved to be very popular and, within a couple seasons, ended up completely replacing the traditional historical.
Hartnell is given some great lines in this one and hardly muffles a one.
Steven has quiet a lot in common with Vicki. Both are from a space faring future. Both were stranded on hostile alien worlds. Both were rescued by the Doctor.
They probably shouldn't be very good companions. Part of the purpose of the companion is to act as an identifying character for the audience; to ask the questions that we can't ask the Doctor. Vicki is the product of a far future educational program. She has degrees in multiple subjects. She can and has reprogrammed advanced alien technology. Steven is a soldier of the future. While the details of what he's capable of haven't been explicitly shown at this point it is safe to say that he has experience far beyond that of the viewers.
That aside, they make a great team.
Vicki has demonstrated a puckish sense of humor coupled with a wide eyed innocence that is adorable. Steven has a sarcastic streak that plays well with that. Both are portrayed by very talented actors.
It is my opinion that Steven is the last of the notable companions to be introduced during Hartnell's tenure. The companions introduced later seem to be less well thought out than the ones that we have seen up until this point. Vicki will be replaced by Katarina. The producers realized that they had made a fundamental mistake in having her become a companion and killed her off a few episodes later. Sara Kingdom's status as companion is debatable in some corners of fandom. Dodo was brought on to appeal to the teen market with her Cockney accent, but then the Beeb decreed that she had to tone things down. She literally went away in the middle of a story and never came back. Ben and Polly seem to be a return to quality companions, but there was a lot of animosity on the set between Hartnell and the powers that be at that point and it tainted their time aboard the TARDIS (at least in my opinion.) Things got better and stayed better for quiet some time after they cast Frazer Hines to play Jamie.
That shouldn't be taken as an attack on any of the actors playing those parts; they were playing the characters given to them to the best of their ability. I lay the blame on the creative heads of the series. I feel the same way about the Doctor. I may not have cared for Colin Baker's run or Sylvester McCoy's first seaon, but I don't blame the actor; I blame John Nathan-Turner, the man who decided that the Doctor should look like something a rainbow vomited up or play the part like a vaudeville comedian.
That went pretty far afield. To sum up. This episode good, Colin Baker's rainbow vomit outfit bad.
Next up: The Meddling Monk
The Doctor and Vicki share a moment after returning Ian and Barbara. At least the Doctor is trying to share a moment with Vicki. She's busy imagining what New York was like and how it wouldn't have been too bad if it weren't for the Daleks while the Doctor wants to make certain that she really does want to stay with the Doctor in the TARDIS.
Just as Vicki is reassuring the Doctor that she wants to be with him and that Ian and Barbara needed to go, the pair of them hear something moving around in the living quarters.
Vicki is convinced that it's a Dalek. She and the Doctor await the visitor armed with a jacket and a shoe. Out of the living quarters stumbles a disheveled Steven. It turns out that he found the TARDIS in the confusion of the jungle and managed to get inside and ended up going deeper into the ship.
He's seen some pretty impressive space craft in his day, but nothing that compares to this. He draws the line at believing that it's a time machine. Vicki explains the acronym of TARDIS (she says "Dimensions" instead of "Dimension") and he replies with IDBI; I Don't Believe It.
The Doctor realizes that Steven will find out the true nature of the ship soon enough. Steven's skepticism and his habit of calling the Doctor "Doc" have Hartnell on the edge of another harangue.
The TARDIS materializes on a craigy beach.
A lone monk observes the time ship land.
The travelers leave the ship and do some exploring around the immediate vicinity. Vicki finds a slightly rusty viking helmet. The Doctor estimates that it is 10th or 11th century, Steven thinks that it might be part of a costume. Hartnell has a great line about a space helmet for a cow.
There is some dialog between Steven and Vicki that covers some of the basic ground of the series; the Doctor can't steer the TARDIS, the disguise ability is broken etc. Reasonable questions on Steven's part and a nice way of catching up fans who weren't watching from episode one.
The Monk from earlier is seated at the base of the rock that Vicki and Steven are leaning against. It's a precarious place to spy, but he does manage to catch every word.
The Doctor decides to walk along the beach until the ground rises to the level of the craigs. Steven wants to just climb straight up, but the Doctor makes it clear that he isn't a mountain goat. He instructs them to stay with the ship while he goes forward.
Five seconds after he's out of earshot Steven is dragging Vicki up the side of the cliff.
The Monk tries to access the TARDIS, but finds that it is locked. He listens to the hum that it makes. He looks to his wrist as if he's going to check his watch, but finds the wrist bare. A quick search doesn't reveal it.
Some of the locals have noticed the box that must have washed up on the beach. A few of them go to investigate it before the tide comes in.
The Doctor makes it to the outskirts of a local village. The conditions are very primitive. He is initially accosted by the lady of the hut, but she turns into a hospitable host once she realizes that it's a harmless old man and not some viking invader. Through questioning he discovers that he is in North Umbria in the summer of 1066. He also discovers that a group of monks have recently taken residence in an old abandoned monastery. When the chanting of the monks artificially slows down, only the audience and the Doctor recognize it as a record player malfunction. He goes to explore the monastery.
Vicki and Steven end up lost.
They spot a local hunter. Steven is all for making contact, but Vicki says that they should follow him and find out if he's a threat to them before exposing themselves. Steven starts to go forward and the exasperated Vicki forces him back down.
The hunter stops and picks up something. Steven asks Vicki if she dropped anything. She says no, but Steven is on him in a flash. The hunter is startled by a stranger coming out of the woods. He makes to go and Steven tackles him. I strongly suspect that two years of isolation in a Mechanoid zoo has greatly retarded Steven's people skills.
They struggle for a while before the hunter knocks Steven out and bolts. Steven recovers quickly and shows Vicki his prize-a wrist watch that is very much not 10th century in origin.
The Doctor makes his way inside the monastery with some unseen assistance by the Monk. He soon finds the source of the chanting, a victrola. The Doctor turns to leave looking very pleased with himself when a portcullis falls trapping him in the room that he was in.
This is one of the good ones. It's a Dennis Spooner script which raises it a bit above the rest. It features a major subversion of the series. Up until now the TARDIS and her crew were the only science fiction elements in an historical serial. This story breaks away from that by having other science fiction elements (in this case a rival time traveler) existing alongside the history. It proved to be very popular and, within a couple seasons, ended up completely replacing the traditional historical.
Hartnell is given some great lines in this one and hardly muffles a one.
Steven has quiet a lot in common with Vicki. Both are from a space faring future. Both were stranded on hostile alien worlds. Both were rescued by the Doctor.
They probably shouldn't be very good companions. Part of the purpose of the companion is to act as an identifying character for the audience; to ask the questions that we can't ask the Doctor. Vicki is the product of a far future educational program. She has degrees in multiple subjects. She can and has reprogrammed advanced alien technology. Steven is a soldier of the future. While the details of what he's capable of haven't been explicitly shown at this point it is safe to say that he has experience far beyond that of the viewers.
That aside, they make a great team.
Vicki has demonstrated a puckish sense of humor coupled with a wide eyed innocence that is adorable. Steven has a sarcastic streak that plays well with that. Both are portrayed by very talented actors.
It is my opinion that Steven is the last of the notable companions to be introduced during Hartnell's tenure. The companions introduced later seem to be less well thought out than the ones that we have seen up until this point. Vicki will be replaced by Katarina. The producers realized that they had made a fundamental mistake in having her become a companion and killed her off a few episodes later. Sara Kingdom's status as companion is debatable in some corners of fandom. Dodo was brought on to appeal to the teen market with her Cockney accent, but then the Beeb decreed that she had to tone things down. She literally went away in the middle of a story and never came back. Ben and Polly seem to be a return to quality companions, but there was a lot of animosity on the set between Hartnell and the powers that be at that point and it tainted their time aboard the TARDIS (at least in my opinion.) Things got better and stayed better for quiet some time after they cast Frazer Hines to play Jamie.
That shouldn't be taken as an attack on any of the actors playing those parts; they were playing the characters given to them to the best of their ability. I lay the blame on the creative heads of the series. I feel the same way about the Doctor. I may not have cared for Colin Baker's run or Sylvester McCoy's first seaon, but I don't blame the actor; I blame John Nathan-Turner, the man who decided that the Doctor should look like something a rainbow vomited up or play the part like a vaudeville comedian.
That went pretty far afield. To sum up. This episode good, Colin Baker's rainbow vomit outfit bad.
 | ||
| Don't call me "Doc!" |
Friday, October 21, 2011
Ep. 77 The Planet of Decision
"Help yourself to a piece of eternity."
