…Or the one with the giant squid-thing. Apparently, one of the objectives of The Power of Kroll was to have the biggest monster in Doctor Who history, but Robert Holmes has again taken a very simple premise and built a convincing world for the story to take place in. Earth is clearly very aggressively colonial at this stage, with native populations of conquered planets relocated en masse to less valuable moons and planets. Such is the fate of the green-skinned natives of Delta Magna, called ‘Swampies’ by humans. They are a hunter and gatherer society who worship the cephalopod god Kroll and the humans was to indulge the Swampies by importing some giant squid and it is clear that something greater lurks beneath the surface of the swamps of Delta Three. Holmes’s script shows his usual sophistication, but also contains a great deal of padding. Most noticeable is the sacrifice plotline, where the Doctor, Romana and the gun-runner Rohm-Dutt are stretched by drying vines- it is never a good idea to immobilise the heroes for any period of time. However, the characterisation is intriguing- The humans on the refinery have no love for the Swampies, but some have stronger feelings than others- Thawn, the leader dispassionately wishes for the genocide of the Swampies and employs Rohm-Dutt to arm them so that he can have an excuse to wipe them out. The Swampies worship of Kroll brings up questions about religion, particularly the line between propitiation and worship.
However, the performances fall short of the characterisation. Neil McCarthy was a talented enough actor, but his portrayal of Thawn is all wrong. Physically, he looks the part but his soft voice and mannerisms let the side down. I cannot describe the effect better than certain other commentators have- he acts like a Peter Cook character! Glyn Owen seems half asleep as Rohm-Dutt and most of the rest of the cast are merely adequate. Only Philip Madoc and John Abineri put in praiseworthy performances (Abineri seems to be doing a dry run for his performance as Herne the Hunter in Robin of Sherwood).
There is some very atmospheric filming on the Iken Marshes and the use of hovercraft gives these scenes a very glossy look. However, the studio scenes are less effective, with the refinery scenes being overlit and the sacrifice scenes totally lacking in atmosphere. The model for the refinery looks like a chair in a paddling pool with no effort made to give a sense of scale. Kroll himself is variable. The model itself is very well designed and looks great with its quivering palps. Its first appearance looks great, with its awesome size brought over excellently. However, its subsequent appearances show very ragged matte lines and the full-size mock ups of its tentacles are desperately unconvincing.
The regulars are not at their best. Tom Baker effectively portrays his outrage at the treatment of the Swampies, but he seems uninterested, presumably because standing for hours in a swamp does that to an actor. Mary Tamm is fine, but Romana is very much the standard ‘damsel in distress’ in this story.
This is by no means the disaster others have claimed it was and it is watchable, but its many flaws will become very evident on watching.
NEXT: The Armageddon Factor
Showing posts with label Norman Stewart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Norman Stewart. Show all posts
Wednesday, 6 May 2009
Monday, 20 April 2009
Underworld
The Doctor Who production team must have had a slight masochistic tendency which made them repeatedly commission scripts from Bob Baker and Dave Martin. Many of their contributions call for production values wholly unreasonable for the programme and the subsequent failure draws attention to some of the failures in plotting. This really comes to a head in Underworld. This is one of those stories that is remembered by no-one except hardcore Doctor Who fans and has a pretty dismal reputation, so I was not looking forward to watching it.
However, I must say that episode one was actually quite good. We are treated to some of the best model shots the programme has had so far, with some interesting direction from Norman Stewart. There are memorable scenes such as the spacecraft flying through a gas nebula and then attracting asteroids to form a new planet. It seems that the Baker/Martin propensity for intriguing, if barmy ideas has finally translated well to the screen. However, from the moment in episode two when we see the ‘trogs’ running around a badly superimposed ‘sky-fall’ the story collapses like a meringue under custard. The failure is largely a production failure- for whatever reason (probably budgetary) the production team decided to render the caves of the planet by using CSO. One of the problems with CSO is that it relies on the camera being static for it to work- no tracking, panning, zooming or even wobbling. Another problem is that it is very difficult to light the scenes atmospherically as the lighting of the actors often contrasts considerably with the lighting of the backgrounds making them jarringly stand out from the backgrounds. All this results in a large proportion of the story being visually uninteresting at best and downright amateurish at worst. This is a pity, as a few of the scenes that do not rely on CSO are rather well shot and lit, especially the chamber of the Oracle. The shield guns are actually quite cool and the effect used for their beam is actually quite good. However, there is little else to commend it, visually- there is the ludicrous scene of the Doctor, Leela and Idas float in zero gravity along a shaft accompanied by lift muzak and what pass for monsters in this story- in the service of the Oracle, the Seers have become fully robotic. They take off their masks to reveal- two giant sponge fingers!
