The Doctor and his companions arrive on planet where the seemingly idyllic city of the Elders has one of the most advanced civilisations in the Universe. Outside the city is the realm of the Savages, people who live in Stone Age conditions. The Doctor is known to the Elders and he is invited to join their number, but the Doctor has questions he wants to answer…
As with Galaxy 4, this story is based on a simple idea. Here, one group of people treat another group as being little more than animals, despite them being the same species. Whereas the message of Galaxy 4 was ‘Beauty is only skin deep’ the message here is ‘Am I not a man and a brother?’ the Elders’ utopian state has a terrible cost- Savages are captured and placed in a machine which drains their ‘life essence’ and they are then thrown back into the wilderness to recuperate so that they can he harvested again. This is a story that is clearly about slavery, particularly the brutal slavery of the Atlantic, where human beings were, indeed treated like livestock. Interestingly several of the Elders have dark skin and the Savages are all white, presumably to drive the message home to the average 60s viewer, although it did not go as far as the ground-breaking 1965 BBC play Fable and actually cast black actors.
Worthy as these sentiments are, more is required for a drama to actually connect with the viewer and Ian Stuart Black is more than up to the task. A lesser writer would have had the Doctor and his friends helping the Savages launch an attack on the evil Elders and destroy them. Black, very sensibly, does something different. While the Elders’ treatment of the Savages is utterly reprehensible, they are not presented as evil. Their glorified vampirism is part of their way of life and has been for a long time, just as many ‘respectable businessmen’ in the past made a profit out of the horror of traffic in human flesh, yet genuinely saw nothing wrong with it.
The dénouement of the story is truly masterful. The Doctor is left drained after he has been subjected to the energy transfer process, so it seems like we are back to the storylines of Season One, where the Doctor is rescued by his companions. However, when the Doctor’s essence is transferred to the ruling Elder Jano, he starts to exhibit ‘Doctorish’ mannerisms and , more importantly, the reason for the Doctor’s opposition to the treatment of the Savages. The diabolical device of the adversary has been subverted and been used to fulfil the Doctor’s purpose- to make people better. Therefore, the climax is not a battle but the wrecking of the laboratories that have caused so much suffering to the Savages. Both groups must now build a new world together- a revolution must have a period of reconstruction afterwards.
Guest performances are solid throughout, with special mention going to Frederick Jaeger as Jano. Jaeger’s performance when Jano exhibits some of the Doctor’s mannerisms is excellent and very funny, rather than the dismal impressionism I was expecting. From looking at the telesnaps, the production seems to be of a high standard- good quarry work!
This is Peter Purves’s final story as Steven, and I am very sorry to see him go. Steven was often written similar to the way Ian was, but Purves always made Steven fresh, and when the writers did give him some good material, he attacked it with gusto, be it the comedy of The Gunfighters or the horror of The Daleks’ Masterplan or The Massacre. His decision to become the new leader of both the Elders and Savages is very much in character- he had seen more war and destruction than any other companion before, and had never lost his essential goodness. At first, it seems that the Doctor shows little sadness (although great pride) in Steven’s departure, but his last words of ‘Don’t look back’ to Dodo speak volumes, as does his final pained look.
A very thoughtful story from Ian Stuart Black and a great send-off for one of my favourite companions.
NEXT: The War Machines
Showing posts with label Steven. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Steven. Show all posts
Saturday, 11 October 2008
Wednesday, 8 October 2008
The Gunfighters
The Doctor has a toothache and, when the TARDIS lands, he sets off to find a dentist. Unfortunately, they have landed in Tombstone, and the Clantons and the Earps are moving in for their final confrontation at the OK Corral.
Donald Cotton’s first script for the programme was the comedic The Myth Makers which was practically a pastiche of the legend of Troy. The Gunfighters dials back the tomfoolery a notch, with no sitcom characters or excruciating puns, but, strangely enough, manages to be even funnier than Cotton’s last effort. The regulars relish the chance to play with the archetypes of the Western, and special mention must be made of Purves. With his double-taking, inability to swivel a gun and his swaggering along, he is utterly hilarious. Hartnell, of course, is no stranger to comedy and the Doctor’s sheer bewilderment at being handed guns left, right and centre is great. I particularly enjoyed the scene when Steven gives the Doctor a gun when he is incarcerated. Now that her accent has settled to one south of Watford, Jackie Lane is endearing, especially in the scene where she has to hold up Doc Holliday.
The music consists of a song called "The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon" sung by Lynda Baron, which is both appropriate to the setting and very funny in places- when Charlie the barman is killed, Baron starts singing ‘So it’s curtains for Charlie…’
This story was considered a disaster when broadcast and tends to be hated by fans of a certain age, and objectively, it’s hard to see why. It’s well acted, with John Alderson making a fine Wyatt Earp and Anthony Jacobs zestfully bringing Doc Holliday to life. Laurence Payne makes Johnny Ringo genuinely seem like the baddie in a Western and the introduction of the character in the episode named after him makes the shift in tone in the final episode seem natural. Whereas the Clantons seem brutish and callous, the first death in the story is Ringo shooting a man in the back. The sets by Barry Newbery are excellent as usual and there is some very effective direction from Rex Tucker- the climactic gunfight is shot and cut like one from an actual Western, with some quickfire editing and nice tracking shots. True, some of the American accents are a bit dodgy, but I, for one, can easily forgive this. There are a few production goofs, but no more than in any other historical- no-one mentions that some of the backdrops in The Aztecs look fake. The skill of everyone behind the scenes is evident in every department, even the caption writers- the cliffhanger for "A Holiday for the Doctor" has the very funny scene where Steven has to sing, with Dodo accompanying him. The caption appears: ‘NEXT EPISODE: DON’T SHOOT THE PIANIST!’
This story accomplishes everything it sets out to do and is thoroughly entertaining throughout.
Next: The Savages
Donald Cotton’s first script for the programme was the comedic The Myth Makers which was practically a pastiche of the legend of Troy. The Gunfighters dials back the tomfoolery a notch, with no sitcom characters or excruciating puns, but, strangely enough, manages to be even funnier than Cotton’s last effort. The regulars relish the chance to play with the archetypes of the Western, and special mention must be made of Purves. With his double-taking, inability to swivel a gun and his swaggering along, he is utterly hilarious. Hartnell, of course, is no stranger to comedy and the Doctor’s sheer bewilderment at being handed guns left, right and centre is great. I particularly enjoyed the scene when Steven gives the Doctor a gun when he is incarcerated. Now that her accent has settled to one south of Watford, Jackie Lane is endearing, especially in the scene where she has to hold up Doc Holliday.
The music consists of a song called "The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon" sung by Lynda Baron, which is both appropriate to the setting and very funny in places- when Charlie the barman is killed, Baron starts singing ‘So it’s curtains for Charlie…’
This story was considered a disaster when broadcast and tends to be hated by fans of a certain age, and objectively, it’s hard to see why. It’s well acted, with John Alderson making a fine Wyatt Earp and Anthony Jacobs zestfully bringing Doc Holliday to life. Laurence Payne makes Johnny Ringo genuinely seem like the baddie in a Western and the introduction of the character in the episode named after him makes the shift in tone in the final episode seem natural. Whereas the Clantons seem brutish and callous, the first death in the story is Ringo shooting a man in the back. The sets by Barry Newbery are excellent as usual and there is some very effective direction from Rex Tucker- the climactic gunfight is shot and cut like one from an actual Western, with some quickfire editing and nice tracking shots. True, some of the American accents are a bit dodgy, but I, for one, can easily forgive this. There are a few production goofs, but no more than in any other historical- no-one mentions that some of the backdrops in The Aztecs look fake. The skill of everyone behind the scenes is evident in every department, even the caption writers- the cliffhanger for "A Holiday for the Doctor" has the very funny scene where Steven has to sing, with Dodo accompanying him. The caption appears: ‘NEXT EPISODE: DON’T SHOOT THE PIANIST!’