Let's just skip over the nonsense of a Dalek/Mechanoid battle. The Mechanoids were cheap knock-offs of the Daleks with different verbal limitations. There's a theory in genre fiction that the best way to show how badass someone/thing is is to have them lay a beat down on an established character who is themselves an established badass. In Star Trek: The Next Generation, Worf got beat up a lot to show that the alien threat of the week was superbad, The Mechanoid/Dalek fight is an attempt to make the Mechanoids seem cool.
It failed.
This episode is best remembered for the introduction of a new companion and the departure of Ian and Barbara.
The new companion is Steven Taylor of the "light red fifty." His spaceship crashed on Mechanus two years ago and the robot terraformers took him prisoner. He's not given much time, but he does well with the screen time that he does have.
I'm going to have several episodes to dissect and discuss Steven, this post should be about Ian and Barbara.
They've always been companions that I liked, but watching them from the beginning all the way through has made me appreciate them all the more. Especially Barbara.
So many people look back to 60's era Who and think of girls in miniskirts, twisting their ankles and screaming their brains out. When the talk turns to the strong female companions the conversation turns to Leela, Ace or possibly the first Romana. There was a strong woman onboard the TARDIS from day one. She was resourceful, quick-witted, brave and humane. She overcame the Morphotons, killed the Animus, ran over Daleks with a truck and stood up to the Doctor when he was wrong.
Over the course of 77 episodes written by a dozen writers there were moments when the character almost slipped into the hysterical woman stereotype, but she always pulled back. At least some of that probably has to do with Verity Lambert being the producer.
It's common to pick an "uber companion" for each Doctor; the companion that had the best relationship with that incarnation of the Doctor or was in some way the "best" companion that Doctor had. Troughton had Jamie, Pertwee had Jo, Tennant had Rose (I'm not defending this one) and Smith had Amy.
Before this project I would have considered Susan to be Hartnell's; now I would say that it was Barbara. I don't think that the rewatctching the remaining Hartnell stories will change my mind. Vicki and Steven are replaced by some characters who, for whatever reason, didn't work out that well. Maybe I'll find renewed respect for some of them, but I doubt that they will eclipse Barbara.
And then there's Ian.
One thing sums up Ian for me. In The Reign of Terror he is in a cell with a man dying of wounds sustained in the man's capture. He tells Ian that a message has to be delivered to an English spy and Ian promises to deliver that message. Once freed Ian makes good on his promise. Never mind the fact that this is literally history as far as he's concerned, never mind the fact that the Doctor has told him that history can't be rewritten, he is going to do the best that he can to do what he said he was going to do.
He does the right thing as far as he can tell. Barbara may be the more humane of the two, but it's Ian who wants the Thals to fight for themselves and not for the fluid link.
I keep wanting to try to paint these two as coming from two different perspectives, but it doesn't work that way. This isn't Spock and Dr McCoy staking out the extreme ends of the human psyche and arguing over who has the nicer piece of real estate. This is more like an old married couple where there is a lot of common ground, but with some hot button issues that send them off when pushed.
I love that they sometimes fight and are brusque with one another. I love that their fights are thoughtful and passionate. They didn't throw two clones from 1963 into this amazing time machine, they put in two real people; perhaps a bit idealized, but still two real people.
Early in this blog I started to try to keep track of the signs that Ian and Barbara were romantically involved. I called it Barbian. In 77 episodes I've seen almost nothing. We fans like to make couples where none are shown to exist. It wouldn't be hard to imagine them ending up together though.
Oddly enough, of the original four TARDIS travellers, Ian is the only one who never had a romantic interest of any sort. Susan had David. The Doctor had Cameca. Barbara had more than one interested gentleman caller. Ian was pure.
I could probably make a video that looked as though the two were having a torrid affair if I put my mind to it. There is a comical scene of Ian trying to bite through Barbara's cardigan a few episodes back and there is a point in tonight's episode where he grabs for a falling Barbara and latches on the the back of her pants.
The two were also played by wonderful actors.
William Russel never returned to Doctor Who proper. There were plans for him to return in a Peter Davison story, but he wasn't available for filming and the part was rewritten for the Brigadier. He filmed some framing scenes for the VHS release of The Crusade in the roll of Ian.
Jacqueline Hill returned to the series to play an ultra conservative priestess against Tom Baker. I would have preferred a return of Barbara, but beggars can't be choosers.
Of the four original travelers only Carol Anne Ford and William Russel survive. It would be nice to see them in some role for the 50th anniversary.
Goodbye Ian and Barbara.
Next up: The Watcher
Let's just skip over the nonsense of a Dalek/Mechanoid battle. The Mechanoids were cheap knock-offs of the Daleks with different verbal limitations. There's a theory in genre fiction that the best way to show how badass someone/thing is is to have them lay a beat down on an established character who is themselves an established badass. In Star Trek: The Next Generation, Worf got beat up a lot to show that the alien threat of the week was superbad, The Mechanoid/Dalek fight is an attempt to make the Mechanoids seem cool.
It failed.
This episode is best remembered for the introduction of a new companion and the departure of Ian and Barbara.
The new companion is Steven Taylor of the "light red fifty." His spaceship crashed on Mechanus two years ago and the robot terraformers took him prisoner. He's not given much time, but he does well with the screen time that he does have.
I'm going to have several episodes to dissect and discuss Steven, this post should be about Ian and Barbara.
They've always been companions that I liked, but watching them from the beginning all the way through has made me appreciate them all the more. Especially Barbara.
So many people look back to 60's era Who and think of girls in miniskirts, twisting their ankles and screaming their brains out. When the talk turns to the strong female companions the conversation turns to Leela, Ace or possibly the first Romana. There was a strong woman onboard the TARDIS from day one. She was resourceful, quick-witted, brave and humane. She overcame the Morphotons, killed the Animus, ran over Daleks with a truck and stood up to the Doctor when he was wrong.
Over the course of 77 episodes written by a dozen writers there were moments when the character almost slipped into the hysterical woman stereotype, but she always pulled back. At least some of that probably has to do with Verity Lambert being the producer.
It's common to pick an "uber companion" for each Doctor; the companion that had the best relationship with that incarnation of the Doctor or was in some way the "best" companion that Doctor had. Troughton had Jamie, Pertwee had Jo, Tennant had Rose (I'm not defending this one) and Smith had Amy.
Before this project I would have considered Susan to be Hartnell's; now I would say that it was Barbara. I don't think that the rewatctching the remaining Hartnell stories will change my mind. Vicki and Steven are replaced by some characters who, for whatever reason, didn't work out that well. Maybe I'll find renewed respect for some of them, but I doubt that they will eclipse Barbara.
And then there's Ian.
One thing sums up Ian for me. In The Reign of Terror he is in a cell with a man dying of wounds sustained in the man's capture. He tells Ian that a message has to be delivered to an English spy and Ian promises to deliver that message. Once freed Ian makes good on his promise. Never mind the fact that this is literally history as far as he's concerned, never mind the fact that the Doctor has told him that history can't be rewritten, he is going to do the best that he can to do what he said he was going to do.
He does the right thing as far as he can tell. Barbara may be the more humane of the two, but it's Ian who wants the Thals to fight for themselves and not for the fluid link.
I keep wanting to try to paint these two as coming from two different perspectives, but it doesn't work that way. This isn't Spock and Dr McCoy staking out the extreme ends of the human psyche and arguing over who has the nicer piece of real estate. This is more like an old married couple where there is a lot of common ground, but with some hot button issues that send them off when pushed.
I love that they sometimes fight and are brusque with one another. I love that their fights are thoughtful and passionate. They didn't throw two clones from 1963 into this amazing time machine, they put in two real people; perhaps a bit idealized, but still two real people.
Early in this blog I started to try to keep track of the signs that Ian and Barbara were romantically involved. I called it Barbian. In 77 episodes I've seen almost nothing. We fans like to make couples where none are shown to exist. It wouldn't be hard to imagine them ending up together though.
Oddly enough, of the original four TARDIS travellers, Ian is the only one who never had a romantic interest of any sort. Susan had David. The Doctor had Cameca. Barbara had more than one interested gentleman caller. Ian was pure.
I could probably make a video that looked as though the two were having a torrid affair if I put my mind to it. There is a comical scene of Ian trying to bite through Barbara's cardigan a few episodes back and there is a point in tonight's episode where he grabs for a falling Barbara and latches on the the back of her pants.
The two were also played by wonderful actors.
William Russel never returned to Doctor Who proper. There were plans for him to return in a Peter Davison story, but he wasn't available for filming and the part was rewritten for the Brigadier. He filmed some framing scenes for the VHS release of The Crusade in the roll of Ian.
Jacqueline Hill returned to the series to play an ultra conservative priestess against Tom Baker. I would have preferred a return of Barbara, but beggars can't be choosers.
Of the four original travelers only Carol Anne Ford and William Russel survive. It would be nice to see them in some role for the 50th anniversary.