The script is mercilessly padded, which doesn’t help when there are no flashy visuals to distract from it. Of course, it is ‘cleverly’ based on the myth of Jason and the Golden Fleece (with other aspects of Greek Myth thrown in – P7E…Persephone- geddit?) and even if you were one of the 8 people who missed the parallels, don’t worry, the Doctor explains them at the end, if you make it that far. There are nice ideas, such as the Minyans being the reason why the Time Lords no longer intervene and the endless regeneration of the R1C crew, but there is little in this story that was not explored infinitely better in The Face of Evil. There is, of course, the complete lack of scientific knowledge that all Baker/Martin scripts have and strange things such as the P7E Minyans eating rock. The characterisation is basic and poorly thought out. ‘The Quest is the Quest’ as we are told ad nauseum, so it should be something which is so ingrained in the R1C crew that it should affect every fibre of their being. When they meet the slaves, they are not overjoyed at meeting their kin, or appalled at their degradation, they are simply ignored. The P7E trogs are also underwritten. There are some nice performances from the R1C crew, but the P7E people are largely forgettable. Tom Baker seems not to care about his performance, which is understandable, but doesn't exactly help matters. Louise Jameson is wonderful as ever, though.
In conclusion it is only the fun first episode that stops this story from being the most boring, uninspiring story ever broadcast under the Doctor Who banner- and there can be nothing that recommends a Doctor Who story less.
NEXT: The Invasion of Time
However, I must say that episode one was actually quite good. We are treated to some of the best model shots the programme has had so far, with some interesting direction from Norman Stewart. There are memorable scenes such as the spacecraft flying through a gas nebula and then attracting asteroids to form a new planet. It seems that the Baker/Martin propensity for intriguing, if barmy ideas has finally translated well to the screen. However, from the moment in episode two when we see the ‘trogs’ running around a badly superimposed ‘sky-fall’ the story collapses like a meringue under custard. The failure is largely a production failure- for whatever reason (probably budgetary) the production team decided to render the caves of the planet by using CSO. One of the problems with CSO is that it relies on the camera being static for it to work- no tracking, panning, zooming or even wobbling. Another problem is that it is very difficult to light the scenes atmospherically as the lighting of the actors often contrasts considerably with the lighting of the backgrounds making them jarringly stand out from the backgrounds. All this results in a large proportion of the story being visually uninteresting at best and downright amateurish at worst. This is a pity, as a few of the scenes that do not rely on CSO are rather well shot and lit, especially the chamber of the Oracle. The shield guns are actually quite cool and the effect used for their beam is actually quite good. However, there is little else to commend it, visually- there is the ludicrous scene of the Doctor, Leela and Idas float in zero gravity along a shaft accompanied by lift muzak and what pass for monsters in this story- in the service of the Oracle, the Seers have become fully robotic. They take off their masks to reveal- two giant sponge fingers!
The script is mercilessly padded, which doesn’t help when there are no flashy visuals to distract from it. Of course, it is ‘cleverly’ based on the myth of Jason and the Golden Fleece (with other aspects of Greek Myth thrown in – P7E…Persephone- geddit?) and even if you were one of the 8 people who missed the parallels, don’t worry, the Doctor explains them at the end, if you make it that far. There are nice ideas, such as the Minyans being the reason why the Time Lords no longer intervene and the endless regeneration of the R1C crew, but there is little in this story that was not explored infinitely better in The Face of Evil. There is, of course, the complete lack of scientific knowledge that all Baker/Martin scripts have and strange things such as the P7E Minyans eating rock. The characterisation is basic and poorly thought out. ‘The Quest is the Quest’ as we are told ad nauseum, so it should be something which is so ingrained in the R1C crew that it should affect every fibre of their being. When they meet the slaves, they are not overjoyed at meeting their kin, or appalled at their degradation, they are simply ignored. The P7E trogs are also underwritten. There are some nice performances from the R1C crew, but the P7E people are largely forgettable. Tom Baker seems not to care about his performance, which is understandable, but doesn't exactly help matters. Louise Jameson is wonderful as ever, though.
In conclusion it is only the fun first episode that stops this story from being the most boring, uninspiring story ever broadcast under the Doctor Who banner- and there can be nothing that recommends a Doctor Who story less.
NEXT: The Invasion of Time
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