This story accomplishes everything it sets out to do and is thoroughly entertaining throughout.
Next: The Savages
Monday, 6 October 2008
The Celestial Toymaker
The TARDIS is drawn into the realm of the Celestial Toymaker, an immortal, indestructible being who, in his dominion, is all powerful. He bids the travellers play a series of games to win the right to return to the TARDIS and leave. If they feel, the Doctor will become the Toymaker’s opponent forever and Steven and Dodo will be reduced to dolls without true life or will.
Each episode of this story is based around a physical challenge for Steven and Dodo, where they must compete against the Toymaker’s dolls who are very keen on winning themselves. This brings to mind game shows like The Crystal Maze, but with a very nasty edge. In "The Hall of Dolls", the Queen of Hearts intimates that the dolls were once people themselves and therefore they are fighting for their own existence, as well as being pawns of the Toymaker. This gives what are, basically, children’s games a very sinister edge. Meanwhile the Doctor plays the ‘Trilogic Game’ (a variation of the 'Tower of Hanoi' puzzle) which he must win in exactly 1023 moves.
The guest cast is small, but very effective. Carmen Silvera and Campbell Singer give extraordinary performances as the main dolls, managing to make their characters in each successive episode completely different- with just the audio, it is hard to believe that they are played by the same actors. Peter Stephens is fantastic as Cyril, especially the sinister schoolboy (‘Call me Billy!’). However, it is Michael Gough as the Toymaker who makes this story memorable. He plays the role with a kind of playful detachment that hints at the fact that this character is omnipotent in this world. His performance binds the story together and makes it far more than just a glorified game show.
Hartnell is absent for the middle of this story, so it is again up to the companions to carry the story. Purves is as wonderful as ever and Lane too is fine, although her accent wanders between Cockney and Mancunian! Even though his role is limited, Hartnell’s performance is subtly different. This is no ordinary adversary and the Doctor cannot afford to be flippant with the Toymaker, and the Doctor is portrayed as being more guarded throughout. The writers manage to do a great deal with very little, the sense of unease almost never being underlined by dialogue, only by situation.
From the only episode that exists, it appears that the budget was small, but good use was made of what was there. However, this story is one that relies a lot on imagery- we cannot see the Toymaker picking up the dolls from the dollhouse and them subsequently coming to life (although we do see the disturbing sight of Cyril after he has been defeated- he is now merely a broken doll on the floor). I would also love to have seen the realisation of "The Dancing Floor", as the audio makes it sound fascinating.
This story is a unique experience- fun and disquieting at the same time, with some great performances.
NEXT: The Gunfighters
Each episode of this story is based around a physical challenge for Steven and Dodo, where they must compete against the Toymaker’s dolls who are very keen on winning themselves. This brings to mind game shows like The Crystal Maze, but with a very nasty edge. In "The Hall of Dolls", the Queen of Hearts intimates that the dolls were once people themselves and therefore they are fighting for their own existence, as well as being pawns of the Toymaker. This gives what are, basically, children’s games a very sinister edge. Meanwhile the Doctor plays the ‘Trilogic Game’ (a variation of the 'Tower of Hanoi' puzzle) which he must win in exactly 1023 moves.
The guest cast is small, but very effective. Carmen Silvera and Campbell Singer give extraordinary performances as the main dolls, managing to make their characters in each successive episode completely different- with just the audio, it is hard to believe that they are played by the same actors. Peter Stephens is fantastic as Cyril, especially the sinister schoolboy (‘Call me Billy!’). However, it is Michael Gough as the Toymaker who makes this story memorable. He plays the role with a kind of playful detachment that hints at the fact that this character is omnipotent in this world. His performance binds the story together and makes it far more than just a glorified game show.
Hartnell is absent for the middle of this story, so it is again up to the companions to carry the story. Purves is as wonderful as ever and Lane too is fine, although her accent wanders between Cockney and Mancunian! Even though his role is limited, Hartnell’s performance is subtly different. This is no ordinary adversary and the Doctor cannot afford to be flippant with the Toymaker, and the Doctor is portrayed as being more guarded throughout. The writers manage to do a great deal with very little, the sense of unease almost never being underlined by dialogue, only by situation.
From the only episode that exists, it appears that the budget was small, but good use was made of what was there. However, this story is one that relies a lot on imagery- we cannot see the Toymaker picking up the dolls from the dollhouse and them subsequently coming to life (although we do see the disturbing sight of Cyril after he has been defeated- he is now merely a broken doll on the floor). I would also love to have seen the realisation of "The Dancing Floor", as the audio makes it sound fascinating.
This story is a unique experience- fun and disquieting at the same time, with some great performances.
NEXT: The Gunfighters
Saturday, 4 October 2008
The Ark
Millions of years in the future, in what is called the 57th segment of time, the TARDIS lands on a vast ship on a voyage from Earth to the planet Refusis II. On board are the last humans and a race called the Monoids who act as servants, whole generations of which are born and die in the 700 year journey. Much has changed in the 57th segment of time and Dodo’s cold starts an epidemic that has far-reaching consequences.
The structure of this four part story is very interesting as it is really a pair of closely linked two-parters. "The Steel Sky" and "The Plague" deal with the deadly effect of Dodo’s cold on the Monoids and humans and, not surprisingly, the Doctor finds a cure and leaves. However, the TARDIS takes them back to the same ship only to find that the Monoids are now the masters- apparently the cure was merely a palliative, and the virus mutated and caused the humans to become weaker willed, allowing the Monoids to take over. They are now orbiting Refusis II, which is not as uninhabited as it appears.
The ‘world-building’ by writer Paul Erickson is very ambitious. We are so far in the future that calendars that measure in centuries no longer have meaning. Millions of Humans and Monoids are kept ‘miniaturised’ on slides and, critically, the split in the story actually shows how this world develops in 700 years. The conclusion is not based on one species defeating and exterminating the other and it is obvious that a good deal of thought has gone into the concepts. Steven wonders if they have been spreading diseases throughout time and space, and his subsequent illness shows that mankind lost their immunity millions of years before the Ark set out.
This is helped by the fact that this is the most visually stunning story since the first one. Michael Imison creates some very interesting both with montage and mise-en-scène (for the lack of a less pretentious term) that really stretch the boundaries of what was possible in a 1960s studio set. The first shot is an unbroken tracking shot that gradually reveals a Monoid walking towards where the TARDIS is materialising. When the Doctor states that they are in a vast space ship, it cuts to a high shot that pulls sharply back. The scenes where the Doctor is talking to the Guardians via monitors is expertly edited. The design work is utterly astonishing, with effective use of model shots and painted backdrops. I must also mention the special effect for the Earth’s destruction, which is not done using pyrotechnics, but by filming an effervescent ball in a tank and is very effective. The statue that is being build by the humans is a constant factor throughout the story. Originally meant to be a human, by the time the TARDIS crew return, it has a Monoid’s head. This is not only a striking image in itself, but effectively tells the story of the intervening 700 years. The Monoids themselves are brought to life reasonably convincingly, with their single eye being realised by having the actors hold a fake eye in their mouth that they can roll. a nice touch is that, in the first two episodes, the Monoids are mutes who communicate by sign language. In the concluding half, they have developed artificial voice boxes, but still gesticulate extensively when they speak.