Goodbye Ian and Barbara.
 | ||
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Ep. 76 The Death of Doctor Who
"Align and advance! Advance and attack! Attack and destroy! Destroy and rejoice!"
This title is irksome to me and many other fans of the series. Doctor Who is the name of the series, not the main character's name. I know that I sound like a nerd to the geek power, but the character is supposed to be the Doctor.
That aside, this was a pretty decent little foray. The TARDIS lands on a sprawling jungle on the planet Mechanus. Ten foot tall carnivorous fungus trees ambulate around the steamy interior held at bay by the stream of lights put in place by the city dwelling Mechanoids.
The Doctor, Ian and Barbara follow the lights to a cave and make plans to ambush the Daleks with a contraption that the Doctor threw together. Barbara is amusing pretty much doing a cowboys and indians style pow pow.
The faux Doctor is alternately played by Hartnell and another actor. I know why some shots were done with the other guy, when the two are on screen at the same time for example, but there are times when there was no clear reason why they used the other guy.
Vicki finds her way back to the others, the robot is destroyed and the Daleks proceed to destroy the travelers.
As the Daleks move in on the cave, a secret panel opens revealing a Mechanoid, the single biggest attempt to ripoff the Daleks in the series history.
As a side note my theory that Terry Nation was a foot fetishist has another piece of evidence. At one point Barbara stops and takes off her shoe to remove a small stone or some sand.
Next up: Planet of Decisions
This title is irksome to me and many other fans of the series. Doctor Who is the name of the series, not the main character's name. I know that I sound like a nerd to the geek power, but the character is supposed to be the Doctor.
That aside, this was a pretty decent little foray. The TARDIS lands on a sprawling jungle on the planet Mechanus. Ten foot tall carnivorous fungus trees ambulate around the steamy interior held at bay by the stream of lights put in place by the city dwelling Mechanoids.
The Doctor, Ian and Barbara follow the lights to a cave and make plans to ambush the Daleks with a contraption that the Doctor threw together. Barbara is amusing pretty much doing a cowboys and indians style pow pow.
The faux Doctor is alternately played by Hartnell and another actor. I know why some shots were done with the other guy, when the two are on screen at the same time for example, but there are times when there was no clear reason why they used the other guy.
Vicki finds her way back to the others, the robot is destroyed and the Daleks proceed to destroy the travelers.
As the Daleks move in on the cave, a secret panel opens revealing a Mechanoid, the single biggest attempt to ripoff the Daleks in the series history.
As a side note my theory that Terry Nation was a foot fetishist has another piece of evidence. At one point Barbara stops and takes off her shoe to remove a small stone or some sand.
 |
| The Daleks as tree huggers. |
Next up: Planet of Decisions
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Ep. 75 Journey Into Terror
"Yes...yes, it exists - in the dark recesses of the human minds. Millions of people secretly believing! Think of the immense power of all these people, combined together, makes this place become a reality, hmm?"
The popcorn continues with this one.
The TARDIS arrives in an "Old Dark House" in the middle of a thunderstorm. Most of the familiar ghouls are there, Count Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster and a mad ghost woman.
The regular cast let their hair down a little and play this ala Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. Everyone acts a little more frightened that the, by now, hardened TARDIS crew would. Ian is hesitant to go up the stairs, Barbara screams, Ian and the Doctor play "no, you go first" before entering a mad scientist's lab etc.
There are plenty of nice bits in this. Vicki teasing Barbara about her hair turning white. the Doctor theorizing about the nature of the place. It turns out that it's really a haunted house in the far off future of 1996. The Daleks getting their butts handed to them by Frankenstein's Monster.
Things take a turn from the comedic when Vicki gets left behind in the confusion. She ends up stowing away on the Dalek ship, but the others don't know that at this point.
It's stated that the TARDIS can't return to the place and time that it has already been. This is the first time that this is explicitly stated in the series. There was a "fast return" switch in The Edge of Destruction. It didn't work then, so maybe this is the first on-screen admission that the Doctor couldn't repair it. The Doctor indicates that it is a mechanical fault that could take months or years to correct; the Daleks won't give them that time.
Ian suggests stealing the Dalek time machine to rescue Vicki and the others agree.
The Daleks are closing in on the TARDIS and have a secret weapon up their plungers. They have made a robot double of the Doctor.
Next up: The Death of Doctor Who
The popcorn continues with this one.
The TARDIS arrives in an "Old Dark House" in the middle of a thunderstorm. Most of the familiar ghouls are there, Count Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster and a mad ghost woman.
The regular cast let their hair down a little and play this ala Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. Everyone acts a little more frightened that the, by now, hardened TARDIS crew would. Ian is hesitant to go up the stairs, Barbara screams, Ian and the Doctor play "no, you go first" before entering a mad scientist's lab etc.
There are plenty of nice bits in this. Vicki teasing Barbara about her hair turning white. the Doctor theorizing about the nature of the place. It turns out that it's really a haunted house in the far off future of 1996. The Daleks getting their butts handed to them by Frankenstein's Monster.
Things take a turn from the comedic when Vicki gets left behind in the confusion. She ends up stowing away on the Dalek ship, but the others don't know that at this point.
It's stated that the TARDIS can't return to the place and time that it has already been. This is the first time that this is explicitly stated in the series. There was a "fast return" switch in The Edge of Destruction. It didn't work then, so maybe this is the first on-screen admission that the Doctor couldn't repair it. The Doctor indicates that it is a mechanical fault that could take months or years to correct; the Daleks won't give them that time.
Ian suggests stealing the Dalek time machine to rescue Vicki and the others agree.
The Daleks are closing in on the TARDIS and have a secret weapon up their plungers. They have made a robot double of the Doctor.
 |
| He's just about to do the Monster Mash on a Dalek. |
Next up: The Death of Doctor Who
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Ep. 74 Flight Through Eternity
BARBARA: You’re from Earth...
MORTON DILL: No, no Mam. No, I...I’m from Alabama.
This was an over the top hoot.
The premise of the piece is that the Daleks are chasing the Doctor and company through time and space in their own bigger-on-the-inside time machine. The TARDIS needs twelve minutes to recharge before it can dematerialize again. The travelers are looking to either shake the Daleks or meet them someplace where they can be dealt with.
The first stop is the observation tower of the Empire State Building in the then near-future date of 1966. Peter Purves who is introduced as the new companion in a few episodes does a turn as Morton Dill, a hick from the sticks visiting the big city.
Purves is really fun to watch. Ang and I found ourselves laughing on and off throughout this one and country bumpkin Morton Dill got us started.
The scene then shifts to an English sailing ship. Barbara wants to explore, but Ian gets seasick the second he steps out of the time machine. Barbara is luxuriating in the sea air doing her "king of the world" when an officer grabs her and calls her a stowaway. Vicki catches sight of this and gets above him with a belaying pin.
She knocks him out cold and then does the same to Ian when he comes to tell the ladies that they can depart.
The Daleks show up and everyone jumps overboard in terror. We discover afterwards that the ship is the Mary Celeste.
There have been some odd Dalek sounds in this story so far. I mentioned the grunting as the Dalek pulled itself out of the sand yesterday. Tonight we heard a Dalek scream as it fell in to the ocean and there was a point where Ang and I swear that a Dalek was muttering out basic math after it was asked to convert some figures.
This was a popcorn episode and there's nothing wrong with that.
Next up: Journey Into Terror
MORTON DILL: No, no Mam. No, I...I’m from Alabama.
This was an over the top hoot.
The premise of the piece is that the Daleks are chasing the Doctor and company through time and space in their own bigger-on-the-inside time machine. The TARDIS needs twelve minutes to recharge before it can dematerialize again. The travelers are looking to either shake the Daleks or meet them someplace where they can be dealt with.
The first stop is the observation tower of the Empire State Building in the then near-future date of 1966. Peter Purves who is introduced as the new companion in a few episodes does a turn as Morton Dill, a hick from the sticks visiting the big city.
Purves is really fun to watch. Ang and I found ourselves laughing on and off throughout this one and country bumpkin Morton Dill got us started.
The scene then shifts to an English sailing ship. Barbara wants to explore, but Ian gets seasick the second he steps out of the time machine. Barbara is luxuriating in the sea air doing her "king of the world" when an officer grabs her and calls her a stowaway. Vicki catches sight of this and gets above him with a belaying pin.
She knocks him out cold and then does the same to Ian when he comes to tell the ladies that they can depart.
The Daleks show up and everyone jumps overboard in terror. We discover afterwards that the ship is the Mary Celeste.
There have been some odd Dalek sounds in this story so far. I mentioned the grunting as the Dalek pulled itself out of the sand yesterday. Tonight we heard a Dalek scream as it fell in to the ocean and there was a point where Ang and I swear that a Dalek was muttering out basic math after it was asked to convert some figures.
This was a popcorn episode and there's nothing wrong with that.
 | ||
| I have no idea who this is, but she has a large hat. |
Monday, October 17, 2011
Ep. 73 The Death of Time
"Oi."
The Daleks grunt their way out of the sand to Austin Powers music.
The native people of the planet in all their fishy glory. It turns out that this was once an oceanic planet and the native Arridians lived in cities beneath the sea. The planet drifted closer to the two suns and the seas boiled off . The only thing left were the Arridians and the mire beasts which are pretty much sand octopi.
The Daleks are really annoying in this one. They end up getting a fair amount of screen time and most of what they do is talk. The menace that they had in their two previous stories isn't anywhere to be seen in this one.
In this episode we discover that the Dalek guns can't harm the TARDIS and that people can easily dodge them by stepping aside.
I'll give credit to the regular cast, especially Jacqueline Hill, they sell the menace of the Daleks better than the Daleks themselves. Vicki also deserves a mention for saying "oi" over 20 years before Ace does.
The Arridians are a bit ambitious as Doctor Who aliens go. In addition to the leotards that I think got packed away for The Underwater Menace, the Arridian costume included full facial makeup, a cowl and a dorsal fin running from the top of the head to the top of their aquatic buttocks. The actors playing them tried to add swimming movement to their hand gestures. Quiet a lot of effort for an alien that appears in only one episode.
Next up: Flight Through Eternity
The Daleks grunt their way out of the sand to Austin Powers music.
The native people of the planet in all their fishy glory. It turns out that this was once an oceanic planet and the native Arridians lived in cities beneath the sea. The planet drifted closer to the two suns and the seas boiled off . The only thing left were the Arridians and the mire beasts which are pretty much sand octopi.
The Daleks are really annoying in this one. They end up getting a fair amount of screen time and most of what they do is talk. The menace that they had in their two previous stories isn't anywhere to be seen in this one.
In this episode we discover that the Dalek guns can't harm the TARDIS and that people can easily dodge them by stepping aside.
I'll give credit to the regular cast, especially Jacqueline Hill, they sell the menace of the Daleks better than the Daleks themselves. Vicki also deserves a mention for saying "oi" over 20 years before Ace does.
The Arridians are a bit ambitious as Doctor Who aliens go. In addition to the leotards that I think got packed away for The Underwater Menace, the Arridian costume included full facial makeup, a cowl and a dorsal fin running from the top of the head to the top of their aquatic buttocks. The actors playing them tried to add swimming movement to their hand gestures. Quiet a lot of effort for an alien that appears in only one episode.
Next up: Flight Through Eternity
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Ep. 72 The Executioners
"You've squashed my favorite Beatles."
Another story by Terry Nation.
I actually can't complain too much about The Dalek Invasion of Earth. Some of the science was pretty crappy and he hand waves the Daleks' survival after their first story. Come to think about it, he also completely ignores the fact that the Daleks need radiation to survive, Aside from continuity issues and some padding, that was a solid story that holds up better stretched out over a longer period of time rather than seeing the omnibus version in one go.
I don't think that this story will be vastly better taken in small doses. It harkens back to the Keys of Marinus serial in that the travelers are going from location to location at breakneck speed. This puts a huge strain on the designers and prop people and things tend not to look that great. It also reduces the amount of character development allowed to the guest cast. Marinus at least had the young couple picked up in Morphoton linking the serial together; this serial (The Chase) doesn't have anything similar.
This serial does have quiet a few things to recommend it. This is the farewell story for Ian and Barbara, it introduces new companion Steven and it has the Frankenstein Monster kick Dalek ass.
The Doctor has been fiddling around with the Time/Space Visualizer that he took from the Morok space museum. Vicki is trying to help, but the Doctor is holding off on telling her what it does. He banishes her from his presence when her whistling becomes too annoying.
Vicki then manages to get under the feet of Ian who is reading a book on space monsters and Barbara who was making a dress for Vicki.
Just then the Visualizer emits a horrible sound that summons the three humans to the Doctor's side so that he can shut it the hell off.
The Doctor explains what the Visualizer does with some technobabble. When Ian (a science teacher) doesn't understand him, the Doctor just uses different technobabble..
Vicki actually understands what the Doctor is talking about, which is either a nod to her future origins or the young woman humoring the crazy old guy with the magic blue box.
Whatever the case, the Visualizer is a magic time television. It can show you anything that has happened. Given the fact that it's now on a time machine that can go to the end of the Universe, it can effectively see everything that ever happened. I think that the writers realized the problems that this could create and dropped it after this story. I can imagine the Visualizer under a thick coat of dust in some random back corner of Matt Smith's TARDIS.
So each of the companions gets to choose an historical period to view.
Ian chooses the Gettysburg Address. I don't know much about the actor who played Lincoln, but he didn't come off as an Englishman doing a fake American accent. If anything he sounded an awful lot like Johnny Cash. Kind of looked like him to.
Barbara choose to look in on Queen Elizabeth the First's court. Francis Bacon and William Shakespeare are attending the Queen. She suggests an idea for the further adventures of Falstaff and Bacon gives the idea for Hamlet.
Vicki's choice is cut from the North American DVD release. It's a shame since it's a nice little scene for Vicki that gets gutted due to copy write issues.
Fortunately, the internet exists and I was able to rewatch the cut scene online.
Vicki wanted to see the Beatles. The Visualizer picks up one of their TV appearances and we are soon treated to "Ticket to Ride." Ian starts flailing his limbs around in a way that always brings a smile to my lips.
Vicki is a bit confused. She's been to the Beatles' memorial theater in Liverpool, but she didn't know that they played classical music!
Originally the Beatles were to film something live for the show. They were to be done up as old men with long white beards playing a reunion/anniversary concert. The Beatles are reported to have liked the idea, but it was nixed by their management.
The TARDIS ends up landing on an arid world with two suns. We find out later that it's named Arridius.
Ian and Vicki go exploring, leaving Barbara and the Doctor to catch some sun. Before they leave the Doctor gives Ian a "TARDIS magnet" that will allow them to find their way back to the ship.
Most of this episode is studio bound, but there are some nice locations shots of Ian and Vicki climbing sand dunes.
The Doctor is singing as he sunbathes (in full frock coat) and doesn't hear the Visualizer going off from inside the TARDIS. Barbara does and goes in to turn it off. She manages to accidentally tune in the Dalek assassin force being dispatched after them.
The pair then try to find Ian and Vicki so that they can leave before the Daleks arrive.
Vicki and Ian come across some oddities in the alien desert. There is a nice shout out to the pools of acid from previous stories. They don't notice the tentacle waving in the sand.
They eventually find a ring in the sand. Ian goes to pull it and Vicki gets a bit freaked. She explains that when she was a little girl there was a similar key in a field near a castle. She always thought that if it got pulled then the drawbridge would lower and out would come some nasty.
Ian pulls the ring. Nothing happens. At least at first. As soon as the pair are heading back to the TARDIS a door opens in the ground. It freaks Vicki out some more, but she's OK to explore.
The two end up trapped underground with some sort of sand octopus thing.
The Doctor and Barbara get buried in a sandstorm. They dig themselves out only to realize that they can't find the ship. As they despair, a Dalek rises from the sand.
I'm going to be generous and say that the Dalek was probably buried in the same sandstorm that caught the Doctor and Barbara. Otherwise it just looks like Nation was reusing the cliffhanger to World's End just substituting sand for water.
Next up: The Death of Time
Another story by Terry Nation.
I actually can't complain too much about The Dalek Invasion of Earth. Some of the science was pretty crappy and he hand waves the Daleks' survival after their first story. Come to think about it, he also completely ignores the fact that the Daleks need radiation to survive, Aside from continuity issues and some padding, that was a solid story that holds up better stretched out over a longer period of time rather than seeing the omnibus version in one go.
I don't think that this story will be vastly better taken in small doses. It harkens back to the Keys of Marinus serial in that the travelers are going from location to location at breakneck speed. This puts a huge strain on the designers and prop people and things tend not to look that great. It also reduces the amount of character development allowed to the guest cast. Marinus at least had the young couple picked up in Morphoton linking the serial together; this serial (The Chase) doesn't have anything similar.
This serial does have quiet a few things to recommend it. This is the farewell story for Ian and Barbara, it introduces new companion Steven and it has the Frankenstein Monster kick Dalek ass.
The Doctor has been fiddling around with the Time/Space Visualizer that he took from the Morok space museum. Vicki is trying to help, but the Doctor is holding off on telling her what it does. He banishes her from his presence when her whistling becomes too annoying.
Vicki then manages to get under the feet of Ian who is reading a book on space monsters and Barbara who was making a dress for Vicki.