Unfortunately, the performances of the guest cast are merely adequate, which comes as a bit of a disappointment after the excellent guest performances we have seen in this particular season so far. It is good, however, to see Michael Sheard’s first appearance in Doctor Who, looking very young (he was in his mid-twenties). Also, whilst Imison does come up with some fantastic shots, there is some clumsy editing elsewhere. Scenes virtually crash into each other and a key montage, where the Doctor creates the treatment for the virus could have been cut better.
Hartnell puts in another virtuoso performance, curing a plague, helping to build bridges between races and preventing disasters. Peter Purves is more of stock hero here, but it has been for some time that he has a very good idea of what Steven’s personality was, and he puts in another stellar performance. Jackie Lane’s Dodo is fine here, but her performance is nothing like as good as the other two regulars. Still, she manages not to be annoying, which is the main thing.
Overall, a very rewarding story- and I didn’t even mention that there is a real live elephant in it!
NEXT: The Celestial Toymaker
The structure of this four part story is very interesting as it is really a pair of closely linked two-parters. "The Steel Sky" and "The Plague" deal with the deadly effect of Dodo’s cold on the Monoids and humans and, not surprisingly, the Doctor finds a cure and leaves. However, the TARDIS takes them back to the same ship only to find that the Monoids are now the masters- apparently the cure was merely a palliative, and the virus mutated and caused the humans to become weaker willed, allowing the Monoids to take over. They are now orbiting Refusis II, which is not as uninhabited as it appears.
The ‘world-building’ by writer Paul Erickson is very ambitious. We are so far in the future that calendars that measure in centuries no longer have meaning. Millions of Humans and Monoids are kept ‘miniaturised’ on slides and, critically, the split in the story actually shows how this world develops in 700 years. The conclusion is not based on one species defeating and exterminating the other and it is obvious that a good deal of thought has gone into the concepts. Steven wonders if they have been spreading diseases throughout time and space, and his subsequent illness shows that mankind lost their immunity millions of years before the Ark set out.
This is helped by the fact that this is the most visually stunning story since the first one. Michael Imison creates some very interesting both with montage and mise-en-scène (for the lack of a less pretentious term) that really stretch the boundaries of what was possible in a 1960s studio set. The first shot is an unbroken tracking shot that gradually reveals a Monoid walking towards where the TARDIS is materialising. When the Doctor states that they are in a vast space ship, it cuts to a high shot that pulls sharply back. The scenes where the Doctor is talking to the Guardians via monitors is expertly edited. The design work is utterly astonishing, with effective use of model shots and painted backdrops. I must also mention the special effect for the Earth’s destruction, which is not done using pyrotechnics, but by filming an effervescent ball in a tank and is very effective. The statue that is being build by the humans is a constant factor throughout the story. Originally meant to be a human, by the time the TARDIS crew return, it has a Monoid’s head. This is not only a striking image in itself, but effectively tells the story of the intervening 700 years. The Monoids themselves are brought to life reasonably convincingly, with their single eye being realised by having the actors hold a fake eye in their mouth that they can roll. a nice touch is that, in the first two episodes, the Monoids are mutes who communicate by sign language. In the concluding half, they have developed artificial voice boxes, but still gesticulate extensively when they speak.
Unfortunately, the performances of the guest cast are merely adequate, which comes as a bit of a disappointment after the excellent guest performances we have seen in this particular season so far. It is good, however, to see Michael Sheard’s first appearance in Doctor Who, looking very young (he was in his mid-twenties). Also, whilst Imison does come up with some fantastic shots, there is some clumsy editing elsewhere. Scenes virtually crash into each other and a key montage, where the Doctor creates the treatment for the virus could have been cut better.
Hartnell puts in another virtuoso performance, curing a plague, helping to build bridges between races and preventing disasters. Peter Purves is more of stock hero here, but it has been for some time that he has a very good idea of what Steven’s personality was, and he puts in another stellar performance. Jackie Lane’s Dodo is fine here, but her performance is nothing like as good as the other two regulars. Still, she manages not to be annoying, which is the main thing.
Overall, a very rewarding story- and I didn’t even mention that there is a real live elephant in it!
NEXT: The Celestial Toymaker
Wednesday, 1 October 2008
The Massacre
In seasons 2 and 3, we have seen the historical become more comedic, but the master, John Lucarotti , returns for a final story. Although story editor Donald Tosh rewrote most of the script, many of the qualities that made Marco Polo and The Aztecs so fantastic are again very much evident but unlike those stories, this one depicts an actual historical event. The St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre was one of the key events of the French Wars of Religion. Henri IV, the Protestant king of Navarre in Spain, married Marguerite de Valois (‘La Reine Margot’) sister of King Charles IX of France. At a time of huge tension between the Catholics and Protestants (Huguenots) this was thought to be an attempt to bring peace to France. However, leading Catholics took advantage of the fact that Huguenots would be gathering for the wedding to incite their massacre. Several thousand Protestants were killed in Paris and thousands more throughout the country.
Although this event is not familiar to the majority of people in Britain, it has been dealt with twice on screen. D W Griffith included it as part of his 1916 epic Intolerance and in 1994 it was brought to bloody life in Patrice Chereau’s adaptation of Dumas’s La Reine Margot. I have seen both of these and it is to the credit of The Massacre that its impact was not diminished. The undercurrent of fear and suspicion is excellently brought out- the scene in the tavern with the Huguenots drinking Henry’s health brilliantly portrays their pride and defiance in the midst of their fear. Death dominates this story more than any other so far and the sheer scale of it overwhelms. Marshal Tavannes loathes the Huguenots, but even he is appalled when it turns out that all of them must die.
The Doctor barely appears in this story. After a charming scene where he chats to the apothecary Charles Preslin, he takes no further part in events and does not appear again until episode 4. This means that it is Steven who carries most of the story. With no knowledge of the events, Steven reacts to situations naturally, helping his Huguenot friends even when they believe him to be a traitor. Purves is more than equal to the challenge in the portrayal of a man lost in a situation he doesn’t understand, but still determined to do the right thing. However, while the Doctor is absent, Hartnell is very much present in his portrayal of the sinister Abbot of Amboise. The abbot’s speech patterns are very different to the Doctor’s- slower and more precise, without laughing, going ‘hmmm?’ or even fluffing his lines. This proves that people who think that Hartnell was just playing himself as the Doctor are talking out of their proverbial. The fact that the Abbot is a double of the Doctor is not just a stunt- it results in Steven being mistaken for the servant of the Abbot and makes for a stunning end to episode 3 with the mob clustered round what appears to be the Doctor’s dead body.
The guest cast is one of the finest seen in the programme. Andre Morell (the third and best Quatermass) makes Tavannes utterly ruthless but still very human. Leonard Sachs makes Coligny a truly selfless, yet charismatic character. Barry Justice makes Charles IX very believable as a man who in unready for power and is dominated by his mother. Catherine de Medici (as usual) is blamed for being the mastermind behind the Massacre and Joan Young portrays her as willing to do anything to protect the power of her family.
The research that was made for this story is obviously extensive- for example, although the Abbot of Amboise is a fictional character, the name is obviously taken from the Huguenot attempt to kidnap Charles’s predecessor Francis II at the Chateau de Amboise. The use of history in this story is interesting. Steven tries to intervene in events without knowing the history, but fails to change anything- despite knowing of the plot to assassinate Coligny, he cannot warn the Admiral in time, and Coligny is wounded, as the history books say. Steven’s powerlessness in the face of the Massacre leads to the justly famous scene where he temporarily leaves the Doctor in disgust. This scene is brilliantly acted by Hartnell and Purves, with a beautiful soliloquy from the Doctor and is one of the finest the series has ever had. It is good to see Steven return though, although the introduction of Dodo at the end seems forced.