Just then the Visualizer emits a horrible sound that summons the three humans to the Doctor's side so that he can shut it the hell off.
The Doctor explains what the Visualizer does with some technobabble. When Ian (a science teacher) doesn't understand him, the Doctor just uses different technobabble..
Vicki actually understands what the Doctor is talking about, which is either a nod to her future origins or the young woman humoring the crazy old guy with the magic blue box.
Whatever the case, the Visualizer is a magic time television. It can show you anything that has happened. Given the fact that it's now on a time machine that can go to the end of the Universe, it can effectively see everything that ever happened. I think that the writers realized the problems that this could create and dropped it after this story. I can imagine the Visualizer under a thick coat of dust in some random back corner of Matt Smith's TARDIS.
So each of the companions gets to choose an historical period to view.
Ian chooses the Gettysburg Address. I don't know much about the actor who played Lincoln, but he didn't come off as an Englishman doing a fake American accent. If anything he sounded an awful lot like Johnny Cash. Kind of looked like him to.
Barbara choose to look in on Queen Elizabeth the First's court. Francis Bacon and William Shakespeare are attending the Queen. She suggests an idea for the further adventures of Falstaff and Bacon gives the idea for Hamlet.
Vicki's choice is cut from the North American DVD release. It's a shame since it's a nice little scene for Vicki that gets gutted due to copy write issues.
Fortunately, the internet exists and I was able to rewatch the cut scene online.
Vicki wanted to see the Beatles. The Visualizer picks up one of their TV appearances and we are soon treated to "Ticket to Ride." Ian starts flailing his limbs around in a way that always brings a smile to my lips.
Vicki is a bit confused. She's been to the Beatles' memorial theater in Liverpool, but she didn't know that they played classical music!
Originally the Beatles were to film something live for the show. They were to be done up as old men with long white beards playing a reunion/anniversary concert. The Beatles are reported to have liked the idea, but it was nixed by their management.
The TARDIS ends up landing on an arid world with two suns. We find out later that it's named Arridius.
Ian and Vicki go exploring, leaving Barbara and the Doctor to catch some sun. Before they leave the Doctor gives Ian a "TARDIS magnet" that will allow them to find their way back to the ship.
Most of this episode is studio bound, but there are some nice locations shots of Ian and Vicki climbing sand dunes.
The Doctor is singing as he sunbathes (in full frock coat) and doesn't hear the Visualizer going off from inside the TARDIS. Barbara does and goes in to turn it off. She manages to accidentally tune in the Dalek assassin force being dispatched after them.
The pair then try to find Ian and Vicki so that they can leave before the Daleks arrive.
Vicki and Ian come across some oddities in the alien desert. There is a nice shout out to the pools of acid from previous stories. They don't notice the tentacle waving in the sand.
They eventually find a ring in the sand. Ian goes to pull it and Vicki gets a bit freaked. She explains that when she was a little girl there was a similar key in a field near a castle. She always thought that if it got pulled then the drawbridge would lower and out would come some nasty.
Ian pulls the ring. Nothing happens. At least at first. As soon as the pair are heading back to the TARDIS a door opens in the ground. It freaks Vicki out some more, but she's OK to explore.
The two end up trapped underground with some sort of sand octopus thing.
The Doctor and Barbara get buried in a sandstorm. They dig themselves out only to realize that they can't find the ship. As they despair, a Dalek rises from the sand.
I'm going to be generous and say that the Dalek was probably buried in the same sandstorm that caught the Doctor and Barbara. Otherwise it just looks like Nation was reusing the cliffhanger to World's End just substituting sand for water.
 | ||
| Ian, getting jiggy with it. |
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Ep. 71 The Final Phase
"Four separate journeys. Four choices, that led all the time, closer to here."
Ian forces Lobos to revive the Doctor. Apparently the process involves lowering the target creatures temperature by hundreds of degrees. Lobos informs Ian that the process has never been reversed at this stage. Ian makes it clear that the Morok governor's life hangs in the balance.
The Doctor is revived and claims that the freezing process enhanced his mental faculties to computer efficiency. He was asking and answering questions at a ferocious speed. What those questions were or how they helped him in any way isn't touched upon in the rest of the story or anywhere else in the series as far as I can recall so I'm going to chalk this up to a freezer burn induced hallucination and move on.
Barbara, being the kick ass take charge hero of the series, recovers from the paralyzing gas and drags the unconscious Xeran out of the gas filled museum and into the welcome arms of the watch.
Fortunately, Vicki decided to go back to the museum instead of joining the Xeran youth in their assault on the Morok barracks. She's insistent and in the end overcomes the resistance of the Xeran leader Tor. Tor sends her off with another Xeran as back up. He makes it clear to her back up that Vicki is in charge.
There is one bit of continuity that doesn't seem to make sense. When Tor is trying to dissuade Vicki he tells her that if the Moroks see her with a weapon they'll check the armory and realize that the Xerans have armed themselves. She leaves the gun behind to avoid that problem. I did see a gun in her back up's hands when he left, but I don't remember seeing Vicki pick up one. When the two arrive at the museum they are both armed and just in time to rescue Barbara and her Xeran partner.
Through a series of reverses all four travelers are captured and placed under arrest pending a slow cook in the deep freeze. They can only hope that the people that they have influenced will be able to change their futures for them.
The Xerans do win. The museum is in the process of being dismantled as Vicki and Tor say their goodbyes. It may just be us, but it seemed that there was a look between the two. An almost "kiss me you fool" sort of moment.
The Doctor explains that the whole time track jump was caused by a faulty switch. I suspect that it is spring related, but that isn't confirmed on air. There's a comparison to a light switch that seems a little forced. Maybe it's part of the freezer burn hallucinations and Barbara is just humoring the old man.
The Doctor also reveals that he is taking a memento of the museum; a Time and Space Visualizer. Ian wants to know what that is when it's at home, but the Doctor brushes him off.
The TARDIS dematerializes and the scene shifts to space. Soon a planet comes into view and then shifts to a Dalek monitoring station. The monitor Dalek reports that the Doctor has left Xeros. The Daleks will track him down and EXTERMINATE him!
Next up: The Executioners
Ian forces Lobos to revive the Doctor. Apparently the process involves lowering the target creatures temperature by hundreds of degrees. Lobos informs Ian that the process has never been reversed at this stage. Ian makes it clear that the Morok governor's life hangs in the balance.
The Doctor is revived and claims that the freezing process enhanced his mental faculties to computer efficiency. He was asking and answering questions at a ferocious speed. What those questions were or how they helped him in any way isn't touched upon in the rest of the story or anywhere else in the series as far as I can recall so I'm going to chalk this up to a freezer burn induced hallucination and move on.
Barbara, being the kick ass take charge hero of the series, recovers from the paralyzing gas and drags the unconscious Xeran out of the gas filled museum and into the welcome arms of the watch.
Fortunately, Vicki decided to go back to the museum instead of joining the Xeran youth in their assault on the Morok barracks. She's insistent and in the end overcomes the resistance of the Xeran leader Tor. Tor sends her off with another Xeran as back up. He makes it clear to her back up that Vicki is in charge.
There is one bit of continuity that doesn't seem to make sense. When Tor is trying to dissuade Vicki he tells her that if the Moroks see her with a weapon they'll check the armory and realize that the Xerans have armed themselves. She leaves the gun behind to avoid that problem. I did see a gun in her back up's hands when he left, but I don't remember seeing Vicki pick up one. When the two arrive at the museum they are both armed and just in time to rescue Barbara and her Xeran partner.
Through a series of reverses all four travelers are captured and placed under arrest pending a slow cook in the deep freeze. They can only hope that the people that they have influenced will be able to change their futures for them.
The Xerans do win. The museum is in the process of being dismantled as Vicki and Tor say their goodbyes. It may just be us, but it seemed that there was a look between the two. An almost "kiss me you fool" sort of moment.
The Doctor explains that the whole time track jump was caused by a faulty switch. I suspect that it is spring related, but that isn't confirmed on air. There's a comparison to a light switch that seems a little forced. Maybe it's part of the freezer burn hallucinations and Barbara is just humoring the old man.
The Doctor also reveals that he is taking a memento of the museum; a Time and Space Visualizer. Ian wants to know what that is when it's at home, but the Doctor brushes him off.
The TARDIS dematerializes and the scene shifts to space. Soon a planet comes into view and then shifts to a Dalek monitoring station. The monitor Dalek reports that the Doctor has left Xeros. The Daleks will track him down and EXTERMINATE him!
 |
| The travelers contemplate their fate. |
Next up: The Executioners
Ep. 70 The Search
"That’s all I need. You know what Lobos will say about that, soldier. He will blame me. Everything that goes wrong on this wretched planet is my fault! Think yourselves lucky that you have me...between you and our illustrious Governor. A scapegoat - and for what? For this...rank and a meager pittance of extra pay."
Today will be a double posting day (knock on wood.) I'll start with the episode that we watched last night and then write up today's ep some time after we've watched it.
The Doctor has been sent to the processing center to be prepped to become an exhibit in the museum. We don't see him again this episode so I'm going out on a limb and saying that Bill Hartnell had a week off.
The other three were skulking around outside the area where the TARDIS had been brought.
There are many times when you are watching something with a military element, be it science fiction, historical drama or modern day and you can't help but wonder how the hell the enemy actually managed to get their organization off the ground with such a gang of bungling incompetents doing their evil bidding. We've all seen movies where a ragtag bunch of people with little to no actual combat skill and are thrust together and, without having worked together before, manage to beat/avoid a force at least ten times their size.
Enough about Star Wars though.
In this story the incompetence of the guards makes perfect sense. This place isn't the ultra top secret base of the dark overlords Parliament of Pain. It's a little backwater that used to be a tourist destination. Maybe they see two ships a year. The talented soldiers get the tough assignments; the dreck of the Morok military end up on Xeros.
And they can't stop bitching about it either. The quotes for this and last episode were these little soliloquies of pissines delivered by a Morok officer to his subordinate.
That doesn't take away from Ian's moment of awesome that occurs after the travelers are discovered by one of the guards.
The guard is armed and pointing his weapon straight at the three travelers. Ian starts moving forward telling the guard that his orders were to capture the prisoners, not kill them. He keeps pounding at the point that killing an unarmed party (my turn of phrase, not Ian's) would look pretty bad when the orders were to capture them. Ian slowly moves forward during all of this and beats the gun out of the soldier's hand.
As a side note, this had to have been the most patient guard that I have ever seen in my life. Between the time that he tells the three that they are his prisoners and the time that he tells them to be quiet the three have enough time to stage a full production of Hamlet. Vicki was brilliant as the titular Danish prince and I wept when Ian's Ophelia drowned.
The struggle with the guard alerts the others who are in the next room. Ian finishes the guard that he is working on and yells to the others to run. Ian takes on two soldiers solo while the rest bolt after Vicki and Barbara.
Ian kicks some serious ass in this one including a pretty impressive double throw that has to be seen. Ian has been the action hero of the series from day one and shows his chops in this, his next to last story.
Barbara finds a storage closet or display room to hide in while Vicki gets grabbed by the Xerans.
Vicki really steps up in this one. She decides that she will help the rebellion and prevent the future where she's gawked at by bored Moroks for a nickel a head.
She immediately takes control of the situation. The Xerans outnumber the Moroks, but are outgunned by them. She simply decides that they'll need to get the Moroks' weapons and asks about their armory.
The Moroks, being absurdly bureaucratic, have a computer lock set to open only when the questions are answered correctly and truthfully. There's some sort of lie detector attached. The questions go on for a long time and are as redundant as one might expect from an author who's had to work with the BBC.
Vicki reprograms the questions so that all she has to do is answer two questions. What's your name? Vicki. And: What are these weapons for? Revolution.
It's a very nice moment for a companion who's been little used the last few stories.
Ian, it turns out, hid behind the TARDIS after his display of the arts martial. He manages to capture to lone guard and forces him to take Ian to the processing center where the Doctor is.
While this is going on one of Vicki's Xeran minions has found Barbara and starts to take her to the others. Just then a Morok gas attack begins. They don't make it out of the building before being knocked out.
Ian gets to the governor and takes him prisoner as well. The episode ends with Ian finding the Doctor partially processed.
This was an excellent episode for Vicki and Ian. Barbara had a bit less to do, but that's the reality of having an ensemble cast; sometimes the other stars need to shine. Barbara is still far in the lead in terms of memorable moments.
I suspect that Vicki's work with the Xerans was originally written for the Doctor and when they decided to give Hartnell a week off they rewrote the scenes for Vicki. It makes sense given the character's background and education to be able to reprogram a computer. Another futuristic companion named Zoe will do something similar in the Troughton story The Invasion, but that reprogramming isn't as integral to the plot as Vicki's.
This isn't a highpoint of the Hartnell years, but it's far from the low.
Next up: The Final Phase
Today will be a double posting day (knock on wood.) I'll start with the episode that we watched last night and then write up today's ep some time after we've watched it.
The Doctor has been sent to the processing center to be prepped to become an exhibit in the museum. We don't see him again this episode so I'm going out on a limb and saying that Bill Hartnell had a week off.
The other three were skulking around outside the area where the TARDIS had been brought.
There are many times when you are watching something with a military element, be it science fiction, historical drama or modern day and you can't help but wonder how the hell the enemy actually managed to get their organization off the ground with such a gang of bungling incompetents doing their evil bidding. We've all seen movies where a ragtag bunch of people with little to no actual combat skill and are thrust together and, without having worked together before, manage to beat/avoid a force at least ten times their size.
Enough about Star Wars though.
In this story the incompetence of the guards makes perfect sense. This place isn't the ultra top secret base of the dark overlords Parliament of Pain. It's a little backwater that used to be a tourist destination. Maybe they see two ships a year. The talented soldiers get the tough assignments; the dreck of the Morok military end up on Xeros.
And they can't stop bitching about it either. The quotes for this and last episode were these little soliloquies of pissines delivered by a Morok officer to his subordinate.
That doesn't take away from Ian's moment of awesome that occurs after the travelers are discovered by one of the guards.
The guard is armed and pointing his weapon straight at the three travelers. Ian starts moving forward telling the guard that his orders were to capture the prisoners, not kill them. He keeps pounding at the point that killing an unarmed party (my turn of phrase, not Ian's) would look pretty bad when the orders were to capture them. Ian slowly moves forward during all of this and beats the gun out of the soldier's hand.
As a side note, this had to have been the most patient guard that I have ever seen in my life. Between the time that he tells the three that they are his prisoners and the time that he tells them to be quiet the three have enough time to stage a full production of Hamlet. Vicki was brilliant as the titular Danish prince and I wept when Ian's Ophelia drowned.
The struggle with the guard alerts the others who are in the next room. Ian finishes the guard that he is working on and yells to the others to run. Ian takes on two soldiers solo while the rest bolt after Vicki and Barbara.
Ian kicks some serious ass in this one including a pretty impressive double throw that has to be seen. Ian has been the action hero of the series from day one and shows his chops in this, his next to last story.
Barbara finds a storage closet or display room to hide in while Vicki gets grabbed by the Xerans.
Vicki really steps up in this one. She decides that she will help the rebellion and prevent the future where she's gawked at by bored Moroks for a nickel a head.
She immediately takes control of the situation. The Xerans outnumber the Moroks, but are outgunned by them. She simply decides that they'll need to get the Moroks' weapons and asks about their armory.
The Moroks, being absurdly bureaucratic, have a computer lock set to open only when the questions are answered correctly and truthfully. There's some sort of lie detector attached. The questions go on for a long time and are as redundant as one might expect from an author who's had to work with the BBC.
Vicki reprograms the questions so that all she has to do is answer two questions. What's your name? Vicki. And: What are these weapons for? Revolution.
It's a very nice moment for a companion who's been little used the last few stories.
Ian, it turns out, hid behind the TARDIS after his display of the arts martial. He manages to capture to lone guard and forces him to take Ian to the processing center where the Doctor is.
While this is going on one of Vicki's Xeran minions has found Barbara and starts to take her to the others. Just then a Morok gas attack begins. They don't make it out of the building before being knocked out.
Ian gets to the governor and takes him prisoner as well. The episode ends with Ian finding the Doctor partially processed.
This was an excellent episode for Vicki and Ian. Barbara had a bit less to do, but that's the reality of having an ensemble cast; sometimes the other stars need to shine. Barbara is still far in the lead in terms of memorable moments.
I suspect that Vicki's work with the Xerans was originally written for the Doctor and when they decided to give Hartnell a week off they rewrote the scenes for Vicki. It makes sense given the character's background and education to be able to reprogram a computer. Another futuristic companion named Zoe will do something similar in the Troughton story The Invasion, but that reprogramming isn't as integral to the plot as Vicki's.
This isn't a highpoint of the Hartnell years, but it's far from the low.
 | ||
| Vicki showing technology who's boss. |
Next up: The Final Phase
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Ep. 69 The Dimensions of Time
"Well, I’ve got two more mimmians before I can go home. Yes, I say it often enough, but it’s still two thousand Xeron days...and it sounds more in days. Yeah, I know, I volunteered, you were ordered. If the truth were known, I was just as bored on Morok. Still it was home, and youth never appreciates what it has. Oh, I don’t know what I’m going to do now. Still...let’s get on with it, shall we? ____these reports. I don’t know."