However, this does not detract from a brilliant quartet of episodes that tells the programme’s most serious and harrowing story ever.
Next: The Ark
Although this event is not familiar to the majority of people in Britain, it has been dealt with twice on screen. D W Griffith included it as part of his 1916 epic Intolerance and in 1994 it was brought to bloody life in Patrice Chereau’s adaptation of Dumas’s La Reine Margot. I have seen both of these and it is to the credit of The Massacre that its impact was not diminished. The undercurrent of fear and suspicion is excellently brought out- the scene in the tavern with the Huguenots drinking Henry’s health brilliantly portrays their pride and defiance in the midst of their fear. Death dominates this story more than any other so far and the sheer scale of it overwhelms. Marshal Tavannes loathes the Huguenots, but even he is appalled when it turns out that all of them must die.
The Doctor barely appears in this story. After a charming scene where he chats to the apothecary Charles Preslin, he takes no further part in events and does not appear again until episode 4. This means that it is Steven who carries most of the story. With no knowledge of the events, Steven reacts to situations naturally, helping his Huguenot friends even when they believe him to be a traitor. Purves is more than equal to the challenge in the portrayal of a man lost in a situation he doesn’t understand, but still determined to do the right thing. However, while the Doctor is absent, Hartnell is very much present in his portrayal of the sinister Abbot of Amboise. The abbot’s speech patterns are very different to the Doctor’s- slower and more precise, without laughing, going ‘hmmm?’ or even fluffing his lines. This proves that people who think that Hartnell was just playing himself as the Doctor are talking out of their proverbial. The fact that the Abbot is a double of the Doctor is not just a stunt- it results in Steven being mistaken for the servant of the Abbot and makes for a stunning end to episode 3 with the mob clustered round what appears to be the Doctor’s dead body.
The guest cast is one of the finest seen in the programme. Andre Morell (the third and best Quatermass) makes Tavannes utterly ruthless but still very human. Leonard Sachs makes Coligny a truly selfless, yet charismatic character. Barry Justice makes Charles IX very believable as a man who in unready for power and is dominated by his mother. Catherine de Medici (as usual) is blamed for being the mastermind behind the Massacre and Joan Young portrays her as willing to do anything to protect the power of her family.
The research that was made for this story is obviously extensive- for example, although the Abbot of Amboise is a fictional character, the name is obviously taken from the Huguenot attempt to kidnap Charles’s predecessor Francis II at the Chateau de Amboise. The use of history in this story is interesting. Steven tries to intervene in events without knowing the history, but fails to change anything- despite knowing of the plot to assassinate Coligny, he cannot warn the Admiral in time, and Coligny is wounded, as the history books say. Steven’s powerlessness in the face of the Massacre leads to the justly famous scene where he temporarily leaves the Doctor in disgust. This scene is brilliantly acted by Hartnell and Purves, with a beautiful soliloquy from the Doctor and is one of the finest the series has ever had. It is good to see Steven return though, although the introduction of Dodo at the end seems forced.
However, this does not detract from a brilliant quartet of episodes that tells the programme’s most serious and harrowing story ever.
Next: The Ark
Monday, 29 September 2008
The Daleks' Master Plan
Terry Nation had many faults as a writer, many of which were embarrassingly displayed in The Chase. At first glance, The Daleks’ Master Plan seems to have many of the same qualities. Both stories feature the Doctor being pursued by the Daleks throughout time and space. Both are filled with B-movie threats- in this story, we have invisible monsters, man-eating plants and prisoners taking over a ship, amongst other things. However, this story is so superior to The Chase that it makes one wonder how it could have come from the same mind. If any two stories prove ‘it’s not what you do, it’s the way that you do it’ it’s these two.
The first thing that strikes the viewer about this story is its length. This is a colossal 12-episode epic, nearly 5 hours of television. This obviously begs the question of whether or not the story is padded or not and indeed, I could easily reduce this story to a 3-parter: The taranium is an obvious McGuffin, with most of the story being centred round it. If the Doctor doesn’t steal the taranium, there is no need for episodes 2-10. However, this story is well named, as this story has a sense of scale that dwarfs the stories that come before it. The Doctor is, for the first time, battling a threat to the whole universe, with the fates of whole galaxies at stake. Such a story is epic in nature and demands an epic length. The threats confronted transcend B-movie cliché- the Varga plants make sense plotwise and are a genuinely horrific threat and the Visians are also brought to life very effectively through very simple special visual and audio effects. The detour to Desperus might seem a bit pointless, but it ends in the most shocking scene in Doctor Who yet, the death of Katarina. This scene is excellently scripted, acted and directed and the story is all the better for it. The detour to ancient Egypt is very well acted and directed and contains the very welcome return of Peter Butterworth as the Meddling Monk. Unlike in The Chase, although the story takes us to many locations in time and space, it is rooted in one place- the nightmarish planet of Kembel.
Apart from the TARDIS crew and the Daleks, the other main player in the story is Mavic Chen, brought to life in a powerhouse performance by Kevin Stoney. Chen is a man who is already the most powerful human being ever and yet wants more. He is depicted as a man of wit, intelligence and charisma, but with an egotism that increases as the story goes on and eventually drives him to madness, believing himself to be a god who rules the Daleks. The only issue I have is with Chen’s make-up. He is meant to be ‘part-Oriental’, which the make-up team interpreted by darkening Stoney’s skin and taping back his eyes. This makes him look like a grotesque, caricatured ‘Chinaman’ which is unfortunate, as Chen’s ethnicity is not mentioned at all in the story, and he is not a Fu Manchu takeoff.
The guest cast is, perhaps, the strongest the programme has had since Marco Polo, and I cannot think of a single poor performance. Nicholas Courtney is memorable as Bret Vyon and it is easy to see why he returned to the programme a couple of times. Even a minor character like Karlton is well brought to life by Maurice Browning It is clear that good deal of thought has gone into characterisation and, importantly, character interplay. For example, Steven is a character from our future, but Sara Kingdom’s past, so that something that Steven would consider contemporary would seem futuristic to us and antediluvian to Sara. This is something which is actually a factor in the way these two characters interact.
The Daleks are totally rehabilitated from the fiasco of The Chase. Here they are scheming, ruthless and efficient. Their voices are brilliant here, after the limp vocal stylings of the previous two stories. As in The Chase Nation throws other monsters against them, but here the Daleks triumph. Their plan is a truly diabolical one and they would not come up with a plan as masterful until 2008.
Hartnell puts in one of his finest performances in this story. The Doctor rages against those who hurt his friends and takes no nonsense from the Daleks, dictating terms to them even when he is at a disadvantage. He also joyfully wraps the Monk up in bandages and whacks Visians with his stick. The length of the story is ably matched by Hartnell’s range. Purves continues to work wonders as Steven- it is mainly due to his performance that Katarina’s death works as well as it does. Adrienne Hill, it must be said, is no more than adequate as Katarina and it is, perhaps, good that the character died before she got too annoying. Jean Marsh as Sara puts in an excellent performance making the character both as tough as nails without making her unsympathetic.
Even though only a quarter of the episodes exist, it is clear that this is where Douglas Camfield got his reputation as one of the programme’s finest directors. As said before, the performances from the guest cast are strong across the board, and Camfield’s choice of camera angles and movement are sublime as is his supervision of editing- there is a great cut from an image of the sun in sky to a glint on the dome of a Dalek.