Is it subtle farce or a disappointing script? I'm not sure.
We have a classic Doctor Who conflict. An officious invader has control over a downtrodden population yearning to revolt and just needing something to push them over the edge.
In this one the officious invaders are the Moroks. Switch the "k" for an "n" and you might have a clue as to how the writer felt about this alien species. They were the white clad figures from the last episode. Seeing them up close you can make out their punked out raccoon hairstyles and world weary attitude towards life.
In the other corner is the spunky little native species of Xeros. As far as I can make out the rebellion consists of three guys in dark clothes and sneakers. I thought that they were wearing eye makeup yesterday, but it's actually a prosthetic forehead with weird eyebrows.
I don't know about you, but I immediately thought of this:
Oddly enough this reminded me of Douglas Adams' work. Adams' of course cut his teeth as script writer for Doctor Who before the Hitchhiker's juggernaut took off.
The problem with taking this one too seriously is the fact that half of the dialog between the travelers boils down to "maybe this is what puts us in the museum." After a while this became annoying.
There are some good things in this one.
Ian and Barbara getting snippy with one another. The Doctor beating the crap (offscreen) of his Xeran guard and then hiding inside a Dalek casing. The Doctor cheating the Morok thought detector.
Next up: The Search
Is it subtle farce or a disappointing script? I'm not sure.
We have a classic Doctor Who conflict. An officious invader has control over a downtrodden population yearning to revolt and just needing something to push them over the edge.
In this one the officious invaders are the Moroks. Switch the "k" for an "n" and you might have a clue as to how the writer felt about this alien species. They were the white clad figures from the last episode. Seeing them up close you can make out their punked out raccoon hairstyles and world weary attitude towards life.
In the other corner is the spunky little native species of Xeros. As far as I can make out the rebellion consists of three guys in dark clothes and sneakers. I thought that they were wearing eye makeup yesterday, but it's actually a prosthetic forehead with weird eyebrows.
I don't know about you, but I immediately thought of this:
Oddly enough this reminded me of Douglas Adams' work. Adams' of course cut his teeth as script writer for Doctor Who before the Hitchhiker's juggernaut took off.
The problem with taking this one too seriously is the fact that half of the dialog between the travelers boils down to "maybe this is what puts us in the museum." After a while this became annoying.
There are some good things in this one.
Ian and Barbara getting snippy with one another. The Doctor beating the crap (offscreen) of his Xeran guard and then hiding inside a Dalek casing. The Doctor cheating the Morok thought detector.
Next up: The Search
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Ep. 68 The Space Museum
"Either that or we're not really here."
Things are getting weird aboard the TARDIS at the beginning of this one.
The four travelers are standing around the TARDIS console staring intently at it. The lights have dimmed and the glow from the time rotor casts an eerie light over the four slack faces. All goes dark.
When the lights return to their dimmed state, the four are no longer dressed in 13th century garb. Ian is wearing a sports coat, the Doctor is in his usual suit, Barbara looks a bit frumpy in her dress and sweater combo and Vicki is wearing a little girl style dress, knee socks and mary janes. I don't think that going for a juvenile look was the best choice with this actress.
Everyone is stunned that their clothing has suddenly changed. Everyone except the Doctor; he's pleased that he won't have to change out of his cloaks.
Vicki goes to confirm that the crusading gear has been put into the closet on the way back she gets the Doctor a glass of water. The food dispenser provides a glass instead of the plastic bags that it had previously provided.
Vicki drops the glass, but it's OK; the film reverses itself saving her the trouble of cleaning up.
The travelers are getting a little freaked out at this point. A look outside with the scanner shows them that they are in, what the Doctor believes to be, a space museum. There are rows upon rows of alien space craft that show various stages of technical savvy and model making skill.
The Doctor is convinced that the answers are out there in the museum.
Things continue to be weird on the outside. The Doctor comments on the amazing amount of erosion present in the environment. Ian points out that they are walking on dust, two to three inches at least. They are walking on dust, but not leaving any prints.
There is no sound that the travelers themselves do not make.
They make it to the main building of the museum. The doors open and two white clad figures come out and walk past the travelers. The travelers press against the wall in the hopes that they won't be noticed. Vicki sneezes. The white clad figures keep going on as if they hadn't heard her.
The four explore the museum. They nearly plotz when they turn a corner and see a Dalek. It's only a display Dalek, probably on loan from the next serial. In a nice continuity nod, Vicki knows about the Daleks from her history books. The Dalek Invasion that is a hundred years in Ian and Barbara's future, is 300 years in Vicki's past.
At one point the four see someone coming and hunker down behind a display in an attempt to hide. Two goths (well they're wearing black and have on eye make-up, I'm calling them goths until we find out their real name next episode) walk in. They have a conversation that is completely silent.
F#@%ing goths.
Ian makes some lame science explanation that even he doesn't believe. The Doctor agrees that it is lame.
In the hallway the goths now walk right past the travelers without noticing them.
Vicki tries to touch a display and her hand passes through it. There is some freaking out.
The Doctor thinks that he knows what has happened, but needs to explore further to confirm. After hours of doing so they come across what the Doctor was looking for; a TARDIS that they can't touch and themselves under glass in a display.
The Doctor tells them that they have jumped a time track. They are really in the cases. The "them" who are observing what is going on haven't arrived yet. They can't be seen, or touch anything, or leave footprints because they haven't arrived yet. When they do arrive, they will be able to interact with their environment and vice versa. The display of the Doctor and companions will disappear and they will be in grave danger of being put in them for real.
The episode ends with the travelers arriving. Just as the Doctor said, the displays vanish. Outside the museum the white clad figures find the TARDIS and the footprints that are now visible.
This was a fun episode. It reminded me of the original Twilight Zone. Characters find themselves in a bizarre situation that makes sense once the big reveal is made at the end of the episode. There was even some shaky science mumbo jumbo.
The actual arrival was done a bit clumsily. We are shown a series of still photos and video of the water glass falling. Videotape editing was clumsy and expensive back then and I suspect that they had to do this to save money on the edits although I could be wrong.
The acting talents of the regulars aren't exactly stretched by this one, but the performances are all credible.
We are in the countdown to the end of Ian and Barbara's run on the TARDIS. They leave at the end of the next story.
Next up: The Dimensions of Time
Things are getting weird aboard the TARDIS at the beginning of this one.
The four travelers are standing around the TARDIS console staring intently at it. The lights have dimmed and the glow from the time rotor casts an eerie light over the four slack faces. All goes dark.
When the lights return to their dimmed state, the four are no longer dressed in 13th century garb. Ian is wearing a sports coat, the Doctor is in his usual suit, Barbara looks a bit frumpy in her dress and sweater combo and Vicki is wearing a little girl style dress, knee socks and mary janes. I don't think that going for a juvenile look was the best choice with this actress.
Everyone is stunned that their clothing has suddenly changed. Everyone except the Doctor; he's pleased that he won't have to change out of his cloaks.
Vicki goes to confirm that the crusading gear has been put into the closet on the way back she gets the Doctor a glass of water. The food dispenser provides a glass instead of the plastic bags that it had previously provided.
Vicki drops the glass, but it's OK; the film reverses itself saving her the trouble of cleaning up.
The travelers are getting a little freaked out at this point. A look outside with the scanner shows them that they are in, what the Doctor believes to be, a space museum. There are rows upon rows of alien space craft that show various stages of technical savvy and model making skill.
The Doctor is convinced that the answers are out there in the museum.
Things continue to be weird on the outside. The Doctor comments on the amazing amount of erosion present in the environment. Ian points out that they are walking on dust, two to three inches at least. They are walking on dust, but not leaving any prints.
There is no sound that the travelers themselves do not make.
They make it to the main building of the museum. The doors open and two white clad figures come out and walk past the travelers. The travelers press against the wall in the hopes that they won't be noticed. Vicki sneezes. The white clad figures keep going on as if they hadn't heard her.
The four explore the museum. They nearly plotz when they turn a corner and see a Dalek. It's only a display Dalek, probably on loan from the next serial. In a nice continuity nod, Vicki knows about the Daleks from her history books. The Dalek Invasion that is a hundred years in Ian and Barbara's future, is 300 years in Vicki's past.
At one point the four see someone coming and hunker down behind a display in an attempt to hide. Two goths (well they're wearing black and have on eye make-up, I'm calling them goths until we find out their real name next episode) walk in. They have a conversation that is completely silent.
F#@%ing goths.
Ian makes some lame science explanation that even he doesn't believe. The Doctor agrees that it is lame.
In the hallway the goths now walk right past the travelers without noticing them.
Vicki tries to touch a display and her hand passes through it. There is some freaking out.
The Doctor thinks that he knows what has happened, but needs to explore further to confirm. After hours of doing so they come across what the Doctor was looking for; a TARDIS that they can't touch and themselves under glass in a display.