The Daleks’ Master Plan was the first story to have an episode broadcast on Christmas Day, "The Feast of Steven" and this episode takes a break from the Daleks to give us some light relief for the festive season. The first setting is a charming skit where the doctor is arrested by a policeman after being seen coming out of the TARDIS and the second is set in Hollywood in the Mack Sennet era. It is less successful, but still worthwhile. Then there is the famous scene where the Doctor toasts the viewer at home, which I found to be very well done- as the Doctor says, the TARDIS crew rarely get a chance to celebrate. The inclusion of this interlude is not as random as it looks, as it occurs in a natural break in the story and, although it is business as usual in the next episode, there is still a hilarious interlude at the Oval cricket ground to ease the transition back.
I must also make special mention of the last episode. The previous Dalek stories were resolved with a battle or an explosion. Here we are treated to something truly spectacular. The Time Destructor is turned on and it causes the surface of the Kembel to age. Unfortunately, it has the same effect on Sara and the Doctor and Sara ages to death and decays. Steven manages to turn the machine into reverse, rejuvenating the Doctor and eventually destroying the pursuing Daleks by regressing them into embryos. Kembel is reduced to a desert planet by the time the machine is exhausted. In the midst of this, Steven and the Doctor are left alone to ponder the cost of their victory. It is a truly epic ending to an epic story.
Next: The Massacre
The first thing that strikes the viewer about this story is its length. This is a colossal 12-episode epic, nearly 5 hours of television. This obviously begs the question of whether or not the story is padded or not and indeed, I could easily reduce this story to a 3-parter: The taranium is an obvious McGuffin, with most of the story being centred round it. If the Doctor doesn’t steal the taranium, there is no need for episodes 2-10. However, this story is well named, as this story has a sense of scale that dwarfs the stories that come before it. The Doctor is, for the first time, battling a threat to the whole universe, with the fates of whole galaxies at stake. Such a story is epic in nature and demands an epic length. The threats confronted transcend B-movie cliché- the Varga plants make sense plotwise and are a genuinely horrific threat and the Visians are also brought to life very effectively through very simple special visual and audio effects. The detour to Desperus might seem a bit pointless, but it ends in the most shocking scene in Doctor Who yet, the death of Katarina. This scene is excellently scripted, acted and directed and the story is all the better for it. The detour to ancient Egypt is very well acted and directed and contains the very welcome return of Peter Butterworth as the Meddling Monk. Unlike in The Chase, although the story takes us to many locations in time and space, it is rooted in one place- the nightmarish planet of Kembel.
Apart from the TARDIS crew and the Daleks, the other main player in the story is Mavic Chen, brought to life in a powerhouse performance by Kevin Stoney. Chen is a man who is already the most powerful human being ever and yet wants more. He is depicted as a man of wit, intelligence and charisma, but with an egotism that increases as the story goes on and eventually drives him to madness, believing himself to be a god who rules the Daleks. The only issue I have is with Chen’s make-up. He is meant to be ‘part-Oriental’, which the make-up team interpreted by darkening Stoney’s skin and taping back his eyes. This makes him look like a grotesque, caricatured ‘Chinaman’ which is unfortunate, as Chen’s ethnicity is not mentioned at all in the story, and he is not a Fu Manchu takeoff.
The guest cast is, perhaps, the strongest the programme has had since Marco Polo, and I cannot think of a single poor performance. Nicholas Courtney is memorable as Bret Vyon and it is easy to see why he returned to the programme a couple of times. Even a minor character like Karlton is well brought to life by Maurice Browning It is clear that good deal of thought has gone into characterisation and, importantly, character interplay. For example, Steven is a character from our future, but Sara Kingdom’s past, so that something that Steven would consider contemporary would seem futuristic to us and antediluvian to Sara. This is something which is actually a factor in the way these two characters interact.
The Daleks are totally rehabilitated from the fiasco of The Chase. Here they are scheming, ruthless and efficient. Their voices are brilliant here, after the limp vocal stylings of the previous two stories. As in The Chase Nation throws other monsters against them, but here the Daleks triumph. Their plan is a truly diabolical one and they would not come up with a plan as masterful until 2008.
Hartnell puts in one of his finest performances in this story. The Doctor rages against those who hurt his friends and takes no nonsense from the Daleks, dictating terms to them even when he is at a disadvantage. He also joyfully wraps the Monk up in bandages and whacks Visians with his stick. The length of the story is ably matched by Hartnell’s range. Purves continues to work wonders as Steven- it is mainly due to his performance that Katarina’s death works as well as it does. Adrienne Hill, it must be said, is no more than adequate as Katarina and it is, perhaps, good that the character died before she got too annoying. Jean Marsh as Sara puts in an excellent performance making the character both as tough as nails without making her unsympathetic.
Even though only a quarter of the episodes exist, it is clear that this is where Douglas Camfield got his reputation as one of the programme’s finest directors. As said before, the performances from the guest cast are strong across the board, and Camfield’s choice of camera angles and movement are sublime as is his supervision of editing- there is a great cut from an image of the sun in sky to a glint on the dome of a Dalek.
The Daleks’ Master Plan was the first story to have an episode broadcast on Christmas Day, "The Feast of Steven" and this episode takes a break from the Daleks to give us some light relief for the festive season. The first setting is a charming skit where the doctor is arrested by a policeman after being seen coming out of the TARDIS and the second is set in Hollywood in the Mack Sennet era. It is less successful, but still worthwhile. Then there is the famous scene where the Doctor toasts the viewer at home, which I found to be very well done- as the Doctor says, the TARDIS crew rarely get a chance to celebrate. The inclusion of this interlude is not as random as it looks, as it occurs in a natural break in the story and, although it is business as usual in the next episode, there is still a hilarious interlude at the Oval cricket ground to ease the transition back.
I must also make special mention of the last episode. The previous Dalek stories were resolved with a battle or an explosion. Here we are treated to something truly spectacular. The Time Destructor is turned on and it causes the surface of the Kembel to age. Unfortunately, it has the same effect on Sara and the Doctor and Sara ages to death and decays. Steven manages to turn the machine into reverse, rejuvenating the Doctor and eventually destroying the pursuing Daleks by regressing them into embryos. Kembel is reduced to a desert planet by the time the machine is exhausted. In the midst of this, Steven and the Doctor are left alone to ponder the cost of their victory. It is a truly epic ending to an epic story.
Next: The Massacre
Saturday, 27 September 2008
The Myth Makers
Doctor Who travels to the time of the Trojan War in Donald Cotton’s first story for the programme. It is usually labelled as being a historical, yet is based on a myth. The events, if they did happen, were probably very different to what was recorded in the Iliad by Homer (who himself may not have existed!) However, this is neither a faithful depiction of the myth, nor an attempt to portray what may have actually happened. The tone is set from the start. Achilles and Hector are having their legendary duel to the death, but it is clear that this is not the Achilles of legend and that it is, in fact, Hector who is the greater warrior. It is only the materialisation of the TARDIS that enables Achilles to kill Hector. The fight is set to a trombone-led score, an instrument that is inherently funny (I have the greatest respect for trombonists, by the way).
Some of the characters are purely comedic. Paris is played as being a cowardly upper-class twit, a combination of Percy from Blackadder and Bertie Wooster. Menelaus is Agamemnon’s thick brother who needs the concept of the Trojan Horse explained to him several times. The supporting cast put in fantastic comedic performances. Barrie Ingham is hilarious as Paris and Max Adrian is great as the world-weary Priam. Odysseus is portrayed as being far more fierce than is usual, although it is clear that he is still, by far, the cleverest of the Greeks.
The script is out and out comedy, with some lines worthy of Up Pompeii!:- Cassandra: ‘Woe to the House of Priam! Woe to the Trojans! Paris: ‘I think it’s a bit late to say “Whoah” to the horse!’ However, the last episode depicts the sacking of Troy which is, thankfully, not treated comedically, although it does clash a bit with the humour of the rest of the story.
Hartnell is his usual brilliant self in this story, accepting his initial role as Zeus on earth, and then trying to think up any plan of entry that doesn’t involve a large wooden horse. Purves continues to impress as the wry Steven- there is some great interplay between Steven and Vicki. This is Vicki’s last story and I am sorry to see her go. Maureen O’Brien brought a real sense of innocent delight to the role and was a joy to watch. Her romance with Troilus is well done- for once, both characters fancy one another from the start, rather than the gradual falling in love that is usual.
This is the first instance of the Doctor actually being the direct cause of a historical event (although it’s more writing than re-writing history) and I love the fact that the Doctor refuses to believe in the historicity of the horse and then actually inspiring its creation. It is touches such as this that stop the first three episodes being merely pastiches. We are told that the Trojans worshipped the ‘Great Horse’ which is why they fell for the Trojan Horse.
This is a hilarious and sometimes poignant look at one of the most famous stories in history.
Next: The Daleks' Master Plan
Some of the characters are purely comedic. Paris is played as being a cowardly upper-class twit, a combination of Percy from Blackadder and Bertie Wooster. Menelaus is Agamemnon’s thick brother who needs the concept of the Trojan Horse explained to him several times. The supporting cast put in fantastic comedic performances. Barrie Ingham is hilarious as Paris and Max Adrian is great as the world-weary Priam. Odysseus is portrayed as being far more fierce than is usual, although it is clear that he is still, by far, the cleverest of the Greeks.
The script is out and out comedy, with some lines worthy of Up Pompeii!:- Cassandra: ‘Woe to the House of Priam! Woe to the Trojans! Paris: ‘I think it’s a bit late to say “Whoah” to the horse!’ However, the last episode depicts the sacking of Troy which is, thankfully, not treated comedically, although it does clash a bit with the humour of the rest of the story.
Hartnell is his usual brilliant self in this story, accepting his initial role as Zeus on earth, and then trying to think up any plan of entry that doesn’t involve a large wooden horse. Purves continues to impress as the wry Steven- there is some great interplay between Steven and Vicki. This is Vicki’s last story and I am sorry to see her go. Maureen O’Brien brought a real sense of innocent delight to the role and was a joy to watch. Her romance with Troilus is well done- for once, both characters fancy one another from the start, rather than the gradual falling in love that is usual.
This is the first instance of the Doctor actually being the direct cause of a historical event (although it’s more writing than re-writing history) and I love the fact that the Doctor refuses to believe in the historicity of the horse and then actually inspiring its creation. It is touches such as this that stop the first three episodes being merely pastiches. We are told that the Trojans worshipped the ‘Great Horse’ which is why they fell for the Trojan Horse.
This is a hilarious and sometimes poignant look at one of the most famous stories in history.
Next: The Daleks' Master Plan
Tuesday, 23 September 2008
Galaxy 4
Galaxy 4 starts a long line of episodes that, sadly, must be enjoyed by sound alone. In this adventure, the Doctor and his companions arrive on a desolate planet with two crashed spaceships on it. One belongs to the Drahvins, beautiful humanoid women. The other belongs to the Rills, whom the Drahvins describe as ‘disgusting’. However, beauty turns out to be only skin deep….
The story is a very simple one, and there are no prizes for guessing the outcome. There is only one real character in the story, that of Maaga, leader of the Drahvins and a limited number of locations. Yet this story works, and works very well. Stephanie Bidmead’s performance as Maaga is masterful. She commands her troops mercilessly, but introduces a hint of perverted maternalism which makes for a very interesting dynamic between Maaga and her troops. Although they are killers, they whimper like scolded children when faced with Maaga’s wrath. Her description of what it would be like to watch her enemies die is genuinely chilling. It is not surprising that she harbours an extreme xenophobic hatred towards the Rills.
Of course, it is the Rills who are truly the noble creatures and their realisation is very striking, with the tanks of ammonia that they dwell in and the Chumblies which are their voices and charming servants. It is a real pity that we are denied the shock cliff-hanger at the end of "Trap of Steel" where the Rill is finally seen by Vicki. By this point, even through the soundtrack alone, we realise that it’s the Drahvins who are the monsters. They are said to be ‘inferior products’ bred for war, and are incapable of abstract thought. However, they seem to crave Maaga’s approval, an approval they will never get. There is something simply ‘wrong’ with them, and there are times that I really pitied them, like one pities all the archetypal monsters.
Again, the regulars put in great work, with Vicki still managing to be lively and humorous without being annoying. Peter Purves shows in this story that, although Steven fills the same role as Ian, he does it in a completely different way. Hartnell manages to convey joy at new things with a stern morality that guides his actions throughout.
What is left of the story, visually, is excellent. The realisation of the Chumblies manages to be cute without being impractical. The sets and costumes also seem to be first rate. William Emms works in some gorgeous dialogue, such as when the Doctor describes the vapourisation of the planet as being ‘like silver’.
A summary of this story would make it look like a dumbed down version of The Sensorites. In reality it is so much more.
NEXT: "Mission to the Unknown"
The story is a very simple one, and there are no prizes for guessing the outcome. There is only one real character in the story, that of Maaga, leader of the Drahvins and a limited number of locations. Yet this story works, and works very well. Stephanie Bidmead’s performance as Maaga is masterful. She commands her troops mercilessly, but introduces a hint of perverted maternalism which makes for a very interesting dynamic between Maaga and her troops. Although they are killers, they whimper like scolded children when faced with Maaga’s wrath. Her description of what it would be like to watch her enemies die is genuinely chilling. It is not surprising that she harbours an extreme xenophobic hatred towards the Rills.
Of course, it is the Rills who are truly the noble creatures and their realisation is very striking, with the tanks of ammonia that they dwell in and the Chumblies which are their voices and charming servants. It is a real pity that we are denied the shock cliff-hanger at the end of "Trap of Steel" where the Rill is finally seen by Vicki. By this point, even through the soundtrack alone, we realise that it’s the Drahvins who are the monsters. They are said to be ‘inferior products’ bred for war, and are incapable of abstract thought. However, they seem to crave Maaga’s approval, an approval they will never get. There is something simply ‘wrong’ with them, and there are times that I really pitied them, like one pities all the archetypal monsters.
Again, the regulars put in great work, with Vicki still managing to be lively and humorous without being annoying. Peter Purves shows in this story that, although Steven fills the same role as Ian, he does it in a completely different way. Hartnell manages to convey joy at new things with a stern morality that guides his actions throughout.
What is left of the story, visually, is excellent. The realisation of the Chumblies manages to be cute without being impractical. The sets and costumes also seem to be first rate. William Emms works in some gorgeous dialogue, such as when the Doctor describes the vapourisation of the planet as being ‘like silver’.
A summary of this story would make it look like a dumbed down version of The Sensorites. In reality it is so much more.
NEXT: "Mission to the Unknown"
Monday, 22 September 2008
The Time Meddler
In which the Doctor discovers one of his own race is attempting to change the course of history by destroying the forces of Harald Hardrada, so that the Battle of Stamford Bridge does not occur.