The Doctor tells them that they have jumped a time track. They are really in the cases. The "them" who are observing what is going on haven't arrived yet. They can't be seen, or touch anything, or leave footprints because they haven't arrived yet. When they do arrive, they will be able to interact with their environment and vice versa. The display of the Doctor and companions will disappear and they will be in grave danger of being put in them for real.
The episode ends with the travelers arriving. Just as the Doctor said, the displays vanish. Outside the museum the white clad figures find the TARDIS and the footprints that are now visible.
This was a fun episode. It reminded me of the original Twilight Zone. Characters find themselves in a bizarre situation that makes sense once the big reveal is made at the end of the episode. There was even some shaky science mumbo jumbo.
The actual arrival was done a bit clumsily. We are shown a series of still photos and video of the water glass falling. Videotape editing was clumsy and expensive back then and I suspect that they had to do this to save money on the edits although I could be wrong.
The acting talents of the regulars aren't exactly stretched by this one, but the performances are all credible.
We are in the countdown to the end of Ian and Barbara's run on the TARDIS. They leave at the end of the next story.
 | ||
| You know that Barbara is wishing she'd worn something a little nicer before getting pickled. |
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Ep. 67 The Warlords
"The shadows are the only friends they have."
Barbara manages to escape from El Akir by knocking the handful of coins that he is to reward her captors with out of his hands. While the guards are trying to pick up the littered gold, she bolts.
Unfortunately she ends up in the harem. Fortunately, for her, everyone in the harem hates El Akir worse than the Red Sox hate George Steinbrenner. Maimuna, the elder daughter of Haroun, hides her and offers her what protection that she can offer.
Meanwhile Ian is in the hands of a racial caricature. It's not Amos and Andy, but it's the closest that Doctor Who has gotten so far. Ibrahim is one of the thieves who captured Ian in a pre-filmed insert last episode.
The thief has removed Ian's shirt and staked him in the sun. To make things more interesting he's placed some date honey on Ian's chest and wrists and made a trail back to an ant's nest. Ian will tell Ibrahim where his treasure is or the little ants will feast.
Up until now the worst that can be said for the middle eastern characters in this story is that they are played by WASPs and not shown in many dimensions. El Akir is evil, Sahpadin wants Joanna, Haroun seeks to rescue his daughter and avenge his wife and son. Saladin has depths that are alluded to in the stunning performance by Bernard Kay, but even he can be summed up in one word, pragmatic.
Ibrahim is a very flamboyant character who speaks in poor English and refers to himself in the third person. He's a bit of a sadist and a bit of a coward. The torture that he puts Ian through is part of an act and I wonder/hope that the exaggerated mannerisms are a part of that act; an affectation to mess with the heads of crusaders who have heard tales of the heathens who hold Christ's tomb.
The truth is that I like Ibrahim. He manages to be both threatening and amusing at almost the same time. The one thing that allows me to feel this way and not feel like a complete jerk is the fact that the character could have worked just as well if it had been a different nationality or ethnic group.
The actor playing Ibrahim (Tutte Lemkow) was born in Norway and is of Jewish heritage. He's one of the "ethnic" actors who also appeared in Marco Polo.
Ian manages to trick Ibrahim into untying the school teacher's feet. This gives Ian the ability to kick his captor and enough leverage to get himself out of his predicament. Ian forces Ibrahim to take him to Lydda.
Back in Jaffa, Leicester has taken Vicki in for questioning. He suspects that the Doctor is a spy and is highly suspect of the former Victor. There is another confrontation between he and the Doctor that is put down by the king.
Richard confesses that he knows that the Doctor was not the one who told Joanna of the love match; he didn't want to confront Leichester because he knew that there would be fighting soon. The marriage will not happen. Joanna is right, Richard can't fight Rome.
Richard is despondent. He desperately wants to see Jerusalem, but he has no heart for the carnage that he would have to wage to get there.
The Doctor and Vicki leave. Ostensibly to Acre to get out from under Leicester's gaze, but really to the TARDIS.
Leichester has the Doctor followed.
Barbara's situation isn't as safe as she had hoped. One of the harem girls (haremettes? haremites? harempudlians?) tells Akir of Barbara's hiding place. He is about to strike Barbara when he is himself struck down by Haroun.
Ian and Ibrahim have arrived by this point and it's not long before Ian and Barbara are riding horses back to the TARDIS.
A bit of quick thinking is required when Leicester captures the Doctor and prepares to execute him. Ian steps forward and tells the lord that the Doctor is a traitor who was responsible for the raid that killed several of his companions. He requests the honor of killing the traitor.
The travelers manage to sneak into the TARDIS. When it vanishes Leicester bemoans the fate of poor Sir Ian who was dragged off to some dark fate by the forces of Satan.
This was a solid ending to what is now one of my favorite historical stories. I was disappointed not to see Saladin or Joanna again, but there was a lot of ground to cover and adding scenes for those characters would have muddied things up or forced a fifth episode that didn't need to be made.
Next up: The Space Museum
Barbara manages to escape from El Akir by knocking the handful of coins that he is to reward her captors with out of his hands. While the guards are trying to pick up the littered gold, she bolts.
Unfortunately she ends up in the harem. Fortunately, for her, everyone in the harem hates El Akir worse than the Red Sox hate George Steinbrenner. Maimuna, the elder daughter of Haroun, hides her and offers her what protection that she can offer.
Meanwhile Ian is in the hands of a racial caricature. It's not Amos and Andy, but it's the closest that Doctor Who has gotten so far. Ibrahim is one of the thieves who captured Ian in a pre-filmed insert last episode.
The thief has removed Ian's shirt and staked him in the sun. To make things more interesting he's placed some date honey on Ian's chest and wrists and made a trail back to an ant's nest. Ian will tell Ibrahim where his treasure is or the little ants will feast.
Up until now the worst that can be said for the middle eastern characters in this story is that they are played by WASPs and not shown in many dimensions. El Akir is evil, Sahpadin wants Joanna, Haroun seeks to rescue his daughter and avenge his wife and son. Saladin has depths that are alluded to in the stunning performance by Bernard Kay, but even he can be summed up in one word, pragmatic.
Ibrahim is a very flamboyant character who speaks in poor English and refers to himself in the third person. He's a bit of a sadist and a bit of a coward. The torture that he puts Ian through is part of an act and I wonder/hope that the exaggerated mannerisms are a part of that act; an affectation to mess with the heads of crusaders who have heard tales of the heathens who hold Christ's tomb.
The truth is that I like Ibrahim. He manages to be both threatening and amusing at almost the same time. The one thing that allows me to feel this way and not feel like a complete jerk is the fact that the character could have worked just as well if it had been a different nationality or ethnic group.
The actor playing Ibrahim (Tutte Lemkow) was born in Norway and is of Jewish heritage. He's one of the "ethnic" actors who also appeared in Marco Polo.
Ian manages to trick Ibrahim into untying the school teacher's feet. This gives Ian the ability to kick his captor and enough leverage to get himself out of his predicament. Ian forces Ibrahim to take him to Lydda.
Back in Jaffa, Leicester has taken Vicki in for questioning. He suspects that the Doctor is a spy and is highly suspect of the former Victor. There is another confrontation between he and the Doctor that is put down by the king.
Richard confesses that he knows that the Doctor was not the one who told Joanna of the love match; he didn't want to confront Leichester because he knew that there would be fighting soon. The marriage will not happen. Joanna is right, Richard can't fight Rome.
Richard is despondent. He desperately wants to see Jerusalem, but he has no heart for the carnage that he would have to wage to get there.
The Doctor and Vicki leave. Ostensibly to Acre to get out from under Leicester's gaze, but really to the TARDIS.
Leichester has the Doctor followed.
Barbara's situation isn't as safe as she had hoped. One of the harem girls (haremettes? haremites? harempudlians?) tells Akir of Barbara's hiding place. He is about to strike Barbara when he is himself struck down by Haroun.
Ian and Ibrahim have arrived by this point and it's not long before Ian and Barbara are riding horses back to the TARDIS.
A bit of quick thinking is required when Leicester captures the Doctor and prepares to execute him. Ian steps forward and tells the lord that the Doctor is a traitor who was responsible for the raid that killed several of his companions. He requests the honor of killing the traitor.
The travelers manage to sneak into the TARDIS. When it vanishes Leicester bemoans the fate of poor Sir Ian who was dragged off to some dark fate by the forces of Satan.
This was a solid ending to what is now one of my favorite historical stories. I was disappointed not to see Saladin or Joanna again, but there was a lot of ground to cover and adding scenes for those characters would have muddied things up or forced a fifth episode that didn't need to be made.
 | ||
| We're still not certain if it's a wimple. |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)