The above description would indicate a run-of-the-mill pseudo-historical had it referred to a story set a decade later. But this was only the seventeenth Doctor Who serial and, to the viewing public who had followed the Doctor’s adventures for the past two years, this would have been a thoroughly shocking episode that turned everything you knew about the Doctor on its head. It is clear that there is something very different about this journey into the past. Donald Cotton’s historicals had been increasingly moving away from John Lucarotti’s in theme as well as style. In Lucarotti’s historicals, the Doctor and his companions do not change the status quo and the Doctor states that ‘not one line’ of history can be changed. In The Romans, the Doctor inspires Nero to burn Rome, which means that the Doctor has been the cause of a historical fact. Of course, Nero (as the story depicts him) would probably have decided to burn Rome anyway. However, with The Time Meddler, we have a character that has directly influenced history (helping raise the megaliths of Stonehenge, putting the idea of powered flight to Leonardo Da Vinci) and now intends to alter it. History is no longer sacrosanct and history can be rewritten, and the anachronistic objects that increasingly turn up during the story add to this sense of ‘temporal violation’.
However, the greatest shock is that the Doctor is no longer unique. This is clear from the very start, when the Monk witnesses the materialisation of the TARDIS. There is surprise on his face, but not fear or shock, and when the regulars go into the sarcophagus and find themselves in a TARDIS, several assumptions about the Doctor are questioned. To viewers, it was assumed that the Doctor was the inventor of the TARDIS and he was unique amongst his people. This is no longer the case.
The Monk is clearly not evil- he tends Eldred’s wounds and, in aiming to destroy Hardrada’s army, rather than Williams, he will not be killing anyone who would not have died anyway. Indeed, rather than mistreat the imprisoned Doctor, the Monk goes to the trouble of cooking him a full-English breakfast. However, even though there is no direct threat to the Doctor’s life (apart from the cholesterol) the Doctor still puts his all into stopping the Monk and stranding him in time. Peter Butterworth is phenomenal as the Monk, giving a performance that is full of humour but doesn’t obscure the calculating intelligence in the character. The sense of fun that Butterworth imbues in the Monk means that we can accept ludicrous things like the very large to-do list and his diary of time meddling. Despite this, the Monk’s wail of anger and despair at being marooned still feels genuine.
The scenes with the regulars are a delight. Although we are still missing Ian and Barbara, Peter Purves is instantly likeable as Steven and his initial TARDIS scene is charming and very funny. Hartnell plays the Doctor as being increasingly annoyed with the relentless faux piety of the Monk and puts in one of his funniest performances.
Amongst the supporting cast, Alethea Charlton and Michael Miller are also excellent as Edith and Wulnoth. Charlton again plays a character from the past with bad hair, but she gives the character warmth and steel, sometimes within the same scene. Unfortunately there is precious little of note provided by the other speaking roles. Peter Russell lacks charisma as Eldred and Norman Hartley and David Anderson are far from memorable as the main Viking characters.
Cotton’s script full of funny lines, but the story is not just comedic. There is a shocking and very well acted scene where it is strongly implied that Edith has just been raped by the Vikings in which both Charlton and Miller give their all. Douglas Camfield does some good work in making Barry Newbery’s excellent sets look very convincing with canny use of stock footage. However, the fight scenes (arranged by David Anderson) are rather limp. Some might be turned off by the rather slow pacing and the fact that both the Doctor and the Monk practically soliloquise when they are alone.
The importance of this story cannot be overstated. When it was first broadcast, it was an oddity, but it increasingly became the template for the Doctor Who historical to come.
NEXT: Galaxy 4
The above description would indicate a run-of-the-mill pseudo-historical had it referred to a story set a decade later. But this was only the seventeenth Doctor Who serial and, to the viewing public who had followed the Doctor’s adventures for the past two years, this would have been a thoroughly shocking episode that turned everything you knew about the Doctor on its head. It is clear that there is something very different about this journey into the past. Donald Cotton’s historicals had been increasingly moving away from John Lucarotti’s in theme as well as style. In Lucarotti’s historicals, the Doctor and his companions do not change the status quo and the Doctor states that ‘not one line’ of history can be changed. In The Romans, the Doctor inspires Nero to burn Rome, which means that the Doctor has been the cause of a historical fact. Of course, Nero (as the story depicts him) would probably have decided to burn Rome anyway. However, with The Time Meddler, we have a character that has directly influenced history (helping raise the megaliths of Stonehenge, putting the idea of powered flight to Leonardo Da Vinci) and now intends to alter it. History is no longer sacrosanct and history can be rewritten, and the anachronistic objects that increasingly turn up during the story add to this sense of ‘temporal violation’.
However, the greatest shock is that the Doctor is no longer unique. This is clear from the very start, when the Monk witnesses the materialisation of the TARDIS. There is surprise on his face, but not fear or shock, and when the regulars go into the sarcophagus and find themselves in a TARDIS, several assumptions about the Doctor are questioned. To viewers, it was assumed that the Doctor was the inventor of the TARDIS and he was unique amongst his people. This is no longer the case.
The Monk is clearly not evil- he tends Eldred’s wounds and, in aiming to destroy Hardrada’s army, rather than Williams, he will not be killing anyone who would not have died anyway. Indeed, rather than mistreat the imprisoned Doctor, the Monk goes to the trouble of cooking him a full-English breakfast. However, even though there is no direct threat to the Doctor’s life (apart from the cholesterol) the Doctor still puts his all into stopping the Monk and stranding him in time. Peter Butterworth is phenomenal as the Monk, giving a performance that is full of humour but doesn’t obscure the calculating intelligence in the character. The sense of fun that Butterworth imbues in the Monk means that we can accept ludicrous things like the very large to-do list and his diary of time meddling. Despite this, the Monk’s wail of anger and despair at being marooned still feels genuine.
The scenes with the regulars are a delight. Although we are still missing Ian and Barbara, Peter Purves is instantly likeable as Steven and his initial TARDIS scene is charming and very funny. Hartnell plays the Doctor as being increasingly annoyed with the relentless faux piety of the Monk and puts in one of his funniest performances.
Amongst the supporting cast, Alethea Charlton and Michael Miller are also excellent as Edith and Wulnoth. Charlton again plays a character from the past with bad hair, but she gives the character warmth and steel, sometimes within the same scene. Unfortunately there is precious little of note provided by the other speaking roles. Peter Russell lacks charisma as Eldred and Norman Hartley and David Anderson are far from memorable as the main Viking characters.
Cotton’s script full of funny lines, but the story is not just comedic. There is a shocking and very well acted scene where it is strongly implied that Edith has just been raped by the Vikings in which both Charlton and Miller give their all. Douglas Camfield does some good work in making Barry Newbery’s excellent sets look very convincing with canny use of stock footage. However, the fight scenes (arranged by David Anderson) are rather limp. Some might be turned off by the rather slow pacing and the fact that both the Doctor and the Monk practically soliloquise when they are alone.
The importance of this story cannot be overstated. When it was first broadcast, it was an oddity, but it increasingly became the template for the Doctor Who historical to come.
NEXT: Galaxy 4
Wednesday, 17 September 2008
The Chase
The Daleks are back pursuing the Doctor and his companions throughout eternity, or at least as much of eternity that can be depicted on a Doctor Who budget, stopping at the Empire State Building, the Mary Celeste and Ghana amongst other places. The Daleks pursue in a vehicle with the same dimensionally transcendental properties as the TARDIS and gain on the Doctor with every step.
The first episode, "The Executioners" is reasonably good. The scenes from history that are displayed on the Time-Space Visualiser are well done, particularly the charming Elizabethan one (we also get a vintage performance of "Ticket to Ride" from The Beatles). However, I must say that the Time-Space Visualiser is a bit of pseudo-science I cannot quite suspend my disbelief for, especially when it tunes into the Daleks that are on the TARDIS’s trail, rather than any other event that has ever happened or will happen. However, the story dips in quality once episode 2 starts. The Aridians are sketchily written and only adequately acted. Hywel Bennett would eventually become a great actor, but here, he is no better than any other young actor making their start in the profession. The Mire beasts are merely pathetic and immobile octopus models and hardly the stuff of nightmares.
This is nothing, however, compared to the abortions that are episodes 3-5. The Empire State Building at least has an amusing performance by an actor whom we will hear more of later. However, the Mary Celeste sequence is utterly amateurish and the haunted house segment plays like The Munsters but is even less funny. We are then given the atrocious ‘robot double’ of the Doctor which is, in actuality, poor Edmund Warwick who is taller than Hartnell and is dubbed very poorly. This episode is, very rightly, called "The Death of Doctor Who".
Then, miraculously, episode 6, "The Planet of Decision" manages to be excellent. The Mechanoids are excellently realised, with their incomprehensible alphanumeric dialogue, and the battle between them and the Daleks is excellently rendered with a well-constructed montage. The design of the Mechanoid city is great, and even the Michael Bentinesque miniatures actually work. We are also introduced to Steven Taylor, who is brilliantly brought to life from the start, by Peter Purves- speaking as a fan of all three characters, it is a real joy to have Ian, Barbara and Steven sharing scenes. There is also the ending of the story, which I shall return to later.
By all accounts, The Chase was written in a hurry at the last minute, and it really shows. Terry Nation would often resort to cliché, but this is actually worse. The middle episodes consist of ‘sketches’ that are clumsily tied together in order to boost the running time. The robot double segment is wholly unnecessary dramatically and, honestly, could not have been realised more poorly. Richard Martin’s excellent direction in "The Planet of Decision" is all the more astonishing because the preceding episodes have seen some of the sloppiest visual direction the programme has ever seen. The editing, too, is atrocious- look at the scene where Ian tricks the Dalek into a trap on Aridius (imaginative name there, Terry. Was it the planet Soakedus when it had an ocean?)
The portrayal of the Daleks is more comedic, but this approach is a failure. There is one Dalek who is a bit thick, but he is so underused that it does not work comedically and just looks like a mistake. The Daleks also fall into the sea for no reason and are beaten up by an amusement park Frankenstein(‘s monster). Even in the strong final episode, a fatally wounded Dalek screams ‘Am Exterminated! Am Exterminated!’.
The regulars make the best of what they are given and make this mess watchable, but it is the end of the story where they are shown at their best. This is, of course, Ian and Barbara’s final story and their leaving scene is utterly gorgeous. Ian states firmly to the doctor that he misses the ordinary things in life, the sense of belonging. The Doctor is furious that they would risk their lives in the Dalek machine, but programs the machine to take them back. We are treated to a joyous photo montage of them in 1965 and the Doctor watching them on the Time-Space Visualiser. He is visibly upset at their leaving, as am I. Ian and Barbara have become two of my favourite companions of all time. William Russell’s portrayal always made Ian interesting, always avoiding being just the square jawed hero by injecting playfulness and humour into the role. And Jacqueline Hill as Barbara- brave, intelligent, creative, funny and very, very sexy. Yes, she screamed at times when a lot of people would, but she also held a knife to Tlotoxl’s throat. She confused the Daleks with pseudo history. And she looks really good in a Roman stola. I shall miss them too.
It is a good thing that the last episode was so good, because this story contains some of the worst episodes of Doctor Who I have ever seen. It is not quite enough to save it.
NEXT: The Time Meddler
The first episode, "The Executioners" is reasonably good. The scenes from history that are displayed on the Time-Space Visualiser are well done, particularly the charming Elizabethan one (we also get a vintage performance of "Ticket to Ride" from The Beatles). However, I must say that the Time-Space Visualiser is a bit of pseudo-science I cannot quite suspend my disbelief for, especially when it tunes into the Daleks that are on the TARDIS’s trail, rather than any other event that has ever happened or will happen. However, the story dips in quality once episode 2 starts. The Aridians are sketchily written and only adequately acted. Hywel Bennett would eventually become a great actor, but here, he is no better than any other young actor making their start in the profession. The Mire beasts are merely pathetic and immobile octopus models and hardly the stuff of nightmares.
This is nothing, however, compared to the abortions that are episodes 3-5. The Empire State Building at least has an amusing performance by an actor whom we will hear more of later. However, the Mary Celeste sequence is utterly amateurish and the haunted house segment plays like The Munsters but is even less funny. We are then given the atrocious ‘robot double’ of the Doctor which is, in actuality, poor Edmund Warwick who is taller than Hartnell and is dubbed very poorly. This episode is, very rightly, called "The Death of Doctor Who".
Then, miraculously, episode 6, "The Planet of Decision" manages to be excellent. The Mechanoids are excellently realised, with their incomprehensible alphanumeric dialogue, and the battle between them and the Daleks is excellently rendered with a well-constructed montage. The design of the Mechanoid city is great, and even the Michael Bentinesque miniatures actually work. We are also introduced to Steven Taylor, who is brilliantly brought to life from the start, by Peter Purves- speaking as a fan of all three characters, it is a real joy to have Ian, Barbara and Steven sharing scenes. There is also the ending of the story, which I shall return to later.
By all accounts, The Chase was written in a hurry at the last minute, and it really shows. Terry Nation would often resort to cliché, but this is actually worse. The middle episodes consist of ‘sketches’ that are clumsily tied together in order to boost the running time. The robot double segment is wholly unnecessary dramatically and, honestly, could not have been realised more poorly. Richard Martin’s excellent direction in "The Planet of Decision" is all the more astonishing because the preceding episodes have seen some of the sloppiest visual direction the programme has ever seen. The editing, too, is atrocious- look at the scene where Ian tricks the Dalek into a trap on Aridius (imaginative name there, Terry. Was it the planet Soakedus when it had an ocean?)
The portrayal of the Daleks is more comedic, but this approach is a failure. There is one Dalek who is a bit thick, but he is so underused that it does not work comedically and just looks like a mistake. The Daleks also fall into the sea for no reason and are beaten up by an amusement park Frankenstein(‘s monster). Even in the strong final episode, a fatally wounded Dalek screams ‘Am Exterminated! Am Exterminated!’.
The regulars make the best of what they are given and make this mess watchable, but it is the end of the story where they are shown at their best. This is, of course, Ian and Barbara’s final story and their leaving scene is utterly gorgeous. Ian states firmly to the doctor that he misses the ordinary things in life, the sense of belonging. The Doctor is furious that they would risk their lives in the Dalek machine, but programs the machine to take them back. We are treated to a joyous photo montage of them in 1965 and the Doctor watching them on the Time-Space Visualiser. He is visibly upset at their leaving, as am I. Ian and Barbara have become two of my favourite companions of all time. William Russell’s portrayal always made Ian interesting, always avoiding being just the square jawed hero by injecting playfulness and humour into the role. And Jacqueline Hill as Barbara- brave, intelligent, creative, funny and very, very sexy. Yes, she screamed at times when a lot of people would, but she also held a knife to Tlotoxl’s throat. She confused the Daleks with pseudo history. And she looks really good in a Roman stola. I shall miss them too.
It is a good thing that the last episode was so good, because this story contains some of the worst episodes of Doctor Who I have ever seen. It is not quite enough to save it.
NEXT: The Time Meddler
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